Photographs like this made people who had never seem Yellowstone feel a connection to the place.

William Henry Jackson accompanied an expedition of the United States Geological and Geographic Survey of the Territories in the summer of 1871. As the official photographer, Jackson's job was to document the scenery as the expedition moved through the vast wilderness that is today's Yellowstone National Park.
Jackson, who had sketched and drawn since childhood, was an accomplished artist, and he obviously took great care in how he composed his photographs.

In this shot, a man stands alongside Mary Bay at Yellowstone Lake.

Note that while this is something of an artistic landscape photograph, it is also a government document, having been printed and published by the U.S. Department of the Interior.