Roger Wolcott Toll Historical Marker, Estes Park, Colorado

Posted on by Misty
Roger Wolcott Toll Historical Marker, Estes Park, Colorado

Born on October 17, 1883, in Denver, Colorado, Roger Toll was an early employee of the National Park Service. He initially served as the superintendent of Mount Ranier National Park. Toll was appointed to the position by the first National Park Service director, Stephen Mather. He would also go on to serve in the same position at Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone National Parks.

Toll was instrumental in doing investigations and creating reports on potential new national parks, monuments and boundary extensions. Some of these recommendations included Joshua Tree, Death Valley, the Everglades and Big Bend. He also worked on a commission that included George Wright to investigate creating some protected areas along the Mexican-American border.

Wright and Toll were sadly killed in a car accident near Deming, New Mexico, on February 25, 1936. They were on their way to investigate the Ajo Mountains in Arizona.

Historical Marker Inscription

The mountain index on this rock is a memorial to
Roger Wolcott Toll
Superintendent of Mount Rainer National Park 1919-1921 *** of Rocky Mountain National Park 1921-1928 of Yellowstone National Park 1929-1935

Civil Engineer ** Naturalist Mountaineer *** Whose love of the high country was manifested by helping to make it more accessible for you and your friends

Location

40° 24.861′ N, 105° 43.44′

Near Estes Park, Colorado

Lake Bonneville Historical Marker, Malta Idaho

Posted on by Misty
Lake Bonneville Historical Marker, Malta, Idaho

Lake Bonneville was a lake that existed between 30,000 and 13,000 years ago. At its largest, the lake stretched for nearly 20,000 square miles, covering parts of western Utah and eastern parts of Idaho and Nevada. The lake filled up a depression that was located in the Great Basin.

Lake Bonneville had a depth of over 1,000 feet and was approximately 325 miles long by 135 miles wide. During the Ice Age, the fresh water lake was fed by rain, streams, glacier meltwater and rivers.

About 16,000 years ago, the climate became warmer and dryer, and the lake levels began decreasing. Within 2,000 years, the lake decreased to about the size of the Great Salt Lake.

Only a few remnants remain of this great lake, including Salt Lake.

Historical Marker Inscription

20,000 years ago, this land was under water. Not far to the north, you can see the old shore of Lake Bonneville.

Formed in a basin from which no river reached the ocean, this became the largest lake in North America. Finally the lake rose high enough to overflow into the Snake River. Then after the climate got drier, and the great basin of Utah and Nevada became mostly a desert, the lake receded. Salt Lake and two other remnants are all that are left of this old 20,000 square mile lake.

Text prepared by The Idaho Historical Society

Marker Made & Installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Location

42° 4’ 22.820” N, 112° 54’ 18.792” W

Malta, ID  83342, United States