10 CONDITION OF ELK IN JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING. 



variety of marsh-loving shrubs and other plants on their drier parts. 

 One of the more extensive of these meadows lies along little Gros 

 Ventre Creek above the town of Jackson, and will be referred to in 

 more detail later. 



By far the greater part of the area embraced in the basin called 

 Jackson Hole is covered by a fairly rank growth of sagebrush (Arte- 

 misia tridentata and A. carta). Large areas of this land have been 

 cleared and under irrigation produce fine crops of alfalfa and timothy 

 and fair yields of oats, barley, and wheat. The altitude of the valley 

 and the proximity of large areas of high mountains cause frost to be 

 common through May and in exceptional seasons in August. The 

 shortness of the growing season prevents the successful raising of any 

 but forage crops besides the hardier grains and roots, except in a few 

 favored localities. 



The winters are long and severe and the snowfall heavy, though 

 the amount in any particular section varies greatly from year to year. 

 Thus, while the depth of snow is usually greater in the upper Gros 

 Ventre Valley than about Jackson, the contrary was the case during 

 the winter of 1910-11. The amount of snow which fell in the Valley 

 of Spread Creek was also much less than on Antelope Flat, only a 

 few miles distant, or about Jackson, though all three places are near 

 the same altitude. These local fluctuations seem to be due to the 

 proximity of the lofty Teton Range, which influences to a remarkable 

 degree the direction and intensity of local storms. In early January, 

 1911, about 4 feet of snow fell within 48 hours in some parts of 

 the valley. On the mountains the amount of snow is, of course, 

 much greater and the winter of longer duration than in the valley. 

 On the Teton Pass (8,429 feet), practically the only means of access 

 to the valley, snowstorms are frequent until midsummer, and even 

 in the lower part of the valley it is not unusual for snow to fall in late 

 May and in September. 



In the spring of 1911 the winter's snow was practically gone in the 

 main part of the valley on April 20, but the mountains and foothills 

 above 7,000 feet were as white as in midwinter. 



Bordering the valley on the west is the Teton Range, a succession 

 of rocky crags with altitudes varying from about 10,000 to nearly 

 14,000 feet. (See PL IV, fig. 1.) These rise abruptly from the compara- 

 tively low and level valley (6,000 to 6,700 feet), affording a panorama 

 whose equal in rugged grandeur is rarely seen. To the east the valley 

 is bordered by foothills of the Gros Ventre Range, some of whose peaks 

 reach an altitude of about 11,000 feet. These mountains are treeless 

 above 10,000 feet. Below this the mountain slopes are usually well 

 wooded, the commoner trees being Engelmann spruce (Picea engeh 

 manni), Douglas spruce (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), and aspen poplar 

 (Populus tremuloides) . Within the confines of the valley arise sev- 

 eral so-called buttes, which rise about 1,000 feet above the general 



