Gustavus Cheyney Doane - Yellowstone Exploration

Yellowstone Exploration

In early August 1870, Henry Washburn in preparing for his Yellowstone exploration formally requested General Winfield Scott Hancock, Commander, Department of Dakota, provide a military escort from Fort Ellis. The request was granted on August 14, 1870 and Doane with five other soldiers were selected to provide the escort. As the leader of the U.S. Army escort of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition into Yellowstone in August–September 1870, Lt. Gustavus C. Doane became a significant contributor to the process that ultimately resulted in the creation of Yellowstone National Park on March 1, 1872. Although he was skillful and resourceful throughout the expedition, it was his thorough and detailed report to the Secretary of War in February 1871 of the natural phenomenon in Yellowstone that played a convincing role in the efforts to convince the U.S. Congress to create the National Park. The following excerpt is typical of Doane's detailed descriptions contained in his report:

General Washburn named a mountain peak in the Absaroka Range for Lt. Doane that later became known as Colter Peak. In 1871, however, Hayden named another peak nearby Mount Doane in his honor.

In his The Yellowstone National Park-Historical and Descriptive (1895), Hiram M. Chittenden praised Doane's expedition report:

His part in the Expedition of 1870 is second to none. He made the first official report upon the wonders of the Yellowstone, and his fine descriptions have never been surpassed by any subsequent writer. Although suffering intense physical torture during the greater portion of the trip, it did not extinguish in him the truly poetic ardor with which those strange phenomena seem to have inspired him. Dr. Hayden says of this report: "I venture to state, as my opinion, that for graphic description and thrilling interest it has not been surpassed by any official report".