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Explorations in American Environmental History Yellowstone Maps and Legislation

Name________________________

Go to the American Memory collection, Mapping the National Parks. Scroll to the Special Presentation on Yellowstone. On the web page, "Yellowstone, the First National Park," read and answer the following questions.

1. Who played a key role in establishing Yellowstone as the first National Park?
2. Which expedition filed the report that would become a Congressional document?
3. How many men and wagons were in Hayden's expedition? From where did they leave?
4. What contribution did the artist Thomas Moran and the photographer William Henry Jackson, make to the expedition?
5. What geological clues did Yellowstone provide as an 'open-air' laboratory?
6. Why was the examination of geysers hazardous?
7. To whom did Hayden present his 500 page report, photos and sketches?

For further exploration:

1. Retrieve Withdrawals of Public Lands in Certain Cases. House Report No. 983. Read the legislative act.
   1. What painter/explorer first proposed the idea that Western prairies be preserved?
   2. What was the result?

2. From "Yellowstone, the First National Park," click on 1871 to retrieve Yellowstone Park Act: Debates and Proceedings. Read Congressman Pomeroy's introduction of the bill.
• What is the bill number?
• How large is the tract of land that was set aside?
• What was the designated purpose of the park? Use quotations from the bill.

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