Editing Gardiner, Montana (section)

==History==
The name ''Gardiner'' derives from Johnson Gardner, a [[fur trapper]] who operated in the area in 1830–31.<ref name="mhs">{{cite web |title=Gardiner |url=http://mtplacenames.org/ |website=Montana Place Names Companion |publisher=Montana Historical Society |access-date=April 2, 2021}}</ref> He named the lush headwaters valley of today's [[Gardner River]] ''Gardner's Hole''. Originally, named ''Gardner's Fork'', the river took on Gardner's name although prospectors and explorers who visited the area later in the century were unaware of the trapper ''Johnson Gardner.'' In 1870, when the [[Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition]] passed through the area they began calling the river ''Gardiner,'' a phonetic error. [[Hiram M. Chittenden]] (1895) and [[Nathaniel P. Langford]] (1905) confirmed this spelling in their accounts of the expedition.<ref name=Haines>{{cite book |last=Haines |first=Aubrey L. |title=Yellowstone Place Names-Mirrors of History |publisher=University Press of Colorado |location=Niwot, Colorado |pages=24–27 |isbn=0-87081-382-X |year=1996 }}</ref>

When the [[Hayden Geological Survey of 1871]] passed through the Gardiner area, they encountered two men, named J.C. McCartney and H. R. Horr, who had laid claim to {{convert|320|acre|km2}} and established a ranch and [[Public bathing#United States|a bath house]] on the Mammoth terraces near Liberty Cap. These entrepreneurs eventually established a primitive hotel at Mammoth and were not evicted from the area until many years after the park was established.<ref>{{cite book |last=Culpin |first=Mary Shivers |title=For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People: A History of Concession Development in Yellowstone National Park-1872-1966 |publisher=Yellowstone Center for Resources |location=Yellowstone National Park, WY |year=2003 |url=http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/concessiondevel.htm}}</ref> McCartney also went by the name ''Jim Gardiner'' and received messages, consignments and such destined for guests of his hotel addressed to: ''Jim on the Gardiner''. On February 9, 1880, a territorial post office was established just outside the park boundary and Gardiner, Montana began.<ref name=Haines/>

In 1883, the [[Northern Pacific Railway]] completed the extension of their ''Park Branch Line'' from [[Livingston, Montana]] to Cinnabar north of Gardiner. In 1903, the line was extended to Gardiner.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haines |first=Aubrey L. |title=Yellowstone Place Names-Mirrors of History |publisher=University Press of Colorado |location=Niwot, Colorado |pages=253 |isbn=0-87081-382-X |year=1996 }}</ref> Railway service at [[Gardiner station]] was discontinued in 1948.