Although the fur trade may be seen as having little economic value, it supplied an avenue for the adventurers who would provide a wealth of knowledge of the geography of the West as well as guide services to the westbound emigrants in the 1840s.
The American mountain men played a significant role in the acquisition of "the Oregon country." If not for them, Jackson Hole could well be a part of Canada. As they followed Indian trails, beaver hunters "wore their own trails" in the valley--making it a "hole." Mountain men set their traps during the 1820s-1840s around the Snake River and the streams draining into it from the Teton, Gros Ventre and other ranges. Teton Pass, Union Pass, Togwotee Pass, Two Ocean Pass all led to Jackson Hole.
July 1834: "This valley is called 'Jackson Hole' it is generally from 5 to 15 mls wide: the Southern part where the river enters the mountain is hilly and uneven but the Northern portion is wide smooth and comparatively even the whole being covered with wild sage and Surrounded by high and rugged mountains upon whose summits the snow remains during the hottest months in Summer. The alluvial bottoms along the river and streams inter sect it thro. The valley produce a luxuriant growth of vegetation among which wild flax and species of onion are abundant. The great altitude of this place however connected with the cold descending from the mountains at night I think would be a serious obstruction to growth of most Kinds of cultivated grains. This valley like all other parts of the country abounds with game.'"[Osborne Russell, "Journal of a Trapper," Lincoln: U of Neb. Press, 1965, p. 18.]Before Lewis and Clark had returned to St. Louis from the mouth of the Columbia in 1806, American trappers were moving up the Missouri River to the Yellowstone area. By 1810, a party of Manuel Lisa's St. Louis Missouri Fur Company under the command of Andrew Henry and Pierre Menard had established a post at the Three Forks of the Missouri.
Hostile Blackfeet and vicious grizzly bears, however, soon led to its abandonment. Under Henry's leadership, John Hoback, Jacob Hoback, Jacob Reznor, and Edward Robinson and others were able to cross the Continental Divide and they wintered on the North Fork of the Snake River. When spring came the party split up--most, under Henry, returned to the Big Horn the way they had come; but Hoback, Reznor, and Robinson [all from Kentucky] set out for the Missouri, crossing Teton Pass, down Wind River, and then northeast.
Grand Teton rises in the center of this picture background. Just the day before, April 15th, 2009, the Jackson Hole News & Guide had reported that a grizzly bear had recently wandered near a private residence in Grand Teton National Park and was last seen "right here" at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, prompting officials to warn visitors to use vigilance and carry bear spray. 
"The stream whose course we followed [the Hoback] receives several others and forms a small river. We frequently forded it on the 25th and 26th. Its rapidity is so great that nobody could walk there without assistance. Our road has been very winding amidst small mountains on the edge of the precipices which surround us. One of our horses fell with his pack into the river from a height of nearly two hundred feet, but was uninjured." [Wilson Price Hunt; Pierce Olson, Landmarks of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade, p. 25. Jackson Hole Historical Society]
From this junction of the Snake and Hoback Rivers the Hunt group passed through Jackson Hole, over Teton Pass and on to Henry's Fort in Idaho. In this area, Hoback and his companions were detached from the expedition to trap beaver. The following summer the eastbound Astorians, led by Robert Stuart, met them in the wilderness, starving and destitute, having been robbed by the Indians. They were given clothing and equipment and continued hunting and trapping until the winter of 1813 when they were killed by the Indians.
"...On Sunday, August 23, 1835, Jim Bridger's and Kit Carson's brigade of trappers and Indians, and the Rev. Samuel Parker bound northward from the rendezvous on the Green River camped in this area. This basin was known then as Jackson's Little Hole. The Reverend Parker was delivering a sermon:
In the afternoon we had public worship with captain Bridger's company, who understood English. The men conducted with great propriety, and listened with attention. I did not feel any disposition to upbraid them for their sins, but endeavored affectionately to show them, that they are unfit for heaven, and that they could not be happy in the employments of that holy place, unless they should first experience a great moral change of heart by the grace of God, since the only source of happiness in heaven consists in serving and glorifying God for ever and ever." [Parker, Journal, pp. 82-83.]
* Note yellow sulfur color of water along the mountainside.".....Here, for some distance, I was much annoyed with the strong scent of sulphuretted hydrogen, and soon saw at the foot of the mountain.. a large sulphur spring, which sent up as much as thirty gallons of water per minute. Around this spring were large quantities of incrusted sulphur, and so strongly is the water saturated, that it colors the water of the river, on the side next to the spring, a greenish yellow for more than a mile below..." [Parker, Journal, pp. 84-85.]
Hoback Canyon: today the highway follows the Hoback River near the water level, but the trail used by the original adventurers of the area was high along the hillside which made traveling by horseback quite an adventure [trail is just at the treeline on the upper left].
The original trail: Stinking Springs area of Hoback Canyon. Sage, rabbit brush and tender twigs of choke-cherry, serviceberry, bitterbrush and other vegetation are found along the slopes. Watch for wildlife on open south-facing slopes, where the browse remains accessible when the north slopes are buried in snow. 
Moose are usually found by open water. When not nibling on willows, they are found in groups feeding on bitterbrush shrubs that grow amongst the sagebrush. Groups have been found to be as large as 55 bulls throughout the valley.
On this site, 8/16/1811, Sixty-one Astorians of the American Fur Company, the squaw of Pierre Dorion and her two children, with one hundred and eighteen horses camped for 5 days. They were on their way to the Pacific Ocean from Montreal via St. Louis. Here they met, traded and powowed with the Snake Indians, killed buffalo and cured meat. Continuing their journey they crossed the divide one mile north of here on to the waters of the Columbian river. These were the first white men in what is now Sublette County.The upper Green River was the site for a "summer rendezvous which brought Indians, traders and trappers together for a "carnival of trading." The last rendezvous was in 1840 as the change in men's fashion changed from beaver to silk hats as well as the virtual extinction of beaver in the area.
Pierce Olson, author of "Landmarks of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade" [two one-day self-guided tours from Jackson, WY], retired to Jackson Hole in 1983 and has served on the Board of Directors of the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum. I highly recommend his guidebook while touring the area. The guidebook grew out of two study tours that he developed and led for the Snake River Institute in Wilson and the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum--based on tours led by Professor Michael Cassity of the U of Wyoming and on Professor Fred Gowans' book "Rocky Mountain Rendezvous."
The "avenue for the adventurers" continues in Jackson Hole today. In 1929, Glenn Exum began climbing in the Teton Range with Paul Petzoldt, who had been guiding small numbers of clients since 1925. Together they formed a partnership that became the Petzoldt-Exum School of American Mountaineering. Today Exum Mountain Guides continues to teach and guide people of all ages.Since 1986, Rendezvous has been providing customized backcountry tours for skiers and riders of all abilities. With over 500 inches of light, dry powder snow fall each winter, the area's variety of terrain includes steep mountain ridges to broad, low-angled powder bowls. Backcountry skiing and snowboarding are available from within Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and atop Teton Pass. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is said to compare most to the European ski experience in the US with its access to thousands of acres of out-of-bounds skiing.
[Snow King Resort] Snowfall this year was record breaking and continued to fall throughout our stay in April. In spring, fair-weather days can be the exception as the potential severity of weather with high winds, white-out conditions and periods of dense fog often drastically limit visibility high on the mountains. When the sun does shine, however, bring plenty of water, sunblock and sunglasses!Every year more than three million people visit Jackson Hole. Jackson Hole comprises the towns of Jackson, Kelly, Moose, Moran, Wilson, Teton Village, and Hoback Junction. Ranches have given way to a broad range of industries in the area today. Although the population is only 19,000, it's unemployment rate is just 3% due to a community that has over two hundred nonprofit organizations which raise more than 4.3 million annually in donations through a single community foundation event making them number one in the nation in charitable giving.
In spring, thousands of elk wintering on the National Elk Refuge lose their antlers before they migrate to their summer range. The local Boy Scouts harvest the shed antlers and auction them to bidders from around the world who make furniture, wall decorations, jewerly, and food and medicinal products from them. The Boy Scouts were getting ready to go out to collect antlers on the Elk Range just this weekend[April 09]. The 42nd annual world famous "Elkfest" is planned for May 16-17.Writing About Faith, Family, and Culture From the Heartland.
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