On July 12, 2017, the staff at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center (HRC) took a tour of the park to present a brief history of specific sites and topics along the way. Following the Grand Loop Road Historic District, added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2003, the HRC staff conducted presentations to educate co-workers on a broader history of Yellowstone National Park. The tour allowed us to learn interesting facts about the park, all while navigating through a sea of crazed tourists, jaywalking bison, and a lone grizzly.
For my portion of the tour, I discussed the Tukudika, a native tribe inhabiting the Yellowstone area before the arrival of frontiers people and western expansion (check out my Tukudika blog for more info on this particular Shoshone Band). I choose to present on the Tukudika at Obsidian Cliff, located on the Grand Loop, for the Mountain Shoshone considered it to be a sacred place, and the location of where they mined obsidian to make tools and weapons. I used documentary books and historical objects to complete my research, all of which is housed at the HRC. It was a great opportunity to network with others, learn more about the park, and talk about an important aspect of Yellowstone’s history. And hey, who doesn’t like to mingle with bison?
For more information on amazing projects being performed by the Public Lands History Center of Colorado State University, please check out our website at: http://publiclands.colostate.edu/
Yellowstone Heritage 