Long before settlers moved westward, the Jackson Hole area was visited by migrating Native American tribes including the Crow, Blackfeet, Bannok and Shoshone. In 1807, fur trappers John Colter and Manuel Lisa explored the area and returned to the east with tales of the geothermal wonders of Yellowstone. In 1822, adventurer Davey Jackson joined a group of other trappers for an expedition up the Missouri River to explore the fabled Yellowstone area. The group spent several years trapping in Teton Valley and Davey Jackson dubbed the area “Jackson’s Hole.” In spite of his professed fondness for the area, Jackson and his partners returned to St. Louis in 1832 and never returned to the area. For the next 40 years, Jackson Hole was again isolated and virtually uninhabited.

After Yellowstone became the world’s first national park in 1872, settlers began to trickle into the area. Winters were brutal and life was difficult. Cattle ranching and farming were hard ways to make a living. When more visitors began to arrive in the area seeking the wonders of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, the intrepid settlers discovered that hosting and guiding vacationers (dudes) from the East Coast and European was more pleasurable and profitable than cattle ranching or farming. The first dude ranches opened and Jackson Hole became one of the largest dude ranching communities in the country.

When the first ski resort, Snow King Ski Area opened in 1939, the trickle of tourism became a flood and Jackson Hole became a premier ski destination. Today, Jackson Hole is an intriguing mixture of rugged and ritzy. Old wooden sidewalks and a central four block town square retain the flavor of the Old West, while nearby luxury resorts and spas attract the rich and famous. Once hooked on the Hole, many visitors return again and again and some, drawn by the magnetism of the mountains, never leave.