C. Hanford HendersonReseñas

Janet Chapple has assembled an engaging anthology of writings describing Yellowstone National Park, America's premier natural treasure. Starting with Nathanial P. Langford’s “The Wonders of the Yellowstone” which in 1871 brought Yellowstone to the forefront of America’s collective consciousness, the editor has gathered a potpourri of writings documenting fascinating voyages of Yellowstone sojourners. The texts are interspersed with maps and original illustrative materials. Especially valuable are the 1884 water color illustrations of Thomas H. Thomas, which appear for the first time in print courtesy of the National Museum of Wales. Annotated with notes on place names and a bibliography of relevant literature, the volume is a valuable addition to the voluminous literature devoted to Yellowstone.

Travel is much more accessible these days than it was a century ago, and as a result travel narratives proliferate, both in print and on the web. That means there's not much that's truly new in the genre, not much left to write ... though that doesn't stop people from trying. As much as nearly anywhere, that axiom is especially true for America's great National Parks; a place like Yellowstone, for example, get around four million visitors these days, nearly all of whom share what is essentially the same oft-told experience that has characterized the park since the arrival of the automobile. People know that, and at some level, they know what their experience is likely to be even before they arrive.

Things were much different, though, a century ago. In 1900 fewer than 10,000 people visited the park, and Yellowstone was far from becoming a national tourism cliché. Regardless of how one traveled through the park, the experience was still bound to be an adventure into the unknown, one marked by a feeling of excitement and wonder. The narratives of that day, no matter how prosaic in tone, couldn't help but reflect that sense of real adventure. And that, in short, is what makes this book so wonderful. The stories have a trailblazer's romance to them, a feeling of being part of something new and grand ... and this gives them a remarkable, evocative power that makes them well worth reading.

The volume itself is well-done, too, giving these stories the respect and presentation they deserve. The selection of essays is balanced and appropriate; the annotations and notes are professional and thoughtful, even including definitions of arcane terms; and the book is well composed, with relevant period illustrations, quality page layout, and good paper. All in all, this is an outstanding publication effort, one of the best anthologies of National Park literature I've seen.

Highly recommended.

This book is a compilation of early accounts (late 1800s and early 1900s) that individuals wrote about their experiences visiting and exploring Yellowstone Park, under very difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. The book is very well illustrated, with maps and early drawing, plus a whole section of reproductions of coloured watercolour paintings by Thomas H. Thomas. The book is well annotated with all kinds of extra information to put the accounts and drawings into context, and to give modern names and information when this differs from how things were back then.

There are lots of amusing anecdotes in some of the tales. I particularly liked the account by a mother who took her 7 children (oldest barely 16) in a wagon on a journey to Yellowstone of some 1200 miles, living outdoors for 2 months and crossing mountains and deserts. When their wagon broke down and they had to look for help in getting it fixed, she discovered that she had left her pocketbook on the hall table at home and so had no money to pay for any supplies or fixing the wagon! Luckily, the rancher she asked for help was kind and trusting. Another account describes how his poor pack ponies would sometimes get stuck trying to jump over fallen logs, and one got over a log by somersaulting several times and was none the worse for it!

This is a very interesting book to treasure. Highly recommended.

“I had been in the presence of great beauty, I had experienced keen pleasure, I had been profoundly interested, I had lived for six days in the open. What more could I wish for?”
--C. Hanford Henderson/Through Yellowstone on Foot

Through Early Yellowstone is an utterly charming book. It was such a great treat to “see” Yellowstone National Park through the eyes of a wide variety of travelers. I felt the enthusiasm in the words of each story and my respect for the wonders of the natural world was reinforced. The footnotes, notes and illustrations were a delightful addition and the texture of the stories was nicely balanced. This is a wonderful book for readers of all ages and an especially important read during a time when our natural landscapes are becoming more and more precious.

This anthology of early writings about Yellowstone records the accounts of early visitors to the park during the period from 1871 to 1928 no matter their means of transport. It makes for an excellent companion to Chapple's earlier comprehensive guidebook Yellowstone Treasures. This book is considerably enriched by the reproduced watercolour paintings by Welsh artist Thomas H. Thomas. Anyone interested in national parks, especially the historical aspect, will enjoy this very much.

I don't remember requesting this Early Reviewer book so not sure how I was chosen to receive it, however, it is a gem, one that I will treasure.

What a privilege it was to receive this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers! I will treasure it. There is nothing negative that I could possibly say about it. It is wonderous to read actual explorer and visitor accounts from the late 1800's to the early 20thC. How our language has changed post-Hemingway!! In 1871 one sentence could comprise a whole paragraph. The usage of that era seems florid, over-the-top to us in the 21st C, yet if we give into its seemingly verbose rhythms we can truly access those early writers' awe and joy of Yellowstone. Janet Chapple has scored a coup de gras by introducing the reader to the magnificent watercolors of a Welshman of that era, Thomas H. Thomas. We've all seen iconic photos of Yellowstone Park that have shaped our perception of Yellowstone, but Mrs. Chapple has kept photographs of the park (even those of the early days) to a minimum--perhaps 2 or 3 in 266 pages. This was a great decision on her part, because the Thomas watercolors, a few maps and sketches included, unencumbered with the prosaic and predictable, enable our response to written accounts to be subjective and intensely personal. Thank you, Mrs. Chapple and LibraryThing.com!!

I found the early accounts of traveling through Yellowstone Park a real treat to read, interesting and engaging, and sometimes quite fun. My favorites were Eleanor Quackenbush Corthell's account of traveling by wagon with her eight young children; and the beautifully illustrated account by Welsh artist, Thomas H. Thomas, including many color plates. The most memorable selection to me, though, was only two pages long, the very brief, but tense, account by George L. Henderson of his horse being stuck in a bog. This is a very handsome book, with many maps and illustrations, and notes for each selection. In particular, the introductions and biographical sketches of the authors that preceded each account provided very welcome context.½

This is a wonderful collection of early travel accounts through Yellowstone during the years 1870 to 1916. Selected and annotated by Janet Chapple, this anthology effectively presents the awe and amazement of travellers as they experienced the remarkable natural wonders of Yellowstone. The stories are a joy to read, as these adventurers documented their experiences with a delightful style, descriptively and enthusiastically detailing their wonderment at this unique sector of the American landscape.

With an evident passion for Yellowstone, Chapple provides detailed prefatory notes on the illustrations (including Thomas H. Thomas’s sublime watercolor sketches), and an informative introduction providing historical context. In addition, she meticulously introduces and annotates each individual account, providing the reader some welcomed background on both the writer and the circumstance of the excursion.

Highlights of the anthology include Elwood “Billy” Hofer’s 1887 “Winter in Wonderland” ski excursion; Frank D. Lenz’s 1892 cycling tour; hiker C. Hanford Henderson’s 1899 walk around the Grand Loop Road; and journalist Ray Stannard Baker’s 1903 tour via horseback. Another small, but noteworthy, touch is the evocative old-fashioned fonts used for the chapter headings. This is an exemplary work, fully immersive to time and place; and highly recommended for lovers of Yellowstone and those appreciative of fine historical travel writing.

This collection of early stories by the people who traveled through Yellowstone prior to the influx of people that are visiting the park today. They traveled by horse, foot, skis, and bicycle and they left the stories of what they saw and experienced for us to read today. Ms. Chapple has collected those stories and put them in one place for us to get to know the park before it became so crowded. In these stories we can see places that are off of the beaten path and that we may not have the wherewithal to visit today. Through these early explorers we can see these areas and experience the park from years ago.

The earliest explorers, the mountain men, had stories but they were not believed and they did not write anything down. These stories here are the earliest written accounts of what Yellowstone was like. For us today it is the closest that we are able to get to seeing what it was like more than a hundred years ago.

An excellent read and one that all visitors to Yellowstone should read. From a historical point of view it is a good read for understanding the park system.

"Through Early Yellowstone" is a delightful trip through travelers' tales about one of the most remarkable places on Earth. Not only was Yellowstone the United States' first national park, filled with an incredible number of natural wonders, it quickly captured the imagination of Americans and others. Janet Chapple has selected nearly 2 dozen examples of these recollections. Each is rich with description and offers a different perspective, whether from when or by whom it was written.

My favorite parts are Elwood Hofer's travels through the parks on skis and the crusty C. Hanford Henderson's walking tour. Many of the selections for this anthology were written for publication, and so the quality of story-telling strikes me as higher than it would be if these had merely come from private diaries. It is hard to imagine the variety of transport - foot, ski, cayuse ponies, bicycle - that these travelers used to navigate the park.

Chapple's book is exceptional in many ways and the selections are only the starting point. She provides a detailed overview of the illustrations included, something that gets short shrift in many non-fiction books. Illustrations are important here because she has included 26 color plates plus frequent spot images throughout the accompanying text.

Additionally, each writer's section is introduced with some background both about the writer and some of the context of their Yellowstone visit. Each section is heavily footnoted, with some additional definitions added within the text. This results in an easy to read approach.

This is an excellent read for anyone interested in American history, Yellowstone and the national parks, or just travel in late 19th century America. Junior high and high school students will find this to be a solid reference, and it's a highly readable collection for any public library.

An interesting and informative anthology of early travel literature before cars of the Yellowstone National Park, from 1870 to 1916. This includes some of the earliest accounts of the park on foot or horseback, but also later advances in transportation, such as the bicycle. Some of these accounts are unique, such as an early account of a mother touring the park in horse drawn wagon with her seven children, ages 16 to seven, in 1905. Some people traveled through the park on horseback. Some accounts were made by people on foot, and some on foot during winter using skis and snow shoes. Some of these accounts were made by early explorers; some were by teachers; some accounts were made by artists; some were geologists and biologists. In all of the chosen accounts here, their love of the park lands and sense of adventure show forth in their writings.

I recommend this book for libraries with collections of travel literature, park studies and western literature. This is a good book for armchair travelers, and people who have visited the park and fell in love with it. For anyone who loves the Yellowstone National Park, this book is an excellent addition to their collection.