John D. Rockefeller Jr. Secretly Acquired Over 35,000 Acres in Wyoming for Grand Teton National Park
In 1927, John D. Rockefeller Jr. secretly purchased more than 35,000 acres of land in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for $1.4 million, with the ultimate goal of donating it to the federal government for national park expansion. This acquisition was conducted through a shell company, the Snake River Land Company, to prevent landowners from inflating prices. The National Park Service (NPS) notes that acquiring the same amount of land in Jackson Hole today would cost over $1 billion. Rockefeller's plan, developed with Yellowstone Superintendent Horace Albright, aimed to preserve the valley's open spaces from uncontrolled development. The deception, however, led to significant distrust within the local community when the true nature of the purchases was revealed in 1930, prompting a Senate investigation in 1932. 
