YELLOWSTONE Historic Structures Report Norris Soldier Station

1. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1880, pp. 583 and 607, and map at end of report.

2. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1881, map at end of report; George Thomas, "My recollections of the Yellowstone Park," MS, p. 7. Haines says that this tent hotel was erected in 1883. See Aubrey L. Haines, "Historic Structures Report, Restoration of the Norris Soldier Station, Yellowstone National Park," Jan. 27, 1961.

3. Haines, pp. 1-2; Livingston Express, July 5, 1884; Yellowstone National Park Archives, hereafter cited as YA, letters, Jas. H. Dean to P. H. Conger, July 14, Aug. 14, and Sept. 3, 1884. It is noted that Dean continued to address his letters to Conger after the latter's resignation on July 28.

4. Haines, p. 2; Newell F. Joyner, "History of Improvements in Yellowstone National Park," MS, p. 9; W.H. Dudley, The National Park from the Hurricane Deck of a Cayuse, pp. 45-46.

5. All Army records refer to simply the Norris Station. The term Norris Soldier Station appears to have been coined after the National Park Service began managing the park, probably to distinguish it from ranger stations.

6. National Archives, hereafter cited as NA, Microfilm M617, Post Returns, Camp Sheridan and Fort Yellowstone, 1886-1916; Senate Executive Documents, 49th Cong., 2d Sess., No. 40, Report of Capt. Moses Harris, 1886, pp. 1, 2, and 6; Capt. Moses Harris Annual Report, 1887, p. 3; H. Duane Hampton, "The Army and the National Parks," Forest History, 10 (Oct., 1966), 9-10.

7. Charles Gibson acquired the lease for the Yellowstone Park Association. The acre was located 425 feet, N. 67° E, from the station. The hotel was actually built about 233 feet to the south of the south line of the acre. House Report, 52d Cong., 1st Sess., No. 1956, pp. 248 and 258; Senate Executive Documents, 49th Cong., 2d Sess., No. 40, Report of Captain Harris, 1886, pp. 4 and 5.

8. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1887, p. 1292.

9. Harris, Annual Report, 1887, p. 8; House Report, 52d Cong., 1st Sess., No. 1956, pp. 272 and 275; Haines, p. 8.

10. NA, Microfilm, Post Returns, Camp Sheridan, July and Sept., 1888.

11. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1889, p. 130; NA, Microfilm, Post Returns, Camp Sheridan, July 1889.

12. NA, Microfilm, Post Returns, Camp Sheridan, Dec. 1890-Feb. 1891. During January 1891, one officer and three enlisted men composed the entire military in Yellowstone.

13. House Reports, 52d Cong., 1st Sess., No. 1956, p. 213.

14. Haines, p. 4, citing letter, George H. Sands to N.G. Pierce, May 25, 1892, Letters Sent, 8, 441, YA; NA, Microfilm, Post Returns, Ft. Yellowstone, May 1892; Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1892, p. 648.

15. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1893, pp. 614, 617-18, and for 1894, p. 654; YA, letter, C.S. Bannerman to Capt. Anderson, Aug. 2, 1893, document no. 681. At the time of the fire, Anderson said he received a telegram from Norris. While it would appear that a telegraph hooked up the stations and the company's hotels, other records refer to both telegraph and telephone. Later, of course, telephones were installed, first by the company, later by the Army.

16. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1894, p. 654; and 1895, p. 825; NA, Microfilm, Post Returns, Ft. Yellowstone, Mar. and May 1894, and June 1895.

17. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1895, p. 824; Annual Report of the Acting Superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park, 1897, pp. 28-31.

18. YA, Norris, Monthly Reports, 1895.

19. NA, RG 77, 0ff. of Ch. of Engrs. Doc. File, 31803, A.E. Burns in an enclosure to Capt. H.M. Chittenden, Annual Report for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1900; NA, Microfilm, Post Returns, Ft. Yellowstone, June 1897; YA, Norris, Monthly Reports, Sept. 1897-Jan. 1898; and letter, S.B.M. Young to Sect. of Int., Nov. 8, 1897, Letters Sent, 7, 78; Haines, p. 6.

20. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1898, p. 965.

21. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1897, pp. 801-02.

22. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1897, p. 779; Haines, p. 5.

23. Haines, p. 5; YA, Norris, Monthly Report, Dec. 1897.

24. YA, letter, James P. Erwin to S.B.M. Young, Feb. 5, 1898, Letters Sent, 7, 133.

25. NA, RG 92, QM Consolidated File, Ft. Yellowstone, Report of an Inspection of Fort Yellowstone, Lt. Col. Theo. J. Wint, 6th Cav., AIG, Aug. 21-29, 1899; NA, RG 77, 0ff. of Ch. of Engrs., Doc. File, 31803, Capt. H. M. Chittenden, Annual Report for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1900.

26. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1899, map following p. 500.

27. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1901, p. 537; Haines, pp. 7-8; Rean Campbell, Campbell's Complete Guide and Descriptive Book of the Yellowstone Park, p. 154.

28. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1901, p. 539; YA, letter, Pitcher to Chittenden, Nov. 29, 1901, Letters Sent, 9, 78-79.

29. NA, RG 77, 0ff. of Ch. of Engrs., Doc. File, 31803, Capt. H.M. Chittenden, Report for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1905. In this report, Chittenden lists work to be finished before the fall of 1905. The list contains: "The erection of three station houses and eleven officers' quarters at the station houses for the Superintendent."

30. YA, Norris, Monthly Reports, May-June, 1904; Circular Letter, Ft. Yellowstone, July 21, 1906; and Circular, Ft. Yellowstone, May 20, 1906; NA, Microfilm, Post Returns, Ft. Yellowstone, Oct. 1901; Secretary of the Interior, Rules, Regulations, and Instructions, Yellowstone National Park, p. 22.

31. YA, Circular, Ft. Yellowstone, May 20, 1906.

32. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1907, p. 554.

33. Ibid., p. 536, and map at end of report.

34. Haines, p. 8, quoting from the Superintendent's Journal, 1903-1921; Ft. Yellowstone.

35. YA, Mode Wineman, "Through Yellowstone N.P." MS, 1908, p. 22.

36. YA, Norris, Weekly Reports, April 4, April 15, April 18, and April 25, 1915.

37. YA, Maintenance Record, QM Department, "Early Pictures, Government Buildings, 1886 to 1912, Prepared by the Office of the Quartermaster, Fort Yellowstone."

38. Haines, p. 17.

39. YA, Norris, Weekly Outpost Reports, 1910-1915.

40. YA, letter, Lt. Col. Lloyd Brett to the Secretary, Yellowstone Park Hotel Co., Dec. 1, 1912; telegram, W. H. Child, Chicago to Lt. Col. L. Brett, Dec. 3, 1912; and letter, B. Bushnell, Yellowstone Park Hotel Co. to Lt. Col. L. Brett, Dec. 8, 1912.

41. YA, "Memorandum For U.S. Commissioner," Oct. 15, 1915.

42. YA, Norris, Permanent Station Book. This information comes from several pages of informal accounts written in the back of the station book.

43. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1917, p. 116; YA, Norris Permanent Station Book, entries for Oct. 24, 1916, and June 18, 1917.

44. YA, Norris, Permanent Station Book, Nov. 13, 1917.

45. Haines, p. 9.

46. YA, Norris, Permanent Station Book, Dec. 1918-June 1919.

47. Haines, pp. 12-13.

48. The fifteen soldier stations: Belcher, Canyon, Fountain, Gallatin, Gardiner, Lake, Mud Geyser, Norris, Riverside, Snake River, Soda Butte, Sylvan Pass, Tower Fall, Upper Basin, and Thumb. Three others, besides Norris, still survive, but they have been either altered or moved: Belcher, Sylvan Pass, Tower Fall.