Teton Valley has figured large in American History. It was twice the site of the annual Rocky Mountain Fur Rendezvous, in 1829 and 1832. These Rendezvous were located in a valley where there was grass for the animals and game in the surrounding hills. Traders from the east would pack in supplies. Trappers from throughout the Rockies would congregate to sell their furs, resupply, see old friends and let there hair down. They tended to be riotous affairs, with drinking, sporting contests, fighting taking place all around. The Flatheads and Nez Perce, Indians friendly to whites also looked forward to the summer rendezvous as well. In 1832 the Trappers, Nez Perce and Flatheads fought a large battle with a group of Blackfeet Indians near present day Victor.

The 1849 California Gold Rush and the Mormon migration seeking to avoid religious persecution vastly increased the white migration. 150 miles to the south of Teton Valley over 300,000 people pored over South Pass between 1841 and 1868 on their way west. Traditionally nomadic tribes crowded into smaller and smaller areas. Most did not give up their homelands and hunting grounds peacefully. The Bannock, Nez Perce, and Blackfeet all fought white encroachment in the Teton Valley. The Nez Perce Chief Joseph led his people through the north end of Teton Valley into Yellowstone on his epic fighting retreat to Canada. They were finally cornered and captured just 30 miles short of the boarder and freedom. However, their heroic struggle is studied to the present day at West Point. The massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 marked the end of the Indian Wars.

Yellowstone was originally called Coulter’s Hell after the wild stories of shooting water, steam and boiling mud by the first white man to explore the area. It was not until 1870 that the Washburn-Doane Expedition explored the area. Out of their findings, the first National Park, Yellowstone, was created on March 1, 1872. James Stevenson and Nathanial Langford first climbed the Grand Teton the same year. The completion of the transcontinental railroad and the Homestead Act of 1862 brought many more settlers into Teton Valley. Some of the present day inhabitants of Teton Valley are fifth generation descendants of the early homesteaders. In 1907, Teddy Roosevelt sneaked through more than 16 million acres of new forest reserves that became the Yellow Park Timber land Reserve, Shoshone National Forest, Targhee National Forest, and Palisades National Forest. To this day, they are known as the “Midnight Forests” and have been protected in perpetuity.