Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

History & Culture in Grand Teton

Jackson Lake

Just one mile south of Jackson Lake Junction, you'll see the spillway of Jackson Lake Dam. The dam increased the depth of Jackson Lake by 39 vertical feet. Idaho farmers paid to have the dam built in 1906, effectively making this natural, glacially created lake into a reservoir. Today, ...

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Wildlife Art

The National Museum of Wildlife Art, perched on the hillside just north of Jackson, maintains a large collection of paintings and sculptures by Russell, Bierstadt and other noted artists. For information, please call (307) 733-5771.  The National Museum of Wildlife Art, perched on the hillside just north of Jackson, maintains ...

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History

When humans started visiting the Jackson Hole area about 10,000 years ago, they followed trails across the land that were created eons before by migrating wildlife. For elk and bison—and later, nomadic tribes and fur trappers—the Jackson Hole area was simply a crossroads or seasonal hunting ground. Winters were ...

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Grand Tetons

The Tetons were known variously as "The Pilot Knobs" and "The Three Paps." The word Tetons is actually a French word meaning "breasts." Iroquois or French-Canadian trappers from the Pacific Northwest may have been responsible for the name Les Trois Tetons meaning "the three breasts." By the 1820s, the mountains ...

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Jackson Hole

The name "Jackson Hole" refers to the valley region surrounded by mountain ranges and highlands. "Jackson" is the name of the town that lies at the southern end of Jackson Hole, just four miles away from Grand Teton National Park's ...

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Rendezvous

Each year from about 1820 to 1840, trappers, hunters and traders from throughout the Rocky Mountains gathered at predetermined valleys to exchange the season's furs for equipment, tobacco, whiskey and news of the outside world. These events were known as "rendezvous," from the French word for "appointment" or "meeting ...

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Finders Keepers

You would need a very long pole to fly all the flags of nations that once claimed the Tetons. Although France "owned" most of the northern Rocky Mountains until the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the Jackson Hole area was outside its boundaries. Spain had a claim on the region, ...

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