Louis Hill and Early Park Life

Louis Hill was the son of Great Northern Railway founder James J. Hill, and his successor as its CEO. Louis Hill constructed many of the early lodges and chalets within the Park to attract visitors to the park and passengers for his trains. He also created a marketing campaign around the slogan “See America First – Glacier National Park.”

In the early 1900s, before cars became more numerous, travel within the Park was primarily by horseback. At one time, the saddle horse concession had 1,000 head of horses. Two and three week saddle trips were popular. Guests could choose the overnight comfort of staffed chalets, or rough it in tent camps during their wilderness horseback trips. Each hotel, chalet and tent camp was spaced about a day’s horseback ride from the next. Trail rides into the heart of the Park along rivers and lakes, over steep mountains and through eerie forests, and living in tents and tipis on grass-covered meadows was a safe version of the Old West for many early tourists. The flames of the campfire, sleeping outside on cots or in sleeping bags, viewing the millions of stars shining in the dark night sky of the Rockies, and smelling freshly brewed coffee from a campfire in the early morning, left an indelible impression on visitors otherwise accustomed to the comforts of home. The Park enjoyed tremendous prosperity from its opening in 1910 to the late 1920s. But the increasing popularity of automobile travel, along with the impacts of the Great Depression and World War II, led to a decline of the Park’s operations. Some of the original lodges and chalets were dismantled. In recent years Glacier National Park has rebuilt and restored several of these buildings. Prices have changed since the 1920s. A typical night at a chalet with meals back then cost $4. In2017, the price ranges from $115 to $425. A seven-day horseback riding tour cost $34 in 1920, compared to today’s going rate of about $40 an hour. The Park has had to change with the times to keep pace with our changing lifestyles, interests and expectations. I think Louis Hill would be quite amazed at all the changes in the past 100 years.