Jackson

Jackson Hole is a valley in Wyoming. Old timers call it Jackson Hole but actually refers to the valley area around the town of Jackson. It is located in west-central Wyoming, and gets the name "hole" from early trappers or mountain men, who primarily entered the valley from the north and east and had to descend down into the valley along relatively steep slopes, giving the sensation of entering a hole.
These low-lying valleys surrounded by mountains contain rivers and streams, good habitat for beaver and other fur-bearing animals. The valley is named for David (Davey) Edward Jackson, a mountain man who trapped the area for beaver in the early nineteenth century.

Though used by Native Americans for hunting and ceremonial purposes, the valley was not known to harbor year round human settlement prior to the 1870's. Descriptions of the valley and its features were recorded in the journals of John Colter, who had been a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After returning to the Rocky Mountains, Colter entered the region in 1806 in the vicinity of Togwotee Pass and became the first caucasian American to see the valley. His reports of the valley, the Teton Range and of the Yellowstone region to the north were viewed by people of the day with skepticism.

The valley is formed by the Teton Range on the western side and the Gros Ventre range on the eastern side. Grand Teton National Park occupies the north-western part of the valley encompassing the much of the Teton Range as well as Jackson Lake.

Jackson is home to the world's largest ball of barbed wire, and large arches of shed elk antlers at the entrances to the town square.The town of Jackson, Wyoming, is at the southern end. Between them lies the National Elk Refuge, home of the largest elk herd on earth. The Snake River threads through the entire valley from its headwater in Yellowstone in the north to the mouth of the Snake River Canyon at the southern tip of the valley.

Jackson's Hole is that part of the UpperSnake RiverValley which lies at the eastern base of the Teton Range. One of the largest enclosed valleys in the Rocky Mountains, its glaciated floor extends about sixty miles north and south, and varies up to twelve miles in width. It is bounded on the west by the Tetons, on the east and south by the less pretentious MountLeidyHighlands and the Gros Ventre and HobackMountains. The Gros Ventres merge imperceptibly into the Wind RiverMountains farther east, the crest of which forms the Continental Divide. The southern extremity of the Tetons merges with the eastern end of the Snake RiverRange near the canyon where the Snake River escapes from the valley.

Historic Jackson's Hole, also known as "Jackson's Big Hole"—but now politely refined to just plain Jackson Hole—was named in 1829 for David Jackson, one of the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. To the early trapper a "hole" was a sizeable valley abounding in game, and usually (with the exception of Yellowstone's "Firehole") associated with some distinctive personality—hence Brown's Hole, Pierre's Hole, Gardner's Hole, etc. However, Jackson's Hole was more than just a pleasant spot for trapping and camping. Research gives substance to the view that this was the historic crossroads of the RockyMountain fur trade.

Jackson's Hole was destined by geography to become a traffic center of the Western fur trade. Between South Pass at the head of the Little Sandy and the northern passes above the Three Forks of the Missouri it offered the most feasible route across the RockyMountain barrier. In addition, it was the focal point of a region that was highly prized and vigorously contested because of its populous beaver streams. Here trappers' trails converged like the spokes of a great wheel and, after Lewis and Clark, most of the important trapper-explorers crossed Jackson's Hole on their journeys.

On a clear day YellowstonePark visitors can see to the south the mountain spires which identify Grand Teton National Park of Wyoming, an indefinable shape of 500 square miles. (The actual boundaries of these neighboring parks are separated by a scant five miles.) The Tetons are perhaps the most distinctive of the granite giants which comprise the Rocky Mountains. A series of sharp pyramids of naked rock, the peaks stand like sharks' teeth against the sky. The most precipitous sides and the most needle-like summit belong to the highest of these, the Grand Teton, which rises over 7,000 feet from its immediate base, nearly 14,000 feet above the level of the distant sea.

The TetonMountains are the most conspicuous landmarks of a region which contains the scrambled sources of the three greatest river systems of continental United States. As we have seen, YellowstonePark to the north gives birth to the eastward-flowing Missouri and the westward flowing Columbia waters. East of the Tetons, in the Wind RiverMountains, is the head of Green River which rolls southward to merge into the mighty Colorado River, tumbling through the arid lands to the Gulf of California.

Women in Wyoming have been voting since 1869, when the legislature of Wyoming Territory met for the first time, the first government in the world to grant women full voting rights. But in 1920, the year the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women across the nation the right to vote, Jackson added to its legendary history by electing an all-female city council, the first anywhere in the United States . The elected women of Jackson proved their mettle by increasing the town treasury, improving the water system, getting rid of the garbage in the streets, grading the roads, and beautifying the cemeteryâ€”a very ambitious agenda.

In 1929, Grand Teton National Park was created and dedicated. The park at that time included the mountains in the Teton Range and a narrow strip of land that contained the major lakes at the base of the peaks. But that was enough to develop the tourism industry, which has now replaced cattle ranching as the primary economic base of Jackson Hole . In 1950, the park was enlarged to include the Jackson Hole National Monument , established in 1943. The rededicated park contains 52 square miles, acquired by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., during the 1930's and 40's. Grand Teton National Park now totals 485 square miles or 310,000 acres.

As the fame of Jackson Hole with its beautiful scenery and fascinating wildlife grew, more and more visitors found their way into the valley. The mild summers added river rafting and hiking and horseback riding to the allure of hunting and fishing in the valley. In 1937, valley residents built a ski tow at Teton Pass and winter sports were added to the valley's charm for visitors. In 1939, Snow King Resort, on the mountain above the town of Jackson , was the first ski facility in the state of Wyoming .

Today three major ski areas have made Jackson Hole world famous for excellent skiing and winter sports. At the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Rendezvous Peak has the largest vertical rise served by one lift system in the country at 4,139 feet above Teton Village . Grand Targhee Ski and Summer Resort, near the Idaho border, is famous for its deep and plentiful powder snow, and Snow King Resort serves locals and tourists alike with the valley's only night skiing.

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