The Crown and the Jewel: George Bird Grinnell, Louis Warren Hill, and Glacier National Park
Harper AC. 1999. The Crown and the Jewel: George Bird Grinnell, Louis Warren Hill, and Glacier National Park. Northern Arizona University
Glacier National Park--established in 1910--achieved national park status only after Western legislators, Louis W. Hill of the Great Northern Railway, and conservationists led by George Bird Grinnell convinced Congress that the area was indeed worthless for anything but preservation. Setting aside this area, they argued further, would be the only way to maintain its rugged beauty to be admired by an increasingly mobile American public. Hill, though an ardent admirer of the region, also happened to already have in place the rails by which travelers could easily shuttle straight to the base of these majestic peaks. And Great Northern's "See America First" campaign, designed to compete with new European tour packages, took on a decidedly patriotic air. But while thoroughly convinced of the poor resource potential for the park area, Congress only agreed to set aside the land after amendments to the enabling legislation provided for development should accessible resources be discovered later. This pattern of suspicious consent, initiated by the battle to set aside Yellowstone at the end of the nineteenth century, consistently emerged with the establishment of Western National Parks. As part of the larger examination of the park's establishment, this study explores more fully the concept of "worthless lands" that several distinguished historians have accepted concerning the establishment of Western National Parks. By examining the role of Great Northern Railway and Louis W. Hill in Glacier's establishment, as well as the contribution of George Bird Grinnell's contingent, this dissertation enters into the historical debate on the nature of "preservation" itself. I hope to determine whether these lands were to be actually preserved inviolate, or rather reserved for future cultivation. Finally, I hope to determine the exact roles of the park's champions in establishing what George Bird Grinnell called the "Crown of the Continent."
- Type
- Academic
- Authors
- Harper, Andrew
- Date of Issue
- 1999-12
- Publisher
- Northern Arizona University
- Units
- CRCO , GLAC
- Keywords
- Blackfeet history, Congress, Conservation, Dissertation, George Bird Grinnell, Great Northern Railway, History, Legislation, Louis Hill, Mining History, park development