The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1920-07-13
YELLOWSTONE PARK
MECCA OF TOURISTS
TRAVEL THROUGH PARK GATES
HAS PAST HIGH MARK OF
LAST YEAR is REPORT

YELLOWSTONE PARK, Wyo-
Travel in Yellowstone National Park,
always the best barometer of vaca-
tion travel in the west, gives every
promise of making 1920 the best
tourist season on record.
1t is a significant fact, too, that
most of the visitors to Yellowstone
this year have been no casual "flit-
ters," hurriedly scanning the wond-
ers of this park, then fastening
home on a return ticket, but are
tourists in the broadest sense Of the
term, making the grand circle of the
west and learning the wonders of
their country as never before.
Persons entering Yellowstone from
the north at Gardiner, Mont, and
from the west at West Yellowstone,
Mont, in almost all cases have been
around by Los Angeles, then up to
San Francisco, Portland and Seattle,
perhaps in Glacier National Park,
and intervening cities. They go out
to Salt Lake City and Denver. Visit
ors coming in from the east by way
of Cody already have seen Denver,
Colorado Springs, Rocky Mountain
National Park and the Wyoming
cities, and continue their journey to
the Pacific coast. Travel from the
south through Jackson hole and
Snake River valley has been restrict
ed by road trouble, but a few veter-
an motorists have made the journey,
finding ample compensation in the
beautiful scenery of the Tetons,
which soon will be made part of
the "Greater Yellowstone"
Never before have the Yellowstone
roads been opened to travel so early
under such difficult conditions as this
year. The extremely hard winter,
which caused much suffering among
the wild animals, piled 40 feet of
snow in Sylvan Pass on the east,
Dunraven pass on the north and the
Snake River valley on the south, but
thoroughfare was provided in ex-
cellent time. Heroic efforts were
necessary, of course. A snow shovel
was improvised to meet the situa
tion, being contrived from cater
pillar tractor and sheet iron. Nearly
two score road crews were put to
work mending the soft spots with
stone and earth, and tourists received
the benefit of being able to make
the entire loop tour without danger
or discomfort.
Sylvan Pass was opened first, al
most the entire road force of the
park being mobolized there in cooper
alton with citizens of Cody, to ac-
comodate the great number of peo
pie coming into the park by way of
Cody, Cheyenne and Casper. The
road was opened on June II; the
earliest previous date was June 20.
Snake River came next. The first
car passed through June %. Dun
raven Pass, the beautiful scenic
route from Yellowstone canyon to
Mammoth Hot Springs by way of
Tower Falls and the Roosevelt coun-
try, an exceedingly difficult mount
ain road which reaches an altitude
of 5000 feet, was opened July /.
Visitors had great. sport snowballing
and taking pictures of the drifts
which bordered the road, dwarfing
the big motor buses. It was nee
essary to close Dunraven two days
later when a very warm day made !
great headway in the snow banks,
producing soft spots in the road that |
we're considered dangerous, but those !
we're remedied in brief "a hours and |
The Pass was opened again.
Beginning slowly, travel in the
Park picked up quickly and soon
passed last years figures. Through I
July 6, when the gates had been
,pen officially for less than three
weeks, 11,702 persons had entered
Yellowstone, compared with 10,079
asst year. The number of motor We
licles admitted was exactly the same
,ut the seasons daily average was
showing steady growth. The total
lumber Of automobiles admitted
through July was 1886.
Sunday School Picnic.
Tho Sunday school of the R1aine