  Geologic History of the Yellowstone Region Formation of the Yellowstone Caldera Final Sculpturing of the Landscape A review of the geologic processes and events responsible for the spectacular natural wonders of the Yellowstone country, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the oldest and largest of our national parks. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office “* * * and behold! The whole country beyond was smoking with vapor from boiling springs, and burning with gases issuing from small craters, each of which was emitting a sharp, whistling sound. * * * The general face of the country was smooth and rolling, being a level plain, dotted with cone-shaped mounds. On the summit of these mounds were small craters from four to six feet in diameter. Interspersed among these on the level plain were larger craters, some of them four to six miles across. Out of these craters, issued blue flames and molten brimstone.” Description credited to Joseph Meek, 1829; quotation from page 40 of the book “The Yellowstone National Park” by Hiram Martin Chittenden (as edited and published by Richard A. Bartlett, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1964). Photograph is of Midway Geyser Basin. “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the tract of land in the territories of Montana and Wyoming lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people * * *” Approved March 1, 1872—signed by: James G. Blaine, Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States The Geologic Story of |
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