Boston Paper - Geological History of the Yellowstone National Park

In the short time allotted to me* I can only hope to present to you a brief sketch of the main geological features of the country which you are about to visit. My remarks must, of necessity, be more or less incomplete, as my desire is not so much to elucidate any special problem connected with the many interesting geological questions to be found here, as rather to offer such a general view of the region as will enable you, during your five days' trip through the Park, to understand clearly something of its physical geography and geology. The Yellowstone Park is situated in the extreme northwestern portion of the Territory of Wyoming. Its boundaries, as determined by the original Act of Congress setting apart the Park, are very ill-defined. At the time of the enactment of the law establishing this national reservation, the region had been but little explored, and its relation to the physical features of the adjacent country was but little understood. Since that time, surveys have shown that only a narrow strip, about two miles in width, was situated in the Territory of Montana, but it was also found that a still narrower strip extended westward into the Territory of Idaho. The question of properly establishing the boundaries, -based upon our present knowledge of the country, is now before Congress, and an Act has already passed the Senate, proposing to make the northern boundary coincide with the boundary between Wyoming and Montana, and the western boundary coincide with the Wyoming and Idaho line. The Act under consideration extends the southern boundary of the Park to the 44th parallel of latitude, carrying the area of the reservation southward nine and one-half miles. The eastern boundary is made to coincide with the meridian of 109' 30') adding a strip of country about twenty-four and one-half miles in width along the entire eastern side of the Park.