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Folsom-Cook-Peterson Sept 24, 1869 Campsite

Historic Campsite in Yellowstone NP, Rocky Mountains near Lake Village, WY

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Montana gold miners David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook, and William Peterson departed the Montana mines in 1869 and headed into the Yellowstone area prospecting for gold. Their privately financed expedition was unsuccessful in finding gold, but Folsom’s and Cook’s stories and published accounts further stirred the imagination of an American Wonderland. The “approximated” expedition route and historic campsites, combined with selected portions of their journals, provide a story map before Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872.

Ascending the Yellowstone River the explorers crossed the river on their horses at Nez Perce ford. Reaching Yellowstone Lake somewhere east of today’s Fishing Bridge they forded Pelican Creek and continued to their first campsite somewhere in the Indian Pond area. The elevated bench provided good grass for their horses and views of the lake area (Haines 1996, 98).

They described their stay there as:

September 24 we arrived at Yellowstone Lake, about 20 miles from the falls. The main body of this beautiful sheet of water is 10 miles wide from east to west, and 16 miles long from north to south; but at the south end it puts out two arms, one to the southeast and the other to the southwest, making the entire length of the lake about 30 miles. Its shores – whether gently sloping mountains, bold promontories, low necks, or level prairies – are everywhere covered with timber. The lake has three small islands, which are also heavily timbered. The outlet is at the northwest extremity. The lake abounds with trout, and the shallow water in its coves affords feeding ground for thousands of wild ducks, geese, pelicans, and swans (Cook 1870).

— Cook

Additionally from across Mary Bay, they noted seeing Steamboat Point. “Three miles to the east of us, at the foot of a rocky bluff [Steamboat Point], we can see steam rising from a great number of hot springs, some apparently at the waters edge (Manuscript, 26).”

Sources

Cook, C. W. “The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone.” Western Monthly, July 1870. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/yell/cramton/appd.htm.

Folsom, D.E., and N.P. Langford. The Folsom-Cook Exploration of the Upper Yellowstone in the Year 1869. St. Paul: H.L. Collins Company, Printers, 1894. https://books.google.com/books?id=t65LAQAAIAAJ.

Folsom, David E., and Charles W. Cook. “The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone.” Typewritten version of the original manuscript draft, ca 1904. Montana State University Library - Collection 2570 - David E. Folsom Papers, 1869-1904. https://www.lib.montana.edu/digital/objects/coll2570/2570-B01-F03.pdf

Haines, Aubrey L. “Yellowstone National Park: Its Exploration and Establishment,” 1974. http://npshistory.com/handbooks/historical/yell/haines/index.htm.

Haines, Aubrey L. The Yellowstone Story: A History of Our First National Park. Revised. Vol. 1. Boulder CO: Yellowstone Association for Natural Science, History & Education, 1996.

Further Research and Reading

Cook, C.W., D.E. Folsom, W. Peterson, and A.L. Haines. The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone: An Exploration of the Headwaters of the Yellowstone River in the Year 1869, as Recorded by Charles W. Cook, David E. Folsom, and William Peterson. American Exploration and Travel Series. University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.

Indian Pond

Elk in velvet standing on Indian Pond sandbar.

Steamboat Point

Photograph taken from Storm Point showing Steamboat Point’s geothermal area across Mary Bay where steam is rising from the Yellowstone Lake shoreline.