Time Traveling Through Yellwstone: Yellowstone National Park marks its sesquicentennial this year. So, what was it like for the first white men to see a landscape the Crow Indians called "Land of Burning Ground"?

• Author: Galloway, D.A.
• Position: LITERARY SCENE

THOMAS MORAN picked up his sketchbook and showed Graham his partially colored but incomplete field sketch. The artist used the same technique for Castle Geyser as he used for Grand Prismatic Spring; he had penciled reference notes directly on the sketch so he could complete the landscape scene later.

Graham mentally compared William Henry Jackson's black-and-white image of Castle Geyser with Moran's interpretation of the same thermal feature. His sketch approximated reality, but Graham now understood the artist's purpose was not to replicate it. He had taken liberties and created an ethereal scene that romanticized the landscape. Most notably, Moran's sketch showed Castle Geyser spouting a narrow stream of hot water into the partly cloudy Wyoming sky. Yet, the geyser had not erupted during the time it was being photographed and sketched.

The images and sketches created from the serendipitous partnership of Jackson and Moran would prove decisive in persuading legislators to set aside this wilderness area as the country's first national park. Their collective works were truly complementary. While Moran's magnificent paintings and illustrations brought the majestic features of Yellowstone to life, Jackson's photographs proved me artistic renditions existed.

"Very striking!" Graham said admiringly.

Thank you. I will join the group as soon as I store my paints.

Graham strode over to the photography site and assisted Jackson with the arduous task of loading and securing the heavy boxes and supplies on the mule.

"Actually, we have a very short walk," Jackson said. "Those steam vapors you see over the treetops in the distance are coming from Old Faithful. That's where we're headed next. I suggest we walk the mules and horses."

When Jackson's group arrived at the thermal feature named the previous year by the Washburn expedition, numerous other survey members were standing or sitting near the base of the quiet geyser. Albert Peale was diligently collecting water samples and taking temperatures. Henry Elliott was sitting on a log sketching the view. Several members of the Barlow group were admiring the landscape. A small cadre of cavalry soldiers was mounted on horses behind the civilians, content to enjoy the view and obey their captain's orders to keep a safe distance from anything in the geyser basin.

"I can't take a good photograph. There are too many people," Jackson complained.

Many visitors would be saying similar words in 100 years, often with a few expletives added as color commentary. Graham had seen the broad, semicircular boardwalk around the southern half of the popular geyser stacked six people deep with...