Early Visitors
Yellowstone's earliest visitors were American Indians who lived in the region for thousands of years. The first Euro-American to visit Yellowstone was probably John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. John Colter admired the western region so much he stayed in the West's mountains after the Expedition concluded in 1806. Other mountain men, who were searching Yellowstone for beaver and other pelts for trading, followed Colter. Yellowstone's first tourist, coming here not for business but just for pleasure, was Warren Angus Ferris.
Intriguing tales of Yellowstone drew more people to the untouched land. Travel was by horse or mule through forests that were often so littered with dead trees that one could only cover two to three miles in a whole day! After the area was set aside in 1872 as the nation's first national park, visitation "skyrocketed" to around 1,000 people each year. These visitors had to travel through the park on bridal paths and game trails and sleep on the ground or in tents. In 1883, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers arrived to begin proper road building, after which overnight accommodations sprang up throughout the park. While most folks rode the stagecoaches, there were still some intrepid souls who chose other means of touring the park. The first bicycle tour of the park took place in 1883, when three members of the Laramie, Wyoming, Bicycle Club came to visit, and in 1898 an Englishman, C. Hanford Henderson, toured the entire 140 miles of the Grand Loop on foot in 4 1/2 days! The grand era of stagecoach travel ended in 1917 when touring cars replaced the stages. The Northern Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad, which had reached West Yellowstone in 1907, both started passenger service in the 1950s when travel to Yellowstone became essentially what we know today.
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