The park’s first superintendent (1872–77), Nathaniel P. Langford (who had been a member of the 1870 expedition), was largely ineffectual, primarily because Congress allotted no administrative funds, and he had to find other work and thus was rarely there. His successor, Philetus W. Norris (1877–82), however, undertook considerable scientific study of the park, attempted to implement some basic conservation measures, and supervised the construction of the park’s first headquarters at Mammoth and many of its early roads.

Travel to and in the park in those early years was arduous and undertaken by only a small number of hardy adventurers each year. Added to the physical travel challenges at that time was the ongoing fighting between Native Americans and the U.S. government. The Battle of the Little Bighorn (June 1876) had taken place only some 150 miles (240 km) to the northeast of Yellowstone. The following year Chief Joseph and his Nez Percé band traversed Yellowstone (west-east) in their attempt to evade capture by U.S. troops. They took and briefly held several park visitors hostage before all escaped or were released.

By the early 1880s, however, the hostilities had largely ended, and the Northern Pacific had completed its main track to the Pacific. A spur line from it was built southward to near the park’s northern entrance (just north of park headquarters), and the company began heavily promoting tourism to Yellowstone. The first hotel in the park (at Mammoth) opened in 1883. The railway acquired that hotel in 1886 and began building other overnight accommodations in the park. That same year the U.S. Army took over administration of Yellowstone.

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The military was able to improve protection of park properties from vandalism and from wildlife poachers—notably, stopping the slaughter of bison in the park. It also undertook major infrastructure improvements, including the construction of Fort Yellowstone at Mammoth (the structures of which—built between 1890 and 1913—are still used as the park’s headquarters) and much of the park’s road system. The Union Pacific Railroad completed a line to the park’s west entrance in 1907, and the following year visitors began arriving at what became West Yellowstone, Idaho. Private automobiles were first allowed into the park in 1915. Travel to and within Yellowstone improved considerably in the early 20th century, and the number of visitors each year increased steadily. More lodging was built to accommodate them, most notably the magnificent Old Faithful Inn (completed 1904) in the Upper Geyser Basin. Among the important dignitaries to visit the park in its early decades were Presidents Chester A. Arthur (1883) and Theodore Roosevelt (1903).

With the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916, the army relinquished full administration of Yellowstone to the NPS and its newly created ranger force by 1918. The new stewards took steps to increase the amount of scientific exploration in the park and to establish education programs for the growing number of tourists. Park attendance grew annually until the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 (with the exception of the first several years of the Great Depression of the 1930s), exceeding 100,000 for the first time in 1923 and a half million in 1940 before dropping off drastically during the travel-restricted war years. Yellowstone’s boundaries were adjusted twice in that period (1929 and 1932), after which the park reached its present size.

The contemporary park

As automobile travel throughout the country grew dramatically in the postwar period, so too did Yellowstone’s annual attendance, surpassing the million mark in 1948 and double that in 1965. This great influx of visitors strained the park’s aging infrastructure, and, as part of NPS’s Mission 66 system-wide renovation program (1955–66), many of Yellowstone’s facilities were refurbished—notably the Canyon Village complex at Yellowstone Falls. In addition, there has been an ongoing program to rebuild and widen most of the roadways in the park to accommodate the heavy car traffic (regular passenger train service ended in 1960). Resource-management policies adopted in the 1970s included strict bans on feeding wildlife (notably bears) and greater regulations on fishing, including prohibiting fishing from the famed Fishing Bridge at the north end of Yellowstone Lake.

A significant event in Yellowstone’s more recent history was the great fire of 1988 that charred some two-fifths of the park’s forestlands and nearly reached Old Faithful Inn. The forests subsequently have recovered, although areas have been subject to damage by insect pests. Also noteworthy were the reintroduction of wolves in the park, beginning in 1995, and the growth of the wolf population to some 100 individuals in little more than a decade. Annual visits to Yellowstone first exceeded three million in 1992 and have hovered on either side of that mark since then.

Road access to Yellowstone is via entrances in the north, northeast, east, south, and west; a highway also skirts the northwestern portion of the park. The park itself has about 465 miles (750 km) of roads, some two-thirds of which are paved. The road linking the north and northeast entrances stays open year-round, but other park roads close for the winter in early November and reopen between late April and late May. However, those roads reopen to authorized over-snow vehicles between December and March. Yellowstone has extensive facilities for park goers, including nine visitor centers (only one of which, at Mammoth, is open year-round) and nine hotels and lodges. In addition, there are dozens of dining facilities, service stations, and stores selling food and a variety of other items—most of them concentrated at Mammoth or at locations along the central loop road. All close for the winter, except for lodging and some other facilities that reopen in the Old Faithful and Mammoth areas for the winter season.

A dozen developed campgrounds in Yellowstone are maintained by the NPS or by a private company, and there are more than 300 primitive backcountry campsites that are accessible via the park’s roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of trails. In addition, some 15 miles (24 km) of boardwalks are maintained that give visitors access to many of the best-known hydrothermal features. Hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, boating, and wildlife watching are popular outdoor activities, as are cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter. A noted hike ascends a former automobile road up Mount Washburn in the north-center of the park and affords spectacular vistas from its 10,243-foot (3,122-meter) summit.