Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is 7,732 feet (2,357 m) above sea level and covers 136 square miles (350 km2) with 110 miles (180 km) of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is 139 ft (42 m), its greatest depth is at least 394 ft (120 m). Yellowstone Lake is the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 ft (2,100 m) in North America.
Yellowstone Lake as seen from space
A July 28, 1871 photo of Annie, the boat used by the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871
Panorama of the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake in 2018
An 1897 photo of anglers at West Thumb Geyser Basin on the western shore of Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Ferdinand V. Hayden (1829–1887), an American geologist who convinced Congress to make Yellowstone a national park in 1872
Portrait of Nathaniel P. Langford (1870), the first superintendent of the park
Great Falls of the Yellowstone, U.S. Geological and Geographic Survey of the Territories (1874–1879), photographer William Henry Jackson