The most historic sign in Yellowstone National Park is the arch that dominates the park’s first major entrance. In 1903, the Northern Pacific Railway brought tourists to Yellowstone by building tracks to Gardiner, Montana. The small town and its surrounding area lacked sufficient visual fanfare to serve as gateway to America’s first and most famous national park. Locals started building an arch to mark the spot where the park itself began to unfold. While the arch was being built, President Theodore Roosevelt came to Yellowstone for a two-week visit. He was invited to participate in its dedication before 3,000 people, and arrived on horseback. He helped lay the cornerstone of the arch and made a speech extolling the wonders of Yellowstone Park. Eight words from that speech were later placed on the arch. When I made this wideangle photograph of the arch under a dramatic canopy of massive storm clouds, only one person and one car were visible in the wintry landscape. The design and texture of the arch is very much a product of its time. It seems as “rough and ready” as Teddy Roosevelt himself, and today it carries his name into the 21st century as it welcomes visitors to Yellowstone.

We had a dinner and breakfast at this restaurant in Gardiner, just outside the North entrance to Yellowstone Park. The restaurant’s sign itself is pure commercial art, but its vintage western motif matches the rustic nature of the snow-covered sled that sits below it. The curving “Yellowstone” in the title echoes the curve in the front of the sled and makes the two elements into one.

The O’Kane Building is Bend’s oldest, dating back to 1916. It was built in the early years of the town’s booming lumber industry. The name of the city itself is set in stained glass in the center of its wavy windows. This one virtually vibrates, as it embraces the warm colors of the light within. It symbolizes the simple elegance of another time.

This fire engine has been abandoned, and the paint of its lettering has faded just as the town it once served has gone into decline. I photograph the fading lettering as a symbol of a virtual ghost town. Red is an energetic color but the harsh climate has eroded its vitality, just as time and economic changes have taken the bloom off Shaniko itself.

Shaniko was a booming wool town one hundred years ago. Today it is a ghost town. Two thirds of the town, including its hotel and café, has been purchased privately, shut down, and put up for sale. Among the closures is the building reflected in this window. Cobwebs, a “closed” sign, and the shuttered hotel across the street, symbolize the present state of Shaniko.

An abundance of symbols add context in which to place the ice cream cone sign in this image. Ice cream cones are very American, and the scoops on the sign are embraced by the American flag. The other signs, advertisements in Spanish, symbolize the diversity of the American population, even in rural Oregon. Two other symbols offer contrast: an overflowing trash can suggests waste, while the shattered wagon wheel resting next to it symbolizes the darker side of the history of the American west. Taken as a whole, we can see American culture from both positive and negative views here.