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John Colter
In 1806, John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, left to join a group of fur trappers. After splitting up with the other trappers in 1807, Colter passed through a portion of what later became the park. After surviving wounds he suffered in a battle with members of the Crow and Blackfoot tribes in 1809, Colter described a place of "fire and brimstone" and became known as "Colter's Hell". -
"Mountain Man" Jim Bridger
Mountain Man Jim Bridger had explored the region before and in May 1860, Captain Williams Raynolds invited him and Ferdinand Hayden to cross the Continental Divide in northwest Wyoming. Heavy spring snows prevented their passage, but had they been able to make it, the party would have been the first organized survey to enter the Yellowstone region. The American Civil War hampered further organized exploration until the late 1860s. -
Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition
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Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition
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Hayden Expedition
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World's First National Park was Born
