Creek Ranch

Publisher: Dealmaker
September 2008

It's not exactly Lewis and Clark discovering the Northwest Passage, but given the recent development pressures and the tangle of government land restrictions that hold sway here, these 710 acres at the southwestern corner of the most iconic valley in the cowboy West are nothing short of remarkable. Most of the property comprises the "lower ranch" (as distinguished from the "upper ranch" used to raise cattle closer to the federally-owned summer grazing lands in the mountains), kept by a family dating back to the early 1900s as its private fishing camp. Now the fishing, from dozens of spring-fed creeks and ponds, all critical spawning habitat for native cutthroat, is shared with 136 other families—still a pretty good fish-to-people ratio in this day and age.

The same could be said for the golf course (a naturally contoured Rees Jones–designed 7,600-yard layout, the first in Jackson Hole) and the abundance of natural beauty that greets you in every direction. The homesites, ranging up to five acres, offer daily sightings of elk, moose, deer and bald eagles, with jaw-dropping views of the Tetons always looming just beyond. The hot items, though, are the six 35-acre parcels that reside along the property's northern and western edges. These "ranches within the ranch," rife with miles of prime spawning grounds, bordered on two sides by conservation easements owned by Harrison Ford, are as close as a deal maven can get today to those early ranchers who jealously guarded this whole corner of the valley to themselves.