East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1920-08-14
TRAVEL TO YELLOWSTONE
PROMISES 1920 RECORD

tional Park since the offlclal opening |
of Americas great wonderland on
June IS, is promising to establish the /
present season as the best the park has |
ever known.
Despite the unusually severe winter !
which caused much suffering among
the wild animals and for months de-
fled the herculean efforts OF the rang
crs TO break through the great walls
of snow thrown over the automobile
highways, the main roads of the park
were opened up this year several days
II, advance of the date they have been
made accessible in former years.
Heroic measures were necessary, OF
course but the indomitable spirit of
the two score road crews engaged in
opening up the park road system' con-
quered all impedinents and on June
is the famous American scenic won
derIand was officially proclaimed open
for the present season.
The transportation of the thous-
ands of nature lovers who came from
ali parts of the world. is handled by
the Yellowstone Park Transportation
! Company which is operating $50 buses
over the various park tours. Without
doubt this IS the most extensive auto
mobile passenger transportation pro-
ject in the country outside, of the
large taMcab companies in our big
cities.
Since the opening of the 1920 sea-
son the % buses operating in the
park have covered 1T3,6O0 touring
miles carrying approximately 1l'oOo
visitors. The service is under the d.
rect supervision of H. w. Child and his
assistant w. NJ. Nichols. who deserve
I Ii afFf
service rendered.
All the buses are White cars, 125 OF
the /. passenger type and % regular
touring cars. All the IL passenger
cars are built on three quarter ton
chasses. In addition TO these 15o
buses the transportation company
operates twelve trucks-four two-ton,
two five-ton and six three quarter ton.
The five-ton trucks are gasoline tank
ers which supply the four filling sta
tions OF the park with their gasoline
requirements, while the. others are
used to transport supplies to the var
ious park hotels.
All of the $50 buses and twelve
trucks are operating on Goodyear
pneumatic tires, which have played
very important part in maintaining
| the excellent service for which Yel-
lowstone has become noted thorugh-
out the country The buses are equip
red with SO by 6 Goodyear cords and
the trucks with other skies according
TO the load carrying capacity.
| The item of tire maintenance for
bus fleet of this magnitude is really
matter to excite wonder. On the var
ious trucks and buses 64S tires are
rolling continually and 1872 more are
carried as spares. The tire invest
rnent alone requires an outlay OF more
than 100000. Complete and salts
factory tire service is rendered by the
Goodyear branch at Butte, Mont un-
der the direction of j. H. Weiner
manager.
The esrvices of 90 drivers are reauir
ed to take care of the tourists who
come by train to the Gardiner, yell
lowstone and Cody entrances. These
90 men have been selected from more
chan 1000 applicants from all parts
of the country. Many of them are
college men using this means of secur-
ing funds for defraying next seasons
college expenses.
In the operation of his car each
driver is compelled to adhere to
most exacting schedule, and any vio-
lation of this schedule is followed by
Immediate dismissal. This intricate
schedule stipulates the speed which
must be maintained from one point
to another and even designates the
gear in which the car must be driven.
Srtict adherence to all rules is re-
quired in the interest of economy OF
operation and safety to tourists.
few days ago a driver checked in at
a park station with a load of tourists
Is minutes in advance of schedule
and was Immediately dismissed for
his infraction of the rules.
A total of $4,000 persons visited the
park during the 1919 season. using the
Yellowstone buses, and based on the
attendance up to the present date,
fully $1,000 will see the park IN 1920
In addition to the tourists that tour
through the park in their own cars,
about 5000 come in daily on, the park
buses to take the four-day sight seeins
trip, so that about 1900 persons must
he taken care of daily. often this
number runs up to loo when special
parties are shown through.
The park contains $50 miles of inn
Droyed halfway.