John F. Yancey also known as Uncle John Yancey (born c. 1826

Barren County, Kentucky Barren County is a county located in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,485. Its county seat is Glasgow. The county was founded on December 20, 1798, from parts of Warren and ...

, died May 7, 1903) was a

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

concessionaire who operated Yancey's Pleasant Valley hotel near Tower Junction in Yellowstone from 1882 until his death in 1903.

Early life

Very little is known about John Yancey's early life in Kentucky, although it is believed he was related in some way to

William Lowndes Yancey William Lowndes Yancey (August 10, 1814July 27, 1863) was an American journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern secession movement. A member of the group known as the Fire-Eaters, Yancey was one of the m ...

, an Alabama politician and secessionist. Yancey was sixth of ten children and his parents moved to Missouri while he was a young boy where he grew to manhood. He participated in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

on the side of the Confederacy, but to what extent is unknown. In the 1870s, shortly after the creation of Yellowstone National Park, he turned up as a prospector in the area of the Crevice Creek gold strike on the northern boundary of the park. He apparently made enough money from prospecting to establish a way station on the Gardiner to Cooke City road inside the park in 1882.

Owen Wister Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer and historian, considered the "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing '' The Virginian'' and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Biography Early life ...

, who met Yancey during a visit in 1896, described him as a "goat-bearded, shrewd-eyed, lank, Uncle Sam type".

Pleasant Valley Hotel

Pleasant Valley is located just north of the Tower-Roosevelt junction on the Yellowstone River Trail, at . The valley lies adjacent to the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains a ...

near the site of Barronett's Bridge and the confluence of the

Lamar River The Lamar River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately long, in northwestern Wyoming in the United States. The river is located entirely within Yellowstone National Park. History Prior to the 1884–85 Geological Survey of the ...

. The valley was named by

Philetus Norris Philetus W. Norris (August 17, 1821 – January 14, 1885) was the second superintendent of Yellowstone National Park and was the first person to be paid for that position. Early life Philetus Walter Norris was born in Palmyra, New York on Aug ...

, the second superintendent of the park (1877–82). In 1882, then park superintendent Patrick Conger gave John Yancey verbal permission to establish a cabin in Pleasant Valley to enable him to provide accommodations and provisions to the stage traveling to and from Mammoth Hot Springs to

Cooke City, Montana Cooke City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Park County, Montana, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 75. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Cooke City-Silver Gate CDP. The community si ...

. The mining camps in Cooke City were well established and the route through Pleasant Valley was the only way in and out of Cooke City in winter. In April 1884, the Department of the Interior granted Yancey a lease in Pleasant Valley to establish a hotel. Soon thereafter, Yancey constructed a five-room hotel he named" ''Yancey's Pleasant Valley Hotel.'' Rooms were $2/day and $10/week with meals.Haines, ''Yellowstone Place Names - Mirrors of History'', pp. 176–78. A guest of the hotel in 1901 described it thus:

Death

John F. Yancey was 77 years old in April 1903 when he traveled to

Gardiner, Montana Gardiner is a unincorporated community in Park County, Montana, United States, along the 45th parallel. As of the 2020 census, the population of the community and nearby areas was 833. Gardiner was officially founded in 1880. The area has s ...

, to witness the dedication of the

Roosevelt Arch The Roosevelt Arch is a rusticated triumphal arch at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana, United States. Constructed under the supervision of the US Army at Fort Yellowstone, its cornerstone was laid down by Pre ...

by President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

on April 24, 1903. Although Yancey witnessed the dedication and apparently met President Roosevelt during the dedication ceremony, he caught a cold and died in Gardiner of pneumonia on May 7, 1903. He is buried in Tinker's Cemetery in Gardiner, within the national park boundaries, approximately northwest of Gardiner on the old Yellowstone Trail road. Yancey's obituary in the '' Livingston Post'' contained the following:

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yancey, John F. 1820s births 1903 deaths People from Park County, Montana Yellowstone National Park People from Montana Territory