Dale Creek Bridge, West of Cheyenne, Wyoming

In the second half of the 19th century, the U.S. Government sponsored four major expeditions to explore and map the regions west of the Mississippi River. One of these, known as the Hayden Survey because it was led by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, first explored the area around Yellowstone in Wyoming and later Colorado. This survey was also known as the "U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories" and lasted from 1867 to 1879.

Photographer William Henry Jackson and artists Thomas Moran and Henry Wood Elliot accompanied the survey to document the scenes for those back east. Jackson took this photograph near Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Hayden Survey's illustrated report on its 1871 studies in Yellowstone influenced Congress to establish that area as the first national park.