Grand Teton National Park includes the most scenic portion of the majestic Teton Mountain Range and the northern portion of Jackson Hole, a high mountain valley famous for its associations with early western history. Through congressional action in 1950 the greater portion of the former Jackson Hole National Monument was added to the park. The portions not so added were included in the National Elk Refuge and the Teton National Forest. The enlarged park contains approximately 300,000 acres of Federal lands. The park is a part of the National Park System owned by the people of the United States and administered for them by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior. The great array of peaks which constitute the scenic climax of Grand Teton National Park is one of the noblest in the world. Southwest of Jenny Lake, which is in the central portion of the park, is a culminating group of lofty peaks whose dominating feature is the Grand Teton. Much of the mountainous area of the park is above timber line; the Grand Teton rises to 13,766 feet and towers more than 7,000 feet above the floor of Jackson Hole. The Snake River, flowing south from Yellowstone National Park, widens into Jackson Lake, 14 miles long. Below the lake, the swift river bisects and cuts ever deeper into the glacial outwash plain of the Ice Age. North of this upland valley lie the high plateaus of Yellowstone National Park; on the east and south are the Mount Leidy highlands and the Gros Ventre Mountains. Emma Matilda and Two Ocean, two lovely mountain lakes, lie north of the Snake and its tributary, Buffalo Fork. Together the Teton Mountains and Jackson Hole form a landscape of matchless grandeur and majesty unlike any other in America. History of the Region The Tetons are remarkably rich in historic traditions. The Grand Teton itself has been referred to by an eminent historian as “the most noted historic summit of the West.” Up to 1800, Indians held undisputed sway over the country dominated by the Three Tetons. Jackson Hole was literally a happy hunting ground, and, while the severe winters precluded permanent habitation, during the milder seasons, bands of Indians frequently came across the passes into the basins on warring or hunting expeditions. The Tetons probably first became known to white men in 1807-8, when the intrepid John Colter, originally a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, explored the region for the fur trader, Manuel Lisa. On his return trip he became the discoverer of the geyser and hot-spring area of what is now Yellowstone National Park. The Astorians, the first Americans to go overland after Lewis and Clark, passed through Jackson Hole in 1811 and crossed the Tetons on their way to the mouth of the Columbia.