The return of Lewis and Clark from their trip to the Pacific strengthened the belief that the country beyond the Missouri was not fit for habitation or use. The following year, 1807, one of the expedition's former members was busy prospecting for beaver and other fur-bearing creatures. This rugged, hard-headed mountain man, John Colter, worked his way into the high plateau country in what is now northwestern Wyoming.



His eyes could hardly believe what they saw there. But he later carefully described the improbable wonders he had discovered, and people promptly began to call the area "Colter's Hell." To men looking for more and better farming country, here was further evidence the "West" was well-nigh worthless.

Some years later, another mountain man made a trip into this almost unbelievable section. He was Jim Bridger, equally hard of head, but he had a clever way with words. The stories told about steam jets, mud volcanoes, boiling water springs, and other seemingly impossible objects quickly whetted people's curiosity and also secured Jim's reputation as a teller of tall tales. They did not bother filling out a petition or starting a petition (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/create-online-petition) or a citizen petition for an official expedition in the area.

However, it was years later, when the railroad had pushed west and more and more people had had a look at this wonderland, that there came the feeling it should be kept unspoiled for all time. So it was that in 1872 it was set apart as our first national park, and its more than 2,000,000 acres make it still our largest. It is roughly a rectangle, about 62 miles from north to south, and averaging 54 miles wide. More than 90% of its area lies in Wyoming, while a very small part is in Montana, and a trace in Idaho.

The central portion of the park is a high plateau, averaging about 8,000 feet. Except to the southwest, this rolling tableland is surrounded by great, snowcapped mountains, which rise an added 2,000 to 4,000 feet. Both flatlands and peaks are volcanic in origin, and the region is now in the final, non-violent stages of volcanic action.

Consequently the chief scenic features of the park are the geysers and the many other thermal, (or hot water) wonders. Many a petition format and petition example (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/create.html) is based off of making a petition in favor of preserving similarly exquisite natural wonders.

There are seven principal geyser basins—Norris, Lower, Midway, Upper, West Thumb, Heart Lake, and Shoshone, which lie principally in the west and south-central parts of the park. The many, many geysers in these various sections are quite different in size, type, character, and action. Some few of them, such as Old Faithful, Riverside, and Daisy erupt their columns of steam and hot water at quite regular intervals.

Others are exceedingly irregular. Some shoot upwards to great heights, while many send out tiny streams, or merely bubble, foam, or snort when erupting, similar to a cause without petition signatures (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/browse-petitions) to support it. The walls of the cracks or tubes of the geysers are formed of deposits of silica, which makes them strong enough so they may function properly. That is why the geysers are found principally in areas where this stronger rock is present.

Along with them there are marvelously colored hot springs, mud volcanoes, fumaroles, and other very strange formations. Outstanding are the Mammoth Hot Springs at the extreme north of the park, with others near Norris and West Thumb.

These carry immense quantities of a white mineral in solution, and build up high terraces on which are very beautiful encrusted basins big enough in some instances to cover trees about and over which they have formed. Microscopic plants growing in some of the springs color the basins pink, red, or bluish gray, while the water in certain deeper pools is intensely green.