Yellowstone National Park has a rich, detailed history extending over hundreds of years. Today, the park is known internationally as a prime destination for people seeking a unique, outdoors experience. But back during the late 1700s, the idea of a Yellowstone, neigh a national park, was ridiculous.

Although the Native Americans already viewed Yellowstone as sacred, the first written account of the region didn’t come until 1797, when a British explorer David Thompson uses the phrase “Yellow Stone” in his notes while visiting a Mandan village on the Missouri river. More European notice took place on September 8th, 1805, when Governor James Wilkinson of the Louisiana Territory mentioned a river called “Yellow Stone” in a letter to the Secretary of War. The letter also talked about an expedition, but no records remain. However, Governor Wilkinson had obtained a map of the Missouri River and headwaters drawn on buffalo pelt, which described a “volcano on Yellow Stone River.” It was sent to President Thomas Jefferson, who kept it in the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. Unfortunately, the map was reported as lost in a fire along with the Rotunda.

Despite the popular myth, Lewis and Clark never visited Yellowstone National Park collectively, but one expedition member did. John Colter was one of the first to see Yellowstone in all its glory, when he stayed with Native Americans in Yellowstone Park after the expedition. When he told his findings to others, they dismissed them as “mad hallucinations.” Since then, he has been remembered as one of the first mountain men and has a bay, a peak and a pass bearing his name (Colter Bay, Colter Peak, Colter Pass). A newspaper article published in 1827 in a Philadelphia newspaper was also dismissed as a tall tale. Over the next five years, trappers such as Joe Meek and Daniel T. Potts would rave about Yellowstone’s “fire and brimstone” but these accounts would also be dismissed. In 1834, a clerk of the American Fur Company named Warren Angus Ferris visited Yellowstone and was the first person to use the word “geyser” to describe the thermal features. Coincidentally, he was also the first tourist, having visited purely for curiosity. Yellowstone would continue to be a favorite stomping ground for trappers and mountain men until 1863, when a group of prospectors led by Walter Washington deLacy went to the southern portion of Yellowstone Park,, where they discovered more thermal features. Others came to the park for varying reasons, such as trapping, gold and property. In 1870, William H Clagget, the Montana delegate to Congress, learned that two men had come and tried to fence off the principal geysers for their own gain. This was a motive to make Yellowstone a national park, which had been put forth several times and was shot down each time until 1872, when President Ulysses Grant signed Yellowstone into the world as the first national park.

At that point, Nathaniel Langford, an outspoken proponent of the national park idea, was appointed the first superintendent, and decided to do a thorough search of the Park with the Hayden Survey party. Starting in 1873, over a period of nine years, the government sought to make it easier for visitors to reach the park. The Northern Pacific Railroad built a train station in Livingston, Montana, which connected to the northern entrance in the early 1880s. This eventually led to a connection from the Union Pacific Railroad Company in 1908, which lasted until the 1960s. Despite the growth and understanding in Yellowstone, there was still trouble. Poaching and vandalism of natural resources led to the U.S. Army to arrive in 1886 and build Camp Sheridan (later called Fort Yellowstone) at Mammoth Hot Springs, among other permanent structures. Also, Lt. Daniel C. Kingman came up the “Grand Loop” plan that became the main roadway in the park. In 1890, two hotels, the Lake Hotel and the Fountain Hotel, by Yellowstone Lake and near Old Faithful respectively, were built, with the Fountain Hotel not destined to last. In 1894, the Lacey Act was passed to protect the wildlife of Yellowstone (excluding wolves and coyotes). Also in 1894, an expedition was made to count the number of bison. What they found that winter was that the bison’s numbers were dwindling rapidly, eventually leaving fewer than 100 in the park. The expedition also witnessed huge herds of elk and bands of mountain sheep, deer and antelopes. In addition, they also found footprints of mountain lion and bears.

 In 1903, several important events took place. First, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the park and was awed by the beauty and wildness, which inspired the Roosevelt Arch, also built in 1903. Second, the railroads made it easier for tourists to reach Yellowstone, taking them there by the carload. Finally, the Old Faithful Inn, one of the most beloved structures in Yellowstone National Park, was built during the winter season. Since its conception, it has remained relatively unchanged, except for a renovation aimed to be finished in 2008. More notoriety was gained for the park in 1912 when National Geographic did a feature on America’s National Parks, with the magazine recommending five and a half days to see the Park. Three years later, in 1915, a Model T Ford becomes the first car to pass through the gates of Yellowstone. From that point, visitation to the Park would soar due to the convenience. But obstacles such as the Park’s fragile ecology would begin to make their mark on Yellowstone.