YELLOWSTONE Early History of Yellowstone National Park and Its Relation to National Park Policies

It is to be regretted that in a field where there would seem to be glory enough for all the claims to credit should be so conflicting. Clagett, Langford, Hayden, Dawes, Sheridan—each of these is certainly entitled to great credit in the creation and preservation of this great park. Faulty recollections conflict as to the credit to go to each.

DELEGATE CLAGETT

In the introduction to N. P. Langford's "The Discovery of Yellowstone Park," is given a letter from Clagett in 1894, setting forth the history of the Yellowstone Park legislation. He states that in the fall of 1870, or spring of 1871, he remonstrated with certain persons who proposed to enter some lands of the Yellowstone region for speculative purposes, and stated that the whole region should be made into a national park, and no private proprietorship should be allowed; that after his election to Congress in August, 1871, Langford, Hedges, and he consulted and agreed that the park should be established as soon as possible. He further states:

"* * * In December, 1871, Mr. Langford came to Washington and remained there for some time, and we two counseled together about the park project. I drew the bill to establish the park, and never knew Professor Hayden in connection with that bill, except that I requested Mr. Langford to get from him a description of the boundaries of the proposed park. There was some delay in getting the description, and my recollection is that Langford brought me the description after consultation with Professor Hayden. I then filled the blank in the bill with the description, and the bill passed both Houses of Congress just as it was drawn and without any change or amendment whatsoever.

"After the bill was drawn, Langford stated to a me that Senator Pomeroy of Kansas was very anxious to have the honor of introducing the bill in the Senate; and as he (Pomeroy) was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Lands, in order to facilitate its passage, I had a clean copy made of the bill and on the first call day in the House, introduced the original there, and then went over to the Senate Chamber and handed the copy to Senator Pomeroy, who immediately introduced it in the Senate. The bill passed the Senate first and came to the House, and passed the House without amendment, at a time when I happened to be at the other end of the Capitol, and hence I was not present when it actually passed the House.

"It has always been a pleasure to me to give to Professor Hayden and to Senator Pomeroy, and Mr. Dawes of Massachusetts all of the credit which they deserve in connection with the passage of that measure, but the truth of the matter is that the origin of the movement which created the park was with Hedges, Langford, and myself; and after Congress met, Langford and I probably did two-thirds, if not three-fourths of all the a work connected with its passage."

However true may be Clagett's statement as above, the Congressional Globe carries no reference to Clagett's interest in the bill further than his introduction of it. When Senator Pomeroy introduced the bill December 18, 1871, he made a brief statement in the Senate and referred to the "elaborate report" of Professor Hayden as basis for congressional action. When he reported the bill to the Senate January 22, 1872, he again made a brief statement in which he referred to the Hayden exploration. Again on January 23 when he called the bill up and attempted its passage in the Senate he says:

"This bill originated as the result of the exploration, made by Professor Hayden, under an appropriation of Congress of last year. With a party he explored the headwaters of the Yellowstone and found it to be a great natural curiosity, great geysers, as they are termed, waterspouts, and hot springs, and, having platted the ground himself, and having given me the dimensions of it, the bill was drawn up, as it was thought best to consecrate and set apart this great place of national resort, as it may be in the future, for the purposes of public enjoyment."

Contrary to Mr. Clagett's recollection, the bill was amended in the Senate and there was substantial opposition in the House.

The proceedings as reported in the Congressional Globe do not seem to me to conform to Mr. Clagett's recollection as to Pomeroy. Senator Pomeroy was the first one to introduce a bill that day in the Senate and the order of introduction of bills came very early in the day's proceedings. While that order of business likewise came early in the House, Mr. Clagett was not the first one to introduce a bill in the House, but followed quite a number of others. It is evident he could not have introduced the bill first and then gone over to the Senate to give a copy to Senator Pomeroy in time for Senator Pomeroy to take the action he did.

I have sought to examine the manuscripts of the original bills introduced in the House and Senate. Some years ago the Clerk of the House, William Tyler Page, turned over to the Library of Congress these old documents of the House. In the manuscript division of the Library of Congress they promptly found for me H. R. 764. It is in a bound volume with other bills introduced at that time, such bills being arranged in numerical order. There is in the files of the National Park Service a photostat copy of the bill which is in handwriting consisting of three pages with the usual backing on the last page.

H. R. 763 introduced at the same time by Delegate Clagett had for its purpose the removal of the Flathead Indians from Bitter Root Valley of Montana. H. R. 763 is in the same handwriting as 764, which handwriting is evidently that of Mr. Clagett, as comparison with his signature on the backing of each of the bills indicates. I am satisfied, therefore, that the Yellowstone Park bill, introduced by Mr. Clagett, was in his handwriting, but this does not necessarily determine whether the original draft was by him or by someone else. He says in his letter of July 14, 1894, set forth in the introduction to Langford's "The Discovery of Yellowstone Park" that he "drew the bill to establish the park and never knew Professor Hayden in connection with that bill, except that he requested Mr. Langford to get from Hayden a description of the boundaries of the proposed park" and then "filed the blank in the bill."

The copy of the bill which Clagett used in introducing it in the House was manifestly not constituted in that fashion. It was all written at one time rather than a bill written at one time with a blank filled in later. It could, of course, have been what he calls "clean copy" of such a bill.

I have not been able to locate the manuscript copy of the bill introduced by Senator Pomeroy. Mr. Hoffner, one of the clerks in the office of the Secretary of the Senate, who has given a good deal of attention to these old Senate records, has spent several hours in examination of the files of that session of Congress without finding the Pomeroy bill. Unfortunately, the bills are not filed numerically, but according to some very uncertain system of indexing, and further, it is not at all certain that all of them have been preserved. While in recent years efforts have been made to arrange for their proper preservation, that was not formerly the case. It would be interesting to see the copy, for, if Mr. Clagett's recollection is correct, it would be in Mr. Clagett's handwriting.

The Yellowstone Park act was a remarkably well-drawn piece of legislation, it being remembered that it was pioneering in a new field. The description admittedly came from Hayden. Fully as important, however, was the statement of the purpose of the reservation "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." This is the real foundation on which the national-park system has been built. Congress had previously reserved public lands for various purposes, but never "as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." The bill further emphasized "the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities or wonders within said park and for retention in their natural condition." It also provided against "the wanton destruction of the fish and game" and against "their capture or destruction for the purpose of merchandise or profit." The bill does not seem to me the draft of an amateur who had only been a few weeks in Washington and had only served two weeks in Congress.

Mr. Clagett's election to Congress the previous August had followed a very bitter and hectic political contest, which had stirred Montana all the summer of 1871. His predecessor, James Cavanagh, a Democrat, was defeated for the nomination after a very bitter fight, the bitterness of which extended into the election and resulted in the election of Clagett as a Republican from this Democratic constituency. In the election Clagett toured the whole State of Montana, making speeches everywhere. It was urged that he as a member of the party in power in Washington, could accomplish for Montana much more than a Democrat could. Walter Trumbull, who had been a member of the Washburn party and was therefore interested in and committed to the national park idea, traveled with him on his tour of the State and reported his meetings for the Helena Herald, the leading Republican paper. The Herald had taken notable interest in everything pertaining to the Yellowstone region and had devoted many columns to Yellowstone Park news and descriptions. Clagett told in his speeches, as reported generously by this paper, of various things that he would do for the Territory—removal of the Indians, establishment of an assay office, etc., but no mention of his interest in the creation of a national park appears. In his statement he claims no activity in the matter until after his election.

After his arrival in Washington he was very active in accomplishing the things he had urged in his campaign, and the Herald sought to strengthen him by playing up strongly an order which he secured from President Grant concerning the Indians even before the session of Congress opened, and also his progress toward an assay office. His introduction of the Yellowstone Park bill, however, received scant attention.

Clagett no doubt was interested, but he did not become a Delegate in Congress until his election on August 7, 1871, and could not have arrived in Washington much before Congress met on December 4, 1871. His influence could not therefore have been very great.

Following the previously quoted letter by Clagett, Mr. Langford states:

"It is true that Professor Hayden joined with Mr. Clagett and myself in working for the passage of the act of dedication, but no person can divide with Cornelius Hedges and David E. Folsom the honor of originating the idea of creating the Yellowstone Park."

HAYDEN

Professor Hayden's annual report (fifth) was "passing through the press" when the Yellowstone Park bill became law, and he inserted Chapter X "a small space to a notice of this event, omitting the details until the more complete history can be prepared."

In his letter of February 21, 1878, to Secretary Schurz, published in House Executive Document No. 75, Forty-fifth Congress, second session, Hayden presents what he calls a "brief statement of the history of the National Park." He refers to the survey of 1871 and the great quantities of maps, sketches, photographic views, etc., and says that "so great was the interest excited in Congress by the results of this expedition" that Congress passed the law. Which statement was no doubt quite accurate. He further said:

"I beg permission to state here, that, so far as I know I originated the idea of the park, prepared the maps designating the boundaries, and in connection with Hon. W. H. Clagett, then Delegate from Montana Territory, wrote the law as it now stands. During the pending of the bill, every effort was made by myself and other members of the survey to remove all objection to the bill, and the labor was constant and great. It is now acknowledged all over the civilized world that the existence of the National Park, by law, is due solely to my exertions during the sessions of 1871 and 1872. The growing opposition to the withdrawal of any portion of the public domain for any purpose, however laudable, would undoubtedly have prevented the success of this bill at any subsequent session."

The italics are mine. It would be difficult to sustain all the above statement. Five years later, at page 17 of his twelfth annual report, dated February 1, 1883, Hayden says:

"So far as is now known, the idea of setting apart a large tract about the sources of the Yellowstone River as a National Park originated with the writer."

And further:

"It was at the suggestion and under the direction of the writer that all the papers, maps, reports, and the law were prepared that set this large tract of land apart for the benefit of the people."

Senator Pomeroy, presenting the bill in the Senate January 22, 1872, said of Hayden, "This bill is drawn on the recommendation of that gentleman to consecrate for public uses this country for a public park."

HENRY L DAWES

In his preliminary report Professor Hayden states that because of the interest of Representative Dawes, which had made the exploration possible, the first boat to float on Yellowstone Lake was named the Anna in honor of his daughter. If Mr. Jackson is correct, that the Dawes who was a member of the Hayden party was a son of Congressman Dawes, it is clear that the Dawes contact on the Yellowstone project continued to be very close.

In Blaine's "Twenty Years in Congress" he says that in the period 1861 to 1881, each succeeding Congress of the 10 Congresses, with a single exception, contained a majority of new members. Also that only four men served continuously through that period, W. D. Kelley in the House, Henry B. Anthony in the Senate, and Henry L. Dawes and Justin Morrill in House and Senate.

March 4, 1871, a few months before the Yellowstone Park bill was introduced, James G. Blaine was elected Speaker of the House, and Henry L. Dawes was selected to administer the oath of office to him, the Globe stating, "having served the longest continuously as Member of the House." In the previous Congress Dawes had been chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Garfield, chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency, and Hooper, of Massachusetts, ranking Republican on Ways and Means. In this Congress Dawes was switched to the chairmanship of Ways and Means, Garfield from Banking and Currency to chairman of Appropriations, and Hooper from second member of Ways and Means to chairman of Banking and Currency, all of which goes to show that Dawes was one of the greatest powers in the House of Representatives. The speed with which the bill became law after it was introduced is in part to be explained by this. See further the Dawes sketch later herein.

There is a definite and very public record in the Senate debates testifying to the claim of Dawes authorship. February 17, 1883, Senator Vest said in the Senate (p. 2836):

"At the suggestion of older and more experienced Senators; who take an interest with myself in the matter, notably the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Edmunds), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Dawes), who was the father of the park, we may say, for he drew the law of designation."

August 2, 1886 (p. 7843) Senator Dawes said:

" I spent some time in the Yellowstone Park and have taken a great deal of interest in it; indeed I think I drew the bill that originally set it apart."

August 3, 1886, (p. 7915) Senator Vest said:

"The park was originated by my distinguished friend on my right (Mr. Dawes) who was the author of the law."

May 10, 1892, within a few months of the close of his service in the Senate, Senator Dawes said (p. 4121):

"I have taken an interest in this park from the day of its creation. I had the honor to write the bill which created it, and I defended it when the outcry against the expenditure necessary for it was large."

GENERAL SHERIDAN

In 1887, when his doctor told him his life was limited and Gen. Phil Sheridan was writing his memoirs, he remembered his Yellowstone Park contacts with pride. Therein he tells us that after he had been for a year commanding the division of the Missouri, which embraced the entire Rocky Mountain region, he found it necessary to make an inspection of the military posts in northern Utah and Montana, "In order by personal observation to inform myself of their location and needs and at the same time become acquainted with the salient geographical and topographical features of that section of my division." In May, 1870, he started West, taking the Union Pacific to Corinne and stage coach to Helena. Rumors of War between France and Germany became so certain he cut short his tour. He says:

"This resolution limited my stay in Helena to a couple of days which were devoted to arranging for an exploration of what are now known as the Upper and the Lower Geyser Basins in the Yellowstone Park. While journeying between Corinne and Helena I had gained some vague knowledge of these geysers from an old mountaineer named Atkinson, but his information was very indefinite, mostly second hand; and there was such general uncertainty as to the character of this wonderland that I authorized an escort of soldiers to go that season from Fort Ellis with a small party, to make such superficial explorations as to justify my sending an engineer officer with a well equipped expedition there next summer to scientifically examine and report upon the strange country." (Memoirs, second edition, pp. 348-350, Vol. II.)

The above statement itself shows that General Sheridan first heard of the wonderland while en route to Helena. And, while it is very likely he was approached concerning military escort for an expedition, certainly he could not have initiated the exploration as is suggested when he says "arranging for an exploration." Hauser, Langford, and all were experienced frontiersmen, and had been interested in this exploration before Sheridan heard of Yellowstone's wonders. None of them even mentions any talk with Sheridan about it. He was in Helena in May, 1870. Langford says he had seen General Hancock in St. Paul in the spring of 1870 and Hauser had had a conference with Hancock about the same time and Hancock had given assurances of an escort if needed; that their plans took definite shape about August l and that Washburn and Hauser joined in a wire to Hancock about that time. In forwarding the Doane report to Washington, General Hancock says that August 14, 1870, H. D. Washburn, surveyor general of Montana, had asked an escort and he had directed the escort be furnished and "that an officer be sent with it who could make a report of the trip, as well as a map of the country passed over." Doane's special orders, dated August 21, 1870, set forth in his report, simply instruct him to "escort the surveyor general of Montana to the falls and Lakes of the Yellowstone and return."

Hayden, in 1871, says he was armed with orders from the Secretary of War upon the military posts of the West for such assistance as could be afforded without detriment. The Hayden exploration was planned before Sheridan returned from Europe and was leaving Ogden about June 1, to secure their escort at Fort Ellis. General Sheridan issued orders June 26, 1871, to the commanding officer at Fort Ellis to furnish Barlow equipment as he "has been directed to proceed to the headwaters of the Yellowstone." It is said to be "Captain Barlow's intention to accompany the expedition of Professor Hayden, taking advantage of the escort ordered for him," but he is to have a small detail under his own direction.

The scope of the Barlow report was necessarily very limited in its scientific features as compared with the Hayden, and the failure to mention the Hayden exploration was at least naive on the part of Sheridan, quite in keeping with more modern military tactics.

Sheridan did not carry his memoirs beyond his return from Europe in 1871 because of the progress of his last illness, but in 1902 a second edition was issued which included a sketch of his later years by his brother, Gen. Michael V. Sheridan, who had been closely associated with him during his greater years. In that sketch the following appears:

"General Sheridan (1883) was particularly gratified with what the journey had accomplished toward benefiting the park, gaining for its future protection not only the good will of his influential guests, but interesting the public in its preservation to such a degree that it became comparatively easy to induce Congress to safeguard it from speculators and plunderers. This was a consummation to which Sheridan had looked forward since 1869 when, in consequence of his assignment to the command of the division of the Missouri, he had become practically its guardian. At that time he had assumed a responsibility for the wonderful region, though as yet there existed only vague rumors concerning its characteristics. The Indians knew little or nothing about it. They looked on the 'Firehole' with all the suspicion of their superstitious nature and gave it wide berth, while the misty tales of Bridger and other trappers were considered as gross exaggerations, if not wholly unreliable. In order to secure definite information Sheridan sent Lieut. G. C. Doane, of the Second Cavalry, from Fort Ellis to make an exploration and report on the region. Doane's party was small and his equipment incomplete, but his graphic descriptions of what he saw were so surprising that many, unacquainted with his trustworthy character, thought his stories Munchausenisms. Yet his narrative actually fell short of the reality, as demonstrated a little later by a well-equipped expedition sent by Sheridan under Col. J. W. Barlow of the Engineers. Colonel Barlow made accurate surveys, measured and photographed the geysers, the Grand Canyon, and in fact all the extraordinary freaks of nature in the strange land, and accompanied them with an accurate scientific report that could not be questioned. The information gathered by these two explorations awakened in the mind of Sheridan and others the idea of reserving this wonderland as a public park, not only to prevent its passing into the hands of private owners who might extort excessive fees from visitors, but that it should become a great preserve for big game in the Rocky Mountains. While he was not alone in this undertaking, it was largely through Sheridan's personal efforts that Congress created the Yellowstone National Park, and from time to time passed appropriations for its care, and laws to prevent its desecration."

See page 550 et seq. Volume II, second edition, Sheridan's Memoirs.

Sheridan had so nearly nothing to do with the creation of the park and so much to do with the protection and preservation of it that it is regrettable that his hasty biographer grossly overstated the one and ignored the other. His connection with its creation was confined to granting of military escorts which General Hancock in 1870 and the Secretary of War in 1871 had assured and the ordering of the Barlow expedition which never interested anyone but the Army very materially. But without his interest and championing from 1875 and for 10 years thereafter the whole national park story might have been much different.

MANY CONTRIBUTED

Clearly Folsom's suggestion to Washburn was the first recorded idea of a reservation of the Yellowstone area for public benefit and his article in the Western Monthly of July, 1870, was the first publication of report of Yellowstone exploration; the Hedges proposal at the campfire of the Washburn party put in train of action the movement to secure such reservation and his letter of November 9, 1870, in the Helena Herald was the first publication of the idea; Langford early became the enthusiast who by writings, lectures, and personal effort actively promoted the project; the Washburn expedition reports aroused national interest in the area; the Hayden expedition fully satisfied all public questions and solidified and extended national interest; the personal and official contacts of Hayden, fully supported by the Interior Department in the winter 1871-72 had great influence with Congress, he was admittedly consulted in the drafting of the legislation, and his reports were chiefly relied upon by members and committees of Congress; after his election, Clagett became committed, had a part in drafting the bill, wrote out in his own hand the copy introduced by him in the House; Senator Pomeroy proceeded in the Senate with zeal, supported on the floor by Senators Trumbull, Edmunds, and Anthony (three powerful leaders) and no doubt in close contact with Walter Trumbull, the Senate committee clerk, so that the bill promptly passed the Senate; Representative Dawes, interested in the region, who as chairman of the appropriations committee had made possible in the winter of 1870-71 the appropriation for the Hayden expedition of which his son seems to have been a member, was in closest contact with results of that expedition and interested in the park creation, a most experienced legislator of outstanding influence, while his hand may not have written down the words, he undoubtedly shaped the lines of the draft and was the power behind the scenes that made things move; Sheridan in May, 1870, was intrigued by tales of the area and sympathetic with proposals for exploration and from the time of his own personal contact with it a powerful champion of its preservation and protection, the witness whose words were cited in Congress during the critical years with greatest effect; and Vest was the persistent senatorial champion, without whose interest and leadership private interests would have had their way. These men all are entitled to all the credit that broad and farseeing vision, devotion to the public interest and effective action, each in his own sphere, can ever bring to any men. And the list of other men, each of whom, in lesser but important extent, have contributed to the full success of this first great national park experiment is long. Some of the congressional friends are noted elsewhere (p. 52).