Schullery Paul Nature and Culture at Fishing Bridge Nature and Culture at Fishing Bridge at Fishing and Culture Nature A HISTORY OF T H E FISHING BRIDGE DEVELOPMENT IN YELLOWSTONE NA TION A L PA RK By Paul Schullery National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming YCR-2010-02 2010 Nature and Culture at Fishing Bridge A HISTORY OF T H E FISHING BRIDGE DEVELOPMENT IN YELLOWSTONE NA TION A L PA RK By Paul Schullery National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming YCR-2010-02 Front Cover: Left: The “second” Fishing Bridge as it appeared in the 1920s was nearly identical in general features to the original. Note that a floating dock was at this date moored on the downstream side of the bridge near the east bank, and was used by small boats (NPS photo, YELL 171144). Center: Fishermen crowd the railing at Fishing Bridge, early 1960s (NPS Photo, YELL 01902). Right: The ecological inseparability of landscape elements near Fishing Bridge has vexed genera- tions of managers and park constituents seeking simple and yet unified approaches to managing this area. The Fishing Bridge development is just to the east (right) of the bridge in this 2001 photograph. The large open area in the center of the photograph is the site of the former cabin area, and several miles of the Pelican Valley are visible across the top of the photograph (NPS photo by Jim Peaco, YELL 17339). Previous page: The original Fishing Bridge boathouse was, according to the superintendent, a “floating dock with office and sleeping quarters.” Steps led from the bridge down to the dock, where rental boats were tethered. A few other boats can be seen upstream of the bridge, and anglers lined the downstream side of the bridge in this 1928 photograph (Jack E. Haynes, photographer, #28372, Haynes Foundation Collection, Montana Historical Society). Back cover: Left: The original boathouse was replaced with a considerably grander and more permanent structure, just down the west shore from the bridge, in 1935. Shown here in 1951, the boathouse featured a shop and floating dock and continued in service until 1963 (NPS photo, YELL 29931). Center: The second Fishing Bridge gas station was completed in 1930 and opened for its first full season in 1931 (author photo, 2007). Right: As of 2007, only a few cabins remain of the once sprawl- ing and long controversial cabin development north of the Fishing Bridge commercial strip (Author photo, 2007). Suggested citation: Schullery, Paul. 2010. Nature and Culture at Fishing Bridge: A History of the Fishing Bridge Devel- opment in Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, YCR-2010-02. Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... v Preface ......................................................................................................................................vii 1. The Setting: The Creation and Present Character of the Fishing Bridge Area ...................... 1 2. Precontact: Archeology and Fishing Bridge .......................................................................... 5 3. The Fishing Bridge Area in Early Yellowstone National Park, 1872–1917 ........................ 13 4. The Development of the Fishing Bridge Area, 1918–1941 ................................................. 25 5. World War II and Mission 66 at Fishing Bridge .................................................................. 51 6. Vaguely Disquieting Scenes: Changing Ideas of Nature at the Outlet of Yellowstone Lake .. 61 7. “If we had it all to do over again”: Fishing Bridge in the Environmental Age .................... 77 Conclusion: Nature and Culture at Fishing Bridge .................................................................. 93 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................. 101 Appendix: Chronology of the Fishing Bridge developed area, Yellowstone National Park ..... 103 Notes ...................................................................................................................................... 107 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 129 Index ...................................................................................................................................... 139 Executive Summary Like all of Yellowstone National Park’s de- The firstbridge was designed by Hiram Chittenden veloped areas, the Fishing Bridge area has a color- and completed in 1902 and was rebuilt in 1919 due ful and surprisingly complicated history. And, like to flood and ice damage. This rebuilt bridge is known each of the others, Fishing Bridge’s story is unique. as the “second” Fishing Bridge. It lasted until 1937, Geophysically, the area is a product of Yellowstone when the present structure, a much wider bridge that Lake’s volcanic and hydraulic restlessness. Ecologi- better accommodated pedestrians and anglers, was cally, the area has become recognized as an elegantly completed. complex crossroads of biological forces. Culturally, The name “Fishing Bridge” was first officially the area is distinguished as Yellowstone National applied to the bridge in 1914, but it was a decade lat- Park’s most consistently occupied setting, where er before the name “Fishing Bridge” gained general humans have made themselves comfortable more or formal acceptance as the name of the development less continually for 10,000 years. This means that at that sprang up along the road just east of the river. At Fishing Bridge, present nature is actually underlain first apparently perceived as a kind of suburb of the by past culture. older Lake Area development, Fishing Bridge spe- Fishing Bridge is an extraordinarily important cialized in lower-cost accommodations, including an archeological site, certainly one of the richest and auto campground, tent cabins, and wooden cabins. most revealing in Yellowstone National Park. The The buildings in the present Fishing Bridge Historic site, designated 48YE1, was one of the first two offi- District, including the bridge itself, mostly date from cially designated by the Smithsonian Institution Mis- the period 1925–1937. These include the visitor cen- souri River Basin Survey in 1948; its boundaries have ter, service station and garage, general store, ranger been repeatedly enlarged by later investigators. Two station (now a warming hut), and a number of smaller separate human burial sites, discovered in 1941 and associated buildings. 1956, resulted in a series of controversial analyses The rise of Fishing Bridge as a center of visi- over the identity and place of these ancient residents tor accommodation and activity was nothing short of in the area’s history. The remains were repatriated to spectacular. The area went from essentially no devel- regional tribes in 2006. opment in 1919 to the largest camping area in the The first crude road reached the outlet of Yel- park by 1930. The cabin area continued to expand lowstone Lake in 1879. It was built by Superinten- incrementally. The development reached its peak dent Philetus Norris, who in 1881 also identified with the completion of the concessioner constructed the route over the Abasaroka divide now known trailer village (358 sites) in 1964 in the final days of as Sylvan Pass (contrary to popular belief, Buffalo the modernization and expansion programs of Mis- Bill Cody was not a significant presence in the ex- sion 66. ploration or selection of the route of the East En- The great showpiece of the historic district was trance Road). The site of the present bridge was not and is certainly the visitor center, opened in 1931. considered a desirable location for a bridge until The last and perhaps the most notable of the four later, when interest in a route to the Bighorn Basin original rustic “parkitecture” museums funded for necessitated a direct link with the north and west Yellowstone by the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Me- shores of Yellowstone Lake. From its construc- morial, the Fishing Bridge Museum (renamed “visi- tion stage (roughly 1900–1902) onward, the East tor center” in about 1957) still interprets lake-area Entrance Road was a source of exceptional annual wildlife and geology. Designed by Herbert Maier, it vexation among managers for the instability of the has been consistently praised as a model for national alignment and extraordinary difficulties of mainte- park buildings that are thought to harmonize with na- nance. ture, and is a National Historic Landmark. As popular as Fishing Bridge obviously was regional political opposition, led by Wyoming Sena- with visitors, the hard times of the Depression and tor Alan Simpson, shortstopped the process. extreme budget restraints of World War II took a According to a 1979 agreement between the heavy toll on the development. Through the 1950s National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Fish and and 1960s, as the primary park concessioner and park Wildlife Service, continued construction of the Grant managers struggled with collapsing infrastructure, Village development on the shore of Yellowstone Fishing Bridge became a regular target of critical Lake’s West Thumb was contingent on removal of the pro-park commentators. The label “slum” was firmly Fishing Bridge development, and partial