America's First National Park

In 1872 President Grant signs the bill creating the first national park at Yellowstone. Earlier in the year, Congress had set aside 1,221,773 acres of public land in the future states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho as America's first national park. The Yellowstone Act designated the region as a public "pleasuring-ground" which would be preserved "from injury or spoilation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within".

Native Americans had lived and hunted in the Yellowstone region for hundreds of years before the white settler came.  Abundant game and mountain streams teaming with fish attracted the Indians to the region, along with the geysers, canyons, and gurgling mud pots that fascinated them.

The first white people to travel through this area in the early 1800s returned with fantastic stories of steaming geysers and bubbling cauldrons.  Some doubters accused these men of telling tall tales.  The first formal expedition into the area in 1869, but it in 1871 the exploration that would be the key to the founding of Yellowstone as a national park was sponsored by the US Government.

The US geologist, Ferdinand Hayden, explored the Yellowstone area in 1871 along with William Jackson, a pioneer photographer, and Thomas Moran, a landscape artist.  Making a visual record of the expedition, they provided the first visual proof of Yellowstone's wonders and caught the attention of the US Congress.

Although America was hell bent on settling and exploiting the West it seems, Yellowstone was a surprising change.  Many members of Congress supported the national park idea simply because they believed the rugged and isolated region was of little economic value.

The Yellowstone Act of 1872 set a precedent and popularized the idea of preserving sections of public domain for use as public parks.  The idea not only spread around the country, but to other nations as well.
As an American, I am so grateful that President Grant saw the magnificent  beauty of Yellowstone and preserved it for future generations.

Next time...Off to Oregon

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