Before the Jackson Hole area was discovered by celebrities like Harrison Ford and Sandra Bullock, it was ruled by a different species. A video that's over 80 years old shows it was an elk town back in those days.

A guy who works on restoring old public domain videos just dropped this on Vimeo. It was originally done by the US Department of Agriculture and looks great in restored form. Make sure to have your sound up to hear that very old time 1939 announcer doing the elk play-by-play.

Elk: "The Wapiti of Jackson Hole" 1939 US Department of Agriculture from Jeff Quitney on Vimeo.

Ah, yes. wapiti (aka elk) really did rule the roost back then. According to Population.us, there were only 533 residents in Jackson in the 1930's. I would be my bottom dollar there were at least double the number of elk back then.

This ultimate throw-back Wyoming video also shows lots of grouse and moose. It was a completely different era in Jackson before there were resorts or all the fancy stuff that is associated with the area now.

Videos like these never fail to make me wish for a simpler time like it was then. Bet the elk feel that way too.

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