The only full length biography of P. W. Norris, the second superintendent of Yellowstone National Park but the first superintendent to live, work and evangelize the first national park. Born in New York, the Norris family moved to Wayne County, Michigan to homestead. P.W. moved to Ohio where he engaged in the real estate business; served in the Civil War and established a village, which exists today, Pioneer, Ohio. In 1865, Norris returned to Michigan where he engaged in the real estate business purchashing large tracts of land. He founded a village named for him in 1873. Travelling West in 1875 and 1877, Norris wrote of his extensive travels.

After his appointment as superintendent, Norris built the first roads and headquarters as well as lobbying for funds from Congress to preserve the Park. His success in securing the first funds for the first national park guarantied its perpetual preservation to this day.

Roughly, the book consists of about a third history of Michigan, Ohio and the Yellowstone National Park supplemented with thirty-three photographs, mostly never published before.