GPF

Inside Trail

Fall 1998


Contents

"Glacier Management Plan: Keep Glacier Like It Is"
"Inside News on the Summer of 1998"
"If You've Got It, Flaunt It . . . Early Publicity in Glacier National Park"
"The Kitchen and the Dishwasher Detail"
"The Southern Lights"
"Fiddler on the Roof"
"1970'S Employees Plan Many Glacier Reunion"

Glacier Management Plan: Keep Glacier Like It Is

by Janet Cornish September 4, 1998

On August 8, 1998 the National Park Service released its Draft Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for public review and comment. The document in its final form, due to be released sometime in 1999, will guide management decisions in the Park related to visitor use and natural and cultural resource protection. Glacier National Park began seeking public participation in the Plan's preparation in March of 1995, releasing a series of Newsletters to inform people of the planning process. Controversy erupted, however, following the release of Newsletter 3 in 1996,which indicated that the favored planning approach would likely include the reduction of traditional visitor use in a number of areas including Swiftcurrent. In response, the Park Service received 1600 letters from concerned citizens including an extensive memo from GPF arguing for the continuation of traditional uses at Glacier. Of particular concern to the membership of GPF was the proposed loss of affordable, family oriented accommodations at Swiftcurrent and the Park Service failure to enthusiastically endorse public transportation alternatives over Going to the Sun Road. Public comment strongly favored the retention of traditional lodging facilities in the Park; preservation of Glacier's backcountry and wildlife habitat; the retention and/or expansion of shuttle services; and the reduction of visitor related negative impacts through disbursement of activities rather than through limiting visitation. The Park Service planning staff has been quite responsive to these concerns. In a cover letter accompanying the draft plan, Glacier Superintendent David Mihalic noted that "Our guiding overall management philosophy is to continue to manage Glacier as a classic western national park and 'keep it like it is.' "

The Plan identifies six generally accepted geographic areas - Many Glacier, Goat Haunt-Belly River, the Going to the Sun Road Corridor, Two Medicine, the Middle Fork and the North Fork. These are further divided into four management zones: visitor service, day use, rustic and backcountry. For example, within the Going to the Sun Road Corridor, the visitor use zone would encompass the road itself and lodging facilities such as Lake McDonald Lodge. The day use zone would include shorter, popular trails such as the Highline or Avalanche. Within the North Fork area, the rustic zone would include the inside North Fork Road and many of the campgrounds. For all geographic areas, backcountry zones would include hiking and backcountry camping areas where "leave no trace" ethics are encouraged. In these zones development will be limited to trails, signs, campsites and sanitation facilities. Not every geographic area has all four management zones and specific management philosophies vary somewhat from area to area.

The heart of the Plan is the discussion of eight central issues, identifying a preferred alternative action in response to each. As was reported in the Inside Trail, a number of GPF members participated in focus groups during September of 1997 which addressed the first four of these critical issues. Much of their input has been incorporated into the draft plan. The eight issues and preferred alternatives are:

Visitor Use on the Going to the Sun Road: The preferred alternative is to continue to manage the Road as the premier visitor experience; providing additional opportunities for visitors to pull off along the road in order to reduce congestion at Logan Pass; and providing an efficient and convenient public transportation system while continuing to allow private vehicular use.

Preservation of the Going to the Sun Road: The preferred alternative calls for the repair and reconstruction of the road, in keeping with its historic character and significance.

Top

Construction would be undertaken on a "fast track" over a period of 4 to 6 years. This alternative would require the closure of the road first on one side and then the other.

Logan Pass would remain accessible from either West Glacier or St. Mary, while the other side was being repaired. Estimated costs for fast track construction are $70 to $85 million.

Preservation of historic hotels and visitor services: The preferred alternative calls for the preservation of the historic lodging facilities in Glacier. Funds for both the purchase of the concessionaire interest in the hotels and rehabilitation - estimated to be in the vicinity of $80 to $100 million, would be obtained through a Congressional appropriation.

Rehabilitation would be undertaken with respect to each structure's historic integrity.

Since rehabilitation could result in a reduction in actual rooms, some new rooms could be allowed. New construction would have to be compatible with the "western park character". The alternative also calls for an examination of the Village Inn to determine if razing the facility and replacing it with residential units for the Glacier Institute might be desirable.

Scenic air tours: The plan identifies the prohibition of all commercial sightseeing flights over the park as the preferred alternative.

Personal watercraft: Personal watercraft or small vessels that use inboard motors powering water jet pumps, such as Jet-Skis, Waverunners, and Sea-Doos would be permanently banned from all park waters under the preferred alternative.

Winter use: While the plan does not favor the introduction of overnight facilities within the park for winter use, it does recommend "preparing" for potential increases in winter use by providing improved parking and sanitation facilities, limited food and ski rental services. The preferred alternative includes the plowing the Sun Road to Lake McDonald; parts oft he Camas Road; Two Medicine and Many Glacier Roads; and road to the 1913 Ranger Station.

Divide Creek Flood hazards: The preferred alternative calls for the relocation of employee housing, administrative and maintenance facilities from the flood plain of Divide Creek at St. Mary's to a more appropriate location. The park entrance station, which is also in the flood plain, would not be moved.

West side discovery center and museum: The draft plan calls for the construction of a new interpretive center at the "T" intersection near Apgar. Funding for this facility is unlikely to come through a Congressional appropriation. Rather, the Park Service anticipates that funds will be raised through private donations and joint efforts with private, non-profit organizations.

While not listed as a critical issue, the plan also includes a section on regional cooperation, emphasizing the necessity of working with the variety of land management, Indian Reservation and land planning agencies on both sides of the International Border. Glacier's natural and cultural resources are part of a larger system which knows no jurisdictional boundaries. Glacier and Waterton are both designated as World Heritage Sites and as Biosphere Reserves under the Man and Biosphere Program of the United Nations. As such they must be managed with respect to the larger land areas around them.

The plan includes a detailed environmental analysis that evaluates both the preferred and the "no action" alternatives with respect to their potential impacts on the natural, cultural and socioeconomic environment of the region. There is also a chapter devoted to the discussion of alternatives, ideas and strategies which were considered but ultimately rejected. This section includes a discussion of apparently rejected alternative funding strategies for lodge renovation. Many of these concepts were suggested by GPF members and others during the focus group meeting on lodging facilities held in September of 1997. Conversely, the preferred alternative for the historic visitor facilities in the park includes a recommendation for a feasibility study (which GPF is currently pursuing in association with Community, Culture and Heritage, a Montana NonProfit) to evaluate other funding mechanisms for renovation in addition to Congressional appropriaton.

It is interesting to note that lone Montana Congressman, Rick Hill, according to the August 15 Great Falls Tribune, has expressed concern that it will be difficult for Congress to appropriate enough funds for both road repair and the renovation of the hotels.

GPF members are encouraged to take the time to review and comment on the plan . Public comments will be accepted through November 30, 1998. Comments may be submitted in writing to Superintendent, GMP/EIS Project, Glacier National Park, West Glacier, MT 59936 and at a series of hearings. A hearing schedule follows. You may also write for copies of the plan or a summary version or call (406) 888-7911. The plan is also available on Glacier's web page: http://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm . GPF would appreciate receiving copies of any comments or testimony you submit.

Top

Inside News on the Summer of 1998

The 1998 season in Glacier began with a tragic bear encounter and ended with forest fires burning at widespread sites. The intervening months saw fine weather, splendid hiking, and no additional serious incidents with bears. There were, however, more backcountry tragedies: a fatal fall near Redgap Pass and a nightmarish accident at Ptarmigan Tunnel.

The Two Medicine Grizzly Slaying

On May 17, a young concession employee, newly arrived in Glacier, went hiking alone on the Scenic Point trail from Two Medicine toward East Glacier. Craig Dahl, 26, had just been hired to drive a "jammer" tour bus. When Dahl did not report for work, a search was carried out by Park rangers, concession employees and local groups.

Dahl's body was found on the second day of the search near Appistoki Falls. The corpse had been partly eaten by bears. Marks in the snow suggested that Dahl had encountered a family of bears on the trail, had fled downhill, and had been chased by the bears, killed and preyed upon after a struggle.

Investigators focused on a sow grizzly which had been nicknamed "Chocolate Legs" and on her two-year-old twin young. Bear scat collected at the scene was matched to these bears by DNA testing. Human DNA was identified in the bear scat samples as well.

"Chocolate Legs" was hunted down and shot to death by rangers near No Name Lake. One of her offspring was captured and euthanaized, but the other young bear disappeared. For three weeks, the Two Medicine Valley was tense. In late June, the bear reemerged dramatically, menacing a party of 17 hikers near the head of Two Medicine Lake. The bear woofed, growled, made bluff charges, and shadowed a man who strayed from the party.. Rangers pursued the bear and shot it on the flanks of Mt. Sinopah.

Dahl's death raised new speculation about the disappearance of hiker Matthew Truszkowski in 1997. Truszkowski, another concession employee, vanished in the Two Medicine Valley, probably while climbing Mt. Sinopah. Searchers had been bluff-charged by the Chocolate Legs family while combing the flanks of the mountain, and thought that the bears were behaving strangely. After Dahl's death, the Park Service used ''cadaver dogs'' (especially trained to find human remains) to search on Mt. Sinopah, but found no sign of Truszkowski.

The Ptarmigan Tunnel Tragedy

In early July, a woman lost her life falling over the parapet north of Ptarmigan Tunnel. The accident was one of the most freakish in the history of Glacier Park.

Connie Lindsay, 47, of Polson, Montana had ridden to the tunnel from Many Glacier. She was accompanied by her husband and two companions, also on horseback. They led their horses through the tunnel and remained dismounted to view the scenery on the other side.

Lindsay stopped to take a picture some 25 yards from the tunnel gates. She was standing beside low stone parapet (which is less than three feet high) overlooking hundreds of feet of sheer cliffs.

Lindsay's horse was standing beside her, eating snow from a snowbank. The horse abruptly jerked and stumbled, perhaps reacting to the coldness of the snow. It knocked Lindsay onto the retaining wall, then lost its footing and fell on top of her. Horse and rider both rolled over the wall and fell for hundreds of feet.

Lindsay's husband rode to Many Glacier to get help. Rangers helicoptered to an area below the cliffs. They climbed up dangerous pitches of scree and snow to recover 1indsay's body from a chimney in the rocks.

Top

Two Accidents Near Redgap Pass

The final fatality of the summer in the Park came in late July. Brian Donald-Nelson, 27, of Seattle fell to his death while hiking the trail to Redgap Pass along with his wife and two other companions.

The hiking party had stopped to rest near an unnamed waterfall a mile and a half southeast of Redgap Pass. Donald-Nelson attempted to get water from the stream above the falls. He slipped on wet rocks and fell about 150 feet to his death.

A month later, a second hiker fell less catastrophically down the same waterfall while trying to filter water. Erik Von Ranson, 32, of Manhattan fractured his skull and fractured and dislocated a hip in a 40-foot fall.

Von Ranson's party kept him warm with sleeping bags for about 8 hours waiting for help to reach the site. A hiker sped l0 miles to the Belly River Ranger Station and left a note for the ranger, who was on patrol. The ranger found the note at 6 PM, and helicopters were summoned.

A specially-equipped Canadian helicopter lowered a rescuer into the ravine where Von Ranson had fallen. The rescuer placed Von Ranson in a "Bauman Bag" while the helicopter hovered above. Then the helicopter towed the bag to a meadow where a second helicopter was parked. Von Ranson was transferred aboard this helicopter and flown from the Park at nightfall.

Lost Hiker Floats the North Fork

A happier backcountry adventure occurred on the North Fork in mid-July. Julie Wenner, 50, of Polson, was day-hiking with a companion on Starvation Ridge on the north side of Kintla Lake. The two became separated, and Wenner found herself lost along the Canadian border north of Kishenen Creek, in the Park's extreme northwestern corner. She spent the night at a boundary marker.

Starting off again at dawn, Wenner followed a trail to the banks of the North Fork of the Flathead River. She knew that the North Fork flowed southward to points of human contact, including Polebridge. She decided to float down the stream with her day pack as a flotation device.

Wenner carried this strategy out successfully, floating through the cold water for three miles to the mouth of Starvation Creek. At this point she encountered one of a party of rescuers who had been sent to search for her. She walked out two more miles to the road, having suffered only scratches and hunger.

Forest Fires Break Out in Late August

Hot dry weather, followed by lightning strikes. resulted in numerous fires around the Park at the end of August. The biggest of these was the McDonald Creek Fire, which burned along Flattop Mountain and also burned Fifty Mountain Camp.

Several fires burned near the town of Essex and the Isaac Walton Inn. One of these was fanned by high winds and consumed several thousand acres in the Flathead National Forest just south of the Park. Glacier Park's Chief Ranger Steve Frye took charge of crews of several hundred people in the suppression of this fire.

Suppression efforts within the Park were focused on fires near Red Eagle Lake. Prevailing wind patterns caused concern that the fire might blow into the townsite of St. Mary, eight miles away. Fire crews and aircraft fought the blaze and fire engines stood at alert until the fire was suppressed.

Top


If You've Got It, Flaunt It . . . Early Publicity in Glacier National Park

It did not seem enough for noted early explorer George Bird Grinnell to simply view the wonders of the splendid region that was to become Glacier National Park, he had to tell the world of his glorious experiences in the Rockies. Grinnell is credited with exposing this remote area to a public which was largely unaware that such a jewel existed within the borders of the United States. One of his first articles on this region was in the September, 1884, edition of Science magazine entitled "The Glaciers of Montana". Later he penned, in the November, 1898, edition of Science, a piece called "Rocky Mountain Glaciers". Perhaps Grinnell' most famous article, however, was published in 190' for Century Magazine entitled, "Crown of the Continent". It was this essay that seemed to really awaken the nation to this "new" wonderland of mountains, lakes and streams.

As it turned out, George Bird Grinnell's musings on this geological sensation were only the beginnings of an avalanche of publicity that would be engineered by The Great Northern Railway Company. The Great Northern's interest in this paradise was logical. The rail lines of the corporation skirted the southern tip of the region and Louis Hill, the president, wanted to release word of vacationland's attractions to get passengers on his trains.

Once newspapers got wind of this enchanted place, the written articles were everywhere. Louis Hill, Great Northern's president was extremely supportive of this, of course. He had a habit of inviting "newspaper boys" to the park and taking them on a complimentary tour, hoping that they would return to their home towns and write up they glories of what they had seen. Actually, this policy had been initiated as early as the 1870's. Railway companies, of this time, had competed to lure emigrants to the west. Railroad agents would ask select publicity groups to travel along the routes in plush cars, plying them with fine foods, Havana cigars and champagne, trusting that would be duly impressed enough to spread the word.

Louis Hill was a master promoter. So successful was he at publicizing this mountainous Shangri-La, that as early as 1911, a year after Glacier became a national park, he thought it was over advertised.

The publicity machine, however, kept churning. Magazines such as Field and Stream, Printer's Ink and National Geographic carried articles and ads. Billboards were placed all around the country. Colleges in the east and in Illinois and Wisconsin were sited. Los Angeles. San Diego and Oakland were graced with Glacier Park signs along their highways. The billboards usually consisted of copies of Kiser photographs painted by Thomas Casock of Chicago. Sections of the painted boards were sent to the places where they were to be erected. Two hundred of these advertising wonders were used north of the Ohio River.

The scorching south, and especially Texas, was bombarded with reminders, through advertising, that cool weather awaited them in the blue mountains of the northwestern United States.

The Railway used a variety of methods in their quest for public notice. In 1911, the Great Northern advertising specialist Hoke Smith encouraged outside agents of the company to send queries to newspapers queries such as:

Please be so kind as to tell me where Glacier National Park is and on what railway is it? And why is it called The Switzerland of America?

Yours truly,

A subscriber

The Blackfeet were certainly not immune when it came to the Great Northern publicity machine. In 1913, a tour was arranged with several blackfeet as the star attractions. They were featured at the New York Travel and Vacation Show, March 20-29. At Grand Central Palace, the Native Americans pitched a tent in the middle of the show and were the center of attention.

Louis Hill was quite taken with the new medium of film. He invited movie companies such as Pathe-Frere, Kimmeacolor Company and the Selig Company to capture the wonders of "the Great National Playground - Glacier Park. In 1915, the Lyman Howe Travelogues included a moving picture illustrating the subject, "A Day in the Life of a Glacier Park Indian". These films saturated theatres in the United States, such as the Starland Theatre of St. Paul. Hill, who was so taken with this new medium that he gave film companies free accommodations, especially liked documentaries that praised this mountainous region. He considered these to be the best forms of advertising.

Many lecturers included Glacier Park films and slide shows in their repertoire and some, like Lawrence Kitchell, made a living by presenting, all over the country, a travelogue entitled "Over Skyland Trails Thru Glacier National Park and the Great Northwest". Kitchell received $175 a month from the Great Northern.

In 1914, the railway company picked up on a fad popular in Germany and the United States-stamps. These letter sealers were engraved with pictures of Glacier Park scenery and Hotels plus reproductions of Great Northern's ships. The first edition was 100,000 strong and proved to be very popular.

In many cities there were Glacier Park window displays in Railroad ticket offices, literature was distributed by Great Northern train porters in sleepers and ticket agents of connecting lines passed out pamphlets. The railway sponsored artists who painted scenes of mountain splendors which were hung in depots, hotels and clubs. Hill insisted on having post cards, photos, company stationery and good contour maps placed in cabins around the park. Aeroplane maps were to be placed on the porches of every chalet and a supply kept on hand. He said, "There is no better place for us to distribute advertising matter than from camps through tourists". Hill also hired several excellent photographers such as T.J. Hileman who produced hundreds of pictures that were sent out to blanket the entire country extolling the wonders of Glacier.

With this blitz of publicity saturating the United States and beyond, it is no wonder that by February 1914, vice-president of the Glacier Park Hotel area in a letter to Louis Hill, "the Park has been so thoroughly advertised through so many mediums that it has been almost impossible for people to keep from knowing about the Park through some source or another".

As a result of this deluge of publicity, Glacier Park was swamped with tourists. It was because of this heavy interest and visitation that the Great Northern decided to build its own grand and glorious hotels, much to the benefit and enjoyment of succeeding generations.

Top


The Kitchen and the Dishwasher Detail

by Dick Schwab

Since I did not work in the food service area, I do not have a detailed memory of the great kitchen, except that it was huge, filled with work tables and large ranges, had a walk-in refrigerator room, and a frenetic dishwashing area During one or more conventions some of us were laid on to help out with the rush at the dishwasher, and that was a memorable experience. What amazed me was the contrast between the utter, deafening chaos of the kitchen itself and the tranquil order of the dining room just beyond the swinging doors. The intensity of the clanking, the clattering, the hissing of steam, sizzling of griddles, and yells of waitresses, busboys, and cooks rose to a crescendo as the dinner got rolling in earnest. The pot washer was stationed close by the dishwashers and the loud metallic crashing and banging of the pots and pans added to the cacophony.

We worked with a sort of joyful abandon slinging remnants of food and gravy off the plates into garbage cans as mountainous trays of dirty dishes were rushed in from the dining room by the busboys and crashed down close to the dishwasher. The heavy blue willowware dishes were jammed into the dishwasher trays and sent into the roiling, steaming mouth of a Behemoth of a machine. They emerged, dried and very hot, on the other side where they were frenetically and noisily stacked. Since the dinner settings were very formal and many of the dishes had to be placed on other dishes called "liners" which were in short supply, the waitresses were often literally screaming for more liners so that they could get their trays of food out to the diners. The noise was stunning, and it was a wonder to me that in all the whirl of bodies, dishes, and steam anything at all could have been accomplished, and yet it worked. [Later I saw a remarkable short French movie called "The Kitchen" which exactly reproduced the madness of the Many Glacier kitchen.] In such a kitchen the cooks were the royalty, and woe to anyone who got in their way. As things slowed down at dessert times the waitresses would slip us many sumptuous confections that had not been touched by the overstuffed guests. Dishwashers were called "Pearl Divers", if not when I worked there, earlier in the history of the hotel. Millie Jean Perkins says the dishwashing crew used to sing the following ditty when they visited Granite:

Around the counter and under the plate
You may find something that nobody ate.
You lick it once; you lick it twice.
You know it isn't just the thing
But gee it tastes so nice.

By midnight the deserted kitchen stood in complete silence and desolation. I saw it that way a couple of times, and I thought it presented an eerie contrast with pandemonium of the mealtimes. I believe only a dim light was on in the kitchen at night, and not a creature was stirring, although there were probably a few of the ~ beautiful little big-eared mountain mice prospecting for crumbs. The movie "The Kitchen" probably had it exactly right, as it started out just before dawn with the isolated sounds of the clanging of mop pails and of the first stirrings of the cooks beginning to line things up for the day, and then the activity worked up to a frenetic crescendo of noise and rushing about.

Top


The Southern Lights

by Mac Willemsen

In 1967, I worked as a houseman at Swiftcurrent Motor Inn. One of our more colorful characters was Don Dworski, a student from Cornell University. Don was a lacrosse player at Cornell and brought his full compliment of gear to Glacier National Park. I think he was expecting several other lacrosse players to be on the staff so they could play some pick up games!

I was a small town boy from Iowa. The game of lacrosse was a novelty for me. Don and I spent many hours playing "catch" in the parking lot: He would throw the ball with his stick (mallet, bat, wicket, club or whatever) and I would catch it with my baseball glove; then I would throw it back to Don and he would catch it with his stick.

Although the lacrosse expectations of Don had to be a Glacier novelty, what really earned his place in the employee hall of fame that year took place in mid-August. Don worked at the camp store and one afternoon a man and his young son pointed at Grinnell Point across the way and asked if anyone had ever climbed it. Don informed him that a number of the employees had climbed it and he was ready to do so at any time. As a result of that brief conversation, Don, the guest and his son decided to set out on a climbing expedition at 5:30 p.m.

Most of us assumed that Don and his companions would turn around as twilight approached, but we were proven wrong as we saw three small figures walking along Grinnell Point's summit ridge line just as the sun was setting behind Mount Wilbur and the Pinnacle Wall. It became obvious that Don and his companions would have a difficult time of safely descending down the small cliffs and grassy slopes of Grinnell Point before total darkness set in.

We became concerned about this state of affairs and informed the Many Glacier ranger station of what was going on. They sent a party over to the Lake Josephine boathouse with a loud speaker to advise Don and his companions to stay put.

Word of Don's predicament spread among the Swiftcurrent staff and many of us gathered in the darkness on the front porch of the camp store. In the total darkness, a bright light suddenly appeared immediately under the great cliffs of Grinnell Point. The light flashed three times and our manager, Dick Lee, drove his Austin Healey up on the median and used his brights to flash three times in reply. The light on Grinnell Point flashed back three times.

There was a happy ending to this story. Don and the two guests curled up on a small ledge and spent a warm night on the upper small cliffs of Grinnell Point. When daylight broke, they met the ranger rescue party and all were in good shape.

We were glad to see Don and the incident kind of fell by the wayside. About two weeks later, it dawned on me that where we saw the bright light under the cliffs of Grinnell Point was a location that was extremely difficult and dangerous to reach in daylight and fatally treacherous do so at night.

I approached Don and asked him what the heck he was doing on the steep cliffs and he indicated that he and his companions had never left the large gully above Lake Josephine. Accordingly, someone else (or if you believe in the supernatural, something else) was on Grinnell Point that night and flashed the lights to us. To this day I have no idea who or what caused the flashes. Another mini-mystery of Glacier National Park remains unsolved.

Top


Fiddler on the Roof

by Clark Boorman

In 1973, at Many Glacier Hotel, we performed the musical "Fiddler on the Roof". I played the role of the young revolutionary from Kiev. We performed 13 shows in 14 nights, which even then seemed a killing pace. It was a stressful experience.

One night, after a very long day with the bellman crew, I got back stage, put on my make-up' and dressed in most of my costume. before I stretched out on the floor for a quick nap before my entrance. This was a big mistake. I was suddenly and violently shaken awake by another actor who said they were ad-libbing and awaiting my entrance! I jumped up, hastily buttoning my vest but forgetting completely about checking my prayer shawl before I raced around the corner and up to the stage. The line they were waiting to deliver, and the one which first acknowledged me was "Say, you're not from around here". This time, however, the circumstances permitted the speaker to say "Say, you're not from around here. Around here we don't wear our prayer shawls around our ankles!" I followed his gaze and saw, to my horror, that that was exactly where my prayer shawl was - around my ankles! I don't remember what happened after that inauspicious beginning!

None of the stresses on stage, however, equaled the strain of sharing a production with "The Wizard", Chris Vick. It seemed at times that Wizard had a goal in life: cause the greatest harm to the largest number in the shortest period of time!

In Fiddler, Wizard played the Russian Cossack who was ordered to wreck the wedding of the oldest daughter. In this scene, I was to confront him angrily before being clubbed from behind by one of his troopers. Unfortunately, in the moments I had to face the Wizard, he had his back to the audience, and no-one but those of us upstage could see his face. There I was, ready to attack him, furious and violent at the havoc wreaked on this celebration. What did Wizard do? He made kissy-doll faces and grinned wickedly at me! At first, I was so startled that I did not react as he had hoped, but from then on, night after night, it was a constant struggle to keep a straight face in that scene!

Top


1970'S Employees Plan Many Glacier Reunion

Many Glacier Hotel employees of the 1970's will hold a reunion at the hotel in 1999. The dates of the reunion are Thursday August 5 through Sunday August 8.

The event is planned as a sequel to the very successful reunion held at Many Glacier in 1996, which drew about 80 former employees. The format will be much the same, with boat rides, a catered dinner at Johnson's restaurant, an informal fork-singing Hootenanny, and (tentatively) a Serenade in the lobby of the hotel.

Corie Jones (MGH 1977, 78, 80) will coordinate the reunion. She will shortly be mailing materials to former employees of the 1970's. Interested people are invited to contact Corie Jones.

Reservations at Many Glacier Hotel or Swiftcurrent Motor Inn can be made by calling GPI Reservations (602)207-6000. Reunion participants also may choose to stay at the Many Glacier campground, at Johnson's Red Eagle Motel in St. Mary, or at other area locations.

Top