1 PART 1A. 1949-1961 CHAPTER 1. Overcome with Yellowstone Fever; Preparation for a Career (1949-53) During my childhood and school years prior to college, I lived with my parents, George and Katherine, and my sister, Mary Joan (3 yrs younger), in Denver, Colorado. As a young boy, I had been to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP)(only a few hours drive from Denver) with my parents on a number of occasions. The area’s significance as a national park did not seem to be part of my parents' awareness, at least it never was expressed to me. My parents and grandparents all referred to such trips as going to "Estes," because the town of Estes Park was on the eastern border of the Park. Occasionally we went to Grand Lake, on the western border of the Park, where some relatives resided. My parents were largely urban-oriented people. Both had graduated from South High School in Denver, but the Depression precluded either from a university education. Immediately upon high school graduation (1929) my Dad went to work for the International Trust Company (a Denver bank) as a message runner. His father, Henry, was a teller at the same bank. My Dad's grandfather George Sr. had been a bank manager and the mayor in Idaho Springs, Colorado, where my Dad was born. Dad remained a bank employee until he retired in 1981. By that time, he was very upset by banking’s expansion into the stock market and other fields. He believed this was at the expense of traditional services to customers. My parents appreciated Colorado’s mountains, wildlife, lakes, and streams, and my Dad was a dedicated fly fisherman. We took many family trips to the Colorado mountains to fish in the Frying Pan River (in a section now inundated by the Reudi Reservoir), Chicago Creek (near my Dad's boyhood home in Idaho Springs), and Summit Lake (just below Mt. Evans). I learned later in life that the Mt. Evans area had been proposed as ‘"Denver National Park" by Colorado tourism promoters in 1916 (one year after the establishment of RMNP and the same year that the NPS was established). Colorado Representative Benjamin C. Hilliard introduced the bill in the 64th Congress. Colorado was dominated by mining interests in those days. Their influence was evidenced in the following quoteIdaho from the Springs Siftings News (21 April 1916): ‘"We feel that your co-operation would be for the asking, except only that you want to know that the establishment of the Denver National Park will not interfere with mining. Indeed, our committee would gladly abandon the Mt. Evans project if there is any serious risk of interfering with the mining industry. This ought to show conclusively our great interest in the mining industry as the paramount industry of this state. It was for that reason that the Hilliard Bill expressly permits mining in the national park." Even with that assurance, which would have led to a substandard national park, the mining industry led a successful effort to defeat the bill. There was family irony in the national parks/mining competition. My grandfather and great-grandfather had been deeply involved in the mining industry as well as banking, in the Idaho Springs area. My great-grandfather was mayor of Idaho Springs during 1915-17. I wonder what position he took on the proposed park, which had a boundary only six miles from Idaho Springs. 2 Trout fishing dominated my thoughts through my youngest years and continued to be my passion during our first family vacation to YNP (1949). I spent many pleasant hours fly fishing the Yellowstone Lake outlet and the Firehole River. However, fascination with geysers and hot springs gradually became my primary interest is subsequent family trips to YNP, 1950 through 1953. During the winter of 1950-51 in Denver, I spent many hours memorizing all of the names of geysers, lakes, rivers, creeks, and peaks listed in "Haynes Guide to Yellowstone.” Our 1952 family trip to YNP proved particularly exciting. Some of the hydrothermal features put on a special shows. Giant Geyser erupted more frequently than during any other summer for which there are records, with a average interval of 54.4 hours and a minimum of 34 hours (Marler 1973). On 21 August, we took 8 mm movies of a spectacular Mastiff phase eruption of Giant. It was an awesome and beautiful sight, with the Giant reaching over 150 feet in height and expelling an estimated million gallons of water into the Firehole River (Marler 1973). On that trip, we also took movies of the Black Dragon’s Caldron, a fantastic, violent mudpot, which had exploded into existence in the winter of 1947-48, affecting an area of 150 by 70 feet previously occupied by lodgepole pine(Pinus contorta) (Condon 1955). We watched the Caldron throw tar-black thick mud 20 feet high. In our 1952 family trip, we continued on north of YNP to GNP, in northwestern Montana, and to Waterton Lakes National Park, in southern Alberta, Canada. I have no particular memories of GNP or Waterton; I was preoccupied with YNP. Along with an obsession about Yellowstone's geysers and hot springs, a sense of awe and appreciation about nature-dominated landscapes gradually evolved. The Yellowstone mystique seeped into my psyche during those YNP vacations. I believe this resulted from the mysterious and spiritual "aura" of Yellowstone itself and exposure to the heartfelt soliloquies at the NPS's traditional evening campfire programs. Ranger-Naturalists gave the presentations at these events. Most were men who were in love with Yellowstone and the love was contagious. I still remember Sam Beal's recitations of poetry, Ted Parkinson's emotional and anthropomorphic tales about bears and other wildlife, and George Marler's scientific and intriguing descriptions of geyser activity. Senior Ranger-Naturalist Herbert (Bud) Lystrup gave entertaining, subtly thought-provoking, evening programs. In his brief book "Shavings off the Stick" (Lystrup 1969:5), he described the goal of"... his intalks: those thirty minutes each evening [I tried] to arouse long-dormant curiosities, stimulate jaded minds a bit, and help each member of my audiences toward a better understanding of the world of nature, toward a greater and, hopefully, ever-growing appreciation of its unbounded wonders." Bud described the life and duties of a YNP naturalist in his wonderful little book “The Ninety Day Wonder” (Lystrup 1938). With my career goal of being a YNP ranger set after the 1949 trip to YNP, at Grant Junior High School, and then South High School I enrolled in elective courses that my advisors recommended for college preparation, e.g., Latin, Physics, Chemistry, College Prep English, Public Speaking, Algebra, and Trigonometry. I focused completely on doing well in the studies. I had no time for dating and did not attend a single coed social function during high school. During my junior year at South High School (1952), on 18 February I wrote to YNP Superintendent Edmund B. Rogers regarding the "possibility of being assigned in YNP after completing the requirements and passing the United States Civil Service Park Ranger's Examination." Superintendent Rogers wrote back, detailing the ways in which vacant ranger positions were filled (D-l): 3 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone Park, Wyoming Office of the Superintendent March 17, 1952 Mr. Riley McClelland 2590 South Marion Denver 10, Colorado Dear Mr. McClelland: We are pleased to reply tojyour letter of February 18, making inquiry regarding the possibility of being assigned in Yellowstone Nation­ al Park after completing the requirements and passing the United States Civil Service Park Ranger's Examination. You are apparently familiar with the requirements for being eligible to take a park ranger examination which do consist of certain educational and experience requirements. After passing the park ranger examination, your name would be included among the list of eligibles kept on file in the Washington Office. A list of at least three names with the highest numerical grade on the civil service list is supplied when a re­ quest is made from a field area for filling a vacant park ranger position. The superintendent of that particular field area has the authority to make the selection from the three names certified providing those men are interested in an appointment at the time their names are furnished. A separate file of eligibles is not maintained for certification to any individual area, and in the event your name was near the top of the list when a register was requested, it would be sent to any National Park Ser­ vice area. Of course you would have an opportunity of declining the appointment to some area if offered. Transfers within the service occur after one has usually been in the service for a period of at least one year, and there is a possibility that you eventually could arrange— a transfer to Yellowstone. We trust that we have satisfactorily answered your questions, but if additional information is required, we suggest that you write to the United States Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C. Sincerely yours Edmund B. Rogers Super intendent D-l. Letter from YNP Superintendent Edmund B. Rogers (17 March 1952). 4 My father helped me search for a suitable college to achieve my goal. Few were potentially available to me because my parents were not wealthy and student loans were not as available as they are now. Dad could not afford to help me with college tuition and fees except at a very modest level. My summer work plus part-time work during the school year would not be sufficient at most colleges.