American Notes YELLOWSTONE

The bellman at the Old Faithful Inn knocked at 6:45 a.m. last Wednesday to begin an evacuation of the popular sight-seeing area surrounding Yellowstone Park's fabled geyser. As tourists became refugees, parts of the fire-ravaged park resembled a war zone. Clouds of smoke stretched as far away as Denver, 400 miles southeast. The worst flare-up, on Wednesday, roared through 56,000 acres in six hours and pushed to within a mile of the geyser. Flames 200 ft. high swooped down on a village not far from the Old Faithful Inn, destroying more than a dozen buildings. The fires have ruined 1.2 million acres of Yellowstone and adjoining national forests. As high winds threatened to pick up again at week's end, residents of nearby Silver Gate and Cooke City, Mont., were evacuated. Montana Governor Ted Schwinden banned hiking, fishing and camping in his state and postponed hunting season for the first time ever.