This is part of a series of at least a dozen menus that feature a sepia-tone photograph glued on to the front cover. Most of the photos show Mount Rainier, dude ranches, or backcountry camps; so far, I haven’t found any promoting Yellowstone National Park. Not all of the menus are dated, but the ones that are range from 1935 to 1942.

Click image to download an 2.3-MB PDF of this menu.

In addition to sepia tones, the glued-on photo on this menu has a red tint that I’ve seen on only one other Northern Pacific menu in this series, one that featured a scene “in the Montana Rockies.” This scene features horseback riders above Sunrise Lodge, which opened in 1931.

Sunrise Lodge still exists as shown in this photo apparently taken on the same trail as the one on the menu cover. Park Service photo by John Chao.

The large building shown in the picture was supposed to be one wing of a 300-room hotel, but the Depression killed that idea. Instead, the Rainier National Park Company built 215 small cabins, many of which are shown on the dinner menu. These were later removed and the lodge today serves as a restaurant.

Although the menu is undated, the prices are lower than a 1942 menu. They are the same as a menu that I dated to 1937 because its cover featured the “new” Red Lodge High Road (now known as the Beartooth Highway), which opened in June 1936. Both menus could be from a year or two later so to be conservative I’ll date this one to 1940.