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Mount Sheridan

Hike to One of the Highest Peaks in Yellowstone

Mountain on Mount Sheridan Trail in Yellowstone NP, Rocky Mountains near Grant Village, WY

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Mount Sheridan is the highest peak in the Red Mountains of Yellowstone National Park. By starting at the Heart Lake Trailhead and ascending the Mount Sheridan Trail, hikers can enjoy a commanding summit view of southern Yellowstone.

Geographic Name Origin

In 1870, members of the Washburn – Langford – Doane Expedition named the peak Brown Mountain, while Lt. Gustavus C. Doane, who escorted them, named it Yellow Mountain. However, in 1871, Captain John W. Barlow ascended the peak and named it Mount Sheridan to honor General Philip Henry Sheridan.

General Sheridan

Sheridan was a celebrated civil war general for the north, the commanding general for the Indian Wars in the west, and ironically an early and effective champion of Yellowstone National Park.

Guided by protecting settlers and the construction of transcontinental railroads after the Civil War, he had a crucial role in the decimation of American Bison herds in order to control the Native Americans on the Great Plains.

Ironically, later, he strongly supported the exploration and protection of the Yellowstone region. Under Sheridan, the army helped explore Yellowstone with Captain Doane’s military escort of the Washburn – Langford – Doane Expedition of 1870 and Captain Barlow’s Expedition of 1871, that accompanied the Hayden Expedition of 1871. President Grant, another Civil War Army General, then created Yellowstone National Park in 1872.

However, by 1875, park vandalism and wildlife slaughter reported by Captain William Ludlow’s Yellowstone Reconnaissance accompanied by naturalist George Bird Grinnell prompted both men to seek military control of Yellowstone, to protect the park and wildlife.

In 1882, with the Department of the Interior still managing the park it proposed granting rights to the Yellowstone Park Improvement Company, an affiliate of the Northern Pacific Railroad, for control of over four thousand acres of land, with the right to build a railroad line into the park, and the right to sell that land to developers. General Sheridan opposed the “development” plan and worked with Missouri Senator George Vest, creating their own “conservation” plan. Sheridan’s plans included increasing the boundaries of the park to include the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, military control of the park upon the request of the Secretary of the Interior, the reduction of Northern Pacific land grant to ten acres, the blocking of the railroad spur line into the park, and protecting Yellowstone’s wonders and wildlife.

In the summer of 1883, Sheridan arranged and accompanied President Chester A. Arthur, Senator Vest, and other high-ranking dignitaries on a trip into Yellowstone. This was Sheridan’s third time inside Yellowstone, and its purpose was to gain political and public support for Senator Vest and the growing Yellowstone conservation efforts.

By 1886, most of Sheridan’s “conservation” plan was in place, except for expanding the size of the park, as Captain Moses Harris, First United States Cavalry, became the first acting Army Era park superintendent on August 20, 1886.

Patterns in the snow on a frozen Yellowstone Lake in front of Mount Sheridan, A. Falgoust (NPS) photograph above.

Historical Presidential Photograph

Seated from left, Montana Gov. Schuyler Crosby, Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan, President Arthur, War Secretary Robert T. Lincoln, Sen. George Vest; standing from left, Lt. Col. Michael Sheridan, Gen. Anson Stager, Capt. Philo Clark, Surrogate of New York Daniel Rollins, Lt. Col. James F. Gregory.

Historical Photographs

Mount Sheridan and Heart Lake. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. ca. 1890. Joseph Paxson Iddings (USGS) photograph below:

On the Web

On Wikipedia

Mount Sheridan el. 10,298 feet (3,139 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.

Sources

Blust, Jr., Dick. “The President Arthur Expedition: The Fishing Trip That Helped Save Yellowstone.” WyoHistory.org, April 29, 2019. https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/president-arthur-expedition-fishing-trip-helped-save-yellowstone.

Hague, Arnold and USGS. “Geological History of the Yellowstone National Park.” Yellowstone, 1912. http://npshistory.com/publications/yell/hague/index.htm.

Hampton, H. Duane. “How the U.S. Cavalry Saved Our National Parks,” 1971. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hampton/contents.htm.

Macdonald, Jim. “The Founding of Yellowstone into Law and into Fact.” The Magic of Yellowstone. Accessed November 3, 2023. https://www.yellowstone-online.com/history/yhtwo.html.

NPS, and Amanda Shaw. “The Superintendents: Captain Moses Harris.” Blog. In the Shadow of the Arch, June 24, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/yell/blogs/the-superintendents-captain-moses-harris.htm.

Whittlesey, L.H. Yellowstone Place Names. Second. Wonderland Publishing Company, 2006.