YELLOWSTONE THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK THE HISTORY BEHIND YELLOWSTONE Long before herds of tourists and automobiles crisscrossed Yellowstone’s rare landscape, the unique features comprising the region lured in the West’s early inhabitants, explorers, pioneers, and entrepreneurs. Their stories helped fashion Yellowstone into what it is today and initiated the birth of America’s National Park System. Native Americans As early as 10,000 years ago, ancient inhabitants dwelled in northwest Wyoming. These small bands of nomadic hunters wandered the country- side, hunting the massive herds of bison and gath- ering seeds and berries. During their seasonal travels, these predecessors of today’s Native American tribes stumbled upon Yellowstone and its abundant wildlife. Archaeologists have discov- ered domestic utensils, stone tools, and arrow- heads indicating that these ancient peoples were the first humans to discover Yellowstone and its many wonders. As the region’s climate warmed and horses Great Fountain Geyser. NPS Photo by William S. Keller were introduced to American Indian tribes in the 1600s, Native American visits to Yellowstone became more frequent. The Absaroka (Crow) and AMERICA’S FIRST NATIONAL PARK range from as low as 5,314 feet near the north Blackfeet tribes settled in the territory surrounding entrance’s sagebrush flats to 11,358 feet at the Yellowstone and occasionally dispatched hunting Welcome to Yellowstone National Park! Renowned snowcapped Eagle Peak. Perhaps most interesting- parties into Yellowstone’s vast terrain. Possessing throughout the world for its natural wonders, ly, the park rests on a magma layer buried just one no horses and maintaining an isolated nature, the inspiring scenery, and mysterious wild nature, to three miles below the surface while the rest of Shoshone-Bannock Indians are the only Native America’s first national park is nothing less than the Earth lies more than six miles above the first American tribe to have inhabited Yellowstone extraordinary. Mud pots roil and boil like witch’s traces of magma. year-round. Called Sheepeaters, these peaceful brew, geysers spew their pent-up fury, waterfalls Yellowstone’s captivating natural appeal is Indians relied on the park’s abundant bighorn crash over precipitous ledges, and some of enhanced with an amazing display of wildlife. sheep population for subsistence. Evidence of America’s rarest and wildest species delegate North America’s largest species, the bison, wan- these Indians’ area travels and presence is appar- Yellowstone as their home. It is no wonder, then, ders idly across the park’s terrain and roads while ent to this day on the Bannock Trail gouged into that this land of intrigue and oddity has long cap- the continent’s fastest species, the pronghorn the land near Tower Junction. tured the attention of explorers, scientists, photog- antelope, speeds purposefully into the horizon. raphers, and tourists from every continent. More The prehistoric looking moose shares than three million visitors are drawn to the park’s Yellowstone’s mountains and meadows with deer, magnetic natural personality every year with some wolves, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, griz- faithfully embarking on annual pilgrimages to the zly bears, and black bears. Soaring above in the acclaimed national treasure. breathtakingly crisp azure skies, peregrine fal- National Park Yellowstone Including the rugged Continental Divide in its massive 3,472 square miles, Yellowstone covers cons, bald eagles, osprey, and whooping cranes more area than the states of Rhode Island and scour the fish-laden rivers below for their next Delaware combined. Its 2.2 million wild acres are meal. Although these and Yellowstone’s other wild predominantly cradled within Wyoming’s north- inhabitants are regularly glimpsed near the park’s western corner, but the overwhelming land mass major attractions and highways, most actually shy extends its mysterious fingers for a slight grasp of away from public view. Many of Yellowstone’s ani- south-central Montana and northeastern Idaho. mals maintain habitats in the 98% of parkland Recognized as the continental U.S.’ second humans rarely touch. largest national park, Yellowstone’s voluminous With the Earth’s powerful geological forces size allows for great topographical variation. constantly churning, Yellowstone National Park Contained within the Greater Yellowstone is a testimony to evolution. Those who tour Ecosystem, Yellowstone National Park is unique in Yellowstone today will find the park quite differ- boasting the world’s largest intact temperate ent than twenty years before, and the cycle of ecosystem. Over 10,000 geysers and hot springs change will continue underneath the feet of curi- have earned Yellowstone the right to claim more ous visitors. Whether individual travel plans call geothermal phenomena than the rest of the world for a brief tour of all the park’s major attractions combined. Despite the familiar pictures touting or an in-depth look at just one corner of such wonders, Yellowstone is more than hot pools Yellowstone, America’s first national park will and steaming fountains. Mountains blanketed undoubtedly leave a lasting impression beckon- with aspen and fir intermingle with arid plateaus, ing future exploration. Happy trails as you dis- wildflower fields, and fossilized forests. cover one of America’s most beautiful and Unbeknownst to most visitors, park elevations mysterious places! Golden Gate. NPS Photo by JW Stockert . www.ultimatewyoming.com 433 One year later, General Henry D. Washburn led his own party to the area with the accompani- ment of military scout Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane. Politician and park system promoter Nathaniel Langford also joined the influential men on what would be a life-changing journey. After their exploration, the men adamantly lob- bied Congress for the establishment of Yellowstone as a national park. Langford garnered support for the cause with a series of lectures and articles appearing in Scribner’s Monthly while Doane produced a detailed Yellowstone report for Congress’ benefit. It would take one year, howev- er, for Congress to respond to the increasing soci- etal call for preservation. The Official Birth of Yellowstone Under great pressure from Yellowstone’s private party explorers, Northern Pacific Railroad officials (who saw Yellowstone as a prosperous business venture), and the general public, the U.S. Congress finally gathered funds to send out its own scientific team of explorers. Territorial direc- tor of the U.S. Geological Survey Ferdinand V. Hayden was appointed in 1871 to lead photogra- pher William H. Jackson, artist Thomas Moran, Visitors photographing Minerva Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs. NPS Photo by William S Keller. and a team of explorers to the area. Their return to Washington later that year confirmed every Fur Trappers, Mountain Men, and Miners important than a string of glossy pelts. During his Yellowstone account dating back to Colter’s first As visions of westward expansion consumed employment at a Yellowstone River trading post journal reports. Hayden immediately joined the American, Canadian, and European politicians in between 1807 and 1808, Colter revealed ranks of Washburn, Doane, and Langford in lob- the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- Yellowstone’s curiosities to the civilized world for bying Congress to preserve Yellowstone from the turies, it was inevitable that the remote life of the the first time. His journals detailed unbelievable West’s feverish homesteaders. Finally, in an Shoshone-Bannock tribe in Yellowstone would be tales of bubbling mud pots, steaming geysers, unprecedented act, Congress passed the disturbed. French Canadians first arrived in the mountain waterfalls, incredible canyons, and an Yellowstone Park bill with little issue and turned area in the late 1700s in search of prized beaver endless beaver population. When Colter returned the matter over to President Ulysses S. Grant. pelts. Following one of the Missouri River’s to Missouri, few believed his tales, chalking them Grant wholeheartedly endorsed the legislation, largest tributaries, the Yellowstone River, these up to a fanciful imagination. After all, Lewis and and Yellowstone National Park was born on explorers and fur trappers named the area Clark had never mentioned hot springs. Why March 1, 1872. “Roche Jaune,” meaning Yellow Rock. Their jour- would Colter encounter anything different than Known as the Yellowstone Park Act, the bill nals indicate that yellow rock cradled the river; the famous Corp of Discovery? Some, however, reads: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of however, no mention is ever made regarding took Colter’s recounting seriously and headed to Representatives of the United States of America in Yellowstone’s thermal features. “Colter’s Hell” and the Yellowstone Region for Congress assembled, That the tract of land in the When Lewis and Clark made their famous themselves. Territories of Montana and Wyoming lying near westward journey to the Pacific Ocean and then Among the few who believed Colter’s tales the headwaters of the Yellowstone River…is here- back to Missouri between 1804 and 1806, their were several of the American West’s most famous by reserved and withdrawn from settlement, travel plans bypassed the park’s northern bound- mountain men. Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, and occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United ary by just fifty-six miles. Noting the area’s Daniel Potts frequented the area between the States, and dedicated