Overview

Glacier National Park is vast, covering over 1,000,000 acres and including parts of two mountain ranges (sub-ranges of the Rocky Mountains), over 130 named lakes, more than 1,000 different species of plants, and hundreds of species of animals. This mostly pristine land is the centerpiece of what has been called the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem," a protected area encompassing 16,000 square miles. As with most national parks, the region that was to become Glacier National Park was first inhabited by Native Americans, dominated by the Blackfeet in the east and the Flathead tribe in the west at the time European explorers arrived. Soon after the park was established on May 11, 1910, the Great Northern Railway built a number of hotels and chalets, which today are listed as National Historic Landmarks. The park boasts 350 total locations on the National Register of Historic Places. By 1932, work was completed on the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road, which was later designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. This provided greater accessibility for automobiles into the heart of the park, which in turn led to more visitors. Glacier's mountainous landscape is due to the Lewis Overthrust, which happened 170 million years ago when layers of older rocks were forced up and over much younger ones. These sedimentary rocks are contain some of the best-preserved fossilized examples of extremely early life found anywhere on Earth. Only 25 of the estimated 150 glaciers that the park held in the mid-1800s remained by 2010. Scientists have estimated that all of the park's glaciers may disappear by 2030 if current climate patterns do not change.