All language subtitles for Yellowstone.One.Fifty.S01E01.1080p.ROKU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-Kitsune

- They didn't expect
to see what they saw,

and when they saw it, they
could never forget it.

Ferdinand Hayden was
hired to lead a team

into the Northwest Territories

and the 32 men headed west.

They weren't here to
protect Yellowstone.

They were here to tear it to
shreds in the name of progress,

gold interests, railroad
barons, the Congress.

Powerful people wanted
this land for themselves.

But something happened during
their three month journey,

and slowly but surely,
their mission changed.

So as we celebrate
the 150th anniversary

of Yellowstone National Park,
we take a look back in time

at the events that led
to the preservation

of this magical place.

Sometimes I think

about the things I'm gonna
miss most when I finally

have to walk away.

Not just my family
that I'll think of,

but it'll be the books I never
read, the music I never hear

and sometimes the stories that
I wished I would've known.

Most of us walk through
life and myself, admittedly,

I do the same thing,

without really getting
below the surface.

When I was younger, I saw
pictures of Yellowstone

and I thought, Could there be
a place like this in the world

where these rivers cut
through these mountains

that were so high and

the animals,

you'd see them by the thousands?

I remember when I got my first
glimpse of the mountains.

I had to take a breath.

I began to understand what
was so special about it.

And when I read what it took
for Yellowstone to be here

so that we could all
enjoy it, I realized

that this was a story that
I suddenly wanted to share.

I think everyone in their
life at some point thinks,

I wanna change the world

but it's rare to actually
come across a true story

of people who did.

This was a time in America
where all people cared about

was what they could
extract from the land,

what they could get out of it.

But these pioneers, they came
up with an entirely new idea,

a new way of finding
value in the land.

I wanna see what they saw.

I wanna see what changed them.

You know, I heard it was
the 150th anniversary

of Yellowstone National Park.

First thing I thought was, how's
a park have an anniversary?

What actually happened
here 150 years ago?

So I started to look into it.

It's just an amazing story.

Back in the early 1870s, all
this land you see around here,

it's being claimed up by miners.

The
stories about this place

started making
their way back east.

Eventually, Congress
caught wind of it.

You guys ready?

Congress commissioned
Ferdinand Hayden

to go investigate Yellowstone.

He recruited some of the best
geologists, cartographers

and zoologists in the world.

He also brought
along a photographer

and a painter to
document their findings.

And the 32 men headed west.

Their mission was twofold, the
search for mineral exploits

that could benefit
the American people

and to find a path
to build a railroad

that would connect
the Mississippi River

to the Pacific Ocean.

They weren't here to
protect Yellowstone.

They were here to tear it to
shreds in the name of progress.

But something happened during
that three month journey.

This place, it did something
to him, got inside him

and slowly but surely started
to change their minds.

And that's why it's still here.

Yeah, she's still here.

The Hayden Expedition
resulted in the creation

of the National Park system,
Yellowstone being the first.

Now there are over
4,000 worldwide

and over two
million square miles

of pristine nature that are
protected from destruction.

Those are some
big boots to fill,

but I'm walking in the
shadow of the pioneers,

following the trail they blazed

as detailed in two journals kept

by members of the expedition

and 10 letters that
Hayden himself wrote.

Does Yellowstone
look the same today

as they described in these
journals 150 years ago?

Let's find out.

The explorers' first
look at Yellowstone

was on the morning of July 16th,

collecting fossils on
one of the mountain peaks

of the Gallatin Range.

They looked south and
saw the Yellowstone River

winding through its
valley in the distance.

They knew they'd arrived.

Fed by runoff from the
snowy mountain peaks,

the Yellowstone River is
the lifeblood of the park.

Nearly 700 miles
from end to end,

it's the longest free
flowing river in America.

No dams have ever
been built on it,

leaving the Yellowstone
every bit as wild

and untamed as it was
when Hayden first saw it.

The Yellowstone
moves east and south

through this part of the park,

before branching off into
a 40 mile long tributary

called the Lamar River.

This leads straight
to the fertile valley

that is the mecca of
Northern American wildlife.

Lamar Valley is often referred
to as the American Serengeti.

The abundant tall grasses and
endless supply of fresh water

is everything the prey species
in the area could ask for.

And as they flood

into a one mile wide and 20
mile long wildlife court,

they're followed by predators
of all shapes and sizes.

The wildlife in Lamar Valley
seemed to have an impact

on the Hayden Expedition.

On one hand, the journal
entries still refer

to the viability of mining the
area, but on the other hand,

they wrote about the
abundance of elk and deer

and more frequent run-ins with
Yellowstone's alpha predator,

the grizzly bear.

Over 700 live within the
park's borders today.

It's a healthy population
and it takes 22,000 pounds

of meat each day to
keep them all fed.

These elk aren't
volunteering for the job

but this hungry
bear doesn't care.

The herd has the
advantage of speed

and the bear can't keep up
his chase for very long.

But in the chaos, a calf
gets separated from the herd.

The calf opts to hide,

and the grizzly searches.

If she moves, she'll be an
easy meal for the grizzly.

She wins this round
of hide and seek.

Mom calls out to
find her offspring.

This is life in
the Lamar Valley.

Hayden and his men weren't
here for wildlife watching

so they had to move on, pushing
further into the unknown.

Sometimes I think about the
spirit of the great explorers,

you know, what it takes to
be the first to do something,

to journey into the unknown.

I mean, these guys
had a job to do

and that was to keep going.

But as they headed south,

they started to hear a
roar in the distance.

Imagine making your
camp right here,

having no idea what
would be waiting

for you to come sunrise.

You know, when you follow
a river for long enough,

you're bound to run
into a waterfall.

The one that the
Hayden party found

on their way was a monster.

At 308 feet tall,
over 60,000 gallons

of waterfall over its
lower falls every second.

You know, the sheer
sight and sound

of the cascading water
was almost too perfect

for the lead geologist
to put into words.

"Standing there, I thought

"how utterly
impossible it would be

"to describe to another
the sensations inspired

"by such a presence.

"A grander scene was never
witnessed by mortal eyes."

Now, how in the hell
are we gonna get down that?

The morning of July 27th,

Albert Peale wrote
in his journal,

"This morning, Elliott and
I started for the falls

"with the intention
of descending

"to the bottom of the canyon,

"a thing which all hunters and
trappers say cannot be done."

The men were given a warning,
but they did not heed it.

They didn't have fancy
climbing gear, no harnesses,

no carabiners, just
ropes made of elk hide

that were known for
snapping when they got wet.

That, and the insatiable
desire to explore.

So they tied the ropes
around their shoulders,

crossed their fingers

and made the 308 foot descent
in just over two hours.

When they finally
reached the canyon below,

Peale wrote,

"All was silent except
the roaring of the water

"as its waves dashed upon
the rock at our feet."

"Far above us,

"the trees along the edge
seemed like a line of grass."

They had arrived in the canyon,

and what a magnificent
canyon it is.

Carved by the river for
the last 160,000 years,

the Grand Canyon of the
Yellowstone is a work in progress.

Today, it's 24 miles long,

1,200 feet in depth,
and 4,000 feet wide.

Tomorrow, it'll be
a little bigger.

Every day, it gets
deeper and wider

as hydrothermal activity
weakens the rock that lines it.

That rock is rich in iron
deposits, which oxidize over time,

giving the canyon the
stunning yellow colors

that swirl inside its walls.

The Minnetaree tribe named
the river Mitseadazi,

which means Yellow Rock River.

When trappers and fur traders
came, they interpreted

that as Yellowstone.

Renowned American
painter Thomas Moran

was part of the
Hayden Expedition.

His job was to capture
the sites they witnessed.

When Hayden sent Moran's
renderings of the falls

and the canyon back east to
Congress, they were speechless.

These golden canyon walls
give the park her name,

and that painting hung in
the US Capitol for 80 years.

At the edge of the
canyon, the hills rise up

and drop back off into
a sprawling basin.

Everything you see here
was once underwater,

trapped for centuries
beneath the flood waters

of the melting Ice Age glaciers.

When the water finally drained,

it left behind 50 square
miles of sub alpine grasslands

that would come to be
named after the pioneers.

This is Hayden Valley,

a stunning open range to behold

and home to one of the most
iconic animals in US history,

the great American bison.

Weighing up to a ton and standing
six feet tall at the hump,

these are the largest
mammals in North America.

And the Yellowstone herd are
the only pure descendants left

of the Asian bison who
migrated across the land bridge

to North America
400,000 years ago.

And in July and August,

right when the Hayden party

was making their way
down these hills,

dust fills the
air in the valley.

The bison run is underway.

Female bison tend to mate
with the most dominant bulls.

This wallowing
behavior by the males

is a display of
power and aggression.

During the mating season,

each bull will lose
around 200 pounds,

dedicating all his
time and energy

to performing for
the potential mates.

It's an interesting ritual,
but highly effective

because in Yellowstone,
the bison are thriving.

And every year,

more and more of these wooly
giants roam the valley.

Fortunately, Mother
Nature has her own way

of balancing the ecosystem.

And while the bison here are
formidable, in Hayden Valley,

the Wapiti Lake Wolf
Pack runs the show.

And bison steak
is on their menu.

At 19 wolves strong,

the pack is of force
to be reckoned with,

and they've fought
off numerous attempts

from other packs to
steal their territory.

With a flourishing population

of over 500 wolves
currently living

in the Yellowstone ecosystem,

it's certain that they'll
be challenged again

and a new pack will reign
supreme over the valley.

It's all part of the natural

and inevitable ebb
and flow of life.

I mean, these guys,
the time they got here,

they must have known
they'd found paradise.

How could you not?

You know, wild game
everywhere, geology everywhere.

Maybe it was right
here where they started

to change their mind
about this place.

Why in the hell would
you build a railroad

through all of this?

During the expedition, Hayden
was sending letters back

to the North Pacific
Railroad Company,

just giving them updates, but
at some point his tone changed

and his communications
became less about logistics

and more about the
beauty all around.

Maybe it was a day
just like this,

right here in this
spot that got to him.

Whether the seeds
of doubt had crept

into their minds or not,

Hayden and his team
were determined

to explore as much of this
alien world as possible.

So they headed in further,
following the river

to the lake that feeds it.

20 miles across and 14
miles wide, Yellowstone Lake

is the largest high
elevation lake in America.

Its 110 miles of coastline

provide unlimited
fresh drinking water

to every species in the
park during the summer.

In winter, the liquid water

is trapped below a sheet
of ice three feet thick.

Holes in the frozen
surface mark spots

where warm water gushes
up from below its geysers

and hot springs rage beneath
the lake's peaceful surface.

It's the result of
Yellowstone's active geology.

It's what gives life to all
the park's geothermal activity.

It's why this alien world looks

like no other place on earth.

And the curiosities
it offers are endless.

Black Dragon's Cauldron,
a boiling mud pot

that burst through
the ground in 1948,

once blasting mud up
to 20 feet in the air.

The cauldron has since cooled

to a steady bubble
along the surface.

Mammoth Hot Springs, formed
over thousands of years

as spring water traveled
underground through a fault line

and then cooled as it
seeped out of the limestone,

depositing calcium carbonate.

Algae in the warm pools
turn the stone shelves

in the travertine terrace
red, green, brown, and orange.

The Grand Prismatic Spring
is the single feature

that took up the most space

in the Hayden
Expedition's Journals.

A mesmerizing site
where water bubbles up

from the Earth's crust.

At 189 degrees in the center,

it's too hot for
anything to live,

giving it the deep blue
color of pure water.

As the water spreads across
the surface, it cools,

allowing thermophilic
bacteria to flourish.

Each ring of color is a
different type of bacteria

that thrives at a
different temperature.

But bacteria aren't
the only life forms

that have adapted to
the unique geology here.

Bison migrate to the
thermals in winter

where heat melts
away the heavy snow,

exposing the grass below.

Cliff swallows come every spring

to make condos out of the
pocked sandstone mounds left

behind by the dormant
hot springs of the past.

The ever morphing geology of
Yellowstone built these homes.

All they have to do is move in.

It must be nice.

You know, it's amazing how
much they all knew so long ago.

They must have all
felt the ground moving,

heard the rock slides in the
distance at night falling.

They all knew something was
pushing from down below.

It took another 100
years to figure out what

was really going on down there.

Kinda wish I didn't sometimes.

We know there's a
volcano down there

and a magma chamber 37
miles long, 18 miles wide

and extending five miles
down into the earth's crust.

Scientists estimate an
eruption could send thousands

of cubic miles of rock and
molten glass into the atmosphere,

creating a cloud of
dust and debris so thick

that no one on earth would
see the sun for years.

That worst case scenario
isn't meant to be terrifying.

It's meant to quantify the power

of the underground boiler

that sits right below the
surface of Yellowstone.

That volcano has only
erupted three times

over the last two million
years, so it's unpredictable,

but the awesome heat
it generates powers one

of the most iconic
landmarks in the US,

one you
can set your watch by.

People come from all
over the world to stand

with eyes wide and
mouths hung open.

It's the most visited
feature in Yellowstone.

This is Old Faithful.

Named for the consistency
of its eruptions,

Old Faithful is a crack

in the earth above an
underground reservoir.

And Yellowstone's searing
geothermal heat keeps

that water steaming
hot 24 hours a day,

filling the chamber
with steam pressure,

pressure that builds and builds,

and roughly every 90 minutes.

After months of
exploring, the Hayden team

had seen some of the most
dazzling sites in the world

and their journals were
filled with attempts

to detail the mind
blowing phenomena

that lay right in their
country's backyard.

They knew immediately
this was a special place,

but then they came
across two prospectors

who'd laid claim
to the entire area.

They were gonna dig
for gold, build a hotel

and market the water as some
sort of magical healing potion.

And the thought of it must
have just crushed Hayden.

He knew that it would
be destroyed soon,

that his children's
children would never see it

unless he did
something about it.

"It requires no stretch
of the imagination

"to see this place in
the near future thronged

"with invalids
drinking this water

"and bathing in it
for their health."

He knew that if he could
protect Yellowstone,

if he could find a
way, that it would rank

with any natural curiosity the
world can produce, his words.

Imagine the pressure
Hayden ,

Hayden must have been
feeling, gold interest,

Congress,

railroad barons,

powerful people wanted
this land for themselves.

He knew the fight
would be uphill

but he also knew that
when you have an idea

and you believe in
it strongly enough,

you can change the world.