Jackson, Wyoming 83001
PANA-VUE® SLIDE
The nightly summer shootout on the town square has entertained visitors for years. This 1960s PANA-VUE® SLIDE features “The End of Clover, The Killer.”
Story by Cal Glover
Oh, just go get lost, will ya?
Yeah, pardner, come with me. Let’s get lost for awhile together, go back a few years. To a Jackson’s Hole of years gone by. In fact, let’s go all the way back to 1914, the year Jackson Hole became a town. Four locals deeded a piece of land, and it’s been known as “The Square” ever since.
So let’s just start there. Take a cool drink from the fountain in the center of The Square and gaze up at the Bud Boller bronze of the cowboy on the buckin’ bronc. Look familiar? That same rendition’s on Wyoming’s license plates. The horse is a famous rodeo bronc named Steamboat. Notice the cowboy “fanning” with his hat.
The tall trees above you are cottonwoods, Wyoming’s state tree.
Look around at the four antler arches on each corner. Nah, we didn’t club “those poor deer” to death. The elk antlers are shed every year, and many were fed into the arches from 1953-1969. Every year, on the Saturday before Memorial Day, the east side of The Square is the site of our annual elk antler auction. Last year 9,755 pounds went for an average of $8.27. Not as many end up in the Orient now that ______(?) has been introduced. Answer:
Throughout the summer, six evenings a week, there’s an old-fashioned Western shootout on the southeast corner. It starts at 6:15 p.m., but get there early and find a good place to stand for the longest-running Western shootout in the country. We hear they use blanks, but the local cemetery is in a pretty spot in case they foul up.
From the northeast corner stroll down Deloney Street a hundred yards. Look at that old red barn, the door on the east side. Hollywood took that door away in 1980, hinged a fake one on so Clint Eastwood and Will Smith (not that Will Smith) could come crashing out in the big fight scene of Any Which Way You Can. (OK, watch closely—they’re stunt doubles.) Some 30 feature films have been shot here in Jackson Hole.
And what is Jackson Hole? William Sublette, of mountain-man fame, named this 40-mile-long by 8-to-15-mile-wide valley after his partner, Davey Jackson, way back in the early 1800s.
A quick trip back to the present. That big building about a hundred yards to the north? That’s our rec. center. Visitors from out of town can use it. It has athletic courts, a lap pool, kids’ pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, and the coolest three-story water slide for kids of all ages.
Back to The Square with ya. Wander through some of our art galleries, view glimpses of our Western heritage captured in paintings, sculptures, and photos. Now, it’s free to look, but you might notice they do not give these things away.
Photo:Bob Woodall/ FPI
Early stagecoach riders no doubt gasped in wonder (and relief) upon entering Jackson Hole. Riders today appreciate both the conveyance and the comfort of paved streets.
Have some fun. Find a local, ask, “Can you direct me to George Washington Memorial Park?” Chances are you’ll get a blank stare. Most locals don’t know it, but that is The Square. Stand across from the Cowboy Bar. Look at the plaque bearing John Colter’s name. You’ve probably come to our valley because you like the great outdoors. Do you like it enough to do what John Colter did? He left the Lewis and Clark Expedition to be the first white man to venture into our valley. Starting from the Missouri River, Private Colter traveled 500 miles, by himself...in the winter (1807-08)! He was the first white man to see the geysers of Yellowstone. The earliest map depicts Yellowstone as “Colter’s Hell.”
If you’re 21 or older, saunter on into the Cowboy Bar, which has been a landmark in our town since 1936. No bar stools. That’s right, ya sit on saddles. Now in the old days, up until the late Fifties, these watering holes were also called “The Joints.” There was gambling. According to dude rancher Jack Huyler in his book And That’s the Way It Was In Jackson’s Hole, “Whenever there was a civic project in need of funds, we’d go to the ‘joints’ for help; and we’d get it. That changed when riff-raff from Vegas moved in. Jackson was listed in Fortune Magazine as ‘the second toughest town in the United States after Butte, Montana.’”
Walk down the hallway leading to the Cowboy Steakhouse beneath the bar. Black and white pictures will take you back to years gone by. And check out those spurs. In the early years of dude ranching the rodeos were the big social event of the summer, occurring on July Fourth, the first three days of August, and Labor Day Weekend. These days, all summer, they take place Wednesday and Saturday nights. The funniest thing you’ve seen in a long while will be the kids chasing the calf or the goat, grabbing for the elusive ribbon on its tail. The rodeo hasn’t changed much since dude-ranching picked up in the Twenties and Thirties.
Let’s stay lost for a bit longer, whaddya say? Let’s mosey north. Those old brown buildings are original. Davies Reid was Jackson Drug for many a year, featured homemade ice cream. Walk past it, toward the Teton Theater, opened in 1941. It was the fashion of the day when people lined up in 1953 to see the famous Western, Shane, also filmed in our valley.
That’s the Anvil Motel across the street. Say in 1917 you drove your buckboard wagon from your ranch to town to get supplies. The Anvil was where Pop Deloney’s General Store stood. Your supplies came to more than you had, and Pop wasn’t around. Why, you’d just leave a note and settle up next time you came to town. That’s the way it was done.
(Now don’t do what Bill Webb, owner of Green River Outfitters, swears is a true story. These two gals were on the phone with Bill, asking what they should bring. Ole Bill said, “Nuthin’ really...just your staples.” They showed up with, you got it, a box of staples!)
Hey, it’s kinda fun hanging lost back here in the old days of Jackson’s Hole. Let’s stay just a bit more. Turn around and head back south, toward Snow King. That ski area opened in 1939. In late July we’ll have a running race to the top of Snow King, starting from The Square. Think you could you beat Tom Borschel’s 2001 record of 22:58?
Walk past the Cowboy, take a right. Have dinner or take a stroll through the Silver Dollar Dining Room in the Wort Hotel. Lots of wonderful moments captured in black-and-white pictures around the Western-theme room. Built in 1941, The Wort almost burned down in 1980 as shown in the pictures and news clips in the hallway. They saved the wooden bar laden with the 2,032 silver dollars.
In fact, you might just head in there. Walking through near 90 years of history, why you just mighta worked up a thirst. Or you might wanna grab a bite and stay lost for a while longer.
Come back when you’re ready, will ya?
Cal Glover is the author of two novels set in Jackson Hole/Yellowstone: A Grizzly Death in Yellowstone and The Millennium Project. He owns and operates Callowishus Tours, offering small guided sightseeing tours through Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks. His research for this article included these books: And That's the Way It Was In Jackson's Hole by Jack Huyler, Wyoming: A History of Film by Walt Farmer, and Along the Ramparts of the Tetons by Robert B. Betts.
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Photo: Wade McKoy/ FPI Snow King's Alpine Slide winds through 2,500 feet of pines and wildflowers. |
Just six blocks off the Jackson Town Square sits the granddaddy of ski and summer resorts, Snow King. Snow King has thrived and grown with the town itself, earning the locals’ love and respect for over 50 years. “The King” or the “Town Hill,” as valley residents call Snow King, teems with summer activities that would have astonished its early skiers. Hikers, bikers, horse riders, golfers, thrill seekers, sightseers, little leaguers and big leaguers, wedding and party celebrants, Snow King has seen them all.
The King’s double chair lift whisks riders from the town’s 6,180 feet of elevation up to the summit’s 7,751 feet in 20 minutes. When the rider hits the top, though, the mountains take center stage. The views to the north spill out over the sprawling 25,000-acre National Elk Refuge and reach all the way to Yellowstone National Park. The Teton Range dramatically hems the endless valley on the west and the Gros Ventre’s noble Sleeping Indian mountain lends its craggy visage to the eastern border.
Trails for bikers and hikers branch out from the top of the town hill, and trail riders and their trusty mounts can be seen making their way along miles of stunning pathways festooned with brilliant flora.
Near the lodge itself, golfers of all ages and sizes putt their way around a colorful, challenging 18-hole mini-course. The shrieks of joy heard near the course, though, might also be cascading down from Snow King’s Alpine Slide. The slide sits above the lodge and winds through 2,500 feet of pines and wildflowers and it draws jubilant riders to the hill like fresh powder for skiers in January.
It’s clear why Snow King is the “Town Hill.” Jackson, in all its quaintness, lies peacefully below “The King’s” peaks and the town baseball field is nestled right at the base of the hill, the rodeo arena and 4H pavilion just a stone’s throw from there.
For more information, please call (307)-733-5200 or go on-line at www.snowking.com
Copyright 2004 by FPI (Focus Productions, Inc)., P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.
Mountain Country is a free visitors’ guide published annually in May and distributed at hundreds of locations throughout Jackson Hole, Cody, and other regional communities. To receive a copy in the mail, send $5 to Mountain Country, P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001.
Publishers: Bob Woodall & Wade McKoy, dba Focus Productions, Inc. (FPI)
Editors: Mike Calabrese, Wade McKoy, Bob Woodall
Art Direction & Ad Design: Janet Melvin
Advertising Sales:
JACKSON: Ike Faust, 307-690-5908, 307-733-6995 email: mail.focus@wyom.net
DUBOIS & PINEDALE: Janet Melvin 307-733-6995
CODY: Guy & Barb Hull 307-527-7808