Magnificent Mormon Row

 

At one point in time, many people lived in the area now called Grand Tetons National Park.  When John D. Rockefeller first saw the Tetons, he was so taken with them, and so distressed by the land surrounding them that was being gobbled up by ranchers and farmers, he set about to purchase that land from them and gift it to the federal government for the purpose of expanding the National Park.  He was concerned that the beauty of the Tetons would be lost by over development in future years.  The purchase agreement did allow the farmers/ranchers to continue to live on the land, but at the end of their lifetime, it reverted to the federal government and the Park.  There was one settlement of Mormons whose homesteads are protected and somewhat preserved in Grand Teton National Park as a tribute to the farmers and ranchers from the past.

The above image (and actually a couple of the following images as well) just seemed to me to be the view of western life on the range that we hold in our imaginations.  Can you image - this was reality to the families that lived here!

It does seem sort of romantic a lifestyle, but this would have been a hard life, especially in the winter when several feet of snow would have buried this little community in the middle of nowhere.  There is only one road to this community, and it's really out in the middle of some fairly vast plains that lead up to the mountains.

Notice the extreme slant of the roof on this cabin - it's so the snow has an easier time of sliding off the roof, so as not to cause the roof to crash down on the family inside.  I do love the clouds, trees, cabin and mountains in this image.  This particular cabin was fairly close to a little stream, so running water was easier for this family to get to than the others!

This final image illustrates what I meant earlier about the homesteads being in the middle of the plains and how vast they were.  This is actually looking away from the Tetons toward some other mountains.  The valley in which these homesteads are is called Jackson Hole.  Many folks think that's the name of the town that's nearby, but actually Jackson Hole is the name of the valley alongside the Tetons.

Enjoy!