Grand Teton National Park

The arrival of John Carnes and John Holland in 1884 opened up a slow stream of settlers arriving in Jackson Hole through the end of the 19th century. They settled the best agricultural and ranching lands close to transportation routes and spread out from there. As time went on, four major areas of the valley grew from small communities to towns: Jackson, in southern Jackson Hole; Wilson, at the base of Teton Pass; Moran, at the outlet of Jackson Lake toward the northern end of the valley; and Kelly, along the Gros Ventre River. Smaller communities like Zenith, Antler, and Elk never flourished and no longer exist.

Often, the first sign that a small community had formed was the opening of a local post office. Early post offices were operated out of homestead cabins or existing businesses and sometimes moved from one location to another. In 1892, the Marysvale post office became the first to open in Jackson Hole. It was operated out of the Fred White homestead and named after Fred’s wife, Mary. When the Whites moved from their homestead in 1894, William and Maggie Simpson took over the post office, and it was renamed Jackson. With its superior geographic accessibility to the Teton and South Pass transportation routes, Jackson emerged as the valley’s dominant community.

Demand for goods and services grew along with the population. Settlers needed access to everyday essentials, building supplies, farm equipment, dry goods, blacksmiths, doctors, and other services. Entrepreneurs built the valley’s first businesses to meet these needs. The frontier, once filled with bachelors, now contained families who needed access to schools and churches. Traffic into the valley gradually increased, and enterprising individuals built the first hotels to accommodate weary travelers. Over time, Jackson Hole’s economic base began to switch from agriculture and cattle ranching to accommodating incoming tourists. Today, the tourist industry is the backbone of the valley’s economy.

This group of men is standing outside of Charles “Pap” Deloney’s general mercantile store and home. Deloney realized the need for a reliable supply of goods for the valley’s settlers, and in 1899, he built the valley’s first general mercantile store in the town of Jackson. His wife, Claire, served as the valley’s midwife and doctor.

Abraham Ward (right) stands with his wife, Edna, and daughter in front of the Wilson Hotel, which they operated. In 1898, Ward built the hotel, a saloon, and a store with the help of his father-in-law, Nick Wilson. The town of Wilson took hold below the Teton Pass transportation route; since it was on the west side of the Snake River, it had trouble thriving in its early days.

The above image shows Ben Sheffield (riding on the horse) hauling wood for Jackson Lake Lodge. In 1903, Sheffield purchased two homesteads at the Snake River outlet of Jackson Lake and built the Teton Lodge Resort for his hunting and tourist business. He built a toll bridge (below) across the Snake River, making the town of Moran a transportation link for travelers. Moran was the first tourist town in the valley, as its economy relied solely on the tourism industry. The construction of the Jackson Lake Dam brought workers and new construction to the town. The Snake River Land Company acquired Moran for the park in 1929.

The original Jackson Lake Dam (pictured above with Moran in the background) was a log cofferdam constructed in 1906–1907. It failed in 1910, and construction began on a new dam (below), which is still in use today. The new dam took six years to complete. The original dam had raised the level of Jackson Lake 22 feet. The new dam—part of the Minidoka Project to provide irrigation from the Snake River to farms in Idaho—raised the level 30 feet. When Grand Teton National Park was created in 1929, it did not include Jackson Lake; purists fought to have the lake excluded because it was no longer a natural lake. (Below, photograph by Floyd Bous.)

Charlie Fessler’s store in Moran, pictured above around 1924, was the only place in northern Jackson Hole for tourists to purchase gasoline. The gas and supplies for the store were freighted in from Ashton, Idaho, via the old Reclamation Road by Flagg Ranch. Since no railroads traveled into Jackson Hole, freighters brought goods into the valley via wagons pulled by teams of horses. Materials for the Jackson Lake Dam were also delivered this way. Below, freighter Ray H. Osborne brings his team, led by horses Star (left) and Bally, across Pilgrim Creek as Mount Moran rises in the background. Osborne brought the last horse-drawn freight outfit into the valley from Ashton to Moran.

By the turn of the 20th century, more families populated the valley, and rural schoolhouses began to become a priority. These children are at school in Zenith with teacher Eva Phillips (Lucas) standing behind the children (in the center of the photograph). Wyoming senator Clifford Hansen was from the tiny town of Zenith, which no longer exists.

Practicing faith was important to valley residents. In 1905, the Mormons built the first church in Jackson. In the image below, two unidentified women stand outside the church in Grovont (the town’s name changed to Kelly in 1909), which was completed in 1913 by Rev. Seth Hawley. In later years, the building housed a store. (Courtesy of Rev. Seth Hawley’s daughter.)

Kelly was originally named Grovont by the US Postal Service. The postal service preferred one-word town names, so they combined Gros Ventre into the French pronunciation of the words. It was typical for early post offices to be operated out of the homestead of the postmaster, so the Grovont post office moved around on Mormon Row. It is pictured at the Andy Chambers homestead.

The school, church, and rectory were the only buildings in Kelly that survived the flood on May 17, 1927, when the dam holding Lower Slide Lake broke loose. After the flood, the post office was temporarily housed at the Bark residence (right). Relaxing outside are, from left to right, Anne Kent, Raymond Kent, Donald Kent, Leola Clark, two unidentified men, and Walter Woodward.

In this c. 1920 photograph, early settlers Charles and Maria Allen stand next to a car in front of the Kelly Drugstore and post office. In 1902, Maria served as the first postmaster for the town of Moran, where she ran the post office out of the family’s Elkhorn Hotel. The Allens came to the area from Rockland, Idaho, in 1896.

Although the valley was a peaceful place, a growing population necessitated increased law enforcement. James A. Francis served as sheriff of Teton County from 1923 to 1943. He is pictured at left on horseback wearing his sheriff’s star. Francis was also a successful cattle rancher in the Spring Gulch area of southern Jackson Hole.

Standing outside the Jenny Lake school bus (a horse-drawn sled) in 1941 are, from left to right, Ed “Roan Horse” Smith, Lew Smith, and Lida Gabbey. Gabbey was the teacher at Jenny Lake School and the Jenny Lake postmaster when the office opened in 1926 to serve tourists. The Smiths had the school sled contract and transported children from Moran to Moose. Transportation in wintertime was a challenge in Jackson Hole, as average snowfall amounts on the valley floor vary from 66 inches at the southern end of the valley to 160 inches (and more) toward the northern end. Higher mountain elevations receive over 450 inches of snow each year. Other popular modes of winter transportation included dogsleds, skis, and snowshoes. Below, Jack Kranenberg gives his dogsled team a break in front of a gas station and store.

At left, Harrison Crandall’s niece Esther leans on a sign advertising the String Lakes Pavilion in 1925. Harrison Crandall built the dance pavilion to supplement his income after he and his wife Hildegarde decided to homestead east of String Lake in 1924, taking out a stock-raising entry for 40 head of horses. The pavilion was a 70-foot-long log structure with a plank floor. Hildegarde spent her weekdays cooking and baking for the midnight supper served at the weekly dance. The dances entertained locals and tourists, with the Jackson’s Hole Courier reporting 250 guests at the first dance. Harrison tore down the pavilion after just two years and used the logs to build his photography studio (below). (Left, photograph by Harrison Crandall.)