The Father of Glacier National Park


Published by Arcadia Publishing
The story of this glorious Montana landmark, told through the journals and letters of the man who fought to conserve it—maps and photos included.

With his small group of explorers, George Bird Grinnell discovered and named forty geological features east of the Continental Divide and west of the Blackfeet Reservation. He also happened to be a prolific writer and record-keeper who diligently made time in camp for meticulous journal entries. As a result, he wrote a series of articles about his trips from 1885 to 1898 for publication in Forest and Stream.

In 1891, he began advocating to protect the area as a national park—and led that charge for nearly two decades until successful. His discoveries, publications, and leadership led to the creation of Glacier National Park. In this book, his cousin Hugh Grinnell compiles first-person narratives from unpublished journal entries, personal correspondence, and dozens of articles to tell the early story of Glacier.

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