Jackson Hole, WY

Jackson Hole is a valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho. The term “hole” was used by early trappers, or mountain men, as a term for a large mountain valley. These low-lying valleys, surrounded by mountains and containing rivers and streams, are good habitat for beavers and other fur-bearing animals. Jackson Hole is 55 miles  long by 6-to-13 miles wide and is a graben valley with an average elevation of 6,800 feet, its lowest point being near the southern park boundary at 6,350 feet.

The town of Jackson was named in late 1893 by Margaret Simpson, who, at the time, was receiving mail at her home as there was no post office. She named the area for easterners to be able to forward mail west. Jackson, which became incorporated in 1914, was named after David Edward “Davy” Jackson, who trapped beaver in the area in the late 1820s with a partner in the firm of Smith, Jackson & Sublette. Jackson, of Irish and Scottish descent, was one of the first European-Americans to spend an entire winter in the valley.