An Act to Create Yellowstone National Park, March 1, 1872
Surveyers began a campaign to promote and protect the natural wonders of Yellowstone in 1871. They lobbied Congress to protect the land, drawing on the precedent of the Yosemite Act of 1864, with photographs, paintings, and personal accounts. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Granted signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law, creating the first national park.
An Act to Create Yellowstone National Park, March 1, 1872; General Records of the U.S. Government; RG 11