Surveyors are natural explorers, so they appreciate and enjoy the beauty and infinite variety of nature every day. Unless you choose a profession that includes the outdoors, people must intentionally plan a trip to a county, state or national park. Most people aren’t aware that surveyors were instrumental in the creation of our National Parks, including our first – Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone was established by Congress as the world’s first national park on March 1, 1872, following three expeditions to the region (the Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition of 1869; the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition of 1870; and the official, government sponsored Hayden Expedition of 1871). The expeditions were seeking the truth to the numerous rumors about the area that was described as “smoking with the vapor from boiling springs; and burning with gasses . . . “ (Joe Meek, fur trapper, 1829). What the men of these expeditions saw astounded and inspired them. The unique geology of the area galvanized them to petition Congress to set the area aside as a “public pleasureing-ground” protecting from “injury or spoliation” the “timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition.”