Jim McCaleb Speech Transcript

Speaker: Jim McCaleb, Xantaerra Parks and Resorts General Manager

Suzanne Lewis (Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park): Through a long career in concessions work in several National Parks, Jim McCaleb, now the general manager for Xanterra Parks and Resorts in Yellowstone, has been a leader in advancing his profession and the standards he goes by. For the past seven years Jim has met the daunting challenge of overseeing more than 2,500 permanent and seasonal employees who run the park's nine hotels and lodges, four campgrounds, a 350-site RV park, a marina, three horse corral operations, a far ranging transportation system, and all of the winter guest operations. And I think I have a big job (laughter from audience). Jim has been a significant shaper of the Old Faithful Inn tradition of service, and I'll ask Jim now to come forward and share some of that experience with you. Ladies and gentleman, Jim McCaleb. [Applause]

Jim McCaleb: Thanks very much Suzanne. Sorry, you reminded me of all those problems I have to deal with (laughter from audience). On behalf of Xanterra Parks and Resorts, it's my pleasure to welcome all of you here as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of this Old Faithful Inn. As the primary concessioner here in the park, it's been our privilege to manage the Old Faithful Inn for over 20 years now. We've been pleased to be a part of all the improvements to this structure over the last two decades, totaling more than $50 million, and we look forward to our continued involvement in future projects.

This is a special day for me personally; I consider myself lucky to have actually worked in this hotel at one time. My wife Mary and I worked here in 1982. I was the manager of the hotel, and she was a bellhop (mild laughter). If you know anything about this business--ya, yeah for the bellhops (more laughter, the audience claps). If you know anything at all about this business, you know what that means. I worked more hours than she did; she made more money than I did (audience laughs). But like the thousands of other people who have actually worked in this facility over the last century, we considered it a great privilege and a great opportunity to have worked in this world famous hotel.

Let me take you back for just a moment to a time before this hotel was built. Imagine touring this park just over a century ago. At that time there were four hotels in operation here in Yellowstone. And these hotels, for the most part, were considered to be quite successful. The National Hotel at Mammoth Hot Springs, the Fountain Hotel just eight miles north of here, the Canyon Hotel, and the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, were all fine places to stay when visiting here. And they all just looked like hotels that one might find in early 20th century Chicago, New York or Boston. And they were meant to look like that. The prevailing thought back then was that when one finished the day touring the wilderness that was Yellowstone, the hotel that looked like any big city hotel would provide the security and comfort that visitors of that day expected.

But there was no hotel right here, and the shabby structures and the tent units that had been used did not meet with visitors' satisfaction. During that time plans for a Queen Anne style hotel had been put forth and approved for the upper geyser basin. But, thankfully, before construction began hotel concessioner Harry Child noticed the architecture of Robert Reamer while wintering in southern California, hired him to come here, and the rest, as they say, is history. Following Child's wishes, Reamer decided to depart from the prevailing notions of National Park hotel construction. He knew that security and comfort could be found by offering a hotel with steam heat, hot and cold running water, a fine restaurant, and electric lights. At the same time, he could build a structure that would appear to have grown out of the landscape, to be an extension of the grandeur that surrounded it. It's difficult for us today to say how aware Mr. Reamer might have been at the time that he was at the forefront of a revolution. Just a few years later it must have given him satisfaction to see the El Tovar at Grand Canyon, the lodges at Glacier, and the Ahwahnee at Yosemite all rise from their foundations following the notion that great National Park hotels compliment rather than compete with their surroundings.

Sadly, Mr. Reamer lived only long enough to see the Inn through its first third of the century, but this was long enough to design every major alteration to this building since its original construction. And so it's been a 100 years since men and women first walked through those oversized red doors, stepped into this lobby, and looked up in wonder. Since that time this hotel has survived crises of nearly every kind-financial, political and geological. And of course we still have vivid memories of how this Inn withstood the threat of destruction from the cataclysmic forest fires of 1988.

But today it's not the threats that the Inn has survived that we celebrate; it's the emotional attachments that it has made with its millions of visitors over the past century. It's the significance that this building holds in being the first of its kind in National Park architecture. It's the fact that it's still after 100 years rightfully holds its place as the archetype of National Park hotels. And it's the loyalty, love and friendship that it enjoys with those today who cherish and protect it. These are the reasons that we celebrate today. Throughout this next century may we as a people continue to celebrate the beauty, the grace and the grandeur of this national historic landmark. To the Old Faithful Inn, happy birthday. [Applause]