Col. P. W. Norris: Yellowstone's Greatest Superintendent

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Book Description
The only full length biography of P. W. Norris, the second superintendent of Yellowstone National Park but the first superintendent to live, work and evangelize America's first national park. Born in New York, the Norris family moved to Wayne County, Michigan to homestead.  Later, P.W. moved to Ohio where he engaged in the real estate business; served in the Civil War and established a village, which exists today: Pioneer, Ohio. In 1865, Norris returned to Michigan where he engaged in the real estate business purchashing large tracts of land. He founded a village named for him in 1873. Travelling West in 1875 and 1877, Norris wrote of his extensive travels.

After his appointment as superintendent, Norris built the first roads and headquarters as well as lobbying for funds from Congress to preserve the Park. His success in securing the first funds for the first national park guarantied its perpetual preservation to this day.

Roughly, the book consists of about a third history of Michigan, Ohio, and the Yellowstone National Park supplemented with thirty-three photographs, mostly never published before.

About the Author
Raised in the old Village of Norris, Michigan, Judge Don Binkowski started his research as part of the Bicentennial. Born in Detroit, Binkowski received his A.B. from the University of Michigan and J.D. from Wayne State University. After his service as a Delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-62, he moved to Warren, Michigan, which borders Detroit. A District Judge for eighteen years, he was chairman of the Warren Historical Commission and a member of other historical... read more

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A Tribute to Aubrey Leon Haines, Historian

August 30, 1914 to September 10, 2000

Aubrey L. Haines, historian, author, engineer, teacher, map maker, and photographer, spent his career in service to his country and his retirement recording the history of our nation's first National Park. Haines was born in Portland, Oregon, on August 30, 1914, to Albert Haines and Doris Blodgett. He attended high school in Seattle, Washington, and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in forestry engineering.
Following graduation, he worked as a fire lookout in Mount Rainier National Park and then as a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park. Haines was a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps as he put himself through college during the depression years, and also served in Battery A, 146th Field Artillery of the Washington National Guard from 1932 to 1935.

Haines served four years with the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War II as a Topographic Surveyor, achieving the rank of Sergeant. In the New Guinea Campaign with the 650th Engineer Battalion, Haines contracted malaria. He received an Honorable Discharge from Baxter General Hospital in Spokane Washington. In 1946 Haines returned to Yellowstone National Park and was appointed Assistant Park Engineer in charge of buildings and facilities engineering. In 1949 Haines received a Master of Science degree in Forestry from the University of Montana at Missoula. He completed class work for a PhD in Forestry at the University of Washington, and then returned to park service as a district ranger at Mount Rainier National Park. He transferred back to Yellowstone in 1956. During his 32 years of service with the National Park Service, he also served as management assistant in charge of Big Hole National Battlefield, an area operated seasonally out of Yellowstone Park headquarters.

His personal efforts to collect and preserve the historical artifacts and records of Yellowstone National Park resulted in his being promoted in 1959 to the new position of Park. A special branch of the National Archives was created to preserve the vast archive of photographic and historical records uncovered and collected by Haines.

Haines was a founding member of the Oregon-California Trails Association and a member of the Washington Alpha Chapter of Xi Sigma Pi Engineering Honor Society. He served on many advisory boards and was an Elder at the Saguaro Christian Church in Tucson where he taught Adult Bible Study. He was also a member of the board of the Haynes Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded following the death of Jack E. Haynes, Yellowstone National Park photographer, concessionaire, and founder [not founder-that was Jack's father F. J Haynes] of Yellowstone's Haynes Studios.

Following his retirement in 1969, Haines wrote historical non-fiction prolifically, both from his first retirement home in Bozeman, Montana and later from his home in Tucson, Arizona. He served as a technical resource for countless history students and authors.

Haines contributed articles to many publications and wrote chapters of The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, Historical Essays on Montana and The Northwest, and Montana: The Magazine of Western History. Haines published works include: Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper (1955) , Mountain Fever: Historic Conquests of Rainier (1962), The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone (1965), Yellowstone National Park, Its Exploration and Establishment (1974), The two-volume Yellowstone Story (1977), Historic Sites Along the Oregon Trail (1981), An Elusive Victory - The Battle of the Big Hole (1991), and Yellowstone Place Names, Mirrors of History (1996).
During his prolific career he wrote more than 140 articles, reports and books. At the time of his death, two book-length manuscripts were ready for publication and he was actively co-authoring a third.

His battle with prostate cancer did not deter him from fulfilling his lifelong dream of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a side trip to Egypt in May, 2000, and serving as a historical guide for prominent National Park Service staff members during July of 2000. The current park historian at Yellowstone, Paul Schullery, referred to Aubrey Haines as the "Dean of Park Historians."