Yellowstone Project Script

Part 1:
• Lewis and Clark
In the early 1800s, Merriweather Lewis and William Clark were not very well known explorers. Lllkjhewis, being President Thomas Jefferson’s personal assistant, and Clark, a sergeant in the military, were known as politicians to many. Therefore, when they banded together to request aid for an expedition to the west, many were intrigued by what these men could offer to the states. After the request was approved by congress, the expedition met on the Mississippi in present day Saint Louis. They set out on an upriver expedition up the Missouri River and made course towards the Yellowstone Area. However, these men were not influential in the creation and exploration of the Yellowstone National …show more content…
John Colter was an explorer on the Lewis and Clark expedition. He saw beauty in the land surrounding the Yellowstone area and returned to the area a few years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He is the first known white man to venture within the present day boundaries of Yellowstone National Park. He is also considered to be one of the first mountain men, as he spent many months out in the wilderness with little connection to humanity.

• Folsom-Cook-Peterson expedition
The Cook-Folsom-Peterson expedition was the first expedition into the Yellowstone territory that was properly organized and funded by private sources. This expedition was led by three men, David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook and William Peterson of Diamond City, Montana, a small mining camp in the Confederate Gulch near Helena Montana. The journals kept by Cook and Folsom, as well as their personal accounts to friends were of significant inspirational value to spur the organization of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition which visited Yellowstone in 1870

• Washburn-Langford-Doane …show more content…
Led by Henry Washburn, Nathaniel P. Langford and U.S. Army escort Lt. Gustavus C. Doane, the expedition followed the general course of the Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition made the previous year. During their explorations, members of the party made detailed maps and observations of the Yellowstone region, exploring numerous lakes, climbing several mountains and observing wildlife. The expedition visited both the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins, and after observing the regularity of eruptions of one geyser, decided to name it Old Faithful, since it erupted about once every 74 minutes. This expedition was also the first to name a series of landmarks in the national park. These places included geysers, waterfalls, and mountains.

• Hayden Expedition
The Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 also explored the soon to be land of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. It was led by geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. This expedition was not one of Hayden’s first expeditions, but it was his first federally funded expedition into the Yellowstone area. The primary purpose of this expedition was to explore the area and collect information concerning the geological and geographical identity of the Yellowstone area.

• Yellowstone National Park Protection