Paul & Tara Visit the National Parks: Grand Teton NP Revisited

Visited: June 2022

Nearby town: Jackson, WY

I have been to Grand Teton NP a number of times, but the visits were usually quite short, a brief stop as part of a larger trip to Yellowstone NP, etc. For many years, we felt that we had not devoted enough time to this park.

In June 2022, we decided to do something about that. Tara and I took a trip solely dedicated to visiting Grand Teton NP. We had a wonderful time.

We took the ferry across Jenny Lake and hiked to Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon...you can read about that hike and see the pictures here:

https://paulnationalparks.blogspot.com/2023/06/inspiration-point-grand-teton-np.html

This post will discuss the other hikes/activities we did on this trip. Our first stop was Mormon Row for fantastic views of the Teton Range.

The "Cathedral Group" of the Teton Range.

The tallest peak here, Grand Teton, stands at 13,770 ft.

Mormon Row is an historic district consisting of homestead complexes along a road in the southeastern corner of the National Park. Mormon homesteaders arrived in the Jackson Hole area in the 1890s. You can learn about these early settlers here. Mormon Row is also a favorite destination of photographers to capture the Tetons rising dramatically behind the rustic barns and ranch homes.

the John Moulton Barn

John Moulton ranch house

The creation of Grand Teton National Park was controversial. In the early 1900s, Horace Albright, a conservationist serving as the Superintendant of Yellowstone National Park, began efforts to preserve the Grand Teton area as a National Park. Albright was concerned by the construction of the Jackson Lake Dam in 1911 (and its expansion in 1916) and commercial growth and development in the Jackson Hole Valley. In 1929 Congress established Grand Teton National Park.

However, the initial park boundaries only covered the Teton Range and six lakes at the base of the mountains. Albright desired the park to be much bigger. Albright convinced wealthy philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. (son of Standard Oil-founder John Rockefeller) that the Grand Teton area needed to be preserved as a national park. Starting in 1927, Rockefeller began to purchase land and several ranches near the initial park boundaries through a company he created called the Snake River Land Company. The company purchased the land for the ostensible purpose of cattle ranching, but the actual purpose was to eventually donate the land to the federal government to expand the boundaries of the National Park.

In 1930, Rockefeller's plan became public knowledge, and locals were outraged at Rockefeller's apparent subterfuge and were fiercely opposed to the landgrab and expansion of the new National Park. Due to this loud blowback, Congress balked at Rockefeller's attempts to donate the land. In 1942, growing impatient with Congress' refusal to accept the donation, Rockefeller informed Sec. of the Interior Harold Ickes that if the plan did not progress, he would sell the land to private owners. In response, on March 15, 1943 President Frankin D. Roosevelt created Grand Teton National Monument via executive order under the Antiquities Act and accepted Rockefeller's donation of the land to establish the Monument.

Locals were again incensed. In protest of the creation of the monument by executive order, they drove 500 cattle across the monument in defiance of the law protecting the land from grazing. In support of the locals, the House and Senate passed a bill abolishing the Grand Teton National Monument, but President Roosevelt vetoed the bill. A lawsuit to reverse the executive order was unsuccessful and dismissed by the courts. Tensions between locals and park authorities continued for many years. However, by the end of World War II and with the growth of tourism industry in the Jackson Hole area, anti-park sentiment began to wane among some locals.

In 1950, Congress expanded Grand Teton National Park to include the monument land established by the executive order. In exchange, the grazing licenses currently held on the park lands was grandfathered in and honored until their expiration, and could be renewed with administration approval. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds and taxes the Park made was transferred to the local county and state governments. Finally, the Antiquities Act was amended to decree that the expansion of or creation of any National Monument in the state of Wyoming would need to be by express approval of Congress and could no longer be created solely by executive order.

Be sure to stop at the Snake River Overlook. This is the view captured in Ansel Adams' iconic photograph of the Tetons towering over a bend in the Snake River. It's a gorgeous spot.