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Yellowstone is named after the Yellowstone River. In the late 1700s, French Canadian trappers asked the name of the river from the native Minnetaree tribe who lived in the area and they responded “Mi tse a-da-zi”, which translates to French as “Yellow Stone River”. Lewis and Clark, who journeyed west from St. Louis along the Missouri River and later the Yellowstone River, formalized the use of the name “Yellowstone”.
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While more than half of Alaska’s national park units are larger than Yellowstone (2.2 million acres), Yellowstone was the largest national park in the lower 48, until 1994 when Death Valley National Monument in California was expanded and became a national park under President Bill Clinton – it has more than 3 million acres.
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Despite the popular belief that President Theodore Roosevelt established Yellowstone as the world’s first national park, it was actually President Ulysses Grant. Whilst Roosevelt was a pioneer for conservation and sustainable use of our natural world, President Grant was neither a vocal advocate for conservation, nor did he offer any comments about Yellowstone National Park Protection act after signing into law Yellowstone be “reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of [the government].” The fact that Yellowstone would be set aside as a “plublic park or pleasuring-ground fort he benefit and enjoyment of the people” was a ground-breaking concept at the time, though he never took the time to visit it himself.
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While over 95% of Yellowstone’s 3,400 square miles remains in the state of Wyoming, there is 50-square mile “lawless land” in Idaho where legal experts and scholars argue a person could commit murder without fear of prosecution. Since the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over the park, crimes committed in the park cannot be prosecuted under any of the states’ laws. For this reason, trials for crimes in Yellowstone are held at the federal courthouse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, however the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that juries in federal crime cases must be made of citizens who are from both the district and state where the crime was committed. Because there are no residents in this Idaho portion of this federal district, and a federal crime would have to be tried before a jury of residents from that area, there is no way a jury could be empaneled. As the Constitution guarantees the right to a jury trial, a defendant facing any felony charge could not legally be punished regardless of guild or innocence. [insert fast voice at the end of infomercials] No known felonies have been committed in this area of the park.
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Hydrothermal, meaning water and heat, are abundant in Yellowstone National Park due to its volcanic nature and history. Yellowstone has a heat source in magma 8-12 miles beneath the surface, abundant water from annual precipitation and cracks and fissures in the underground sub-surface to create a “plumbing system” for this water to reside. What happens when things heat up? They rise, and expand. This is what gives us over 10,000 hydrothermal (heated water) features, inclduing over half of all the world’s geysers!! In addition, Yellowstone was also created as a national park to protect and showcase these exact features, not wildlife as is commonly associated with Yellowstone today.
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In the animal kingdom there are predators, and there is prey. Ungulates, large mammals with hooves (horses, deer, etc.) are often the tasty latter that feed on mostly grass and other vegetation. In Yellowstone, there are 8 different ungulates (some native, some non-native); can you guess them? We’ll give you a sec…OK, they are Bison, Elk, Mule deer, White-tailed deer, Pronghorn, Bighorn sheep, Mountain goats and… Moose.
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The earliest evidence of people living in Yellowstone dates to 11,000 years ago! Today there are 27 tribes that have a history of living in Yellowstone. Archaeologists have found evidence that Native Americans camped on the shores of the park’s rivers and Yellowstone Lake because of the park’s rich wildlife and natural resources.
