This 1908 menu has nothing about Yellowstone on the front cover, but the back cover has one photo each of Mammoth hot springs, Old Faithful Inn, and — for some reason — two photos of the Lake Hotel. Although designed by the architect who designed Old Faithful Inn, Wikipedia notes that the Lake Hotel is “relatively plain,” while the Old Faithful Inn is worthy as a destination itself. Perhaps the railroad (which paid for both hotels) believed that some patrons would feel more comfortable in a colonial-style building than a rustic one.

Click image to download an 898-KB PDF of this menu.

This menu is for “supper,” which is always an evening meal, whereas “dinner” means the main meal of the day which once often meant a midday meal. People who ate dinner at noon and supper in the evening generally at a lighter meal for supper.

This menu is entirely a la carte, which would allow diners to make the meal as heavy or light as their budgets could afford. It includes six appetizers, five soups, fish, eight hot entrées, four cold, three vegetables, five kinds of potatoes (the Great Big Baked Potato wouldn’t be introduced until the following year), six sweet desserts and one savory, five breads, and coffee, tea, milk, hot or cold chocolate, and malted milk. The menu also includes a wine, beer, and liquor list.

Although the front cover of this menu doesn’t have an image of Yellowstone, it does have an interesting NPR logo. Note that the P and R both share the same vertical stroke, which is somewhat unusual and hard to both read and replicate. Fortunately, the monad logo in the upper left corner is the one that survived.