Grand Teton National Park

Fur trappers, explorers, and prospectors began crisscrossing the Teton valley in the early 1800s, but none chose to brave the extreme winters and isolation on a permanent basis. That changed in 1884 with the arrival of John Holland and John Carnes and his wife, Millie—the first people intent on building a life in Jackson Hole. After these settlers arrived, they were followed by a slow trickle of predominantly male settlers. By 1888, there were 23 settlers in the area, including two women and one child.

The Homestead Act of 1862 fueled the settlement of the western United States. Pioneers hungry to own land set out to stake claims on public land. The Homestead Act required that the settler live on and cultivate up to 160 acres of land for five consecutive years. After five years, the settler had to file final proof papers for a fee of $15, then he or she owned the land. Conditions on the sagebrush flats of the valley floor were not ideal for cultivation or grazing of livestock. In some families, the wife filed an additional 160-acre claim so the family would have enough land to support themselves.

The majority of early settlers came to Jackson Hole from Idaho and Utah. In 1889, the state of Utah was drought-stricken, which led to a mass migration. Elijah “Uncle Nick” Wilson persuaded his family and four others to move to Jackson Hole. They were the first Mormons in Jackson Hole. New settlers who arrived in the valley throughout the 1890s were predominantly Mormon. Many of these families settled in the Antelope Flats area at the southern end of the park. This area is now known as Mormon Row.

Most early settlement occurred east of the Snake River, near the Gros Ventre River, and south of the current park boundary along Flat Creek. A few settlers did venture to the Spread Creek/ Buffalo Fork area in the northern end of the park, but none settled west of the Snake River until William D. Menor built a homestead there and began operating Menor’s Ferry in 1894. It took almost 20 years for another settler to join him on the west side of the river.

John Carnes (left) settled in Teton country in 1884 with his Native American wife, Millie Sorelle, and his friend John Holland. The trio were the first settlers in the valley, making Millie the first woman to settle in the area. Carnes, pictured here in his Civil War uniform (he fought for the Union), was a trapper who had previously been to the area and returned to trap and pan for gold.

John Holland (right) arrived in the valley with John and Millie Carnes in 1884. The group started out from near Big Piney, Wyoming, and entered the valley via the Gros Ventre route. They dismantled their farm equipment and hauled it with packhorses. Some think they may have been the first settlers to bring a wagon over the Gros Ventre route.

In this image, John Holland leads his horse as it carries a bear Holland killed. Farming in the valley was difficult, and many homesteaders found other means to supplement their incomes. In addition to hunting and trapping, Holland served as the first justice of the peace in Jackson Hole and tried the valley’s first case in 1892.

John Holland and John Carnes chose to homestead south of the Gros Ventre River in an area that produced lush hay and grasses. The land where Holland and Carnes built the first homestead in Jackson Hole was destined to become part of the National Elk Refuge; on August 10, 1912, Congress passed an act that set aside land for the refuge that included 34 homesteads.

Robert E. Miller (right) and his wife, Grace, pose on horseback in front of their homestead, which was located on land that is now part of the National Elk Refuge. In 1885, Miller became the first settler to bring a wagon into the valley via the Teton Pass. He dug ditches to irrigate his land and grazed the largest herd of cattle in the valley. He returned to Illinois to marry Grace in 1893 and brought her back to Jackson Hole, where he constructed this two-story home. Soon after Grace arrived in 1893, she acquired land next to her husband’s so they could expand their cattle herd. By 1895, they grazed 126 head of cattle (the average herd was only 32 head), and within a few years, the herd had grown to 400 to 500 head. This house still stands on the National Elk Refuge today; at one time, it served as a temporary post office.

Over time, Robert and Grace Miller acquired more land and became one of the most influential couples in the valley. Grace platted land south of their homestead in 1897 and sold lots for the town of Jackson. Robert brought the first mowing machine into the valley by dismantling it to haul it over Teton Pass by packhorse. He loaned hay to neighboring homesteaders, which they paid back with interest, earning him the nickname “Old Twelve Percent.” Robert later founded and was the first president of the Jackson State Bank. Through this position, he assisted the Snake River Land Company in the acquisition of property for the national park. He served as superintendent of Teton National Forest from 1908 to 1918. In 1920, Grace was elected mayor of Jackson and served with an all-female town council, earning them renown as the “Petticoat Government.” The women elected were, from left to right, Mae Deloney, Rose Crabtree, Grace Miller, Faustina Haight, and Genevieve Van Vleck.

Martin “Slough Grass” Nelson (left) arrived in 1888 with his wife, Betty, and their daughter Cora. They claimed their homestead on the present-day site of National Elk Refuge near Flat Creek. He sold the homestead 10 years later because the land had become too swampy to farm. Lone pioneer Frank Wood preceded the Nelsons in 1886, but 1887 and 1888 brought several new settlers into the valley.

This image shows Bertha “Betty” Nelson, wife of Martin “Slough Grass” Nelson, and their daughters, Milliam (left) and Cora Barber. Betty was the second woman to arrive in the valley (after John Carnes’s wife, Millie) and the first white woman to settle in the area. Cora was the first child brought to Jackson Hole.

Pioneers Dick Turpin (standing) and Frank Peterson take a break in this 1900 photograph. Turpin arrived in 1888 and homesteaded in the Flat Creek area. In 1892, he was charged with felonious assault and acquitted in the valley’s first trial. Peterson settled in Jackson Hole in 1890 after visiting on a hunting excursion in 1889. He was a hunting guide and a member of the team that undertook the first documented ascent of the Grand Teton in 1898.

This 1900 image shows Emile Wolff outside his log cabin with his wife, Marie, and son Willie. Originally from Luxembourg, Emile first came to the valley in 1887 or 1888 and homesteaded near Flat Creek. He later returned to Europe to find a bride, and when they returned, they abandoned his original homestead for one north of Spread Creek.

John Pierce Cunningham arrived from New York in 1885, when he was about 20 years old. He made his living trapping until he filed a claim south of Spread Creek in 1888 under the Desert Land Act, which promoted the development of arid or semi-arid lands by requiring that the land be irrigated within three years of purchase at $1.25 per acre. Cunningham and his wife, Margaret, grazed 100 head of cattle and irrigated 140 acres, producing 75 tons of hay for winter feed. They were some of the first people to settle in the northern end of the park. Their original cabin was the site of the Affair at Cunningham’s Ranch and the first Elk Post Office. Cunningham became one of the most prominent settlers of the area. He served as a justice of the peace and a game warden and was one of the original county commissioners when Teton County was established in 1923. He sold to the Snake River Land Company in 1928, but his cabin still stands in the park.

Elijah Nicholas Wilson (right), aka “Uncle Nick,” brought his family and four other Mormon families to the valley in 1889. He grew up in Utah as one of 18 children living in hunger and poverty. He ran away from home to live with the Shoshone tribe of an Indian boy he had befriended. Chief Washakie’s mother adopted him, giving him the name Yagaiki. He lived with the tribe for two years, learning their language and customs. Wilson was a colorful storyteller. His autobiography, White Indian Boy: My Life Among the Shoshones, was first published in 1910. Wilson published other books, too, and the 2000 movie Wind River was based on his story. The c. 1858 image below shows Wilson’s adoptive brother Chief Washakie (center) with his wife Hanabi (right, holding their baby) and Nick’s adoptive mother. (Below, photograph by William Henry Jackson.)

Nick Wilson’s brother Sylvester Wilson (left) departed drought-stricken Utah looking for better land in the Snake River Valley of Idaho only to find no winter feed available for his livestock. Nick was returning from a trip to Jackson Hole and learned of Sylvester’s situation. He convinced Sylvester that lush, native hay and plentiful water awaited them in Jackson Hole. In 1889, five families began the journey from Utah, including Nick’s family and their daughter’s family, Sylvester’s family and his son Ervin Wilson’s family, and Sylvester’s son-inlaw Selar Cheney’s family.

The Wilson wagon train, pictured here coming into Jackson Hole, was the first to cross Teton Pass—it took two weeks pulling two wagons at a time for them to cross the pass. Their passage bolstered Teton Pass’s reputation as a viable transportation route. This photograph was gifted to Jackson Hole Historical Society by Jimmy Goodrick.

Nick Wilson chose to homestead at the base of Teton Pass road at present-day Wilson, which is named after him. He held many occupations throughout his life, including Pony Express rider, stagecoach driver, trapper, blacksmith, carpenter, and frontier doctor. He was an Indian interpreter and was often called to negotiate peace with runaways from the reservation. Wilson was also a Mormon bishop and former prison guard. Ironically, he was jailed for cohabitation. Wilson is pictured at right with his three wives. The arrival of the Wilsons began the migration of many Mormon families into Jackson Hole in the 1890s. By 1900, 174 settlers had come from Utah—more than 25 percent of the valley’s population. The above photograph was gifted to Jackson Hole Historical Society by Edna Bradford.

William D. (Bill) Menor (standing) was the first person to settle on the west side of the Snake River in 1892. His brother Holiday Menor (sitting) joined him in 1908, homesteading 160 acres on the east side of the river across from William’s homestead. (Courtesy Dorothy Redmond Hubbard Collection.)

Bill Menor’s homestead (pictured) was the only homestead on the west side of the Snake River until James Manges filed preemption papers in 1911. This view from the east side of the Snake River shows Menor’s cabin behind the docked ferry with covered wagons and outbuildings in the background. (Photograph by Frank A. Hadsell.)

At right, Bill Menor stands next to his ferry. Early settlers had to ford the Snake River. This was extremely dangerous during periods of high water. Menor saw the need for a safer crossing and chose a spot near present-day Moose, Wyoming, where the river narrows into one channel. Two other ferries operated on the Snake River—one was near Oxbow Bend in the northern end of the park, and the other was south of the park at the crossing east of Teton Pass. The latter ferry was replaced by a steel truss bridge in 1915, but the approaches were wiped out by a flood in 1917. People traveled 20 miles out of the way to use Menor’s Ferry to cross the Snake River until the bridge was reconstructed. The photograph below shows Menor’s Ferry crossing the Snake River with horses and riders.

William Menor built his ferry to operate as a business, and it became the most important Snake River crossing along with the Jackson-Wilson Bridge. The sign above shows the rates Menor charged to board his ferry, from 25¢ for a foot traveler to $2 for a four-horse team and wagon. Menor operated the ferry during periods of high water and constructed a bridge for use during winter or periods of low water. When spring runoff from snowmelt overflowed the banks of the river, Menor would not risk himself, the ferry, or his passengers. In the early 1900s image below, two unidentified women, along with their horses and carriage, catch a ride on Menor’s Ferry.

William Menor operated his ferry for over 20 years. In 1918, he sold the ferry and his homestead to Maud Noble, Frederick Sandell, and May Lee. After selling, Menor moved to San Diego. He was joined by his brother Holiday, who sold his homestead in 1928. Noble and Sandell doubled the ferry fare, angering valley residents, when automobile use increased.

Maud Noble and Frederick Sandell continued to operate the ferry until it was replaced by this steel truss bridge, known as the Moose-Wilson bridge. With the advent of the automobile, tourism had increased in the valley. In 1924, the Bureau of Public Roads decided to build a highway connecting Jackson with Menor’s Ferry. After the bridge was completed in 1927, the ferry became obsolete, prompting Noble to open a tea room in her cabin.

This reenactment was held to celebrate the restoration of Menor’s Ferry. The property was purchased by the Snake River Land Company as part of acquisitions for the future park in 1929. John D. Rockefeller Jr. had the ferry and buildings restored, then donated them to the National Park Service in 1953; the park service continues to maintain them. Note the whitewashed exterior of the cabin. Menor originally made his own whitewash with material from his brother Holiday’s lime pit. In 1969, Menor’s property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. One of the most popular modern activities in the park is a scenic float down the Snake River. These guided tours depart from Pacific Creek Landing, near Moran, or Deadman’s Bar, and take floaters on a winding path through spectacular views down the Snake River all the way to Menor’s Ferry.

Charles and Maria Allen came from Rockland, Idaho. After Charles visited Jackson Hole in 1895, he returned home and convinced three other families to migrate to the valley. The families that joined the Allens were the James May family, the James A. Budge family, and the Roy McBride family. They entered the valley via the Teton Pass route, using two teams of horses to pull each wagon across the Tetons. The steep summit proved too much for two teams of horses, and they had to add a third team to get the wagons over the final incline. Charles and Maria stayed with John Carnes for the winter before settling at Moran, located between the outlet of Jackson Lake and the junction of Pacific Creek with the Snake River, to raise cattle. May and Budge were the first to settle 160-acre claims north of the Gros Ventre River and southeast of Blacktail Butte along what would become known as Mormon Row.

Like Charles and Maria Allen, Cap and Clara Smith also built a homestead near the outlet of Jackson Lake with the intent of raising cattle. Their homestead was located near the military route to Yellowstone and the Marysville Road to Idaho. They soon realized that catering to travelers would bring in additional income and constructed the Jackson Hotel (pictured).

The Jackson Hotel burned down sometime around 1900. After the hotel burned down, Charles and Maria Allen stepped in to fill the void for travelers and constructed the Elkhorn Hotel (pictured). The hotel included a roadhouse, a store, and a post office. The town of Moran received its name when Maria Allen opened the first post office in 1902.

This unidentified man (possibly Lee Lucas) is using the clothes wringer outside of the Lee Lucas homestead in winter. Lucas arrived in Jackson Hole in 1896. He settled in Spring Gulch and built a large cattle ranch. He eventually owned 640 acres of land, 450 head of cattle, and 50 horses.

The dry climate of the valley was not well suited to agriculture. As a result, many dug their own irrigation ditches, as this man is doing. Settlers in the Antelope Flats area repaired and took advantage of Mining Ditch, digging offshoots to supply water to their land. Mining Ditch was originally excavated by gold prospectors in 1870 or 1871.

Starting with James I. May in 1896, the remainder of the Charles and Maria Allen party from Rockland, Idaho, settled south and east of Blacktail Butte. From 1897 to 1899, others settled in the same area, including James Budge, Frank McBride, Nels Hoagland, Albert Nelson, Thomas Hanshaw, William S. Kissenger, Frank Sebastian, Joe Henrie, Martin Henrie, and Fred Lovejoy. The majority of the settlers were Mormon, and the area became known as Mormon Row. It is located within the park east of US Highway 89 and south of Antelope Flats Road. The buck-and-rail fence in the photograph was used by the first settlers. Constructed of lodgepole pine, it required no digging for post holes. Barbed wire was later added to some fencing, but when tourism became more popular, dude ranchers reverted to this older style of fencing, which is more aesthetically pleasing. The fencing is still prominent in the park today. The Mormon Row Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. This photograph was gifted to Jackson Hole Historical Society by Gertrude W. Brennan and Frank M. Brennan.

Andy Chambers claimed his homestead on Mormon Row in 1912, but his cabin was not completed until 1916. Chambers supplemented his cattle ranching income with trapping. From 1932 to 1940, he acquired the Jackson-Moran postal contract. The Andy Chambers Ranch Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It is the only remaining homestead in the park today that is almost complete; the remaining buildings include the house, barn, garage, and outbuildings. Settlement continued on Mormon Row until approximately 1920. The Mormon leaders sent people from the Salt Lake Valley to establish new communities to support their growing population. The Mormon homesteaders who arrived in the valley stuck together and formed their own community, building cabins and houses on either side of a single road, which allowed for the best use of the land behind the homestead structures—this was considered a line village. The Mormons created a network of irrigation ditches, levees, and dikes. Some of these ditches still have water flowing through them today.

The three people above are in the process of harvesting grain with equipment pulled by horses. The below photograph shows George Riniker’s grain fields after harvest on his Mormon Row homestead. Riniker claimed the homestead in 1912, after Pres. Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order expanding Teton National Forest on July 1, 1908. This order opened previously closed lands in the valley to homesteading and brought a new wave of settlers to the area, including Thomas Murphy, Henry May, Albert Gunther, Joseph Eggleston, and Thomas Alma Moulton and his brother John. The Clifton May homestead buildings are barely visible behind the harvested grain field below. (Below, photograph by Floyd Naegeli.)

The T.A. Moulton barn (above), one of the most photographed barns in America, has become a symbol of Jackson Hole. In September 1908, Thomas Alma Moulton and his brother John took advantage of the executive order releasing new lands and claimed neighboring homesteads on Antelope Flats along Mormon Row. They first built the barn in 1913 as a square structure. Over time, it evolved into the barn as it looks today. The Moultons worked their farm until 1961; the barn is all that remains of their homestead. The John Moulton homestead (below) sits just north of Antelope Flats Road. He kept dairy cattle in the barn, selling milk and cream to nearby ranches. The Moultons were joined by another brother, Wallace, in 1909. The John Moulton barn is often mistaken for the T.A. Moulton barn. (Above, photograph by Olie Riniker.)

Norman Smith and his wife are pictured here in 1912 on their homestead northwest of Blacktail Butte. Two early parties of settlers found themselves staying in the valley due to misfortune. The Smith family pulled up their roots in Cody, Wyoming, and set out for Colorado in 1907. Their route took them through Yellowstone National Park into Jackson Hole. When they were in the valley, one of their horses died, and their daughter became ill. They deliberated and decided to stay, purchasing the homestead on which they had camped. Earlier settlers Noble Gregory and his father, Samuel, arrived in Jackson Hole after becoming lost. Bound for Idaho, they traveled by wagon over South Pass and somehow lost their map. A wrong turn north along the west side of the Wind River Range eventually resulted in their arrival in the valley after they followed the Gros Ventre River. They nixed their plans for Idaho and claimed a homestead in the Buffalo Fork area in 1898.

In this early 1900s image, Mary Wadams stands in the doorway of her sod-roofed cabin. Most cabins of the time were only one or two rooms with one door and one window. They were constructed with lodgepole pine logs and had dirt floors that were dampened and swept until they became hard. Wadams hung white muslin on the ceiling of her cabin to reflect light and catch dirt from the roof.

The Charles and Delilah Hedrick homestead was located approximately three miles south of Spread Creek. They were among the settlers who took advantage of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt’s executive order that opened up the lands in the area to settlement in 1908. Today, Hedrick Pond marks the location of the Hedrick homestead.

In this c. 1910 image, Henrietta West Neal is feeding the chickens on the Neal homestead in the Buffalo River Valley in northern Jackson Hole. The Neal family’s log cabin is in the background. Note that it is built in the same cabin style as the Wadams cabin. Many settlers added floor boards over dirt floors as soon as the first sawmills made lumber available in the valley.

In 1911, James Manges (pictured) ended William Menor’s solitary existence on the west side of the Snake River. He filed preemption papers on 160 acres near the confluence of Cottonwood and Taggart Creeks at the base of the Tetons. Manges built the first two-story cabin in the area with an overhanging roof to shed snow. His cabin is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. (Photograph by S.C. Holz.)

In this 1917 photograph, Harriet (left) and Jimmy Braman pull a dog in their wagon on the Frank Braman homestead. Braman homesteaded 160 acres on Pacific Creek. After the postwar depression and losing his crop to severe drought in 1919, he did not replant the following year. In 2011, bidders paid a combined total of $3,685,000 for only 4.8 acres of his former ranch land.

This group of homesteaders is harvesting and threshing the first crop of oats at the Timmins homestead. Settlers in the valley often pooled their resources and united to help each other through the harvest. Homesteaders tended to settle next to others, and small communities of neighbors began to form, creating the basis for the area’s first towns.

Ed “Roan Horse (Roanie)” Smith is pictured at left with his dog on the porch of his homestead cabin near Cottonwood Creek at the base of the Tetons. In 1921, Smith homesteaded 160 acres at Lupine Meadows on a relinquishment homestead that had an existing cabin on it. Smith was 54 years old when he took out the homestead with the stated intention of breeding horses, although some thought it was really his retirement place. Below, settlers with snowshoes visit Roanie at his cabin. They are, from left to right, Geraldine Lucas, Tony Grace, Hildegarde Crandall, Lida Gabbey, Leonard Timmermeyer, Albert Gabbey, and Harrison R. Crandall. (Below, photograph by Harrison Crandall.)