HISTORY

Stanley B. Resor purchased the first land for Snake River Ranch on October 11, 1929, sight unseen, based upon the recommendation of his eleven-year-old son, Stanley. Young Stanley had spent the summer of 1929 visiting Jackson Hole with his Connecticut neighbors, the Huyler family. Mrs. Huyler drove a Model A Ford station wagon with four young boys from Connecticut to Buffalo, New York, by Great Lakes steamer to Duluth, Minnesota, then on gravel roads to the north entrance of Yellowstone Park, and south to Jackson Hole.

Years later Stanley recalled, “I wrote postcards home saying that I was having a great time, but it never occurred to me our family would ever buy land in Jackson Hole.” But young Stanley’s summer experience did convince his father to purchase ranch land from the Huylers before ever visiting Jackson Hole. The following summer, Stanley B. Resor brought his whole family to Jackson Hole and began constructing buildings, buying more land, and buying cattle for Snake River Ranch.

Snake River Ranch began as a cow-calf operation, which produced an annual crop of calves. This required raising two tons of hay per cow to keep them through the Jackson Hole winter. For over 40 years, ranch hands would drive the cowherd up the Gros Ventre River into the mountains for summer grazing and then back down and across the Snake River to ranch headquarters for the long winter.

About 1970, Snake River Ranch began seasonally grazing yearlings that were trucked to Jackson Hole from milder climates to graze the ranch's vast irrigated pastures from May-October. This operational change allowed the ranch to phase out of the labor intensive and costly haying operation. Yearling cattle are well suited to the ranch’s operation and the short growing season in the Teton Valley. Today, Snake River Ranch is in its fifth generation as a family-owned ranch and continues its heritage as a working cattle operation with family members involved.

Jackson Hole, like many western towns, is shaped and inspired by its rich ranching heritage. With over 2.5 million visitors passing through the valley each year, the Snake River Ranch is proud to play a small part in preserving the valley’s western ranching heritage, so that it may be experienced and celebrated for years to come. Almost half of Snake River Ranch is protected by conservation easements; our commitment to conservation and the Western ranching heritage is a commitment to the protection of the scenic value of the ranch into the future.

We proudly produce quality beef on lush pastures in the shadows of the Teton Mountain Range. We depend on the health and productivity of our Ranch and implement sustainable ranching practices that improve soil health, promote biodiversity, and preserve critical habitat for plant and wildlife species.