With its 2.2 million-acre, the Yellow Stone National Park is at the top list of the most amazing National Parks in America, this park is guaranteed to leave you speechless for its natural beauty.
Yellowstone National Park has been one of the most popular vacation spots for many years. The number of tourists visiting the park has not dwindled even when harsh winters and aftershocks from earthquakes affect the region.
The Park is home to two calderas: The Largest Volcanic Caldera on Earth is Yellowstone Caldera that spans 3,472 sq km with is 10 km deep. And then there's another caldera that's more than twice as big called HP (Huckleberry) Pine Cone volcano which spans 807 sq km with more than 17 km deep floor.
Yellowstone National Park is the largest and oldest park in the United States and was established on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone is famous for its geysers, waterfalls and wildlife. Here you will find Old Faithful Spring, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (which is actually a long canyon that is created by hot springs), Mammoth Hot Springs, and Rainbow Falls.
The wildlife includes several types of mammals like elk, mountain lions or grizzly bears. The animals in the park are found around thermal areas such as pools of water or glaciers that form cracks among rocks.
Yellowstone National Park has over 400 geothermal features including bubbling mud pots, boiling mud springs, hot springs and blowholes.
It is a large but beautifully preserved natural park surrounded by a ring of mountains. It was established on March 1, 1872. The name Yellowstone comes from the Kan-za-suta tribe which inhabited the area before white settlers arrived in the 19th century.
At one time Yellowstone was a popular place for American Indians to hunt bison and gather wood for their fires.
By 1872 Native Americans were forced by whites to leave their tribal lands and white settlers were pouring into Yellowstone legally or illegally. When General Grant outlawed the white settlement of this region in 1872 it was 3% of its current size.
Half of the park was given to a newly established national government agency called the Yellowstone Park Association. The other half of the land went to Montana and Idaho territories.
And then on March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill that set aside 2 million acres for what would become Yellowstone National Park.
It's hard to imagine today, but by 1893 only about 30 people actually lived in Yellowstone and seven hotels were closed down because there weren't enough guests to stay in them. That same year President Grover Cleveland appointed George Bird Grinnell as his special representative to check out what could possibly be done to improve tourist business and make more money for the government.
As the year progressed Grinnell had several meetings with the Yellowstone Park Association and so much of their suggestions were put into action.
Grinnell was succeeded by General William Butler who had a hard time convincing people that Yellowstone was more than just a cattle ranch. He finally did succeed after two years and famously declared Yellowstone a "public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
Today, looking back at those early days it's easy to see how natural resources were abused. Erosion caused by tourists walking along hot springs and destroying trees would forever affect this region. One of the first laws to protect Yellowstone was enacted in 1894. That law created two new protected areas. One was the Living World Geyser Basin a long, narrow area filled with waterfalls and pools of hot water that gets its energy from geothermal springs. The second was the Tower Geyser Basin which by that time had gone through several changes including three hotels being built in it.
Yellowstone National Park has since become the largest and oldest park in the United States with its current size of 2,219 thousand acres which includes 2 million acres at Yellowstone Lake. This gives Yellowstone a surface area of 4,242 square miles or 5,614 square kilometres.
This is original content from NewsBreak’s Creator Program. Join today to publish and share your own content.
Comments / 0