What do indigenous people think of Yellowstone?

The Crow Indians called Yellowstone “land of the burning ground” or “land of vapors” while the Blackfeet called it “many smoke.” The Flatheads called it “smoke from the ground.” The Kiowas called it “the place of hot water.” Only the Bannocks had a name that did not call to mind the park's thermal regions: “buffalo ...



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Yellowstone has 40 mountain peaks above 10,000 feet, and we know from Native American testimonies that they were important religious sites. People went there to pray and seek visions by fasting.

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The Indian name for the Yellowstone was Burning Mountains, and it is easy to understand their superstitions. Only when they were pursued and sought refuge to save their lives would parties of Indians come into the Burning Mountains.

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The fictional Broken Rock Indian Reservation is actually the Crow Indian Reservation. The reservation, home of the Crow Tribe, is the largest reservation in Montana, spanning about 3,600 square miles.

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1896 Supreme Court case Ward v. Race Horse decided that the legislation that had established Yellowstone as a national park was the legal foundation for efforts to keep Indians off public land.

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No one “lived” in what is now Yellowstone Park, though obviously, tribes did live in the region, typically at lower elevations. The reason is evident to anyone who has spent any time in the area (which most revisionists have not).

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— There are 27 listed tribes who have historic connections to the lands and resources now found within Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Many think of YNP as an untouched wilderness, but human occupation in YNP goes back 11,000 years ago and includes an important history of indigenous peoples.

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Yellowstone was especially valuable as a source of obsidian, a volcanic glass used to make knives, arrowheads and other tools, and more than 50 ancient obsidian quarry sites have been documented in the park by archeologist Douglas MacDonald.

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Monica is a Native American and lifelong resident of Broken Rock Indian Reservation. Her marriage to Kayce Dutton put the couple in a difficult position between the Yellowstone Ranch, the Dutton family and the Native Americans of Broken Rock.

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Roughly 75 percent of the first three seasons of Yellowstone were filmed outdoors in Utah, only hours from Yellowstone National Park. In addition to Park City, Ogden and Spanish Fork, Yellowstone was also filmed in Heber City, Oakley, Kamas, Grantsville and Logan.

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