In 1918, William Carter received the patent for his homestead on a bend of the Snake River just east of the old town of Moran. By 1926 the property was sold to John Hogan who renovated the homestead to act as a summer residence and fox fur farm. He also built a few extra cabins […]
In 1955 the Jackson Lake Lodge opened and became the first example of modern, International style architecture in a National Park. The design was intended to express a sense of modernism and the creation of a new era after the close of World War II. The large, flat, concrete and glass structure was made to […]
Steven Leek first entered the Jackson Hole valley working as a trapper in 1888. At 30 years old, he had immigrated to the United States as a child, received education in Illinois and worked on a ranch in Nebraska. Upon arriving in Jackson Hole, Leek resolved to stay in the isolated and empty mountain valley, […]
In 1940 the Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc. was formed out of the Snake River Land Company. The intention was to distance the Preserve from the bad press surrounding the Snake River Land Company and impending controversy over the creation of the Jackson Hole National Monument (1943). Those involved with the Preserve announced their new initiative […]
When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived in Jackson Hole in 1933-1935, they set up several camps around the valley: at the base of Jenny Lake, and Leigh Lake, near Lizard Creek and a small isolated bay on Jackson Lake. The main camp was located at Jenny Lake, with a few buildings remaining today in […]
The history of the AMK Ranch can be told in two parts: the homesteading era and the summer home era. It was first homesteaded by John Sargent in 1890. Sargent was one of the first settlers on the northern shores of Jackson Lake. After his suicide in 1913, the property would remain vacant and unused […]
Charles and Maria Allen, Frank Lovell, and Cap and Clara Smith were the first homesteaders in the area is now known as Moran. The three families arrived between 1895 and 1900. Reports show that the Smiths operated a roadhouse that burned in 1900. Shortly after the fire they sold their homestead along with neighbor Frank […]
Captain Edward “Cap” Smith and his wife Clara were some of the first settlers in this region, prior to 1900. Frank Lovell had a homestead just next door. Cap and Clara Smith opened and ran a roadhouse when traffic started coming down the military road from Yellowstone in 1890-1892. It is thought that this modest […]
The town of Moran is Jackson Hole’s first true tourist town. In 1895, Benjamin Sheffield came to the area near Jackson Lake and knew it would make the perfect location for a hunting lodge. Coming from the hunting tourist industry in Montana, he knew he had found something promising. With Marion Lambert as his financial […]
In 1886 John Dudley Sargent first visited Jackson Hole and resolved to return to homestead. He returned home to Machias, Maine where he married Adelaide Crane and had two children, a son and a daughter. In 1889, the young family was in Jackson Hole and construction began on their 10-room house they named Merymere. Accompanying […]
