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Unit 10: Scenic America

 
   

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Early History of Yellowstone National Park

Those of us who have been blessed with the privilege of visiting or living near one of the great treasures of the world, are continually awed by the majestic beauty of its towering mountains, crystal-clear streams, lush mountain meadows, and wildlife. In the midst of this splendor, you cannot help but wonder about yesteryear and the history of the Yellowstone Plateau.

Native Americans have first claim on the Yellowstone Plateau and lived in the area in peaceful tranquillity until the early 1800s!undisturbed by the presence of white men. The Sheepeater Indians, a band of Shoshone, also known as Snake Indians, lived in the area of what is now Yellowstone Park. There they remained isolated and sheltered from the world around them. The mountain ranges surrounding Yellowstone and its pristine valleys provided shelter, protection, and food as Shoshones, Bannocks, and Nez Perce traversed the protective natural highway en route to the "Buffalo Country" of Wyoming and Montana. To the north of what is now Yellowstone Park flows one of its great rivers, the Yellowstone. The Yellowstone River Valley offered little protection, for several hundred miles, for travelers traveling down the Yellowstone Valley including Indians, as they were subject to attack from warring Indian Tribes like the Blackfeet. Yet, traveling down this valley would have been much preferred. Thus, Indian hunting parties traversing over the mountains and valleys of Yellowstone were afforded some measure of protection from attack. The widely-used trail would become known as the Bannock Trail.

In 1877 the Nez Perce followed much of the Bannock Trail through Yellowstone as the Nez Perce fled from government forces commanded by General Oliver O. Howard. The Government was determined to occupy and take possession of the non-treaty Nez Perce lands and force them onto the Nez Perce Reservation in Lapwai, Idaho. The tragic Nez Perce War erupted when Chief Joseph and other Nez Perce leaders including Chief Looking Glass were being forced onto the Nez Perce Reservation under orders from General Howard. After war broke out, the Nez Perce fought gallantly through 18 skirmishes and major battles for their ancestral lands, principles, and values in a defensive war that would take them approximately 1,500 miles through Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Much earlier, President Thomas Jefferson envisioned creating an American Empire stretching from coast-to coast. His dream began to bear fruition with the acquisition of Louisiana from France in 1803. The Discovery Corps led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark would pave the way for the opening of the Pacific Northwest and begin the building of Jefferson's American Empire. Captain William Clark's party canoed down the Yellowstone River Valley, a short distance from today's Yellowstone Park, en route to their rendezvous with Meriwether Lewis at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.

Young, athletic and strong person of mind, John Colter, who was a member of the Discovery Corps, would encounter two trappers somewhere near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. The trappers named Joseph Dixon and Forrest Hancock would become John Colter's partners. The date of their meeting, August 12, 1806, was an important day in John Colter's life for shortly after that he would return up the Yellowstone with his partners. From there they would follow the Clarks Fork River to an area believed to be near the mouth of the Clarks Fork Canyon where they spent the winter. The next spring Colter would leave the Rocky Mountains again as he began to make his way down the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers en route back to the United States. En route he ran into Manual Lisa's brigade. Colter was once again persuaded to return up the Yellowstone. The party stopped at the mouth of the Big Horn River and constructed a trading post, Fort Raymond. Colter was asked to let tribes in the area know about the new fort and trading opportunities. During Colter's epic journey, he would discover a thermal area near present day Cody, Wyoming, which would become known as Colter's Hell. From there he would travel through the Tetons, along the Gallatin Range, through Yellowstone Park's Lamar Valley and through the "Gap" at present day Cooke City, Montana. Then, he traversed the Sunlight Basin area and out onto the Big Horn Basin en route back to Fort Raymond.

Others would follow Colter into the Yellowstone area. In 1824, Jedediah Smith & Jim Bridger began trapping around Jackson Hole up to the south boundary of Yellowstone Park. On August 10, 1836, Osborne Russell and Jim Bridger explored Two Ocean Pass. In 1860, Captain William F Raynolds attempted to explore Yellowstone from the south. In 1869, David Folsom, Charles Cook and William Peterson explored Yellowstone. In 1870, the Washburn party explored Yellowstone with escort services provided by Lieutenant Doanne. In 1871, Hayden led his geological survey team into Yellowstone.

Yellowstone had been discovered and interest in preserving its majestic beauty was growing. Congressional delegate William H. Clagett along with the leadership of Senator Pomery worked to create legislation to create Yellowstone Park. It was created upon a roll call vote with 115 ayes, 65 nays and 60 abstaining on March 1, 1872, and signed by President Ulysses S. Grant.

Theodore Roosevelt and the Teddy Bear

  The story of the Teddy Bear´
  Many of us have loved a teddy bear.
  Maybe we've even had more than one very special "teddy" in our lives. Here is the real story of how the teddy bear sprang into our hearts.
  Nearly 100 years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt, went on a bear hunt. He enjoyed nature and being out in the woods where animals lived. Because he was the President of the United States, the people organizing the hunt wanted to make sure the hunt was successful.
  But after 3 days of walking and climbing and riding, no bears were found. Now what? The President's bear hunt would be a failure!
  The next day the hunt guide and his hunting dogs finally found an old bear. The dogs and guide followed the bear for quite a distance until the bear was very, very tired. The dogs attacked and injured the old bear. The guides tied the bear to a tree and called for the President. Here was a bear for him to shoot!
  President Roosevelt looked at the poor old bear and said "no!" No one would shoot this old bear for sport. That would not be right. However, the bear was injured and suffering. President Roosevelt ordered that the bear be put down to end its pain.
  A political cartoonist by the name of Clifford Berryman heard this story. A political cartoonist draws about current events in the news. Mr. Berryman drew a cartoon showing how President Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear while hunting in Mississippi.
  If you look at the first cartoon that was printed about the President's bear hunt you see Theodore Roosevelt in the front. In the back is the guide with a bear tied on a leash. Notice that the guide and the bear are about the same size, suggesting a grown bear.
  Look at the cartoon which appeared later in other papers. It has been redrawn. The bear is smaller than the guide. The bear is shaking with fear. This cute bear cub began to appear in other cartoons which Clifford Berryman drew throughout Theodore Roosevelt's career.
  So that is how a bear became connected to the name of President Theodore Roosevelt.
  But where do toy "teddy bears" come from?
  After this famous cartoon appeared in the papers, a shopkeeper, Morris Michtom took two stuffed toy bears which his wife had made and put them in his shop window. He had an idea.
  Mr. Michtom asked for permission from President Theodore Roosevelt to call these toy bears "Teddy's bears". This store eventually became the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.
  Other stuffed animals were made by a German company, Steiff. An illness left Margaret Steiff unable to walk. She refused to be stopped by her handicap and earned her living by sewing. First she made stuffed elephants, then other animals. In 1903 an American saw a stuffed bear she had made and ordered many of them.
  The phrase caught on. Now toy bears are often called teddy bears!

3. Theordore Roosevelt and the Grand Canyon

  Theodore Roosevelt was a great lover of animals and their natural environments. He was one of the very first to preserve parks and recreational spaces in this country. He made sure these places would be around for his children and everyone's children to see forever. One place he thought was very special was the Grand Canyon, so he made sure it would remain beautiful and unspoiled.
  "Leave it as it is. You can not improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."
  This speech which President Roosevelt made at the Grand Canyon, Arizona, on May 6, 1903 shows how he thought people should treat the Grand Canyon.

  "In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which, so far as I know, is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to do one thing in connection with it in your own interest and in the interest of the country-to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is.
  I was delighted to learn of the wisdom of the Santa Fe railroad people in deciding not to build their hotel on the brink of the canyon. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel, or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon.
  Leave it as it is. You can not improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children's children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.
  We have gotten past the stage, my fellow-citizens, when we are to be pardoned if we treat any part of our country as something to be skinned for two or three years for the use of the present generation, whether it is the forest, the water, the scenery. Whatever it is, handle it so that your children's children will get the benefit of it."

  * from "Presidential Addresses and State Papers"

American Beginnings
The Political System in the United States
American Economy
Religion in the United States
American Literature
Education in the United States
Social Movements of the 1960s
Social Problems in the United States
Technology in America
Scenic America
Sports in America
Early American Jazz
Quiz