All language subtitles for Yellowstone - One-Fifty - S01E04 - An Enduring Legacy

- They didn't expect
to see what they saw

and when they saw it,

they could never forget it.

Ferdinand Hayden was
hired to lead a team

into the Northwest Territories.

And the 32 men headed west.

They weren't here to
protect Yellowstone.

They were here to
tear it to shreds

in the name of progress,

gold interests, railroad barons,

Congress.

Powerful people wanted
this land for themselves.

But something happened during
their three month journey

and slowly but surely,

their mission changed.

So as we celebrate
the 150th anniversary

of Yellowstone National Park,

we take a look back in time

and at the events that
led to the preservation

of this magical place.

I was hoping to get a look
at some wolves this morning.

- No. You?

- Ah.

Well, I better say something
brilliant then, huh?

Wolves or no wolves,

it's still a pretty nice
way to spend the morning.

It's quiet.

It gives you time to think.

- I spent a lot of
time thinking about

what Hayden and
his men did here,

what they experienced.

But they actually weren't
the first outsiders

to lay eyes on Yellowstone.

A man named John Colter
beat them by 65 years.

Colter grew up in Kentucky

which in the late 1700s was
the western frontier of the US.

So when Lewis and Clark
needed a few good men

for their western expedition,

they went straight to
Kentucky knowing that that's

where the most rugged
of the rugged live.

It must have been
the way Colter looked

or the way he shook a hand
that inspired confidence.

But they signed him on

and for the next 28 months,

they explored the west together.

You could fill a few volumes

with the stories from that trip,

but it was only a
chapter for Colter.

When the expedition was over,

the group headed back
to St. Louis to debrief

on everything they discovered.

That's when a chance
meeting changed history.

A few days out from St. Louis,

they ran into a
group of fur traders

who had a dilemma.

They wanted to set up a fur
trade with the Crow Nation.

But the Crows had already
returned to their winter camps,

territory where no
outsiders had ever set foot.

After more than two
years in the wilderness,

Colter had a decision to make:

a warm bed in St. Louis
or the cold unknown.

Some creatures just aren't
built for captivity.

So Colter asked Lewis and Clark

for an early
dismissal, unheard of.

They said he'd been so crucial
to the expedition's success

that they had no choice
but to set him free.

America's first mountain man
was released into the wild.

He spent the next three years

canoeing the rivers and
traversing the peaks.

He made trade
deals with the Crow

and faced certain death
when he came upon hundreds

of Blackfeet warriors

just outside
Yellowstone's borders.

After the trapper he was
traveling with was dismembered

right in front of him,

Colter was stripped
naked and told to run.

It was a chance for
the young Blackfeet

to prove their manhood
by killing Colter.

So he ran.

Feet caked in blood

and lungs drowned in fluid,

he managed to stay ahead of
the warriors for 21 days.

Ironically, the very animal

whose fur he sought
saved his life.

He managed to elude
the young Blackfeet

by hiding inside a beaver dam.

When he arrived at
Fort Manuel days later,

he told the incredible story

and a few others.

He told tales of
exploding geysers,

bubbling mud pots,

rainbow-colored pools.

No one believed him.

They said he'd lost his
mind or called him a drunk.

It became a joke

as people sardonically labeled
this place, "Colter's Hell."

Colter never got the last laugh.

He died five years later,

long before the rest of
the country would come

to know that Yellowstone region
was very much a real place.

I guess the last
laugh was Colter's

getting to see Yellowstone
with his own eyes,

at least I hope so.

Okay, here we go.

This is going to get good.

The people who question
what John Colter saw

may have referred to
it as Colter's Hell,

but in reality

it was sacred ground.

According to their oral history,

the Kiowa people
didn't have a home land

when the earth
first was created.

Instead, they had to earn one.

Their god told them to travel
to a harsh, unforgiving land

where water boils out
of a thundering cave

and if anyone was brave
enough to jump into the water,

the land would be theirs.

One young man did.

And when he climbed back out,

the land around them had
turned lush and beautiful.

The Kiowa called the
hot spring "To-sal-dau".

Today it's known
as Dragon's Mouth.

Hidden deep inside its cave

gas and steam form
pressure bubbles

that explode against
the cave's roof.

When they pop, the
sound echoes out

like the growl of a beast.

Steam drifting upwards like
the hot breath of a dragon.

Dragon's Mouth and other
remarkable sights and sounds

of Yellowstone had
been experienced

only by Indigenous tribes

until John Colter
arrived in the area,

the first outsider to see them.

Soon others would follow.

America was growing
in the 1800s.

Westward expansion
was on the march.

Gold strikes sent people
past the Mississippi River

into uncharted territory
where there was plenty of land

but not enough railroads.

So in 1853,

Congress passed the Pacific
Railroad Survey Bill.

They wanted to chart the west

and find potential
railroad routes

from the Mississippi River

to the Pacific Ocean.

The best and brightest
scientific minds

jumped onto the project.

One of them was a geologist
named Ferdinand Hayden

who in 1871 set his sights
on the Yellowstone region.

No one had mapped the area

he had heard so many
seemingly tall tales about.

Hayden wanted to be
the first to do it.

He assembled a 32-man dream
team made up of geologists,

mineralogists, botanists,
and zoologists.

He also brought
along a photographer

and a painter to
memorialize their findings.

It took 27 horses,

21 mules, and five wagons
to transport Hayden,

the 31 men who joined him,

and their gear
across the country.

Two journals that were
kept during the trip

and 10 letters sent by Hayden
himself lasted through time,

providing us with vivid insight

into the team's
historic journey.

They traveled for days

through jagged canyons

and lush valleys.

And on July 21st, 1871,

they finally entered
Yellowstone itself.

And soon after

they arrived at the spot that
immediately let them know

Colter's Hell was very real.

A giant complex of hot springs
on a mountain of travertine.

Mammoth Hot Springs was
created over thousands of years

from cooling water
spouted from below.

Over two tons of
calcium carbonate flows
into Mammoth daily.

And its Terrace
Mountain is the largest

of its kind on earth.

The photographers on the
expedition had a field day here

and still today,

it's one of the most
photographed places

in all of Yellowstone.

Hayden's men camped nearby

and studied the
feature for two days.

They met two squatters
who had big plans

to cash in on the
unique geology.

JC McCartney and HR Horr

had laid claim to 320 acres

and established a ranch and
bathhouse near Liberty Cap.

They planned to market the
water as having healing powers.

Hayden knew they would
destroy the area,

but he didn't know how
he would stop them.

For that plan to solidify,

they had to push deeper
into the strange land,

see what else it had to offer.

They continued their march
into the pristine valleys.

Instantly, they were floored
by the abundance of wildlife,

particularly the massive
population of elk.

The elk herds are a stunning
sight for the tourists today.

But to Hayden's men,

they were a steady
source of food.

Long days of trekking
over difficult terrain

had the men thinking
with their stomachs often

even when they encountered the
park's most feared predators.

Hunting is strictly prohibited
in Yellowstone today,

but it takes a lot of food to
keep 32 hungry men motivated.

And even grizzly bear
was on their menu.

The pioneers had to eat
and they had to sleep,

making their camps at
night in canvas tents

hoping for a good night's rest.

But in the wilderness,
sleeping isn't always easy.

Boy, am I glad I chose to set
my tent right under a tree

that houses the loudest owl

in the continental
United States.

And always, always bring
earplugs when you go camping.

That's a tip I wish
I'd remembered.

I was doing some reading

before I got my 17
minutes of sleep.

This is Albert Peale's journal.

He was a mineralogist on
expedition with Hayden.

"This morning about one o'clock
we had quite an earthquake.

"The first shock
lasted about 20 seconds

"and was followed by
five or six shorter ones.

"Duncan who was on guard says
that the trees were shaking

"and that the horses
that were lying down

"sprang to their feet."

I've been through my fair
share of earthquakes,

but one that lasts 20 seconds,

that's a big one.

I can't imagine anyone going
back to sleep after that.

That was the first recorded
earthquake in Yellowstone.

Now we know there are
as many as 3,000 a year.

Some small,

some massive

like the one in 1951.

It was so strong

that a 25-mile long section
of the park was pushed up

40 feet in elevation
in just a few seconds.

At a magnitude of 7.3,

it is Yellowstone's
strongest earthquake

at least on record.

Evidence of its destruction
can still be seen today

at Quake Lake.

A 170-foot deep body
of water that formed

when a crumbling
mountain tumbled

into the nearby Madison River.

Today, legions of ghost
trees dot the lake.

A stark reminder of

how quickly the face of
Yellowstone can change.

Earthquakes,
underground volcanoes,

entire mountains
rising and falling,

and here I am getting
rattled by an owl.

Despite the sleep deprivation

the team continued
on their mission.

And on July 25th, they
reached another stunning site:

Tower Falls.

A 132-foot drop

flanked on either side by
eroded pillars of volcanic rock.

Two days later they
reached the Upper Falls

of the Yellowstone River.

Teetering over a 109-foot drop,

the precipice of
Upper Falls marks

a dramatic geological shift
in the Yellowstone riverbed.

It's where hardened,
water-resistant lava flows

give way to softer rock,

a boundary set by volcanic
eruption over 450,000 years ago.

Hayden's team was humbled by
the spectacle in front of them.

But waterfalls were not
what they were seeking.

They were looking for the source

of the mighty Yellowstone River.

And six miles upstream,

they found what they were after.

On July 28, they arrived
at Yellowstone Lake.

At 7,732 feet above sea level

and covering 136 square miles,

it is the largest body
of water in Yellowstone.

In late July, Hayden and his
men set up camp by the lake.

They could see the
islands in the distance,

but they didn't have a boat.

When you're an explorer,
your job is to explore.

You don't have something
you need, build it.

You don't know how,

you better figure
it out pretty quick.

And that's what they did.

They used a fallen pine

as the base

and carved oars out of branches.

Then they rigged up one

of their blankets as a
sail and named her Annie.

They placed Annie in the lake

and crossed their
fingers that she'd hold.

It's the true spirit
of an explorer,

figuring things out on the fly,

forging ahead with
no safety net,

no guarantee of success.

When I was younger,

I wanted so much to
be on a lake by myself

going somewhere

that between the
ages of 7 and 18

I built three different canoes,

and they all looked horrible.

They were all handmade.

But I took the last one I
built down some of the rivers

that Lewis and Clark went down,

because it just
spoke to me out loud.

I was determined
to be out there.

To experience the kind of thrill

Hayden and his men
must have felt,

just get in a boat and go.

What Hayden found as
they sailed the Annie

was an island they
described as a jungle

full of wild game.

Want to know the best part
about being an explorer?

You get to name
things after yourself.

Jim Stevenson was the
first one off the boat,

so naturally they named
it Stevenson's Island.

Hayden raved about
their discovery

in a letter to the Smithsonian.

With a seaworthy
boat at his disposal,

Hayden wanted to explore
and map the entire lake.

The team sailed the Annie
to six other islands

naming each one after
themselves or family members.

After they finished
mapping the lake,

Hayden and his team pushed
deeper into the strange land.

They continued their mission

of mapping a potential
route for the railroad

and collecting
geological samples,

some of which gave the team
a sense that even John Colter

was not the first to come here,

not by a long shot.

One of the geological samples
that Hayden collected was

an insanely sharp
hunk of geological
glass called obsidian.

That's what these
spearpoints are made from.

I can touch these, right?

- [Staff Member] Yeah.

- Obsidian was used by
ancient peoples as weapons,

because it can be made to be
sharper than any modern razor.

This one was found
in New Mexico,

and this one was found in Utah.

And this one,

this one was discovered in Ohio

1,800 miles from here.

You know what all
these have in common?

They all came from a
single outcrop of obsidian

that's right here
in Yellowstone.

Obsidian is formed when
lava reaches the surface

and cools rapidly.

It usually breaks apart
during this process,

which is why it's typically
found in small fragments.

But Obsidian Cliff in
northwest Yellowstone

is a 200-foot tall
outcrop of pure obsidian.

It's a geological anomaly,

and the mother lode
for hunter-gatherers

in need of some new spears.

Some of these spearpoints
are 11,000 years old.

Think about that.

11,000 years before
Hayden was even born

Indigenous Americans
were using this land.

I try to picture
it, try to imagine

what the first Indigenous
people must have thought

when they arrived here
thousands of years ago.

Bison as far as the eye can see.

Wooly mammoths.

The earth rising, breathing.

All the obsidian
you could carry.

Pretty cool.

The wooly mammoths are gone

and roads and boardwalks
have been built.

But in so many ways,

Yellowstone is very much
the same place that it was

when the first humans
found it 11,000 years ago.

That's because at some
point in August of 1871,

Hayden and the 31 other
men that followed him

started to realize their
mission to exploit the region

was the wrong path.

The samples they were collecting
would have a new purpose,

documentation of a
one of a kind place

that needed to be preserved.

They filled 45 large boxes with

over a thousand
specimens of minerals,

plants, and animal pelts.

They shipped them off
to the Smithsonian

to be organized and cataloged.

Hayden was starting
to build a case

to convince the powers that be.

On August 28, Hayden
posted a field report

announcing the
completion of his survey.

They'd finished their
journey into Colter's Hell,

conquered the terrain,

and scientifically
studied every inch

of the Upper Yellowstone.

But Hayden knew his greatest
work was still ahead of him.

He had to convince Congress

and even the President
of the United States

to do something
that no one anywhere

in the world had
ever done before:

protect a huge piece of land.

Preserve it for
future generations.

Don't let them mine.

Don't let them build.

Just let it be.

The phrase "a picture is
worth a thousand words"

wasn't unleashed into the
ether until the 1920s.

But I think Hayden knew what
it meant long before that.

He knew that all the
words in the report

that he was planning to present

to Congress were
just that, words.

So as he made his pitch
to preserve Yellowstone,

he saturated members of Congress

with the photographs that
William Henry Jackson had taken,

watercolors that Thomas
Moran had painted.

Suddenly, Colter's Hell
wasn't just the work

of one mountain
man's imagination.

It was all very real.

And enough members of Congress

and the Senate saw the
beauty in this place

to pass the
Yellowstone Park Bill

in record time.

It was signed into law by
President Ulysses S. Grant

on March 1st, 1872,

and the planet's first
national park was created.

Today, about 4 million people
visit Yellowstone each year.

And in the 150 years

since Hayden did what he did,

422 more parks have
been created in the US

spanning 84 million
acres of pristine land.

Countries all over the world

looked at what was
done here and thought,

"Hey, that's a
pretty good idea."

There are now 4,000
national parks worldwide.

15% of the earth's land

and 10% of the
waters are protected.

The National Park
Service has been deemed

America's best idea,

but really

it seems like the
world's best idea.

I think we'd all like to dream

that we can leave the world a
better place than we found it.

This is the story of
some people who did.