Yellowstone National Park Entrance Sign

Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 by the United States Congress “for the preservation of…and for the enjoyment of the people” (Yellowstone Net). It was the first area of wild land to be devoted for recreational use under government management and since then, has been the model for future national park establishments. The National Park Service assumed control of the land in 1918 (Historic Roads in the National Park System) after having numerous donations and contributions from members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Before the government took over the Yellowstone area and created it into a national park, Native Americans lived on the land and used it as their home. It was their hunting grounds, their area of transportation, their homes, and their lives until Europeans discovered the land some 200 years ago and took it away from them.

Yellowstone is located in the northern part of the Rocky Mountains, in the northwest corner of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, and encompasses 2.2 million acres. Today, the national park receives 3 million visitors yearly and has five separate entrances with 370 miles of paved roadway throughout its area (Yellowstone Net).