| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 36.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the WHQ online. About 244 words from this article are provided below; about 378 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Western Historical Quarterly (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Western Historical Quarterly.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 36.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Myth and History in the Creation of Yellowstone National Park. By Paul Schullery and Lee Whittlesey. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. xv + 125 pp. Illustrations, appendix, notes, index. $22.00; £17.00.)

Paul Schullery and Lee Whittlesey have written a book that explores more than the "campfire myth" and the creation of Yellowstone as the first national park. They examine the myth, of course, as others have done in the past, and then offer convincing evidence that the oft-repeated story does not portray historical reality. This myth would have us believe that members of the expedition known as the Washburn Party convened next to their campfire at the junction of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers on the night of 19 September 1870, and during their fireside conversation, developed the idea that the government should dedicate Yellowstone as a national park for the public. Supposedly, their promotion of this concept then resulted in the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. The once-sacrosanct legend, cherished during the early decades after the founding of the National Park Service (NPS) as evidence of the altruistic impulses of the Washburn Party, encountered challenges as early as the 1930s, for a variety of reasons. It was the painstaking research of Aubrey Haines, NPS historian at Yellowstone in the 1960s, however, that ultimately exposed the story as apocryphal. The authors of this work agree with Haines and offer ample documentary evidence supporting their arguments.

. . .

There are about 378 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.