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Show Automobile Journey Through Yellowstone Reveals Wonders Scenic Grandeur of Region Culminates With Fitting Dignity the Trip Among Splendid Regions of Productiveness in Idaho. By O. R. PBAESALL. I WENT out. to my garagp one morning, morn-ing, looked my motor straight in the eye and told it, confidentially that I was going on a long trip and wanted it to act like a gentleman. As my party was composed mostly of the gentler sex, 1 wanted to bo able to ' act like a gentleman mysolf, which would depend largely on the auto's per-formauoe. per-formauoe. I tightened all sort of things and oiled others, a-dded a hatchet, a small piece of rope anrl a few inner tubes to the regular cargo, and the next morning at 5;3o started north on the cement road. Early risers worn still sleeping when we chocked Ogden from our log, and the appetizing odors of cooking breakfasts break-fasts wore still in the, air as Brighani I'itv disappeared behind us. Malad was just beginning to feel the heat of midday mid-day as we inquired of a grouchy banker for the best hotel for lunch. No one but a banker in a small city could havo given as diplomatic an answer to our query as ho did. Without looking up from his work he said, "There arc two and both are good." Contrast Helps Picture, McCammon was more difficult to find midst the dust of some twenty five miles of newly constructed road, but at last tho "bad stretch'' was finished fin-ished and the faithful motor, besmirched be-smirched in dirt, found footing on a fiot stretch of highway and sped rapidly into Pocatello. A few moments later found us still going north over a fair highway on to Blackfoot, and at 8 o'clock into Idaho Falls, where we secured se-cured excellent accommodations for the night. Tho day had furnished all extroiuo of road and weather and landscape, with the average all to the good, and when our partv checked up the incidents inci-dents of the day, the combined vote was that the 22fc miles had furnished such a constant change of scene that the thunderstorm and small cyclone and the short piece of bad road furnished fur-nished but a dark background to more perfectly bring out the brighter spots, and that tho day was good. Resources Are Abundant. The next morning about 10 o'clock we started for St. Anthony and I assume as-sume that our partv was one of the great majority that has no real conception concep-tion of the actual doings of the residents resi-dents of a noighbor state or of its resources. re-sources. In a general way we had heard of the fine streams and great irrigation projects of Idaho, but until this day of motoring to St. Anthony and on to XbIi-ton, XbIi-ton, we did not realize the enormous wealth of grain that this section produces. pro-duces. For more than 100 miles we traveled through a country almost entirely en-tirely dressed m the soft draperies of ripened gTain and giving abundant evidence evi-dence or great prosperity. As we neared Ashton the peculiar abrupt, peaks of the Tetons 100 miles away were seen, and before us ap neared an endless range of pine-clad hills that we were rapidly approaching. approach-ing. We crossed the Snake river at the foot of this barrier, and in a moment plunged into a long, low canyon, which we followed to the mountain top. We were in the pines at last, and. looking back, could see only the checker board wealth of the well cultivated laud through which we had passed. Looking j forward, only the forest in all its somber som-ber dignity could be seen. Motoring in Pines. Words cannot describe the delights of the first motor trip through the pines; the quiet, the coolness, the shadows, shad-ows, the fragrance, enthrall the senses, and for thirty miles we plunged deeper The panorama as it is unrolled over the 107 miles of travel is probably unexcelled un-excelled for grandeur in all the world, and as our motor drifted down the homeward trail our party was quiet for the first time, each one unhappily conscious of going back to the commonplace common-place and passing out for a time from the portals of the world's most famous gallery, where the Great Architect had" grouped for man 'r admiration and amazement his most wonderful masterpieces. master-pieces. The motor behaved like a gentleman. mont. affords a delightful beginning to your trip. Lunch at the Colonial hotel on the lake on the following day, and arrival at the magnificent Canyon hotel ho-tel at 3 p, m. of the same day, where you spend the night, gives the motorist a fifty-mile drive through wonderland that the stages are compelled to complete com-plete in two days. On the following day the motorists go on to Mammoth hot springs, over the famous Dunraven pass, while the stages, except by special spe-cial arrangement, go by the less scenic route, via Xorris basin. A nigbt at Mammoth and then a forty-seven-mile drive back to the Yellowstone entrance, completes a four-day trip for the motorist. mo-torist. Those who have visited the park know its wonders and others have read of them, but to the great majority who have not experienced a compelling desire de-sire to visit this spot I would suggest that they plan an early trip. Sights Are Wonderful. One will see things bubble, and spout, and steam, and gush, as only the Creator Crea-tor of this great universe can stage these activities; and around, and above, and below all these seemingly unnatural expressions ex-pressions of the earth's wrath are the majestic mountains, the rivers, the tumultuous tu-multuous cataracts and the glorious for-OBts for-OBts iu ever charming sublimity, as The motorist may see them from the mountain moun-tain top or the valley, or in the sunshine sun-shine or in the storm. into this glorious atmncphore, and at (i o'clock took rooms at tho Hat Roek rlub on the north fork of Snake river . A q other day of nature 's delightful panorama, particularly accessible to the motorist. We spent four days at the club, and then ono evening we drove up to Yel-1 Yel-1 Owe tone station, twenty-five miles further fur-ther north, and spent the night at a log hotel, famous chiefly for its acoustic propnrties. One snore would echo until the next snoro arri ved, and as there were two men some whore in the bouse whose batteries wore overcharged, the restfulnoss of tho night to our party mlffht bo compared to one spent iu the Hidgian trendies. The morning came at last, howovor, and at 7 o'clock our motor stuck its noso up to the entrance of Yellowstone park and asked for credentials cre-dentials to bo allowed to see its wonders. won-ders. Clock on a Tree. At last the portals of Yellowstone, nnturo's most renowned wonderland, without an architectural masterpiece to mark its entrance. Instead we found at tho end of a long, dusty street, lined with temporary-looking shacks, and very much like the main thorough fa ro in a lumber camp, a Big Ben a la rm clock ha ngi ng on a pine t roe before a com-monplaee com-monplaee log hut, occupied by a young man, exceedingly polito and with a soft southern accent. To a motorist the young man and the alarm clock constitute the beginning and the end of Yellowstone. The young man gives you a certificate in exchange for $5 if one drives a runabout, $7.50 for 8 five-passenger car and $1" for a sevon-jiassonger sevon-jiassonger one, and relieves von of the paper when you return, while Big Bon is the official timekeeper for starting and finishing motorists. Otherwise the entrance to Yellowstone Yellow-stone is unmarked, and wore it not for a wide, swooping curve in the roadway, which resembles a boulevard as compared com-pared to the dusty streets of the town, one would not know when he had passed from state to federal jurisdiction. Schedule Is ConYenient. According to schedule, motorists must star from the entrance on their trip through the park between 6:45 and 7:lo in the morning and thereafter are required re-quired to arrive at and leave noon and night controls according to the printed schedule given them bv the checker at the gate. The schedule looks complex and one is inclined at first to question its practicability or fairness to the motorist, mo-torist, but when tho trip is over he will acknowledge that for the first season it' was exceptionally well planned and really real-ly gives him a better time than he would probablv arrange for himself without it. We skidderl our wheels for the checker check-er according to the rules (as best we could) and at 7:10 folt tho smooth, hard, well-sprinkled road of Yellowstone unrolling un-rolling behind us. At last we were on one of the few spots in this groat universe uni-verse whore no speed maniac, road hog or cut-out fiend dare; to go by one a long as he keeps in motion. Some Unfounded Fears. We had a good clock and a good watch, besides our official schedule. Supposing Sup-posing that the park was bristling with soldiers wearing chronometers around their necks and carrving cutlasses in their teeth for the sole mirpose of regulating reg-ulating automobile traffic, we drove with exceeding care and lost much of the joy of the first leg of our trip, worrying worry-ing over the possibility of a breakdown and its supposed penalties should we be delaved for long. We finally reached the fountain hotel and were startled by either a cook or a chambermaid, who yelled from a second-story window ordering or-dering us to park our car in a certain place. That was the only evidence we had during our stay of two hours at the Fountain that anyone knew a motorist mo-torist was in camp. No soldier was there to check us in or out and when the schedule hour for departure came ten calm, quiet motors slipped past an imaginary imag-inary sentrv and took up the trail for Old 'Faithful. We had all learned that Uncle Sam expects motorists to be jrood without compulsion, and the motorists, by keeping the schedule, are good, according ac-cording to the park standard. Soldier Is Courteous. Near Old Faithful a soldier courteously courteous-ly hailed us and asked us if we intended to go to the hotel, the camp, or if we wished to pitch our own tent. Upon being be-ing informed that we wished to go to the hotel he directed which drive to take and where to park our car, and the next, morning as we drove out on schedule a soldier touched his hat in recognition of our salutation as we passed, but asked no questions and pave no order. During the next three days that we remained iu the park we experienced ex-perienced no greater hardship in obeying obey-ing the ''drastic park rules" than we had on this first day. Summing up all the restrictions imposed im-posed on motorists, and taking into consideration con-sideration the shorter time they spend on the road between points of interest, they have every advantage over the regular stage tourists. They leave ho-teTs ho-teTs before the stages and arrive at the next one hours earlier, giving them choice of accommodations and much longer periods in which to visit points of interest. The schedule is so arranged ar-ranged that a motorist never sees a regular reg-ular stage, except while he is sitting ou the porch of a hotel and the stages that ho loft early in the morning begin to arrive. By then he has had a bath and seen most of the sights and looks upon the tired and dusty stage tourists with a superior air. Come From Everywhere. Only about ten motorists enter the park at Yellowstone each morning and each party intends to see the sights in its own way. One stops at a bubbling spring and you pass on by. Another drops out at some enchanting spot and pitches his tent. Another takes the two-day trip and leaves you at the canyon, and still another bunks with the campers. So you are rarely in sight of more than one or two motorists motor-ists at a time and during much of the journey you see none at all. Motors come from everywhere and are loaded every way and a comradeship springs up among thorn that adds to the general enjoyment. You observe a motor today at some control that you saw tho day before, and tomorrow you will see it again somewhere further' up the line and a neighborly feeling springs' up for the people from Oklahoma and you enjoy their companionship, however casual it may be. Tho first iiight at Old Faithful inn. with its charm and interesting environ- |
