Images of the West

Marshall’s continued the pattern of patrons from nearby describing it as comfortable and providing “country style” service, while those from afar complained of such things as “thin walled construction and lack of privacy.”

Yellowstone’s pioneer hospitality providers didn’t stay in business long. Mathew McGuirk was denied a lease in 1873 and had to close his “Medicinal Springs.” Harry Horr sold his share of the hotel at Mammoth to his partner, James McCartney, who lost his lease in 1881. George Marshall sold his operation in 1886 to the Yellowstone Park Association, which built the Fountain Hotel nearer to the geysers.

Because they were outside the park boundaries, Gilman Sawtell and Fred Bottler stayed in business for several decades. Sawtell transferred his property to his son in 1890, and Bottler died a wealthy man on his ranch in 1917. Yankee Jim continued collecting tolls until 1893 when Park County purchased it following complaints about his rates and maintenance of the road.

The coming of the railroads brought a flood of new tourists to Yellowstone Park, but the visitors from distant places weren’t the blessing that the early entrepreneurs hoped for. They not only demanded more luxury, but also put pressure on the park administration to get rid of the old hotels and recruit new concessionaires to build better accommodations. The railroads won monopoly licenses for new park development companies that began building grand hotels that rivaled the best East Coast establishments.

A new road was built up the Madison Canyon bypassing Sawtell’s and railroad trains rattled through Bottler’s ranch without stopping. The entrepreneurial pioneers of Yellowstone’s hospitality business just drifted away — like geyser steam.

M. Mark Miller is a fourth-generation Montanan who grew up on a ranch near Silver Star. He returned to Montana in 2003 after a 35-year career as a newspaperman and journalism professor. He lives in Bozeman where he researches Western history and writes.