The Story of the National Park Service 



The national park idea was born in 1870 around a campfire near 

 the junction of the Firehole and the Gibbon rivers in what is now 

 Yellowstone National Park. At that time, Yellowstone was a wilderness 

 more popularly known as "Colter's Hell," so named from the stories 

 told about the area by the intrepid trapper and hunter, John Colter. 

 The remarkable features of the Yellowstone were first described by 

 David E. Folsom and C. W. Cook of Montana, who explored part of 

 what is now the park in 1869. 



It was in 1870 that the now famous Washburn-Langford exploring 

 party, assisted by Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane and five cavalrymen, 

 undertook the complete exploration of the Yellowstone. The party con 

 sisted of General H. D. Washburn, commander ; Samuel T. Hauser, 

 Cornelius Hedges, W. C. Gillette, Walter Trumbull, Truman C. Everts, 

 Benjamin Stickney, Jacob Smith, and N. P. Langford, all residents of 

 Helena, Montana, then a frontier settlement. 



This party was tremendously impressed with the geysers, the hot 

 springs, the boiling mud pots, the lake, the canyon, and the waterfalls, 

 and because one of their number, Truman C. Everts, became lost, the 

 explorers lingered long in the vicinity of Yellowstone Lake, hoping to 

 find Everts. Giving him up as lost (he was later found by searchers 

 after enduring almost unbelievable hardships), the party pushed on 

 toward Virginia City, Montana, hoping to avoid the early snowfall. The 

 birth of the national park idea has been described by Nathaniel P. Lang- 

 ford, who afterward served as first superintendent of the park. 



"It was the first camp we made after leaving the lower geyser 

 basin," he wrote. "We were seated around the campfire, and one of our 

 number suggested that a quarter-section of land opposite the great falls 

 of the Yellowstone would be a source of profit to its owner. Another 

 member of the party thought that the upper geyser basin would furnish 

 greater attraction for pleasure seekers. 



"Mr. Hedges then said that there ought to be no private ownership 

 of any portion of that region, but that the whole of it ought to be set 

 apart as a great national park. The suggestion met with a quick and 

 favorable response from other members of the party, and, to quote 

 from a recent letter of Mr. Hedges to me, The idea found favor with 

 all, and from that time we never lost sight of it/ 



"On our return, Mr. Hedges advocated the project in the public 



press All this was several months prior to any government 



exploration." 



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