The Army years

Currently in Victor Idaho
Heading to Colorado next


As our oldest National Park, Yellowstone was established in 1872.  But immediately, keeping control of poachers, souvenir hunters and tourists proved to be an issue so the US Army was brought in to protect and preserve.  The Fort Yellowstone presence remained for 32 years.
Most of the buildings constructed during the Army era are still standing and used as administration and residence buildings today.  We took a quick walking tour to see them.
The Bachelor's Officer Quarters is the Visitor Center today.  All decked out for the 4th!

Scottish stonemasons constructed this and several other buildings in the Colonial Revival style popular in 1909.  The stone came from the northern part of the Park near Gardner River.  The Captain's Quarter's below was built around the same time.

Below are the first buildings at Fort Yellowstone and served as Officer Quarters.

The last of the structures to be built was the chapel.  It was considered to be the most beautiful.

The building below housed the Cavalry.  Many of the soldiers stationed here became the first Park Rangers when the military turned over the administration of the Park to civilians in 1918.

On our way out of the Park that day, we did stop by other geological points of interest. The travertine terraces are very unique!

New Blue Spring

Mound Spring

Minerva Terrace

And I couldn't resist this shot of the landscape when I looked on the other side of the main road.

We ate lunch by Sheepeater Cliff to see this cool rock formation.  The cliff is lava that cooled into these columns about 500,000 years ago.  The Shoshone Indians used a lot of Bighorn Sheep and this cliff was named after them.  Kids love to climb them today.

Roaring Mountain was a quick stop.  The sulfur gas spewing from this formation is home to billions of thermophile organisms that turn the gas into sulfuric acid that eats away at the Mountain.  It is huge and quite a sight!

We walked along a boardwalk at Artists Paintpots to view Blood Geyser, so named because the iron oxide makes the area around the geyser red.

There are also little hot spring pools that look like an artists' paint palette.  They may be a bit hard to see in the upper right hand side of this photo.

These bubbling mud pots are really cool.  They are formed when acid from the volcanic gasses decompose the the rock and then mix with water to make the clay and mud.

It was a full day, no doubt!