DAY 9 -- YELLOWSTONE TRIP 1926

A colorized postcard view of Yellowstone Lake from the 1920s

 August 4, 1926

At Leek’s Camp at Jackson Lake. We plan to go back through S.E. entrance to Yellowstone Camp and on to Lake Camp, still on Yellowstone Lake.

[Ina completed her journal and apparently mailed it home. She didn’t begin another letter, so now the information about the trip is sketchy, mostly from postcards and the backs of pictures. They left Jackson Lake and went back to Yellowstone Park where they camped and did more sight-seeing. I’ll include here Ina’s “Wayside Notes,” indicating what worked.]

INA’S WAYSIDE NOTES

·      The tent is priceless, far above rubies. The feather beds are very comforting. Glad we brought ‘em along.

·      Shirley’s vanity case is the handiest thing on the works and the little Vaseline can in constant demand.

·      The little suitcase is next in the honor roll, holding all the little indispensables of our toilets.

·      The box which started out to hold fry pans and buckets was commandeered the second A.M. to ride the running board to hold extra wraps and parcels. Our backseat was much more comfortable ever after.

·      I soon found I could pin my hat onto the wide cloth band in corner of car cover, so I don’t wear it much.

·      At the desert station called Yale, Shirley put her black tie around my head, and I’ve been more respectable ever since.

DAY 8 -- YELLOWSTONE TRIP 1926

 

A colorized postcard photo of Jackson Lake

August 3, 1926

[Several pages of Ina's letter journal blew away, so she reconstructs the best she can. The timeline becomes blurred, but the stories continue.]

From a postcard: "A bear came into camp last night and ate at table. We had lots of fun. This morning, a mother bear and cubs came into camp and we got pictures. Weather fine."

[Ina completes her journal with the following entry:] 

We left the loop we were taking around the Park and came 23 miles through the south entrance and on to Jackson Lake in the Jackson Hole country. Very fine scenery with the Tetons looming across the lake. We came through level valleys surrounded by beautifully wooded mountains and along lovely creeks. We went to Moran, opposite Mt. Moran, and here the Snake flows out of Jackson Lake, and there is a big dam. There was a little store full of furs, all made, and heads and skins of animals decorated the walls, also chairs made of elk bones. But the chance to fish was poor, so we got bread, eggs, etc., and came back several nights to this beautiful camp on the lake.

The men got a boat but caught no fish. Dad, who fished along the bank, caught four copper bellies which are poor eating. [These were likely Utah Chubs, bony bottom feeders that she called copper bellies because of their coloring.]

This is our most beautiful camp so far, among little poplars and lodgepole pines, on a gentle slope overlooking the lake with small poplars and sage scattered over it. I had a big sage fire last night.

Now my diary letter is up to date. The men got up early and went fishing along the shore. Earle got one lake trout, their only luck. They came back for a hasty breakfast and went again in the boat, We did up dishes and aired our bedding, which it badly needed.

[On the morning of August 3, Shirley wrote the following postcard from “Jackson Lake Camp”:] I’m going to start right off by asking one of you to phone to Aunt Ida and ask her to buy that green hat for me. We’re camped near Jackson Lake and have a splendid view of the Tetons. Words can’t express their wild, rugged beauty. We’re having a sagebrush fire tonight. We’ll start back around the Grand Loop in the Park tomorrow.

DAY 7 -- YELLOWSTONE TRIP 1926

 

Shirley Dobson, Bernice Dryden Dobson, and Lynn Dryden at Old Faithful Geyser

August 2 -- 

Ina notes on the back of the above photo: Vance took this picture of Old Faithful Geyser and got scalded on his face and arms when a light breeze blew the steam on him. He felt the effects the rest of the day. Old Faithful erupts every 60 to 70 minutes, throwing a column of water two feet in diameter from 120 to 170 feet and maintaining it for three minutes. Bernice, Lynn, and Shirley look like they are ready to dodge.

A geyser near Old Faithful

On the morning of August 2, Vance wrote a postcard to his sisters at the farmhouse: We’re at Old Faithful Camp and are just packing to leave. The geysers are wonderful and will see a few more today. The bears didn’t eat Dad, contrary to all expectations. We expect to camp at West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake and go on to the Tetons tomorrow. I hope the fences are standing up.

Old Faithful Inn -- "about 30 rods from the geyser"

And Ina also wrote to the daughters at home: We saw wonders yesterday afternoon and this morning. We went through the Old Faithful Inn. Weather looks stormy. We saw the bears eating and one came almost into camp this A.M. We are having a fine time. Wonderful campground. Got pictures. Love, Momma

On the back of the photo of Old Faithful Inn, Ina quotes from the Haynes' Guidebook: "the most extensive log structure yet devised by man." At the center it's eight stories high.

The above photo is Jupiter Terrace, part of the Mammoth Hot Springs. It's more imposing but not so beautiful as Angel Terrace and not far from it. 

DAY 6 -- YELLOWSTONE TRIP 1926

 

From the Haynes Guide, 1926

August 1, 1926 (Sunday)

On this date, Shirley wrote a postcard from Pond’s Resort, about 40 miles from Yellowstone: We’re just about ready to leave for the Park. It was surely cold last night. We’re getting up so much higher. We had a tire tube fixed in Idaho Falls yesterday morning, and it was nearly 9:30 when we left. Then we didn’t drive as fast as we had before. We sidetracked about an hour and went to see the great Snake River Falls, but it was well worth it. It was wonderful and picturesque. I must stop for lack of room. Wish you were here. I’m surely missing you, Shirley Jean. Love, Shirley

Ina continues: We decided to sleep in a little so got up at 5:30 and were away for the great entrance to the Park.

Western Entrance to Yellowstone National Park

I must tell you a joke on us. We were all looking for Fountain Geyser, which was on our first right. We saw a sign called Fountain Road and turned off within parking of a nearby ranger station. When we came to a small mound and saw steam, we decided it was Fountain Geyser, but Lynn and Earl were well ahead of us, so we chased after them, frantically blowing our horn. I think we chased them at least a mile. Then we all came back to the “geyser.” We tried to get Earle and Lynn to take the car back to the ranger station a quarter of a mile away to ask what time the geyser would erupt, but they wouldn’t, so Shirley and Bernice went and came back laughing. It wasn’t Fountain Geyser at all – only a hot pool.

Mammoth Hot Springs Terrace, postcard

Our drive from here on into the Lower Basin was filled with wonders. Fountain Geyser was a gorgeous pool of hot water a beautiful blue and another of wondrous green and smaller ones around of various shades of blue, green, orange shading to brown, pink, lavender, gray, mauve. It is simply indescribable.

Excelsior Geyser, taken by Vance

This P.M. we saw Excelsior Geyser, Turquoise Pool, and Prismatic Lake, all close together. Turquoise Pool was a heavenly blue such as I’ve never seen before. It’s about 30 feet across. Excelsior Geyser was in a pit with walls, say 25 feet high. It was as big as the house yard, I’d say, and a deep blue and boiling and splashing up in different places. It was shaded to different tints at edge and flowed down over a many-colored bluff into the Firehole River. Prismatic Lake had so many colors – blue, green, gold, orange, bronze, brown, pinks, lavender, wine. No time for more description.

Mammoth Paint Pots, by Vance

We went on and camped at Old Faithful campground. We saw the geyser spout, got souvenirs, etc. 

[The family purchased a box of 50 colored postcards which have been enjoyed by the generations over the ensuing century. The black and whites are lackluster but serve as a reminder that they were impressed by the beauty of the Park features. I remember my elementary school teachers talking about the wonders of Yellowstone in the 1950s. Do they still talk about it today? Is it still impressive, or have we ruined it?]

DAY 5 -- YELLOWSTONE TRIP 1926

July 31, 1929 (Saturday)

Ina writes:

We passed through Rigby, Lorenzo, Thornton, and Rexburg, a nice small town where they had parking in the middle of the street. Next was St. Anthony’s Falls where we ate lunch. It developed that Earle was feeling pretty bum with summer flu symptoms. We gave him aspirin and got quinine for him. Vance drove.

There was a fine park here at St. Anthony right by the river and falls – free, with things to amuse the children. The cascades were very pretty, and there was a monument to the World War men – a soldier, all equipped, stepping forward. [This was undoubtedly the “doughboy” statue at Veteran Memorial Park in St. Anthony, dedicated May 30, 1923.]

Ashton was our next place of interest. We stocked up there for the Park, but this was unnecessary for there are places right along where supplies are to be had. The scenery began to be much finer from here on. Robinson River and Warm River join at Warm River Station.

We camped this night at Pond’s Resort in the Targhee National Forest. We had a nice camp to ourselves among the lodgepole pines and had much merriment about bears coming into camp. There was a dance at the Pond place and Lynn and Vance dressed up and went and had a good time.

We had a nice broad, shallow river here. Lynn and Vance got a bath, though no swim.

This P.M. we sidetracked to see the big falls on the Snake, a truly wonderful sight, located about 40 miles from Yellowstone Park. Vance took pictures. Dad had gripes [intestinal upset] from something he ate so didn’t take the half mile walk down to where we could see it. There was a large handsome log hunting lodge there not 40 rods from where we stood – rustic and very nice.

Enlargement of photo above

[Both Ina and Shirley mention a detour to view "the great falls on the Snake.” It seems like this should be Shoshone Falls (called the Niagara of the West), located near Twin Falls, but on Day 4, Ina just says, “We came from Twin Falls to Idaho Falls,” with no mention at that point of viewing waterfalls. Did they think the cascade at Pond’s Lodge was “the great Snake River Falls?”

Online research provided the following: “When your family camped at Pond's Lodge in 1926, Charles Pond had just bought the lease to the resort the previous fall. At that time, a short walk down the trail along the river led to a sharp, natural scenic cascade where the water tumbled through the basalt rock. The reason you won't see that exact, wild natural waterfall today is because the river was altered ten years after your family's visit. In 1936, a small concrete hydroelectric dam was built right on top of that cascade.” This seems to fit Ina’s description and the photos.]

DAY 4 – YELLOWSTONE TRIP 1926

 Ina continues her journal, July 30, 1926:

A big car drove in late, and this A.M. we were treated to the spectacle in real life of what we all suffer from in dreams, i.e., two men trying to dress with people all around them. We made a little better time getting off here, but I soon found I had left the little pin you gave me, Ethel, in the toilet. I felt sick, but at the next town (Burley), I wrote back to the caretaker to send it on home. There was only one car left there, a man and woman, so I think she found it all right. [Hmmm. I wish I knew if she got it back.]

We came from Twin Falls to Idaho Falls, 186 miles, passing through Hansen, Murtaugh, and Declo. At Yale, we ate dinner behind the machine shop – rather unpleasant – but it saved time for Earle was having a tube patched. Here Lynn picked up and took along an oldish man who had walked in 8 miles leaving his family and crippled car on the desert road. 

This afternoon, Bernice’s old duster was lost off the running board box. We thought sure that Dad [coming behind in Lynn's car] would see it and pick it up, but later we halted and when he and Lynn came up, he said, “Ha! That’s what we passed back there.” He seemed quite pleased to have identified the object. Well, we were glad that Bernice didn’t care so much.

We went through sage country. Our next place of interest was American Falls, so choked by a gigantic dam as to be spoiled. The great dam was worth seeing but the town most uninteresting. It had been moved some distance from the former site and the trees were all very young.

Pocatello was our next point and is quite a place, but we were not interested. Here Dad and I got tinted glasses. We passed Fort Hall and Blackfoot. It was not so hot. The country was pretty and the roads good, though they are having a lot done to them and Earle got another flat tire. Road work is hard on tires. We passed through Firth, then Shelley, then into Idaho Falls, which is a nice big town.

We were in a public camp at 25 cents per car. There seemed to be hundreds of cars there, but we got off to ourselves where there was no table. A girl came over and told us we could have theirs since they were through, but it was a doubtful comfort for it was too high and small.

After we were in bed, a car rolled in, and the woman said all she wanted was to go to sleep and didn’t care if she ever woke up again. The man said she’d better jump over the falls and get out of her misery. In the A.M., we found three cars had pulled in close to us. The rough man had to hold up a quilt while his wife dressed.

We are still 124 miles from the Park. Having a good time.

[I think Mike and I are truly the reincarnation of Jack and Ina. We've lost cameras, phones, charging cords, a pajama top, a swimsuit, and whole suitcases. On his last motorcycle excursion, Mike lost his iPhone. Recently, Clint found our old Nikon AW100 – misplaced years ago – in our kayak. We lose something with most every trip.]

DAY 3 -- YELLOWSTONE TRIP 1926

 

July 29, 1926

We had the usual breakfast with everybody feeling fine. We were soon in desert country proper looking like old times so much that I begged for two good pictures and got them, I hope. [Well, she got one anyway.]

We saw our first live jack rabbit, but the highway is dotted with dead ones. It got very hot in the P.M. on the desert. We passed through New Plymouth, Middleton, Caldwell, Nampa, Meridian, Boise, Regina, Sunnyside, Cleft, Mountain Home. At Caldwell, Shirley exchanged her glasses for a lavender-tinted pair which she liked better.

Caldwell is in the Boise Valley and nice. Middleton is small. Nampa – fine. The valley was lovely but we seemed to be dodging out occasionally into desert country. In the suburbs of Boise, Earle had to tinker with the car so we ate lunch on the side of the road in the shade of big trees. We had bought some minced ham, relish spread, pork and beans, lettuce and mayonnaise. We passed through Boise about noon and managed to see the capital building. Boise is beautiful with wide streets and shade trees.

We drove out at 12:20 and were in for our hottest P.M. Finally we came to Sunnyside – a service station and small store. We went in and drank some kind of bottled cool drink which was very refreshing, but we looked nothing like the ads you see of people drinking Coca Cola. [In 1926, Coke's tagline was "refresh yourself."]

I found I could pin my duster to the frame so as to shut out the sun pretty well, but oh, Girls! My hair!!! I tried to keep it on by wrapping with auto veil but the veil would slip off and hair go all directions. Well, the heat was fierce, but we grimly endured and presently came to Mountain Home. We passed through Cleft, but it was too small to notice. Mountain Home was a nice little place, and here we decided to come by Pocatello instead of the shorter, harder route. We passed through Hammett, but I have no recollection of it.

The next place was Glenns Ferry. Here dad purchased the hamburger which proved bad and forgot the butter.

This P.M., we passed what is called the Thousand Springs Ranch on the Snake. From a bluff across the river numerous waterfalls descended apparently coming out of a rimrock. We were not on the desert all P.M. but occasionally dropped into the river valley. Then it was nice – big trees and green fields.

We passed through Bliss, Hagerman, and Buhl and then began to watch for Twin Falls. Here we had our first experience of auto camps – a little kitchen with oil range, good toilets, even a tub and clothesline. There were shade trees, too. We boiled potatoes and expected a feed, but the sausage was bad, no butter, and Lynn didn’t like boiled potatoes, so we were sort of grouchy but got to laughing and I thought of the corned beef hash and insisted on Lynn finishing the relish spread. Dad had bought doughnuts and so with tea and jam, we made out. I found a cinnamon roll in a bag and was voted lucky.

After supper, the menfolk all went to hunt a bath and swim and ice cream, and the girls took the chance to write in the little cookhouse. When the men came back, they were minus the bath and swim but had ice cream and cookies. We ate it out of cups and were the worse for doing so. Then we collected wash pans, etc., and went to the toilet room for a sketchy sponge bath and after that we bathed our underwear and hose and hung them on the tent ropes and benches.

We made 200 miles this day – mostly desert country but part of the time through the Boise valley and along the Snake River. It was awfully hot. We made 25 to 50 miles per hour. We ate lunch in the suburbs of Boise.