Vol 3, # 30

   Wednesday, March 17, 1999

YELLOWSTONE
WEATHER
Highs 30s, Lows 20s
Partly Cloudy
 

Yellowstone Net Home Page

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (YNET)-- The internet is a continually-evolving medium, and the people who make the Yellowstone Net website (www.yellowstone.net) realize the need to make their website an ever-compelling experience for the internet community. 

This week marks the latest evolution of the Yellowstone Net website:  the incorporation of RealNetwork's G2 video streaming technology as the focal point of the visitor experience.  Yellowstone Net is the pioneer in bringing Yellowstone National Park on video to the internet community, and with the latest edition of the internet site, Yellowstone's beauty and majesty are just a mouse click away to the many millions of internet users.

The man behind the camera -- and the designer of the new Yellowstone Net homepage -- is Russ Finley, one of the world's top outdoor photographers.  Russ' work has appeared in numerous magazine and has been featured in many television specials.  His latest video, released this past December, is Russ Finley's Winter in Yellowstone.

Although internet visitors do not have to have the G2 browser plug-in in order to view and utilize the Yellowstone Net website, the streaming video capabilities which G2 features adds immensely to the online Yellowstone experience.  The homepage gives internet users who do not currently have the free G2 plug-in the opportunity to download and install G2 on their own computers.

"The new video-centered Yellowstone Net homepage creates a new standard for outdoor-related internet sites," declares Yellowstone Net co-owner Clint Wilkes.  "The days of the static internet site are limited."

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer
Dr. Robert Bara

BELGRADE, Mont. (YNET) -- I have gotten several emails from folks telling me how much they enjoy reading Ruth Colter-Fricks monthly columns. Well, so do I!!!!!  I don't see the columns until they come out for everyone else to read. I've tried to get my partner Bruce to let me take a "peek" at them whenever Ruth emails them to him, but he just gives me a smile and says "no." I think being   "Editor" has made him power crazy! (Other than that he's a really nice guy.)

Ruth is the great/great/great/great/ granddaughter of John Colter one of the 31 Members of the Corp of Discovery that made up the Lewis & Clark Expedition. She has a writing style that to me reads like you are watching an Indiana Jones movie! Check out her book and contact your local library and ask them to get it in stock.

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NOTE:   We have received numerous inquiries in recent months regarding the "Army Years" of Yellowstone's history.  This is the first of a multi-part series documenting the Army Years, 1886-1917.  The text of this series is that of  the National Park Service.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (NPS) --  The nationally significant Fort Yellowstone-Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District is in the northwestern portion of Yellowstone National Park on an old hot springs formation. The buildings on this plateau represent the first development of administrative and concession facilities in the park.

For the decade after 1872 when Yellowstone National Park was established, the park was under serious threat from those who would exploit, rather than protect, its resources. Poachers killed animals. Souvenir hunters broke large pieces off the geysers and hot springs. Developers set up camps for tourists, along with bath and laundry facilities at hot springs. Civilian superintendents were hired to preserve and protect this land from 1872 through 1886. The good intentions of these early administrators, however, were no match for their lack of experience, funds and manpower. Word got back to Congress that the park was in trouble and legislators refused to appropriate any funds for the park's administration in 1886.

Yellowstone National Park turned to the U.S. Army for help. Invoking the Sundry Civil Act of 1883, the Secretary of the Interior called upon the Secretary of War for assistance in protecting the park. The Army came to the rescue and in 1886 men from Company M, First United States Cavalry, Fort Custer, Montana Territory under Captain Moses Harris came to Yellowstone to begin what would be more than 30 years of military presence in Yellowstone.

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Billings, Mont. (YNET) -- John Colter was a companion of Alexander Willard as they traveled from Camp Dubois to the Pacific Ocean with the Corps of Discovery during the years 1804 - 1806. They were together under the command of Sgt. John Ordway. They rowed, poled and pulled the keelboat up the Missouri river to the Mandan villages where they spent the winter in 1804 - 05. They hunted and scouted together , built canoes, and paddled them up and down rivers together. Colter and Willard shared many of the same experiences as they traveled with Lewis and Clark.

Alexander Hamilton Willard was born in New Hampshire. It is possible that he knew John Ordway before the expedition, because they were both from the same state and area. Willard was in the Corps of Artillerists having enlisted June 9, 1800 and was stationed at Kaskaskia under the command of Capt. Amos Stoddard. Capt. Meriwether Lewis recruited him for the expedition even though his enlistment expired in 1805. Lewis agreed to pay him from January 1, 1804 and to discharge him on their return to St. Louis.

George Drouillard and Willard left St. Charles and traveled by land, while the rest of the party traveled up the Missouri river in a keelboat and two pirogues. They joined the main party near Tavern Cave in what is Franklin County, Missouri today.

It was reported in the Journals that Willard killed 2 deer and 2 bears on June 16th 1804. His skill as a blacksmith became known and he was extremely valuable to the Corps to make repairs to equipment, and tools for trading with the Indians. He was able to barter with the Indians for a bearskin which he gave to William Clark.

Willard, Colter and Shannon were proficient in handling a canoe in the white water and high waves. They were able to maneuver and find a safe landing place when others had tried and failed. Willard brought whale blubber from a beached whale to share with the party back at camp. Colter and Willard were together at the salt making camp below the Columbia river near Seaside, Oregon. They hunted elk together, and could not get back to camp, and spent a rainy night without shelter. That experience, along with a badly wounded thigh from a cut by a tomahawk, caused Alexander Willard to be very sick for several weeks. The rainy, inclement weather and the poor diet of the party probably hamperd his recovery.

Alexander Willard did have his share of bad luck or problems. He received 100 lashes on his bare back for lying down and sleeping while on guard duty. He confessed that he was lying down, but not sleeping! He received 25 lashes for 4 consecutive days. His gun was taken by an Indian as he lie sleeping. That may be an indication of the complete exhaustion of some of the men during their trip. Another example of tiredness, may have caused him to leave a tomahawk at the last campsite, and he had to travel back to retrieve it.

Both Colter and Willard sold their Land Warrants that the government granted them to John G. Comegys, a land speculator.

Willard was hired by the government as a blacksmith for the Sauk and Fox Indians at their trading post. He married Eleanor McDonald and lived in Franklin County, Missouri before moving to Wisconsin.

Alexander Hamilton Willard died at age 88 years in Sacramento County, California.

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