Why was Yellowstone the first national park?
Wild for Everyone
Why was Yellowstone the first national park?
In 1872, the United States did something no country had ever done before: it took a huge chunk of wild land — mountains, geysers, hot springs, and all — and said, "This belongs to everyone. Forever." That place was Yellowstone. But why Yellowstone? Why not some other beautiful spot?
For thousands of years, people knew weird things happened in the Yellowstone region. Native tribes told stories of boiling mud pots and water that shot into the sky. But most Americans had never seen it — it was remote, hard to reach, tucked in the Rocky Mountains where grizzly bears outnumbered people.
