Historic Buildings 1913-1985

White Grass Ranch began in 1913 when Harold Hammond, a cowboy from Idaho, and Tucker Bispham, a Rhodes Scholar from Philadephia, each began to homestead 160 acres which they joined into a 320 acre ranch. It appears that their original intent was to create a cattle ranch, yet in 1919, they welcomed their first guests who were generally called dudes.

By law, homesteaders were required to prove up the land before being granted ownership. Hammond and Bispham did so by planting oats and barley, harvesting hay in the meadow and raising cattle; and building log structures that included the barn, a main cabin, and three smaller guest cabins. By 1930, the ranch is reported to have had 18 cabins and was able to accommodate 35 dudes. From the 1920s through the 1970s, buildings were given additions and bathrooms were installed with running water.  The barn loft became a recreation room when the original roof was replaced with a new roof.  A sliding glass door was installed on the east wall of the Main Cabin when a large deck was added.  Wooden platforms were built upon which canvas tents were placed to house additional guests and staff.  The fuel source to create hot water for the ranch was changed from wood to oil in the bathhouse boiler. ‘Septic tanks’ were attached to cabins which consisted of a pipe from the interior bath to an old ranch vehicle buried in the ground nearby. In the early 1950s, the Rural Electric Administration provided the ranch with full electrical service. Prior to that, there was limited service (evenings mostly) from a diesel generator located west of the Main Cabin.

Over the decades of ranch operations, a building’s use often changed, e.g., the Main Cabin, built as Harold Hammond’s residence, became the social and dining hub for ranch guests; the library in the Main Cabin became a ping pong game room and a children’s dining room; and the northern most cabin used by the caretaker became a guest cabin, often called the Messler Cabin. One constant from 1913 to 1985, when the ranch closed following Frank Galey’s death, was the water source, i.e., the snowmelt from the mountains and a year around spring west of the Main Cabin served the ranch. This water was also used as a source for irrigating the meadow, supplying Lake Ingeborg and provided a cold stream of water for cooling beer next to most guest cabins.

NOTE:  After a five year absence while serving in the Air Force, Frank Galey returned to the ranch in 1946. Ranch buildings needed repair but materials were scarce. Through 1985, all structures remained very rustic and due to a lack of maintenance and upgrades, most deteriorated. In the 1970s-80s, staff said the ranch was ‘held together with baling wire.’ Frank Galey sold White Grass to the Grand Teton National Park in 1956 with a life lease to operate it as a dude ranch until his death. Such an agreement may have been a disincentive to invest money into infrastructure and building repairs or upgrades.

To read more about the ranch history, click here.

To learn more about the ranch rehabilitation, click here.


The Main Cabin

The Main Cabin, was built by Harold Hammond (1913) as part of proving up the land for his homestead filing (1920) which states that the Main Cabin was his original residence. When built, the Main Cabin most likely consisted of the center cabin adjacent to the porch seen in the first photo below. Later, side additions were built onto the the center section and then additional rooms were built onto the additions making 5 large rooms across the front. Lastly, a kitchen was added to the back of the structure where later a cold storage addition was built. It is unclear how long Hammond lived in the Main Cabin before its central purpose was to serve the dudes’ needs.


Hammond Cabin

Harold Hammond built a one room cabin with fireplace but it is not clear when. The original Hammond Cabin structure later had additions built and became a guest residence accommodating families. Before Frank Galey built his cabin after returning to the ranch post WWII, he, his wife and daughter lived in the Hammond Cabin during the winter.


Guest Cabins

Harold Hammond stated in his 1920 homestead filing to have built a barn, the Main Cabin, a log bunkhouse and storehouse. Tucker Bispham declared in his 1921 filing that he had built three log structures on his claim, one of which was presumed to be his residence. It is difficult to know the location of these buildings though Bispham’s filing states his buildings were adjacent to those built by Hammond. Likewise, it is difficult to determine when the additional 18 buildings were built prior to 1930, the bulk of which were used to accommodate dudes.


Additional Buildings of Significance

In 1935, Harold Hammond built the bathhouse with indoor plumbing to accommodate showers and a laundry. In 1936, a number of private bathrooms were added to individual cabins. Tent cabins placed upon wooden platforms were built west of the log cabins and bathhouse. The tent cabins were used for guests or staff, depending upon ranch needs. Frank Galey and his family would periodically live in these cabins until their daughter, Cindy, came back from an all day ride and discovered that where she had resided for several days had been assigned to newly arrived guests. Frank’s wife, Inge, then became assertive saying that the family needed their own place to live. Thus, the Galeys were living in their own cabin in 1948. The cabin burned in November 1985 following Frank’s death in July. The origin of that fire remains unclear.


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