Many Glacier Hotel

"Many Glacier Hotel is the last word in mountain hostelry, and, like the"Glacier Park," (present day Glacier Park Lodge, East Glacier Montana) everything about it gives one a feeling of space and freedom. Above a basement of native stone the building is constructed entirely of timber, cut and sawed from the forests of Glacier National Park. The exterior is beautifully stained in mellow red and green hues to conform with the lovely colours found in the sandstone and red and green argillite in the bare rock walls of the great peaks across the lake. Most successfully has the Alpine idea in the architecture been carried out by the elaborate yet quaint carvings noted in the window and door frames and cornices. Very picturesque features of the structure are the many observation galleries and lookout balconies."

Art Deco baggage sticker

"The building cannot be said to face in any certain direction, since the ground plan consists of several sections or units which together conform to the irregular shore line of Lake McDermott. The several units comprising the Many Glacier are, namely, the Lobby unit, the Dormitory unit, the Bridge unit, the Dining Hall unit, and the Kitchen unit, giving in all a total length of six hundred feet.."

Main entrance

"As satisfying to the eye as is the exterior of this building, the interior is even more interesting than that of the Glacier Park. (East Glacier, Montana) Here also we enter a wonderful high Forest Lobby, duplicating many decorations and fittings of the former hotel, but in addition there are many new and noteworthy features. At one end is a cone shaped stone fountain which rises through the floor from the grill below. Native ferns and water plants grow in niches. A jet of milky water from a nearby glacier sprays over from the apex. By night the water of this fountain is electrically coloured, which, in addition to the Japanese lighting of the room, gives a most beautiful effect."

Lobby, south view.

"The Blackfeet frieze, a mural canvas one hundred feet long, extends around the walls of the lobby. This remarkable decoration, which is worth while to cross the Continent to see, is the work of Chief Medicine Owl and eleven other Blackfeet chiefs. It depicts the history of the Blackfeet nation in its most palmy days. This canvas was painted expressly for the hotel and is unique among wall decorations. Besides the great hooded camp fire built of stone on the lobby floor similar to the one at Glacier Park, is a massive stone fireplace built into one of the walls, and capable of feeding on immense forest logs. Below the lobby is the grill and above are three tiers of guest rooms opening on the galleries overlooking the lobby."

Lobby, north view.

"The beautiful dining hall decoration is in a pale green colour scheme. This spacious banquet hall, which has a massive fireplace at one end, and a lovely pergola along the McDermott Lake side of the room where broad and high windows command the terrace and an unobstructed view across the water, features great arches and a beamed ceiling of native woods. Above the high wainscoting extends another frieze of Indian pictures similar to that placed in the lobby. This too, was painted by present day Indian chiefs. Finally, the kitchen unit, which leads from the dining ball, is one of the most complete departments of the Many Glacier. It is an unusually large room with a very high ceiling, sky lighted, and abundantly ventilated. Most of the equipment is electric."

Dining hall

Great Northern Railway logo  ca. 1916