Win Tyler's World in Yellowstone — Fiction or Not?
Most of the places that are described in A Noble Calling actually exist, but some have been modified to suit the story and a few have been made up entirely. For example, there is no FBI satellite office within Yellowstone National Park, yet there is FBI investigative coverage of the park. FBI special agents routinely work with Park Service law enforcement rangers and Park Service special agents to investigate crimes and enforce federal laws. Unlike some other national parks and national monuments within the U.S., Yellowstone National Park does not fall under the legal jurisdiction of any county, city, or state; it is wholly administered by the federal government. A Federal Magistrate lives in Mammoth and has his office and courthouse at the Yellowstone Justice Center.
If you visit Yellowstone, you can see the structures I’ve described in the book; in some cases I may have taken a few liberties with their current uses and layouts. I’ll describe a couple of those in this blog.
Win’s House
Yes, it is actually in its described location at Mammoth and it is often referred to locally as “the judge’s house.” It was the first stone house built in the park when it was completed in 1894. As Yellowstone’s original “seat of justice,” it contained the judge’s chambers and living quarters, three jail cells, and the U.S. Marshal’s office and living area. The dwelling was officially named the Commissioner’s House for many years, since the early U.S. judges were called “commissioners.”
The house sits adjoining the Beaver Ponds Trail, with only the trail, a driveway, and a small stream between it and the Lower Terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. The house’s history and its exterior are accurately described in the book. However, I’ve modified the interior floor plan slightly and significantly updated the rooms. After all, I couldn’t have Win living in a house that hadn’t been totally renovated in so many years!
The first floor has a living room with a fireplace, which Win refers to as his “den,” a kitchen, dining area, laundry room, bathroom, and large first floor bedroom with a fireplace. The second story is accessed by a narrow staircase and contains four bedrooms and a full bathroom. The roughly 2,700-square-foot dwelling has an unfinished basement. The descriptions within the book envisioned an updated and modernized version of the house.
The house was used as the residence for the park’s judge from 1894 until recently, when the current Federal Magistrate moved into other housing. Win’s house is currently used for park employee housing. I’ve included a couple of photographs that my husband and I took of the house on a recent visit to the park.
Win’s Office
Since there is not an actual FBI office in Yellowstone, the structure I appropriated for that use for the novel is the old U.S. Army Corp of Engineers building. It is often referred to by the locals as the “Pagoda” because of the unusual shape of its green clay-tile roof. This building was the second stone structure built in Yellowstone, and like Win’s house, it is constructed of gray sandstone that was quarried locally. Its stone walls range from one foot to two feet thick. The roughly 4,000-square-foot, two-story building is on the National Register of Historic Places within the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District.
The structure was built in 1903 to house the offices of the U.S. Corp of Engineers, which was tasked with building the park’s road system. In 1918, when the Park Service took control of the park from the Army, the building became the official park headquarters. In 1980–81, it was repurposed as the location of the park’s court system. It was the location of the smallest federal courtroom in the United States from 1981 until 2008, when the courtroom was relocated to the Justice Center. Its exterior and parts of the interior are described accurately in the book, but it has never been used as an FBI office. The structure is currently used as the offices of the Park Service’s Mammoth District Ranger and his or her staff. It has not had major renovations in many years. As with Win’s house, I completed a much-needed renovation of the structure in the book, which sadly has not occurred in reality. Federal budget cuts, you know.
These photos of the building were taken on a recent trip to the park. The last photo shows me standing in front of the building.
