[1]The forests are composed principally of conifers. Of these the lodgepole pine predominates. It has a shallow root system, and as a result the area is conspicuous by the amount of fallen timber.

[2]A frontiersman’s characterization of the climate in the Park. The statement is usually attributed to James Stuart.

[3]John E. Rees, Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography (Portland, Oregon: Ivey Press, 1917), p. 61.

[4]Teton and Snowy ranges, although partly integrated with Yellowstone, actually lie beyond the south and north borders respectively.

[5]The plateaus are Buffalo, Mirror, Two Ocean, Pitchstone, Madison, and Central. The ranges are Gallatin, Washburn, and Absaroka. The ridges include the Big Game, Chicken, Speciman, and Crowfoot. The Red Mountains form a unit by themselves in the south-central area.

[6]These are Electric, Pollux, Atkins, and Eagle peaks, and Schurz and Humphreys mountains.

[7]Warm River originates west of the Park, but Firehole is the best example of a really warm river. It does not freeze over in temperatures 50° below zero. There are literally thousands of hot springs in Yellowstone. Dr. A. C. Peale estimated three thousand, while Dr. Arnold Hague said the number probably exceeded twenty-five hundred.

[8]Reference to this stream is made again in relation to the “Overland Astorians” in Chapter II. See also, Dee Linford’s “Wyoming Stream Names,” Annals of Wyoming, XV, 2 (April, 1943), 165-70.

[9]These sources are the Firehole and Gibbon, respectively.

[10]This is the lowest temperature ever recorded on an official United States Weather Bureau thermometer in Continental United States.

[11]John E. Rees, op. cit., p. 61.

[12]Homer C. Hockett, Political and Social Growth of the United States 1492-1852 (New York: Macmillan Co., 1933), p. 368.

[13]Ibid., p. 369.

[14]Ibid., p. 371.

[15]Fridtjof Nansen, “The Norsemen in America,” The Geographical Journal, XXXVIII, 6 (Dec. 1911), 558.

[16]Reuben G. Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804-1806 (New York: Dodd Mead and Co., 1905), p. 262. Clark reached Yellowstone River on July 15, 1806.

[17]Francis Antoine Larocque, Journal (Sources of Northwest History No. 20, University of Montana), p. 20. Dee Linford says the name Yellowstone was used by David Thompson in 1798, but that Americans did not learn about the river until about 1805. See “Wyoming Stream Names,” Annals of Wyoming, XV, 3 (July, 1943), 269.

[18]Patrick Gass, Journal (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1904), p. 253. In 1832 a steamboat named the “Yellowstone” arrived at Fort Union.

[19]P. Koch, “Discovery of Yellowstone National Park,” Magazine of American History, II (June, 1884), 498.

[20]Just how far Coronado penetrated the Rockies is a disputed point. It is certain that Verendrye reached Pierre, South Dakota. Some contend that he came as far as the Little Bighorn River. It is probable that some of Henry’s men were free trappers, which accounts for the fact that they split in groups when the fort was abandoned.

[21]Others to participate in this discovery were Milton Mangum, Clifford Mangum, John T. Elliott, Budge Elliott, William Thornock, and David Beal.

[22]Robert Stuart, The Discovery of the Oregon Trail (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935), p. CXXXVI. Etienne Provot and Thomas Fitzpatrick have both been credited with the discovery of South Pass. Certainly the latter’s visit in 1824 marks the date of effective discovery.

[23]W. J. Ghent, “A Sketch of John Colter,” Wyoming Annals, X, 3 (July, 1938).

[24]Stallo Vinton, John Colter, Discoverer of Yellowstone Park (New York: Edward Eberstadt, 1926), p. 27.

[25]W. J. Ghent, op. cit. The copious journals of Lewis, Clark and Sergeant Ordway make repeated mention of Colter, and Whitehouse names him six times. Floyd does not mention him by name nor does Gass, although the latter refers to him specifically.

[26]Reuben G. Thwaites, op. cit., V, 314.

[27]Stallo Vinton, op. cit., p. 24.

[28]Ibid., p. 43. Colter’s strange behavior in turning back to the wilderness after three successive starts toward home, is analyzed by C. H. Heffelfinger in his article, “The Man Who Turned Back,” The Washington Historical Quarterly, XXVI, 3 (July, 1935).

[29]Ibid., p. 45. Lisa had a son named “Remon” for whom the fort was named, but different documents bear the name Raymond, Manuel, and Lisa.

[30]Judge Henry M. Brackenridge (1786-1871) was educated in Missouri and Maryland. As a lawyer, he specialized in international affairs and served as a federal judge in New Orleans. In 1810 he made a trip up the Missouri in the company of Manuel Lisa. Six years later (1814) Brackenridge’s account of this journey was published. On page 91, of Views of Louisiana, we find the first reference to Colter’s wilderness journey. Obviously the source of this information was Manuel Lisa since he asked Colter to make the trip. That Colter started on such a journey is indisputable. Where he went, what he saw, and how he returned are matters of opinion. Brackenridge confuses Colter’s return from this trip with that of another one.

[31]Ibid., p. 91.

[32]John Colter’s discovery of Yellowstone has caught the imagination of many people. Probably a hundred authors have written about it. Each one disagrees with the other, until poor Colter has been turned into a human grasshopper, hopping around from place to place without either rhyme or reason.

[33]Stallo Vinton, op. cit., p. 195.

[34]Some writers tell that an early winter overtook him, and he was obliged to make snowshoes. This is probably an error. He undoubtedly secured a horse from the Yep-pe Indians.

[35]This particular story is verified by the fact that members of the Wilson Price Hunt Expedition called on Colter at his farm near St. Louis to get information upon this specific point. See Reuben G. Thwaites, “Bradbury’s Travels in the Interior of America in the years 1809-1811,” Early Western Travels, 1748-1840, V, xliv.

[36]The Map of 1814 does not disclose anything unusual. It merely designates “Boiling Spring” and “Hot Springs Brimstone,” which were widespread and general.

[37]Washington Irving, The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1843), p. 252. The first edition was entitled, Rocky Mountain Scenes and Adventures.

[38]It is a remarkable thing that historical research has not more satisfactorily probed the Colter problem. Obviously his journey is so obscure as to warrant scientific investigation.

[39]Its legend reads: “A Map of Lewis and Clark’s Track, Across the Western Portion of North America, From the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean; By Order of the Executive of the United States in 1804, 5, 6. Copied by Samuel Lewis from the Original Drawing of Wm. Clark.”

[40]There are two fictitious lakes on the Map of 1814 of such grotesque shape as to arouse one’s skepticism. One of them has a shape that resembles a gargoyle.

[41]The date of this communication was December 20, 1810.

[42]Colter’s first sheet is readily identifiable, and part of another sheet may be segregated with the use of imagination and understanding.

[43]Many writers have failed to identify Gap and Sage as the same creek. They also befuddle Wind and Shoshone rivers. There is no evidence that Colter ever heard the name Bighorn River.

[44]The figure eight results from the fact that he went to the Yep-pe camp, left it, came back, and left it again at the appropriate angles.

[45]In 1941, Paul J. Shamp, a U.S. forester, reported the discovery of numerous petrifications in the vicinity of Pass and Scatter creeks in the Thorofare country. This is the line of Colter’s route.

[46]Colter did not see Southeast Arm of Yellowstone Lake. He probably supposed the Upper Yellowstone flowed into South Arm. Hence, his conception of Yellowstone River would have been ten miles farther west than it is. Neither could he have visualized the serpentine character of Snake River, since he knew it at only one place.

[47]Colter may have reached Chicken Ridge by Fishhawk, Mountain, or Lynx creeks or via Falcon, Mink, or Crooked streams. It must be remembered that this map sheet has been much messed up. It is impossible to know what has been erased; yet, enough of Colter’s map remains to provide a logical basis for the above itinerary. It is relatively unimportant which creeks he negotiated to reach Chicken Ridge. The vitally important fact is that he drew a sketch of South Arm from that angle which added to the Thumb makes an accurate map of what a trapper would have seen of Yellowstone Lake.

[48]J. Neilson Barry has made the most intensive study of the Map of 1814. It is his opinion that Colter drew other map sheets besides the one of the Buffalo Bill country. He also has hope that these sheets may be discovered among the Lewis-Clark-Biddle papers.

[49]In E. Willard Smith’s journal entry for December 20, 1839, there is an item that suggests a possible clue to mystery of Colter’s petrified fish story: “There is a story told by an Arapahoe Chief of a petrified buffalo standing in the lake ... in a perfect state of preservation, and they worship it as a great medicine charm.... Nothing would induce this Indian to tell where this sacred buffalo is to be found. Great presents were offered him in vain.” It is possible that Colter saw something he was not free to divulge. See “An Excerpt From the Journal of Willard E. Smith,” Annals of Wyoming, XV, 3 (July, 1943), 287-97.

[50]John G. White, “A Souvenir of Wyoming,” Vol. I, p. 56. This is a fine work of research in manuscript. It was written in 1916. There are five volumes in the Yellowstone Park library. The time of this Indian episode was in the autumn of 1808.

[51]Ibid.

[52]Upon the details of this episode, the three basic authorities on this period of Western adventure, are in agreement. They are Henry M. Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana; Thomas James, Three Years Among the Indians and Mexicans; and John Bradbury, Travels In the Interior of America.

[53]Concerning Colter’s part in this battle, Henry M. Brackenridge wrote, “On his return a party of Indians in whose company he happened to be was attacked and he was lamed by a severe wound in his leg; Notwithstanding which he returned to the establishment entirely alone and without assistance.” This incident is almost invariably associated with Colter’s return from the discovery of Yellowstone Park. The error logically arises from the compressed character of the Brackenridge narrative. Perhaps the facts were not clear in his own mind. Actually he has confused two different experiences.

[54]P. Koch, “The Discovery of Yellowstone National Park,” Magazine of American History, II (June, 1884), 499.

[55]Hiram M. Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1933), pp. 22-31.

[56]Frank Triplett, “Colter’s Race for Life,” Conquering the Wilderness, No. 16, Chapter 10, Washington State College Library; Pullman, Washington. This plant is also called “ground-apple.” It is an edible root found in that region.

[57]W. J. Ghent, op. cit., p. 113.

[58]John G. White, “A Souvenir of Wyoming,” I, 28. This fact is affirmed by James in his Three Years Among the Indians and Mexicans.

[59]W. J. Ghent, op. cit., p. 115.

[60]Stallo Vinton, op. cit., p. 110.

[61]W. J. Ghent, op. cit., p. 115. The evidence is not conclusive as to whether or not Colter gave his account to Bradbury and Brackenridge in person. It is certain that he had personal dealings with Thomas James, and it is certain that he spent a half day in conversation with members of Hunt’s party on May 18, 1811. See “Robert Stuart’s Narratives” in Philip Ashton Rollin’s The Discovery of the Oregon Trail (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935), p. CV.

[62]Ibid., p. 66. It should be pointed out that Colter did not say “everywhere.”

[63]Rudolph Kurz, Journal (Washington, D. C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1937), p. 37.

[64]Frank B. Linderman, Blackfeet Indians (St. Paul: Brown, Bigelow, 1935), p. 9.

[65]Ibid., p. 12.

[66]Elizabeth Spalding, Memories of The West (Portland, Oregon: March Printing Company), p. 78.

[67]Robert Vaughn, Then and Now (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Tribune Printing Co., 1900), p. 197.

[68]Mourning Dove, Coyote Stories (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1933). p. 46.

[69]Rudolph Kurz, op. cit., p. 154.

[70]Ibid., p. 34.

[71]Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of The Far West (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1855), p. 249.

[72]H. M. Chittenden, The American Fur Trade (New York: Press of the Pioneers, 1935), II, 877.

[73]P. Koch, “The Discovery of Yellowstone National Park,” Magazine of American History, II (June, 1884), 497.

[74]Helen F. Sanders, History of Montana (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1913), I, 681.

[75]Contributions, Historical Society of Montana (Helena, Montana: Rocky Mountain Publishing Co., 1876), I, 168.

[76]Indian reservations nearest the Park are the Crow at Hardin, Montana; Shoshone, Fort Washakie, Wyoming; and Bannock, Fort Hall, Idaho. Other agencies are located at Fort Peck, Poplar, Tongue River, and Lame Deer, all in Montana. The Blackfeet and Flathead reservations are near Glacier Park.

[77]Alexander Ross, op. cit., p. 48.

[78]John G. Neihardt, The Splendid Wayfaring (New York: Macmillan Company, 1920), pp. 265-6.

[79]Alexander Ross, op. cit., pp. 228-9.

[80]Francis Fuller Victor, The River of the West (Hartford: Columbian Book Co., 1871), pp. 64-5.

[81]Cecil Alter, James Bridger, Trapper, Frontiersman, Scout and Guide (Salt Lake City: Shepard Book Co., 1925), p. 355.

[82]Helen F. Sanders, op. cit., p. 141.

[83]Earl of Dunraven, Hunting in the Yellowstone (New York: Macmillan Co., 1925), pp. 184-5.

[84]Frances Fuller Victor, op. cit., p. 238.

[85]F. A. Wislizenus, A Journey To The Rocky Mountains In 1839, (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 1912), pp. 87-8.

[86]Alexander Ross, op. cit., II, 236.

[87]C. Max Bauer, “Notes on Indian Occupancy,” Yellowstone Nature Notes. XII, 6 (June, 1935), 1.

[88]P. W. Norris, Annual Report 1879 (Washington D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1880), p. 10.

[89]P. W. Norris, Annual Report 1880, p. 605.

[90]Some of these places were specifically listed: Bunsen Peak, Willow Creek, Stinking Water Pass east of Yellowstone Lake, Barlow Fork of Snake River, Bridgers Lake, and, the best one of all, three miles below Mary Lake. See Fifth Annual Report 1881, p. 36.

[91]P. W. Norris, Fifth Annual Report 1881, pp. 32-8.

[92]Ibid., p. 38.

[93]P. W. Norris, Annual Report 1878, p. 982.

[94]Experienced rangers who have reported these finds to the author include David deL. Condon, Lee L. Coleman, John W. Jay, John Bauman, Rudolf L. Grimm, Wayne Replogle, Lowell G. Biddulph, George Marler, and William Sanborn.

[95]William E. Kearns, “A Nez Percé Chief Revisits Yellowstone,” Yellowstone Nature Notes, XII (June-July, 1935), 41.

[96]Edwin Linton, Science, No. 561 (Nov. 3, 1893), pp. 244-5.

[97]Report of the Secretary of the Interior (Washington: Government Printing Office, Nov. 30, 1880), p. 573.

[98]Frederick Bottler discovered a trapper’s cabin at the head of Antelope Creek in 1878. The advanced decay of its timbers indicated that it was forty or fifty years old. See P. W. Norris, Annual Report 1880, p. 606.

[99]Niles Weekly Register, Third Series, IX, 6 (Oct. 6, 1827), p. 90. Also, Yellowstone Nature Notes, XXI, 5 (Sept.-Oct., 1947), p. 52. Sweet Lake is now known as Bear Lake, Idaho.

[100]P. W. Norris, Annual Report 1878, p. 987. Smith was killed by a band of Comanches in 1831, when leading a caravan across the Cimarron Desert toward Santa Fe.

[101]Meek’s experience was published by Mrs. Frances Fuller Victor in The River of the West (Hartford, Conn.: Columbian Book Co., 1871), pp. 75-7.

[102]Warren A. Ferris, Life in the Rocky Mountains 1830-35 (Salt Lake City: Rocky Mountain Book Shop, 1940), pp. 204-6.

[103]Osborne Russell, Journal of a Trapper, 1834-1843 (Boise, Idaho: Syms-York Co., 1921), p. 32.

[104]Helen F. Sanders, op. cit., p. 657.

[105]J. Cecil Alter, James Bridger, p. 107.

[106]Walter W. DeLacy, “A Trip Up the South Fork of Snake River,” Contributions, Historical Society of Montana, I, 132.

[107]James Stuart, “The Yellowstone Expedition of 1863,” Ibid., I, 191.

[108]P. Koch, “The Discovery of Yellowstone National Park,” Magazine of American History, II, 511.

[109]E. S. Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Co., 1888), p. 44.

[110]P. W. Norris, Annual Report 1880, p. 7. Miller Creek was named for Adam Miller’s retreat in this instance.

[111]Grace R. Hebard and E. A. Brininstool, The Bozeman Trail (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1922), II, 229.

[112]Robert Vaughn, Then and Now, p. 165.

[113]Hebard and Brininstool, op. cit., II, 229.

[114]Ibid., p. 230.

[115]Ibid., p. 244.

[116]Anonymous. The quotations used in the Bridger stories represent the author’s organization of existing folk lore. Some of these stories and others are given in H. M. Chittenden’s Yellowstone National Park.

[117]John G. White, “Souvenir,” I, 134.

[118]Hiram M. Chittenden, op. cit., pp. 39-40.

[119]Hebard and Brininstool, op. cit., II, p. 243.

[120]This information was obtained by the author from Jesse M. Matlock, formerly Mrs. William Peterson and Mabel M. White, an adopted daughter, in an interview at Salmon City, June 7, 1943. The latter remembers hearing Mr. Peterson express regret that the Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition was not given more recognition for its discovery. Mr. Peterson died in 1918.

[121]C. W. Cook and D. E. Folsom, “Cook-Folsom Expedition to the Yellowstone Region 1869,” Haynes Bulletin (Jan. 1923).

[122]C. W. Cook, “Remarks of C. W. Cook, Last Survivor of the Original Explorers of the Yellowstone Park Region,” Yellowstone Park Library, Mammoth, Wyoming. Two sons of Cornelius Hedges were present at the celebration which was sponsored by The National Editorial Association.

[123]W. T. Jackson, “The Cook-Folsom Exploration of the Upper Yellowstone 1869,” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, XXXII (1941), 320-21.

[124]Hiram M. Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, p. 60.

[125]Nathaniel P. Langford, The Discovery of Yellowstone Park 1870 (St. Paul, Minn.: J. E. Haynes, 1923), p. 80.

[126]Louis C. Crampton, Early History of Yellowstone National Park and Its Relations to National Park Policies (Washington, D. C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1923), p. 14.

[127]Yellowstone Park Scrap Book, I, 33. Park Library, Mammoth, Wyoming.

[128]L. P. Brockett, Our Western Empire (San Francisco: William Garretson and Co., 1881), p. 1247.

[129]Ibid., p. 1243.

[130]Cornelius Hedges, “Yellowstone Lake,” Crampton’s Early History, p. 110.

[131]Truman C. Everts, “Thirty Seven Days of Peril,” Scribner’s Monthly, III (Nov. 1871), 1-17.

[132]Cornelius Hedges, “Journal,” Contributions, Montana Historical Society, V, 387.

[133]Nathaniel P. Langford, op. cit., p. 158.

[134]Gustavus C. Doane, “Report Upon the Yellowstone Expedition,” Crampton’s Early History, p. 138.

[135]Henry D. Washburn, “The Yellowstone Expedition,” Ibid., p. 96.

[136]Rudyard Kipling, American Notes, p. 159.

[137]L. P. Brockett, op. cit., p. 1254.

[138]F. V. Hayden, American Journal of Science, III (March, 1872), 174.

[139]Arnold Hague, “The Yellowstone National Park,” Scribner’s Magazine, XXXV (May, 1904), 519.

[140]W. Turrentine Jackson, “The Creation of Yellowstone Park,” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review XXIX, 2 (September, 1942), 189-90.

[141]N. P. Langford, Preface to “The Folsom-Cook Exploration of the Upper Yellowstone in the Year 1869,” Contributions, Historical Society of Montana, V (1904), 312.

[142]Truman C. Everts, op. cit., p. 16.

[143]H. M. Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, p. 69.

[144]Ibid., p. 70.

[145]Louis C. Crampton, Early History of Yellowstone, p. 25.

[146]F. V. Hayden, “More About the Yellowstone,” Scribner’s Monthly, III, 4 (February, 1872), 389. This article contains a summary of the Hayden Expedition.

[147]H. M. Chittenden, op. cit., p. 71.

[148]In Dr. Hayden’s “Brief Statement of the History of the National Park,” which he forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior, Carl Schurz, on February 21, 1878, the following appeared: “I beg permission to state here, that so far as I know, I originated the idea of the park, prepared the maps, designating the boundaries, and in connection with the Hon. W. H. Claggett [sic], then Delegate from Montana Territory, wrote the law as it now stands.... It is now acknowledged all over the civilized world that the existence of the National Park, by law, is due solely to my exertions during the sessions of 1871 and 1872.” House Executive Documents, Forty-fifth Congress, Second Session, 1877-78, XVII, No. 75, 3. For this item credit is given by the author to W. Turrentine Jackson; see “The Creation of Yellowstone National Park,” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, University of Iowa, XXIX, 2 (Sept. 1942), 199.

[149]Congressional Globe, Forty-second Congress, Second Session, 1871-72, Part I, p. 520.

[150]Ibid., p. 697.

[151]W. T. Jackson, op. cit., p. 203.