When I was little, my mamma always reminded me that I had an uncle out west with a ranch. When you’re young, you don’t pay attention and as I grew older, I had always assumed that this uncle and his ranch was a simple two-acre hardscrabble plot somewhere in Nebraska with perhaps one sway-back horse. Nope. It was 3000 acres on the east edge of Grand Teton National Park. Just last week I visited there again–my 59th consecutive year–and thought I might clear up a few misconceptions and describe this place and how it fit together with some of the other ranchers in the area.
The A Lazy D as it later became known was an amalgamation of two ranches; the first one purchased in 1926 and the second a year later, and when combined, became known as the Gros Ventre Ranch (pronounced Grow-Vaunt–or “Big Belly” in French). When I first became a ranger in 1970, most of these old dude ranches were still operating and can be discovered in Struthers Burt’s (yes, that’s his name in the correct sequence) book “The Diary of a Dude Wrangler” which was summarized in this NPS publication.
My first year as a ranger wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to the local watering hole, Dornan’s Bar where I found a brochure “Abercrombie’s Float Trips” next to the cash register. I asked the bar owner, Jack, if he knew anything about this Abercrombie. Jack replied, “Go over and ask him–he’s sitting right over there……” Well, there were two Abercrombie families in the valley at the time–believe it or not–and Fred Abercrombie was not related but he told me that Cornelia who lived out in Kelly was. I drove out to Kelly (about 10 miles SE of Moose) and knocked on her door. She was suspicious, but eventually let me in and showed me a few photos of her family. I quickly cashiered my 2-acre Nebraska thoughts after hearing her story. Pictured on her piano was a photo taken of the Abercrombie Clan near Baltimore…..my grandmother, Mary T. Abercrombie among them:
David is far right and his father, David T. Abercrombie, center back row with mustache. His two daughters, Elizabeth, and Lucy are just to David’s right and the youngest son, Abbott is standing on David T’s right. David T. was the founder of Abercrombie & Fitch. And with perhaps some family inheritance, David moved out west and bought these ranches.
The four children’s first initials formed ELDA (for Elizabeth, Lucy, David, Abbott) which was the nickname of the family mansion they built in Ossining. DTA (he also formed an outdoor club with the same initials “Dusty Trails Association”) and his wife, Lucy Abbott Cate to the right. The family and ELDA was cursed though with the mother moving out less than 10 years after construction after her husband and two children died. I’ve published a bit of history of ELDA here in a previous blog. And here is a NYT article on daughter Lucy. But let’s follow the son, David.
David was a real boy scout.
And a graduate at Annapolis, about 1922 (standing center)
ELDA Mansion about 1927 just after it was completed. The outdoor kitchen or tea room had not yet been added. David (Jr.) was now in Wyoming. David senior lived here only four years. He died of heart disease shortly after repurchasing his company back (relinquished during WWI). He and his brother were in charge of all materiel shipments to the front in Europe. DTA invented the nesting mess-kit and held patents on efficient packaging. While sick, his most loyal customer, a NYC attorney named Ezra Fitch purchased it and the rest is history…..
ELDA and DT. In 1927, David Abercrombie moved out to Wyoming to his new ranch, now called the “A Lazy D.” It embraced Kelly Warm Springs.
Enter two sisters from Dillon Montana (originally from Bozeman)–Hildegard and Cornelia Winter. Hildegard married Harrison Crandall, who ran the Crandall Studio at Jenny Lake. He was a photographer and Grand Teton National Park’s first and only one. He would paint over his photos and sell out of his store there. The building today is the Jenny Lake Visitors Center.
Kenneth Barrick wrote a very nice book about Harrison Crandall–here is the review with many links to the park and its formation. Today the Crandall Studio is full of over-priced Chinese teddy bears and WPA socks:
Focus, Doug…….it’s not about socks, it’s about your uncle David……
Cornelia and David with a ranch client. From what little history I could find, Cornelia was older than David and a smoker; a habit which David picked up much to the consternation of his mother back in Ossining. Many of her letters to her mother-in-law were not entirely cordial. These photos, along with a large box of letters, and David’s branding iron were given to me by Herb Pownall, who cousin was on the 1963 Mt. Everest Expedition. Herb and Quita lived up on Antelope Flats road in “Hidden Hollow.” Quita was the daughter of Harrison and Hildegard and worked on the A Lazy D. Somehow all these records were gathered together after Cornelia’s death in 1971 after a big auction of her estate. When I returned for my third year at Jenny Lake, I found out she had passed. But I did find this history–again by a tip from Bob Dornan, Jack’s son, who now ran Dornan’s Bar. Glad I did. The Dornan clan homesteaded on the Snake River just north of the current bridge at Moose. Dornan’s Bar today is still family owned and now includes some of the Crandall family. David and Cornelia had no children.
A posed photograph taken about 1936 of David offering his can of “Velvet” rolling tobacco to a ranch-hand. This was taken by the Railroad to promote a rail spur into the valley. Now that would not be an easy effort as even today, travel to and from the “Hole” is not easy…… When I first drove over Teton Pass, there were about 27 switchbacks on a two lane road. Today, the new highway cut can be seen from the moon and still rankles many of the locals. For years, I’ve been trying to get the Jackson Hole airport out of the valley by boring a tunnel from the Wilson Bench through the soft limestone to Idaho where the World Economic Council can park their many Lear Jets. But that’s another blog.
The Spring of 1937, David was getting his wood out of the Gros Ventre and was kicked by his horse. He managed to ride back to the ranch and for two weeks, Cornelia, boasting some health-care credentials, tried to nurse him back to health. He died in an Idaho Falls hospital at 37 years old. With her son, daughter and husband gone, Lucy Abbott Cate moved back to New York City leaving the mansion to the Portuguese servants to live in through WWII. During the war, the ELDA mansion was finally abandoned and the Army took it over for a secret paint factory. In1944 a huge explosion ripped half the building apart and for 15 years, it sat empty and exposed to the weather. After David’s death, the A Lazy D was sold to Winifred Wilson who ran a boy’s ranch until the 2000 millennium. Today most of the 3000 acres has been donated back to the park except for five ranchettes.
Stay tuned!