One of the first people generally credited with conceptualizing a "national park" was George Catlin (1796-1872), a self-taught artist who traveled extensively among the native peoples of North America, while sketching and painting portraits, landscapes, and scenes from daily Indian life. On a trip to the Dakotas in 1832, he worried about the impact of America's westward expansion on Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness. They might be preserved, he wrote, "by some great protecting policy of government . . . in a magnificent park . . . . A nation's park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty!"
The idea had gained some acceptance years later, when in 1864 Congress donated Yosemite Valley to California for preservation as a state park.
The establishment of Yellowstone National Park by act of Congress on March 1, 1872, for the first time signified that public lands were to be set aside and administered by the federal government "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." This enscription is carved into the rock of the Teddy Roosevelt Arch, the official entranceway at the north gate to Yellowstone from Gardiner, Montana. Please select a product of interest:
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Electric Peak Gallatin Mountains
Tom Murphy captures the aspens in their brilliant fall colors with Electric Peak in the background. |
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Elk
Yellowstone's Autumn Bull Elk in rut. This beautiful photo has been permanently transferred to a slate medium by a silkscreening... |
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Elk at Old Faithful Inn - Original
Jerry Gadamus created this stunning original painting, Elk at Old Faithful Inn, using a "freehand airbrushing" technique which is done... |
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Elk at Yellowstone
A herd of bull elk emerge from the cover of timber to feed on the lush green grasses of a... |
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Elk Grazing
Springtime in Yellowstone finds this bull elk in velvet munching on fresh foliage. This beautiful photo has been permanently transferred... |
Elk Pin/Tack
This wonderful Elk Pin/Tack is made from sterling silver and has a 12 karat gold filled spiral and semi-precious stone... |
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Eye of the Storm
Curled up and nose tucked, this Yellowstone wolf wait's out the winter storm. This beautiful photo has been permanently transferred... |
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Fab Four - Bison
A small herd of four bison (buffalo) walk through the Yellowstone landscape with their images softly reflected in the River. ... |
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First Day Cover Yellowstone 1972
This National Parks Centennial Yellowstone First Day Cover with black bears and Old Faithful Geyser was canceled in Yellowstone National... |
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Friends
Yellowstone wolves watching and waiting?. This beautiful photo has been permanently transferred to a slate medium by a silkscreening process... |
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Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River is created within rhyolite, a volcanic rock formed when the great Yellowstone caldera... |
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Grand Prismatic Spring
Grand Prismatic Spring is one of the most colorful thermal features of Yellowstone National Park. It is the largest... |
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