First Camp Site of Hayden's 1871 Yellowstone Survey

First Camp Site of Hayden's 1871 Yellowstone Survey. . Ogden High School's location is tied to the history of America's first national park, Yellowstone. Scientist Ferdinand Hayden, the leader of one of the four historic Great Surveys conducted in the American West, traveled on the newly opened Transcontinental Railroad in early 1871 from the eastern United States to Ogden, Utah. He organized the "First Camp of the Survey" at this location which kicked off a three-month expedition to survey what is today's Yellowstone National Park. , , How do we know this is the campsite location? This photograph of the 1871 camp contains some clues. Look carefully at the foreground and background perspectives of the Wasatch mountains. You will notice that the summit of Mt. Ogden is just hidden from view behind Malan's Peak in the photograph. A flowing creek also appears in the photograph and the original drainage from Taylor Canyon flowed down the path near today's 28th Street. , , Hayden's mission, with a salary of $4,000, as directed and funded by the United States federal government, was to explore and map the headwaters of the Missouri River and Yellowstone River in the Idaho, Montana, and northwest Wyoming territories. , , Hayden assembled a team and led the expedition consisting of 36 members, possessing many capabilities including surveyors, artists, map maker, botanist, meteorologist, mineralogist, physician, zoologist, secretary, cook, wagon master, and other trades. The expedition departed June 8, 1871 from the Ogden campsite and traveled 300 miles north by horse and wagon, closely following today's 1-15 Interstate Highway until reaching Wyoming. They proceeded to map and document the Yellowstone region through the summer months until September 1871. , , Hayden wrote this in his reports near the survey's conclusion: , We made a most admirable survey of the Yellowstone basin...and all is well with us. We are moving along pleasantly without accident or Interruption. We perform a good days work every day. We have not lost a day from storms or anything else since we left Ogden in June last. , , Famous western photographer William Henry Jackson and painter Thomas Moran were expedition members and their art from Yellowstone excited the nation. Scientist Hayden's great survey and the detailed reports he produced profoundly influenced public opinion. The following year, March 1872, the United States Congress declared Yellowstone as the first national park. To date, 153 years later there are 428 national parks which receive over 300 million annual visits. The Ogden camp located here in 1871 marked the beginning of one of America's best ideas, our public national parks. , , (photo captions) Thomas Moran, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 1872 National Statuary Hall, Moran wrote in a letter to Hayden that "I cast all my claims to being an artist, into this one picture of the Great Canyon." , , Second Camp of the Survy 1872 The expedition returned to Ogden the following year. , , William Henry Jackson, photograph of Great Falls of the Yellowsone, 1872 Library of Congress. , , This plaque was dedicated June 8, 2024.