Indigenous People Were Never “Afraid” Of Yellowstone

Above, indigenous people lived in Yellowstone and used its resources for thousands of years. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Many moons ago, the myth got started that indigenous people were "afraid" of the area that is now known as Yellowstone National Park.

There is evidence that indigenous people actually lived within the area.

National Parks Traveler has posted an article showing how this myth is totally untrue.

They begin with:

A long-told myth about Yellowstone is that indigenous people were “afraid” of the area owing to the geysers and thermal activity. But archaeological evidence and oral histories and even an early map throw cold water on this story.

The Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806 never entered the Yellowstone area, although they were tantalizingly close—on the return journey from the Pacific Ocean, a group led by Captain William Clark passed through present-day Livingston and journeyed down the Yellowstone River from that point. Nevertheless, in Clark’s journal of the expedition, in a section labeled “Notes of Information I believe Correct,” the following passage appears regarding the Yellowstone River:

"At the head of this river the nativs give an account that there is frequently herd a loud noise, like Thunder, which makes the earth Tremble, they State that they seldom go there because their children Cannot sleep—and Conceive it possessed of spirits, who were averse that men Should be near them."

This statement is one of the first mentions of the Yellowstone area by Euro-Americans, and also the first suggestion that indigenous people were somehow afraid of the region. Curiously, the passage was not written at the time of the exploration, but some years later, and it is unclear where Clark obtained this information.

Regardless of from where and when the information arrived with Clark, it’s wrong. Indigenous people have never been afraid of Yellowstone, and in fact lived in the area and used its resources for thousands of years. The evidence for this long association with the Yellowstone region comes from written, oral, and archeological records.

To read more, go here.