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The Swiftcurrent Auto Camp Historic District preserves a portion of the built-up area of Glacier National Park that documents the second phase of tourist development in the park. After the creation of a series of hotels for train-borne visitors including the nearby 
Many Glacier Hotel
Many Glacier Hotel is a historic hotel located on the east shore of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The building is designed as a series of chalets, up to four stories tall, and stretches for a substantia ...
, courtesy of the Great Northern Railway's hotel concession, facilities were developed for the increasing numbers of automobile-borne tourists, drawn to Glacier by the Going-to-the-Sun Road
Going-to-the-Sun Road is a scenic mountain road in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States, in Glacier National Park in Montana. The Sun Road, as it is sometimes abbreviated in National Park Service documents, is the only road that trave ...
. The Swiftcurrent Auto Camp at Swiftcurrent Lake was created for these new tourists. It includes a rustic general store, built in 1935 by the Glacier Park Hotel Company The Glacier Park Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway (GN), constructed and operated hotels, chalets, and other visitor facilities in Glacier National Park, Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta from the 1910s through 19 ...
, surrounded by a number of log tourist cabins., as well as a shower and laundry house and other supporting structures.
In contrast to the prominent site of the nearby Many Glacier Hotel
Many Glacier Hotel is a historic hotel located on the east shore of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The building is designed as a series of chalets, up to four stories tall, and stretches for a substantia ...
, the auto camp is located in stands of mature trees that block direct views of the surrounding mountains. The facilities were intended to provide an inexpensive, informal alternative to the hotels that had heretofore provided the bulk of tourist accommodations. The camp was built by the railroad's Glacier Park Hotel Company subsidiary, under pressure from the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
to provide such accommodations.
See also
*Rising Sun Auto Camp
The Rising Sun Auto Camp, also known as the Roes Creek Auto Camp, East Glacier Auto Camp or simply Rising Sun preserves a portion of the built-up area of Glacier National Park that documents the second phase of tourist development in the park. R ...
*Swiftcurrent Ranger Station Historic District
The Swiftcurrent Ranger Station is an example of the Swiss Chalet style that prevailed in the early years of Glacier National Park, before the establishment of the similar National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service rustic – sometimes ...
References
National Park Service rustic in Montana Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier County, Montana 1996 establishments in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier National Park Great Northern Railway (U.S.) 1935 establishments in Montana Commercial buildings completed in 1935 {{Montana-NRHP-stub