Entry - July 7, 1936

7:00 P.M. I had a nice swim in Lake McDonald today. The water is fed by the streams coming down from the glaciers so its breathtakingly cold. I also got a good picture of me standing by a bear. I talked with a couple of people from Illinois and they didn’t give me a very favorable version of things.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

The lake only gets up to about 70 degrees in the summer. The next time you go swimming, take a look at the water temperature for comparison. This is cold water.

I'm not sure what was going on back in Illinois. Keep in mind, Robert was 20 at the time, this could be anything.

Glacier National Park has webcams! Take a look here at Lake McDonald.

Robert with the bear

From Robert's Photo Collection

Entry - July 6, 1936

6:00PM. Just finished supper after a hard days work. I worked all day at the foot of Mt. Cannon. We have a scenic ride on the way to work. We pass through the Belton Hills and ride all along the length of the Lake McDonald and by the Sperry Chalets and Mt. Brown the by Avalanche Lake, Reynolds Mt., Clements Mt. then Hidden Lake then we reach Mt. Cannon.

Mt. Cannon 8,900

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

From what I can tell, the camp was in the Apgar area at the southern end of Lake McDonald. Remember at this time the Going-to-the-Sun Road had just been completed and other roads were still to come. The travel he mentions would have been cross country on a rough roads. These guys were developing access to virgin ground that has now been used by millions.

To make it easy, I'm probably going to reference the National Park Service map of the area throughout this blog. For this entry you can see most of the places Robert mentions. Mt. Cannon is not listed, but it is located close to the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail. Here is a good view of it.

Back of photo says "Mts. Brown, Cannon, Heavens Peak, and Lincoln Ridge"
From Robert's Photo Collection

National Park Service map of the area

View looking north-east at Lake McDonald. The camp would be on the very right end of the lake.
Photo from Google Maps

Foot of Mt. Cannon where Robert mentions working.
"McDonald Creek Valley Glacier NP1" by Acroterion - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Entry - July 5, 1936

I have been up on McDonald Glacier and liked to froze to death. The wind is very strong on top. It is the highest I have ever been in my life almost two and a half miles high. Seen a couple of black bear on the way back down. The park is loaded with deer and it is a common sight to see them in the trails.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

Robert would have experienced many variations of weather. At the bottom of the mountains the temperatures could be very hot in the day and then swing low at night. He mentions temperatures greater then 100 degrees F later in the entries and 1936 was an unusually hot year. Traveling up into the mountains would be a different story. Snow would still be on the ground there and it could be very chilly.

Since we are following in real time, have a look here for the forecast.

Entry - July 4, 1936 (Supplemental)

On this date I dedicate this book to my mother that she may read it and that way know something of my travels.

Inside cover of the journal

Entry - July 4, 1936

Today is my birthday and I am twenty. I went to the Rodeo in Kalispell and seen a wonderful exhibition. I received 15 cards from Cairo. Tomorrow I am going down to sunset trail to the glacier chalet up by the lake McDonald hotel. The mountains are very beautiful up there.

Altitude 10,000 ft.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

The camp was around Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. Kalispell was the closest large town at 40 miles away.

The Lake McDonald Lodge was built in 1913 and is still there today. It sits right on Lake McDonald. You can read more about it here.

Lake McDonald Lodge
Lake McDonald Lodge 1" by L.S. Harrison. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Entry - July 3, 1936

I received this book today from Johnnie and Aunt Lena and I am proud of it. It is given to me for a birthday present. I am in a c. c. c. camp in the Glacier National Park in Montana. There is a spot fire up at St. Mary’s Lake but I did not get called out on it.     Yet.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

So we made it to the first post. I'm going to try to add commentary and photos for each as we go along. Robert wrote in the journal just about every day and these will be the same. The difference will be that he tended to write at the end of each day and I'm going to post them in the morning at 9:00AM CST.


Johnnie was Robert's younger brother. This is for Robert's 20th birthday. He was born July 4, 1916.

Page from the journal

Saint Mary's Lake is about 40 miles away and there is not a direct route there. If he would have gotten called out, this would have been rough travel and a tough job once there. This lake is the one you see in Forrest Gump when Forrest is running. Beautiful country.

Before We Start

Last post before we get started. I hope you find these posts interesting and informative. Some of them are short and mundane; others are quite interesting. As we go along, I will try to add commentary and backstory to each. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and I will do my best to answer. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Robert had already covered quite a bit of ground before he made it to Montana. The post card below is dated 5/17/1936. At the time he was on his way from Oregon to Montana. I thought it would be a good way to start.

Dear Mom,

I am now in Spokane, Wash. Our company is moving to Glacier Nat. Park Mont. I will write a letter when I get there. We have a 20 hour lay over here. I have been running around a lot.

Love, 

Bob