Back to the Tetons

At the beginning of July my brother Dave and I went out to Yellowstone to do a few book signings. We met families from all over the country who were spending time in the National Parks. One family was doing a tour of 21 national parks in one summer! We ran into a family that had seen us do a reading at the Rye Nature Center in New York. They brought the book out on the trip and were very surprised to see us. The feeling was mutual. I met a lot of brilliant young authors and look forward to being in touch with them. You can see some of the folks we met in our photo gallery on our website.

Since the signings were a great success, I decided to return to Teton National Park for all of August. Teton National Park is located at the Southern end of Yellowstone. What's interesting is that over the years the South has become a common thorough fare and starting point for tourists. As you know from book I of the Land of Curiosities, that was not the case in 1872. Most people came up from the Montana end of the park.

Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway had a more "rocky" history of establishment than the unanimous declaration of Yellowstone's existence in 1872. It wasn't until the 1920s that the park was created and controversy ensued until the 1950s. Why? Ranchers, logger and entrepreneurs of all kind wanted to do their business! They wanted to use the land, which is quite understandable. But when the 1950s rolled around the profitability of tourism became apparent and the extension of a Southern area of the National Park met less resistance.

You may be wondering what Rockefeller's role was in all of this. I did too. According to the NPS.gov site on the tetons, Rockefeller's involvement was a way to side step the anti-park businessmen and entrepreneurs. They wanted the government to stay out of their business, so to speak. With the help of Horace Albright a consensus was reached that the land could be bought up in large portions by other entrepreneurs. Rockefeller was willing to oblige, with the long term goal of gifting the land to the government. This ultimately happened.

See you out there soon!
-Dee Neil

Yellowstone National Park & Grand Teton National Park author signings

Photos will be added to the photo gallery shortly.