In the winter of 1894, the magazine Forest and Streamsent one of its most talented writers, Emerson Hough, to Yellowstone National Park to document the decline in bison. Under the tutelage of legendary guide Billy Hofer, Hough learned to ski on 12-foot-long wooden slats. He witnessed the arrest of notorious poacher Ed Howell—caught red-handed skinning a bison—and met pioneering photographer F. Jay Haynes.

Undertaking a tough, 200-mile trip on skis, Hough, Haines and Hofer came up with the best census of the park’s bison and elk that anyone had yet achieved. Hough wrote up the expedition in a series of 14 articles. His reporting motivated the United States Congress to pass the anti-poaching Lacey Act and helped turn public opinion against a proposed railroad through the park.

Moreover, Hough’s articles are immensely entertaining. He remains one of the wittiest writers ever to describe the park, and his series, edited and annotated by University of California writing professor Scott Herring, is as fun to read as it is historically significant.

Includes nine Yellowstone National Park photos by F. Jay Haynes.