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Preserving Grand Teton’s Bar BC Dude Ranch

1 Bar BC Main Cabin 2017.jpg

Bar BC Ranch, Main Cabin, 2017

The historic Bar BC Dude Ranch in Grand Teton National Park is the second-oldest and best-known dude ranch in Jackson Hole. During its peak years, the Bar BC provided guests with an authentic cowboy experience during the day while entertaining them in the evening with costume parties, original plays, and literary discussions. Today the site is a treasured destination and very meaningful to generations of visitors.

Established in 1912, the Bar BC Dude Ranch is a central element of Jackson Hole’s cultural history due to its defining role in the dude ranching movement. Its fame spread far beyond the region through the reputation of its colorful founders who were nationally recognized writers and silent film producers—Struthers and Katherine Burt. Struthers Burt’s book, Diary of a Dude Wrangler, single-handedly popularized the dude ranch experience and was distributed widely. Illustrious ranch guests included Ernest Hemingway, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and William Faulkner.

The Bar BC was given to the National Park Service in 1987, and the buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. Since that time, the park has been unable to prioritize maintaining the property, resulting in significant deterioration.

The lack of major funding for the two largest structures and social centers of the Bar BC—the Main and Corse cabins—remains the biggest opportunity to keep the heart of the ranch on the landscape for visitors to enjoy. The buildings are in poor condition and improvements to both are necessary and time-sensitive. This Foundation-funded work at the Bar BC will ensure that this incredible historic resource continues to inspire and educate park visitors well into the future. This project is supported in part by Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, Alliance for Historic Wyoming, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, and generous individuals.

For additional information contact Cathy Wikoff at Grand Teton National Park Foundation, cathy@gtnpf.org or 307-732-0629.

 
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