Craters of the Moon Administrative History

Chapter 10:
CONCESSIONS

GUIDE SERVICES

The earliest services at the monument were guided tours. Deterred by the remote recesses of the lava country, the casual explorer depended on entrepreneurs, mostly neighboring ranchers, miners, or Arcoites, to lead him to the geological spectacles. Men like Samuel Paisley and Robert Limbert conducted excursions before the area's creation, introducing Idaho and the nation to the weird and beautiful terrain. This personal service carried over into the early administration of the monument. Stephen Mather, for example, appointed Paisley as the monument's first custodian in May 1925 because of his intimate knowledge of the area, granting him permission to run an exclusive guide service to augment his meager salary. Mather agreed to these conditions as a means to other ends--to stop similar guide and commercial services operating outside of the Park Service's control, as well as to regulate approved tourist activities and protect the resources. Paisley's guide service, in Mather's eyes, was a temporary measure, an expedient solution to a bigger problem, that ended when the custodian retired after two seasons. [1] Guiding tourists to the monument's features, however, formed an important public service, one which subsequent custodians, better paid and trained, continued.

In a time of low visitation this type of service was possible for the lone custodian, and necessary due to limited development of roads and trails. Yet the Service could only afford the bare minimum, barely able to pay its custodians and improve access, and when local commercial clubs, political leaders, and the Union Pacific Railroad pressured the Park Service to develop tourist conveniences in the first years of management, the agency turned to private interests to meet the desired services.

In January 1927, the Park Service, apparently in return for his years of promoting the monument, awarded Robert Limbert a permit to run a packhorse concession at Craters of the Moon for one year. Limbert and several associates organized Craters of the Moon Tours, acquiring horses and planning to operate from a ranch near Martin. Although the concession appeared ready to open for business in June, there is no record of its operation. [2]