National Park lying mostly in Wyoming, but includes a small part of Montana, and is about 65 miles long and 55 miles wide. ... Named from the river. (Gannett,1905) The Origin of the Name "Yellowstone" When French-Canadian trappers traveled through what is today eastern Montana, they asked the Minnetaree tribe the name of the big river. The Minnetaree responded "Mi tse a-da-zi," which translates as "Rock Yellow River." (Historians do not know why the Minnetaree gave this name to the river.) The trappers translated this into French "Roche Jaune" or "Pierre Jaune." In 1797, explorer-geographer David Thomson used the English version "Yellow Stone." Lewis and Clark called the Yellowstone River by the French and English forms. Although the English name originally was separated into two parts, subsequent usage formalized the name as a single word ”Yellowstone." Yellowstone National Park was thus named after the Yellowstone River, which has its headwaters on Younts Peak, southeast of the park. The river flows north into the park, forms Yellowstone Lake, and continues its 671-mile journey to join the Missouri River at the Montana-North Dakota border. The Yellowstone River remains the longest river in the United States without a major dam blocking its flow. (Yellowstone A Brief History)
Other Names:
Wonderland, Yellowstone Park
County:
Park; Teton
Feature Category:
Special Features; Yellowstone National Park
More Reading:
Passage to wonderland : rephotographing Joseph Stimson's views of the Cody road to Yellowstone National Park, 1903 & 2008. Amundson, Michael A. Boulder, Colo. : University Press of Colorado, c2013.; Ho! for wonderland : travelers' accounts of Yellowstone, 1872-1914. Whittlesey, Lee H. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2009.; Yellowstone National Park. Whittlesey, Lee H. Chicago, Ill. : Arcadia Pub., c2008.
