Yellowstone National Park Grand Teton National Park and John D

Yellowstone National Park Grand Teton National Park and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., National Parkway Grand Teton National Park rock debris eroded from the mountains. You here a unique potential for outdoor recrea Few horizons have inspired man as has the can see much of this valley fill exposed tion amidst scenic splendor. In the 1920's massively rugged, magnificent skyline of where the Snake River has carved a winding John D. Rockefeller, Jr., began buying land Grand Teton National Park. Seen from the course through the upper-level deposits. at the foot of the range, thus slowing the floor of Jackson Hole, the wind- and ice- Jackson, Leigh, Jenny, Two Ocean, and pace of commercial development in Jackson carved horns, knife-edged ridges, and Emma Matilda are the largest of many spar Hole. cirques challenge the adventurous and kling morainal lakes in the valley. Com In 1929, lands embracing the major peaks evoke wonder in all. pleting the panorama of nature in Grand were set aside by Congress as an embryonic We do not know what effect this mountain- Teton are the higher glacial lakes, small but Grand Teton National Park. Despite vigorous scape had on the first men who gazed upon active glaciers, extensive forests, and an opposition, a move to expand the park onto 11 ICHIH it some 9,000 years ago. The Shoshone array of wild animals unsurpassed in any the valley floor gained impetus. In 1950 the Indian name for the snow- and ice-bedecked park of comparable size. present national park, including lands peaks meant "hoary-headed fathers." Unlike the Yellowstone wilderness, these donated by Rockefeller, was established. French-speaking fur trappers who followed majestic, craggy, blue-gray mountains and In 1972 a corridor of National Forest land the intrepid John Colter into the Teton- the lake-strewn valley over which they tower between the two parks was transferred to Yellowstone country in the early decades of were not secured for posterity before the National Parkway status. The road connect the 19th century named the most impressive intrusion of settlement and exploitation. ing the two parks was proclaimed the John group of peaks Les Trois Tetons (the three The trapper brigades, having cleaned out D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway. Thus, breasts). The valley 7,000 feet below was the beavers, disappeared in mid-19th the nation gives tribute to the man who Yellowstone National Park named Jackson Hole, for trapper David century. Later the homesteaders came to try assured that future generations would be Grand Teton National Park Jackson. their hand at wresting a living from this able to see these unspoiled mountains and The floor of the valley is relatively flat, rugged land. Then with the railroad came mirrored in Jackson Lake and to look down having been partly filled by glacial and other dude ranching—and Easterners who saw on the picturesque valley from their heights. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., National Parkway Yellowstone National Park mystery and wonder, Langford and his than a scenicaily splendid landscape. It is a Administration As the Nation's principal conservation "We had within a distance of fifty miles seen companions set in motion the chain of events monument to the small band of idealists Yellowstone and Grand Teton National agency, the Department of the Interior has what we believed to be the greatest wonders that was to lead to the establishment of who had the courage and the conviction to Parks are administered by the National Park basic responsibilities for water, fish, wildlife, on our continent... Judge, then, of our the world's first national park. demand that a hustling, growing nation of Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. mineral, land, park, and recreational astonishment on entering this basin, to see Yellowstone is no longer a land of mystery, pioneers and exploiters set aside 2 million resources. Indian and Territorial affairs are at no great distance before us an immense for scientists have revealed many of its acres of the public domain to be kept intact other major concerns of America's body of sparkling water, projected suddenly secrets, and millions of visitors have become and natural for the enjoyment of future "Department of Natural Resources." The and with terrific force into the air to a familiar with its landscapes. But it remains generations. The new park was to be, Department works to assure the wisest height of over one hundred feet. We had a wondrous realm of geological marvels, according to the enabling legislation, a choice in managing all our resources so found a real geyser...." where, in writer Freeman Tilden's words, "pleasuring-ground" for the Nation. each will make its full contribution to a Thus wrote Nathaniel P. Langford, a leading one can have the "shocking but joyous The meaning of Yellowstone today far better United States—now and in the future. citizen of the new Territory of Montana a adventure of putting your boot soles closer transcends its values for "pleasuring." century ago, upon seeing the land at the to the interior fires of the earth than you can An increasing number of Americans, wearied National Park Service headwaters of the "Rock Yellow River." do at any other spots on the globe save ... by the pace of life in the city and beset by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR This vast, varied wilderness in northwestern Iceland and New Zealand...." its noise, smells, and ugliness, are turning Wyoming Territory was awe-inspiring not Yellowstone is still, too, an unparalleled to Yellowstone and other national parks for only in its array of thermal phenomena, but wildlife sanctuary, despite a century during respite. Here they can slow down, refresh also in its looming mountain ranges, rushing which the park's growing popularity as a mind and body, and restore the spirit. Here rivers, endless forests, colorful canyons, vacation area has meant ever-increasing they can reestablish their ties with mother and teeming wildlife. Upon returning from pressure upon the animals and their habitat. earth. Here society can reevaluate its their 1870 expedition into this land of But Yellowstone is more than a spectacle damaged partnership with nature. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, of volcanism and erosive forces, more than U.S. Government Printing Office a parade of wild birds and beasts, more Price 25 cents domestic postpaid or 15 cents GPO Bookstore Washington, DC 20402-Price 15 cents -.'; GPO 1973 515973/96 REVISED 1973 .

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