A Centennial Birthday

The Triangle X Ranch has been in thesame family for 100 years.

// By Samantha Simma

On a summer morning at Triangle X Ranch, the day begins the same way it has for generations: horses shifting in the corrals, the smell of coffee drifting from the main house, guests pulling on boots. By the time riders file out toward the sagebrush flats at the foot of the Tetons, the peaks already catching light, the rhythm of the place is established—steady, deliberate, and unchanged by design.

Triangle X Ranch, a guest ranch that, between late May and early October, hosts 80 guests per week, marks its 100th anniversary in 2026. This is a rare milestone not just in Jackson Hole, but in American tourism. It is the only dude ranch concession still operating inside a U.S. national park, and one of the few remaining guest ranches in the West that has stayed in the same family, on the same land, for a full century.

The story begins with John S. and Maytie Turner, who arrived in Jackson Hole from Utah in the early 1900s. On a fishing walk along the Snake River, John S. was taken by a meadow framed by aspen and pine. He knew it was the place to raise his family. He purchased a former homestead in July 1926, paying double the asking price for the homestead—an early expression of the fairness and self-reliance that would define the ranch’s culture. The Turners later expanded their holdings by purchasing additional acreage and leasing neighboring lands, laying the groundwork for what would become Triangle X Ranch.

John S. and Maytie raised five children—John C., Reid, Bert, Dorothy, and Marian—on the ranch. In those early years, Triangle X was very much a working cattle ranch, but hosting guests was part of its survival from the beginning. In the fall of 1927, the Turners welcomed their first big-game-hunting guests, who shared basement lodging with the family while permanent structures were still under construction.

“It was a tough place to make a living,” says John Turner, John S. and Maytie’s grandson, who is now in his 80s. “You spent the entire year preparing to survive winter—not just for your family, but for your livestock.” Electricity didn’t reach the ranch until 1953, when John the younger was 11 or 12. Before that, winters meant kerosene lamps, wood stoves, and isolation that could last months at a time. Cash was scarce, so, like many early valley residents, the Turners turned to guiding hunters, fishermen, and guests as a way to survive. “It was a way to share this magnificent valley,” John says, “and a way to pay the bills.”

As the ranch evolved into a full-scale dude ranch, it became a place where guests stayed for weeks. Days were filled with horseback riding, fishing, square dances, and real ranch work—branding, haying, and tending livestock. In 1950, when Congress expanded Grand Teton National Park to include the Triangle X acreage, the ranch became an official National Park Service concessionaire, cementing its unique role within the park system.

Management of the ranch passed through multiple generations: from John S. and Maytie to their son John C. Turner, who raised three sons—Harold, Donald, and John—on the ranch. Those three brothers operated Triangle X as a family partnership through the mid-twentieth century, guiding the ranch through expansion, modernization, and growing national recognition. Today, Triangle X is co-managed by fourth-generation cousins Robert Turner, 53, and Lucas Turner, 46. Both were raised on the ranch and are now raising the fifth generation of Turners on the ranch—Robert has two children, Lucas has three. “When you have a good childhood,” Robert says, “you want to give your kids the same kind of memories.” His daughters work summer jobs cleaning cabins and serving meals. 

Through decades of change in Jackson Hole, Triangle X remained deliberately resistant to reinvention. “The recipe was handed down,” Robert says. “We don’t want to change it too much, because it works.” That recipe—horses, land, family-style meals, and time—has proven remarkably durable. There is no Wi-Fi in the cabins. No televisions. No swimming pool. When guests once balked at that simplicity, the Turners held firm. Now, families seek it out. “It’s come full circle,” Robert says. “People want their kids unplugged. Here, they don’t have a choice, and that’s the gift.”

“It was a tough place to make a living. You spent the entire year preparing to survive winter—not just for your family, but for
your livestock.”

John Turner, grandson of the Triangle X’s founders

Guests today stay a full week, ride the same horse every day, and watch the same elk herd move through the area day after day. “They’re not seeing wildlife from the side of the road,” Robert says. “They’re watching calves hit the ground. Three days later, they’re watching them run.” Many guests themselves are fourth- and fifth-generation Triangle Xers. “What their grandparents experienced in the 1940s, their kids are experiencing now,” he says. 

Lucas Turner oversees the ranch’s horses, hay production, and guest riding program—no small task with nearly 180 horses in summer rotation. Each guest is matched carefully for safety and compatibility. “People don’t expect horses to have personalities,” Lucas says. “By the end of the week, they know their horse. That connection changes people.”

One of the most enduring extensions of the ranch experience happens on the Snake River. While John Turner is often credited with building the float company, he’s quick to clarify that river trips have always been part of Triangle X. His grandfather (John S.) built handmade boats in the 1930s; John himself has guided on the river for more than six decades. While ranch guests are able to float the river, Triangle X Float Trips offers trips to the general public, too. “I just love the river,” he says. “To get people off the highway, even for two hours, and show them one of the most beautiful river corridors anywhere—that matters.” 

If the ranch has a unifying theme across generations, it is stewardship. Kathryn Mapes Turner, 54 and fourth generation, describes growing up at Triangle X as being “knitted into a network”—of family, land, and responsibility. “At the heart of the Triangle X story is a family in a place,” she says. “A family that’s passionate about one specific place on the planet and has shared it with others for 100 years.”

As Triangle X celebrates its centennial, the Turners speak less about celebration than continuity. “Most family businesses don’t make it past the second generation,” Robert says. “We’re in uncharted territory.” For John Turner, the pride comes from impact. “The satisfaction is knowing this place changed people’s lives, and helped them appreciate the outdoors, horses, wild places,” he says. JH