Yellowstone: First U.S. National Park

"There is nothing so American as our national parks...The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

It was a time of Manifest Destiny in the U.S. The desire for the country to exist from "sea to shining sea" had become a national mantra. But it was also a challenging time economically in America. A recession had followed the Civil War. And then, in the 1870s, an intense economic depression would see 18,000 businesses go bankrupt and an unemployment rate of over 8%.

Amidst this spirit and struggle, settlers pushed westward, seeking land to call home and for economic opportunity. One place that surfaced as a destination was Yellowstone in the newly formed Montana Territory.

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For thousands of years, Native American tribes such as the Shoshone, Crow, and Blackfeet lived in intimate connection with the land that America would call Yellowstone. It was sacred, a land of spirits and beauty, geysers and warm hot springs and streams that threaded between ancient pines and sighed in the wind sweeping vast meadows.

By the early 19th century, Americans began hearing tales of Yellowstone's unique features. Mountain men and trappers spoke of boiling rivers and steaming mountains. But these men were known for exaggeration, and the stories sounded implausible to most, just myths of the frontier. Few made the trek to see the land in person.