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Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Yellowstone National Park during the summer of 1999. I left downtown Flagstaff with my saddle and duffel in early July and lighted in the horse corral at Mammoth Hot Springs. My journal will continue through September 20th, unless the weather shuts us down earlier. You’ll read about adventures on the back country trails, Yellowstone history, people I meet, and anything else I can think of to write about. I’m the author of “National Park Employment Data,” a guide to working in national parks, which is available for purchase on my web site at www.gorp.com/nped/. I’ve been working in national parks and ski areas off and on for over twenty years. Because I want the data in my book to always be fresh, I continually test the concepts, employers, and tips that I provide. Right now, I’m working for Amfac Parks and Resorts. They are a top notch concession company because they place employee training, morale, and amenities first. |
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Previous 7/16 |
Saturday, 8-21-99This year is the 150th anniversary of the California Gold Rush. Gold was discovered along the banks of the American River in northern California in the spring of 1849 and word of its discovery spread eastward quickly. Thirty thousand gold seekers started at Missouri River “jumping off” towns, using the Oregon Trail, but cutting south to what was to become Wyoming. The federal government bought an old fur trading post on the Laramie River in the spring of ’49, named it Fort Laramie, and assigned it the duty to protect and serve the massive western emigration. And massive it was. After the initial thirty thousand, 120,000 more pressed westward in hope of a fortune over the next three years. Fort Laramie welcomed the Argonauts, later known as “Forty-Niners.” From there they made their gradual climb into the Rockies past Laramie Peak, Independence Rock, Devil’s Gate, Split Rock, and, finally, through the Great South Pass to Fort Bridger. Lewis and Clark had unsuccessfully searched for a southern pass years earlier. From 1841 to 1849, families had carefully planned their emigration west, starting new homes, farms, and businesses. Travel had been by ox teams and covered wagons. Now the goal was to be first, so many men formed quick partnerships and left with little preparation. Faster moving horse and mule pack strings were used with the goal of getting the gold and returning home as soon as possible. By the early 1850s, there were as many disillusioned Forty-Niners headed back east through the Great South Pass as there were heading west. Stage coach lines and commercial freight operations sprang up, along with forts, trading posts, and river crossing ferries. The 2,000 mile wilderness trail was now semi-civilized. Little remains of the Forty-Niner’s California Trail
besides rusting relics and weathered abandoned buildings. It
was a time of frenzy and free-for-all in our nation’s history
that may never be repeated.  |
Previous 8/1 |
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