The Bar B C Dude Ranch was established near

Moose, Wyoming Moose is an unincorporated community in Teton County, Wyoming, in the Jackson Hole valley. It has a US Post Office, with the zip code of 83012. The town is located within Grand Teton National Park along the banks of the Snake River. It is populat ...

in 1912 as a

dude ranch A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism. History Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur ...

Struthers Burt Maxwell Struthers Burt (October 18, 1882 Baltimore, Maryland – August 29, 1954, Jackson Hole, Wyoming), was an American novelist, poet, and short-story writer. Life Struthers Burt grew up in Philadelphia, where he attended private schools a ...

and Dr. Horace Carncross, using their initials as the brand. Rather than converting a working ranch, Burt and Carncross built a tourist-oriented dude ranch from the ground up, using a style called "Dude Ranch Vernacular", which featured log construction and rustic detailing. As one of the first dude ranches in

Jackson Hole Jackson Hole (originally called Jackson's Hole by mountain men) is a valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, one of the richest counties in the Unite ...

, the Bar B C was a strong influence on other dude ranches in the area, and employed a number of people who went on to establish their own operations. It was acquired by the National Park Service and incorporated into

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton Na ...

upon the expiration of a life estate. The ranch was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1990.

History

Struthers Burt had previously started the first true dude ranch in Jackson Hole, the JY, in 1908 with Louis Joy. The JY's patrons included

Owen Wister Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer and historian, considered the "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing '' The Virginian'' and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Biography Early life ...

, whose writings did much to popularize dude ranches. However, Joy and Burt fell out. Established in 1912 by Burt and Horace Carncross, the B C was given a boost by the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, which restricted American travel to Europe. Many Easterners came west, and Jackson Hole was particularly popular among

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

ns. In 1917 Burt and Carncross borrowed $9200 to expand the ranch from the Philadelphia Trust Company. The standard of service and cuisine rose rapidly (Burt described early food as "bad"), moving from canned vegetables in the early years to fresh vegetables and dairy produced at the ranch by the early 1920s. By 1922 it was incorporated as Bar B C Ranches and was one of the largest operations in the valley, able to house fifty dudes in 45 buildings. Burt and Carncross also operated the White Grass for Harold Hammond and George Bispham during this time, briefly buying the White Grass operation before selling it back. New partners Irving Corse and Joe LePage joined the operation, having worked their way through the organization as

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

s, wranglers and foremen. The B C site was carefully selected by Burt and Carncross after considering views, water, soil, timber, and a relative lack of mosquitoes. Carncross, a 41-year-old physician from

Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania Whitemarsh Township is a Home rule municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It retains its former classification of "Township" in its official name despite being a home rule municipality. The population was 17,349 at the 20 ...

, hoped that the dude ranch business would lead to a cattle ranching operation. Rather than buying an existing operation, Burt and Carncross established the B C as a

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...

claim on adjacent tracts of for Burt and for Carncross, claiming more land in subsequent years. By 1917 the B C amounted to more than . In 1924 Burt and Carncross bought a ranch near the

Gros Ventre River The Gros Ventre River (''pronounced GROW-VAUNT'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 4, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the state of Wyoming, USA. During ...

to raise cattle and hay, naming it the Lower Bar BC. In 1924, Burt published ''Diary of a Dude Wrangler'' in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

''. Burt was himself a

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

-educated Easterner who wrote on a wide range of subjects, including the West. Burt's wife, Katharine Newlin Burt (1882–1977) and son Nathaniel Burt (1913–2003) were also published writers. Consequently, the Bar B C tended to attract writers. Guests included Harry W. Frantz and Burt's friends from Princeton, including David Adler. Bar B C Ranch

During the 1920s Burt became an active advocate for conservation in Jackson Hole, opposing plans to build a dam at the outlet of

Jenny Lake Jenny Lake is located in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The lake was formed approximately 12,000 years ago by glaciers pushing rock debris which carved Cascade Canyon during the last glacial maximum, forming a terminal mo ...

. In 1923 Burt participated in a meeting with

Horace Albright Horace Marden Albright (January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1987) was an American conservationist. Horace Albright was born in 1890 in Bishop, California, the son of George Albright, a miner. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley ...

, director of the National Park Service, at Maud Noble's cabin at Menor's Ferry, which established a plan for the protection of Jackson Hole. After 1927 the

Snake River Land Company The Snake River Land Company or the Snake River Cattle and Stock Company was a land purchasing company established in 1927 by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The company acted as a front so Rockefeller could buy land in the Jackson Hole val ...

, operating on behalf of

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

, began to buy Jackson Hole land for eventual transfer to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

. In 1929 Burt and his then-partner Irving Corse sold the Bar B C in return for a

life estate In common law and statutory law, a life estate (or life tenancy) is the ownership of immovable property for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms, it is an estate in real property that ends at death when ownership of the property may ...

that allowed the dude operation to continue. Carncross had died in 1928 at his home in Pennsylvania, soon followed by Joe LePage. Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929, encompassing the

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park and ...

. It would not be until 1943, when

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

proclaimed Jackson Hole National Monument, assembled largely from Snake River Land Company holdings, that the ranch would exist within the protected lands. In 1929, Burt bought land along Pacific Creek where he established a dude ranch-like private retreat, naming it Three Rivers Ranch. During the 1930s Burt and Corse disagreed over management and profit sharing, and in 1937 Corse bought out Burt. Corse believed that authenticity demanded that the ranch look "run down", and neglected maintenance. A series of fires caused some necessary rebuilding, and in 1934 Corse moved Joe LePage's cabin to the ranch. Corse also built a small airstrip and hangar on the property. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Corse suspended the ranch operation to be a flight instructor at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

. After the war, Corse's health declined, and he died in 1953. Margaretta Corse subleased the ranch to T.H. and Margaretta Frew Conderman (of the 4 Lazy F Dude Ranch Frews), who operated the ranch as short-term-stay tourist cabins from 1950 to 1959. Afterwards, Mrs. Corse managed the ranch until 1985, when she could no longer continue. Mrs. Corse died in 1988. The life estate was terminated, and the property reverted to the Park Service.

Description

The historic district at the Bar B C includes 37 structures, including cabins, a lodge, a dining hall, a laundry/utility building, man-made ponds, barns, sheds and corrals. The site is at the western edge of the Snake River bottomlands, nestled against a river terrace to the west. A central road climbs from the ranch through a cutting in the hillside. The buildings are chiefly 1- or -story log structures, rectangular in shape. Roofing is red or green asphalt roll roofing. The property layout is apparently casual, but centers on the dining hall and lodge, with cabins on either side of the main path, flanked by corrals to the north and the barn to the south. While the exteriors are in good condition and are considered contributing features, the interiors have lost much of their character through alterations and loss of fixtures. The informally styled ranch was widely copied by later dude ranches, and is considered a prototype of the genre.

Offspring

As one of the first dude ranches in the area, the B C inspired former dudes and employees to establish their own operations. Bar B C alumni established the White Grass, Sun Star, and the STS Ranch. Others, such as Maud Noble, who bought Menor's Ferry, or

Cissy Patterson Eleanor Josephine Medill "Cissy" Patterson, Countess Gizycki (November 7, 1881 – July 24, 1948) was an American journalist and newspaper editor, publisher and owner. Patterson was one of the first women to head a major daily newspaper, the ''W ...

, established personal retreats. The ranch operated until after

, when the cabins became summer rental cabins.

Present situation

The main ranch is included in Grand Teton National Park. The buildings have received limited maintenance since 1986. Many structures have deteriorated, and some have been partially demolished, but preservation work, coordinated from the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

Western Center at the White Grass Ranch, has stabilized the Carncross Cabin and the main lodge. The Bar B C was placed on the

on April 23, 1990. The 2016 National Park Service historic properties management report for Grand Teton National Park recommended that 24 of the 34 buildings on the site be stabilized in-kind, three more extensively repaired, and seven salvaged for materials or allowed to deteriorate. The property would be managed as a day-use area where techniques of architectural preservation could be taught and practiced. A residential property development on the former Lower B C Ranch property, just south of the Three Rivers Ranch, is now called the Bar BC Ranch.

References

External links