Montana Historical Society
Archives
MC 141
Yellowstone Park Company
Yellowstone Park Company Records
1886-1962
6.5 linear feet of shelf space
Collection consists of the organizational and financial
records of the Yellowstone Park Company, a major park concessionaire, as well as those of
several predecessor companies, including Yellowstone Park Camping Co., Yellowstone Park Boat
Co., Yellowstone Park Association, and the Wylie Permanent Camping Co.
7:2-2
English
The early history of concessions in Yellowstone National Park was extremely complex. The
Northern Pacific Railroad, its subsidiary the Northwest Improvement Company, and various
private parties owned many of the park concessions. The Yellowstone Park Association was
incorporated under Minnesota law prior to 1890. It leased land from the Secretary of the
Interior to establish hotels at several locations. In 1892, Harry W. Child, Silas S.
Huntley, L.H. Hershfield, Aaron Hershfield, and others established the Yellowstone National
Park Transportation Company to provide stagecoach travel in the Park. In 1901 Child,
Huntley, and E.W. Bach purchased the stock of the Yellowstone Park Association, to
consolidate their control of the concessions. Later that year, Huntley died, leaving Harry
W. Child in control of the association and the transportation company. In 1909 Child, his
wife Adelaide D. Child, and their son Huntley Child reorganized the Yellowstone National
Park Transportation Company into its constituent parts the Yellowstone Park Transportation
Company and the Yellowstone Park Hotel Company. In spite of this reorganization, they were
unable to operate effectively. On the death of Child in 1931, his son-in-law William M.
Nichols took over the operation of the concessions. In 1936 Nichols merged the park's
transportation, hotel, camping, and boating operations into the new Yellowstone Park
Company. World War II however, brought a decline in the concessions as government services
to all parks were curtailed and tourist activity decreased. Close to bankruptcy during the
1940s, Nichols was financially unprepared for the tourist boom of the early 1950s. To meet
the need for improved and expanded facilities, the government initiated "Mission 66", a
joint government and private financing of new facilities, the most ambitious of which was
the new Canyon Village, completed in 1957. The Yellowstone Park Company continued to operate
the concessions until 1980 when the United States Government bought all the company's
property.
Collection consists of organizational and financial records of the Yellowstone Park
Company and many of its predecessors. Subgroups in the collection are C.A. Hamilton, Hayward
Cabin Company, Vernon Goodwin Company, George Whittaker, Wylie Permanent Camping Company,
Yellowstone Park Association, Yellowstone Park Boat Company, Yellowstone Park Camping
Company, Yellowstone Park Hotel Company, and Yellowstone Park Transportation
Company/Yellowstone National Park Transportation Company. Among the financial records are
appraisal reports (1929) for each of the hotels of the Yellowstone Park Hotel Company, and
for the Yellowstone Park Boat Company, the Yellowstone Park Lines, Inc., the Yellowstone
Park Lodge and Camps Company, and the Yellowstone Park Transportation Company. Included in
these reports are complete inventories and layout maps. There are minutes for the
Yellowstone Park Company (1952-1962), the Vernon Goodwin Company (1924-1936), the
Yellowstone Park Boat Company (1911-1936), the Yellowstone Park Camping Company (1917-1936),
the Yellowstone Park Hotel Company (1909-1936), and the Yellowstone Park Transportation
Company (1909-1936) Included in the Yellowstone Park Company subgroup are several major
reports on the properties of the company (ca. 1939) and on construction projects
(1958-1960). [The bulk of Yellowstone Park Company records are in the archives of
Yellowstone National Park at park headquarters in Mammoth. See copy of their inventory.]
Arranged by subgroup and series. Some material housed in Archives Map Case and Manuscript
Volumes. See inventory below for more information.
Collection open for research.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical
Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection.
In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright
owners. For more information contact an archivist.
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers.
Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request
The bulk of Yellowstone Park Company records are in the archives of Yellowstone National
Park at park headquarters in Mammoth (Collection No.: YELL 185385).
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society
Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places
should search under these terms.
Yellowstone Park Company
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park--Commerce
Yellowstone National Park--Description and
travel
Yellowstone National Park--Leased departments,
concessions, etc.
Hotels--Yellowstone National Park
Business, Industry, and Labor
Parks and Playgrounds
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection
Yellowstone Park Company
General Correspondence
1 / 1
Miscellaneous (re merging of the companies to form
Yellowstone Park Company; correspondents include William M. Nichols, Hugh D.
Galusha, Walter S. Orr, Taylor B. Weir, U.S. Internal Revenue Service)
1936
1 / 2
Memoranda (correspondents include Yellowstone Park
Company Construction and Engineering Dept. re cooperative fire organization;
Yellowstone Park Service Stations re destruction of old records)
1960-1961
Court Papers
1 / 3
State of Wyoming vs. Yellowstone Park Company (re
gasoline tax)
1941
Organization
1 / 4-14
Minutes of meetings of stockholders and directors
1955-1962
1 / 15
Minutes of meetings of Yellowstone Park
concessioner
1961
1 / 16
Organizational chart
1956
1 / 17
Stockholders' shares in new company
1936
Reports
2 / 1
Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, "Yellowstone Park
Company" (includes inventory, photographs, maps, etc.)
circa 1939
2 / 2
J.C. Newsome and Company, "Report of Yellowstone
Park Company, for the personal, confidential use of William M. Nichols"
1953
2 / 3
U.S. Comptroller General report on National Park
Service [incomplete]
1956
2 / 4
U.S. Comptroller General, "Report to the Committee
on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, Review of Recommended
Policy Guidelines for Administration of Concession Contracts, National Park Service,
Department of Interior"
1963
2 / 5
U.S. House of Representatives. Subcommittee on
Public Lands, "Concessions in National Parks" [hearings]
1948-1949
2 / 6
U.S. House of Representatives. Subcommittee of
Committee on Government Operations, "Survey of Selected Activities" [hearings]
1962
2 / 7
Yellowstone Park Company. Construction and
Engineering Dept., "Annual Budget Report"
1959-1960
2 / 8
Yellowstone Park Company. Construction and
Engineering Dept., "Progress Report"
1959
2 / 9
Yellowstone Park Company. Construction and
Engineering Dept., "A Study of the Yellowstone Park Company's Concessions in
Yellowstone National Park"
1958
C. A. Hamilton
Financial Records
1
Ledger
1922-1931
Hayward Cabin Company
Financial Records
3 / 1
Journal
1929-1931
Vernon Goodwin Company
Financial Records
3 / 2
Journal and ledger
1924-1935
Legal Documents
3 / 3
Agreements for purchase of shares in Yellowstone
Park Camps Company
1924
Organization
3 / 4
Certificate of amendment of certificate of
incorporation
1934
3 / 5
Minute book
1924-1936
George Whittaker
Financial Records
2
Journal
1930-1944
3
Ledger
1922-1933
Wylie Permanent Camping Company
Financial Records
3 / 6
Corporate income tax return
1909
3 / 7
Statement of operating results
1909-1915
Yellowstone Park Association
Court Papers
4 / 1
S.S. Huntley Estate: inspection of Yellowstone Park
Association books
undated
Financial Records
4 / 2
Annual report to Secretary of the Interior
1905-1908
4 / 3
Balance sheets
1895-1904
4 / 4
Corporate tax returns
1909
4 / 5
Statement of earnings and expenses
1890-1898
4 / 6
Statement of earnings, operations, expenses, and
net earnings
1895-1900
4 / 7
Statement of expenses for improvements and
construction
1890-1894
4 / 8-10
Statement of operating results (includes
Yellowstone National Park Transportation Company)
1904-1913
Legal Documents
4 / 11
Agreement: Northwest Improvement Company with Harry
W. Child, Edward W. Bach, and Silas S. Huntley for purchase of Yellowstone Park
Association stock
1901
4 / 12
Leases from U.S. Department of the Interior on Park
sites
1895, 1901, 1905
MC 122-157
Leases from U.S. Department of the Interior on Park
sites [proposed] [Map Case See Folder MC 122-157]
1907
Organization
4-5
Stock certificates books
1886-1907
Yellowstone Park Boat Company
General Correspondence
5 / 1
Miscellaneous (correspondents include Harry W.
Child, A.H. Foss, Hofer Boat Company, T.B. Miller, William M. Nichols, Northern
Pacific Railway, U.S. Deptartment of the Interior, U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
1911-1919, 1926
Financial Records
5 / 2
Annual report to Secretary of the Interior
1911-1918
5 / 3-4
Appraisal report (includes summary, inventory,
maps)
1929
5 / 5
Corporate tax return
1911-1919
5 / 6
Financial reports
1911-1916
5 / 7
Financial statements
1911-1917
5 / 8
Individual liability of stockholders
1917
5 / 9
Inventory of boats
undated
5 / 10
Ledger
1911-1918
5 / 11
Promissory notes
1916
Legal Documents
5 / 12
Agreement with C.A. Hamilton
1926
Organization
5 / 13
Minute book
1911-1936
5 / 14
Stock certificate book
1911-1931
Yellowstone Park Camping Company / Yellowstone Park
Camps Company
Interoffice Correspondence
6 / 1
E.C. Day to William M. Nichols (enclosing copy of
resolution re purchase of stock of Wylie Permanent Camping Company)
1917
Legal Documents
6 / 2
Mortgage [removed from minute book for preservation
reasons]
1928
Organization
6 / 3
Minute book
1917-1936
Yellowstone Park Hotel Company
General Correspondence
7 / 1
Miscellaneous (correspondents include Harry W.
Child, U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Bernice Bushnell, Bloedel-Donovan Lumber
Company, Allen B. Fall)
1908-1927
Financial Records
7 / 2
Appraisal, vol. 2 Inventory (re Mammoth Hot Springs
group; includes map) [vol. 1, summary, missing; Yellowstone National Park Archives
has complete set]
1929
7 / 3
Appraisal, vol. 2 Inventory (re Norris Group; Old
Faithful Group; Stable at Yellowstone Park Lodge and Camps Company; includes maps)
1929
8 / 1
Appraisal, vol. 4 Inventory (re Lake group;
includes map)
1929
8 / 2
Appraisal, vol. 5 Inventory (re Canyon group,
includes map; Helena offices in Power Block; La Jolla offices)
1929
9 / 1
Appraisal, Glossary of furnishings
1929
6
Cash book (lists purchases by guests at Old
Faithful Inn)
1913-1914
9 / 2
Corporate tax returns
1910-1921
9 / 3-4
Financial reports and statements
1909-1919
7
Ledger
1910-1920
9 / 5
Property depreciation
1909-1911
9 / 6
Report to Secretary of the Interior
1909-1918
9 / 7
Statement of operating results
1913-1918
9 / 8
Statistical study of principal expenses
1904-1914
Legal Documents
9 / 9
Agreements with Hansen Packing Company to supply
meat
1927, 1932
9 / 10
Agreements with Park Creamery to supply milk
1926
9 / 11
Agreements with various parties to supply wood
1926-1927
9 / 12
Leases of property from Ernest A. Rife for use as a
vegetable garden
1925
Organization
9 / 13
Miscellaneous (includes certificate of
incorporation, bylaws, subscription for capital stock)
1909
9 / 14
Minute book
1909-1936
8
Stock certificate book
1909-1936
Yellowstone Park Lines, Inc.
Financial Records
10 / 1
Appraisal, vol. 1 Summary
1929
10 / 2
Appraisal, vol. 2 Inventory
1929
Yellowstone Park Lodge and Camps Company
Financial Records
10 / 3
Appraisal, vol. 1 Summary
1929
10 / 4
Appraisal, glossary of furnishings
1929
Yellowstone Park Transportation Company / Yellowstone
Park National Transportation Company
General Correspondence
11 / 1
Miscellaneous (correspondents include A.W. Miles,
Wylie Permanent Camping Company, A.H. Foss, U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Harry W.
Child, Horace M. Albright)
1910-1927
Court Papers
11 / 2
Miscellaneous (includes Mary Hershfield vs.
Yellowstone National Park Transportation Company writ of mandamus; In the matter of
the Estate of S.S. Huntley request to examine books)
1901, undated
Financial Records
11 / 3
Appraisal, vol. 1 Summary
1929
11 / 4
Appraisal, vol. 2 Inventory
1929
12 / 1
Appraisal, vol. 3 Inventory
1929
13 / 1
Auditor's report
1922
13 / 2
Balance sheet: Gardiner Townsite
1906
13 / 3
Corporate tax returns
1909-1921
13 / 4-5
Financial statements
1903, 1919
13 / 6
Inventory: equipment
1892, 1905
9
Ledger
1910-1920
13 / 7
Property depreciation
1909-1911
13 / 8-9
Reports to Secretary of the Interior
1905-1916
13 / 10
Transportation rate schedule
1893, 1898
Legal Documents
13 / 11
Agreement with Monida Stage Company
1900
13 / 12
Agreements with Secretary of the Interior
1891-1905
13 / 13
Bond with Fidelity and Deposit Company
1898
13 / 14
Contract with Continental Oil Company
1926-1927
13 / 15
Lease with Oregon Short Line for oil storage site
at West Yellowstone
1926
Organization
13 / 16
Certificate of incorporation, subscription to
capital stock, amendment to certificate of incorporation
1909, 1917
13 / 17
Minute book
1909-1936
10-11
Stock certificate books
1892-1936
13 / 18
Stock ledger
1909-1918