Yellowstone was a mess. Vandals chopped down ancient geyser cones for souvenirs, and poachers slaughtered the last remaining wild bison herds for their hides. The civilian administrators couldn't stop them. So, the US Army rode in to save the park in 1886. Soldiers established Camp Sheridan, later rebuilding it as Fort Yellowstone with permanent, red-roofed stone quarters at Mammoth Hot Springs. They stayed for thirty years.
It wasn't a cushy post. Cavalrymen spent brutal winters patrolling the geothermal wilderness on heavy wooden skis, battling frostbite in forty-below zero temperatures to protect the geysers and elk. In 1894, they caught a notorious poacher named Edgar Howell skinning bison. His arrest made national headlines and pushed Congress to pass the Lacey Act, which finally gave teeth to wildlife preservation laws. Actually, the modern National Park Service ranger system grew directly out of these military patrol tactics. Strict, regimented, and highly effective.
The Army handed the keys to the newly created National Park Service in 1918. Today, the fort still stands. Walk through Mammoth Hot Springs, and you will see the officers' quarters, the barracks, and the old guardhouse. They aren't dusty museum exhibits, though. Yellowstone administrators still use these sturdy, yellow-stone buildings as their primary headquarters. Conservation history in active use.
