Yellowstone: How Did Yellowstone Get Its Name?
Clip: Special | 1m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
How did Yellowstone National Park get its name?
How did Yellowstone Park get its name? Most people think it's named after the yellow stone found in the park. But that's not why. The real story is even more interesting.
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Science Trek is a local public television program presented by IdahoPTV
Major Funding by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation and the Idaho National Laboratory. Additional Funding by the Friends of Idaho Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Yellowstone: How Did Yellowstone Get Its Name?
Clip: Special | 1m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
How did Yellowstone Park get its name? Most people think it's named after the yellow stone found in the park. But that's not why. The real story is even more interesting.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Science Trek
Science Trek is a place where parents, kids, and educators can watch short, educational videos on a variety of science topics. Every Monday Science Trek releases a new video that introduces children to math, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career potentials in a fun, informative way.[MUSIC] JOAN CARTAN-HANSEN, HOST: Did Yellowstone National Park get its name from the yellow rocks in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone?
Nope.
The rocks in the canyon are yellow.
Hot, volcanic water from below caused the rocks to become altered, like being "cooked."
Iron in the rock forms colorful iron oxides just like rusting and that stains the rocks yellow, red and orange.
Still, that's not why Yellowstone is called Yellowstone.
Student: "What?"
The park is actually named after the yellow-colored bluffs in the Missouri river hundreds of miles upstream.
The Minnetaree or Hidatsa tribe lived in this part of eastern Montana.
When French Canadian trappers asked them what the river was called, they said:Mi tse a da zi Which the American trappers thought meant “yellow stone.” So, they adopted that name for the river.
And that was what the area was generally called.
So, President Grant decided to name the first national park after the yellow-colored bluffs hundreds of miles away.
For more information about Yellowstone, check out the Science Trek website.
You'll find it at sciencetrek.org.
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Science Trek is a local public television program presented by IdahoPTV
Major Funding by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation and the Idaho National Laboratory. Additional Funding by the Friends of Idaho Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.