Kiowa, Blackfeet, Cayuse, Coeur d'Alene, Shoshone, Nez Perce, and other tribes are all believed to have explored and utilized the park for its abundant resources during some point in their recent history, within the past several hundred years.
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Yellowstone was somewhat of a battle ground for the four tribes who lived around it, the Crows, the Blackfeet, the Bannocks, and the Shoshones.
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.
One of the first settlers to explore Yellowstone was a man named John Colter. He was one of America's first mountain men, living in the wilderness for months at a time, and a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, sent by President Thomas Jefferson to find a route through the American West.
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).
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 ...
Instead, the name was attributed as early as 1805 to Native Americans who were referring to yellow sandstones along the banks of the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana, several hundred miles downstream and northeast of the Park.
In fact, some of the modern trails frequented by hikers in Yellowstone are believed to be relics of Indigenous corridors dating all the way back to roughly 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age when humans first appeared in the archeological record in North America.
The Yellowstone bison herd is a bison herd in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It is probably the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States, estimated in 2020 to comprise 4,800 bison. The bison are American bison of the Plains bison subspecies.
— 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.
55 million to 40 million years agoAt times the volcanoes were violent and covered the countryside with rocks, cinders, and ash. Sometimes the entire Yellowstone region was covered with volcanic debris. Between eruptions, there were often long periods of quiet, long enough for forests to grow.
The Yellowstone supervolcano last erupted about 640,000 years ago. A sleeping giant is nestled in the western part of the United States. Though it stirs occasionally, it has not risen from slumber in nearly 70,000 years.