| Raynolds Expedition noting | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the exploration of North America | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
 United States | |||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
 William F. Raynolds Henry E. Maynadier | |||||
| Strength | |||||
33 soldiers
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The Raynolds Expedition was a United States Army exploring and mapping expedition intended to map the unexplored territory between Fort Pierre, Dakota Territory and the headwaters of the Yellowstone River. The expedition was led by topographical engineer Captain William F. Raynolds.
In early 1859, Raynolds was charged with leading an expedition into the Yellowstone region of Montana and Wyoming to determine, "as far as practicable, everything relating to ... the Indians of the country, its agricultural and mineralogical resources ... the navigability of its streams, its topographical features, and the facilities or obstacles which the latter present to the construction of rail or common roads ...". [1] The expedition was carried out by a handful of technicians, including geologist/naturalist F.V. Hayden, who led several later expeditions to the Yellowstone region, photographer and topographer James D. Hutton and artist and mapmaker Anton Schönborn. [2] [3] Raynold's second-in-command was Lt. Henry E. Maynadier. The expedition was supported by a small infantry detachment of 30 and was funded with $60,000 by the U.S. Government. Experienced mountain man Jim Bridger was hired to guide the expedition. [1]
The expedition commenced at St. Louis, Missouri in late May 1859 as the party was transported by two steamboats up the Missouri River to New Fort Pierre, South Dakota. [4] By late June the expedition left Fort Pierre and headed overland, encountering the Crow Indians, exploring the Tongue River and then heading for the Yellowstone River in southern Montana. Raynolds divided his expedition, sending a smaller detachment under Maynadier to explore the Tongue River, a major tributary of the Yellowstone River. James D. Hutton and Zephyr Recontre, the expedition's Sioux interpreter, took a side trip to locate an isolated rock formation that had been seen from great distance by a previous expedition in 1857. Hutton was the first person of European descent to reach the rock formation in northeastern Wyoming, later known as Devils Tower; Raynolds never elaborated on this event, mentioning it only in passing. [3] [5] By September 2, 1859, Raynolds's detachment had followed the Yellowstone River to the confluence with the Bighorn River in south-central Montana. [4] [6] The two parties under Raynolds and Maynadier reunited on October 12, 1859, and wintered at Deer Creek Station, on the Platte River in central Wyoming. [3] [7]
In May 1860, the expedition re-commenced their explorations, with Raynolds leading a party north and west up the upstream portion of the Bighorn River, which is known today as the Wind River, hoping to cross the Absaroka Range at Togwotee Pass, a mountain pass expedition guide Jim Bridger knew about. Meanwhile, Maynadier led his party back north to the Bighorn River to explore it and its associated tributary streams more thoroughly. The plan was for the two parties to reunite on June 30, 1860, at Three Forks, Montana, so they could make observations of a total solar eclipse forecast for July 18, 1860. [1] [3] [8] [9] Hampered by towering basaltic cliffs and deep snows, Raynolds attempted for over a week to reconnoiter to the top of Togwotee Pass, but was forced south due to the June 30 deadline for reaching Three Forks. Bridger then led the party south over another pass that Raynolds named Union Pass, to the west of which lay Jackson Hole and the Teton Range. From there the expedition went southwest, crossing the southern Teton Range at Teton Pass and entering Pierre's Hole in present-day Idaho. [3] Though Raynolds and his party managed to get to Three Forks at the scheduled date, Maynadier's party was several days late, too late to allow a detachment to head north to observe the solar eclipse. [1] The reunited expedition then headed home, traveling from Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Union near the Montana-North Dakota border via steamboat. They then journeyed overland to Omaha, Nebraska where the expedition members were disbanded in October 1860. [3] [7]
Though the Raynolds Expedition was unsuccessful in exploring the region that later became Yellowstone National Park, they were the first U.S. Government sponsored party to enter Jackson Hole and observe the Teton Range. [10] The expedition also covered over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and explored an area of nearly 250,000 square miles (650,000 km2). [3] In a preliminary report sent east in 1859, Raynolds reported that the once abundant bison were being killed for their hides at such an alarming rate, that they might soon become extinct. [11] The outbreak of the American Civil War and a severe illness afterwards delayed Raynolds from presenting his report on the expedition until 1868. [1] The Raynolds Expedition did not gain the attention it may have due to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. [3] Overshadowed by subsequent larger events where the nation's objectives were turned away from western exploration and expansion, the geological, cartographical and historical importance of the expedition nearly vanished into obscurity. Botanical collections, as well as fossils and related specimens that were to be sent to the Smithsonian Institution were delayed from being studied and much of the artwork created by Hutton and especially Schönborn was lost, though several of Schönborn's chromolithographs appeared in F.V. Hayden's 1883 report that was submitted after later expeditions. [3] [12] [13]
-Captain William F. Raynolds, United States Topographical Engineers, commanding.
-First Lieutenant Henry Eveleth Maynadier, United States Army, second in command.
Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres (1,300 km2), the park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton National Park is only 10 miles (16 km) south of Yellowstone National Park, to which it is connected by the National Park Service–managed John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Along with surrounding national forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 18-million-acre (73,000-square-kilometer) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems.
James Felix "Jim" Bridger was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old Gabe in his later years. He was from the Bridger family of Virginia, English immigrants who had been in North America since the early colonial period.
The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 461 miles (742 km) long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its banks as he explored the Yellowstone.
John Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made during the winter of 1807–1808, when he became the first known person of European descent to enter the region which later became Yellowstone National Park and to see the Teton Mountain Range. Colter spent months alone in the wilderness and is widely considered to be the first known mountain man.
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Army during the Civil War.
Shoshone National Forest is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly 2,500,000 acres (1,000,000 ha) in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest is managed by the United States Forest Service and was created by an act of Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison in 1891. Shoshone National Forest is one of the first nationally protected land areas anywhere. Native Americans have lived in the region for at least 10,000 years, and when the region was first explored by European adventurers, forestlands were occupied by several different tribes. Never heavily settled or exploited, the forest has retained most of its wildness. Shoshone National Forest is a part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, a nearly unbroken expanse of federally protected lands encompassing an estimated 20,000,000 acres (8,100,000 ha).
The Washburn Expedition of 1870 explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that two years later became Yellowstone National Park. Led by Henry D. Washburn and Nathaniel P. Langford, and with a U.S. Army escort headed by Lt. Gustavus C. Doane, the expedition followed the general course of the Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition made the previous year.
Raynolds Peak is in the northern Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. The mountain rises to the north of Moran Canyon and has numerous deep cirques on its north face above Snowshoe Canyon. There are no maintained trails in the region and the summit is 5 miles (8 km) west of Moran Bay on Jackson Lake. The peak is named after William F. Raynolds who was in charge of the 1859-1860 Raynolds Expedition to the region.
There is evidence of prehistoric human habitation in the region known today as the U.S. state of Wyoming stretching back roughly 13,000 years. Stone projectile points associated with the Clovis, Folsom and Plano cultures have been discovered throughout Wyoming. Evidence from what is now Yellowstone National Park indicates the presence of vast continental trading networks since around 1,000 years ago.
The following articles relate to the history, geography, geology, flora, fauna, structures and recreation in Yellowstone National Park.
Gustavus Cheyney Doane was a U.S. Army Cavalry Captain, explorer, inventor and Civil War soldier who played a prominent role in the exploration of Yellowstone as a member of the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition. Doane was a participant in the Marias Massacre of approximately 200 Piegan Blackfeet people.
The Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that later became Yellowstone National Park in 1872. It was led by geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. The 1871 survey was not Hayden's first, but it was the first federally funded geological survey to explore and further document features in the region soon to become Yellowstone National Park, and played a prominent role in convincing the U.S. Congress to pass the legislation creating the park. In 1894, Nathaniel P. Langford, the first park superintendent and a member of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition which explored the park in 1870, wrote this about the Hayden expedition:
We trace the creation of the park from the Folsom-Cook expedition of 1869 to the Washburn expedition of 1870, and thence to the Hayden expedition of 1871, Not to one of these expeditions more than to another do we owe the legislation which set apart this "pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people"
James Dempsey Hutton was an artist, surveyor, cartographer and early photographer active in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota in the years before the American Civil War. He served as an engineer in the Confederate States Army in that conflict, and died in exile in Mexico in 1868.
The Tukudeka or Mountain Sheepeaters are a band of Shoshone within the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Shoshone. Before the reservation era, they traditionally lived in the central Sawtooth Range of Idaho and the mountains of what is now northwest Wyoming. Bands were very fluid and nomadic, and they often interacted with and intermarried other bands of Shoshone. Today the Tukudeka are enrolled in the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation of Idaho and the Eastern Shoshone of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.
Mount Sheridan, elevation 10,313 feet (3,143 m), is a prominent mountain peak overlooking Heart Lake in the Red Mountains of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is named in honor of General Philip H. Sheridan, U.S. Army, one of the early protectors of the park.
This list summarizes the major expeditions to the Yellowstone region that led to the creation of the park and contributed to the protection of the park and its resources between 1869 and 1890.
William Franklin Raynolds was an American explorer, engineer and U.S. army officer who served in the Mexican–American War and American Civil War. He is best known for leading the 1859–60 Raynolds Expedition while serving as a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers.
The following articles relate to the history, geography, geology, flora, fauna, structures and recreation in Grand Teton National Park.
This is a timeline of pre-statehood Montana history comprising substantial events in the history of the area that would become the State of Montana prior to November 8, 1889. This area existed as Montana Territory from May 28, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Montana.
Henry Eveleth Maynadier was a United States Army officer known for his field work in Montana during the Raynolds Expedition and his work to set up peace talks with the Oglala and Brulé tribes at Fort Laramie in 1866. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
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