Carl F. Spiesshofer was born on July 23, 1880 in Plymouth, Indiana. He was born the son of German immigrants who were naturalized in Marshall County. He attended public schools in his family's new hometown and graduated from Plymouth Public School in 1899. A short time later, young Carl moved to Salt Lake City, Utah working for a local business, Derge and Co. During his time in Salt Lake, Carl took up residence at a local boarding house at 326 South 3rd East. On July 13, 1904, Carl Spiesshofer set out from his Utah home for a vacation in Yellowstone National Park. Upon his return to Utah from Yellowstone National Park, Carl Spiesshofer continued to live in Salt Lake City until early 1905. He made his way back toward his family home by taking a job as a stationer at one of Chicago's publishing houses, McClurg and Company, who are responsible for the now famous Tarzan series. Spiesshofer eventually settled down marrying Neta Morris on June 15, 1915 and, eventually, Hattie Florence Galbreath. C. F. Spiesshofer died in Warsaw, Indiana at age 79 in 1960.
This diary covers the life of Mr. Spiesshofer from 1904 through 1907. The book consists of 193 pages: 147 pages of Carl's finances in front and 46 pages moving from back to front deal with his trek through Yellowstone Park. He boarded the Oregon Short Line Railroad and took off toward Monida. By his second day, he had reached the park. Throughout his twelve days traveling the park, he describes such destinations as Madison Canyon, Madison River, Firehole River, Fountain Geyser, Mushroom Pool, Five Sisters, Black Warrior Geyser, Sulphur Pool, Midway Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful, Elephant Ear, Yellowstone Lake, Canyon, Hayden Valley and Yellowstone Falls. Carl also had opportunities to interact with the wildlife of the Park on his trip. He comes across elk and buffalo while on the various stage rides, watches bears being fed by park staff behind the hotel, and has the experience of snagging two trout on one hook fishing in Yellowstone Lake. During one of his excursions, Spiesshofer is treated to a hike down the face of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone on a rope ladder. Also during this trip, he is able to stand at Artist's Point where Moran painted his famous picture of Yellowstone. A guitar player, he was able to keep those in his party entertained with musical interludes next to such stops as Old Faithful.
This collection is open for research.
The C. F. Spiesshofer diary was obtained by Special Collections on February 24, 2003 from Jordan Antiquarian Books of Cody, Wyoming.
This collection was processed 2009 May 28