Yellowstone is celebrating 150 years as a national park — 20 incredible photos show its unmatched beauty (2024)

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President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on March 1, 1872, creating the first national park.

He called for the protection of the park, which reaches from northwestern Wyoming into southern Montana and eastern Idaho, for the "benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations," according to the National Park Service.

The park's first superintendent was Nathaniel Pitt Langford, who is pictured standing on Jupiter Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs in 1872. He had been a member of an 1870 expedition to the region and later published his diaries about the experience.

However, the government did not provide him a salary or a budget to look after the park, and he visited it just twice during his five-year role, The Billings Gazette reported.

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For over 10,000 years before Yellowstone became a national park, Native Americans had fished and hunted there, and had used its thermal waters.

While Langford's book was entitled "The Discovery of Yellowstone," Native American tribes had been using the land for centuries. Twenty-seven tribes have connections to the area that is now Yellowstone.

In January, Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said many Native American tribes would be participating in the park's 150th birthday celebrations.

"This isn't just about the last century-and-a-half," Sholly said, the Associated Press reported. "We also want to use this anniversary to do a better job of fully recognizing the many American Indian nations that lived in this area for thousands of years prior to Yellowstone becoming a park."

He added, "We're focused on really making sure we're telling these stories right, as the stewards of these parks. We're working with Tribal Nations to ask questions around 'What are we getting right? What are we getting wrong? What are we missing completely?'"

This photo, taken between 1878 and 1880, shows the Great Falls of Yellowstone River,or the Elk River as it was known to most Native American tribes.

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For more than a century, visitors have been flocking to Yellowstone to see its natural beauty.

Construction on roads at the park started as early as the 1870s, and its 300-mile road system, which connects the park's five entrances, was finished in 1905. The same system exists today.

At the turn of the 20th century, visitors could take a train to the park and then travel across it on horseback, or in wagons or stagecoaches. According to the National Park Service, cars were allowed on the park's roads in 1915 and "visitation that year soared."

Pictured, a car takes one of the roads in 1927.

Today, as the park turns 150, visitor numbers are higher than ever.

Last July, a record 1,080,767 people visited the park, the first time visitor numbers exceeded 1 million in a single month, the National Park Service reported.

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Awe-inspiring natural features can be found across the park, which spans 3,472 square miles, or more than 2.2 million acres.

Among them are the rust-colored platforms of Old Canary Spring in Mammoth Hot Springs, pictured. The spring is intermittently active — it was declared dormant in 2020.

A striking feature of the Mammoth Hot Springs is the Minerva Terrace.

The terrace is popular with visitors for its colorful steps and travertine formations (limestone deposits around mineral springs).

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The ice-blue waters of Nuphar Lake are found in Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest geyser basin in the park.

Multiple geysers and lakes are in the basin, which holds the park's record for the highest thermal temperature. A scientific drill hole recorded a temperature of 459 degree Fahrenheit 1,087 feet below the surface.

The basin is also where Old Faithful is located. While not the biggest in the park, the geyser does erupt the most frequently.

The geyser reaches an average height of 130 to 140 feet when it erupts every 90 minutes or so, and the eruptions last between 1.5 and 5 minutes. If you can't visit in person, you can watch the eruptions via a webcam operated by volunteers at the park.

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Steamboat Geyser, which the NPS calls the world's tallest active geyser, has had eruptions of more than 300 feet.

The geyser is also located in the Norris Geyser Basin. During a major eruption, water can shoot from the geyser for as long as 40 minutes. Following that, steam can pour from the geyser for days. The most recent eruption was on February 14.

One of the most incredible sights at the park is the Grand Prismatic Spring.

The vividly colorful spring is Yellowstone's largest hot spring, measuring 200 to 330 feet in diameter and more than 121 feet deep, according to the park.

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Another colorful sight at Yellowstone is the Morning Glory thermal spring, which has become more yellow over time.

The pools at Yellowstone get their colors from microscopic organisms and how they react with light and the depth of the water. Morning Glory Pool used to be more blue, but it started turning yellow after tourists threw items like coins and rocks inside, which affected its temperature.

The Belgian Pool is a cooler shade of blue.

The clearwater hot spring is located in the Upper Geyser Basin.

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Black Sand Basin is home to a collection of small geysers and hot springs, including Rainbow Pool.

The edges of the pool are the color of the rainbow, hence its name.

About 5 percent of Yellowstone is covered by water, including the 131-square-mile Yellowstone Lake.

The shoreline of the lake stretches for 141 miles. It completely freezes over each winter.

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The Lower Falls is the park's tallest waterfall, at 308 feet.

That's nearly twice the height of Niagara Falls.

Mystic Falls cascades down 70 feet of ledges on the Little Firehole River.

The falls are accessible via a popular hiking trail.

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Fifteen percent of the park is covered by grassland.

More than 5,450 bison were counted at the park last summer.

The parkis theonly place in the USwherebison havelivedcontinuously since prehistoric times, according to the NPS.

The park is home to hundreds of species of animals, including 300 species of birds and two species of bear.

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Around 80 percent of the park is covered with forest.

The lodgepole pine is by far the most popular tree at the park.

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As Yellowstone turns 150 years old, the park and its partners are focused on conservation and historic preservation.

After Yellowstone National Park was established, it opened the door for the preservation of other areas of natural beauty across the US. In 1890, Sequoia and Yosemite in California became national parks, and Mount Rainier in Washington state followed in 1899. It wouldn't be until 1916 that the National Park Service was created.

Now there are 63 national parks across 29 states, including Idaho, which is home to 1 percent of Yellowstone.

To mark the park's 150th birthday and its impact, virtual and in-person events will be held throughout 2022.

"We're proud to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone with America," Park Superintendent Cam Sholly said, according to a park press release. "This anniversary should remind us of the incredible value of our National Park System and the need for us to continue working together to address the many challenges of the future."