Yellowstone Park is chiefly in the extreme northwestern part of Wyoming, but a small strip of it some 3 miles in width is in Montana, and it extends about 11 miles into Idaho. It contains 3,300 square miles. It is a national park; that is, it is controlled by the United States Government. A park superintendent has charge of it. He is appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. He has a body of soldiers to enforce his orders. The first visit to the Yellowstone Park of which there is any record was made by John Colter in 1810. Colter was on his way home by himself from the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. He took refuge in what is now the park, to escape from the Indians. A trapper named Joseph Meek, in 1829, visited the region and described its geysers and hot springs. A government expedition in 1859 carefully explored

and charted the district. Finally in 1870 Henry D. Washburn led an exploring expedition into the Yellowstone area and established the facts concerning it. Two years later it was set apart as a public pleasure ground and as a game preserve. You are here looking at the gap of the Golden Gate. This is a narrow valley overtopped by great hills. The view shows the wonderful beauty of the spot in midwinter. They many colored hills, topped with evergreen trees, with the white snow caps about, give a wonderful variety of color. How does the Yellowstone Park compare in size with the state of Delaware? Connecticut? Locate it on your map. Tell something of its history.