Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-11-13
FORSYTH WOMAN
PIONEER VISITOR
TO YELLOWSTONE

FIty-IlIlC yCdIS ilakC kessSooSA sAAAN'
Mrs Jennie Booth Lane OF Forsyth
first saw Yellowstone National park.
There may be Montanans who VI.
sited the park before Mrs. Lane. bu'
there aren't many. And it's doubtful
II anyone now living saw 1t the frs
time in quite the same manner Shit
did.
Mrs. Lane. who observed her s7tf
birthday last February Is, made hel
first trip through the area that was tc
become the nations playground ir
June and July 1884. She Travelled with
what is believed to be the first trail
herd ever driven through the park
1OO-odd head of cattle and horse:
marked with the Diamond L brand
still owned in the Lane family.
Many times since 1884 has Mrs
Lane visited the park. but that frs,
trip will always hold first place in hel
memory.
Mrs. Lane and her husband, James
r. Lane, prior to 1881 lived in Park
City. Utah, where he was connected
with mining enterprises and other in
dustries. Lane had travelled through
Montana, and had been strongly at
tracted by the possibilities of the new
range country along the Yellowstone
He came to Montana in 1883 and
established ranch near Etchetah
then in Custer county. The site now
is in Treasure county.
Later in the summer OF 1883 he re-
turned to Utah, and in June 1884 the
Lane trail drive began.
First Part of Trip by Rail
Mrs. Lane and her three children
didn't start from Park City with the
cattle, however There was train SER
vice to Eagle Rock, Idaho, now Idaho
Falls, and they made the first part OF
the journey by rail.
They Joined the herd at Eagle Rock,
and began the overland trek June q.
There were two wagons with the
outfit. Mrs. Lane recalls, and one Of
the hands cooked. The children
Clarence. s: Luella. 4. and Walter, p
didn't require all Of the young
mothers time.
THE trip wasn't hardship for me
at ALL" Mrs. Lane insists.
The party entered the park bound
aries near what now is West Yellow
stone, and camped the first night at
the lower geyser basin.
The stock had been pushed hard
from Eagle Rock to the park, because
feed and water was scarce on the
sagebrush and lava flats of Idaho. The
next week was to be leisurely for both
herders and herd.
They rested four days at the lower
geyser basin before pulling out" again
with the cattle grazing in the rich
and untouched meadows of the high
country as they moved. During those
four days the family drove to Old
Faithful, and Mrs. Lane caught her
first glimpse of the geyser that has
since drawn tourists from every part
of the globe.
Old Faithful was much the same,
that summer of 1884, as 1t Is today,
but its surroundings have greatly
changed. There is small city at Old
Faithful now in summer, but there
were only tents when Mrs. Lane made
her first visit. She recalls that crews
in the lower geyser basin at the time
were splitting shingles for the building
that was to be the first Old Faithful
hotel
Fumes Loaded Atmosphere
Hell's Half Acre, between the lower
geyser basin and Old Faithful, was on
fire at the time of their visit, Mrs.
Lane remembers. Fumes from the
burning sulphur loaded the atmos-
phere, and the flames were visible for
miles at night.
The party spent 10 days inside the
park letting the herd set its own pace.
A few days afterward, at Saltwater
now Columbus-Mr. and Mrs. Lane
and the children left the cattle and
hurried ahead by wagon to the ranch
site
Busy place along the Yellowstone
at the time was Junction, near the
confluence of the Yellowstone and the
Big Horn, then an important cattle
shipping point. Herds were driven
there from as far south as Buffalo,
wyo., Mrs. Lane recalls, and from as
far north as Fort McGinnis.
The Lanes arrived at their new
home July "a, month and day
from the time the herd left Eagle
Rock. Montana since has been Mrs.
Lanes home, with the exception of
occasional periods spent in California.
The Lane ranch was near the Et-
cheta post office, at which Robert
Guy then was postmaster. After his
resignation Mrs. Lane took over the
office and was postmaster for three
years, until it was closed. Present res
idents of the community get their
mail at Myers.
Nearest neighbors of the Lanes were
the J. G. Guy and Nichols families
Others prominent in the community
were the Higgins, the Isaacs', the
Griersons and the family of c. p
voolfolk, captain of the Bachelor
the last steamboat. to go down the
Yellowstone from Pease Bottom. Mrs
Voolfolk, now Mrs. I. M. Draper, was
q close friend of Mrs. Lane and cared
for her at the birth of two Of her
children, Hattie and Vennie.
Better neighbors were never known
in a pioneer country" Mrs. Lane Is
certain.
Moves to Forsyth
The Lanes remained on the ranch
II years, and then moved to Forsyth
In order that the children might at
tend better schools. Mr.. Lane died ir
1893, and the following year his widow
-