Happy Birthday Yellowstone Park

Today marks the 135 anniversary of the establishment of the first National Park, Yellowstone National Park. The Park located within the boundaries of Montana and Wyoming is unique among the other national parks. Indigenous people of the area have utilized the area for hunting, fishing and other purposes for over 10,000 years. The surveyor exploration parties sent by the U.S government in the 1860s through 1872 provided the background for it's establishment as the first national park. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill establishing Yellowstone as the first National Park.

According to the government web site, http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/history/archeology/index.html, the Yellowstone region was home to Native Americans for more than 10,000 years. Many of the myths associated with the area have been dispelled by current research methods including but not limited to radiocarbon dating.

Today an immense collection of archives of the region may be viewed in the modern Yellowstone National Park Heritage & Research Center in Gardner, Montana. The 32,000 square feet facility is open continuously from May 21 through the tourist season. For days and hours of operation (307) 344-2633.

There are some great resources on the history of Yellowstone Park available on-line in the National Park Service web site at the address mentioned above. One in depth work of great value is "Managing the Matchless Wonders" by Kiki Leigh Rydell and Mary Shivers Culpin. This resource and others are located at the National Park Service web site.

Yellowstone Park is a wonder during the Spring, Summer and Fall when most visitors come to the Park. Yellowstone offers camping facilities within the park, but early reservations are required because the spaces do fill up fast. A list of contacts are also located on the National Park Service web site.