William Henry Jackson

Another one called Let Wonderland Tell Its Story.

It's about William Henry Jackson's photographs that he took.

And I thought Paul might be interested.

So Paul is...

Yeah.

So this exhibit is called At Home in Yellowstone, and it focuses on, you know, a lot of people think when somewhere is discovered that they're the first people to be there, and they weren't.

The discoverers, like William Henry Jackson, they were early for Eastern settlers.

But there were people there for thousands of years before them using the resources of the park and living there and passing through.

Soon after, Hayden enrolled at Albany Medical College, and though he graduated with an MD in 1853, it is during this time that his interest in geology was fostered under the influence of Professor Hall.

shortly after his graduation from medical school hayden set out on his first geographical expedition under the sponsorship of hall accompanied by the paleontologist fielding bradford meek hayden headed up the missouri river to explore the dakota bad lands and to collect fossil specimens returning in eighteen fifty four he and meek began to acquire reputations of their own and as a team they added significant geological information to what was known about the nation's western frontier during the war between the states hayden practiced medicine for the only time in his career serving with the army as a surgeon following the war he received his first formal degree in geology when he was elected professor of geology and mineralogy at the university of pennsylvania in eighteen sixty five a post he held mainly in absentia for seven years for the next several years much of his time was spent studying and reporting on the geology of the nebraska territory and rocky mountain region in eighteen sixty nine hayden's activities became officially organized under the department of the interior as the united states geological and geographical survey of the territories in that same year he completed a highly successful expedition through the western mountains from denver to santa fe this expedition set the pattern for those to follow for his team studied not only the geology but virtually all natural phenomena which they encountered including wild life water resources and mineral deposits hayden's historic expedition into the yellowstone area in eighteen seventy one was preceded by two expeditions which fired the imagination of those interested in that largely unknown region the folsom cook group penetrated the yellowstone country in eighteen sixty nine followed by the washburn langford doane expedition in eighteen seventy lieutenant gustavus c doane who served as the leader of the military escort for this latter expedition as well as for the later hayden survey filed a detailed report which was published as a congressional document and became a landmark of the yellowstone story the following is taken from his report we kept the yellowstone to our left and finding the canon impassable passed over several high spurs coming down from the mountains over which the way was much obstructed by fallen timber and reached at an elevation of seven thousand three hundred and thirty one feet an immense rolling plateau extending as far as the eye could reach this elevated slope of country is about thirty miles in extent with a general declivity to the northward its surface is an undulated prairie dotted with groves of pine and aspen numerous lakes are scattered throughout its whole extent and great numbers of springs which flow down the slopes and are lost in the volume of the yellowstone the river breaks through this plateau in a winding and impassable canon and trachyte lava over two thousand feet in depth the middle canyon of the yellowstone rolling over volcanic boulders in some places and in others forming still pools of seemingly fathomless depth at one point it dashes here and there lashed to a white foam upon its rocky bed at another it subsides into a crystal mirror wherever a deep basin occurs in the channel numerous small cascades are seen tumbling from the lofty summits a mere ribbon of foam in the immeasurable distance below this huge abyss through walls of flinty lava has not been worn away by the waters for no trace of fluvial agency is left upon the rocks it is cleft in the strata brought about by volcanic action plainly shown by that irregular structure which gives such a ragged appearance to all such igneous formations standing on the brink of the chasm the heavy roaring of the imprisoned river comes to the ear in a sort of hollow hungry growl scarcely audible from the depths and strongly suggestive of demons in torment below lofty pines on the bank of the stream dwindle to shrubs in dizziness of distance everything beneath has a weird and deceptive appearance the water does not look like water but like oil numerous fish-hawks are seen busily plying their vocation sailing high above the waters and yet a thousand feet below the spectator in the clefts of the rocks hundreds of feet down bald eagles have their eyries from which we can see them swooping still further into the depths to rob the ospreys of their hard-earned trout it is grand gloomy and terrible a solitude peopled with fantastic ideas and empire of shadows and of turmoil spurred on by these reports hayden organized his expedition with the support of a forty thousand dollar appropriation from congress on june one eighteen seventy one a team of thirty-four men and seven wagons set out from ogden utah among the group were geologist and managing director james stevenson mineralogist a c peel topographer antoine schnborn artists henry w elliott and thomas moran and photographer william h jackson the latter two proved to be invaluable members of the expedition for their work served as dramatic and effective publicity in favor of establishing the park moran's famous landscapes were afterwards hung in the halls of congress and jackson's equally famous photographs portraying the primeval grandeur of the yellowstone were widely distributed after several weeks travel the hayden expedition reached bertler's ranch in the yellowstone river valley there they were joined by the barlow heap military party of engineer explorers who also planned a reconnaissance of the upper yellowstone this latter group intermittently explored with the hayden expedition during the next several weeks the results of the barlow heap explorations were published as a modest senate document which proved to be of material help in establishing the yellowstone national park the joint hayden barlow heap expeditions departed from bertler's on july twenty eighteen seventy one the journey through the wilderness was by no means an easy one the wagons had to be abandoned and the gear packed on mules progress was slow and the difficulty of moving through the dense forest was compounded by the great number of trees felled by fires that periodically swept the region the yellowstone basin however proved to be an ideal open-air laboratory for the geologist and perhaps one of the best places on earth for studying active volcanic processes because of the wide variety of geological features each of the scientists accompanying the expedition found unique opportunities for observation and study hayden recorded his thoughts as his party advanced up the river but the objects of the deepest interest in this region are the falls and the grand canon of the yellowstone i will attempt to convey some idea by a description but it is only through the eye that the mind can gather anything like an adequate conception of them but no language can do justice to the wonderful grandeur and beauty of the canon below the lower falls the very nearly vertical walls slightly sloping down to the water's edge on either side so that from the summit of the river appears like a thread of silver foaming over its rocky bottom the variegated colours of the sides yellow red brown white all intermixed and shading into each other the gothic columns of every form standing out from the sides of the walls with greater variety and more striking colors than ever adorned a work of human art Hayden continued to describe the falls, quote, standing near the margin of the lower falls and looking down the canyon, with its sides twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet high, and decorated with the most brilliant colors that the human eye ever saw, with the rocks weathered into an almost unlimited variety of forms, the whole presents a picture that would be difficult to surpass in nature.

from any point of view the upper falls are most picturesque and striking the entire volume of water seems to be as it were hurled off the precipice with the force which it has accumulated in the rapids above so that the mass is detached into the most beautiful snow-white bead-like drops and as it strikes the rocky basin below it shoots through the water with a sort of ricochet for the distance of two hundred feet of the yellow stone itself hayden said the river by its width its beautiful curves and easy flow moves on down towards its wonderful precipices with a majestic motion that would charm the eye of an artist however not all was majestic beauty for there was also the power and mystery of the geysers and the grotesque forms of the hot mud springs hayden described these phenomena such as one geyser he named the grotto a vast column of steam issues from a cavern in the side of the hill with an opening about five feet in diameter the roaring of the waters in the cavern and the noise of the waters as they surge up to the mouth of the opening are like that of the billows lashing the seashore the water is as clear as crystal and the steam is so hot that it is only when the breeze wafts it aside for a moment one can venture to take a look at the opening located higher up on this side of the hill not far from the grotto is the most remarkable mud-spring we have ever seen in the west it may not improbably be called the giant's cauldron it does not boil with an impulse like most of the mud-springs but with a constant roar which shakes the ground for a considerable distance and may be heard for half a mile all the indications around this most remarkable caldron show it has broken out at a recent period examining the mud springs and geysers was hazardous business and could be a painful experience as hayden discovered the entire surface is perfectly bare of vegetation and hot yielding in many places to slight pressure i attempted to walk among these simmering vents and broke through to my knees covering myself with hot mud to my great pain and subsequent inconvenience

finally