East Glacier Park

We are approaching East Glacier Station, a summer-season stop for the Empire Builder. The present depot opened in 1912 and became the eastern rail entrance to both Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park just across the Canadian border. The following year, the Glacier Park Hotel opened just north of the station and is framed beautifully under the watchful eye of Dancing Lady Mountain. In order to promote both the railroad and Glacier National Park, the Great Northern hired local Blackfeet members to meet the train at East Glacier in full regalia, pose with passengers for photos, and entertain tourists at what is now known as Glacier Park Lodge. In earlier years, a small town popped up to our right consisting of railroad employees and settlers. Back in those days it was called Midvale (probably because it was in the middle of the valley). The name was changed in 1913 at the same time as West Glacier to give a point of reference for visitors. Today, East Glacier Park, Montana has about 500 full-year residents.

Glacier Park Lodge, here at East Glacier, is actually located on the Blackfeet Reservation. The land was purchased over a century ago from the Piegan, a tribe of the Blackfeet Nation. Though we are only about two miles from the boundary of Glacier National Park, the nearest major park entrance is at Saint Mary, about 30 miles north of here. The large pillars inside and outside of the hotel are 700-year old Douglas firs that were shipped here from the State of Washington. The 60 columns each measure 40 feet in height and three feet in diameter. With these dimensions and their weight of about 15 tons, only two of the timbers could be loaded and carried on a railroad flat car at a time. Mule teams then dragged the columns to the hotel site. These timbers support the verandas and form a colonnade in the lobby. Those inside still retain their original bark. When the lodge was built in 1913, the local Indians were quite impressed with the large trees brought from far away and the massive lodge structure. The Indians named the new lodge “Omahkoyis,” which translates as “Big Tree Lodge.” The opening was said to be a joyous celebration – in addition to some 600 invited guests, hundreds of Blackfeet Indians erected tipis on the grounds. The National Park Service acquired the hotel after World War II and maintains the Glacier Park Lodge as a summer tourist hotel for Park visitors.