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w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
by JOSEPH SHELTON
THE GRABOW AND HER SISTERS
Livingston's Historic Hotels
L
OOKING OUT THE THIRD-FLOOR WINDOW OF THE
GRABOW HOTEL, from the comfortable confines of the
Lake Suite, it's hard not to imagine how it must have been
over 100 years ago.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Northern Pacific Rail-
road often billed Yellowstone National Park as Wonderland.
The frontier may have been more or less settled, but here was
a place, set aside in an act of national wisdom, where anyone
could witness the West as it was. Only, perhaps, even better. Be-
cause where else could you see geysers and grizzlies in the same
(admittedly vast) space?
Quickly, Yellowstone National Park joined the Valley of the
Kings, the Colosseum, and the Hagia Sophia as places that any-
one should see before they die—providing they had the means