I worked as a bellman at Many Glacier Hotel at Glacier National Park, Montana, 1963 and 1964. During recent flooding in the park, the water of Swiftcurrent Lake rose up into the hotel's lake level rooms, reminding me of the devastating Montana flood of 1964.
Photo by Hiker 1
The flood caught us before the guests began arriving for the season. Our first knowledge of the high water came when we were pulled out of bed before dawn and told to report to the hotel. Our first duty: rescuing the furniture in those lake level rooms. When the waters receded, there was quite a bit of mud to clean out of the rooms.
My primary job was hauling water for the clean-up process, for the kitchen and for the restrooms in a van. Potable water went into clean garbage cans; cleaning water went into used garbage cans. With a little luck, we opened the hotel on time for a convention scheduled for the beginning of the June-September season.
Experiences like these engraved the park in my memory, making it a fitting setting for large portions of both The Sun Singer and my novel in progress.
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