28th February: Yellowstone National Park

On this date in 1871 Yellowstone became the first US National Park. 10 things you might not know about Yellowstone:

1. 96% of Yellowstone National Park is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, 3% is in Montana and 1% in Idaho.
2. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, making it the first national park in the world, It was established 20 years before any of the three states it sits in were even states.
3. Yellowstone National Park is 63 miles long and 54 miles wide and occupies an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2) - that is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
4. There are thought to be as many as 1283 geysers in the park, although only about 465 are active. The most famous is Old Faithful, which famously erupts every 91 minutes.
5. Yellowstone has more than 350 waterfalls, with the tallest reaching 1,200 feet. More than 80-percent of the park’s waterfalls are not visible from trails or roads.
6. The park is sitting on top of an active super volcano, one of only 30 in the world, and the only one located on land.
7. Yellowstone National Park has approximately 2000 earthquakes yearly virtually all of which are undetectable to humans.
8. The park is home to more than 1,000 archaeological sites.
9. Twelve major rivers originate in the Greater Yellowstone area.
10. Yellowstone National Park even has its own prison. It also has a court and a magistrate. About 150 people get arrested in the park every year, although they are not likely to stay in the Yellowstone jail for more than 48 hours. The prison is small - four cells and the capacity to hold up to 18 inmates.