Yellowstone became the first Federally protected national park by the Act of Congress signed into law on March 1, 1872.
In the years preceding the Civil War, U.S. Government exploration made the
nation keenly aware of its western lands. Once the war resolved the question
of survival of the Union, the national government turned more attention to settlement
of its western territory and exploitation of the continent’s wealth. Because
the environment of the West differed significantly from that of the East, explorers
were charged with identifying natural resources and assessing the utility of
the land for settlement.
The U.S. Army was the first in the field. Zebulon Pike, Stephen Long, John
C. Fremont and others gave the Corps of Engineers the basis of experience and
tradition of excellence that continued most notably with George M. Wheeler.
Even as the Smithsonian Institution and the Department of the Interior expanded
their efforts, the Army continued mounting its own surveys until 1879, when
all surveys, civilian and military, were consolidated under the U.S. Geological
Survey.
Civilian explorers eventually replaced military engineers. On the Federal level,
Clarence King, John Wesley Powell and Ferdinand Hayden, proceeded with the collection
of information from the field followed by classification, organization of information,
and publications of the findings of their surveys. In addition to the annual
reports of the surveys, government explorers disseminated information to the
east coast about western environment and geology by lecturing, publishing in
journals both scientific and popular, giving interviews to newspapers, and providing
entrepreneurs with images for duplication on stenographic cards and chromolithographic
print sets.
The wide public interest reflected the transformation of American attitude
toward the West. Hitherto the West had been a place to cross over on the way
to the Pacific coast or a place of mystery, fearsome in either case. Now it
became America’s wonderland. Photographs and canvasses conveyed the monumental
size and geological complexity of the region and enticed viewers to experience
its scenic splendors themselves. What historian William Goetzmann calls “the
cult of Naturalism” was an extension of the Romantic worldview, where
the individual sought out unspoiled wilderness to experience nature’s
power first hand. As once tourists had flocked to Niagara Falls to revere the
sublime, virtually sacred vista and to revel in the patriotic pride at America’s
natural blessing, western sites such as Yosemite and Yellowstone now became
popular vacation destinations.
Public knowledge and the popularity of the wilderness paradoxically posed a
threat to its survival. The settlement and commercialization of western lands
inevitably followed their opening. Leaders of the four great government surveys,
while promoting settlement actively, were nonetheless alarmed by the abuses
of settlement: monopoly of water rights, speculation by land rings, and mistreatment
of Native Americans on reserved lands. Years before Theodore Roosevelt and the
era of Progressives, these public servants formulated guidelines for prevention
or reformation of abuse, fought for and erected the structures of bureaus and
commissions to advance their agenda, and trained experts in the science and
social sciences who would be agents of reform.
One of the most imaginative and uniquely American responses to the endangered
wilderness was the invention of the national park system. In 1864 the State
of California reserved Yosemite as a parkland. The Federal Government followed
shortly afterward. Early trappers and army explorers had been profoundly impressed
by the upper reaches of the Yellowstone River, a region called Colter’s
Hell. Ferdinand Hayden surveyed the area in 1871. Upon his return to the East,
he mounted a campaign to promote, but also to protect, the natural wonders he
had seen. He quickly wrote a well-received article for Scribner’s Monthly
that included fellow expedition member Thomas Moran’s illustrations. He
provided Charles Bierstadt, brother to the artist and a leading manufacturer
of stereographic cards, with copies of William Jackson’s expedition photographs.
He lobbied members of Congress by presenting them with an album of Jackson’s
Yellowstone photographs. He was supported in his effort by Jay Cooke, the railroad
magnate who anticipated increased tourist ridership on his lines serving the
Yellowstone area. On March 1, 1872, Congress passed into law the act creating
Yellowstone “a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment
of the people.”
(Information excerpted from Westward Expansion: 1842–1912,
Records from the National Archives Teaching With Documents. [Santa Barbara,
CA: The National Archives and Records Administration and ABC-CLIO, 2001] pp.
56–57.)
