Video
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Mather's Travels, 1925-1926
Descriptive Transcript
Photograph of a young man in a suit with “Stephen T. Mather” in script lettering beneath it.
Intertitle card: Director Stephen T. Mather. National Park Service Dept. of the Interior, leaves Pasadena, Calif. October 6, 1926, after completing a four-month tour through the national parks.
Intertitle card: Director Mather returned with a complete record of his park travels taken on a Bell & Howell Filmo Camera.
A car approaches the Pasadena train station. View of the “Santa Fe” railroad sign on the steeple of the train station.
Three men get out of the car parked in front of the Pasadena train station. Stephen Mather wears a suit and hat. The other men wear park ranger uniforms. Although not identified in the film, the men are Dan R. Hull, NPS landscape engineer, and probably Walter B. Morris from Hull’s office. They pull Mather’s luggage out of the car. The men shake hands and Morris gets back in the car. Six national park entrance stickers are on the windshield of the car. As the car pulls away the “US NPS 1” license plate of Mather’s car is seen.
Close up of the front of Mather’s Packard car with windshield stickers and license plate.
Mather hands tickets (or money) to a porter. Hull holds Mather’s briefcase and rolled-up documents for him. The porter returns and loads Mather’s luggage into a cart. Mather speaks briefly to him, waves, and they walk off.
Intertitle card: Meeting an old friend, Mode Wineman California cameraman naturalist. Mr. Wineman had presented his camera studies to Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon National Parks.
Hull looks on as Mather, Wineman, and two other men speak outside the station. Although not identified in the film one of the other men is probably William Horsely, director of William Horsely Film Laboratories in Hollywood, California, and the other is probably a newspaper reporter as this meeting is described in the Pasadena Star-News.
Mather shows Wineman his Bell & Howell Filmo camera. The men chat together.
Intertitle card: While the camera shoots Mr. Mather, he decides to do a little shooting himself, using his trusty Filmo.
Mather, with his camera up to his eye, films the person filming him. He then talks briefly to the cameraman.
Close up of an older man speaking to the camera.
Intertitle card: “Here Comes the Limited!”
A train arrives at the station as passenger cars stream past the camera. As the train slows passengers walk along the platform preparing to board.
Mather, in front of a train carriage, speaks to the cameraman and boards the train.
Scene shifts to Mather’s Packard car parked in front of a tree near a park entrance station. Two men in ranger uniforms stand nearby as Mather, wearing his NPS uniform, gets into the car which drives away. Mather waves at the camera as he passes by.
A series of still images of Mather from various events follows. Mather and two men in ranger uniforms standing near the edge of a pueblo in Mesa Verde National Park. Mather in his NPS uniform and two men stand in front of a car. Mather and another man hold out pennant flags attached to the front of the car. Mather at a post office window with a man receiving a paper-wrapped parcel.
Scene shifts back to motion picture film revealing a Native American man in feathered headdress and loincloth walking amid giant trees. Although the film doesn’t state this, these scenes are from General Grant National Park. He stands arms akimbo next to Mather as visitors walk behind them. Mather and the man stand on either side of an unveiled plaque on a tree. Mather stands addressing a group of men and a few women.
Two men on horseback enter a stream. Mather is the second man.
A man leads a horse down a path among the trees towards the camera. Other horses as seen in the background.
Seven men walk along a trail, carrying coats and other gear. The sixth man is Mather. A large rock outcrop is behind them.
Mather and a few men walk along a boardwalk next to water. A heavily wooded island is seen behind them.
Mather and Horace M. Albright, both in uniform, stand with an unidentified man in a suit and hat who has an arm on each man’s shoulder. The men wear ribbons pinned to their uniforms suggesting a special event of some kind. Scene changes to Mather next to two wooden signs on a post. The top sign has an arrow that points to the left and reads, “Natchi Point Bridle Path.” The bottom sign has an arrow pointing to the right and reads, “Kaibab Trail.” The camera pans to reveal Mather was standing at the edge of a large part of Park Service and other men standing among trees. Mather leans against the signpost as another NPS man speaks to the group.
Mather and three men in suits sit posting for photographs, chatting casually among themselves. Close up of Mather speaking.
A man in an NPS uniform stands with Mather looking out over rock formations. He points to direct Mather’s attention.
Mather stands amid a group of schoolgirls entering a wooden building.
A ranger on foot herds a bison calf into a fenced enclosure. Although the film doesn’t state this, this is Yellowstone National Park Scene of the calf running around. Mather in his NPS uniform tries to bottle feed a young antelope who is uninterested, but the bison calf comes up and drinks. Mather pets the calf as it feeds. The calf wears a halter.
Mather approaches a young elk with the bottle of milk. Superintendent Horace Albright in uniform walks nearby as a woman wearing a skirt and pumps chases and claps her hands at the antelope in the pen. Albright and the woman walk away towards a woman standing near the building at the end of the pen. The antelope and elk follow. Mather returns to feeding the bison calf. The woman in the background picks up a small child. Although not identified in the film, the woman and child are probably Mrs. Grace Albright and daughter Marion. Mather slaps the bison calf away from the bottle.
A steam shovel works along a cliff edge, white and black smoke streaming from it. Three men work nearby along a road under construction. The machine moves, scooping a bucket of dirt and rocks over the edge of the hill below.
Mather, two men in NPS uniforms, and an old man in a suit with a long white beard stand in front of a large US flag. Although the film doesn’t state this, the event is the opening of the Generals’ Highway on September 5, 1925, and the elderly man is George W. Welch. As surveyor of the first road to Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park, Welch was the guest of honor at the event.
Mather shakes Welch’s hand vigorously and the camera pans right revealing other man and children standing nearby. Mather tips his ranger flat hat to Welch who stands supported by a walking cane.
A man in an NPS uniform, probably Colonel John R. White, superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant national parks, addresses the crowd while standing in front the flag. He calls forward several men, including Welch and then Mather. Mather speaks briefly then White and another ranger pull a cord on the large flag to reveal a large wooden sign which reads, “Generals’ Highway Giant Forest 18.6 miles”. The camera pans back revealing a US flag on a tall pole and the onlookers as they disperse to about two dozen cars parked behind the area used for the dedication.
A ranger walks from a park entrance station towards the camera. A sign reads, “West Yellowstone Ranger Station”. He stops in front of the sign where he meets Albright and another man. Mather approaches from the left and shakes hands with the two men. The landscape around the ranger station is seen.
Several men climb onto a railroad bus with lots of luggage on the roof. The camera pans to the front of the railroad bus which is stopped on the tracks in front of a small station. Although not identified in the film, this is probably the West Yellowstone train station. Mather, in his NPS uniform, gets out of the railroad bus and shakes hands with other men in NPS uniforms. A woman gets out of the bus behind him as he walks over and shakes the hand of a small boy. Other men and women get off the bus and mill around. Mather hands the ranger standing by the boy an envelope or piece of paper.
Description
Silent black-and-white film. Leaving Pasadena, California, on October 6, 1926, after a four-month tour of national parks; images of Mather's car; meeting with Mode Wineman and William Horsely; Native American at General Grant National Park; Grand Canyon; Mather feeding a bison calf at Yellowstone National Park; road construction; opening of the General's Highway on September 5, 1925; West Yellowstone ranger station; and a railroad bus. Horace M. Albright and other NPS employees in uniform are included.
Duration
13 minutes, 24 seconds
Credit
NPS History Collection (HFCA 1883)
Date Created
12/05/2024
Copyright and Usage Info
Tags
- harpers ferry center
- nps history collection
- nps history
- hfc
- historic film
- museum collection
- museum archives
- general grant national park
- sequoia national park
- yellowstone national park
- west yellowstone ranger station
- grand canyon national park
- kiabab trail
- bison
- train
- railroad bus
- transportation
- native american
- horace albright
- stephen mather