The Age of the Automobile, 1916-1971
Yellowstone, America's Pleasuring Grounds
This is part one of two parts of the
story of Yellowstone's Early Years.
Why the "Age of the Automobile?" The mass production
of automobiles made Yellowstone readily accessible to the average American.
And come they did! Thanks to the automobile, visitation to Yellowstone
soared between 1916 and 1971. Park visitors expected to see wildlife
and geysers, and Yellowstone officials sought to oblige. But with the
increase in visitors came attendant challenges, such as managing the
wildlife and preserving the Park's fragile features which came under
increasing strain from the presence of humans.
 1916
-- President Woodrow Wilson signs into existence a new government agency,
the National Park Service, forever changing the administration of our
national parks. (2: p.64)
1917 --
Only two years after the first automobile enters the Park, some 5000 enter
Yellowstone during the summer season.
(5: p.622)
Photo by Bruce Gourley.
1918 --
With order restored in Yellowstone, the remnants of the Army force which had
policed the Park are withdrawn by the government.
1920 --
Some 5000 automobiles enter Yellowstone Park.
1922 --
Yellowstone celebrates it's golden anniversary. Dozens of national magazines
do feature stories on the Park throughout the year.
Ceremonies commemorating the Semi-Centennial year of
the establishment of the park are held on July 14, 1922, at the foot of
National Park Mountain near the junction of the Gibbon and Firehole rivers
where in 1870, in the camp of the famous Washburn-Langford expedition, the
"National Park idea" was supposedly born. Mr. C.W. Cook of the
Cook-Folsom expedition of 1869 attended in person. Mr. Cornelius
Hedges, Jr., and W.A. Hedges planted an evergreen tree to mark the spot
where their father stood in 1870 when he proposed making this unequaled
region a national park. Public officials and prominent friends
of the park are on the program. Superintendent Horace M.
Albright makes a short address re-counting the historical development of the
park, and reads telegrams from President Warren G. Harding, Hon. Albert B.
Fall, Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Stephen T. Mather, Director of the
National Park Service, and other high officials. (As recounted in the
Hayne's Guide)
1923 --
The Grand Loop Road is named by Harry W. Frantz, a nationally-known writer.
Continue to the
second part of The
Age of the Automobile in Yellowstone.
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