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Absaroka Range

Volcanic Mountains Older Than Yellowstone

Range in Shoshone NF, Washakie Wilderness, Rocky Mountains near Meeteetse, WY

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On Wikipedia

The Absaroka Range ( or locally ) is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about 150 mi (240 km) across the Montana-Wyoming border, and 75 miles at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Valley (Montana), and the western side of the Bighorn Basin. The range borders the Beartooth Mountains to the north and the Wind River Range to the south. The northern edge of the range rests along I-90 and Livingston, Montana. The highest peak in the range is Francs Peak, located in Wyoming at 13,153 ft (4,009 m). There are 46 other peaks over 12,000 ft (3,700 m).

Absaroka Volcanoes

Millions of years before the Yellowstone caldera arrived and shaped the landscape, another larger volcano complex east of Yellowstone existed at Sunlight Basin, WY .

The Absaroka volcanoes were active 53 to 43 million years ago, after the uplift of the Rocky Mountains but before the geologically recent arrival of the Yellowstone hotspot about 2 million years ago.

— USGS

Absaroka volcanic landscape near Yellowstone National Park’s East Entrance:

Geographic Place Name

Officially named honoring Crow Native Americans in 1885 by the USGS. The word Absaroka has a storied and confusing past .

Absaroka has been interpreted to mean “Bird People”, “Crow”, and “Children of the Large-Beaked Bird” and probably either Crow or Hidatsa in origin. Difficult to pronounce, Absaroka is locally pronounced ab-ZORE-kuh. Oddly, the Crow bird referred to might possibly be be the larger beaked Raven. Even H. M. Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park’s historian found the USGS politics for Absaroka multi storied:

This range of mountains has had an unfortunate christening history. It was first known as the Yellowstone Range, from its close relation to the Yellowstone River, of which it is the source. The original name dates from as far back as 1863, and was adopted by the first explorers of the Park country. It was officially recognized in 1871, by both the Corps of Engineers and the United States Geological Survey. When the Park was created this range became its real eastern boundary, and many of its peaks were named for those who had borne prominent parts in its history. The name had thus an added claim to perpetuity. It passed into general use, and appears in all the writings of the United States Geological Survey down to 1883.

— Chittenden page 289

In 1873, Captain W. A. Jones, of the Corps of Engineers, led an expedition through these mountains – the first that ever crossed them. He gave them a new name, “Sierra Shoshone.” Except for the fact that he was violating the rule of priority, his action in giving this name, as well as his judgment in its selection, were of unquestionable propriety. It was a tribe of the Shoshonean family who alone dwelt in the Park, or among these mountains, and it was entirely fitting to commemorate this fact in a distinct and permanent manner. The name passed rapidly into public use, and by 1880 had practically supplanted the original name.

— Chittenden page 290

For reasons that can hardly be made to appear satisfactory, the United States Geological Survey, in 1883, or soon after, rejected both these names and adopted in their place Absaroka, “the Indian name of the Crow nation” (Hague). Of course this action can have no pretense of justification from the standpoint of the “rigid law of priority.” There are very few instances in American geography of a similar disregard for the rights of previous explorers. Unfortunately, not even the argument of appropriateness can be urged in its defense. These mountains, except that portion north of the Park, were never properly Crow territory, and the name is thus distinctly an importation. Its future use is now unhappily assured, on account of its formal adoption (for reasons wholly inadequate, it is true,) by the United States Board on Geographical Names. Against the influence of the government, with its extensive series of publications, even though committed to the perpetuation of an error, it is idle to contend; but it is greatly to be deplored that a feature of the Park scenery of such commanding prominence should not bear a name at least remotely suggestive of some natural or historical association.

— Chittenden page 290

Absaroka Range Photographs

Francs Peak with an elevation 13,153 ft is the highest peak in the Absaroka Range viewed from the Greybull River Valley west of Meeteetsee, WY:

Absaroka Range with alpenglow (indirect sunlight reflected or diffracted by the atmosphere after sunset or before sunrise) viewed from Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley. The Lamar Buffalo Ranch is in the foreground:

Absaroka Range skyline near Livingston, Montana:

Sunset over the Absarokas on an icy Yellowstone Lake:

Views of the Absarokas from Avalanche Peak, A. Falgoust (NPS) photograph:

Sunset over Pelican Creek and the Absaroka Range, A. Falgoust (NPS) photograph:

Sources

Chittenden, Hiram Martin. Yellowstone National Park. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company, 1895. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42112/42112-h/42112-h.htm.

USGS. “The Other Volcanic Range in the Yellowstone Region: The Absarokas.” Accessed November 4, 2023. https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/other-volcanic-range-yellowstone-region-absarokas.