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© 2010-12 M.M. Justus

Yellowstone History

Carpenter, Frank D. Adventures in Geyserland, reprinted from The Wonders of Geyserland, edition of 1878 by Frank D. Carpenter. 1935, The Caxton Printers, Ltd. Long out of print but available through interlibrary loan, this is a firsthand account by the brother of the real-life version of Eliza Byrne of their kidnapping by the Nez Perce. Includes an appendix written by the real-life Eliza years after their adventure.

Christopherson, Edmund. The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake. 1960, self-published. Copies available used or through interlibrary loan. The story of the real earthquake in Repeating History.

Everts, Truman, edited by Lee Whittlesey. Lost in the Yellowstone: Truman Everts’s Thirty-Seven Days of Peril. 1995, University of Utah Press. Truman Everts' real-life experiences lost in the early days of the park were worse than what I put my fictional hero through.

Haines, Aubrey L. The Yellowstone Story: A History of Our First National Park, revised edition in two volumes. 1977, University Press of Colorado. The essential history of the park, the one pushed into my hands on my first visit to Yellowstone’s library.

Janetski, Joel C. Indians in Yellowstone National Park, revised edition. 2002, The University of Utah Press. Includes a good section on the Nez Perce Indians’ flight through the park in 1877.

Reinhart, Karen Wildung and Jeff Henry. Old Faithful Inn: Crown Jewel of National Park Lodges. 2004, Roche Jaune Pictures, Inc. An illustrated history of the most well-known building in the park.

Schullery, Paul. Yellowstone's Ski Pioneers: Peril and Heroism on the Winter Trail. 1995, High Plains Publishing Company. Gives as good a sense as possible of what the park was like in the wintertime in the days before snowmobiles.

Whittlesey, Lee H. Yellowstone Place Names. 1988, Montana Historical Society Press. Wonderful for its historical photos and definitions of places you’ve heard of, as well as ones you haven’t.

Whittlesey, Lee. H. Storytelling in Yellowstone: Horse and Buggy Tour Guides. 2007, University of New Mexico Press. The stories of the interpreters of the park who predated the National Park Service before its creation in 1916.

These aren’t history in the traditional sense:

Bryan, T. Scott. The Geysers of Yellowstone, fourth edition. 2009, University Press of Colorado. Includes the known eruption history of practically every geyser in the park.

Craighead, Frank C. Jr. For Everything There Is a Season: The Sequence of Natural Events in the Grand Teton-Yellowstone Area. Exactly what it says it is. If you want to know when something migrates, or mates, or blooms, or what the weather is likely to be like at a given time of year, this is your book.

Chapple, Janet. Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler’s Companion to the National Park, third edition. 2009, Granite Peak Publications. The definitive travel guide to Yellowstone, including its roadside history. It’s modeled after the classic Haynes Guides to the park, which were published annually for over 75 years.

Smith, Robert B. and Lee J. Siegel, Windows into the Earth: The Geologic Story of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. 2000, Oxford University Press. Among much other useful information, discusses the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in some detail.

Links

http://www.nps.gov/yell, the national park service's own website, is the place to begin

http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/index.htm is the section of the site devoted to the park’s history and

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/park_histories/index.htm#y is a treasure trove of links to .pdfs of articles about the park’s history

http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/library.htm is the Heritage and Resource Center, including Yellowstone's library.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/admindevel.htm is an administrative history of the park.

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/yell/weed/index.htm is a .pdf of a 1921 book about the geysers.

http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/us_states/wyoming/index.html is a collection of historical maps of the park, as well as other parts of Wyoming.

http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/yellowstone.html is a very large collection of historic photos of the park.

http://www.geyserstudy.org/ is the Geyser Observation and Study Association. Much good information about geysers, plus an email list and a quarterly magazine that includes articles about the park's history as well as its thermal features.

http://geyserbob.org/ is Geyser Bob's website. This longtime employee/resident of in and near the park has just reopened his extensive site to the public again. He covers the concessionaire history of the park, with many interesting and little known stories included.