However this may have been, it is certain that Coulter remained, with but one companion, in the vicinity of the Jefferson Fork of the Missouri River.  According to fairly authentic records, he and his companion were captured by hostile Blackfeet, who showed their resentment at the intrusion upon the privacy of their domains by depriving Coulter of his clothing, and Coulter’s companion of his life.  The chronic adventurer, however, spent four years among the more friendly Bannock Indians, who probably for centuries had lived in or near the park.  He had a very enjoyable time in the newly discovered region, and his adventures crowded upon each other, one after the other, with great rapidity.  When at last he decided to return to the abode of the white man, he took with him a fund of recollection and incident of the most sensational character, and before he had been at home with his own kindred a week, he had earned the reputation of being a modern Ananias, ten times more mendacious than the original article.

Twenty or thirty years elapsed before any reliable information was obtained about the park.  James Bridger, the daring scout and mountaineer, went through the park more than once, and in his most exaggerated rhapsodies told of its beauties and of its marvels.  But Bridger’s stories had been tried in the balances and found wanting before this, and nobody worried very much over them.  In 1870, Dr. F. V. Hayden and Mr. M. P. Langford explored the park on a more rational basis, and gave to the world, in reliable shape, a resume of their discoveries.  Mr. Langford was himself an experienced Western explorer.  For many years he had desired to either verify or disprove the so-called fairy tales which were going the rounds concerning Yellowstone Park.  He found a number of equally adventurous gentlemen, including the Surveyor-General of Montana, Mr. Washburn, after whom the expedition was generally known.  In 1871, Dr. Hayden, who was then connected with the United States Geological Survey Department, undertook a scientific exploration of the park.  He was accompanied by Mr. Langford, and the two men together tore away the veil of mystery which had overhung the wonderful resort among the hills, and gave to the country, for the first time, a reliable description of one of the most magnificent of its possessions.

The report was not confined to eulogy.  It included drawings, photographs and geological summaries, and wound up with an earnest appeal to the National Government to reserve the beauty spot as a National Park forever.  Several men arose to endorse the request, and in March, 1872, Congress passed an act dedicating Yellowstone Park to the public for all time, declaring it to be a grand national playground and a museum of unparalleled and incomparable marvels.

Since that time the park has gradually become better known and more highly appreciated.  The Northern Pacific Railroad runs a branch line to which the name of the park has been given, and which connects Livingston, Montana, with Cinnabar, at the northern edge of the park.  The road is about fifty miles long, and the scenery through which it passes is astounding in its nature.