Jackson Hole History

Jackson Hole History

The history of Jackson Hole begins in 1806 when probably the first white man ever to explore the Jackson Hole Valley. His name was John Colter. He was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition but desired to trap furs on the Yellowstone and Upper Missouri rivers. While he was trapping furs he joined with Manuel Lisa’s fur trading party from St. Louis, Missouri. They asked Colter to negotiate trades with the Indians in the Jackson Hole Valley. In Jackson Hole, you will find two runs named after this first adventurer, which are North Colter Ridge and South Colter Ridge. In addition, in 1806, John Hoback along with the rest of the explorers of Lewis and Clark toured the area during the winter season.

During the 1820’s French Canadian trappers fondly named the Grand Teton Mountains “Le Trois Tetons” which translates to mean The Three Beasts. Today, the peaks are now called The Grand, the Middle and the South Teton.

In 1829, this area became known as Jackson’s Hole named after a beaver trapper, David E. Jackson, by his partner Bill Sublette. This was Mr. Jackson’s favorite trapping ground.

Pierre’s Hole Rendezvous, which is on the other side of the Tetons, was a favorite meeting place of trappers in 1832. Milton Sublette led a party of trappers out of here on a trapping expedition. On July 18, his party was attacked by Gros Vantre Indians. Bill Sublette was shot in the arm, five white trappers and seven Indians were killed. After their return to Pierre’s Hole Rendezvous it was reported that 20 Gros Ventre Indians had died. Within a week’s time, 8 trappers that refused to wait on the rest of group headed out and were attacked by the same Indians close to the mouth of the Hoback River. Three of them lost their lives.

By 1840, the beaver population was exhausted in the area.

1872 was a very important year in the history of Jackson Hole as Ferdinand Vandiver Hayden along with his geologist Frank H. Bradley explored Jackson Hole from Yellowstone, led by Beaver Dick Leigh, a famous hunter and trapper of the time. Two members of the expedition claimed to have reached the summit of Grand Teton but say they did not leave any type of evidence of their feat. During this expedition many of the land features received their names. Two of the glacial lakes were named for Bradley and his assistant, Rush Taggart. Coulter Creek was named for the botanist, Leigh Lake for the guide, Jenny Lake for his wife, Mount Moran for the artist that painted the landscape paintings, and Mount Leidy for the paleontologist.

Yellowstone was declared a National Park by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 eighteen years prior to Wyoming becoming a state.

A forest fire hit the area in 1879 and Snow King becomes a hot spot for locals to go skiing.

Settlers finally arrived to Jackson, Wilson, Moran, Kelly, and other towns in the area.

In 1883, Buffalo Bill Cody started his first Wild West Show. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort named a peak and a bowl after William Cody – Cody Bowl and Cody Peak. There is also a building named in his honor, The Cody House. Cody was very influential in settling the state of Wyoming.

Wyoming became a state in 1890 and received the nickname “The Cowboy State.”

Jackson became the center location for many ranches, settlers, and homesteaders in the valley. Several of the building in the town square was the first stores in the area and many of the homes in the southern part of Jackson have been there since the early days of Jackson.

The first ascent of the Grand Teton was done by William O. Owen in 1989.

In 1899, the first standard topographical map was published of the Tetons.

An all woman council was elected including a female mayor in 1920, which gave Wyoming the nickname of the “Equality State”.

In 1925, a huge landslide one mile long and one half mile wide hit the northern end of Sheep Mountain and slid into Gros Ventre Canyon. This landslide dammed the river to form the Lower Slide Lake.

Mount Owen received its name in 1927 after the first surveyor and mountain climber to reach the summit, William O. Owen.

Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929.

Finally, in the 1930’s many people were beginning to see Jackson Hole as a favorite skiing spot. Some of the skiers that helped to bring notice to Jackson Hole were Banty Bowlsby, Sam Hicks, Ed Hicks, and Joe Hicks, which were known as the “Hoback Boys.” Teton Ski Club built lifts and cleared runs in Moose Creek, North of Victor, and Idaho. Later, rope tows were installed on Signal Mountain, Leek's Canyon, Two Ocean Mountain, Angle Mountain, a hill near Catholic Bay on Jackson Lake, and Huckelburry Ridge on the Moose-Wilson Road also in the 1930’s.

In either 1931 or 1932 the first people to ski into Grand Teton National Park were Fred Brown and Allen Hanks.

As you can see, Jackson Hole has a rough beginning; however, all the explorers knew that the area had potential for a great place to live among the most beautiful mountains in Wyoming.