The human history of the Yellowstone region goes back more than 11,000 years. From about 11,000 years ago to the very recent past, many groups of Native Americans used the park as their homes, hunting grounds, and transportation routes. These traditional uses of Yellowstone lands continued until a little over 200 years ago when the first people of European descent found their way into the park. In 1872 a country that had not yet seen its first centennial established Yellowstone as the first national park in the world. A new concept was born and with it a new way for people to preserve and protect the best of what they had for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Native American groups lived in the area of Yellowstone for thousands of years. The name Yellowstone is thought to come from a translation of the Native American Minnetaree word mi tsi a-da-zi, for the yellow cliffs along the Yellowstone River.

 The first explorer to visit the Yellowstone area was John Colter in 1807, who had left the Lewis and Clark Expedition the previous year to explore the region. Explorations conducted by David Folsom, Charles Cook, and William Peterson in 1869, and by Henry Washburn, Nathaniel Langford, and Gustavus Doane in 1870 helped publicize the beauty of the area. Depictions of the region created during an expedition in 1871 by photographer William Henry Jackson and artist Thomas Moran convinced the American public and the United States government to preserve the area.

 President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill creating the national park in 1872. An earthquake in 1959 with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale caused major disturbances throughout the park and was one of the largest ever recorded in the North American interior. In August and September 1988, a series of fires, fueled by dry and windy summer weather, burned more than 35 percent of the park.

After emerging from Yellowstone Lake, the Yellowstone River flows through the meadows of Hayden Valley and then plunges into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone over the Upper and Lower Falls, which are 33 m and 94 m (109 ft and 308 ft) high, respectively.

The canyon is 30 km (20 mi) long, and its walls reach a height of 370 m (1,200 ft). The walls of volcanic rock display shades of yellow, red, orange, and brown, and rugged rock formations take on unusual shapes. Artist Point and Inspiration Point offer magnificent views of the canyon and falls, including Tower Falls, where the waters of Tower Creek drop 40 m (132 ft) into the Yellowstone River.

 Another geologic feature of the park is Obsidian Cliff, a mountain of volcanic black glass and one of the largest deposits of obsidian in North America. Yellowstone National Park contains more than 10,000 thermal sites, the greatest concentration of such phenomena in the world. These include more than 300 geysers as well as hot springs, mud volcanoes (also known as paint pots), and fumaroles (vents issuing gasses and steam). (from a brochure from Yellowstone)