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Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-102

§21 Establishment; Boundaries; Trespassers

Title 16 › CHAPTER 1 — NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › SUBCHAPTER V — YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK › § 21

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

A piece of land in Montana and Wyoming near the start of the Yellowstone River is set aside as a public park. Its boundary starts where Gardiner’s River meets the Yellowstone, runs east to a line 10 miles east of the east end of Yellowstone Lake, then south to a line 10 miles south of the south end of Yellowstone Lake, west to a line 15 miles west of the west end of Madison Lake, then back north and east to the start. The area is taken out of settlement, occupation, or sale under U.S. law and held for the public’s use. Anyone who settles or occupies any of this land is a trespasser and will be removed, except as allowed under section 22 of this title.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §21

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The tract of land in the States of Montana and Wyoming, lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River and described as follows, to wit, commencing at the junction of Gardiner’s River, with the Yellowstone River, and running east to the meridian passing ten miles to the eastward of the most eastern point of Yellowstone Lake; thence south along said meridian to the parallel of latitude passing ten miles south of the most southern point of Yellowstone Lake; thence west along said parallel to the meridian passing fifteen miles west of the most western point of Madison Lake; thence north along said meridian to the latitude of the junction of the Yellowstone and Gardiner’s Rivers; thence east to the place of beginning, is reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people; and all persons who locate, or settle upon, or occupy any part of the land thus set apart as a public park, except as provided in section 22 of this title, shall be considered trespassers and removed therefrom.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification R.S. § 2474 derived from act Mar. 1, 1872, ch. 24, § 1, 17 Stat. 32.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 21

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102