1916 circa - Visit Yellowstone Nat'l Park This Summer / Northern Pacific Railroad / Louis Moen

Work on Paper

A Yellowstone Collective

"Visit Yellowstone Nat'l Park This Summer Season, June 20-Sept.15". Louis Moen (1885 - ). Serigraph (13⅜” x 21¼”). Circa 1916.

Name/Title

1916 circa - Visit Yellowstone Nat'l Park This Summer / Northern Pacific Railroad / Louis Moen

Description

As follow-on to his circa 1914 poster in which a stagecoach is shown passing under the Roosevelt Arch, Moen created this circa 1916 poster showing a touring bus passing under the same arch, reflecting the new 1915 law allowing automobiles into the Park. The ironic aspect in this poster, as well as in other posters designed by Moen for the Northern Pacific Railroad, is its bold promotion of private motoring in Yellowstone. As the study of history reveals, it was this private motoring that eventual ended the railroad passenger service to the Park. The poster is attractive, but not accurate in all ways. Moen depicts the Yellowstone Park Transportation Company (YPTC) bus as gray while the actual YPTC touring cars and buses were yellow, emulating the color of the stagecoaches they replaced. Both the YPTC seven passenger cars and eleven passenger buses were made by the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The yellow White buses were used until the middle of the 1950s when they were abandoned. However, in 2007, the yellow buses were re-introduced into the Park by Xanterra Travel Collection, the Park’s hotel & transportation concessionaire.

Valuations

Date

Jun 1, 2026

Created By

[email protected]

Create Date

May 31, 2026

Updated By

[email protected]

Update Date

June 2, 2026