A Missing Piece of a Yellowstone Puzzle: The Tangled Provenance of the Cook-Folsom-Peterson Yellowstone Expedition Diary

Abstract

This essay attempts to unravel the complicated story of the 1869 Yellowstone area expedition of Charles W. Cook, David E. Folsom, and William Peterson. The first of three expeditions, this was the most successful exploration of the rumored wonders of what would be Yellowstone National Park. Though fire, neglect, mishandling and a disbelief of the wonders of the Upper Yellowstone Valley all threatened the manuscript from the expedition, this article pieces together the provenance of the Cook-Folsom--Peterson diaries.