Description

You Gotta Be Tough to Live Out West
Thistle and Grasses, Mormon Row, WY
Bloomed 8-30-23 2:40 PM
Oil on Canvas 40 in. x 30 in., 2026
$9,900 Framed

A stroll along Mormon Row Road in the southeast corner of Grand Teton National Park reveals a window to the past. Starting in the 1890s, several Mormon settlers set up house here in the shadow of Blacktail Butte. They shared the work of digging irrigation ditches and farming together. No doubt they endured some lean years while trying to tame this land. Their study barns and homes are some of the most photographed in the area.

On this day, the grasses were blowing and the thistle were blooming en masse in front of the homes. This thistle is also a transplant to Wyoming, and testifies to the hardy disposition of both plants and people in the wild west.