Park Facts
History
- Yellowstone National Park was established on March 1, 1872.
- Yellowstone is the world's first national park.
Geography
No area figures have been scientifically verified. Efforts to confirm the park’s total area continue.
- 3472 square miles
- 2,221,766 acres or 899,116 hectares
- 63 air miles north to south
- 54 air miles east to west
- 96% in Wyoming, 3% in Montana, 1% in Idaho
- Highest Point: Eagle Peak 11,358 feet
- Lowest Point: Reese Creek 5282 feet
- Larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined
- About 5% covered by water, 15% by grassland, and 80% by forests
Geology
- The park sits on top of an active volcano
- One of the world's largest calderas at 45 x 30 miles
- 1000-3000 earthquakes annually
- More than 10,000 hydrothermal features
- More than 500 active geysers (more than half the world's geysers)
- About 290 waterfalls
- Tallest waterfall near a road: Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River at 308 feet
Wildlife
- 67 species of mammals, including seven species of native ungulates and two species of bear
- 285 species of birds (150 nesting)
- 16 species of fish (five nonnative)
- More than seven aquatic invasive species (three having significant detrimental effect)
- Five species of amphibians
- Six species of reptiles
- Two threatened species: Canada lynx, grizzly bears
Vegetation
- Nine species of conifers (more than 80% of forest is lodgepole pine)
- 1000+ species of native flowering species
- 225 species of invasive plants
- 186 species of lichens
Cultural Resources
- 26 associated Native American tribes
- More than 1800 known archeological sites
- More than 300 ethnographic resources (animals, plants, sites)
- 25 sites, landmarks, and districts on the National Register of Historic Places, many more eligible for listing
- One National Historic Trail (Nez Perce)
- More than 900 historic builings
- More than 720,000 museum items, including 30 historic vehicles
- Millions of archives documents
- More than 20,000 books (many rare), manuscripts, periodicals
Roads & Trails
- Five park entrances
- 466 miles of road (310 miles paved)
- More than 15 miles of boardwalk, including 13 self-guided trails
- Approximately 1000 miles of backcountry hiking trails
- 92 trailheads
- 301 backcountry campsites
Image: Old Faithful Inn, undated, fldr 48, box 1, Coll. 11712, Hugo G. Janssen Photographs, AHC.
Information from the National Park Service
Collections
Karl C. Allan Papers, 1892-1979
Acc. #7636
Karl C. "Sunny" Allan (1886-1978) was born in Ogden, Utah. In 1913, he joined the U.S. Forest Service and worked in the Targhee National Forest, building telephone lines to fire lookouts. In 1918, he became a district ranger at Camas Meadows, Idaho. He worked at the Black Rock ranger station in Wyoming from 1930-1938, and the Jackson Lake ranger station in Wyoming from 1938-1942. From 1944-1956, Allan worked as a ranger in Grand Teton National Park (Wyo.) and managed the Rockefeller Wildlife Range.
Collection contains correspondence (much of it connected with the U.S. Forest Service), biographical information, government documents and other printed material mainly regarding the Jackson Hole and Yellowstone areas of Wyoming, manuscripts, notebooks, and maps. A large portion of the collection is photographs of the Allan family and many other Jackson Hole residents and visitors, work and life of park rangers, wildlife, and scenery in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, as well as Targhee National Forest, Wyoming.
Maynard B. Barrows Papers, 1906-1985
Acc. #10106
Maynard Bainter Barrows was born in Denver, Colorado, on July 17, 1906. In 1928, he became a temporary park ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park, and was transferred to Yellowstone National Park in 1930. From 1938-1943, he was Assistant Chief Ranger of Yellowstone, and was Chief Park Ranger from 1943-1947. In 1947, he became a regional forester for the Midwest office of the National Park Service in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1954, he became Park Forester for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.
Collection contains materials relating to Maynard Barrows’s career with the National Park Service, including diaries, newspaper clippings, printed material, correspondence, reports, and photographs. His time at Yellowstone is best documented, although the collection also contains some files related to his work in Grand Teton National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, and Rocky Mountain National Park.
Charles J. Belden Photographs, 1908-1940
Acc. #598
Charles Belden was a photographer who traveler the world and Wyoming. He worked as a cowboy on the Pitchfork Ranch in Wyoming for a number of years.
The Charles J. Belden Collection consists of approximately 3,000 original negatives. These photographs depict everyday life on the Pitchfork Ranch, a trip to Europe in 1909, Yellowstone National Park, raising antelope, dude ranching, and trips to the Southwest and Latin America. His photography can be found in National Geographic Magazine and the Dude Rancher’s Association’s magazine the Dude Rancher.
Orrin and Lorraine Bonney Papers, 1950-2016
Acc. #827
Orrin and Lorraine Bonney were joint authors of the books, "Guide to the Wyoming Mountains and Wilderness Areas" (1960), "Battle Drums and Geysers" (1970), and a biography of Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane, an explorer of the Yellowstone and Snake River regions in the 1870s.
Collection contains manuscripts, research files, and publication information regarding many of their books including "Guide to the Wyoming Mountains and Wilderness Areas" and "Battle Drums and Geysers." Collection also contains biographical information, correspondence, photographs, slides, and audio and video recordings regarding their work and personal lives.
George Bowles Photographs, 1911-1922
Acc. #9796
George Bowles lived and worked in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park as a stage coach driver for the Wiley Stage Coach Company.
Collection contains 18 photographic copy prints of George Bowles and Yellowstone National Park, taken by unidentified photographers between 1911 and 1922. The photographs of Yellowstone National Park include images of the Wiley Stage Coach Company's stagecoaches, horses, and of George Bowles and his fellow Wiley employees.
Braman Family Photographs, 1910-1968
Acc. #9788
The Braman family lived in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park during the twentieth century.
Collection contains 43 photographic reproductions of members of the Braman family, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park, taken by unidentified photographers between 1910 and 1968. A descriptive inventory is with the collection as well.
Herbert L. Buck Papers, 1943-1959
Acc. #2018
Buck, a water reclamation expert, served as secretary-treasurer and later director of the Montana Reclamation Association during the 1940s and 1950s. He also served as treasurer of the National Reclamation Association.
Collection contains materials related to Buck's reclamation work including correspondence, speeches, reports, newsletters and minutes of the Montana Reclamation Association and the National Reclamation Association concerning water resources, reclamation and the Yellowtail Dam in Montana. There are also some minutes of the Yellowstone Basin Association.
Acc. #1978
Bullock served as sheriff of Lewis and Clark County, Montana, during the mid 1870s and was later a rancher near Deadwood, South Dakota.
Collection contains a photocopy of a 32 page diary kept by Bullock of his trip from Helena, Montana, to Yellowstone National Park from August 23 to September 20, 1872. The diary contains notes and hand-drawn maps regarding Bullock's camps in Yellowstone.
Calfee Family Papers, 1903-1927
Acc. #3640
The history of the Calfee family was compiled by Ross L. Calfee of Richmond, California, and his cousin, Glenwood White Calfee of Chicago, Illinois. The family arrived in the United States from England in the seventeenth century. They were pioneers in the West in the nineteenth century.
The genealogical scrapbook of the Calfee family contains transcriptions of letters (1845-1972) pertaining to the history of the family and its branches, hand written family trees, and other records. Family photographs are also included.
Frank C. and John J. Craighead Papers, 1920-1972
Acc. #4318
The Craighead twins, both wildlife biologists, did major studies of western raptor populations and Yellowstone Park grizzly bears. They were pioneers in the use of radio telemetry in studying wildlife populations. Frank Craighead worked for the U.S. Departments of Defense, Agriculture and Interior between 1950 and 1966 and was with the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center in New York from 1967 to 1977. He served as president of the Craighead Environmental Research Institute of Moose, Wyoming, beginning in 1955 and as a research associate at the University of Montana beginning in 1959.
Collection is chiefly printed materials including books, articles and reprints by Frank and John Craighead; environmental statements, public hearing transcripts, legal materials, and correspondence related to the Gillham Dam project in Arkansas and a lawsuit against the project by the Environmental Defense Fund; a script for "Wild River"; correspondence; a photograph album; and newspaper and magazine clippings.
Arthur E. Demaray Papers, 1830-1979
Acc. #4031
Arthur E. Demaray was a United States government administrator for the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. He spent most of his career as the number two person in the National Park Service during the agency's formative years, the New Deal period, and through the war time years as the agencies point of contact with Congress.
The collection contains correspondence (including a few letters from Harold Ickes), diaries, photographs, articles, publications, awards, medals, memorabilia, and Plains Indian artifacts all related to Demaray's career
There are a large number of photographs of the National Parks and Monuments across the United States; Yellowstone; Great Smoky Mountains; Crater Lake; Mammoth Cave; Yosemite; Grand Canyon; many of the Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah parks; National Park Service officials; Civilian Conservation Corps camps; and photographs by Jack Ellis Haynes, Official Yellowstone photographer.
Eatons’ Ranch Records, 1902-1965
Acc. #296
Eatons' Ranch was one of the first dude ranches in the West, near Wolf, Wyoming. The Eatons moved to Wyoming in 1904 and started a guest ranch near Wolf. Howard Eaton conducted guest tours into Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. The Eatons incorporated their operation in 1907, forming Eaton Brothers, Inc. Following his brothers' deaths, Alden Eaton operated the ranch until his death in 1937, when it passed to his son William.
The collection consists almost entirely of financial records of the Eatons' Ranch in Wolf, Wyoming, with some material from their ranch in North Dakota. There are cashbooks (1902-1912), journals (1902-1911), a ledger (1904-1906), accounts payable (1910-1916), and trial balances (1906-1907, 1909-1917). There is also a guest register (1883-1903) for the Custer Trail Ranch and two guest registers (1904-1965) for Eatons' Ranch. Also included are ranch brochures (1910-1957), some scattered correspondence including three letters to Howard Eaton from Theodore Roosevelt, and photographs of the Eatons, the Custer Trail Ranch and surrounding Badlands, and guest tours in Yellowstone National Park.
Frank Evans’ Yellowstone Park Motion Picture, 1925
Acc. #10445
Dr. Frank Evans was a friend of Carl Modesitt, a pioneer in the Colorado potash industry. Evans and Modesitt took a family camping trip to Yellowstone Park about 1925 which Frank Evans filmed.
The Frank Evans collection contains a single reel of 16mm film that documents a trip to Yellowstone Park in about 1925 by several families, the Modesitts and others. Fishing scenes are highlighted.
Martin Evoy and Edward Duffield Lever Papers, 1937
Acc. #9855
The Martin Evoy and Edward Duffield Lever collection contains black-and-white photographs and negatives of the 1937 cross country automobile trip of Edward Duffield and his sister and brother-in-law, Leonore and Martin Evoy. On September 18, 1937, they set out from Abington, Pennsylvania, for the West coast. During the trip, Edward Lever took photographs and Martin Evoy shot 16mm film. There are a number of photographs from Yellowstone Park including two of President Franklin Roosevelt in an open touring car, dated September 26, 1937