The only known granite monument erected to the memory of Dr. F.V. Hayden was placed at Glenrock, Wyoming, thanks to the tireless efforts of renowned photographer William H. Jackson.  Dr. Hayden first came to the Deer Creek area while attached to a military operation called the “Expedition of the Yellowstone.”  As a doctor, he looked after the medical needs of the troops wintering at the Twiss Indian Agency (1859-1860).  As a geologist (his first love), he did scientific research for the government.

Credited with later founding the U.S. Geological Survey, he began writing annual geological reports, the first published in 1867.  He visited Deer Creek in both 1870 and 1871, observing that “... the coal bed ... on fire in the winter of 1859-60 ... is still on fire” and had baked the earth” to a brick red color.

Accompanying Hayden both years was none other than pioneer photographer Wm. H. Jackson, who on Aug. 17, 1870, made the first photograph of Converse County’s “Natural Bridge.”  More importantly, the following year he accompanied Dr. Hayden on an official expedition to explore the Yellowstone country.  There, Jackson recorded the first photographs ever taken of the wonders of that region.  Now, armed with graphic evidence, the marvels of Yellowstone could no longer be disputed (for 6-1/2 decades the outside world had scoffed at the tales of rumblings in the ground, boiling mud, hissing geysers and the like).  Upon returning to Washington, Hayden and Jackson put their talents to work, convincing Congress that a bill should be passed, preserving the natural state of the region forever.  As a result of their concerted efforts, Yellowstone National Park came into existence, March of 1872, the first such park in the United States of America.