We took a road trip today through the outer road through the Tetons to explore its history. The inner road takes you close to Jackson and Jenny Lake with great lake views and close mountain views. We took this road yesterday. The outer road takes you through some stunning territory and which is the historical section of the park, where the fur trappers set their traps and homesteaders build their homes and tried to wrest a living from the arid, rocky desert soil.
The views of the Tetons are just as stunning from this road and you can get the whole range in one shot. This range is so stunning because it has no foothills, it just seems to pop up from the flat valley floor. Thomas Moran, an artist who accompanied Ferdinand Hayden in 1871 on his surveying journeys throughout this region, said:
‘The Tetons have loomed up grandly against the sky. From this point it is perhaps the finest pictorial range in the United States or even N. America.’
The Tetons are young at only 5 - 10 million years old, babies when compared to other mountain ranges. But they are composed of rocks 2.5 billions years old. In fact, at 7000’ above the valley floor, they are still growing as the valley floor slides down further and further while the mountains rise higher and higher along a fault line between the Tetons and the valley floor. About 10,000,000 years ago, the plates beneath the earth’s crust began moving, bringing earthquakes and causing the eastern plate to fall and the western plate to rise. The rocks on one side that match the rocks on the other side are now 30,000’ apart. Wow.
Native Americans
The first signs of human habitation in this region dates back to 12,000 when Native Americans lived here in the spring, summer and winter months before leaving for their winter homes. There is an amazing group of Native Americans, settlers, homesteaders, trappers and guides who made their way through this territory, the last sections of America to be homesteaded. One of the main tribes who inhabited this section of land during the summer months was the Shoshone, led by Chief Washakie, born in 1786. He was the last war chief for the eastern band of Shoshone and an able statesman, negotiator, peacemaker and interpreter. Because of his skills, he was able to get the land that he and his people wanted in this area.
Fur Trappers
Most of the early explorers to this region were the fur trappers drawn to this territory for beaver pelts to supply the beaver hat trade in the east. While finding the furs necessary for them to make a living, they also explored, described and named much of the Rocky Mountain landscape. Though their heyday lasted just 20 years before silk hats replaced beaver hats, they left an indelible legacy. David Jackson was a trapper for whom Jackson’s Hole was named. ‘Hole’ was what the trappers called a valley surrounded by mountains. In the end, the ’s was dropped from the name and it became Jackson Hole. One was David E. Jackson.
How about John Colter, who was a volunteer with Lewis & Clark and wanted to stay out west and not return with them to St. Louis. Civilization held no lure for him but the wilderness did. He left to continue to explore this region further and to try to benefit from his knowledge. He roamed through what would later become Yellowstone NP and all the way down to what is now called Jackson Hole. The Colter Bay area of the park with its VC, marina, campground, store and facilities is named for him.
Then there were Richard ‘Beaver Dick’ Leigh who, it was said, could find and trap beaver where there weren’t any. He lived in a teepee with his wife, Jenny, a native Shoshone. Leigh had explored the whole area as a hunter and trapper and was hired by James Stevenson to explore the Snake River and the Teton territory. He and his wife received the timeless honor of having two lakes in the region named after them, Leigh Lake and Jenny Lake (pictured below).
Their story ends so sadly, though. The whole family, Jenny, Beaver Dick and their 6 children all contracted smallpox. Jenny and the 6 children died and left Beaver Dick ‘the loneliest man in the world’ to live out his life in Idaho until 1899.
Homesteaders
With the Homestead Act in 1862, more settlers headed out here. The deal was that if you could make improvements on your land in 5 years, all you had to do was to pay $15 and fill in the ubiquitous paperwork and the land was yours. 160 acres - all yours - what a deal. Should bring lots of people to settle out here. But not too many, this land was not fertile, had an extremely harsh climate and a very short growing season. Farming was not in the cards for many and those who came had to scratch out some kind of living.
Ornery, profane and grouchy and a confirmed old bachelor (I wonder why), Bill Menor was one of these. He operated a ferry across the Snake River. He charged 25 cents for a rider and horse and 50 cents for a wagon and team but a pedestrian could travel free if a wagon was crossing. What a monopoly he had. Sometimes, if he didn’t like the person who wanted to cross, he wouldn’t let them. Ornery as heck but ingenious.
When the river got too low for the ferry, he rigged up a primitive cable car to carry 3 or 4 passengers across. In the winter he and his neighbors had a bridge which they dismantled each spring. After 1894, his ferry was the main crossing in this valley.
The NPS gives tours of his house and store. Later in the summer when the river isn’t running so fast, you can catch a ride on his ferry. None of the furnishings in the house are original and neither is the ferry. However, the furnishings there are from the same era while the ferry has been built to resemble Menor’s.
In our tour group was a family group of 18 people from 4 years old to a couple in their 70’s. They had started out in Texas in 2 vans and were on an extended trip to Yellowstone, Tetons, Glacier, the Black Hills and on. Imagine that, 18 people, 2 vans, all ages and several weeks of traveling. AND - they were still getting along. You can see some of them in the picture of the Maud Noble cabin below.
But there were also some women homesteading in the valley. Maud Noble came to the valley in 1915 as a ‘dude’, a wealthy easterner seeking adventure. There were a few dude ranches in the area that made their living presenting the western lifestyle to these easterners. She decided to stay and built this home in 1916. In 1918 she purchased the store, homestead and ferry from Bill Menor and - doubled the rates. In 1927, only 8 years later, a bridge went in about 1/4 mile away and her ferry was obsolete. However, her main claim to fame was that her cabin was the meeting place for several Jackson citizens who wanted to preserve this area as a preserve, a place for all to enjoy.
Here’s an Alaskan dog sled that an early homesteader, Geraldine Lucas, used to visit her neighbors and carry moderate loads of supplies. She was a retired teacher who bought some land to homestead for her retirement and by 1922 the property was hers. At the age of 59 and not in climbing shape, she persuaded a local young mountain climber, Paul Petzoldt, to help her get to the top of Grand Teton, a rocky crag. She wanted to climb it because she loved the mountain but also to prove herself to the rest of the area residents, mostly men.
‘I’ve heard talk around town that it’s no place for a woman and that women should not be allowed up there. People just don’t understand people like myself.’
After her death, her land was donated to the park.
That’s just a few of the homesteaders who established themselves in this remote area. There were many others like the Mormons and the dude ranches and, of course a few scalawags. But, they'll make their appearance in the next blog.
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