One of my dreams is to stay at a National Park Lodge at Christmas.

What could be more magical?

Grand log-beamed lobbies decked out in real pine trimmings,

the crackling of massive stone fireplaces and decadent holiday feasts,

while far away from civilization with the glories of snow-blanket in nature in every direction.

In order to quench my thirst for National Park Christmas magic, we've put together this

episode featuring stories of Christmas at one of the most special places on Earth, Yellowstone

National Park.

I'm Jason Epperson, and this is Parkography.

We begin with Christmas at Yellowstone at the turn of the 20th century.

Only eight years prior, Fort Yellowstone was established at Mammoth Hot Springs. More than 40

years before the creation of the National Park Service, Yellowstone was established on March 1st,

1872, as the world's first national park.

Between 1872 and 1886, the park was managed by a civilian superintendent with limited

resources and almost no legal authority to maintain and protect the park's natural features

and wildlife.

Over the next decade, special interest groups like concessionaires, railroad, and mining interests

attempted to commercialize and privatize park lands. In 1883, Congress transferred control of the

park to the War Department, protecting Yellowstone from schemes to commercialize it. Congress then

appropriated funds for the establishment of a permanent fort in 1891.

Over the next decade, 60 structures were erected at Fort Yellowstone,

35 of which were still in existence more than 100 years later,

...