Traveling with Grace: On to Old Faithful!
In today’s #TravelingWithGrace the journey continues into Yellowstone Park! As previously noted, Grace’s observations sometimes contain less-than-ideal descriptions and references to under-represented populations that some readers will find distasteful. Please read ahead with caution. To read more of Grace’s travels, click here.
Date: Friday July 11, 1947
Place: Rapid City, S. D.
Weather: Fine
Vintage postcard, Petrified Forest Headquarters, North Dakota Badlands, c. 1940s. Via.
We started out at noon after late breakfast at Virginia restaurant, visited Petrified Forest, then to Mt. Rushmore where we saw the beautiful carvings of 4 presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and T.R. This national monument is most impressive and the scenery for miles is beyond description. We then rode thru the Custer and Sylvan Lakes park, full of silver birch and long leaf pines. The air is like wine. In the distance are spires and pinnacles of red granite pointing like fingers toward the sky. We go thru rock tunnels and bridges spiraling one over the other 3 and 4 deep. The wildflowers are lovely. Delicious dinner at Sylvan Lake Hotel, a miniature Grove Park. Dr. Baumberger and a friend called on us tonight.
Vintage postcard, Sylvan Lake Hotel, c. 1940s. Via.
Date: July 12th, 1947 Saturday
Place: Rapid City, S.D.
Weather: Fine
Vintage postcard, Sioux Indian Camp in the Black Hills, c. 1930s-40s. Via.
We had a nice restful day today, sat on my little back porch and read. The air is dry and delightful, rooms comfortably cool. There is a rose bush in full bloom outside y window. Had my lunch and supper brought in. We have a slot machine radio here like we had in a few previous places. They seem to be in vogue out here. Tonight, we rode 10 miles out of the city to see some native Sioux Indian dancers. One who spoke with us was educated at Carlisle. The costumes were much more elaborate than those we saw in Mexico, silver and fur trimmings, [???] in real beaver. An old chief aged 102 danced, we spoke to him afterward. Little children, 3-4 year old danced too. Some pretty women also.
Date: July 13, ’47. Sunday
Place: Rapid City, S.D.
Weather: Fine
After breakfast at the Virginia Café we started on a ride: Hermosa, Fairburn, Buffalo Gap, Hot Springs, Wind Cave National Park, Pringle, Sanator???, (where we stopped to see Dr. Baumberger) then to Newcastle, Wyo. for lunch, thru Jewel Cave National Monument, Custer, Hill City, Lead where we saw the Homestake Gold Mine, largest in U.S. un continual operation. They get 4 oz of gold from a ton of rock and they make 24 bricks a week worth $16,000 each, Deadwood where we went up on Mt. Moriah to visit the graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. He has a terra cotta figure on his grave [missing?] the head. Charles took a stone from a mound.
Date: Monday, July 14, 1947
Place: Rapid City S.D. to Buffalo, Wyo.
Weather: Fine
Vintage photo-postcard of Buffalo, Wyoming main street, including Idlewild Café. Via.
We left Rapid City at 10 and after leaving the Black Hills the scenery was rather monotonous. After entering Wyo[ming] the ranges spread out on all sides and sometimes we ride for 30 or 40 miles without seeing a house. About 4:30 we had a flat and a state policeman stopped to help us. He was lovely, wouldn’t take money so we gave him a box of candy. We saw snow on the mountains for the first time today. Buffalo is a typically small western town and it was fun to walk down the main street and look at the Rubes. The specialty here is wood cut-outs of western scenes and characters and bronze horses in all sizes. We had supper at the Idlewild, a very nice café. We are stopping at Keahy autocourt.
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 1947
Place: Buffalo, Wyo to Yellowstone Park
Weather: Fair and rainy
“Buffalo Bill — the Scout,” a bronze sculpture of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody as a western scout at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. The statue was created in 1924 to commemorate the town’s most famous resident and de facto founder, Buffalo Bill Cody. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
We left Buffalo at 9:30 after breakfasting at the Idlewild and almost at once the scenery became magnificent. We crossed the Big Horn Mts. coming close to the patches of snow which are really baby glaciers. Going thru a deep defile with sheer granite walls rising red and gray and brown to the skies. We went thru several lumber camps like Wigwam and Ten Sleep, dude ranches and camp sites hidden away in the pines with purling streams twisting amid rocks. Then Worland, Graybull and Cody each attractive tours and in Cody we saw a pretty equestrian statue to Buffalo Bill. Just beyond Cody is Shoshone Reservoir and powerplant and this is one of the most gorgeous sights up to date. The country at this point is almost terrifyingly beautiful.
Buffalo Bill Damn (Shoshone Dam), Wyoming. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
At the East entrance to the park, just beyond Pahaska Tepee, we were stopped and asked if we had firearms, paid $3.00 entrance fee. We rode 65 miles to Old Faithful Inn thru beautiful wooded slopes with here and there a cascade falling from the snowy crests. Just before reaching the hotel we had a motorcycle escort over a piece of road under repair. We saw license plates from every state of the union, every type of car imaginable, and the most conglomerate assemblage of people, camping, tenting, hiking, cycling.
Vintage postcard, Old Faithful Inn & Geyser, c. 1940s. Via.
Around the large hotels there are cottages, stores, information bureaus, cafeterias, etc. Old Faithful Inn is an attractive log and stone structure, comfortably furnished. It is amusing to see the tourists queue up every hour to see Old Faithful Geyser show off. At night they have it illuminated, and it is quite a sight. It is also fun to watch the people stand in line at mealtimes. The management handles the huge crowds most efficiently. In front of the hotel stands an ancient stagecoach, delight of the children who are always climbing over it.
Thanks for reading “Traveling with Grace,” a series where we’re sharing (and annotating) posts from the travel diaries of Grace Amelia Hecht, native Baltimorean, b. 1897 and d. 1955. As mentioned in my introductory post transcription errors sometimes occur and I’ve made my best guesses where possible, denoted by [brackets]. – Rachel Kassman, marketing manager