"Yellowstone" shows bring attention to American West

hmm 1923 it's just one of the prequels to the mega hit TV series Yellowstone and together they focused new attention on the rugged American West for decades people from all over the country have journeyed there for rest and relaxation and a taste of another way of life and one place they've stayed and continue to stay is dornan's secluded and welcoming spot inside Grand Teton National Park that's even older than the park itself oh we had a very late winter and this is unusual we first caught up with Huntley Dornan in mid-april when spring hadn't quite sprung yet I just found a photo that I took last year at this time of some wildflowers that were already starting to come up we still have snow on the ground but we had flowers too it was it was a much nicer spring at his family owned and operated Resort nestled in the foothills of Grand Teton National Park we are in a valley that was carved by glaciers and then sort of buffed by the Snake River so we have this broad very flat Valley and then we have these these mountains that stand they just 6 500 feet from the valley floor and they go straight up straight up nowhere right and then you add to that they were in the greater Yellowstone I guess you could argue the largest intact ecosystem in the lower 48 so we have all this Wildlife we have grizzly bears we have bison we have moose we have elk we have all these these things that you really can't see anywhere else in the world these particular cabins are only about 30 years old okay Huntley CEO of moose Enterprises which operates one of the oldest running hotels in the region what did this place look like 50 100 years ago a hundred years ago there was nothing here there was a there was a cabin right down here by the river that was the original Homestead cabin and there would have been a couple of little outbuildings and that would have been it I want to show you Michelle the history of the Dornan family huntley's Uncle David is the family historian and says it all began with a Philadelphia divorcee named Evelyn Dornan my grandmother came here as a dude we always called our Eastern visitors dudes she won a homestead and set up a working Dude Ranch we had initially a Guest Ranch with horses and pack trips and people who stayed several weeks here her 17 year old son jack David's dad was in tow this was not a wooden Resort then those first 50 years were tough and with six siblings in the family we all had to do chores and work in summer from a very young age dornan's predates Grand Tetons National Park designation which was established in 1929 as The Story Goes the family refused to sell to John D Rockefeller Jr while he was acquiring thousands of acres for conservation he gave his Holdings to the federal government and by 1950 a grander park was born by then David's younger brother Rodney had entered the family business huntley's father was responsible for getting the cabins and the design and appointments at the cabins it was all his work by the 1970s the Valley Landscape drastically changed with the influx of big ski resorts real estate prices soared making this County one of the richest in the nation that presented a unique set of challenges folks who service this area have to live sometimes in another state because they can't afford to live here yeah is that a a difficulty for you to bear it's honestly I would say it it's bordering on a crisis for our community really we house all of our seasonal staff as do a lot of other businesses in the county the people that are getting squeezed out as Community are the people in the middle right so it's really hard for us to find you know managers year-round staff people who want to have families people who want to settle down somewhere what do you do everything folks like Tim Mowry he's worked here half his life what is it like to work for a space like this it's incredible I mean it's cliche but it really is family what keeps the staff of a hundred hopping isn't room service there are only 12 long cabins built to accommodate some 30 we guess yes during High season the action is a dornan's main Lodge when hundreds of day Trippers descend on the property to take in the scenery and a bite to eat and drink at the Chuck Wagon restaurant or the Pizza and Pasta Company yeah we've been doing this for 70 years or so the resource wine shop is also a big draw who comes here everybody comes here for better or worse you know we want to give people a great service experience we want to provide a great value value can happen at any point on the price Spectrum right you have a great sandwich for 12 bucks you can buy a 70 bottle of wine and it's a great value right and this property is no stranger to fame it's been the backdrop of movie locations since Hollywood's Golden Age with films like Shane and Spencer's Mountain huntley's Uncle David was an eager teen back then why like who did you meet that was a big deal for you who I remember quite well was Henry Fonda it's that Legacy that keeps the dornans as a rough and tumble family motivated that and some pretty clever estate planning you know my grandfather when he gave this business to his kids was it made it virtually impossible for any one part of the family to take control and virtually impossible for it to get sold to anybody on the outside that's amazing okay I appreciate it before a guy who lived Elsewhere for 20 years expanding his resume with management roles at Patagonia and Quicksilver The Call of the Wild Tetons was just too hard to resist what brought you back you know I grew up here I love this place the reason that I came back is that this place has sort of always been my North Star right you picked the whole plant I have no doubts about this being the place I want to raise my son I have no doubts about the value of the contribution I'm making keeping this place going another 100 years is a worthy thing for me to do with you know if I can set this place up to succeed for another 100 years I will feel like I've lived a life that had great value to me and it's a true family business and and they seem to really um lean into the fact whoever is best to take over or to lean into whatever project is going on or is needed they rely on them they point it in that direction and you know I really love the approach of how they are dealing with what they call a crisis in that region huntley's talking about making sure that people are well paid uh making sure that they are understand the options of work there and really trying to get people you know in that middle range keep them in there and to and to employ them it's it's it's an important it's an important you know uh goal he has and pretty to look at too oh gorgeous I love how he described it as his North Star that's great yeah not much like not much like Grand Teton

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 61,112

Keywords: CBS Saturday Morning, CBS News, video, yellowstone, american west, midwest, grand teton national park, hotel, television show

Id: JUWdNAcYzcE

Length: 8min 10sec (490 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 01 2023