This postcard was not mailed; there are no personal stories associated with it.
Yellowstone National Park, largely in northwest Wyoming, but extending into Montana and Idaho.
This area, long-inhabited by indigenous peoples, was explored, visited, and reported in print for decades before the becoming a park.
Long periods of civil and military jurisdiction over this region impeded the protection of its unique geological features.
Yellowstone was created as the first National Park by an act of Congress that was signed into law by President Grant in 1872.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park
In 1917, all National Parks were brought under the supervision of the new “National Park Service.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Park_Service
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The face of the postcard is a photograph of “Automobile Stages at Sylvan Lake” within “Yellowstone Park”.
Here, we see a procession of four large touring cars – each containing about ten sight-seers.
The bright yellow vehicles are passing tall pine trees lining a paved or graveled road.
Behind the tourists is a body of water which reflects the distant mountains.
Sylvan Lake is located near a high pass in the Absaroka Range of the Rocky Mountains in Yellowstone Park.
At an elevation of 8420 feet, Sylvan Lake has a subarctic climate of short summers and long, cold winters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvan_Pass_(Wyoming)
The road to Sylvan Lake Pass is commonly closed in the winter months due to avalanche threats.
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The matched set of touring cars appear to be an organized operation, perhaps by the Park Service; I assumed that the name “stages” may be a relic of earlier horse-powered tours.
Indeed, Google research confirms:
“Automobile stages” in Yellowstone National Park were motorized tour buses and passenger vehicles introduced in 1917 to replace traditional horse-drawn buggies and stagecoaches for sightseeing tours…“
The postcard was published and copyrighted by J. E. Haynes of St. Paul, Minnesota, the “Official Photographer of Yellowstone National Park”.
I assume that this postcard was a souvenir collected by a visitor to Yellowstone.
