Plying the Water in America's Little Switzerland: The Role of Turn of the Century Lake Tourism in Glacier National Park, Montana
Mires CH. 2012. Plying the Water in America's Little Switzerland: The Role of Turn of the Century Lake Tourism in Glacier National Park, Montana. East Carolina University
The purpose of this thesis is to examine Glacier National Park's maritime industry from 1895 to 1930. Although historians have discussed other aspects of Glacier National Park's history, the history of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries maritime industry and the people who made it possible have not been explored satisfactorily. This thesis discusses the nature and motives of those groups that played essential roles in creating the industry, from the tourists who rode and created a demand for the vessels to the entrepreneurs, park administrators, and boat concessionaires who invested much of their lives promoting and operating boats to serve Glacier's visitors. This thesis also places Glacier's tourism vessels into a national context by demonstrating the integral relationship between Glacier National Park's maritime and lake tourism business, American tourism, conservationism, and the railroad industry.
- Type
- Academic
- Authors
- Mires, Calvin
- Date of Issue
- 2012-12
- Publisher
- East Carolina University
- Units
- CRCO , GLAC
- Keywords
- boats and boating, maritime history, thesis, tourism