Local Knowledge - Eagle's Curio Store

At the same time, three business permits were issued to Charles A. Arnet, L.A. Murray and Samuel P. Eagle. In 1908, Sam Eagle and his wife Ida, along with their partner Alex Stuart, built a general store on what is now the corner of Yellowstone and Canyon Streets, just two blocks from Yellowstone’s western entrance.

Over the years the town at the end of the Union Pacific Railroad went by many names: Boundary, Terminus, Riverside and Yellowstone. Finally in 1920, the name officially became West Yellowstone and with that it emerged as the primary gateway to America’s famous park. Locals refer to it plainly as “West.”

By nature of its locale, West is a barometer of sorts for the region’s economic health and tourism in the park. In 1907 Yellowstone’s west entrance welcomed 4,150 visitors, a number that increased steadily through the decades to become the Park’s most popular gateway. In 2006, 1,208,814 visitors passed through this entrance and in 2007 the Park’s overall visitation was up by 9.8 percent for a total of 3.15 million people. The town has experienced the ups and downs that come with relying on tourism as an industry.

Through the last century Eagle’s Store has survived landmark events that sometimes bolstered, but more often bruised the business: the coming of railroad travel to Yellowstone National Park’s west entrance; the arrival of the automobile in 1915; the Great Depression; the massive earthquake of 1959; gas rationing in the 1970s that nearly halted American driving vacations; the wildfires of 1988; and more recently, the decade-long dispute over snowmobiles and winter-use within Yellowstone. Through it all, Eagle’s Store has weathered well. The business remains a cornerstone of West, as does the family for their commitment to the community.

Paul Shea, local historian and curator of the Yellowstone Museum in West still leads tours of the historic six blocks that were the original town, situated on the southeast corner, across from the old depot, which now houses the museum. Apart from the stately Union Pacific Depot, Eagle’s Store is a landmark of the tour. Built in 1920, the three-story log building is on the National Historic Register. Designed by Bozeman architect Fred Willson, the structure echoes the architectural style of the park’s Old Faithful Inn on a smaller scale.
“Sam Eagle played a large part in having the town site created; he was integral in bringing the airport here in 1935, and I think the family can be credited with bringing significant architecture to the town as well,” admits Shea. “The Eagles have been here from the beginning.”

This popular poem by cowboy poet Arthur Chapman (1873-1935) embodied the spirit of community in early West Yellowstone. The poem was burned onto leather wall-hangings, and according to the writings of second-generation Eagle’s Store partners Edwin and Sam “Bud” Eagle Jr., it was one of the store’s best selling souvenirs for visitors in the 1930s. It struck emotion in a generation who moved from the horse and wagon to train travel and finally to automobiles. The American culture whirled with progressive changes that affected the way Americans lived, recreated and did business. Edwin and Sam Jr., along with their eight siblings, were products of that pace-setting generation; but their parents, Sam and Ida, were true leaders of the set.

Even before there was a West Yellowstone, Sam and Ida were adventurers from the start. They met in 1905 at the Fountain Hotel in the park, where he harvested fish for the restaurant and she was a waitress. While Sam was from Pennsylvania and Ida was a Minnesota girl, they both knew that they wanted to stay in Montana for good.

When their permit to open a store came through in 1907, the couple built one of the town’s first false front buildings. The store grew into a bigger space as more people visited the park: The soda fountain was added in 1910; it housed the town post office for many years, receiving mail that was delivered by wagon, skis and dogsled teams, depending on the season from Henry’s Lake, 12 miles further west; and by 1927 the couple built a three story-log structure to expand the business and house their family. They built cabins out back for employee housing. Of course, all 10 of the Eagle children worked in the store, too.

“As soon as you were big enough to stand and reach the cash register, you were ‘in,’ quips 84-year-old Joe Eagle, the youngest of Sam and Ida’s kids. He managed the store during the 1950s.

“In the summers all of us had to churn the ice cream before we could go out and play,” interjects Wally Eagle, 87. Both men tell of their fond memories growing up fishing in West and later, it was always the store that brought the family back together.

As it has for so many patrons of Eagle’s Store, the soda fountain brings the family together. Most days, the family members who live in West still congregate here for coffee at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

“Chances are,” says Karen, “if you come by at either of those times you’ll find an Eagle in the store. It’s a sure thing.”

That’s the way it’s been in West Yellowstone for 100 years.

Big Sky Journal editor, Seabring Davis is at work on a book about mountain architecture, to be published by Globe-Pequot Press in the fall of 2008. Born and raised in New York City, Tom Ferris has been living in Montana and photographing Yellowstone and the surrounding area since 1979. Ferris is also an archival photographer for the Montana Historical Society.