First white man in Yellowstone - New Haven, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 36.894 W 091° 12.784
15S E 655574 N 4275557
John Colter from Kentucky to the mountains in Montana and back to Missouri
Waymark Code: WMK216
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 02/01/2014
Views: 1
County of marker: Franklin County
Location of marker: Front St. & Miller St., Millers Landing, inside Colter Shelter, New Haven
Marker erected by: Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
Date marker erected: 2003
Painting "Reflection of John Colter" by John Bruce
Marker Text:
From the Mountains to Missouri
"John Colter's nearly three years with the Lewis and Clark Expedition had hardened him for a life in the mountains. He survived cold, hunger, grizzly bears, and Indians. It was the lure of wealth from beaver pelts that kept him in the West from 1806 to 1810. These years were marked by trapping, exploration and both friendly and hostile encounters with Indians.
On one 500 mile solo trek through the mountains he discovered a basin where he observed geysers and hot springs. His later accounts of these features would be ridiculed and called "Colter's Hell". Colter is credited as the first white man to explore the Yellowstone region which in 1872 became America's first national park. By the spring of 1810 Colter became disenchanted with the West and returned to civilization.
Traveling in a dugout canoe, it took Colter only thirty days to make the trip down the Missouri River from Montana to St. Louis. He soon settled on land near the Boeuf Creek three miles east of here. [New Haven]. With a wife and new son, Hiram, John Colter farmed and trapped until his death on May 7th, 1812.
From the Historic Show about Lewis and Clark on PBS as evidence to back up the claim:
"During this same period, William Clark was putting the finishing touches on his map of the Northwest to accompany the long delayed publication of the 1814 edition of the journals. Colter supplied Clark with many new details gleaned from his travels into the Yellowstone, Wind River and other mountain country not known to Clark. Colter is credited with being the first white man to enter what is now Yellowstone National Park. In describing the geysers and other geothermal phenomena, it became known as “Colter’s Hell.” He eventually became a heroic figure among the trappers, traders, and mountain men who settled the American West."
PBS - Inside the Corps
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