Anaconda MT./Yellowstone WY.

Anaconda was founded by Marcus Daly, one of the Copper Kings, who financed the construction of a smelter on nearby Warm Springs Creek to process copper ore from the Butte mines. In June 1883, Daly filed for a town plat for “Copperopolis,” but that name was already used by another mining town in Meagher County. Instead, Daly accepted the name "Anaconda," suggested by the United States postmaster of the time, Clinton Moore. When Montana was admitted as a state in 1889, Daly lobbied to have the capital moved here, but it stayed in Helena, a location supported by rival William Andrews Clark.

The National Bison Range (NBR) is a National Wildlife Refuge located in western Montana established in 1908 to provide a sanctuary for the American bison. The NBR is one of the oldest National Wildlife Refuges in the United States. The size of the bison herd at the NBR is relatively small, numbering between 350 and 500 individuals.

Big Horned sheep and Antelope were just a few of the other animals we saw here.

A waterfall near Phillipsburg, MT. where we went Sapphire mining.

Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone, the first National Park in the U.S. and widely held to be the first national park in the world, is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park.

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km²),  comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent.

In 1806, John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, left to join a group of fur trappers. After splitting up with the other trappers in 1807, Colter passed through a portion of what later became the park, during the winter of 1807–1808. He observed at least one geothermal area in the northeastern section of the park, near Tower Fall. After surviving wounds he suffered in a battle with members of the Crow and Blackfoot tribes in 1809, Colter described a place of "fire and brimstone" that most people dismissed as delirium; the supposedly imaginary place was nicknamed "Colter's Hell". Over the next 40 years, numerous reports from mountain men and trappers told of boiling mud, steaming rivers, and petrified trees, yet most of these reports were believed at the time to be myth.

A good view of how thin the crust of land laying over the basin's really is, it is as thin as pie crust in many areas, though to look at the ground it would seem normal, it is anything but.
Hot boiling water lye just under the surface.

 A boiling waterfall, hot boiling sulfuric Basin water pours into the River creating a sizzling, steaming combination.










Little known fact, A man named Gerald Ford whom was not only an American politician who served as the 38th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as well as being a member of the Boy Scouts of America was also a Park Ranger in the 30's for Yellowstone National Park, he gave tours and lessons about the park, he stayed and worked in the Uncle Tom lookout area, around the upper and lower falls area of the park, it was where the staff housing was at the time and is now a parking lot for the stop.
 

 The most famous geyser in the park, and perhaps the world, is Old Faithful Geyser, located in Upper Geyser Basin. Castle Geyser, Lion Geyser and Beehive Geyser are in the same basin. The park contains the largest active geyser in the world—Steamboat Geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin. A study that was completed in 2011 found that at least 1283 geysers have erupted in Yellowstone. Of these, an average of 465 are active in a given year. Yellowstone contains at least 10,000 geothermal features altogether. Half the geothermal features and two-thirds of the world's geysers are concentrated in Yellowstone.

 With almost two million visitors a week in the summer months you can imagine just how popular this park really is, that's on the same scale as Disney world, with so many examples of God's creation and beauty it is no wonder why it inspires such awe and draws people of all nations in.

View of the Grand Teton Mountain's , though I only drove through this park the scenery was amazing. It always amazes me how mother nature can bring people together, while here we saw people of all nations and creeds and accents, no one fought, no one was angry, they were all just soaking in the great wonder that is our home. It just goes to prove that the only true peacemaker and keeper is our creator. May our future bring a great peace, until next time be kind to one another.