In 1884 in the northwest corner of 12-year-old Yellowstone National Park, "Uncle John" Yancey illegally built a four-room hotel and bar, later adding a mail station.

The tiny hotel was touted as able to accommodate 20 guests - provided the customers shared beds.

The area west of the junction of the Yellowstone and Lamar rivers was named Pleasant Valley, an idyllic name for a beautiful area with a short season of pleasant weather. Nestled against the timbered hills with a small stream gurgling past, the hotel sat along the stage route that connected Gardiner with the gold-mining boom town of Cooke City.

The hotel burned down in 1906, not long after Yancey died of pneumonia, but his little corner of the park is now visited by more people in one day than he would have housed in an entire year. Bouncing to Yancey's Hole in rubber-tired, bright yellow wagons pulled by draft horses or astride saddle horses, the tourists visit to dine outdoors in dude fashion - all-you-can-eat steaks and coffee boiled over an open fire as Cowboy Bob strums tunes on his guitar.

"It's just marvelous," gushed Leota Musgrave, 83, of Bonney Lake, Wash. "We're loving it."

A new perspective

How this area will be managed in the future is part of a new direction in planning for Yellowstone that could become a blueprint for other parks in the nation. Under a comprehensive environmental analysis, the Park Service is outlining three scenarios for guiding development in the Tower-Roosevelt area, which includes Yancey's Hole.

In the past, the park was more project-specific in its planning, said Eleanor Williams Clark, chief of comprehensive planning and design at Yellowstone. Under the new document, projects will have to fit the guidelines of the alternative that is adopted and preserve and protect the natural, cultural and visual resources of the area, as well as visitors' experiences.

"It's the guiding document for the future of this area," Clark said.

Guiding change

The plan, released Tuesday for public review and comment, specifies three management alternatives, including changing nothing and one that is designated the environmentally preferred alternative.

Tower-Roosevelt includes such historical structures as the Tower Ranger Station, built between 1914 and 1916, the Roosevelt Lodge, built in 1920, and adjacent corrals and a barn. All told, there are 124 structures in the area.

The crossroads also encompasses such natural features as 132-foot Tower Fall and facilities including a 32-site campground, parking areas, restrooms and a gas station.

"One of the great things about this plan is that we did a resource inventory for the entire boundary, so we really know what's there and what types of resources need to be protected," Clark said.

Each alternative would set the limits of acceptable change, going into such detail as how big buildings could be and what construction style and materials could be used to ensure that new buildings are in harmony with existing structures. It's like zoning on a parkwide scale. Clark said the Park Service borrowed from the private sector for ideas, such as covenants that guide homeowners in subdivisions.

"It's not a totally foreign animal," she said.

First draft

Tower-Roosevelt was picked as the best place to introduce the plan because it is smaller than areas that will be addressed in the future, including Old Faithful, Lake Village-Fishing Bridge-Bridge Bay and Mammoth Hot Springs.

"Certainly some of the other areas will have the same kinds of concerns, so it was a really good place to try out this idea," Clark said. "We welcome public comment to see what people think of this approach."

Although the plan is designed to last a minimum of 10 years, Clark said it would be flexible to allow for updates as circumstances change.

"It keeps the plan as more of a fresh, living document as opposed to something that will sit on the shelf," she said.

Clark said Suzanne Lewis, Yellowstone's superintendent, nurtured the idea.

"This is her vision," Clark said. "The regional office thinks there may be some value for other parks."

The comprehensive plan provides a level of oversight, guidance and protection of resources that old Yancey would never have envisioned when he built his hotel. But 125 years later, people are still visiting Pleasant Valley for the same reasons - its beauty, scenery and wildlife.

"I wouldn't change it too much," said visitor Dorothy Dominguez, 84, of Bonney Lake, Wash. "I would leave it as natural as possible, because that's what you like."

Contact Brett French at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.