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Yellowstone National Park, located in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, is the oldest and probably best known national park in the United States. When President Ulysses S. Grant signed legislation establishing Yellowstone on March 1, 1872, the population of the three states was 44,712.
The 2010 Census found Wyoming's population had grown to 563,626; Montana's was 989,415; and Idaho was home to 1,567,582.
The 2012 Census of Governments found that federal, state, and local governments employed 418,491 full- and part-time parks and recreation employees and 369,484 natural resource employees.
Census data indicate that the majority of natural resource employees (49.7 percent) worked for the federal government, while 83.6 percent of parks and recreation employees were employed by state and local governments.
President Calvin Coolidge signed legistlation
establishing Grand Teton National Park on
February 26, 1929.
Since Yellowstone became the nation's first national park in 1872, American presidents have signed legislation protecting approximately 768 million acres of land and water within national parks, grasslands, forests and monuments. Preservation of these areas' natural beauty and historical significance is the responsibiltiy of several federal government agencies, including the National Park Service, which oversees 401 national parks and the majority of America's 110 national monuments; the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 154 national forests, 20 grasslands, and 439 wilderness areas; and the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees Washington's San Juan Islands and Arizona's Sonoran Desert national monuments and millions of acres of government-owned land.
February is a significant month for America's wilderness and natural wonders. Many of its most majestic national parks, forests, and monuments celebrate anniversaries this month. Below, you can learn more about these and other protected sites through the statistical data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies.
Utah's Bryce Canyon became a national monument in 1923 and was designated a national park on February 25, 1928.
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.
On February 18, 1907, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that automobile manufacturing grew 461 percent between 1900 and 1905.
The 1905 Census of Manufacturing found that of the 22,830 automobiles built in 1905, 86.2 percent were gas operated, 7.2 percent used steam, and 6.6 percent were driven by electricity.
Early motorists found the nation's road network consisted of little more than muddy cart paths once they drove beyond the borders of major cities. When Horatio Nelson Jackson completed the first transcontinental automobile trip between San Francisco [PDF 15KB] and New York City in 1903, the journey in his 1903 Winton (pictured above) took 63 days to complete! Today, a family can comfortably drive from coast to coast in 3 to 4 days and daring rally drivers have (illegally) made the journey in less than 32 hours!
Interested in the 1790 to 1940 census records of our nation's presidents, movie stars, and other celebrities? Check out our Famous and Infamous Census Records page!
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