Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane report on the Yellowstone Expedition, 1870 December 15
Table of Contents
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Doane, Gustavus Cheyney, 1840-1892
- Title
- Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane report on the Yellowstone Expedition
- Dates
- 1870 December 151870-12-151870-12-15
- Quantity
- 1 volume
- Collection Number
- 0492
- Summary
- Doane was a career U. S. Army officer, serving for the Union in the Civil War and later in the Army on the Frontier. Eventually rising to the rank of captain, he led military escorts for a number of exploration parties and survey expeditions in the late 19th century. The Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane report is an original handwritten exploration journal based on field notes created by Doane while leading the military escort of the 1870 Langford-Washburn-Doane expedition through the area that became Yellowstone National Park. Doane records measurments and observations about geographical and thermal features such Tower Fall, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, and the Lower, Midway, and Upper Geyser Basins. Lt.
- Repository
- Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851 - Access Restrictions
- Languages
- Collection materials are in English
Biographical Note
Gustavus Cheyney Doane was born in Galesburg, Illinois, on May 20, 1840, and grew up in California. He graduated from the University of the Pacific at Santa Clara in 1861, and afterwards enlisted in the "California Hundred," a federal volunteer unit absorbed by the Second Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry. Doane had attained the rank of sergeant by 1864 when he resigned to accept a commission as lieutenant with the first regiment, Mississippi Marine Brigade. After the war Doane lived for a time in Yazoo City, Mississippi where he was appointed mayor by the Reconstruction authorities in 1867. In 1868 he applied for a commission with the army and was appointed second lieutenant in the Second U.S. Cavalry. He served with the regiment for the next 24 years, attaining the rank of captain in 1884. During his postwar career Doane was stationed at a variety of frontier posts in Montana, California, and Arizona, including Fort Ellis, Fort Custer, Fort Keogh, Fort Maginnis, the Presidio, and Fort Bowie. He participated in the Sioux war of 1876, the Nez Pearce War of 1877, and the Apache campaign of 1886. Doane gained a great deal of fame as an explorer, participating in the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition in present-day Yellowstone National Park, as well as a survey of the Judith Basin area in 1874, a trip down the Snake River in 1876-1877, and the Howgate polar expedition in Greenland in 1880. Towards the end of his life, Doane attempted unsuccessfully to gain the superintendency of Yellowstone National Park and to influence widespread Army acceptance for his invention, the Doane Centennial Tent. He married twice, to Amelia Link in 1866 and to Mary Lee Hunter in 1878. Neither union resulted in offspring. Gustavus Cheyney Doane died on May 5, 1892.
The Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition of 1870 was the second formal exploration of the area that was to become Yellowstone National Park, following the Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expediton of the previous year. The survey was led by Montana Territorial Surveyor-General Henry D. Washburn and politician and businessman Nathanial P. Langford. Lt. Doane led the personnel from Fort Ellis that served as military escort. The group recorded details of a number of natural features and named Old Faithful Geyser.
Content Description
The Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane Report on the Yellowstone Expedition is a handwritten exploration journal based on field notes created by Doane while leading the military escort of the Langford-Washburn-Doane expedition through the area that became Yellowstone National Park in the late summer of 1870. Leaving Fort Ellis outside of Bozeman, Montana Territory, on August 22 the explorers entered the park from the north, following the Yellowstone River along its course past Tower Fall,through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and to Yellowstone Lake. Doane managed, in spite of a serious infection of his thumb, to keep various notes on the elevation, waterfall heights, temperatures of hot springs, and other natural phenomena encountered. The party exited the eastern boundary of the park after visiting the Lower, Midway, and Upper Geyser Basins, and Doane led his contingent back to Fort Ellis on September 24. The following months Doane had at least three copies of his report transcribed by a clerk, although he added the figures in his own handwriting. One copy was sent to the War Department and another to the Smithsonian Institution. The War Department copy was published in 1871 under the title "Report of Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane, upon the so-called Yellowstone expedition of 1870," as part of the United States Congressional Serial Set 1440. The copy in this collection is the one he kept himself, and was given by his widow to Merrill G. Burlingame sometime in the early twentieth century.
Use of the Collection
Preferred Citation
[Creator Name], [Date of Creation], [Brief Description of Object], Folder [#], Box [#], [Collection Name], [Collection #], Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
An original exploration report of Yellowstone National Park created by Gustavus C. Doane was donated to Montana State University by Merrill G. Burlingame of Bozeman, Montana, on February 25, 1967.
Processing Note
This collection was processed 2016 May 17
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Travel
Personal Names
- Doane, Gustavus Cheyney, 1840-1892
Geographical Names
- Montana
- Montana--Description and travel
- United States--Yellowstone National Park
- Yellowstone National Park--Description and travel
