THE OLD RANCH

homesteaded 1910, dude ranch est. 1948

The R Lazy S, was originally founded 4 miles North of our current location within what is now Grand Teton National Park, a location we fondly refer to as ‘The Old Ranch’ which you can visit by horseback during your stay. The ranch’s roots go back to 1910 when Elsie M. James homesteaded 153 acres of land just north of the JY Ranch (Jackson Hole’s first dude ranch, established 1908).

A year later, in 1911, Owen Wister, author of The Virginian and a frequent visitor to Jackson Hole, purchased the property from Elsie. Wister built a beautiful 2-story cabin with a grand fireplace for his family. Upon the death of his wife, after 9 years vacationing along the Snake River, Owen Wister sold the property to ‘R Lazy S incorporation’ in 1920.

The property officially received the name R Lazy S, in 1920, after its three co-owners: the Roessler, Laidlaw and Spears family. Each family gave an initial Roessler (“R”), Laidlaw (“lazy”) and Spears (“S”), to create their horse brand and ranch name.

These three families, wealthy East-Coasters with marital ties and shared interests, established their private family retreat. They each built their own cabins on the property close to the river, and used the Wister cabin as a lodge, kitchen, and housing for several staff members who maintained the property.

The RLS families stopped visiting during the Great Depression, but kept the land and the cabins under the care of a caretaker. The ranch sat unused for about a decade until 1947 when Robert Sr. and Florelle McConaughy purchased the ranch. Bob and Florelle, former guests of the Bear Paw Ranch, had the intention of converting the beautiful river-front property  into a dude ranch of their own. The cabins were remodeled, luxurious amenities of electricity and hot water were installed, and in 1948 the R Lazy S officially opened as a Dude Ranch welcoming 30-40 guests at a time.

In 1954, the McConaughys sold their property to John D Rockefeller who donated that land to Grand Teton National Park, as part of his large-scale efforts to amass and preserve land into perpetuity through incorporation into the national park system. The McConaughys maintained a 20 year lease to continue operating the R Lazy S Ranch within the park boundaries.

The next generation of McConaughey’s, Bob Jr and his wife Claire, took over management of the ranch in 1964. As the expiration of their lease with Grand Teton National Park loomed closer, Bob and Claire realized they had a problem. The Snake River was eroding the river bank the ranch had been built on, and it was threatening to flood the property. It seemed that legal and natural forces were conspiring to end the R Lazy S for good.

But the McConaugheys found a solution in the form of a unique partnership with two former dudes. Cara (Smith) Stirn and her family first met the McConaugheys as dudes of the Bear Paw in the 1940s. When the McConaughys opened the R Lazy S, Cara and her husband Howard continued the tradition of bringing their family out west, making great memories at the R Lazy S and developing a friendship with Bob and Claire.

Upon hearing the difficulties the McConaughys faced, Howard and Cara, conservationists passionate about preserving the heritage and landscape of ‘old Jackson Hole’ agreed to an arrangement. The R Lazy S operations would be, quite literally, picked up and moved 4 miles south to their private ranch, the Aspen S Ranch.

THE ASPEN RANCH

(homesteaded 1909, dude ranch est. 1936)

The Aspen Ranch, where our operations currently sit, has its own unique and rich history. In 1909, Forest Ted Miller sold his unfulfilled 160-acre homestead claim to Bennie Linn for two plow horses and a wagon. The Linns farmed the property, raised cows, and built several cabins on the property, including our lodge, where we serve our daily meals and gather together with guests.

In 1936, the Linns sold the property to Paul T Colbron who named the property the Aspen Ranch, joined the dude-ranch craze of the era, and began welcoming dudes 12 years prior to the R Lazy S’ formation.

The Aspen Ranch was a much smaller outfit, hosting only 5 to 12 dudes at a time in 4 guest cabins. Sage, Spruce and Rendezvous are three of these original Aspen Ranch guest cabins that are still enjoyed by guests today!

In 1941, Five years after Colbron opened his dude ranch, he sold the Aspen Ranch to Major Corliss C Moseley. Moseley, was the owner of Aircraft Industries Corp (a predecessor of Western Airlines) and he was also a property collector. In addition to the R Lazy S, Moseley owned 7 ranches in the area including  Red Rock Ranch in the Gros Ventre, and the property that is now Teton Raptor center. Moseley added an “M” to the ranch name, dubbing it the Aspen “M” Ranch. Rather than wrangle dudes, Moseley preferred breeding cattle and race horses, he closed Aspen Ranch’s dude operations, and used the property as a personal family retreat. The only significant changes Moseley made to the property (physically) was the addition of two fishing ponds, one right out front of the lodge that has since been filled in, and the other our swimming hole.

In 1966, Moseley sold the Aspen M Ranch to then Wyoming Governor and future Senator Clifford P Hansen. Three years later, the ranch was again sold to Ed Cowan, as a family cattle ranch for the next few years. In 1971, Cara’s father, Kelvin Smith, purchased the Aspen Ranch with the intention of preserving the rapidly developing area for the future.  To prevent the R Lazy S from closing, Howard and Cara acquired and renamed the Aspen M to Aspen S, for Stirn. In the winter of 1972, moved ten buildings down the Snake River levy to their new home.

R Lazy S …2.0

(1973 – Present)

Not all of the Old R Lazy S property was salvaged for transport and reuse but a solid 10 structures including the main office, four guest cabins: Teewinot, Teton, Willows, Paintbrush, and several crew buildings: Peter + Cathy’s, Gatehouse, Little Mac, and the bathhouse received a a second life on the Aspen Ranch. Structures original to the Aspen Ranch including the Aspen M shed (in the donkeys’ field), the lodge, the barn and tack sheds, as well as guest cabins: Spruce, Sage, Rendezvous, and Aspens, and a couple of crew buildings became part of a dude ranch operation once more.

In 1975, the Stirns purchased the dude ranch operation from Bob and Claire and became owners rather than guests. Bob and Claire continued to manage the Ranch until 2001, when Cathy Fonatsch took over as manager. Our property has grown from the 300 acres homesteaded by Bennie Linn’s era to nearly 350 acres, incorporating the neighboring land owned by Robert Goulet of Camelot fame in 1978.  In 1999, Kelly (Howard and Cara’s son) and his wife Nancy took over the responsibilities of running the Ranch. On the R Lazy S’ 75th anniversary, in 2023, Matt and Will and their partners Rebecca and Emily became the 3rd generation of Stirn owners to steward the R Lazy S’ legacy.