Flagg Ranch is a privately operated resort located in the

John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway is a scenic road and protected area that connects Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is federally owned and managed by the National Park Service by G ...

corridor between

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is border ...

and

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 ...

in northwestern

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

. The location was initially occupied in the 1890s by the Snake River Military Station, part of a network of U.S. Army outposts for patrol and management of Yellowstone National Park in its early years under military administration. The outpost operated under Army control until 1906, when the land to the south of the Yellowstone boundary were turned over to the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...

, becoming

Teton National Forest Teton National Forest was first established by the General Land Office on February 22, 1897 as the Teton Forest Reserve with . A commission was established in 1896 to plan for a system of national forest reserves, recommending an expansion of the ...

in 1908. The station became a stopping point for travelers between

Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is the largest town in Teton County and its county seat. Jackson is the principal town of the Jackson, WY-ID Micro ...

and Yellowstone, easily identifiable by the flags that flew over it.

Flagg Ranch

In 1910 the Flagg Ranch was established nearby by Edward S. Sheffield, who named the ranch after the old post's flags. Sheffield obtained a lease from the Forest Service and exploited hot springs along nearby Polecat Creek for bathing. Ed Sheffield was the brother of Ben Sheffield, who operated a dude ranch of his own, the Teton Lodge Resort near the Moran settlement in northern Jackson Hole. The Flagg Ranch grew along with the

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 occ ...

and guest ranch industry as it developed in Jackson Hole, and by Sheffield's death in 1927 the Flagg Ranch was a fully equipped dude ranch. It was described as a

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

ride from

Ashton, Idaho Ashton is a city in Fremont County, Idaho, United States. The population was 1,127 at the 2010 census, and it is part of the Rexburg Micropolitan Statistical Area. The district is noted for seed potato production and bills itself as the world's ...

, the nearest point of connection to the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

line.

Park Service concession

In 1972 the section of Teton National Forest between Yellowstone and Grand Teton was transferred to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...

as John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, to be operated by Grand Teton. The Flagg Ranch became a Park Service concessioner with the transfer. The ranch has been operated by International Leisure Hosts, Ltd. since 1964. Though the location is now operated by Vail Resorts Management Company (Takeover date unknown). The original log lodge was destroyed by fire in 1981. A replacement structure was completed in 1995. The Flagg Ranch area was heavily burned during the

Yellowstone fires of 1988 The Yellowstone fires of 1988 collectively formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control due to drought ...

by the Huck Fire, started by a tree falling on a power line near the ranch, which eventually covered more than .

NPS information station

The National Park Service operates a seasonal information station at Flagg Ranch that provides information of the Rockefeller Parkway and Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

References

External links

Flagg Ranch history
at the Flagg Ranch website {{Coord, 44, 06, 22.36, N, 110, 10, 03.42, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Dude ranches in Wyoming Ranches in Wyoming Grand Teton National Park Buildings and structures in Teton County, Wyoming Tourist attractions in Teton County, Wyoming Hotels in Wyoming