1908 Map of Gallatin

About this map

Mammoth Hot Springs and the administrative hub at Fort Yellowstone anchor the northern landscape of this 1908 edition, which preserves the early infrastructure of America's first national park. The survey, conducted primarily between 1883 and 1885 under George Otis Smith, documents the established Hotel sites and thermal features long before the modern tourism boom. In the southern half, the Lower Geyser Basin is mapped with high specificity, naming individual vents like Surprise Geyser and Fountain Geyser. The transition from the high Madison Plateau to the hydrothermal activity at Norris Geyser Basin illustrates the early scientific interest in the region's unique geology. Named features like Gibbon Falls and the Continental Divide provide clear navigational markers for early wilderness exploration.