Yellowstone Place Names: Mirrors of History

Until the late nineteenth century, Yellowstone National Park, known for such famous landmarks as Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, and the Firehole River, was a land largely unknown, uninhabited, and unnamed. The few maps available noted only a handful of major features known from the seasonal visits of trappers and prospectors. Among the large number of place names related to Yellowstone National Park are many that mirror the area's fascinating history. This book devotes chapters to the place names drawn from Native Americans, fur trappers, prospectors, explorers, modern visitors, park concessionaires and employees, and three special groups: (1) the "unapproved" place names that remain in use regardless, (2) names that have lost their cogency and have disappeared from use, and (3) a group of names from outside the park boundary that have always been very important to it. Each chapter is preceded by a brief review of the historic period and its relationship to the park area. An introduction includes information on the present rules covering the naming of features in Yellowstone, and the sources list more than four hundred references examined for place name history.