Road Builders

Road Builders. . , In 1883, when Lieutenant Dan C. Kingman and the Army Corps of Engineers arrived, the road situation was dismal. When the Corps left 35 year later, there were 400 miles of stable, secure roads which had been designed with the intent of allowing access to major points of interest, while preserving the land as “nearly . . . as nature left it.”, The Corps also improved life at Fort Yellowstone by constructing a hydroelectric power plant, which provided electricity for the fort’s buildings, and developing a water system. Other contributions included landscaping, installing street lights, and concrete sidewalks., “the greatest service which official authority [could] render to posterity [was] to maintain and transmit this possession as it came from the hand of Nature.”Lieutenant Dan C. Kingman , Chief Engineer, 1883. , “ . . . that [the land] will be preserved as nearly . . . as nature left it – a source of pleasure to all who visit it, and a source of wealth to no one.”Lieutenant Hiram M. Chittenden , Chief Engineer, 1891-1892 and 1899-1906.