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: Yellowstone National Park Stage Coach, undated, AHC Photo Files.
Information from the National Park Service
Collections
Oscar Pfeiffer Papers, 1886-1916
Acc. #733
Pfeiffer, along with partners, Wesley C. and Ernest W. Copps, operated the Bar OP cattle ranch near Buffalo, Wyoming.
Collection consists of Pfeiffer's financial ledger (1886-1910) containing ranch accounts, annual recapitulations, agreements with the Copps and others, and drawings and specifications for buildings on the Bar OP Ranch and the Armstrong and Remington Ranch, also near Buffalo. There is a photograph album of an 1889 trip of Pfeiffer and others to Yellowstone National Park, with photographs of the park, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and F.J. Haynes' photograph counter in the hotel. The album also contains photographs of Cooke City and the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana, interior and exterior views on the Bar OP Ranch and Armstrong and Remington Ranch. There are also miscellaneous materials (1912-1916) concerning the settling of Oscar Pfeiffer's estate by the Pfeiffer family, and a group of photographs (1908) of Bar OP Ranch scenes.
James H. Pissot Papers, 1914-2012
Acc. #12584
James H. Pissot was a wildlife ecologist and environmental activist. He was president of the Utah Audubon Society from 1983-1985 and an instructor at the Audubon Camp in the West in Dubois, Wyoming, from 1981 through 1986. He was also co-founder of the Utah Wilderness Association in 1979 and served on the Utah State Energy Conservation and Development Council from 1981-85. He moved to the National Audubon Society Washington D.C. office in 1988 and served as Audubon's lead staffer during the re-authorization of the Endangered Species Act in that year. He became director of Audubon's Washington State office in 1990, working to protect the Northwest's ancient forests. In the early 2000's, he established the Canadian Branch of Defenders of Wildlife and was the head of that organization until its closure in 2007.
The collection pertains to various environmental issues, most notably deforestation and Y2Y (the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative). Included are audio and video tapes and CDs; correspondence; photographs; slides; news clippings; printed materials and subject files on wildlife, forestry, and administrative matters.
Marian T. Place Manuscript, 1964
Acc. #2226
Marian T. Place (1910- ) wrote juvenile fiction and nonfiction on Western subjects.
The collection contains a typed and extensively edited manuscript of Place's history of the Yellowstone River, "Buckskins and Buffalo : the story of the Yellowstone River."
Nathan Provol Papers, 1893-1981
Acc. #8953
Nathan Provol was a ventriloquist and vaudeville performer. Born Nathan Provolosky in 1881, he served in the U.S. Army for six years, serving in the Philippines during the Spanish American War and was later stationed at Yellowstone National Park. Provol began his vaudeville career in 1909. His talent was being a bird call ventriloquist, and he was sometimes called "The Whistling Ventriloquist". He also had another vaudeville act called "The Golden Bird Act", which featured canaries trained by Provol to sing harmony with violin, cello, and piano. Provol also worked in television, radio, and the recording industry and later owned a bird store in Chicago. Nathan Provol passed away at the age of 100 in 1981.
The Nathan Provol papers consist of materials from his entertainment and military career. It contains two scrapbooks (containing photographs and newspaper clippings) of Provol's vaudeville career, piano scores for "The Golden Bird", photographs of Provol and his vaudeville acts, and photographs of Provol when he was stationed at Fort Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park. Collection also contains two phonograph album sets: "Decca Presents Golden Birds, Actual Canary Birds Singing With Violin, Cello, and Piano" and "Golden Voiced Canaries: Provol's Golden Birds" and Provol's mementos from the Spanish American War (including certificates of promotion, handbooks, and correspondence). Five theater poster boards (of Provol and other vaudeville acts) and a copy of the book "The Pack Peddler" (written by Provol's brother W. Lee Provol) are in this collection as well.
Redford Family Photographs, 1911-1913
Acc. #7981
The Redford family photographs contain images of Yellowstone Park and the Big Horn River area in Montana around 1911-1913. Some of the scenes identified in the collection include: Big Cabin on the Big Horn River in Wyola, Montana; the swimming hole on Big Horn River; geysers spouting; paint pots of Yellowstone; Yellowstone Canyon and river scenes; Willow Creek campground; and the grave of Crazy Head - last war chief of the Crows.
Wayne F. Replogle Papers, 1914-1977
Acc. #6729
Wayne F. Replogle (1904-1977) was born in Anthony, Kansas, and grew up in Kansas and the San Luis Valley of Colorado. He began his career at Yellowstone National Park as a seasonal park ranger on horse patrol and later spent his time there as a ranger-naturalist. He spent nine years tracing the Bannock Indian Trail through Yellowstone, refuting reports that few Indians had visited the Park area. He wrote a book titled "Bannock Indian Tribes" and appeared in several documentary films about Yellowstone. In addition to being known as a Yellowstone Park Ranger, Replogle was known as a naturalist, conservationist, student of American Indian history, writer, storyteller, artist, football coach, and photographer.
The Wayne F. Replogle papers contain a collection of 35 mm slides depicting various scenes around Yellowstone National Park. The subjects found in his photographs include the thermal forces of Yellowstone, a thermal forest fire, Yellowstone flowers, birds, animals, and people. The collection also contains awards and certificates of appreciation, manuscripts, correspondence, genealogy lists, and maps of Yellowstone. In addition, the collection contains newspaper clippings, newsletters, magazine articles, reprints from National Geographic, photographs, programs, receipts, and reports.
William A. Richards Family Papers, 1870-1965
Acc. #118
William A. Richards was the governor of Wyoming from 1895 to 1898. In 1884, William A. Richards, intrigued by the possibilities of irrigation, decided to move to Wyoming, where he set up his homestead at the Western foot of the Big Horn Mountains. After his arrival in Wyoming, Richards was elected Commissioner of Johnson County and managed a large cattle company before being appointed U. S. surveyor general for the state of Wyoming by President Benjamin Harrison in 1889. He served four years and was then elected as Governor of Wyoming.
The collection contains information about the lives of both William A. Richards, and his daughter Alice R. McCreery. This information is available through correspondence, biographical material on William A. Richards, and family photographs. There are also two journals written by Eleanor Alice Richards (1933-1937) and William A. Richards (1879-1881) and reminiscences written by Alice R. McCreery, which describe some of her experiences. A large part of the collection also contains genealogical information compiled by Alice R. McCreery, and dealing with the various branches of her family.
Archie J. Roath Papers, 1930s-1945
Acc. #10569
Archie J. Roath lived in Wheatland, Wyoming, before serving in the United States Army during World War II. He trained at Fort Benning, Georgia (1941), and fought in France and Germany with the Second Battalion Armored Division (1942-1945).
The Archie J. Roath papers contain many snapshots of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (ca.1930), Fort Benning, Georgia (1941), and Great Britain, France, and Germany during World War II (1942-1945). There is also a booklet published by the United States Army "Second Battalion Armored Division", with notes by Roath.
Acc. #8463
Sass was a foreman and mechanic with the U.S. Reclamation Service. From 1910-1916 he worked at the Jackson Lake Dam in Teton County, Wyoming, near Jackson. After 1917 he worked on a variety of water reclamation projects in the western United States.
Collection contains a photograph album and photographs of the Sass family and of dam construction in Wyoming and other places in the western U.S. (1907-1937); 2 1910 issues of "The Dam Weekly," a newsletter for the workers of the Jackson Lake Dam; a manuscript written by Sass' wife, Libbie Lzcar Sass, entitled "The Lone Star Involuntary Benevolent Society" which describes a robbery during a stagecoach trip through Yellowstone National Park in 1907; a photo book by Stephen N. Leek, "The Elk: Their Homes and Habits" (ca. 1910); and miscellaneous other materials.
Jacob M. Schwoob Papers, 1867-1933
Acc. #97
Jacob M. Schwoob was born in Ontario in 1874. At the age of 18 he immigrated to the United States, arriving first in Buffalo, New York, then moving to Cody, Wyoming, in 1898. He was business manager of the Cody Trading Company until 1916, when he purchased the store and became its owner. He served in the Wyoming Senate from 1905-1913 and was the author of the state's motor vehicle license law which had a numeral representing each county. Schwoob was honored with license plate number 1 for the term of his life. In 1909 Schwoob married Louise Preas, with whom he had a son, Thornton. Thornton Schwoob married Margaret Files in 1926 but died in 1928. In 1926 Jacob Schwoob married Mabel Laird Bulger, who survived him. Jacob Schwoob died in 1932.
Collection contains correspondence (1910-1933); speeches; certificates, including certificates as elector for Wyoming; a journal (with accompanying photographs) of a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks (1921); photographs of Schwoob, the Schwoob family, the Cody Trading Company and Cody, Wyoming; 4 scrapbooks; and a collection of campaign and other ribbons, pins, and buttons.
Acc. #9989
An August 15, 1888, letter to President Grover Cleveland from this York, Pennsylvania, School Superintendent while on vacation at Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park regarding the high prices of railroad tickets.
David Sloane Stanley Diaries, 1853, 1872
Acc. #2180
David Sloane Stanley graduated from West Point in 1852 and was commissioned in the 2nd United States Dragoons. In 1853 he accompanied an expedition traveling from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to San Diego, California. He was promoted to general during his service with the Union Army in the Civil War. In 1872 and 1873 he commanded expeditions that explored the Yellowstone area in search of a feasible route for a railroad.
The collection comprises transcripts of two diaries kept by David Sloane Stanley: one of 1853 documenting Stanley’s overland journey from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to San Diego, California; and one of 1872 covering Stanley’s Yellowstone expedition of that year.
Joseph Elam Stimson Photographs, 1900-1950
Acc. #1208
Joseph E. Stimson was a Cheyenne, Wyoming, photographer. In 1901 he was hired by the Union Pacific Railroad to publicize the area served by the line. In 1903 he was commissioned by the state government to provide photographs of Wyoming for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Stimson created many views of Wyoming and the surrounding states.
The Stimson collection includes more than 500 prints of J.E. Stimson's images of Wyoming and the surrounding region. Subjects include the mining and livestock industries, agriculture, towns, views along the Oregon Trail, Shoshone and Arapaho Indians, Yellowstone National Park, Buffalo Bill, the 1908 New York-to-Paris automobile race, and the Union Pacific railroad