When I thought about my March Wednesday in Wyoming posts a couple weeks ago, I had a different theme in mind. But when I learned that March 1, 1872 was a significant date for Wyoming, there was no question what I'd feature this month.
You see, yesterday marked 150 years since President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, turning this corner of Wyoming and bits of Idaho and Montana into the world's first national park.A bit of history: There was already a precedent for preserving areas of natural beauty in the United States. Prior to 1872, Arkansas's Hot Springs had been established as a national reservation, and Yosemite was a state park, but Yellowstone - perhaps because it spanned three states - was the first to receive national protection.
Both Hot Springs and Yosemite later became national parks, but that's another story. This month we're going to celebrate Yellowstone's sesquicentennial.
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