Historical Overview
Explorer and mountain man John Colter, a member of the earlier Lewis & Clark Expedition, asserted that he passed through the valley in 1808. The Teton River flows northward though the mountain meadows of Pierre's Hole and then conjoins Bitch Creek (once known as the North Fork of the Teton) just before it turns west and into Teton Canyon. To mountain men, a large low-lying valley, such as this, with abundant beaver and game was called a "hole". Mountain men preferred these areas of numerous beaver rich streams as they provided ample food and comfortable camping in addition to beaver pelts. Pierre's Hole was named in honor of "le grand Pierre" Tivanitagon, a Hudson's Bay Company trader said to be of Iroquois descent, who was killed in a battle with Blackfoot Indians in 1827.
Pierre's Hole was the site of the huge Rendezvous of 1832. Hundreds of mountain men, trappers, Indians and fur company traders met to sell furs or trade for supplies. At the end of the 1832 rendezvous, an intense battle ensued between a group of Gros Ventre and the party of American trappers aided by their Nez Perce and Flathead allies.
After the fur trade subsided in the 1840s, Teton Basin returned to a quiet summer hunting valley for Native Americans. An Englishman named Richard ' Beaver Dick ' Leigh came to the Teton region sometime around 1860, and frequently trapped and hunted in Teton Basin and wintered on the lower Teton River near its confluence with the Henry's Fork of the Snake some miles below the basin. Beaver Dick guided F. V. Hayden and his geological survey through the Teton and Yellowstone region in 1872. He guided the Stevenson party in exploration of Teton Basin and the first ascent of the Grand Teton and guided the entire Hayden Expedition in Yellowstone and in Jackson Hole. In honor of his service, Leigh Lake in Grand Teton National Park is named after Richard Leigh and Jenny Lake is named after his Indian wife. Teton Basin, was later settled by Mormon farmers, who used the fertile but elevated valley to graze cattle and raise hay and other feed.
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