Next ‘Culture of 19th Century’ lecture discusses stagecoach tours thru Yellowstone
“A Stagecoach Tour Through Yellowstone: ‘All Them Fool Tenderfoot Questions,’” the second program in the Yellowstone Gateway Museum’s ‘Culture of the 19th Century’ speaker series, is set for Wednesday, March 13th. Historian and author Lee Whittlesey will discuss the essence of the Yellowstone Grand Tour during the halcyon days of Yellowstone stagecoaches, 1878-1916. The lecture will begin at 7pm at Livingston’s Park Photo. Doors will open at 6:30pm.
During the period 1878-1916, stagecoach tourism in Yellowstone – spearheaded by four transportation companies and dozens of independent drivers, with their hundreds of gaily bedecked horses – evolved into a smoothly functioning adventure that guided thousands of visitors through Yellowstone and converted park villages from frontier hard-scrabbles of log cabins into picturesque, pastoral villages that provided comfort in the midst of a wilderness, offered idyllic pleasure to the masses, and served as inspirational and even patriotic places for relaxation.
This program, illustrated with historic photographs, takes the audience on what is believed by Whittlesey to have been the standard tour of Yellowstone by stagecoach. It discusses what the tour was all about, where it went, what those early stage-drivers talked about, what questions visitors asked, which direction the stagecoaches traveled, what some visitors thought of the trip, how long it took, and what those wonderful Yellowstone natural features were that so merited speech-making and discussion. In short, the program discusses the essence of the Yellowstone Grand Tour during the halcyon days of Yellowstone stagecoaches.
Lee Whittlesey’s forty-year studies in the history of the Yellowstone region have made him an expert on Yellowstone’s vast literature and have resulted in numerous publications. He is the author, co-author, or editor of fourteen books, including Storytelling in Yellowstone: Horse and Buggy Tour Guides, Ho! for Wonderland: Travelers Accounts of Yellowstone, 1872-1914 (with Elizabeth Watry), and more than twenty-five journal articles.
Whittlesey retired as Park Historian for the National Park Service at Yellowstone National Park in April of last year. He now lives in the Livingston area, where he is working on his latest book, Stagecoaching Through Yellowstone, a two-volume history of stagecoaching in the Yellowstone region.
Future programs will include “Bars, Brothels & the Law in Livingston” on March 27th, “Fort Parker: The First Crow Indian Agency” on April 11th, and “Me & Martha: Intimate Reflections of Dora DuFran about the Real Life of Calamity Jane” on April 24th.
All programs are held at 7pm at Park Photo, located at 115 S Main in Livingston. The speaker series is free, open to the public and refreshments are served. Doors at 6:30pm.
For more information about upcoming programs, visit www.yellowstonegatewaymuseum.org or find the museum on Facebook. •