History
- About 640,000 years ago a giant volcano erupted. It covered a very big area of the western United States. Another volcano erupted hundreds of years later. About 11,000 years ago Native Americans lived on this land. They used the land for their homes, hunted for food here and traveled on the Yellowstone River that runs through the area.
- In 1870 trappers visited Yellowstone. They told stories about what they saw but no one believed them. They took rocks from Yellowstone and brought them to Washington and showed the people.
- In 1872 President Ulysses Grant signed a paper that made Yellowstone the world's first national park. This was 20 years before Montana, Idaho and Wyoming became states!
- In 1890 the first hotel was built. People could stay in the hotel while visiting Yellowstone.
- In 1894 a law was signed to protect all the wildlife in the park.
- Soon hundreds of people came to visit the park by horse and buggy, stagecoach, wagon, bicycle and finally by car!
- Today over 2 1/2 million people visit the park each year!
Fun Facts
- Yellowstone sits on a super volcano!
- Yellowstone is bigger than Delaware and Rhode Island together.
- Wolves were hunted by people in Yellowstone. They became extinct. Their job was to keep the other animal population at a good number. In 1995 wolves were brought back to Yellowstone. Many visitors come to just see the gray wolf.
- Fires destroy old dead timber and fertilize the soil. Fire is caused by lightning. In 1988 fires roared across Yellowstone. This was the largest fire in history at the park. During the summer 30% of the park was damaged.
- Yellowstone has a jail!