Qualla: White Grass Dude Ranch

White Grass Dude Ranch: Introduction

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jon Sullivan, PD Photo., Public domain. In 1936, when Harold Hammond installed private baths in the cabins at White Grass Dude Ranch, some longtime guests were furious. They had grown accustomed to privies and bath water delivered by roustabouts - that was the authentic Western experience they paid for. This small rebellion captures everything about White Grass: a place where Eastern city dwellers came to play cowboy, where the line between roughing it and comfort shifted constantly, and where one family's determination kept the tradition alive for 72 years beneath the shadow of the Tetons.

Read more: White Grass Dude Ranch on Qualla

Image: Jon Sullivan, PD Photo. | Public domain

White Grass Dude Ranch: Two Homesteads Become One

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Park Service inventory, Public domain. Harold Hammond arrived in Jackson Hole in 1901, a ten-year-old boy from Blackfoot, Idaho, sent to live with his sister. By 1910 he was working at Jackson Lake Dam for the Bureau of Reclamation, then wrangling horses at the Bar B C - Jackson Hole's pioneering dude ranch. In 1913, ...

Read more: White Grass Dude Ranch on Qualla

Image: National Park Service inventory | Public domain

White Grass Dude Ranch: Fox Pelts and Fickle Fortunes

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0. Running a dude ranch required creativity. In 1925, Hammond set up a fox farm, selling pelts to the very guests who came to experience the "authentic" West. He incorporated the fox operation in 1927. The business seesawed: Hammond and Bispham sold to the Bar B C in 1924, continued...

Read more: White Grass Dude Ranch on Qualla

Image: Acroterion | CC BY-SA 4.0

White Grass Dude Ranch: Love and Loss in Jackson Hole

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Park Service inventory, Public domain. Hammond married Marie Adele Ireland of Crystal Run, New York, in 1922, but she died just a few years later. In 1936, he married Marion Galey, a widow who had first visited Jackson Hole in 1919 - that summer she stayed at the Bar B C, then moved to White Grass, where she remained ...

Read more: White Grass Dude Ranch on Qualla

Image: National Park Service inventory | Public domain

White Grass Dude Ranch: The Deal That Saved Everything

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit marlin harms, CC BY 2.0. In 1956, Frank Galey faced a difficult choice. The National Park Service offered $165,000 for the ranch - but with a life estate that allowed him to continue operating it. He took the deal. For nearly three more decades, White Grass continued welcoming dudes beneath the Tetons. G...

Read more: White Grass Dude Ranch on Qualla

Image: marlin harms | CC BY 2.0

White Grass Dude Ranch: Teaching the Old Ways

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 3.0. The story might have ended there, but in 2002 the Park Service saw a different future for White Grass. What better place to teach historic preservation than a collection of authentic rustic log buildings in need of restoration? The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the...

Read more: White Grass Dude Ranch on Qualla

Image: G. Edward Johnson | CC BY 3.0