“Far away in Montana, hidden from view by clustering mountain peaks, lies an unmapped northwestern corner—the Crown of the Continent.” So wrote famed naturalist George Grinnell in 1901, describing the land that would become Glacier National Park. Thanks to the preservation efforts of Grinnell and countless others, Glacier Park remains a rare North American jewel. Fun Facts: • The aptly named Triple Divide Peak, near Cut Bank, sends its waters to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans. • Morning Eagle, the Lake Josephine tour boat, was hand-winched half a mile upstream on the creek between Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Jo-sephine over six days in 1975. It hasn’t been moved since. • Each year, Rotarians from Canada and the U.S. honor the legacy of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park by pledging to main-tain the peace between the two nations as they shake hands across the border.
Getting Out
Yellowstone
“N
estled among the forest-crowned hills which bounded our vision lay this inland sea, its crystal waves dancing and sparkling in the sunlight, as if laughing with joy for their wild freedom. . . and we felt glad to have looked upon it.” In 1870, Explorer C.W. Cook described the land that would become Yellowstone for Western Monthly magazine. 151 years later, Yellowstone is still an awe-inspiring place of wild freedom.
Fun Facts: • At 3,742 square miles, Yellowstone is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. • In the late 1800s, souvenir sellers coated memorabilia in travertine by immersing the items in Mammoth Hot Springs for several days.
84
P U R E M O N TA N A
//
PureWestRealEstate.com
//
2 021-2 2
• Though we often link this national park with Theodore Roosevelt, who spent two weeks here in 1903, President Ulysses S. Grant actually signed the law that made Yellowstone the first national park in 1872.
PHOTO CREDITS: JENNIFER BOUTSIANIS (LEFT); ADOBE STOCK (BOTTOM RIGHT, BOTTOM CENTER); HUNTER D’ANTUONO (TOP RIGHT, TOP CENTER)
in
