Ferdinand V Hayden and Yellowstone National Park

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Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden born in Westfield, Massachusetts, on September 7, 1829.



A more concise history of the man.

The following lifted direct from Wiki

In 1871, Hayden led America's first federally funded geological survey into the Yellowstone region of northwestern Wyoming, given directions by President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of Interior Columbus Delano.[8] The survey consisted of some 50 men which included notables such as painter Thomas Moran and famous frontier/Civil War photographer William Henry Jackson. The following year, Hayden and his work, Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Montana and Portions of Adjacent Territories; Being a Fifth Annual Report of Progress[9] was instrumental in convincing Congress to establish Yellowstone as the first U.S. National Park, aided by Jackson's stunning large-format photographs and Moran's dramatic paintings.

Devil's Den on Cascade Creek by Thomas Moran




Yellowstone River Lower Falls by William Henry Jackson

A party of some fifty men travelled with F. Hayden on the survey, all of some scientific field. Reading the journals of some of those men give fascinating insights into what the area and conditions were like.

Wiki Link to Hayden Geological Survey of 1871



There were a lot of capitalist interest in exploiting the resources to be found in Yellowstone, it is testament to Hayden's powers of persuasion and perhaps passion that he convinced Congress to protect the region.