Yellowstone National Park (1949)

If I had come out here in 187, I might have found it myself. But John Cer saw it first. He came out here all by himself, looking for beaver. He saw the gray mud bubbling and the steam hissing out of the rocks and went back all excited and told the folks about it. And they called him a first class liar. 61 years later, the Washburn expedition found out that John Cer had told the truth. It was all here, only more so. The bigness of the place gave them a big idea and they went back to Washington with this big idea and the government thought it was good. In 1872, Coulter's Hell was made into the first national park called Yellowstone, dedicated and set apart as a pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. So, the people had a beautiful park, all right, but for a long time, most of them couldn't get to see it. The roads had been built for the horse and buggy, and up till 1915, no cars were allowed. But pretty soon, it seemed everybody had a car. And then came the highways. You know, watching the cars roll in from every part of the country. Even an old ranger like myself begins to wonder what it's like in cities like San Francisco or Chicago. Come the end of this season, I'm going to do just what they're doing. Take a trip. Only I'm going to reverse the procedure. Take the road out of here. Been promising myself that for the last 20 years. And by golly, this time I'm going to do it. Oh well, that's not till next fall. The roads open up in May after the winter snows and we rangers check in a million and a half people through the gates and give them all the same story. Three bucks entrance fee. Don't feed the bears. Prevent forest fires. Five fish a day. But we're glad to see you roll in. The bears are glad to see you too and come down to say hello. Yes, the bears are friendly. And right away, a lot of people forget our advice. Every season, it's the same. We print a couple of thousand signs that tell you not to feed the bears and stay at a safe distance. And every season, people take one look at these signs and go right ahead and do as they please. Sure, the bears are cute. All right. But what do you say you stay in your cars? It's safer there. And the most that can happen is the loss of a little [Music] paint. If you feel you just have to feed something, pick yourself a little bit of an animal. Say a chipmunk. Well, the rush is on and the folks who roughed it out here by stage coach 75 years ago would be mighty astonished if they could see the motorc car swarming into the park today. They've come from all over the map, driving thousands of miles in just a few days and thinking nothing of it. Looking at the different license plates always gives me the itch to get going. Yes, sir. This fall I'm going to head for Michigan or maybe New York. Out here you can have your choice of where you'd like to stay. In a hotel like the one at Mammoth Hot Springs or Old Faithful Inn, you can stay in the cottages or in the inexpensive cabins where you can keep your budget down and maybe stay a little longer. [Music] A few preferred to bring their private hotel with them. They like the feeling of being on their own, close to nature, and still have [Music] comfort. These are the people the park was set aside for. They're young and old. They've come from east, west, north, and south. I used to play a game trying to pick out what part of the country different people came from. I was wrong so often I finally gave up. Decided it didn't matter. It's the same with office workers or farmers. When they get into open country, they all do about the same things. [Music] Of course, it's easy enough to spot samples of that great institution, the average American [Music] family. You are about to witness the eruption of the famous geyser faithful. In a minute, there will be 10,000 gallons of water shooting up into the air. That's Fred up there with a megaphone. Gives quite a spiel. Vital statistics on geysers. Old faithful discovered in 1870. Let's offer blast around 115, 150 ft high. Last 2 to 5 minutes. Been spouting once an hour for 250 years. But you know, every time Fred gives the spiel, he gets nervous. Suppose she doesn't spout. Think how foolish she'd feel up there in front of all those people. Well, she's about do. The water's been collecting in caverns under the rock. The volcanic heat has brought it to a boil. The pressure is building up. [Music] Relax, Fred. You've made it again. [Music] Fred goes off to show his bunch the rest of the geyser basin. The tour takes them over the boards where the earth's crust is too thin to walk on. Wherever you look, there's water bubbling. You can have a geyser from the size of a dime to the big boys like Old Faithful or Grand. 4 million years ago, I sound like Fred, things were even hotter around these parts. The Earth cracked open and outpoured molten lava. The lava cooled and hardened into rot. But whatever was down there stayed hot. Not even the ice age could cool it. In fact, it's still hot as a furnace down there, or you wouldn't see all these geysers blowing off like steam out of a busted boiler. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Yes, it's a strange place. Lots of things about it set you wondering, like the color of the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs. The color actually comes from millions of tiny plants that live in the hot water. Or take the water itself. It can be awful, but it's at work all the time changing the contour of the region. It flows down over the surfaces of the rock and slowly wears them away. And the small rivullets join together and become streams, then rivers. And the rivers cut deeper and deeper into the rock, century after century. And the water rushes faster and faster through the canyons and falls down over steep cliffs. And the people come to watch how beautiful it is. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] The falls are impressive, all right, but to a lot of people, the most important thing about water in Yellowstone is the fact that fish live in it, or you can run a boat on it. Here at Fishing Bridge, you can do a little of each. We get two types of fishermen in the park. I guess you could call the first the gregarious or elbowto- elbow type. With them, fishing is a social event. On fishing bridge, they tangle lines, stand around and pass the time of day, and drop so many hooks in the water that a fish can't get past without hooking himself. [Music] Then there's the solitary type. Very antisocial. Won't even say hello to a friendly elk. [Music] When visitors first come to the park, they have a tendency to herd together and go on the guided tours. But I noticed that after a few days, they get restless and independent and wander off to see what they can discover for themselves. [Music] High up here on these hills, back off the main roads, you might be in unexplored territory. The place is full of unexpected things that give you a clue to the animals that pass this way. You might find old elk antlers bleached by the sun and the rain. Or if you go quietly, live antlers moving in the forest. Sometimes when I walk quietly through the forest watching the animals, Uncle Coulter must have felt when he first came here. I know because it's the same now as it was then. This land has been set aside as a sanctuary for its wildlife to be an unchanging part of America. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] One cigarette, one spark from a campfire. That's all it takes. And it will be 50 years before trees stand as high as these once did. 50 years for a single moment of carelessness. If people would only stop and think. Autumn comes before you know it. Gets dark early now. Only a few people left on the old fishing bridge. The water turns darker blue and the boats float empty except for one or [Music] two. Now the beach belongs to the moose and her calf. The fisherman casts a last fly on the river. It's the end of the season now. The bear turns away from the road and heads back into the woods, beginning to think of sleep and the long winter. [Music] Snow already lies on the foothills. And coming up the steep slope, I can see the tracks of coyotes in the snow. It's cold and [Music] quiet. The buffalo are hering up in the valley. Guess I'll take a look. Maybe make a count. Everybody seemed to have a good time. Especially the kids. 23 24. Guess they're sitting home way off somewhere by now telling their friends about the geysers and the animals and all the other things they saw. Kind of pretty out here. Guess I'll take that trip next year. There's no hurry. No hurry at all. [Music]