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.

    JUNCTION
    OF THE
    GIBBON AND FIREHOLE RIVERS,
    FORMING THE MADISON FORK OF THE MISSOURI.