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

The summer of 1872 Professor Hayden made his second expedition into the Yellowstone Park country. He had with him as his guest Nathaniel P. Langford, who had been appointed the first Yellowstone Park superintendent. He reports the trip in his first annual report of 1872.

Gen. John Gibbon explored the park also in 1872.

In 1873 Capt. W. A. Jones, accompanied by Prof. Theodore B. Comstock made a "reconnaissance of northwest Wyoming." Their report, including considerable scientific material, was published as House Executive Document 285 of the Forty-third Congress, first session. This party discovered the Togwotee Pass into Wyoming.

In 1875 Col. William Ludlow made a reconnaissance and was accompanied by George Bird Grinnell, who later, as editor of Forest and Stream, played so large a part in Yellowstone Park matters. In this report, published by the War Department, Grinnell calls attention to the "reckless destruction of animals in the park." He states that in the winter of 1874-75 3,000 elk were killed for their hides in the Valley of the Yellowstone between the mouth of Trail Creek and the Hot Springs. In the same report Colonel Ludlow mentions the lack of adequate police force in the park and said (p. 36): "Recourse can most readily be had to the already existing facilities afforded by the presence of troops in the vicinity and by the transfer of the park to the control of the War Department."

The same year Secretary of War Belknap made a tour of the park, guided by Lieutenant Doane. He was accompanied by Gen. W. E. Strong, who has written the story of the expedition.

In 1877 Gen. P. H. Sheridan and Gen. W. T. Sherman made an inspection "of the country north of the Union Pacific Railroad." In his report General Sheridan refers to their visit to "two new military posts in the Yellowstone and Big Horn Valleys in the heart of the hostile Sioux country." The Sheridan report includes a report by Lieut. W. L. Carpenter on the geology and natural history of the Big Horn Mountains and a report on the botanical features of the Big Horn Mountains by Assistant Surgeon J. H. Patski.

The Sherman report consists of a series of letters by General Sherman to Secretary of War McCrary. His letter of August 19, 1877, from Fort Ellis tells of his Yellowstone Park trip, and his descriptions are interesting. He says this of his climb of Mount Washburn:

"Any man standing on Mount Washburn feels as though the whole world were below him. The view is simply sublime; worth the labor of reaching it once but not twice." (Emphasis by Gen. Sherman.)

He further says:

"We saw no signs of Indians and felt at no moment more sense of danger than we do here (Fort Ellis) . * * * Some four or five years ago parties swarmed to the park from curiosity, but now the travel is very slack."

But as he was leaving the park he met the parties that later encountered the hostile Nez Perce, the last Indian trouble in the park area. The Sherman report also carries the diary of Gen. O. M. Poe, which includes his story of the Yellowstone trip and a brief description of the Yellowstone Park region.

Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz, accompanied by General Crook, made an extended tour of the park in 1880.

In 1881 the park had its first visit from a President of the United States, although his service as President came later. Senator Benjamin Harrison, who served as President from 1889 to 1893, visited the park.

In the same year, 1881, Capt. W. S. Stanton made his reconnaissance for the War Department, and Hon. John W. Hoyt, Governor of Wyoming, with a large escort, made his wagon road reconnaissance.

Lieut. Gen. P. H. Sheridan in 1881 made an exploration "through the Big Horn Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, etc." His report was dated September 20, 1881, and as published includes the reports of Lieut. Col. J. F. Gregory, Surg. W. H. Forwood, and Capt. S. C. Kellogg. On page 9 of his report he says that $15,000 a year is not enough for the park. "A larger appropriation should be given by Congress and an engineer officer should be detailed to expend it on improvement of the trails and roads, with a company or two of cavalry to be stationed in the park for the summer to watch and prevent the burning of forests and the mutilation of the great craters and other similar phenomena of the geysers." Forwood presents a report on the flora of the park.

In 1883 President Arthur, with the Secretary of War, Senator Vest, and others, visited the park, the first President to visit a national park during his term of office.

The Arthur party came in from Wyoming and saw the Grand Teton region before reaching Yellowstone Park. The first presidential view of the Grand Teton region is thus described by Gen. Michael V. Sheridan, brother of Gen. Phil Sheridan, in his second edition of Sheridan's Memoirs:

"Of the beauty and grandeur of this scenery Sheridan and his staff were aware, and they therefore maneuvered that the President and other guests should reach the summit first. In consequence, the glorious spectacle of the Teton Basin, from one of the most advantageous points of view, burst on their gaze with all the added effect of complete surprise. A most beautiful crescent-shaped valley, which incloses Jacksons Lake, lay before them, fringed on the left with somber pine-clad mountains, at whose base runs the turbulent Gros Ventre, and on the right by rugged hills of red clay, broken here and there by thickly wooded ravines. The valley itself was thickly carpeted with grass and wild flowers and the course of each of the numerous little brooks that crossed it was marked with willows and cottonwoods. Along the whole westerly edge of the valley, with no intervening foothills to detract, rose to towering height the Royal Tetons, whose snowy peaks pierce the air 5,000 feet above the ridge on which the entire party had now assembled, the ridge itself being 8,000 feet above sea level. Nothing in mountain scenery the world over can surpass this in beauty and grandeur. It may be doubted if even its equal exists." (See p. 545, Vol. II.)

Later Presidents to visit the Yellowstone Park were Roosevelt in 1903, Harding in 1923, Coolidge in 1927, and Hoover in 1927 while he was Secretary of Commerce.