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Jackson Hole is located in Teton County's Jackson Hole Valley in the northwestern quadrant of Wyoming. Officially the town's name is Jackson, but virtually everybody calls it Jackson Hole. Long before the European explorers and fur trappers arrived in Jackson Hole Valley it was the home of several important Indian tribes - the Shoshoni, Crow, Blackfeet, Bannock, and Gros Ventre. Their ancestors first arrived in the valley eleven millennia ago. It is believed that Charles Colter was probably the first European to visit the valley in 1808, but it was David E. Jackson who gave his name to the valley, a nearby lake, and to the town. Jackson partnered with Jedediah S. Smith and William L. Sublette in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, one of the most famous of the early nineteenth century fur trading companies that worked in this part of the country. Following passage of the Homestead Act of 1862 John Holland and John Carns established homesteads in Jackson Hole Valley. Another Jackson, William Henry Jackson, was the first person to photograph the Teton Mountains and Yellowstone in 1871-1872. His photographs helped establish Yellowstone as a National Park in 1872. The town of Jackson was established in 1894 and serves today as the principal gateway to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
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