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Yellowstone ‘lake music’ remains mystery a century after written reports

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Some Yellowstone National Park visitors have reported hearing odd sounds in the skies above Yellowstone Lake on clear days in the early mornings. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge)

Yellowstone Lake and the rugged backcountry that surrounds it is a place where millions go seeking solitude and silence. Yet it in a well-documented but rarely discussed phenomenon, some visitors to the Lake area have experienced remarkable celestial sounds of unknown and unexplained origin. There are several descriptions in the historical record — as well as many more from popular anecdotal accounts — of strange sounds or "lake music" coming from the skies around Yellowstone Lake and Shoshone lake. Continue Reading →

Filed under: People, Yellowstone, chittenden, history, lake music, lee whittlesey, shoshone lake, sounds

U.S. Army played critical early role in history of Yellowstone

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The U.S. Army regulars in Yellowstone were generally a coarse bunch, trained on the western plains. At a monthly salary of $13, they were motivated less by pay than by “the tug of adventure.” They established the protective cover the park needed at the time to maintain its integrity as a preserve for nature and a playground for the public. Continue Reading →

Filed under: History, Yellowstone, army, bison, history, history of yellowstone, trending, yellowstone history

‘No Boiling Live Fish in the Fishing Cone at Lake Yellowstone’

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Every Yellowstone angler knows that casting a line inside the park comes with a host of unique restrictions aimed at protecting fragile and pristine rivers and fisheries. Fishing in Yellowstone must yield to a complex web of interdependent species, as well as seasonal spawning cycles, the crush of summer visitors and a host of other factors. Some modern fishermen may chafe under the regulations, but few new fishing rules in Yellowsotne are likely to make national headlines today. It was a different story a century ago, when the Nov. 24, 1911 edition of the Northern Wyoming Herald carried a story from Washington, D.C. detailing the newly announced prohibition of the beloved practice of boiling just-caught fish from Yellowstone Lake in the Fishing Cone hot spring in the West Thumb Geyser Basin. Continue Reading →

Filed under: History, fish, fishing cone, history, hot springs, thermal, trending, west thumb