Video
Driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road: 1940s
Descriptive Transcript
DRIVING THE GOING-TO-THE-SUN ROAD: 1940s – DESCRIPTIVE TRANSCRIPT
Title card: Driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road: 1940s
Title card: The 1940s in Glacier began with an upswing in visitation and the expansion of low-cost car camping facilities.
Title card: In the late 1930s, the Glacier Park Transport Company got a new fleet of red buses, seen in these 1941 clips.
Black-and-white footage. A convertible bus with passengers’ heads sticking out the top exits a rocky tunnel. The bus drives a gravel road surrounded by dramatic forested slopes and hanging mountain valleys in the distance. As the bus passes various scenic viewpoints along the road, passengers stand and look. The buses travel a steep portion of road with stone guardrails on the downslope side.
The bus pulls to a stop and passengers dressed in 1940s-era clothing get out on the road. They gather at the edge of a creek with rushing rapids.
The passengers get back in the bus.
Title card: More modern roads, bridges, and entrance stations show the west entrance of Glacier National Park starting to resemble its appearance today.
Color footage with date label ‘1941.’
A blue car crosses a concrete bridge in a heavily forested area.
The car approaches a brown wooden sign with yellow lettering reading ‘Glacier National Park United States Department of the Interior National Park Service.’
The car approaches a simple roofed structure with a booth at the center, flagpole in front, and two main berths for cars. A wooden sign reads ‘West Entrance Checking Station.’
Title card: More modern roads, bridges, and entrance stations show the west entrance of Glacier National Park taking shape.
A closer view of the car at the entrance station booth. A ranger leans out of the booth window.
Close-up of wooden sign reading, ‘Going-to-the-Sun Highway, Logan Pass 33, St. Mary 51, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service’
The car pulls over along the forested road, which is paved with yellow median lines.
Title card: World War II ground the park to a near halt. Rangers left to serve in the military. Most visitor services and facilities closed. The road remained open, but travel was discouraged.
Title card: The end of the war and reopening of park facilities brought a huge rebound in visitation.
Color footage with date label ‘1946.’ Cars at a parking lot along the mountain road.
Color footage with date label ‘1949.’ Red buses lined up outside a lodge fill with passengers as crowds mill around. The buses depart in a line.
Title card: By the end of the 1940s, services in the park were largely geared toward automobile tourists. Multi-day horseback tours gave way to short day trips and hiking. Driving the Sun Road had become a park experience in and of itself.
Color footage with date label ‘ca. 1949.’ Cars and buses travel the mountain road, passing through a tunnel cut in the rock and driving along the paved surface lined with stone guardrails. A parking lot set amongst mountain peaks is busy with cars and red buses.
Description
The second in a series of four highlight reels showing the experience of driving the Sun Road from the 1930s through the 1960s. The 1940s saw wartime closures and reductions of park services -- and big increases in visitation after the war ended and things reopened.
Duration
3 minutes, 6 seconds
Credit
NPS Video
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