Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§21 Establishment; Boundaries; Trespassers

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

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Sets aside a tract of land in Montana and Wyoming near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River as a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. The area is bounded from the junction of Gardiner’s River and the Yellowstone River by lines drawn ten miles east of Yellowstone Lake’s easternmost point, ten miles south of its southernmost point, and fifteen miles west of Madison Lake’s westernmost point, returning to the starting latitude and point. That land is withdrawn from sale, settlement, or private occupation under United States law. Anyone who settles on or occupies any part of it, except as allowed under section 22, will be treated as a trespasser and removed.

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of the junction of the Yellowstone and Gardiner’s Rivers; thence east to the place of beginning, is reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and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 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60