JACKSON, Wyo. — Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam!
A new Wyoming PBS documentary, featuring one of the valley’s longstanding dude ranches, is scheduled to make its YouTube premiere on Thursday, Feb. 19. “Call of the West” chronicles the rise of dude ranches as a symbol of Western heritage, according to a press release from Wyoming PBS. The documentary recently made its world premiere at the Dude Ranchers’ Association Centennial Convention in Billings, Montana, in January. This is the first time Wyoming PBS will debut an original film digitally before its television broadcast.
The film features Jackson Hole’s Triangle X Ranch along with Eatons’ Ranch in Wolf, Wyoming, and five other ranches across the Rocky Mountain West. As part of the digital premiere on YouTube, the hour-long documentary will include a real-time chat with filmmaker Mat Hames and members or his production team, which will offer viewers insight into behind-the-scenes stories.
“‘Call of the West’ is the real-life version of ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘City Slickers,’ only it’s true, without any gloss,” Hames said in a statement. “If you love Western epics, cowboys and cowgirls, and ranch families, this is a documentary about the people who actually live it out in some of the most beautiful places in the world.”
Wyoming PBS noted that the film examines how ranchers fight to preserve their traditional way of life while facing modernization, economic pressures and generational change. The film will take viewers inside working dude ranches to highlight the resilience and passion required to operate under the demands of today’s travelers and the modern world.
“Dude ranching is deeply woven into the strong rural and cultural fabric of the West,” Wyoming PBS CEO Joanna Kail said via press release. “This film captures both the beauty and the challenges of sustaining that legacy in a changing world.”
According to the National Park Service (NPS), Triangle X Ranch began operating as a dude ranch in the 1920s. History Jackson Hole states that later that decade, the Snake River Land Company started to purchase land across the valley for secret financial backer, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who wanted to donate the land to the federal government for preservation. The land company purchased the family-owned ranch in exchange for a lease to continue dude ranch operations. The NPS says the property became part of the 1950 Grand Teton National Park expansion, making Triangle X the only dude ranch to operate within the park’s boundaries.
The documentary will debut on the Wyoming PBS YouTube channel at 7 p.m. MST on Thursday, Feb. 19. It will be available to stream on demand on the same channel following the premiere and will air on the Wyoming PBS television channel at a later date.
