In the summer of 1871, photographer William Henry Jackson set out on two private expeditions to document the untamed, other-worldly beauty of a region that would become the country's first national park. At the time, Congress was reviewing legislation to establish Yellowstone National Park, but it needed convincing.
"Accounts of the wonders [explorers] had seen — spouting geysers, towering waterfalls and a huge, pristine mountain lake — seemed too extraordinary and were often dismissed as campfire tales," photojournalist Bradly J. Boner tells Tech Insider. "Written description and art could be embellished, but pictures couldn't lie."
Jackson returned to Capitol Hill with an exhibition of photos that diminished all doubts. Yellowstone National Park was born, much to his credit.
Fast-forward 145 years, and Boner returned to the Great American West to recapture Jackon's iconic images. Take a look at what he found.
Boner spent three years researching surveyors' diaries and hiking unmapped terrain in search of the locations where Jackson stood.
There have been some change of scenery since the inclusion of roads, bridges, and parking lots, which allow millions of people to experience Yellowstone annually.
But more or less, "the landscape has remained virtually untouched over almost a century and a half, save for changes wrought by the forces of nature," Boner says.
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