Yellowstone National Park - geography.

Yellowstone National Park - geography. I INTRODUCTION Yellowstone National Park, national park established in 1872. Located in northwestern Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho, the park is known for its spectacular geysers, hot springs, canyons, and fossil forests. Yellowstone was the world's first national park. II HISTORY Native American groups lived in the area of Yellowstone for thousands of years. The name Yellowstone is thought to come from a translation of the Native American Minnetaree word mi tsi a-da-zi, for the yellow cliffs along the Yellowstone River. The first explorer to visit the Yellowstone area was John Colter in 1807, who had left the Lewis and Clark Expedition the previous year to explore the region. Explorations conducted by David Folsom, Charles Cook, and William Peterson in 1869, and by Henry Washburn, Nathaniel Langford, and Gustavus Doane in 1870 helped publicize the beauty of the area. Depictions of the region created during an expedition in 1871 by photographer William Henry Jackson and artist Thomas Moran convinced the American public and the United States government to preserve the area. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill creating the national park in 1872. An earthquake in 1959 with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale caused major disturbances throughout the park and was one of the largest ever recorded in the North American interior. In August and September 1988, a series of fires, fueled by dry and windy summer weather, burned more than 35 percent of ...