[Geysers] Question about Yellowstone (history) Books

[Janet Chapple]

Hello Kathy,

You won't find a single book that tells all you want to know. Haines  
has a lot of answers, as you know, but for many details you would need  
several books. For example, there's a tome by Mary Shivers Culpin  
called "The History of the Construction of the Road System . . . "  
where quite a few of your roads questions up to 1966 would be answered,  
but it has no index. Another good history book besides Haines's is  
Bartlett's "Yellowstone: A Wilderness Besieged." He's inclined to  
emphasize the concessionaires, the railroads, and the Park Service in  
ways that differ from Haines.

As to the specific questions you mentioned, you can get brief answers  
in "Yellowstone Treasures." Namely, the Bunsen Peak Road was closed to  
auto traffic in 1995 (p. 274 in the 2nd Ed.), and around the same time,  
the Fountain Flats Drive was closed part way toward Ojo Caliente Spring  
(p. 52). I was told apropos of that one (by an NPS employee) that the  
reason was "to mitigate impact on the wetland area and to create an  
additional biking opportunity." I personally suspect that having too  
few rangers to patrol these out-of-the-way places also has something to  
do with it.

About the Grand Loop Road and Morning Glory, see pages 95 and 72. On  
the latter page I hint gently about my annoyance at the Old Faithful  
Interchange. I've heard that that monstrosity may be changed, but these  
things don't happen overnight. Personally, I'd be very happy not to go  
two miles out of the way when trying to get to OF Lodge or the Upper  
Basin store from the West Thumb side.

I'm sure other gazers will have more suggestions. I'd say you're on the  
right track in building your personal YNP library. I've been working on  
that for over thirty years now.

Janet

Janet Chapple, author and publisher
Granite Peak Publications
1542 San Antonio Ave.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Ph. & Fax: 650-289-0938
Award-winning companion Web site:
http://www.yellowstonetreasures.com
---------

On Aug 6, 2007, at 7:28 AM, Kathy wrote:

> This isn't a geyser report or even a geyser question but my experience  
> with this group over the past years has been one of awe and amazement  
> at the Yellowstone knowledge held in the minds and hearts of the  
> people here. With that in mind, I come seeking information.
>
>  I know there are lots of books about the Park. Heaven Knows I have 2  
> shelves full of Yellowstone books already. I recently ordered a copy  
> of Yellowstone Place Names and I look forward to getting and reading  
> it. I have books about history, geology, Scott's geyser books, fires,  
> deaths, waterfalls and hiking and fishing. My collection is growing in  
> little bits and pieces. <unknown.gif> BUT, history, for me, is more  
> than dates and places. I'm a who, when and why kind of gal. I like the  
> story that goes behind and beyond the date and place. Although it  
> probably sounds gruesome, the Death in Yellowstone book is a family  
> favorite.
>
>  I have several old Haynes Guidebooks and I've read both volumes of  
> Aubrey Haines' history of the park. The Haynes Guidebooks are kind of  
> fun to read and look at and compare to "now." The maps inside them are  
> very interesting, to me, as they show so many changes.
>  What I'm looking for is something that explains/tells when the Bunsen  
> Peak Road became a trail instead of a road, when the Grand Loop Road  
> stopped going directly past Morning Glory Pool, that sort of thing. (I  
> understand the "why" I am really interested in the when and how did  
> they decide, etc). Am I looking for a Hollywood (er, Yellowstone)  
> "behind the scenes tell-all" sans Paris Hilton? <unknown.gif>
>
>  Is there such a book or books like that out in the world? For that  
> matter, am I making sense to anyone besides me? My husband laughs at  
> me when I ask these kinds of questions and he told me to ask y'all. I  
> am posing the same question on the Yellowstone.Net discussion board in  
> hopes that someone understands what I'm talking about and knows if  
> such a book (books?) is available.
>
>  We won't be back in the Park until July 2009 and I am dealing with  
> serious withdrawal pains. Anyway, if anyone understands my quest and  
> has a book title to look for I'd appreciate it.
> --  
> Kathy
>
>
> <icon_smile.gif><icon_wink.gif>________________________________________ 
> _______
> Geysers mailing list
> Geysers at wwc.edu
> https://mailman.wwc.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 4852 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20070806/d81c68c1/attachment.bin>