The Wild West

Growing up in a small city in New England in the 1970’s, there were two things I just couldn’t stand: history and nature. Probably because they were being crammed down my throat all the time, but maybe also just as part of my contrarian nature. You see, first of all, there was all the hoopla over the Bicentennial, which in Massachusetts started some time in 1972 and wasn’t really over until about 1978. Second, my family lived in the tourist mecca known as “The Berkshires” in Western Mass, where people (mostly from NYC) would flock throughout the summer to take in our “culture”–theater, classical music, ballet, and fine art–and then drive up again in the fall for “Fall Foliage Season.” And my wonderful parents (I mean this sincerely) would troop us kids through countless museums, music venues, parks, and nature reserves, all in the name of enriching our lives and imaginations. Looking back fifty years later, I have to say they were successful. Just not in the way they intended: I still could care less about New England history, but my heart has been opened up by the idea of the Wild West. And I suppose the reason for this is the same reason I moved to Chicago as a young adult–I wanted to experience a place about which I had very few preconceived ideas, in order to write my own script and not follow anyone else’s.

And I’m not alone! The Wild West has captured the imaginations of thousands of explorers, settlers, farmers, ranchers, businessmen, and ne’er-do-wells from the 17th to the early 20th centuries and beyond, although conservatively from about 1865-1912, when the last two continental territories–Arizona and New Mexico–were admitted as states into the Union. And as far as this pertains to Yellowstone, a number of folks–both colorful and famous as well as folks I’d never heard of–came out from the East Coast during the late 19th century to experience the wonders of the countryside and maybe leave their mark. But I was surprised to learn that for the most part, the Wild West they sought was primarily just an idea in their minds and imaginations. No doubt there have been any number of ranch hands who comprised the original “cowboys” and may have actually grown up in the Northwest Territory, but the folks who became famous here were nearly all from somewhere else. So here’s a small sampling of some of the famous names that remain on the landscape today.

Lewis and Clark, of course!

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (both originally from Virginia) set out in 1804 on a mission of discovery: to explore the continent west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Sent by President Thomas Jefferson, they were aided by a Native American woman, Sacagawea, and her French-Canadian fur-trader husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, who helped them obtain essential supplies, identified edible plants and herbs, and translated the languages of local Native American tribes for them in order to help ease their passage across the land and avoid hostility. There were definitely no cowboys back then; the only European settlements were small communities of trappers and traders. The land belonged to countless tribes of Native Americans, who had a system of tribal agreements about who could use their territory, even if those agreements were often challenged. For better or for worse, though, Lewis and Clark’s journals, notes, and maps of previously uncharted territory, along with their stories about life in the west, ignited the imaginations of countless Americans back East, leading to the Great Westward Expansion of the 1800’s.

Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau

Sacagawea was a Shoshone interpreter best known for being the only woman on the Lewis and Clark Expedition into the American West. Born around 1788 in what is now Idaho, Sacagawea was the daughter of a Shoshone chief. At around age 12, she was captured by the Hidatsa tribe and sold to a French-Canadian trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau, who made her one of his wives. In 1804, at around age 16, Sacagawea (and her husband) was invited to join the Lewis and Clark expedition as an interpreter. In 1805, while on the expedition, she gave birth to her only son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Sacagawea’s skills proved helpful to the expedition in the ways listed above; but she also served as a living talisman for the group, as a party of men traveling with a woman and child were viewed with less suspicion than a group of men traveling alone. After leaving the expedition on its return from Oregon, she gave birth to a daughter, Lizette Charbonneau, while living in what is now Kenel, South Dakota. Sadly, she died there in 1812, leaving her two children motherless. William Clark cared for the children and ultimately adopted both as his own. Her son, known as “Pomp,” became an explorer, guide, fur trapper, and a military scout during the Mexican American War (1846-48). He died in Oregon in 1866.

Calvin Clawson

In 1871, inspired by sketchy reports of Yellowstone’s wonders, Clawson was part of a group of six Montanans who made a horseback trip to see the park’s geysers, lakes, and canyons. His resulting book, A Ride to the Infernal Regions: Yellowstone’s First Tourists, was the first account of a tourist party in what became the National Park the following year. He also coined the name “Wonderland” to describe the region. “We could not help feeling that we were lifted up between heaven and hell,” he wrote, reflecting the tendency among early visitors to write about their experiences in Judeo-Christian religious terms. And from these early visitors, we get names like “Devil’s Den,” “Paradise Valley,” or “Hellroaring Creek.” Clawson was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1834, and it’s not clear when or why he moved to Deer Lodge, Montana, where he was a journalist and editor for the newspaper The New North West. He died in 1911 in Bonanza, Idaho.

Yankee Jim

The name, “Yankee Jim,” refers to James George (1841-1924), a Vermonter who established a toll road and way station in a canyon on the Yellowstone River in Montana in the late 1800s. He arrived in Montana in 1863 after gold was discovered in Bannack and got his start as a hunter and prospector but around 1873 he took over an abandoned toll road just north of the park in what was then Cinnabar. The Northern Pacific Railroad later took over this land in 1883 to build the first commercial railroad from Livingston, Montana, down to Cinnabar, just north of what is now Gardiner. From Cinnabar, stagecoaches would carry early travelers into and around the park. Today Yankee Jim Canyon is located in the Custer Gallatin National Forest and offers a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities, from camping, to fishing, to whitewater rafting.

Howard Eaton

Any major dude from the 1880’s surely could tell you about Howard Eaton (1851-1922). Raised in a wealthy Pittsburgh family, Howard and his brothers, Willis and Alden, traveled West in 1879 to start a cattle ranch in North Dakota. Although cattle ranching turned out not to be particularly profitable, the brothers often found themselves entertaining friends and visitors from the East, as the plains teemed with bison and other wildlife that attracted hunters. In 1883, several friends accompanied Howard on a pack trip to Yellowstone and thus was born the first “dude ranch.” In 1902, as bison were beginning to become more scarce in the West, thanks to game hunters, Howard bought 18 bison from a ranch in Northwestern Montana that had been put up for sale. He sold them to Yellowstone, where they combined with another bison herd and are credited in part with saving the species from extinction.

Known as a captivating storyteller and congenial host, “Uncle Howard’s” camping trips became more popular over time, and he entertained “dudes” on his trips with stories of Indian fights, buffalo running, big game hunting, and grizzly encounters. Every summer Howard would pack dudes, horses and gear on a train through Billings, MT, to Yellowstone, where they made a tour through the geyser basins, lakes, and canyons. He ultimately created his own 157-mile system of horse trails crisscrossing through Yellowstone for these trips. In fact, Howard and his brothers continued taking dudes through Yellowstone long after roads were created to allow automobiles into the park. Because horses would be spooked by the cars of the day, their standard route followed a path through the woods that roughly paralleled the Grand Loop Road. After Howard’s death in 1922, the park dedicated this path as the Howard Eaton trail. You can find entry points for Howard’s trail all over the park. In fact, I was hiking a piece of the Howard Eaton trail, babbling on to my hiking companions about its history, when I broke my ankle. Thanks fer nothin’, Uncle Howard!

Hiram Chittenden

Born in Yorkshire, NY, in 1858, Hiram Chittenden graduated from West Point and rose to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, working primarily in Seattle, WA, but also in Yellowstone during its early days as a national park. During his tenure at Yellowstone (1891-93; 1899-1904), Captain Chittenden designed much of the 140-mile Grand Loop Road, which constitutes the primary thoroughfare within the park, bringing visitors to each of the major villages and many of the geological wonders of the park. He also conceived of the Roosevelt Arch, near the park’s North Entrance, as the premiere entryway into the park in its early days. Chittenden was also a historian, whose first major work and publication was Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive (1895), authored during his first tenure in the park. He ultimately was forced to retire due to an order issued by his contemporary, President Theodore Roosevelt, in 1907 requiring all officers to pass a physical exam that included a fifty-mile test on horseback. Although he completed the ride, his precarious physical condition during the test resulted in a partial paralysis in his legs. He died 10 years later in Seattle, WA.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little history lesson. As you can see, the frontier of the American West inspired many early East Coasters to come out and sample the wonders of Yellowstone in its early days, each leaving their own mark on the landscape. Tune in for my next post, which will outline two other complex characters associated with this land: Buffalo Bill and Theodore Roosevelt.

“You can see the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard. Some that you recognize; some that you’ve hardly even heard of.”
–The Kinks, Celluloid Heroes