They found that Native Americans hunted bison and bighorn sheep, fished for cutthroat trout, and gathered bitterroot and camas bulbs for at least 11,000 years.

In trapper Osborne Russell's diary, he describes a visit to the lake in 1836 as follows: 16th [August] -Mr. Bridger came up with the remainder of the party.

18th-The whole camp moved down the east shore of the lake through thick pines and fallen timber about eighteen miles and encamped in a small prairie.

19th-continued down the shore to the outlet about twenty miles, and encamped in a beautiful plain { Hayden Valley } which extended along the northern extremity of the lake.

This valley was interspersed with scattering groves of tall pines, forming shady retreats for the numerous elk and deer during the heat of the day.

Both fur trader David Thompson and explorer William Clark referred to the lake as Yellow Stone.

The name Yellowstone Lake appears formally first in the 1839 maps of the Oregon Territory by U.S. Army topographical engineer, Captain Washington Hood and has remained so since that time.

On the west side is a low bluff of the timbered ridges, with a sand beach in front along the margins of the waters.

We built a raft for the purpose of attempting to visit them, but the strong waves of the lake dashed it to pieces in an hour.

The waters of the lake reflect a deep blue color, are clear as crystal, and doubtless of great depth near the center.

Place Mount Washington, the pride of New England, with its base at the sea level, at the bottom of the lake, and the clear waters of the latter would roll 2,214 feet above its summit.

No shells of any description are found on the lake shore, nor is there any evidence of the waters ever having stood at a much higher level than the present.

Caught in the open lake, their flesh was yellow; but in bays, where the water was strongly impregnated with chemicals, it was blood-red.

On July 28, 1871, they launched Annie, the first European boat ever to sail on the lake and began exploring the islands and shoreline.

[10]Between 1920 and 1937, multiple proposals were made to Congress and the Department of the Interior to construct dams of various sizes at the Yellowstone Lake outlet or a few miles downstream.

Montana and Wyoming politicians, the Army Corps of Engineers and lobbying groups in both states all had a variety of reasons to support the dams—flood control in the Yellowstone Valley, reclamation, or diversion of water over the continental divide to the Snake River.

As of 2004, the ground under the lake has started to rise significantly, indicating increased geological activity, and limited areas of the national park have been closed to the public.

It is thought that Yellowstone Lake originally drained south into the Pacific Ocean via the Snake River.

The resurgence of the Sour Creek dome, just north of Fishing Bridge is causing Yellowstone Lake to "tilt" southward.

Because the glacial till contains many different grain sizes, including clay and a thin layer of lake sediments, water cannot percolate readily into the ground.

[16] The longnose sucker is an invasive fish that was believed to be introduced into the Yellowstone Lake in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

With a declining number of cutthroat trout in the spawning streams researchers saw a shift in the relationship between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that are linked together.

Whether that be large mammals such as bison, elk, or bighorn sheep there is a variety of different animals that are native to the Yellowstone area.

On the other hand Yellowstone is also home to many smaller animals, and a few that are constantly around the lake are beavers, short tailed weasels, and river otters which have previously been mentioned.

[25] Today, powerboats, sailboats, canoes and kayaks are allowed on the lake with a Yellowstone Boating Permit.