There are 63 national parks in the United States, but none has captivated the American imagination quite like Yellowstone National Park, the very first of its kind. The park encompasses more than 2 million acres across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and showcases unique natural features and stunning wildlife. But without the efforts of a dedicated few, it might never have existed at all. How Yellowstone became America’s first National Park.
While the majesty and wonder of public parks is obvious to visitors today, in 1872 the idea of setting aside such a vast territory was hard to grasp. In the post-Civil War era, land was being parceled and sold to investors and developers in pursuit of immediate economic benefits. The notion of preserving land for the recreational enjoyment of future generations was not widely embraced nor understood.
But the ideas on which Yellowstone was founded public access, enjoyment of nature, and conservation of wilderness took root in the American imagination, and inspired the creation of subsequent national parks across the United States and around the world.
Though national parks are often imagined as untouched wilderness, Yellowstone was shaped by the continuous presence of Indigenous people on the lands and waters for thousands of years. Long before the first settlers encountered Yellowstone, at least 27 federally-recognized Native tribes had connections to the region that dated back to time immemorial.
The array of tribal names for the area reflected its importance and meaning: the Crow called it Aw’Pawishe, meaning “land of steam,” while the Assiniboine and Sioux called it Pahaska, or “white mountain country.” The Tukudika, a Shoshone band, lived year-round in what would become Yellowstone National Park, while other tribes traveled through the area for trade, subsistence and ceremonies.
Yellowstone was especially valuable as a source of obsidian, a volcanic glass used to make knives, arrowheads and other tools, and more than 50 ancient obsidian quarry sites have been documented in the park by archeologist Douglas MacDonald.
After Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, park officials began to forcibly deter Native Americans from entering and using the park, and the Tukudika were relocated from their home in Yellowstone to nearby reservations. “Yellowstone National Park is surrounded by Indian reservations,” says Mark Fiege, professor of History at Montana State University. “And their creation was directly related to the creation of the Yellowstone National Park boundary.”
Concerned that their presence would deter tourism, administrators perpetuated the false idea that the tribes were afraid of the geothermal features and voluntarily avoided the area. Meanwhile, regulations enacted to protect the wildlife and natural features of the park were also used to prohibit Native Americans from hunting, fishing or gathering obsidian and other materials. The creation of Yellowstone as a national park turned Indigenous people, in the eyes of the federal government and park officials, into trespassers.
