After the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition explored the watershed of the Yellowstone River and documented and mapped the area’s natural wonders in 1870, its recommendations led to a congressional act of dedication, creating the first national park in the United States and initiating policies for the preservation and conservation of such parks.
Accounts by mountain men of strange phenomena in the Yellowstone area of the Rocky Mountains
The creation of Yellowstone National Park in turn established a pattern for setting aside areas of natural wonders and ancient archaeological sites, protecting them from private ownership and commercial development. Congress vested authority in the secretary of the interior to develop policies and procedures to carry out its mandate to preserve and conserve national forests, prehistoric civilization sites, and natural wonders. These conservation efforts led to the founding of the National Park Service in 1916 as the agency for identifying, establishing, maintaining, and protecting from destruction dedicated lands and wildlife.
During the early nineteenth century, mountain men trapping and trading furs in the Yellowstone area reported fire pits, shooting geysers, boiling springs, and other strange phenomena in the northwest corner of the Louisiana Purchase territory (located in the present-day states of Montana and Wyoming). John Colter
In the summer of 1870, the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition set forth to survey and document the Yellowstone area. The party was led by Henry D. Washburn,
Yellowstone National Park
Upon the expedition’s return to Helena, Montana, Langford went east to visit influential officials in Minneapolis, New York, and Washington, D.C. He made public speeches and gave interviews to members of the news media, advocating that Yellowstone be set apart as a national park for the enjoyment of the people. Langford’s efforts resulted in a government-sponsored exploration of Yellowstone in 1871 conducted by the Geological Survey of the Territories. One of the officials approached by Langford was Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden
In 1871, Congress appropriated the funds for the U.S. Geological Survey
On July 15, 1871, the Hayden-Moran expedition got under way. The scientists identified and classified plants and animals, noted the geologic features of the area, mapped and sketched its topography, and named the geysers and other natural wonders they encountered. Upon their return, team members’ individual accounts, photographs, and maps were widely published and inspired additional explorations, as well as public interest.
The Hayden-Moran
The law gave authority to the secretary of the interior to draw up policies and procedures to effect the preservation of forests, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, and scenic wonders in a natural, undisturbed condition and to protect the lands and wildlife from destruction for commercial purposes. However, Congress created a severe problem, in that it provided no money to operate the park, nor did it provide a means for enforcing the conservation regulations. Langford became the first superintendent of Yellowstone, and he served for several years without pay. The revenues collected on-site, comprising public utility fees and taxes on concessions operated for public benefit, did not begin to cover the park’s operating budget. No revenue could be gained from hunting and fishing licenses, leases, or permits, because local cattlemen, timber men, and hunters were barred from grazing, removing timber, hunting, or fishing on park lands.
Without enforcement authority, the superintendent could not stop the poaching of fish and game. Nor could he prevent the wild animals either from attacking human intruders into their habitat or from fleeing beyond the park’s boundaries to escape them. Thousands of human visitors crossing the lands each year made it impossible to preserve the park in its natural state. The superintendent’s annual report of February 4, 1873, stated that without funds to hire personnel or authority to prosecute offenders, he could not comply with the congressional mandates of conservation and facilitation of public enjoyment of the park.
After its creation in 1872, the park was visited by rapidly increasing numbers of expeditions and sightseers. Sightseers took five-day guided tours, traveling over dirt roads by horseback, wagon, or stagecoach. In 1881, 200 miles of roads and 150 miles of bridle paths were completed, but visitors complained of the dust and stumps in the roads. In March, 1883, Congress responded to complaints by authorizing a paid superintendent and ten part-time assistants. Road and bridge construction was assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the secretary of the interior was instructed to request troops from the secretary of war to protect the park and its visitors. This action left the secretary of the interior in charge of managing a park partially funded and staffed through the War Department. Conservation was neglected.
In 1886, because of budget concerns, Congress eliminated all civilian jobs and turned Yellowstone over to the War Department. In 1890, Congress appropriated fifty thousand dollars to build Fort Yellowstone and empowered the military park authorities to enforce its conservation regulations and prosecute violators of poaching and vandalism laws. Although a civilian superintendent was authorized again in 1901, members of the U.S. Cavalry served as both park rangers and law enforcement officers until the National Park Service was founded in 1916.
The establishment of Yellowstone National Park led to conservation efforts to save and preserve the nation’s wilderness areas, archaeological sites, and forests. Expeditions to such sites have increased knowledge and contributed to the conservation of historic sites, natural habitats, and wildlife. The Antiquities Act of 1906
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Fishbein, Seymour L. Yellowstone Country: The Enduring Wonder. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1989. A photographic overview of Yellowstone National Park and its environs. -
Frantz, Joe B. Aspects of the American West. College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1976. Explores the philosophical idea of preserving wilderness areas and the practical effects of this idea. -
Haines, Aubrey L. Yellowstone National Park: Its Exploration and Establishment. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974. Provides a detailed history of the early explorations and creation of Yellowstone National Park. -
Kirk, Ruth. Exploring Yellowstone. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972. Discusses issues of public access to and conservation of the first national park in the United States. -
Murphy, Thomas D. Three Wonderlands of the American West. Boston: Page, 1919. Features maps and photographs of Hayden’s expedition and Thomas Moran’s influential paintings of Yellowstone National Park. -
Nabokov, Peter, and Lawrence Loendorf. Restoring a Presence: American Indians and Yellowstone National Park. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. Explores the claims to ownership of Yellowstone lands by Native Americans and the consequences of those claims to conservation and preservation of the park, as well as to tribal culture. -
Saunders, Richard L., ed. A Yellowstone Reader: The National Park in Popular Fiction, Folklore, and Verse. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2003. A collection of stories and poems about Yellowstone National Park.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Nez Perce War
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden; Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.