Yellowstone's Northern Range - Greater Yellowstone Science ...

THE NORTHERN RANGE
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earlier time, was an aberration from some imagined
"normal" condition.
The overwhelming testimony of contemporary
travelers and residents that large animals were
common before 1882 offers us an important lesson
in historiography: one must use a large amount of
this anecdotal material in order to gain even a
general impression of conditions. It has been a
common tactic among supporters of the scarceungulate
viewpoint to quote a few notable early
accounts that can be used to suggest wildlife
scarcity. For example, at one point during his first
survey season in the park (1871), Ferdinand
Hayden said that "our hunters returned, after
diligent search for two and a half days, with only a
black-tailed deer, which, though poor, was a most
important addition to our larder" (Schullery and
Whittlesey 1992). This quotation is usually
invoked by writers attempting to prove that wildlife
was rare prior to 1872 (Chase 1986). But Hayden's
next sentences belie that argument: "It seems that
during the summer months of August and September
the elk and deer resort to the summits of the
mountains, to escape from the swarms of flies in
the lowlands about the lake. Tracks of game could
be seen everywhere, but none of the animals
themselves were to be found."
There is a consistent pattern to most of these
early accounts, of considerable animal abundance.
Nothing short of a full quoting of all sources makes
the point completely, but a few examples (focusing
on elk) may be offered here to suggest the reason
why almost all early observers believed large
animals were common (all of these are quoted from
SchullelY and Whittlesey 1992, who provide full
citations). Trapper Joe Meek said that in 1830, the
Yellowstone National Park area "abounded not
only in beaver, but in buffalo, bear, elk, antelope,
and many smaller kinds of game:' In August,
1837, trapper Osborne Russell, who made many
observations of abundant wildlife, entered the park
area from the east and traveled to Yellowstone
Lake, "where we found the whole country swarming
with Elk .... " In 1863, a large party of trappers
under Walter DeLacy "encountered many bands of
elk" on the west side of the Gallatin Mountain
Range in the present park. In 1869, David Folsom
camped on Rescue Creek, east of Mount Everts,
where he wrote in his diary that "this is a hunter's
paradise. We saw the tracks of elk, deer and sheep
in great abundance, and for several miles were
scarcely out of sight of antelope." In camp one
September night near Calfee Creek in the upper
Lamar Valley, his party heard "the elk whistling in
every direction." Between 1866 and 1871,
prospector A. Bart Henderson frequently traveled
in the park area, reporting in his unpublished diary
on an abundance of wildlife, especially elk. Kay
(1990) attempted to discredit Henderson as an
unreliable observer, but Henderson's observations
are buttressed by others. For example, in July,
1870, moving from Pilot Peak to the Lamar Valley,
Henderson reported in his diary that his party
traveled through "buffalo, elk & bear-all very
tame." More recent research has revealed that one
of Henderson's companions, James A. Gourley,
also kept a diary, which reported on the same
occasion that when they entered the Lamar Valley,
"there were hundreds of Elk so tame that they only
moved a little distance to the side of us." In 1870,
the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition, though
sometimes unsuccessful in their attempts to kill
game, repeatedly emphasized the abundance of
wildlife in the area, as in Langford's observation
that "the river is filled with trout, and bear, elk,
deer; mountain lions and lesser game roam the
plains, forest and mountain fastnesses," and
Hedges' comment near Mount Washburn that there
was "plenty of good feed and so of game, bear and
elk very plenty." South of Yellowstone Lake,
Doane observed that "the ground was trodden by
thousands of elk and sheep." In 1872, C.c.
Clawson reported that near Yellowstone Lake, "elk
in bands flew away at the sight of us or stood in
groups until the crack of the riffle [sic.)."
These are only a few representative reports of
elk abundance, involving all parts of the park rather
than just the northern range, but they serve to show
how common the experience of encountering elk or
evidence of elk was among early travelers. The
fact that some or even several observers did not see
wildlife proves only that they were unsuccessful at
doing so; it does not necessarily prove that the
wildlife was not there, any more than the success