1. Yellowstone timeline

2. Early Human History 1000- 1300 Pueblo Period of Anasazi
1271 Marco Polo travels to China
1438 Incas rule in Peru
1493 Columbus founds Spanish colony on Hispaniola
1558 Shakespeare is writing and performing his plays
1620 Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth
1754 French and Indian War begins
Late 1700s Fur traders explore Yellowstone region, tribes in Yellowstone area start using horses, Crow, Shoshone, Bannock, and Blackfeet all call Yellowstone home
1776 Declaration of Independence
1781 British surrender at Yorktown 1782 War between Britain and India ends
The first written description of the river now known as the Yellowstone was penned.
David Thompson, explorer and geographer in the British fur trade of the Northwest, used the words "Yellow Stone" in notes he made while visiting Mandan villages on the upper Missouri. It is uncertain exactly how the words originated, although the canyon walls which tower over the river near its headwaters look like "Yellow Rock." (1: p.4)
1797 Yellowstone River named by John Evans
1801 Thomas Jefferson becomes president
1803 Eastern Montana becomes part of the Louisiana Purchase and US Territory bought from France (Napoleon) for $15 million
Lewis and Clark Expedition 50 miles north of Yellowstone
1812 War of 1812

3. Trappers
 Trappers
Lewis and Clark Expedition
-Between 1807 and 1808 John Colter discovered what was to later become known as Yellowstone Park and Colter’s Hell.
California goldrush peaks
-Daniel Potts was a member of the 1822 Ash Henry Expedition to Yellowstone.
-Between 1825 and 1840 Chief Washakie and his band of Sheep eaters participated in the fur trade rendezvous in the Wind River region.
1826 World’s First Photo taken by Niepae
Railroad survey through Montana
-During this time, in 1829, while traveling with a trapping party along the Yellowstone River, Joe Meek’s group was scattered by a band of Blackfeet Indians. Meek made his way on to Yellowstone.
1830 Indian Removal Act removes Native Americans to lands west of Mississippi River
1832 First steamboat to ascend the Missouri Rive to the mouth of the Yellowstone River. George Catlin was on this boat.
-In 1834 Warren Ferris was the first documented tourist to visit Yellowstone. He was traveling in this capacity with two Pend D’Orielle Indians.
-In 1839, Osborne Russell wrote a book about his adventures in the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone, Journey of a Trapper. This book gives an excellent description of Russell’s observations of the Lamar Valley or as he called it “The Secluded Valley”.
1849 California Gold Rush starts
1850's-60's -- The struggle over slavery, the American Civil War which it led to, the immediate aftermath of that war, and skirmishes with Indians kept the United States government from sending an official exploration party to the Yellowstone region. (2: p.34)

4. Prospectors and Explorers 1860- 1879
-Captain William F. Raynolds is recognized for leading the first organized attempt to explore what we know recognize as Yellowstone Park in 1860.
Prospectors and Explorers
-1860, Jim Bridger accompanied the Raynold’s Expedition to Yellowstone
1863 First house built in Bozeman
Civil War
1861 Lincoln becomes president
-In 1863 Walter DeLacy was a member of the “Forty Thieves”, a gold prospecting expedition which discovered Shoshone Lake and its drainage to the Snake River. Although he compiled the first accurate map of the Park in 1865, it was not published until 1896.
-In 1864, Jack Baronett moved to the Yellowstone area to prospect for gold. He accompanied the 1866 expedition to the Park led by Captain Jeff Standifer.
1864 James Stuart led a party of 73 men to punish Indians and prospect for gold in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Gold found at Last Chance Gulch near Helena- Gold rush draws people to Bozeman( people who don’t want to deal with the Civil War)- this increases conflict with Indians and brings on Military occupation
1864 Montana Territory is created- Bannack is capital
Father Francis Xavier Kuppens, a young Jesuit priest serving near Great Falls, Montana, was guided into present-day Yellowstone Park by a group of Piegan Indians. Among other things, he visited the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the geysers of the Firehole Basin. Later that year, Kuppens had opportunity to describe his incredible journey to Acting Territorial Governor Thomas Francis Meagher, who at that time is credited with suggesting that is such a place of wonders did exist, it should be preserved as a national park. (1: P.89-90)
Frederick and Phillip Bottler became the first settlers between Bozeman and the present Park. The Bottler Ranch was at first a jumping point for hunting and prospecting. (1: p.81)
1866 party led by George Huston of Virginia City to the geyser basins of Yellowstone
1867 Fort Ellis east of Bozeman built
-Together, Folsom, Cook, and Peterson led the first successful expedition into Yellowstone country in 1869.
-Texas Jack Omuhundro guided the Earl of Dunraven and other European and English nobility through the Park soon after 1869.
1869 Nation’s first transcontinental railroad is completed
-In 1870 Ferdinand Hayden accompanied Henry Washburn into Yellowstone Park where he successful explored, named, mapped, and later published an account of this trip.
-Washburn was the surveyor for the 1870 Washburn- Langford Doane Expedition into Yellowstone. This was the 2nd successful expedition in the Park.
-During 1870, Cornelius Hedges joined Washburn’s expedition to Yellowstone Park.
-In 1870 Lieutenant Gustavus C Doane accompanied the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone area with one sergeant and 4 privates.
-In 1870 Langford was a member of the Washburn- Langford- Doane Expedition to the Yellowstone region. He helped promote the idea of preserving Yellowstone through a series of lectures.
-In 1870, Truman Everts was a member of the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition. On September 9, 1870, he was separated from the expedition group and spent 37 days alone and lost in Yellowstone.
-Moran joined the 1871 Hayden Expedition as the artist of the group.
-In 1871, Sawtell led the first commercial tour of the Park guiding the Raymond- Clawson party.
-In 1871 Harry Horr and James McCartney were co-owners of the first lodgings in Yellowstone
-James Stevenson was a member of the U.S.G.S. and Hayden's top assistant during the 1871 expedition
-In 1871 William Henry Jackson traveled with Hayden on his expedition into Yellowstone.
1872 Yellowstone National Park created
-In 1873, James George owned a crude road, which ran from Bottler’s Ranch to Mammoth. This road was open to within 2 miles of Mammoth and included a tollbooth. This was open until 1920 and was called the Yankee Jim Toll road
1876 General Custer defeated at Battle or Little Big Horn
-In 1877, Chief Joseph, along with White Bird and led by Looking Glass, was one of the Nez Perce leaders who led his tribe 1509 miles in a flight from Oregon to Canada through Yellowstone.
-On April 18, 1877, Phileteus Norris was appointed to be the 2nd Park Superintendent.
- In Emma Cowan and her husband took a trip to Yellowstone to celebrate their second anniversary. They were kidnapped and shot by Nez Perce warriors.
1878 Indians removed to reservation

5. Turmoil and Change
Corrupt corporations trying to monopolize Park land, hunting was illegal, geysers were being destroyed everyone was trying without permission to erect buildings, railroad was trying to lay tracks into the Park, Only 12 officials employed to enforce park regulations,
George Marshall formed the Marshall and Goff Stage Company with John Goff in 1880 in Yellowstone Park.
-In 1880 Harry Yount was the first gamekeeper in the Park.
-In 1880 William Wiley brought the first paid visitors to Yellowstone Park.
-Geyser Bob worked as a stagecoach driver for the Yellowstone Park Transportation Company for 30 years and started this job sometime in the 1880s.
Togwotee was well known as a guide for Chief Washakie, chief of the Sheep eater band. In 1882, after the Sheep eaters were relocated to the Wind River Range in Wyoming, he guided General Sheridan through Wyoming and Idaho.
-In 1882 John Yancey built a cabin and mail station at Pleasant Valley to help teamsters and mail stages enroute to Cooke City
-In 1883, Lieutenant Daniel Kingman arrived in Yellowstone Park with the Army corps of Engineers. His most important task was to improve the road system in the Park. He was responsible for the design, planning, and construction of the basic park road system until 1887.
1883 Hunting is no longer legal in the Park
1883 Northern Pacific Railroad arrives in Bozeman- completed to the Pacific Ocean

6. Changing Leadership
April 17, 1886, US Army comes in to take over Yellowstone and does so for 32 years.
-In 1884 Frank J Haynes got the photography concession for Yellowstone Park by the US Department of the Interior.
1885 Howard Eaton took horseback travelers to the Park. He was the park’s earliest and longest continuous outfitter
1886 US Army comes to Yellowstone
1886 tourists were able to take their own photos in the park
-In 1888 Andy Wald filled bottles with multi -colored sand to create images of animals and Park scenes.
1889 Montana becomes 41st state
The Lake Hotel near Yellowstone Lake and the Fountain Hotel near Old Faithful are built. The former was not destined to last. (2: p.60)
-In 1891 Captain George Smith Anderson was appointed Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in 1891.
-From EC Waters was head of the Yellowstone Boat Company.
-In 1892, Harry Child created the Yellowstone National Park Transportation Company (YNPT Co) with 4 other friends.
-On February 13, 1894, Ed Howell was caught poaching buffalo on Pelican Creek.
Official yearly visitor counts begin. 5,438 people visit Yellowstone this year.
-On August 14, 1897, George ‘Morphine Charley” Reeb robbed a stage 4 miles from Canyon Hotel on the Norris Road in Yellowstone
Park.
1897 Fort Yellowstone replaced Fort Sheridan

7. 1898-1909 Construction, Camps, and Comaraderie
US Army and private operators are inside and outside of Yellowstone- learned to deal with tourists, Park concessionaires (hotels, tent camps, upgraded stage coach companies), Infrastructure in Park is upgraded, Yellowstone Association built Old Faithful and erected a 4th hotel at Norris, Lake Hotel was remodeled, Northern Pacific Railroad extended tracks from cinnabar to Gardiner
1898 Amos Shaw and LP Powell established Shaw and Powell camping Company with moveable camps
-1898 Frank Haynes started the Monida and Yellowstone Stagecoach Company from the West entrance- red stage coaches
-Between 1899 and 1906, Hiram Chittenden was in charge of construction, repair, and maintenance of all roads and bridges within the Park.
-Captain John Pitcher served as the acting superintendent of Yellowstone Park from May 8, 1901, until June 1, 1907.
-On June 14, 1902, Henry G. Merry drove the first automobile through the north gate of Yellowstone illegally.
-In 1902, Child commissioned Reamer to design Old Faithful Lodge. This project was funded by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
-1902 Chittenden built the first Fishing Bridge
Larry Matthews managed the Old Faithful lunch station
-On April 24, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt stopped in Gardiner to dedicate the new stone arch named after him.
1905 road across Dunraven Pass and Mount Washburn was opened
1908 Union Pacific Railroad begins at West Yellowstone
1908 Model T is produced

8. Facing a New Era 1910-1915 Facing a New Era 1910-1915
Tourists are better accommodated
“Grand tour”
US Army patrols and protects the Park
Hotels and camping companies housed, fed, and entertained tourists
Canyon Hotel built, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel remodeled, YPT, Monida, Wylie, and Old Faithful Camping companies joined Wylie and Shaw/ Powell in providing cheaper ways to see the Park
Fort Yellowstone is created
National Geographic magazine did a feature story on America's National Parks. It recommended that the visitor take 5 1/2 days to see the Park.
1914 WWI begins in Europe
Panama Canal opens
1915- National Park Service established- Mather is first director

9. 1916-1929- Age of the Automobile
Harry Trischman was the first park ranger to be hired in 1916 and worked at this job until his retirement in 1945.
1918 US Army leaves Yellowstone- new National Park Service takes over
1917 Automobiles are allowed in the Park
Visitors in the Park increases from 25,000 year to over 200,000
Efforts made to merge concessionaires into a single unit
Park roads are upgraded
YPTC buys 100 new touring cars called buses
NPS takes over existing soldier stations and adds more
-On August 3, 1919, Fred Willson was given a job to work on a Yellowstone Lake building.
On January 18, 1919, Horace Albright was appointed Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park.
Some 5000 automobiles enter Yellowstone Park.
-In 1920, Isabelle Bassett Wasson became Yellowstone’s 1st female ranger- hired by Supt. Albright.
1920s Roaring 20s, War generation, Lawless decade, more published black writers than ever before, Women’s suffrage, Monkey Trial, King Tut’s tomb, Mussolini, Charles Lindberg, J. Edgar Hoover, fascination with the movies, with Egypt, and with prosperity-Important events of the decade
-In 1923 Marguerite LIndsley was the first permanent female naturalist in the National Park Service.
1924 the first motorcycles are provided for Park rangers
-From , Ranger “, Jim", Frances Pound Wright, worked at the north entrance in Gardiner
1927 President Calvin visits the Park
Charles A. Lindbergh barnstorms over Yellowstone Park in September, only months after his historic transatlantic flight. Also, telephone exchanges are installed in the Park. (5: p.269)
1928 Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce visits the Park
1929 President Hoover signs the first law changing Park boundaries
The Norris Geyser Basin museum opens as one of the first trailside museums in the park.

10. 1930-1945 Depression, Innovation, and War
1932 President Hoover expands Park boundaries again
Yellowstone struggles with lack of administrative $$
WWII looming, Great Depression
Facilities and infrastructure deteriorate
CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) enters the Park to help the Park rangers are separated into enforcement service and communication or interpretive duties, Bear Shows where tourists watch bears eat garbage
6 independent park companies merge to form the Park Company
New hotel and post office at Mammoth
Roads are paved
Rangers use science and nature to manage Park resources instead of allowing humans to manipulate them
1930 Last recorded wolf killed in the Park
1930s -- The famous Beartooth Highway is built, allowing automobiles to travel 67 steep, winding miles from Red Lodge, Montana into the Park via the towns of Cooke City and Silver Gate.
A winter wildlife grazing area near the North Entrance is added to the Park boundaries.
On February 9, the all time lowest temperature in Yellowstone is recorded: 66 degrees below zero at the Riverside Station.
WW II
1934 Park prohibits the killing of predators
1935 Historic Sites Act sets national policy to “preserve for future public us historic sites, buildings, and objects
1936 Fred Wilson designed Longfellow, Irving, Hawthorne, and Willson Middle Schools
1945 First electronic computer is made

11. Prosperity and Ecological Regulation 1946-1968
1955 Bridger Ski Bowl opens
1959 Dalai Lama flees Tibet March 31
Alaska and Hawaii become states
1968 Robert F. Kennedy shot and killed
Martin Luther King shot and killed

12. 1969-Protecting a fragile ecosystem
1969 Neil Armstrong walks on the moon
1970s -- Attention slowly begins turning from viewing Yellowstone as a recreational playground to viewing Yellowstone as an ecological treasure which needed to be preserved and protected for future generations.  The awareness of the fragile nature of the Park's resources and a growing awareness of the connectedness of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem began in the previous two decades, but the 1970s witness the implementation of more steps to restore ecological balance in the Park and protect the Park from the ill effects of human interaction, while at the same time not discouraging human visitation.
1970- last dump closed to bears1973- no more roadside feeding of bears
1971 overnight winter lodging starts in the Park
Fishing is prohibited from Fishing Bridge in order to protect the spawning of the native cutthroat trout.
1975 Grizzly bears listed on the Endangered Species list in the lower 48 states
Yellowstone is designated as a Biosphere Reserve, in recognition of its ecological value.
Yellowstone is designated as a World Heritage Site, in recognition of its ecological value.
The worst fire season in Yellowstone's history takes place.  "The Fires of 1988" burn some 1.4 million acres in the Yellowstone ecosystem between June and October.  25,000 firefighters and $120 million dollars are unable to stop the massive flames.  Early winter snows finally extinguish the flames.
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act outlaws discrimination against disabled people
1990s Pollution from snowmobiles is greater than levels of air pollution in Los Angeles- controversial issue of how and whether to control snowmobiles in the Park Clean Air Act requires air quality monitoring
Controversy over slaughter of Park bison which leave Park boundaries
Controversies over microbial mining in the Park
Controversies over wolf reintroduction to the Park
1994 law created to allow a % of park fees to be kept in the Park
Wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone
1996 President Clinton visits Yellowstone to look into the proposed gold mine just outside Park boundaries. He blocks funding for this mine
1996 Norris campground closed due to lack of funds
1997 Close to 1000 bison are killed because some of them carry brucellosis
1998 National Parks Omnibus Management Act
2000 Steamboat Geyser erupts after many years
The snowmobile controversy continues as the number of machines allowed in the Park is capped, emission restrictions enforced, and the services of licensed guides mandated.
2006 Canyon Visitor Center opens
2007 Yellowstone grizzlies removed from Endangered Species List
2008 Gray wolf delisted and then relisted
2009 Grizzlies returned to the threatened species List