With that kind of authorization, what was to stop the secretary of the interior from leasing lands within Yellowstone to enrich himself or other politicians? Putting Yellowstone under federal control gave the Department of the Interior too much power, according to some. The exhibit argued that America was, in fact, nature’s nation.Īs a result of Hayden’s and the Montana Group’s efforts, the bill to preserve Yellowstone was introduced in December 1871 and came up for debate in January 1872.īut as newspapers across the nation began reporting on this new measure, it became clear that there was some resistance to the idea. It was a museum in miniature, a collection that linked the exploration of Yellowstone with America’s founding moments. He also created an exhibit in the Capitol Rotunda, choosing fossils, minerals, photographs, and illustrations to display below a painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Lobbying was just one of Hayden’s strategies. Read more: The Story We’ve Been Told About America’s National Parks Is Incomplete
And its preservation would bring a rush of settlers-and business capital-to Montana Territory. Therefore, its highest and best use would be as a place of resort for scientists and tourists. Hayden’s expedition that summer had proven that Yellowstone was useless for agricultural, mining, or manufacturing purposes. Its lands would be a park worthy of the nation’s greatness they must not fall prey to speculators and schemers. Yellowstone was a wonder of the world, they argued. This was another unprecedented form of federal power exerted on the landscapes and tribal homelands of the West.ĭuring the next few weeks, Hayden and the Montana Group met with as many members of the House and Senate as they could. Instead of giving public lands to a state, the federal government would take lands from a territory and give it to the Department of the Interior to manage. The Yellowstone legislation would be a slightly different kind of land-taking. It was the first time in the history of the nation that Congress had acted explicitly to protect lands for recreation and aesthetic enjoyment-and to prevent their sale and development.
In 1864, Congress had passed the Yosemite Grant Act, which gave the massive granite domes and waterfalls of Yosemite and the awe-inspiring tall trees of the Mariposa Grove to the state of California. Read more: The Story Behind Those Gorgeous National Parks Posters From the 1930s In the 1840s, the artist George Catlin, who had traveled up the Missouri River painting landscapes and portraits of Plains Indian and Lakota chiefs, suggested maintaining the entire continent west of that waterway as a pleasure park. Europeans had come to North America with the tradition in the mid-nineteenth century, a city park movement had taken hold in many urban areas. The idea of preserving land for the people was not a new one in American culture.
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