Yellowstone

"This history explores the conflicted creation of Yellowstone National Park in the late nineteenth century. Post - Civil War Americans legally set aside the Yellowstone to exalt its natural beauty and sublimity but profaned the wilderness with destructive natural resource extraction. To increase passenger and freight traffic over its line, the Northern Pacific Railroad simultaneously codified the sublimity of the Yellowstone wilderness, invested in tourist facilities, promoted the consumption of its scenery, and encouraged the extraction of raw materials. Park defenders successfully battled hunters and miners within Yellowstone boundaries, but they challenged neither park tourism nor nearby industrial development. The consequences now threaten the park's ecological health. The author keys his analysis to fifty-four photographs, illustrations, and maps to demonstrate how the railroad and advertisers helped to create the ultimate American landscape."--BOOK JACKET.