Nature's Yellowstone

Bartlett wants to tell the history of Yellowstone from nature's perspective here. Unfortunately, he can't sustain that beyond 100 pages, and so the second half of the book tells the stories of the mountain men and explorers of the region. The book ends with creation of the national park. The first half of the book provides an interesting summary of the geography, fauna and flora of the region. There are some minor errors of natural history scattered throughout, either because Bartlett isn't a scientist or because the book is 35 years old. More important, this part tends to tell a dynamic story in relatively static terms. Bartlett surveys the geology by touring the region clockwise, discussing features created at different times from the perspective of the present. A more historical approach would have told the story chronologically. Similarly, Bartlett tells us of the flora and fauna today rather than providing a historical account of how they evolved in place. So, the first half of the book is a pretty unhistoric history for a historian to have written. The second half of the book plays more to Bartlett's strengths, providing a conventional history of Euro-Americans' confrontations with the Yellowstone. Bartlett scrounged around more fully than other historians do, spending about 100 pages on a story that others will tell in 20-30 pages. He keeps a strong narrative line and tells the story well. Bartlett's stated goal is to make the reader want to have been one of the first (Euro-American) people to have seen the Yellowstone region. He's likely to succeed in this goal, though the people likely pick this book up probably already feel that way.

The book has two main sections. The first is a review of the geographic features. The second is a history up to the creation of the park in 1872. The early history, of fur trappers and explorers, is the meat of the book and is fascinating. I'll admit the book is a bit of a slow read, but I couldn't find any other book with near the detail that's in this one. Strangely, it was not available at the stores in the park when I visited last week.