Many of our national parks have been carved from wilderness areas previously little known to man and but seldom visited. The Tetons, on the contrary, are remarkably rich in historic associations. The Grand Teton itself has been referred to by an eminent historian as "the most noted historic summit of the West."

Up to the beginning of the last century Indians held undisputed sway over the country dominated by the Three Tetons. Then, as now, Jackson Hole was literally a happy hunting ground, and, while the severe winters precluded permanent habitation, during the milder seasons, bands of Indians frequently came into the basin on hunting or warring expeditions. They represented many tribes, usually hostile to each other. The dreaded Blackfeet, the Crows, the Nez Perce, the Flatheads, the Shoshoni, and others. There is little reason to believe that these Indians ever invaded the more rugged portions of the Tetons, but it is certain they regularly crossed the range, utilizing the several passes.

The Tetons probably first became known to white men in 1807-8, when the intrepid John Colter crossed the range, presumably near Teton Pass on the memorable journey which also made him discoverer of the Yellowstone country. In 1811 the Astorians, under Wilson Price Hunt, entered Jackson Hole by the Hoback Canyon and, failing in an attempt to navigate the Snake River, likewise crossed the Teton Range in the vicinity of Teton Pass, continuing thence to the mouth of the Columbia, where the trading post, Astoria, was founded. The Tetons also figure in the adventures of the returning Astorians in 1812. In Washington Irving's classic account of the Astorian expedition (Astoria, published in 1836) the name "Tetons" first appears in literature.

The decades which follow may truly be referred to as "the Fur Era", for the Tetons became the center of remarkable activities on the part of fur trappers representing both British and American interests, the former by the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies, the latter by a succession of companies operating out of St. Louis, Mo. "It was the trio of peaks so distinctively presented from the west and southwest that made the Tetons famous as landmarks among the roving trappers who, guiding their courses by these easily recognized summits, singly or in groups passed over Teton Pass and through Pierres Hole in their seasonal migrations to and from their remote hunting grounds." Could these ancient monuments speak they would make known some of the most interesting events in the annals of the fur trade. For this was the paradise of the trapper. In every direction meandered the streams along which he pursued his trade, and nearby were the valleys where the rival companies gathered in annual conclave to fight the bloodless battles of their business. There is scarcely an acre of open country in sight of it that has not been the scene of forgotten struggles with the implacable Blackfeet, while far and near, in unknown graves, lie many obscure wanderers of whose lonely fate no record survives. Captain Bonneville, Father DeSmet, Rev. Samuel Parker, Jedediah Smith, Bridger, Kit Carson, David Jackson (after whom Jackson Hole and Jackson Lake were named), Sublette, Joe Meek—these are names to conjure with in western history. These and many others equally distinguished appear in the records of the Teton country, particularly in the third and fourth decades of the century. The 1832 rendezvous of the American trappers was held in Teton Basin, then known as "Pierre's Hole", at the west base of the Tetons. It was attended by many of the most famous trappers of the time, and furnished occasion for the Battle of Pierre's Hole, a notable engagement between the trappers and Gros Ventres.

The picturesque name "Jackson Hole" dates back to 1829, in which year Capt. William Sublette so named it after his fellow trapper, David E. Jackson, who was especially partial to this beautiful valley. The term "hole" was used by the trappers of that period in much the same sense as is the word "basin" today, being applied to any mountain-girt valley.

In the 1840's the value of beaver skins declined and with it the fur trade. By 1845 the romantic trapper of "the Fur Era" had vanished from the Rockies—not, however, without having won for himself an imperishable place in American history. During the next four decades the valleys near the Tetons were largely deserted, except for wandering bands of Indians that still occasionally drifted in. But the frontier was relentlessly closing in, and one Government expedition after another passed through the Teton country or skirted its borders. Most important of these were the Hayden surveys, which in 1871, 1872, 1877, and 1878 sent parties into the region. The names of several members of the 1872 expedition are perpetuated in connection with Leigh, Jenny, Bradley, and Taggart Lakes. Orestes St. John, geologist with the 1877 Hayden party, and the great artist, Thomas Moran, who in 1879 went with a military escort to paint the Tetons, are similarly remembered in the names of two of the principal peaks. To this transition period also belong the earliest prospectors of Jackson Hole, as well as several famous big-game hunters who came here in search of trophies—forerunners of the hundreds of hunters who now annually invade this region.

In the middle eighties came the first settlers. They entered by the Gros Ventre River and Teton Pass, and to begin with naturally settled in the south end of the hole. Here as elsewhere the story of the homesteader has been one of isolation, privations, and hardships, met, however, with persistency and indomitable courage. Nor is the story confined to the past, for maintaining a livelihood amongst these mountains still calls for resourcefulness, fortitude, and—not infrequently—even heroism.

History, here, is still in the making. Teton Forest Reserve was not created until 1897; the railroad reached Victor in 1912; the Jackson Lake Dam was finished in 1914; many of the roads and bridges of the region were constructed within the past decade; and the Grand Teton National Park was created in 1929. The detailed exploration of the range and the conquest of its high peaks have taken place in relatively recent years, and since 1929 trails have been built which for the first time make the Tetons really accessible to the public.

In later paragraphs will be found an account of the mountaineering history of the Tetons. And so the dramatic human story of these mountains is brought down to the present.