Congress established Yellowstone in 1872 as the country’s first and largest national park. Soon after, potential concessionaires flocked to build visitor services within park boundaries. In choosing leaseholders, early administrators strove to balance conservation and tourist accessibility. Increased transportation options would bring more people to the area, companies argued, and encourage the government to allocate funds to protect Yellowstone from vandalism and poaching. In 1886, following a decade of haphazard operations, the Yellowstone Park Association (YPA) took advantage of the park’s rise in popularity. The Northern Pacific Railroad-financed company took over property leases from the previous bankrupt concessionaire. The sites spanned across the park, including one at Yellowstone Lake.
\nE.C. Waters began as the general manager of the YPA’s hotels in 1887. Aiming to improve the quality of park-wide accommodations, the company planned a sophisticated hotel located on Yellowstone Lake. The site’s remoteness called for boat transportation, as stagecoach travel could be uncomfortable and slow. In 1889, the YPA named Waters president of its Yellowstone Lake Boat Company to meet this demand.
\nThe entrepreneur, though, was already making enemies across the company and the Interior Department. In 1890, the YPA fired him for extortion, poaching, and a geyser’s eruption by throwing soap into it. Yellowstone officials barred him from the park, but his connection with President Benjamin Harrison’s son got him reinstated that same year. In 1892, the Interior Department granted him a permit to transport visitors on his steamship, the Zillah, from Thumb Bay to the Lake Hotel area. The 125-passenger vessel was sent piece-by-piece from Minnesota and reassembled at the lake. By 1896, the Zillah was making stops at E.C. Waters' “zoo” on Dot Island. It was a little more than some corralled bison and elk, which he shipped in from outside the park. Passengers were unknowingly charged extra by Waters for the quick stop. To make matters worse, the bison and elk starved as his finances declined and operations fell into disrepair. Park administrators and visitors questioned the Zillah’s lakeworthiness, Waters’ concession license, and his overall moral character.
\nRegardless, Waters built another steamship, the E.C. Waters, in 1905. It could carry 500 passengers, a violation of the park’s capacity limits. Fed up with his antics, park administrators refused to reinstate his lease and booted Waters from Yellowstone in 1907. A 1921 storm berthed the E.C. Waters on an island close to the hotel without ever transporting a single visitor. Park officials salvaged its parts over the next decades, most notably its boiler, which heated the Lake Hotel until the mid-twentieth century. What exactly became of the Zillah is unknown. Boat concessions continued after E.C. Waters sold his company in 1907, but the days of steamships and zoos were gone. Now, officials restrict lake operations to a tour boat, some motorboats, and paddle sports like kayaks. Visitors can still spot the skeleton of the E.C. Waters where it was shipwrecked years before, a testament to the hubris and ambition of its namesake.
","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"Yellowstone Lake, in Yellowstone National Park, is the largest high-elevation lake in North America. Visitors arrive eager to take in the mountains, glacial waters, and wildlife that surround it. Concessionaire E.C. Waters ran a lucrative steamship operation transporting guests across its waters for two decades, but his business practices and violations of park regulations led to its downfall.","website":"","related_resources":["National Park Service, Interior Department. \"For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People: A History of Concession Development in Yellowstone National Park, 1872-1966\". Government. Interior Department, December 31, 2002. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GOVPUB-I29-PURL-gpo177264
","Root, Chris. “A Steamboat in Yellowstone: The E.C. Waters Story.” Denver Public Library, April 11, 2023. https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/western-history/steamboat-yellowstone-ec-waters-story.
","U.S. Geological Survey. “The Misadventures of E.C. Waters—the Man and the Boat!” Caldera Chronicles, November 12, 2018. https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/misadventures-ec-waters-man-and-boat.
","Whittlesey, Lee. “Byways, Boats, and Buildings: Yellowstone Lake in History, Part 3.” Points West (Summer 2008). Buffalo Bill Center of the West. March 27, 2014. https://centerofthewest.org/2014/03/27/points-west-byways-boats-buildings-yellowstone-lake-history-part-3/.
","Young, S. B. M. Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1907. Montana History Portal. Accessed April 17, 2025. https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/104746.
"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/68c1a5bf36f9944b8e2ad2d694d1d81e.jpg":{"id":3901,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Map of Yellowstone Lake area, National Park Service (modified)","description":"The Thumb Dock (located at West Thumb Geyser Basin) is on the left, with the Lake Hotel Dock on the right. Both have since been removed. Dot Island, where the “zoo” was located, is circled in orange. Stevenson Island, still home to the E.C. Waters wreck, is circled in yellow. The Zillah’s route, which sometimes included a stop at Dot Island, kept to the east shore to avoid the lake’s frequent bad weather, as well as for general efficiency. |Park Map – Yellowstone National Park. Map. Originally created February 1, 2023. Modified by Anaëlle DePoint. National Park Service. Accessed April 28, 2025. https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/collection-item.htm?pg=7323739&cid=305fb7af-a71b-469b-941e-a98b439c882f&id=dc30085e-3713-4a8f-856b-19ac1c566066&sid=a4e6a581-87cd-48b5-bb71-597876409532&p=1&sort=relevance.
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/68c1a5bf36f9944b8e2ad2d694d1d81e.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/e0faa72f941fa5447930329f61c1081e.jpg":{"id":3902,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The steamer Zillah docked at the Lake Hotel with small rental boats under a shed behind it, 1904","description":"E.C. Waters is seen walking toward the camera on the dock. His house is also in the background, just in front of the hotel. |Haynes, F. Jay (Frank Jay), 1853-1921, Yellowstone Lake, Steamer 'Zillah' at dock. E.C. Waters on dock. E.C. Waters house in background. Postcard, 1904. Yellowstone National Park. Montana History Portal. Accessed May 5, 2025, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/79348
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/e0faa72f941fa5447930329f61c1081e.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/5da4e01380750026f998a68b156387a0.jpg":{"id":3903,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Postcard of the Zillah at Thumb Dock after returning from the Lake Hotel area, ca.1905","description":"Travelers could shave off hours of uncomfortable stagecoach rides by going by boat instead. Underwater thermal features are just a couple of feet from the dock. |Steamer Zillah Landing at the Thumb. Postcard, c.a. 1905. Curt Teich Postcard Archives Digital Collection. Newberry Library. Accessed April 28, 2025. https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/nby_teich/id/432221/.
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/5da4e01380750026f998a68b156387a0.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/28127cbd5d9795c1723747ee135f26ef.jpg":{"id":3904,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Stereograph of bison and elk corralled as part of E.C. Waters’ “zoo” on Dot Island, ca. 1896-1907","description":"The small island had no large game before Waters ferried some from outside the park to place in his downtrodden corrals. By stopping at the “zoo” en route to the Lake Hotel, he could guarantee that tourists could spot some famed Yellowstone wildlife. However, Waters charged double for the stop, often without the permission of his passengers. Some reports alleged that animals started to eat each other in desperation after being left in a pen with no food. |ST.21.0076 – Buffalo & Elk in Corral on Dot Island, Folder MS21.17.07, Box: MS21.17, Folder: MS21.17.07. MS 021. Stereograph, c.a. 1896-1907. Yellowstone National Park Collection, MS 021. McCracken Research Library. Accessed April 18, 2025. https://mccrackenatcenterofthewest.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/60056
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/28127cbd5d9795c1723747ee135f26ef.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/8853940ff34c3b6395cd9c6d0adda7d1.jpg":{"id":3905,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"The abandoned E.C. Waters steamship lodged on the shore of Stevenson Island, where it remains today, ca. 1926","description":"The wreck became home to bootlegging, parties, and other illicit activities until rangers torched it with kerosene in 1930. |Wreck of the \"SS E.C. Waters\". Photograph. ca. 1926. Yellowstone National Park, YELL 36370. National Park Service Museum Collection. Accessed April 28, 2025. https://npgallery.nps.gov/MUSEUM/AssetDetail/4ecb531c-9f16-4036-9914-d9d5c7dbbd25.
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/8853940ff34c3b6395cd9c6d0adda7d1.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/bd8544a6881e027042722e9ac319d58e.jpg":{"id":3906,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"The E.C. Waters shipwreck, 2018","description":"Its sun-bleached ribs are the only remnants of the steamer. It lies on Stevenson Island, the closest island to the Lake Hotel, and can be seen on modern-day scenic boat tours. |Frank, Jacob W. The Remnants of E.C. Waters on Stevenson Island. Photograph, July 26, 2018. Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service. Accessed April 17, 2025. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_remnants_of_E.C._Waters_on_Stevenson_Island_(42867188895).jpg.
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