Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 - Expedition's Influence On Creation of A National Park

Expedition's Influence On Creation of A National Park

The most important product of the expedition, in addition to the sketches and paintings by Thomas Moran and the photographs by William Jackson, was Hayden's lengthy report detailing the findings of his party. Hayden, working with Nathaniel Langford and Jay Cooke was so desirous of preserving the Yellowstone region that he even included drawings and descriptions of thermal features from Langford's 1871 articles in Scribners. Hayden presented this report, the photos, sketches, and paintings to Senators, Congressmen, his superiors in the Department of the Interior, and nearly everyone else who could possibly influence the founding of a park. Most importantly, his political connections with Congressman Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts paid dividends. Dawes had supported financing of the expedition, his son Chester Dawes was a member of the survey team, and Annie, the first boat on Yellowstone Lake, was purportedly named after his daughter, Anna Dawes. Hayden also published articles in magazines with national circulation and spent much personal time and effort trying to convince Congress to establish the park.

On December 18, 1871, a bill was introduced simultaneously in the Senate, by Senator S.C. Pomeroy of Kansas, and in the House of Representatives, by Congressman William H. Clagett of the Montana Territory, for the establishment of a park at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River. Hayden's influence on Congress is readily apparent when examining the detailed information contained in the report of the House Committee on Public Lands: "The bill now before Congress has for its objective the withdrawal from settlement, occupancy, or sale, under the laws of the United States a tract of land fifty-five by sixty-five miles, about the sources of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, and dedicates and sets apart as a great national park or pleasure-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."

When the bill was presented to Congress, the bill's chief supporters, ably prepared by Langford, Hayden and Jay Cooke, convinced their colleagues that the region's real value was as a park area, to be preserved in its natural state. The bill was approved by a comfortable margin in the Senate on January 30, 1872, and by the House on February 27.

On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill into law, establishing the Yellowstone region as a public park, memorializing the results of three years of exploration by Cook-Folsom-Peterson (1869), Washburn-Langford-Doane (1870), and Hayden (1871).