Jay Cooke and the Yellowstone

 

The recent popularity of “Yellowstone” and Kevin Costner’s appearance on Fox Nation brings to mind the first efforts to make Yellowstone a tourist attraction. It all began with Jay Cooke, born in Sandusky, Ohio and known as the financier of the Civil War. Following the war, the wealthy Cooke invested his fortune in building the Northern Pacific Railway. With Duluth as its hub, Jay hoped to push the railroad ever westward. Transporting products to and from the West was not the only thing on Cooke’s mind. He believed he could develop tourist destinations along the Northern Pacific route.

 He learned that in March 1871the government had allocated $40,000 to geologist Ferdinand Hayden to survey northwestern Wyoming. Joining Hayden would be photographer William Henry Jackson and painter Henry Wood Elliott. It was their job to visually document the area.

                                                            

Tower Falls and Sulphur Mountain
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

                                                               

Thomas Moran, a painter of the Hudson River School and illustrator for Scribner’s Monthly magazine, had heard about the expedition, but was disappointed to learn that an artist had already been chosen. Jay Cooke knew Moran’s artwork could prove invaluable for future advertisements for the Northern Pacific. Using his political connections, Cooke was able to get Moran assigned to the expedition. He and Scribner’s covered the expedition costs for Moran.

                                                                     

Thomas Moran
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

 Although neither Jackson nor Moran knew each other, they quickly struck up a friendship that became a professional partnership. Together, through Jackson’s photographs (developed in the field) and Moran’s sketches and his onsite watercolors, they documented some of Yellowstone’s most iconic landscapes. When the expedition ended, Moran produced 30 paintings that created a sensation in the East.

                                                        

Grand Canyon of the Yesllowstone
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Many were skeptical of the stories trappers told of the area’s beauty. Jackson’s images proved they were not wrong! Their enduring images helped Americans realize Yellowstone was a treasure to be preserved and shared with future generations. The following year, when Congress debated establishing Yellowstone as the world’s first national park, the work of Jackson and Moran played a critical role. Moran’s 9 ½ foot by 14 ½ foot “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” hung in the Capitol for many years. Today it is on long term loan to the Smithsonian. All of Moran’s paintings can be viewed on the Library of Congress website.

 The Jackson/Moran friendship did not end there. They teamed up on two additional expeditions. Jay Cooke’s investments in the Northern Pacific Railway drove him into bankruptcy, setting off the Panic of 1873. By making it possible for Thomas Moran to join the Hayden Expedition, Cooke accomplished something of lasting value. A record attendance of more than 4,800,000 tourists visited Yellowstone in 2021

A version of this article appears in Lifestyles 2000