Human History
The Shoshone and other Native American tribes lived, hunted, fished and worshipped in the Yellowstone.
Guide Sections
Use Human History's guide sections to understand how this stop fits into the larger park plan.
Human History Details
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Learn About the Park
The Shoshone and other Native American tribes lived, hunted, fished and worshipped in the Yellowstone area for up for more than 10,000 years before the first Europeans arrived in the 19th century. Fur trappers came for the park's beaver beginning in 1807, and after the Civil War the Cook-Folsom-Peterson Expedition conducted the first comprehensive exploration of what is today Yellowstone National Park. From the time of these earliest explorations there was talk of preserving Yellowstone as a park, and in 1871 President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law establishing a preserve at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River and creating the country's first national park.