Todd Wilkinson: A history of presidential visits to Yellowstone National Park
[Information provided by Yellowstone historian Lee Whittlesey]
From Chester Arthur to Barack Obama, American presidents have come to the peace and quiet and grandeur of Yellowstone, a refreshing change from the political heat and conflict of Washington.
1883 — Eleven years after Yellowstone was created and just seven years after the nearby Battle of the Little Bighorn between the U.S. Cavalry and three native American tribes, Chester Arthur rides on horseback through Yellowstone and cuts the tape to open a new rail line that will transport eastern tourists to park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs.
1903 — President Theodore Roosevelt arrives in the gateway town of Gardiner to lay the cornerstone for the Roosevelt Arch, today a Yellowstone icon. He was accompanied on a two-week visit by the eminent naturalist John Burroughs, who wrote about the adventures they had in his book “Camping And Tramping With Roosevelt,” published in 1907.
1923 — Warren Harding visits Yellowstone just one month before he died. During his outing, the president fed bears, a practice that today is outlawed.
1927 — Calvin Coolidge arrives with his fishing gear to angle for trout as a respite, enlisting Yellowstone Superintendent Horace Albright as his guide. Even though Albright tried to engage Coolidge in talking politics, the president refrained, earning the nickname “Cool Cal.”
1937 — Franklin Delano Roosevelt and first lady Eleanor embark on a motor tour of the park, and he later delivers one of his fireside chats after inspecting the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps...
Read entire article at The Christian Science Monitor
From Chester Arthur to Barack Obama, American presidents have come to the peace and quiet and grandeur of Yellowstone, a refreshing change from the political heat and conflict of Washington.
1883 — Eleven years after Yellowstone was created and just seven years after the nearby Battle of the Little Bighorn between the U.S. Cavalry and three native American tribes, Chester Arthur rides on horseback through Yellowstone and cuts the tape to open a new rail line that will transport eastern tourists to park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs.
1903 — President Theodore Roosevelt arrives in the gateway town of Gardiner to lay the cornerstone for the Roosevelt Arch, today a Yellowstone icon. He was accompanied on a two-week visit by the eminent naturalist John Burroughs, who wrote about the adventures they had in his book “Camping And Tramping With Roosevelt,” published in 1907.
1923 — Warren Harding visits Yellowstone just one month before he died. During his outing, the president fed bears, a practice that today is outlawed.
1927 — Calvin Coolidge arrives with his fishing gear to angle for trout as a respite, enlisting Yellowstone Superintendent Horace Albright as his guide. Even though Albright tried to engage Coolidge in talking politics, the president refrained, earning the nickname “Cool Cal.”
1937 — Franklin Delano Roosevelt and first lady Eleanor embark on a motor tour of the park, and he later delivers one of his fireside chats after inspecting the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps...