General Washburn died on January 26, 1871, his death being doubtless hastened by the hardships and exposures of our journey, from which many of our party suffered in greater or less degree.

In an eloquent eulogistic address delivered in Helena January 29, 1871, Judge Cornelius Hedges said concerning the naming of Mount Washburn:


On the west bank of the Yellowstone, between Tower Fall
and Hell-broth springs, opposite the profoundest chasm
of that marvelous river cañon, a mighty sentinel overlooking
that region of wonders, rises in its serene and solitary
grandeur,—Mount Washburn,—pointing the way his enfranchised
spirit was so soon to soar. He was the first to
climb its bare, bald summit, and thence reported to us the
welcome news that he saw the beautiful lake that had been
the proposed object of our journey. By unanimous voice,
unsolicited by him, we gave the mountain a name that
through coming years shall bear onward the memory of
our gallant, generous leader. How little we then thought
that he would be the first to live only in memory. * * *
The deep forests of evergreen pine that embosom that lake
shall typify the ever green spot in our memory where shall
cluster the pleasant recollections of our varied experiences
on that expedition.

The question is frequently asked, "Who originated the plan of setting apart this region as a National Park?" I answer that Judge Cornelius Hedges of Helena wrote the first articles ever published by the press urging the dedication of this region as a park. The Helena Herald of Nov. 9, 1870, contains a letter of Mr. Hedges, in which he advocated the scheme, and in my lectures delivered in Washington and New York in January, 1871, I directed attention to Mr. Hedges' suggestion, and urged the passage by Congress of an act setting apart that region as a public park. All this was several months prior to the first exploration by the U.S. Geological Survey, in charge of Dr. Hayden. The suggestion that the region should be made into a National Park was first broached to the members of our party on September 19, 1870, by Mr. Hedges, while we were in camp at the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers, as is related in this diary. After the return home of our party, I was informed by General Washburn that on the eve of the departure of our expedition from Helena, David E. Folsom had suggested to him the desirability of creating a park at the grand cañon and falls of the Yellowstone. This fact was unknown to Mr. Hedges,—and the boundary lines of the proposed park were extended by him so as to be commensurate with the wider range of our explorations.

The bill for the creation of the park was introduced in the House of Representatives by Hon. William H. Clagett, delegate from Montana Territory. On July 9, 1894, William R. Marshall, Secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, wrote to Mr. Clagett, asking him the question: "Who are entitled to the principal credit for the passage of the act of Congress establishing the Yellowstone National Park?" Mr. Clagett replied as follows:


Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, July 14th, 1894.
Wm. R. Marshall,
Secretary Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn.
Dear Sir: Your favor of July 9th is just received. I
am glad that you have called my attention to the question,
"Who are entitled to the principal credit for the passage
of the act of Congress establishing the Yellowstone
National Park?" The history of that measure, as far as
known to me, is as follows, to-wit: In the fall of 1870,
soon after the return of the Washburn-Langford party,
two printers at Deer Lodge City, Montana, went into the
Firehole basin and cut a large number of poles, intending
to come back the next summer and fence in the tract of
land containing the principal geysers, and hold possession
for speculative purposes, as the Hutchins family so
long held the Yosemite valley. One of these men was
named Harry Norton. He subsequently wrote a book on
the park. The other one was named Brown. He now
lives in Spokane, Wash., and both of them in the summer
of 1871 worked in the New Northwest office at Deer Lodge.
When I learned from them in the late fall of 1870 or
spring of 1871 what they intended to do, I remonstrated
with them and stated that from the description given by
them and by members of Mr. Langford's party, the whole
region should be made into a National Park and no private
proprietorship be allowed.
I was elected Delegate to Congress from Montana in
August, 1871, and after the election, Nathaniel P. Langford,
Cornelius Hedges and myself had a consultation in
Helena, and agreed that every effort should be made to
establish the Park as soon as possible, and before any person
had got a serious foot-hold—Mr. McCartney, at the
Mammoth Hot Springs, being the only one who at that time
had any improvements made. In December, 1871, Mr. Langford
came to Washington and remained there for some
time, and we two counseled together about the Park project.
I drew the bill to establish the Park, and never knew
Professor Hayden in connection with that bill, except that
I requested Mr. Langford to get from him a description of
the boundaries of the proposed Park. There was some
delay in getting the description, and my recollection is
that Langford brought me the description after consultation
with Professor Hayden. I then filled the blank in the
bill with the description, and the bill passed both Houses
of Congress just as it was drawn and without any change
or amendment whatsoever.
After the bill was drawn, Langford stated to me that
Senator Pomeroy of Kansas was very anxious to have the
honor of introducing the bill in the Senate; and as he
(Pomeroy) was the chairman of the Senate committee on
Public Lands, in order to facilitate its passage, I had a
clean copy made of the bill and on the first call day in the
House, introduced the original there, and then went over
to the Senate Chamber and handed the copy to Senator
Pomeroy, who immediately introduced it in the Senate.
The bill passed the Senate first and came to the House,
and passed the House without amendment, at a time when
I happened to be at the other end of the Capitol, and hence
I was not present when it actually passed the House.
Since the passage of this bill there have been so many
men who have claimed the exclusive credit for its passage,
that I have lived for twenty years, suffering from a
chronic feeling of disgust whenever the subject was mentioned.
So far as my personal knowledge goes, the first
idea of making it a public park occurred to myself; but
from information received from Langford and others, it
has always been my opinion that Hedges, Langford, and
myself formed the same idea about the same time, and
we all three acted together in Montana, and afterwards
Langford and I acted with Professor Hayden in Washington,
in the winter of 1871-2.
The fact is that the matter was well under way before
Professor Hayden was ever heard of in connection with
that measure. When he returned to Washington in 1871,
he brought with him a large number of specimens from
different parts of the Park, which were on exhibition in
one of the rooms of the Capitol or in the Smithsonian Institute
(one or the other), while Congress was in session,
and he rendered valuable services, in exhibiting these specimens
and explaining the geological and other features of
the proposed Park, and between him, Langford and myself,
I believe there was not a single member of Congress
in either House who was not fully posted by one or the
other of us in personal interviews; so much so, that the
bill practically passed both Houses without objection.
It has always been a pleasure to me to give to Professor
Hayden and to Senator Pomeroy, and Mr. Dawes of Mass,
all of the credit which they deserve in connection with
the passage of that measure, but the truth of the matter
is that the origin of the movement which created the Park
was with Hedges, Langford and myself; and after Congress
met, Langford and I probably did two-thirds, if not
three-fourths of all the work connected with its passage.
I think that the foregoing letter contains a full statement
of what you wish, and I hope that you will be able
to correct, at least to some extent, the misconceptions
which the selfish vanity of some people has occasioned on
the subject.
Very truly yours,
Wm. H. Clagett.

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It is true that Professor Hayden joined with Mr. Clagett and myself in working for the passage of the act of dedication, but no person can divide with Cornelius Hedges and David E. Folsom the honor of originating the idea of creating the Yellowstone Park.

By direction of Major Hiram M. Chittenden there has been erected at the junction of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers a large slab upon which is inscribed the following legend: