'The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Park' by Thomas Moran (1872), reproduced by PaingHere.com. When the Northern Pacific Railroad commissioned Nathaniel Pitt Langford to visit Yellowstone, to find out what the landscape really looked like, he understood that his story alone was not enough. With a delegation of scientists and writers, he visited the area and wrote an extensive report. Before his texts were published, however, he discussed them with artist Thomas Moran. He asked Moran to provide images for his stories. Without having seen the landscape himself (he lived and worked in Philadelphia), Moran made several drawings of Yellowstone. A number of articles titled The Wonders of Yellowstone, accompanied by Moran’s drawings, were published in the 1870s. The articles made a significant contribution to the protected status that Yellowstone received in 1872; President Grant declared Yellowstone a national park, the first national park in the world. In 1870, Moran went to Yellowstone to see it with his own eyes and to make new drawings. He later turned several of these drawings into paintings. The most famous is The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (1872). In the same year, the spot on which Moran created the painting was renamed ‘Moran Point’, making it the first recognised scenic viewpoint in a national park.

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