Max Baucus: “Americans first heard about Yellowstone National Park back in the 1850's, from an old mountain man by the name of Jim…”

“Americans first heard about Yellowstone National Park back in the 1850's, from an old mountain man by the name of Jim Bridger. Bridger told about a place where water ran so quickly it heated the stream bed through friction. He said steam rose up from the edges. He told folks about how you could cook a trout without taking it off the line--just catch the fish in the Firehole River and swing it into one of the steam cauldrons on the bank. Folks back then were a little hard pressed to believe Jim Bridger. But when they saw it for themselves, they were convinced. President Ulysses S. Grant made it our first national park on March 1, 1872. Today, millions of Americans have visited Yellowstone to see the geysers and mudpots and hot springs that make this a unique place. And I think we all want to make sure we keep it forever. That is why today, I am introducing the Old Faithful Protection Act of 1995. This legislation guarantees that Yellowstone--our Nation's first national park--will remain the marvel that it was, is, and should always be. Why am I doing this? Because while Jim Bridger was a great man, he was no geologist. Yellowstone has geysers, paint pots, and steam cauldrons not because of fast-running streams, but because of the geothermal characteristics of the underlying rock formations. These structures are fragile. In the past, some have been tempted to tap into them for energy. And when that has happened elsewhere the geysers have vanished.”