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History Corner: Rough and tough ‘Rocky Mountain Harry’ helped map Grand County

Penny Rafferty Hamilton
Historian
Harry Yount, hunter and guide, is pictured on top of Berthoud Pass with the Hayden Geological Survey.
Grand County Historical Association/Courtesy photo

In the mid-1800s, the U.S. Department of the Interior began the “great surveys” to map the vast, uncharted land of the West, especially the Rocky Mountains.

Led by Ferdinand Hayden — along with pioneers John Wesley Powell and photographer William Henry Jackson — Grand County through Berthoud Pass was mapped.

Harry Yount, a Union Civil War veteran and former POW, signed on as hunter and guide for the intrepid geological survey team. His nickname was “Rocky Mountain Harry” because of his prior experience as a mountain man. Yount was described as “tough, rough, resourceful and intelligent” in National Park Service history documents.



In 1880, Carl Schurz, the first U.S. Secretary of the Interior, appointed Yount as our nation’s first game ranger in Yellowstone. During that experience, Yount wrote papers detailing the challenges of game rangers protecting the resources and animals, which were later used as a blueprint by the Department of the Interior.

Yount was described as “the father of the park ranger service,” by Horace Albright, the second director of the National Park Service.



Grand County is home to Rocky Mountain National Park, one of America’s most popular national parks with well over 4 million visitors each year. The park is 415 square miles of spectacular mountain and Alpine meadow views with more than 300 miles of hiking trails and incredible wildlife viewing.

The park, which was established in January 1915, is celebrating its 110th anniversary this month. The Hayden Geological Survey mapped the way over 200 years ago.

Harry Yount was described by Horace Albright, the second director of the National Park Service, as “the father of the park ranger service.”
U.S. Department of the Interior photograph
Penny Hamilton
Courtesy photo

Penny Rafferty Hamilton, Ph.D., is the author of “Images of America: Grand County.” You can reach her at drpenny1@earthlink.net.


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