Transcriber's Notes Text emphasis is denoted as _Text_ for italic and =Text= for bold. Whole and fractional parts are shown as 4-2/3. * * * * * [Illustration: Grand Falls of the Yellowstone and Old Faithful Geyser.] THE Yellowstone National Park HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE Illustrated with Maps, Views and Portraits BY Hiram Martin Chittenden Captain, Corps of Engineers, United States Army [Illustration] CINCINNATI THE ROBERT CLARKE COMPANY 1895 Copyright, 1895, By Hiram Martin Chittenden. Dedication. TO THE MEMORIES OF John Colter AND James Bridger, PIONEERS IN THE WONDERLAND OF THE Upper Yellowstone. PREFACE. Twenty-five years ago, this date, a company of gentlemen were encamped at the Forks of the Madison River in what is now the Yellowstone National Park. They had just finished the first complete tour of exploration ever made of that region. Fully realizing the importance of all they had seen, they asked what ought to be done to preserve so unique an assemblage of wonders to the uses for which Nature had evidently designed them. It required no argument to show that government protection alone was equal to the task, and it was agreed that a movement to secure such protection should be inaugurated at once. So rapidly did events develop along the line of this idea, that within the next eighteen months the "Act of Dedication" had become a law, and the Yellowstone National Park took its place in our country's history. The wide-spread interest which the discovery of this region created among civilized peoples has in no degree diminished with the lapse of time. In this country particularly the Park to-day stands on a firmer basis than ever before. The events of the past two years, in matters of legislation and administration, have increased many fold the assurances of its continued preservation, and have shown that even the petty local hostility, which has now and then menaced its existence, is yielding to a wiser spirit of patriotism. The time therefore seems opportune, in passing so important an epoch in the history of the Park, and while many of the actors in its earlier scenes are still among us, to collect the essential facts, historical and descriptive, relating to this region, and to place them in form for permanent preservation. The present literature of the Park, although broad in scope and exhaustive in detail, is unfortunately widely scattered, somewhat difficult of access, and in matters of early history, notably deficient. To supply a work which shall form a complete and connected treatment of the subject, is the purpose of the present volume.