W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M
43
LITERARY LODE
LITERARY LODE
DEPARTMENT
LITERARY LODE
Yankee Jim, whose real name was James George, was about 22
years old when the discovery of gold in Bannack attracted him to
Montana in 1863. He prospected for gold in the area that became
Yellowstone National Park as early as 1866 and spent time in the
Yellowstone Valley north of the park as a meat hunter supplying
the Crow Indian Agency.
In 1873, he took possession of a toll road through the rugged
canyon that still bears his name north of the then brand new Yel-
lowstone National Park. A group of businessmen from Bozeman
and Helena had begun building the road in 1871. ey were plan-
ning a system of toll roads linking all the major sights in Yellow-
stone Park and asked the U.S. Congress for an exclusive right to
provide roads and hotels there. When a bill to grant the monopoly
failed, the businessmen abandoned their project, and Yankee Jim
took over the road.
People's opinions of Yankee Jim diverged widely. A city official
from Spokane called him "the most luridly picturesque liar in the
Northwest," while a minister described him as "one of the gentlest
Y
ankee Jim had several decades of adventures behind him when travel writer Lewis Ransome Freeman stopped by
his cabin in 1902. Freeman, who had read Rudyard Kipling's descriptions of the famous toll road operator, was eager to meet him.
by
M. MARK MILLER
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