Railroads and National Parks

by Patti Sherry-Crews

 March 2021.

It’s been well over a year since I’ve had a proper planned vacation. As we’re seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel, I’m counting my blessings by remembering wonderful trips we had as a family. 

One of my favorites was taking the Amtrak Empire Builder, which runs from Chicago to Seattle and Portland. We got off at Glacier National Park. Traveling with two children, we opted to book a family bedroom, which came with our own personal attendant who booked our meals in the dining car, and while we were at dinner, he'd convert our couches into beds. It was an excellent way to travel where we all could sit back and enjoy the views. 

I remember traveling for hours through the golden grasses of the Great Plains, which seemed to go on forever. And then detraining at Glacier National Park where we stayed at one of the old great lodges of the National Park Service.

It was during this trip I became aware of the history of the partnership between the railroads and the National Park Service, which enjoyed a golden age of railroad travel beginning at the beginning of the 20th century and lasting until the 1950’s.

Teddy Roosevelt and environmentalist, John Muir, first saw the benefit of setting aside protected areas as national treasures. Then in 1903, the Union Pacific Railroad and The Chicago & Northern Western Railroad formed the Bureau of Service to National Parks and Resorts, establishing resorts at Yellowstone and the Rocky National Park.

In 1915, railroads promoted parks at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. The exposition was meant to highlight the Panama Canal, but massive exhibits of the parks drew the crowds' interest, which included a 4 ½ acre replica of Yellowstone complete with geysers and the Old Faithful Inn.

In 1916, the National Park Service and the railroads partnered up. As the parks were only accessible to the general public by rail at that time, the railroads constructed the buildings to support the tourist trade: lodges, cabins, and dining halls. Destination travel to the west was born. The train wasn’t only a means to get from one point to another anymore. This type of organized travel with an agenda and means of vehicular transport within the parks opened up the wilderness to the person who sat somewhere between adventurer and armchair traveler. For instance, Circle Loop took travelers in comfort through Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon.

Circle Loop

The art departments at the railroad got busy with a campaign glorifying the natural beauty of the parks making travel posters and paintings. The film departments shot footage to be shown before movies at cinemas across the country to lure tourists. The posters have become iconic.

Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood was commissioned to design the facilities. His buildings in the so-called National Park Rustic Style or Parkitecture  became the standard for later development, using native stone and timber to create his lodges, cabins, and dining halls.

Ahwahnee Lodge, Yosemite Park, Designed by Underwood

The Interior of Old Faithful Exemplifying the Organic Nature of Parkitecture (Designed by Robert C. Reamer)

After 1918, the army who had been charged with manning the parks were replaced by the Park Rangers we know today.

We can thank the railroads for helping preserve the parks. Train travel has a relatively benign impact on the environment. Early on all the railroad companies involved agreed to ban billboards, so the train passenger could enjoy uninterrupted views. The rails followed the natural contours, rather than trying to plough straight through the landscape. And by limiting the number of stops, much land was left undeveloped—and free of litter.

Of course, bringing tourists to the west wasn’t always an easy relationship between the native American Indian tribes and the railroad development was an uneasy dance at times. But the railroads and National Parks did introduce travelers to a side of native American culture they otherwise might not have seen. The National Park Service is under the Department of the Interior, as is the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

Demonstrating Navajo Weaving

In the 1950’s automobile travel overtook train travel, which struggled to compete. In 1972, the railroads donated all the facilities at Zion, Bryce, Cedar Breaks, and the Grand Canyon to the National Park Service.

My dream is to visit all the National Parks, and if not stay in the Great Lodges, at least step into the lobbies. Maybe have a bite to eat in the dining hall. Have you stayed or visited any of the Great Lodges? What National Parks have you been to?