Hill heir helps fund Many Glacier Hotel project

When the Many Glacier Hotel was completed in 1915, one of its unusual features was a double helix staircase just inside the main entrance that led to the hotel’s basement.

But the hotel underwent reconstruction in the 1950s. The double helix staircase, with a rock fountain in the center, was torn out in 1957 when the hotel was taken over by Don Knutson, according to a story by Ray Djuff in the “Inside Trail.”

Knutson was brought in by the Great Northern Railway, which built the hotel, to modernize the structure and to expand the gift shop. When workers tore the staircase out, they found it was full of bars of soap packed inside by packrats.

Now the staircase will be rebuilt, the National Park Service announced last week. The project was funded as part of the Park Service’s Centennial Challenge program.

Nationwide, the $10 million program matched private donations to complete a host of Park Service projects totaling $26 million.

For the helical staircase project, the Dorcy Estate provided $121,650 as a match to fully fund the $243,300 cost.

The matching gift was bequeathed by Laurence H. Dorcy, a multi-millionaire from Hawaii and the great great grandson of Great Northern Railway founder James Hill, according to the Park Service.

An attorney for the estate confirmed the gift but noted that it wasn’t earmarked specifically for the staircase, but for support of the hotel upgrade in general.

When he died in 2011, Dorcy’s estate was reportedly worth more than $60 million.

Glacier Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said she didn’t know when work on the staircase would begin, as the project had just been approved.

Elsewhere, the Glacier National Park Conservancy recently provided $20,000 in matching funds to rebuild parts of the popular Highline Trail, which connects Logan Pass to Granite Park Chalet and The Loop. The total cost of that project is $38,000.

Conservancy CEO Mark Priess said the funding will utilize crews from the Montana Conservation Corps to rebuild the first mile of trail, making significant improvements and replacing the aging hand rail.

The Conservancy also played a role in helping secure the grant from the Dorcy Estate.