Two of twelve children born to Anthony and Alice Sayer Wilkinson, owner/operators of a dairy and farmland as well as a public house and butcher shop in the county of Yorkshire, Northern England, these brothers entered the workforce early. Anthony was a farmworker at 16,...

Slim Whitt was born in Albion, Nebraska, on Dec. 26, 1929. His father died when he was five and his mother died four years later. At age 14 he caught a Greyhound bus that brought him to Cheyenne. He traveled north to the Bighorn Basin and worked on ranches around Shell,...

Ray Weber began his cowboy career riding a rocking horse and then riding the work horses on the family ranch near Baggs. As a youngster he pieced together scraps of leather and discarded saddle parts to make himself a saddle. He would ride out from the ranch with his...

Joseph Rex Wardell was the seventh child of nine born to homesteaders in the Green River Valley in Sublette County. The “Forks of the River” was where he grew up and learned to work at on the family ranch, which was known as a horse ranch and the boys had ample opportunity...

Rhea “Bud” Tillard was reared on the family ranch north of Douglas and has ranched and rodeoed most of his life. He competed at the NFR in steer roping twice and put on high school rodeos for 15 years. He has raised a 6th generation ranch family in the same place for 100...

Jack Sipe, the youngest of eight children, was named Howard, but when he was only a few days old he had colic and his crying led his dad to start calling him Jack, a name that stuck. He grew up on a ranch in Moorcroft Wyoming, with his parents and seven siblings until high...

Three-time World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Cody Bill Smith, was reared in the Bear Creek area on the Wyoming-Montana line where he worked on several ranches. Smith has spent his life with horses – either trying to ride bucking horses or trying to master the methods of...

Born in May of 1882 at his parents’ public house “The Bluebell Inn” in Kettlewell, Yorkshire, England, Anthony Wilkinson Sedgwick was named after his mother’s brother. He had no more belief that he would become a Wyoming cowboy and rancher than he did that the Bluebell Inn...

Ralph Scott Jr. was 17 when the family moved from Colorado to Wyoming. He received his father’s herd of cattle at the train at Orin Junction and trailed them to Muddy Wagon Hound. Good with a rope, and adept on a rough string, he was his father’s rep on the last roundup...

Frank Rhodes was born March 14, 1919, at Powell, Wyoming, the son of Jack and Bessie Rhodes, the first of four children. They lived on Rawhide Creek, northwest of Meeteetse, Wyoming. Frank was only a few years old when the family moved to the Pitchfork Ranch on the...

Born in 1924 to Aldin and Ethel Reynolds on a ranch at Rocky Point, Charles “Ellis” Reynolds, was on a horse before he could walk. He doesn’t remember when he wasn’t breaking and training horses, both his own and others. It is said that if anyone ever had an “unrideable”...

Ben C. Reynolds was born Dec. 9, 1942 in Las Vegas, New Mexico, the son of Jimbo and Frances Reynolds. At the time his father worked for the Gill Cattle Company, and when Gill purchased a new ranch near Parkman, the family, including five-year-old Ben came to Wyoming....

Joseph Michael Maycock was born in southeastern Nebraska in 1873, and spent his childhood in the state. The severity of the winter of 1886 and 1887 branded Joseph’s mind with memories of starving range cattle drifting with the storms, and how his family had to struggle to...

Robert W. “Bob” Manning was born November 7, 1929, in Douglas. He was reared on the family ranch north of Douglas. At age four he started paint branding the ranch lambs, and by age seven single-handedly trailed a herd of brood mares and a stud from the Kane Ranch to the...

Will Jones is the second child of Harold and Sue Jones, born May 24, 1933, in Buffalo. His dad was an industrious laborer, ranch and farm hand, teamster and logger.  He was horse savvy and had farrier skills. Young Will shadowed his dad, watching and learning of his many...

As a three-year-old James Edward “Jamis” Johnson would sneak out of the family ranch home and down to the barn where the horses were, setting a tone for the rest of his life. He has always had a love of and a way with horses. Johnson attended school in Casper at McKinley...

Raymond D. Hutson was born in 1938 to a cowboy family that used horses on a daily basis for all aspects of their ranch life. Part of his job on their ranch was to break the horses. After graduation, Raymond moved to Montana and continued working on ranches breaking,...

At age 11, Richard Quay “Dick” Hornbuckle left home in Colorado and headed north to Wyoming. His ambition was to be a cowboy there. He went to Cheyenne and when he was 12 or 13 years old, he found work breaking remounts for the U.S. Cavalry. When near 15 years of age, the...

In 1903 Guy Holt won the World Championship Bronco Rider contest at Cheyenne Frontier Days, riding Young Steamboat – the horse that was a half-brother to the famed Steamboat. He also won the Festival of Mountain and Plain in Denver in 1903, and that September he rode...

Jack Hickey was born June 27, 1929 in Lonetree, Wyoming, the son of Irma and Joe Hickey. He left formal book learning behind at an early age instinctively understanding everything he’d ever need to know could be learned from horses, cattle, country, and cowboys. Jack roped...

James Clay “Jim” Hageman grew up on a ranch near Shawnee, Wyoming, where he was the third child of six. He worked hard helping his folks milking cows and feeding chickens everyday before school, and riding plenty of horses. When the roads were snowed in, Jim rode his horse...

Robert Mills Grant learned cowboying and ranching on the ranch his Scottish grandparents Robert and Margert Grant established in 1884. He and his parents, Duncan and Cora Grant had a cow/calf operation. As a youngster he rode his horse to school on the CMD Ranch on Richeau...

Wheatland rancher Les Gore is a founding member of the Old Timer Rodeo Association (now called the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association). He ranches with his family on Fish Creek at the base of Laramie Peak. Reared on the family ranch, Les Gore began an early love affair...

Ron Garretson was a founder of the Donald Erickson Memorial Chariot Races in Saratoga, where he ran his own teams for many years, ultimately serving on the Interstate Chariot Racing board of directors. His early ranch work took place on the family ranch at Elk Mountain,...

John Robert “Cub” Forbes was raised on his parents’ ranch, the Bob and Betty Forbes Ranch in Barnum, Wyo. Forbes got his first horse Smarty Pants, when he was four years old, and he has been working with horses one way or another ever since. He helped on the family ranch...

Charles A. “Chuck” Fenton was born in Lost Springs, WY, where his family had a homestead, a saloon, and a livery stable. He completed his elementary schooling when the family lived at Lost Springs, WY. His father was also a deputy US Marshal. Chuck was the youngest of nine...

John C. Esau, the son of German immigrants, was born in a sod house in Hamilton County Nebraska. He was orphaned at a young age. His father passed away when he was only 3 and his mother when he was 10 leaving him to be raised by relatives and foster parents. By the time he...

Nate Champion may be one of the most recognized names in Wyoming history. This Kaycee area rancher was born Sept. 29, 1857, in Leander,Texas, the son of John and Nomi Champion. Nate grew up on his family`s farm near Round Rock, TX. He had 18 brothers and sisters and was...

Frank Carroll was born on May 13, 1919 on the Carroll Ranch on the Little Laramie River near Laramie, Wyoming. He was the third of eight children born to Thomas and Gertrude Carroll. He grew up on the Carroll Ranch where he learned to love livestock, especially horses, a...

There’s nothing like a fast horse to turn a young feller’s head, and way back in 1887 it was fast horses that lured 10-year-old Cam Camblin from Southeast Nebraska to Kansas. A quick, fearless, willing, and capable lad can be mighty handy around a racetrack so Cam had no...

Many a cowboy relied on the solid riding of Paul Bruegman, who was a three-time pickup man at the National Finals Rodeo. Paul owned the Bruegman Rodeo Company with his father George. He began working in the arena at Cheyenne Frontier Days as a pick up man from 1961 to 1987...

Billie Jean Shepperson Beaton spent her childhood and early years around Salt Creek, Wyoming. The railroad passed through the area and there were stockyards there, which became her hangout. Ranchers from all over Johnson, Campbell, and Natrona counties would trail their...

Darrell Winfield was a cowboy and rancher all his working life, for twenty-one years in California’s San Joaquin Valley and forty-six years in Wyoming. “As long as I can remember,” Darrell said, “I always wanted to be a cowboy. I remember seeing guys horseback when I was...

Chuck (Jr) Williams was born on the 101 Ranch north of Moorcroft in 1931 to Charles (Wild Horse Charlie) and Gwendolyn Williams. His mother died when he was just 5 years old. Chuck spent his younger years in the Oshoto area. Being the eldest of 7 kids, his responsibilities...

Johny Weintz was born to John and Anita Mercer Weintz, on their ranch west of Hyattville. John Weintz was the first settler on Paint Rock Creek, staking his claim around 1884. Johny was the second of five children and attended school on a nearby ranch. He then went to...

Leonard Albert Walker born April 16, 1912 Saratoga, Wyoming to A. B. Walker and Madeline McPhail Walker.  Died September 18, 1957. Len attended the University of Wyoming and was a member of the ATO Fraternity.  Won Cheyenne Frontier Days All Wyoming Bronc Riding in 1937....

“If you leave some pasture, you will always have some.” Sound wisdom from long term range steward, and cowboy Glen Wadsworth. The kind of thinking and living that grew the FW bar from its start of 17 cows,3 horses to over 1500 mother cows, 1000 yearling steers and a corral...

On a cold wintry day, William Byron Titensor was born February 26, 1925 on the Titensor ranch in Thayne, Star Valley, Lincoln County, Wyoming. He was the second son of Philemon and Martha Moser Titensor. He has lived on the ranch his entire life of 90 years. He was born...

Ask the Ol’ Timers in the vast open spaces of Sublette County, Wyoming who they think the toughest man they ever knew was and “Harve Stone” flows from their lips. ‘Slim,’ as his friends called him, didn’t have to say aloud what his life motto was: hard work, a helping...

Laddie Smith, was born and raised in the Sandhills of Nebraska. His folks ranched there and he never left the ranch. He’s the 2nd eldest of five siblings, four still living. All the kids worked on the ranch at some point but for Laddie it was his life’s calling. Ranching...

The cowboy way of life for Ed (Eddie) and Peggy Shaffer started at a very young age. Born in 1940 to Glenn and Helen, Ed grew up in the Lucerne area of Hot Springs County and Peggy was born in 1946 to Victor and Matilda Schaff in ND. Ed’s family owned a small place on...

Leonard T. Sedgwick came to Niobrara County, Wyoming on a train from Cheyenne to Edgemont, SD at the age of 2 1/2 years. He was accompanied by his mother and younger sister Ida. From Edgemont they were taken to the Wyoming ranch by a livery stable driver in a sleigh. It...

William (Bill) (Billy) A. Scoon 1900-1989 A cowboy’s cowboy—that was Bill Scoon. Who was this cowboy, and what made him special? Bill Scoon was (as was his father Alfred F. Scoon, a 2015 WCHF Inducee) foreman of the JG (Little Horse Creek Cattle Company—the Hunter Ranch)....

Al Scoon sailed from Scotland to America at the age of 14 after having lost his mother and father. After landing at New York, he hired on with the Arbuckle Coffee Company to escort a trainload of horses to Denver. From there he reached Wyoming Territory and continued a new...

Ralph was born to Floyd “Spike” and Elma Schuppan Nov. 29, 1931 in Harrisburg, NE, where Ralph received his early education in Banner County. In Dec. of 1947 the family moved to LaGrange when Floyd purchased the “Dollar Ranch” on Bear Creek. Ralph worked on the home place...

William D. Saunders (Bill) was born to Roy and Mabel (Seaton) Saunders on December 19, 1925. Dr. Huff who rode by horseback to deliver Bill was unable to make it on time before Bill decided to make his entrance to this life; therefore, Bill was delivered by Mabel’s mother...

James Newell Robbins was born on September 18, 1906 at Boxelder, Wyoming. He spent most of his life in northern Albany County where his Dad had homesteaded. He lived with his parents and the Newells and then went to Casper to grade school. Jim lived in Nevada for a few...

Charles Rankin was born January 6, 1925 on the Rankin Ranch, where he has spent his entire life. The ranch was homesteaded in 1912 by his father, Robert. During the 30’s the dust blew so bad he had to cover his face walking the half mile to and from the school bus. The...

This poem encapsulates the true story of Bill’s life. 4W BILL That’s what’s scratched on this headstone, just a plain ol’ rock of brown – In a lonely cemetery, in a little Wyoming town . . . As I stand here with these flowers, his face is fuzzy in my brain, But, I can see...

Burl was born in 1921 in Linwood, Utah, and was the 4th of 13 siblings. He worked on the family farm during his early years. He went to a one room school house until the 8th grade. In 1933 at the age of 12, he had the job to change out the horses on the construction of a...

Long live cowboys.  Gerald Perkins, exudes the spirit of the cowboy with a rich heritage that goes back generations. Gerald was born in 1931 up the Greybull River on his family ranch near Meeteetse Wyoming. The ranch encompassed nearly six thousand acres and ran three...

James I Newland was born in Belle Fourche , S.D. in Feb 1911, he graduated from Belle Fourche S. D. in 1929, When he turned 21 in 1932 he homesteaded on Owl Creek on the Wyoming side of the SD and Wyoming border. It was the last homestead claim recorded in Crook County,...

Bill McKee was born and raised on a ranch. He lived close to Elk Mountain Wyoming as a young boy, where he was a part of the family ranch. He and his wife Barbara McKee moved to Savery Wyoming in the early 60’s where they ran cattle for the family ranch. He moved to his...

Irma Williams Hancock McGuire was an avid cowgirl and true horsewomen. Irma was able to portray her true love of the western life through the colorful stories she shared with her children, grandchildren and friends. She was able to paint a picture in my mind of a horse...

Roy Martin was a “fixture” on the Gros Ventre. Even after his saddle years had ended (sometime in his ninth decade), he still showed up at Jack Robinson’s working corrals to watch the loading or unloading process as the cattle headed for or returned from the range. He...

Curtis was born May 31st, 1916 at home on the Wood River, because of the flu epidemic. He attended Dick Creek Schools and then stayed at home to help his father Henry, with the ranch. One of the best bronc riders around, Curtis almost took to rodeo, but instead stayed to...

William H. (Bill) Kruse was born August 27, 1891 in Philadelphia, PA to Von Wilhelm Kruse and Pauline Ebert Kruse. He was the oldest of three children. While still a small boy, he moved with his divorced mother and some of her family to Ardmore, SD. His boyhood was spent...

Francis Kolego was born in Canada on July 7, 1914. Francis’s family moved from Canada to homestead in Wyoming in 1921. They arrived in Manville, Wyoming by train. Everything they owned was in the rail car, including the first piano brought into the area. The family spent...

Charles (Chas) Kane is a lifetime Sheridan County resident that has made ranching his way of life, just as his father and grandfather had done. Born in 1932, Chas graduated high school in 1950, married Arlene in 1951, and raised five children on the ranch, four sons and...

Dennis “Denny” Jones was born in Thermopolis, WY on Oct. 6 1931 to Durward and Dorothy Jones. He has worked as a cowboy his whole life with the exception with his time in the Army. As a child he worked on the family ranch south of Thermopolis. He started breaking colts...

Harold Jarrard was born and raised in Cowboy Country on the North Fork of Powder River, the Wyoming creek that is the source of one of the western world’s most famous cries, “Powder River, Let ‘Er Buck.” Letting horses buck is exactly what Jarrard has been doing– for more...

Bob was born on December 25, 1930 in Moorcroft, Wyoming to Erman Ernest Hladky and Lulu Marie (Gibson) Hladky. He was raised during the Great Depression, in Campbell County. Erman worked on the American Ranch east of Gillette until Bob was about ten years old, which is...

Ivan “Ike” Herold was born Aug. 17, 1929 to Joe and Lillian Herold on the Baggs Livestock Ranch west of Baggs, where Joe worked. When Ike was 7 or 8 years old his parents purchased the ranch. As a young child Ike could always be found at the barn playing with the animals...

Bred to be a cowboy would certainly apply to George Hereford. His family tree includes the original breeders of the Hereford cattle breed in England. His American branch includes our first President, George Washington’s sister. His Wyoming leaf includes his Grandfather...

Lyman A. Harmon was born September 20, 1937, in Fairview, Lincoln County, Wyoming. He is the son of Orson Willis Harmon and LeNora Barrus Harmon. One of Lyman’s first recollections was riding horses when he was three years old. His dad put him on one of the team horses...

William D. “Bill” and Billee Hackett – William D. Hackett was 14 years old when he left home. He went to work doing various odd jobs aroundGillette. He ended up at the Wagonson Ranch where he learned to break colts and work cattle. In 1953 he married Billee McClure....

“The only boot tops I’ve ever had to repair from riding came from two families in Johnson County,” says Mitch Black local boot repairman, “And the Graves family is one of them.” Riding is way of life and tradition born of true ranch culture as well the demands of the...

Bob was born and raised in the Big Horn Mountains and Buffalo, Wyoming. He graduated from Buffalo High School. He met Martha Douglas Walker at the Triangle T ranch, where she lived outside Big Horn, Wyoming. Bob competed in the calf ropings in the indoor arena there. They...

Ranching wasn’t just a business for Gary Frank, it was a way of life. He was an astute and hardworking cattleman, a talented rodeo competitor, and a devoted family man who left a lasting mark on the Wyoming ranch community. Gary was born on a farm in Nebraska in 1943, and...

Rogelio (Roger) Fernandez and Esperanza (Hope) Fernandez were born in Mexico. Rogelio came from a ranching family in Mexico and always dreamed of pursuing his dreams of ranching in the United States. In 1954 Rogelio and Esperanza decided to come to the United States to...

Elza’s education was similar I imagine to many of the cowboy members of his era. When he was 4 years old his family moved to Harden Montana where he attended school for 1 or 2 years. The family returned to Rock Springs where he attended school up to the eighth grade. He...

Honey Stevick DeFord was born on December 19, 1934 in Casper, Wyoming, daughter of Harry H. and Agnes Stevick, and grew up ‘on the Antelope Creek Ranch belonging to her parents near Bill, Wyoming, in Converse County. Honey spent her youth on the ranch with her mother...

George Harry Cross was born of Scottish parentage in Montreal, Canada September 15, 1854. His father, Alex Cross, was a member of the King’s Council and was Chief Justice for the Province of Quebec. Harry received his education in private schools, Montreal high school,...

Bob was born on a farm near Blairsville Georgia in 1897. His mother passed away when Bob was about 8 years old. A few years later Bob’s father John P. Crisp decided to move his family, Bob, Bob’s brother Claude and sister Tony to Wyoming. Sometime around 1913 Bob’s father...

There are great Cowboys, great Horsemen, great Cattlemen, and great People. All who knew Bill Coy would say that he was all of these. Bill never met a man he didn’t like; you never knew a man who did not like him. Born June 1, 1919, Bill grew up in Torrington, Wyoming. His...

Powd’s formal education ended with the sixth grade but he had an inquiring mind and was a life-long avid reader of books and periodicals covering a wide variety of subjects. In addition to the requisite cowboy skills of horsemanship, roping, branding, calving and general...

Roger Joe Claytor was born on May 23, 1923 in Alcova WY, the seventh of eight children born to Mattie and Lon Claytor. Rog was born into a pioneer ranching family. His grandparents, Jake and Martha Ervay, arrived in Wyoming in 1881 after traveling from Texas in two covered...

Born November 24, 1915 to Christina and Edwin Earl “Cam” Camblin. The Camblins lived on a ranch near the Pumpkin Buttes. Earlie’s family’s ranch had cows, sheep, and a well known horse operation. Earlie was the oldest son and expected to be a hand from a very young age. He...

Annie (1889-1983) and Lloyd (1897-1981) Cain arrived on the Bitter Creek Ranch in northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana with their son Cobb and daughter Doris in 1928. Lloyd and Annie were married in 1918 while Lloyd cowboyed for the El Sonora Cattle Co. near Ft...

Charlie Blackstone never wanted to be anything other than a cowboy, and that’s exactly what he did all his life. He never had a job where he wasn’t horseback. He was born at midnight, March 12, 1925 in Cody, WY. His parents ran cattle in the Heart Mountain area outside of...

John Bell was born and raised above Toltec on the family homestead. John quit school after 8th grade to help the family earn money. His father died when he was young and his mother spent a good deal of time caring for the family from a wheelchair. He spent his life...

These are the words of Buck Allemand whose life began on the home ranch in 1931. Buck’s grandfather, Jacque, and father, John, homesteaded where the Staple Three Sheep Company now resides. As a child Buck learned the sheep business out on the range while his mother...

Martin Aimone, son of Joseph and Frances was born, raised and passed on a cattle and sheep ranch outside of Fort Bridger Wyoming. He was one of 13 children from Italian emigrants who homesteaded the ranch in 1912. All of the children worked the ranch and were assigned...

Eugene Blanchard Williams was born on September 3, 1927 in Sheridan, Wyoming to Laura and George Frederick Williams. As an only child, he spent his youth growing up on the Williams’ family ranch on Piney Creek in Sheridan County. The ranch today is known as the Ellenwood...

John Sussex was born in Goodland, Kansas April 30, 1926. His parents lived on a farm 16 miles NE of Goodland. They raised wheat, horses, cattle and hogs. At the age of 10, John moved with his brother, two sisters and parents to a ranch SE of Holyoke, CO. After three years,...

Johnny was born in Lusk, Wyoming in the summer of 1895. He went off to WWI where his job was a mule skinner, which was not a fitting job for a real cowboy according to Johnny. After returning from the war, Johnny cowboyed for several outfits and somewhere around 1918 went...

James Stoll was born in Burris, Wyoming to John and Betty Stoll on September 22, 1916. He and his eleven siblings were raised on the Stoll Ranch at Burris, Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation. In the early 1900’s, his father and mother moved to Fremont County from their...

Christy K. Smith was born November 27, 1916 on the Pride of the Prairie Ranch, Weston County, Wyoming. He devoted his life to ranching and farming. When Christy was five years old he drove the stacker team in the hay field. In eighth grade in broke two broncs going four...

John H. “Jack” Simpson was born in Logan County Colorado near Ilif in 1911 to Bertha A. and Howard H. Simpson. He spent his younger years in Logan County. As a boy he would deliver milk with a horse and wagon to help the family with living expenses. He graduated from Iliff...

In 1878, Roscoe Newton’s father James C. Shaw came to Wyoming with a trail herd from Texas. He settled on a ranch near Orin Junction, Wyoming along the Platte River. Peach was born October 12, 1896 near Orin Junction, WY to James C. and Elizabeth Shaw. Peach had six...

Carl Schweighart was born on September 27, 1926 at the family homestead on Cottonwood Creek in Washakie County. Carl is one of nine children born to Charles and Wilhelmine Schweighart. He attended elementary school through the 8th grade at the Schweighart School and then...

Charles A. (Chuck) Sanger was born October 7, 1937 in Rawlins, Wyoming. His parents, Charles J. and Millicent resided on the Sanger Ranch. He was born a fifth generation member of the Sanger family. His great, great grandfather Elijah Moore homesteaded a portion of the...

Stanford Sanford (Stan) was born in Fort Morgan, Colorado, August 20, 1914 to his parents Archie and Lillie Sanford (Moore). The family lived on their ranch, the Eagle’s Nest, located between Ft Morgan and Greeley, CO. At age two Stan and his family moved to Wyoming. They...

Jack was born on April 21, 1934. He did more with young people and gave more people a chance than anyone around. Jack spent some time working for the Ravenscrofts when they owned part of what is now TA. He also worked for Willard Wilson at Thermopolis when he was a young...

The youngest of 3 children Willis “Bill” Ruby was born in Stapleton Nebraska on August 8, 1928 to Guy and Mabel Ruby. He was raised on the home ranch/farm which consisted of cattle, and putting up corn and oats. In Stapleton he attended a one room country school house,...

Frank Benjamin Robbins, nicknamed “Wild Horse Robbins”, referred to in newspapers nationwide as the “Wild Horse King of the West”, was born November 7, 1894 in Boxelder, Wyoming. He was the youngest of six boys and a girl born to Frank Benjamin and Susie Robbins. Robbins...

Murl was born August 23, 1903 near Eagle Peak, Wyoming in Northern Albany County.  He was the first son of Walter “Skinny” and Maud (Newell) Robbins. Murl had two brothers, Jim and Arthur, and a sister, Mary. Growing up, Murl lived with, and worked for, his aunt and uncle,...

Norman Henry Richie was born March 23, 1933 in Green River, Wyoming to Everett J. “Ebb” Richie and Ellen Williams Richie. He joined an older sister, Verla Sommers (1924-2006) and older brother, Jeptha (1931- .) He went to school at the Big Sandy School until it was closed...

He was born Anthony Renner on April 25, 1925 in the family home near Fenton, Wyoming to George Henry and Karene Kristansa (Nielsen) Renner. His father nicknamed him “Tuff,” saying for him to be the youngest of 11 living children, he would have to be tough. George Renner...

Jack E. Reisch came to Wyoming with his parents, two sisters and three brothers when he was nine years old.  It so happened that a March thaw was in progress with Dry Donkey Creek running bank to bank.  The family camped on the east side of the creek and waited for the...

Dee was born in Linwood, Wyoming, he had 12 brothers and sisters. He was the 7th child born into his family. The Potters raised sheep and some cattle, they also gathered wild horses off the range to use. Dee enjoyed breaking horses, and he broke many and loved being on...

He never owned land, cattle or sheep, but, he worked them all.  He made his living in the saddle.  He broke his own horses, knowing that it was the miles you put on them and the work you asked them to do that made them a good saddle horse. He grew up in a home, nestled...

Jim’s parents were both born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Both parents came to America from Denmark on separate sailboats. His father’s brother was a master tailor in New York City. He said his grandfather was the farrier for the King of Denmark. His parents married in Council...

Walter (Spud) Murphy, longtime Wyoming resident, made “Riding for the Brand”, and stewardship to land and animals, his way of life. Born in 1922, in Cheyenne, Spud graduated high school in 1940, married Kim in 1943, and raised three children, two sons and a daughter. Spud...

John “Jay” Moody was born January 14, 1928, in Farmington, St. Francois County, Missouri, to Jackson W. L. and Oma Caudill Moody, the youngest of five children. His father was a horse trader and Revival Preacher, who travelled Missouri and Oklahoma following his...

“Ira and Edna McWilliams are the last of a rare breed of cowboys.” A quote taken from an article titled “The Last Cowboys” featured in Wyoming Electrical News by Irene N. Jeppson. Edna May Wardell was born March 30, 1916 on the Green River near Big Piney, Wyoming. She...

Dub was born March 18, 1902 in Dudley, South Dakota. Dub’s mother died and his Scottish father, Charlie McQueen, raised Dub, the youngest, and his six siblings Ray, Mary, Ruth, Ruby and Amy. In 1906 the family left their home in South Dakota and came to the Thermopolis, WY...

Born and raised on a “little” ranch out of Ocate, New Mexico, Lee left school at the age of fifteen after finishing the 8th grade and set out to be a cowboy. He hired on for the big outfits as a horse breaker around Springer and Cimarron, New Mexico. The Diamond A, the CS,...

Born to a pioneer family that moved into Northeastern Wyoming and homesteaded, Ernest Leitner grew up watching cowboys, learning all he could learn about cowboys, and wanting to be a cowboy.  That quest occupied his youth, riding whatever he could ride, emulating every...

Robert Lester “Bob” Leath was born on July 21, 1924 and grew up on the family ranch on Dead Horse Creek of Powder River in eastern Johnson County. He was 3rd oldest of 6 children- oldest was twin sisters Helen and Ellen “Betty”, George, Alan and Ann. Bob helped his folks...

Randy Kruger was born in Minnesota in 1946, but has lived in Wyoming since 1949 when his parents moved to Grass Creek. His interest in horses and cattle started at an early age as he watched the LU Ranch cowboys trailing cattle through the area. He started his cowboy...

At age 15, John Keller became an exercise boy at Randall Park, “Thistle Downs” race track outside Cleveland, Ohio. From there John went to Lexington, Kentucky with Carlings Red Cap Ale Racing Stable and trainer Cowboy Jones, then on to Aiken, South Carolina to the winter...

Cherry Reisch was born October 19, 1944 to Jack and Marianne Reisch, the apple of her father’s eye.  She started her cowboy days at the NX Bar on Badger Creek with a stick horse.  Her dad bought her a black pony at the Jesse Thomas Shetland sale when she was five years...

Alex Johnstone, Jr. was raised in the community of Willow Creek, 30 miles southwest of Kaycee Wyoming, the youngest of six siblings. Junior’s father died when he was 4 yrs. old. His mother Alice raised the family on her own, the kids helping out when and where needed....

Both Frank and Ernest Johnson were born on what is today the Broken Box Ranch. The ranch is located southeast of LaGrange, Wyoming in both Goshen and Laramie counties. Jelmer and Janet Johnson bought the ranch in 1907 and added to it through 1930. In 1940 Frank and Ernest...

Jelmer was born July 19, 1941 in Cheyenne, WY. He was raised on his family ranch, the SS Ranch in LaGrange, WY and went to school through 12th grade. He helped on the ranch while growing up doing haying, calving, cattle and milking. All the cattle work was done on horses...

Mary Frances (Mike) Tisdale was born Oct. 20, 1919 in Havre, Montana to Martin Allison Tisdale and Dolly Davis Tisdale. She was the granddaughter of John A. and Kate Tisdale and Henry Winter (Hard Winter) and Frances A. Davis. Her father, Mart Tisdale, was the Johnson...

Born near Montreal Canada, Eugene walked to the United States. Eugene described his journey as walking into this country with one boot and one shoe. By the time his earthly journey ended, he had built a ranch with registered cattle, quality horses, a modern house with...

On August 25, 1908, a cowboy was born to Robert W. and Ida Johnson Harvey in Robertson, Wyoming. They named him Robert W. (Bert) Harvey. When Bert was about five years old his mother passed away and his father was left alone to raise two boys, Bert and his younger brother...

Rob Roy McGregor Hamilton was born August 23rd, 1869 on Smith’s Fork in Uinta County, Wyoming Territory to Virginia-born Richard Henry Hamilton and One-Nive (Wanipe) Wintry, a Shoshone-French girl and great niece of Chief Washakie. His father named him after the Scottish...

John W. Greet was born December 25, 1930 in Ten Sleep, Wyoming. He worked all his life on the Greet Ranch. Two of his older brothers left to pursue other opportunities. Later his older brother George and John split up the ranch. John became the sole owner of the main...

Walter Feuz was born June 12, 1911 to Caroline and Fred Feuz. His parents and older siblings had come from Switzerland looking for a better life. His father, Fred, was a climber when living in Switzerland. Fred fell in love with Jackson Hole when he came over Teton Pass...

Merrill Farthing was born in Cheyenne, WY on December 23, 1903 and moved immediately with his parents and older brother Tom to the Farthing Ranch located 45 miles northwest of Cheyenne. The ranch had been purchased that same year and he never left. It was his home for his...

John Roland Ellis was born in Hanna, Wyoming to Florence and John Ellis. He was the third generation to be raised on Ellis Ranch. There he spent his childhood with his three brothers and a sister. He loved everything that included being horseback. As a teenager he would...

Robert (Bob) B. Dixon was born on February 14, 1903 to Snowden R. and Augusta Schmidt Dixon at Newcastle, Wyoming. Snowden Dixon was born in Shifnel, England on December 10, 1870. He came to Wyoming in 1888 and worked as a cowboy on Bill Keaton’s ranch among others....

Bob DeVeny was born on Pine Ridge, near Ft. Laramie, WY in 1927. He grew up in Arkansas and served in the Army in WWII. Sixty-eight years ago Bob married Betty Lou (Wolfe) in 1948.  They moved to Wyoming in 1952. Bob worked on ranches for Harold Helbaum and Jim Brown in...

James H. “Jim” Cheney was born at the family homestead on Corral Creek in southern Natrona County in 1905. He went to the local country school through the eighth grade. His father died when he was a young boy and he went to work on the family ranch. The ranch was lost...

Charles “Chipper” Chatfield was born December 5, 1922. At age 92 he continues to be very active on the ranch he was born and raised on west of Sundance. He was the youngest son of E.B. “Eddie” and Berenice (Belshe) Chatfield. Chipper gained his love of horses, especially...

Joe Campbell was born in 1933 in Hot Springs County, the first of two sons of Ralph and Hazel (Sneider) Campbell. Joe began riding with his mother at an early age. In 1947, when Joe was a freshman in High School, Ralph and Hazel purchased the Weststone place 30 miles west...

Leon Maxwell Burch was born in Spearfish, South Dakota, on October 22, 1943. His parents Harold Jay Burch and Dorothy Bess (Guethlein) Burch were on a ranch near Ekalaka, Montana. In 1949 the family moved to Wyoming in the Oshoto area. They leased a ranch from Carl Blatt....

Few humans inhabit the verdant hills and valleys of the horse-rich Cayuse Ranch in northeastern Wyoming. Yet, in mid-June of 2007 cars, vans, pickups, campers and horse trailers, driven and towed by some 200 Spanish Mustang enthusiasts from across the United States and...

William C. Brewer, Jr. was born to William C. Sr. and Leora Brewer on March 2, 1925 in Casper, WY. He grew up on his parents ranch north of Powder River, WY with his sister Jane Fenton and half-brother Dan Miller.  He attended elementary school in Powder River and graduate...

The Wilkinsons were a large–and poor–family, living close to the land in the late 1800s, when the magic word “homestead” in America drew brothers Anthony, John, and Francis from Yorkshire, England, to ranch land around Horse Creek and Sprager Creek near the young town of...

George Donald “Powder River” Thompson was born in January 1895 in rural West Virginia to Frank H. Thompson and Annie J. Armstrong. After his mother died in 1901, his father remarried and by 1906 had moved the family west to Ekalaka, Montana. Much is unknown about Powder...

Wes Taylor worked for Eddie Moore at the Ogallala, for Tye Moore at the Buzzard, for Nimick at the Quarter Circle 41, and for Gammons at the Quarter Circle JP. Wes was in the service from 1959-60 until he was issued a Hardship Discharge when his Dad passed away. After that...

Bob was born February 4th, 1932 in Basin, Wyoming to Carl & Murial Snyder. He had 2 sisters and 1 brother. His dad was a sharecrop farmer in the Basin area. After the 9th grade he went to work as a ranch hand on neighboring ranches and worked his way over to the...

Floyd “Hawk” Shaffer was born April 8, 1902, in Sheridan Wyoming. He attended school through the eighth grade in Sheridan. He acquired his nickname, “Hawk”, while night hawking horses for a roundup outfit when he was about 15 or 16 years old. Most of his life was spent...

Harold Woods Scott was born September 29, 1907, the youngest son of Frank & Mollie Scott in Foster, Missouri.  They moved to Campbell County, Wyoming in 1917 and filed on a homestead twenty miles north of Gillette on Wildcat Creek, which began the fulfillment of...

In the mid-thirties the going rate for “cowboying”, especially for a young teenage boy, was 50 cents a day. If you were experienced and could provide your own “cow horses” the monetary amount changed. Alden Robinson’s recollections included his ability to earn a dollar a...

Ben was born on a ranch in Sand Creek in northern Carbon County. The ranch where he was born is now part of the Buzzard Ranch. His father was a cowboy for Swan Land and Cattle Company and his mother taught school in the Sand Creek area. In his early child hood his parents...

Ray Rice was born July 22, 1943 in Worland, Wyoming, the youngest child of Vernon and Doris Rice. Ray grew up on the family ranch east of Ten Sleep, graduating from Ten Sleep High School in 1961. Growing up on the ranch Ray had an affinity for animals and a real talent for...

Howard Peterson was born in Glenwood, Utah in 1924. He loved to work on his father’s ranch and farm.  Howard was always helping other families in the community with ranch work. You would find him riding his horse all over Glenwood area to do whatever needed to be completed...

Art began life near Wood River in Hall County, Nebraska. When he was four his family joined several others to travel by team and wagon to North Dakota. Men, women and children battled blizzards and every hardship imaginable before settling 45 miles south of Dickinson....

Otto Arthur Herman Miller was born December 16, 1908, near Lawton, Iowa, the son of Fredrich William Miller and Caroline Wilheimine Miller. Otto had three brothers and three sisters. Otto attended country schools near Keeline, Wyoming. He was baptized and confirmed in the...

In 1898, Hank Miles and his twin brother left Georgia and spent a short time in Utah. In 1900 he came to Wyoming and worked for one day in the coal mines in Hanna. One day was all it took for him to know that kind of life was not for him. He worked at a store in Hanna and...

James Oscar Middleton was born October 31, 1906 in Helena, Arkansas. He arrived in Wyoming with his family late fall of 1910 by train. It was bitter cold and he had on a straw hat and was barefoot. Solon Clark traveled by team and wagon from Old Woman Creek, Niobrara...

Cecil Vaughn McMillin came to Wyoming in 1913 with his folks, where they went to work on the Trail Creek Ranch, north of Cody. As an adult Cecil bought properties on Cottonwood Creek and on Trail Creek north of Cody, where he raised horses, cows, sheep and farmed. Cecil...

Walter C. “Buster” McIlvain was born on March 20, 1882 on LaBarge Creek, Wyoming to Robert McIlvain and Sarah Ann Woolworth McIlvain. Buster was raised on LaBarge Creek at the mouth of Little Spring Creek. He had four brothers and three sisters. Buster wrote the following...

J. William Martin was born in Evanston, Wyoming in 1941. He was raised by his parents Joseph B. and Elizabeth Maria Henry Martin, on a ranch south of Evanston known as “Hilliard” in Uinta county. His grandpa and grandma Martin homesteaded their ranch and helped his father...

Lewis “Junior” Martin lived as a Wyoming cowboy his whole life. He grew up on a ranch in Hilliard, Wyoming. At a very young age he developed a love of horses, rodeo, ranching, hunting, and working in the mountains. In 1941, he joined the Marine Corps and was honorably...

Born to be a cowboy in 1927, Hugh Maller grew up on the family ranch near Burlington. From his parents, Fred and Marie, he learned ranching, farming and the cowboy trade. His best friend was his horse. His sister, Inez, ran a close second. He rode horseback to a one-room...

Abner Luman was born in the 1840’s. At the age of fourteen, Abner Luman left his family farm in Kansas and started bull whacking on the Santa Fe Trail from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Fort Union, New Mexico. Luman left home again in the spring of 1864 with a four-yoke of...

Robert E Lozier “Bob” was born April 12, 1927, the oldest child of Robert “Rob” and Alice “Mum” Lozier at their homestead cabin on Willow Creek north of Pinedale.  He grew up ranching with his father Rob, breaking horses, moving cows and general ranch work. In 1945 he...

Frank Perry Lilley was born Dec. 20, 1926, in Ft. Collins, CO.  He was the son of Charles W. and Julia F. (Williams) Lilley.  He was reared on the Table Mountain Ranch at Virginia Dale, CO and attended rural grade school there.  He graduated from Lakewood High School and...

Dail Price Knori was born on June 21, 1935 in Jackson, Wyoming. Her parents were Doug and Ileta Wells Price. Her paternal grandmother, Cora Nelson Price Barker, was the first white child in Jackson Hole. Her father, “Slough Grass” Nelson homesteaded on what is now the...

Life time Carbon County Rancher Bert Johnson was born in 1936 in Laramie, Wyoming. The same year his dad Robert Johnson purchased and moved onto the A Bar One Ranch. Bert is the 2nd of 5 generations to enjoy and work on the family ranch. Bert went to grade school on the...

Bob was born at home on March 25, 1926 to Claude & Helen Isenberger. He had two brothers and four sisters. He attended country school until the 8th grade, then he went to Gillette for a year. He helped on the ranch after he left school, and worked with his father...

Jimmie and Gloria Grieve together are a part of Wyoming’s ranching history; a cowboy and his wife; born of the land, raised on the joys and hardships of ranch life.  Molded by their environment and lifestyle into true pioneers of Wyoming.  Ranching as their predecessors on...

William (Bill) Greer was born on July 9, 1935 to Olen & Clara Greer in Gillette, Wyoming. Bill was raised on a ranch 16 miles SE of Gillette in Campbell County. The ranch was very diversified raising cattle and sheep, horses, hogs and the customary chickens & milk...

William (Bill) Shaw Gray was born July 25, 1927 on a ranch near Orin Junction, Wyoming where he began his cowboy legacy. Being the eldest of three boys, with brothers Bob and Corky, he grew up working with his Mother, Patty “Shaw” Gray, Father, Bill Gray and his two uncles...

Jack W. Graves, Jr. was born on January 30, 1945 in Blanchard, Oklahoma to Jack and Pauline Graves and he was the oldest of three boys. His first experience as a cowboy was when he was five years old and his Uncle Raymond and Aunt Ludie had a farm in Cordell, OK. They had...

George Earl Givens (Rasty), came into this world with an identical twin, Henry Merle Givens (Moon). Rasty was born in 1927 north of Riverton on the Wind River in a log cabin. He lived his life in Fremont County riding range there and surrounding counties. During his early...

Joe Fordyce was born in Webster City, Iowa and came to Wyoming with mother, father and half-sister in 1927. Mother Margaret, from Scotland, and Joe proved up on the homestead dad Edward had filed on but needed money so Joe walked to the Merriott place which was one of the...

Church Hill Firnekas was born late in October 1896 at his father’s homestead on Johnson Creek a few miles northwest of Buffalo. He left home when he was 12 and went to Sussex just East of Kaycee.  He stayed with relatives and continued school for a couple of years. During...

Percy Edwards was born April 30, 1896 to Edward “Eddie” Edwards and Minnie Kutch Edwards on the Willow Creek Ranch north of Cora, Wyoming. In 1900, his family moved to what is now the Edward Steele ranch on the New Fork which they sold shortly thereafter, filing a...

Eddie was born to Lithuanian immigrants, Rupert and Elizabeth (Wishwell) Dvarishkis, in Hudson, Wisconsin in 1914. He moved with his parents to Cottonwood, Wyoming, in 1917 where he lived and worked on his mother’s homestead. After graduating the eighth grade he boarded in...

Charlie Dunning was born in Rosebud, Montana, where he was raised on several small ranches through the Depression.  After high school he joined the Army, serving in Europe during World War II. He returned to Montana and attended college.  After college he worked on ranches...

Carl was born and raised in Hot Springs County. After graduation from Hot Springs County High School Carl worked on various ranches in the area performing ranch work and training horses. In 1959 he married Carol Ireland. In 1968 they bought a ranch on Mud Creek, where they...

John (G) Corbett was born December 16, 1938 in Lander, Wyoming to Thad and Mary Noble Corbett. He is the eldest of seven children and worked on his great Uncle Sanford Mills’ Red Bluff Ranch as a young kid. Jack then began working for Sweetwater area ranchers in the summer...

Donald ‘Dee’ Clark was born December 8, 1926 on TL Creek in Crook County Wyoming to Lewis and Louise (Atkinson) Clark. He was raised on ranches near TL Creek, New Haven and Prairie Creek (all N.W. of Hulett) with 2 brothers and a sister. Dee left high school early to help...

Murray Butler was born on Jan. 1, 1930 to E.H. and Rita Butler. They lived at the family homestead near Snyder Creek, 60 miles NW of Lusk, Wyoming. His father died when he was three years old, and his mother raised him and his two brothers on the homestead. His first paid...

Joe (J.W.) Buckhaults was a ‘cowman’ known throughout Goshen County, Wyoming. Moving to Wyoming in 1972 from the drought-laden plains of eastern Colorado, Joe and his wife, Pat, brought with them a love of the land, horses, ranching, but most of all, cows. Joe engrained...

Nate Brown was born in Lander, Wyoming and raised on Crow Creek, 64 miles outside of Lander on the Crow Indian Reservation. Brown says his mother was a natural with horses and cattle, she taught him to ride. From the time he was a little kid he learned to trust horses and...

Louis “Louie” D Boles was born in 1918 on a homestead started by his grandfather, Amzi Boles, on the Little Medicine Bow River, just north of the town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming. He was the son of James Adelbert (Del) Boles and Chrystal Dolling Boles, the second of five...

A native of eastern Colorado, Don was born June 12, 1911. His parents, Fowler and Lodeska Bell were early day homesteaders. Fowler trained and sold horses to the United States Cavalry. The Bell’s raised four children; Alton, Lee, Clorene and Don. The kids all grew up...

The only time James William Beard or more commonly known as Bill Beard has lived outside of Wyoming was when his mother gave birth to him in Rexburg, Idaho. All 87 years of his life has been working and living on the homestead of South Leigh Canyon, Wyoming. Bill helped...

Born into a ranching family, Richard Temple “Bucky” Barnette was a lifetime rancher on the Emma Ranch south of Lusk, Wyoming. For over 60 years, he lived on the ranch that he loved. He took a great deal of pride in raising good cattle and he loved riding horses and colts....

James Felix Atkinson was born to Day and Connie Atkinson on January 4, 1944. He is the youngest of three brothers, including Lawrence and Gene Atkinson, who were raised in the Marshall community along Sheep Creek on the family ranch that was settled by their grandfather in...

Jesse York was a cowboy at heart. The morning he was born in Shawnee, Wyoming, his dad blew the whistle on the steam engine long and loud to alert family and friends that a son had arrived. Jesse’s older sister was already a homesteader. Brother Robert came along later to...

Chuck was born and raised in the ranching life. Ranches from north of Jay Em, to Horse Creek, to the Red Canyon at Lander, the Bell Ranch at Toltec and the Biggerstaff and Wagonhammer north of Rozet. The final ranch was the RC Johnson place northeast of Torrington, WY. All...

Wales Denton Wenburg was born April 14, 1915 to Otto and Anna Wenburg in the small town of Belgrade, Nebraska.  As a young man he worked the family farm until the passing of his father and the drought forced the family to sell the farm.  Wales moved west to Laramie in 1938...

Norman was born October 23, 1924 in Hot Springs County at a midwife home on Owl Creek to Jack and Viola Wallingford. At a young age he started cowboying for Bill and Sadie Nicholson on Copper Mountain. Attending school in Thermopolis, he was a charter member of the...

Elbert Walker and his wife, Hazel Carr Walker, both cowboyed for the Green River Cattle Association, Miller Land and Livestock and Jorgensen Ranch on the Green River Drift for nearly 30 years. They grew up in ranching families cowboying and then when they were married they...

Raymond John Waliser was born in Saratoga October 17, 1942 to Frank and Thelma (Swanson) Waliser. He was the fourth generation to be raised on the family ranch on South Spring Creek. Growing up Ray loved all aspects of ranching and especially being horseback where he and...

A cowgirl, role model, a mentor, and a genuine leader, Mary A. “Mickey” Thoman is a Wyoming cowgirl straight out of Western folklore. While life has not always been easy, agriculture and ranching are in her blood and she has faced tough elements produced by both Mother...

Ronald (Ron) H. Stoltenberg, the youngest of ten children, was born in 1937 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He spent his childhood in Swan Valley, Idaho, where he learned the ropes of his family’s agricultural lifestyle, which included raising shorthorn cattle. As a young man, Ron...

Harold E. “Smitty” Smith was born March 9, 1918 in Robinson, IL. As a young man, he found himself in Wyoming growing up in the oil patches around Lance Creek and later in the Bear Lodge Mountains. His career as a cowboy started at a young age, finding an education gained...

Sidney Ross Skiver, “Sid” as he was known to everyone, was born on October 23, 1906 at Elk Mountain, Wyoming to Eugene Skiver and Jennie Widowfield Skiver. Sid’s father had about 400 head of mother cows and around 400 head of draft horses which were used in a construction...

Stewart Sides, Jr., “Sturdy”, was born on a ranch near the community of Kirtley, Wyoming, on September 17, 1912 to Stewart and Ruby Sides. His father, Stewart Sides, Sr. owned many ranches in what now present-day Niobrara County is; he also utilized the open range with...

Frank Eugene Shepperson was born April 7, 1942 and spent his childhood and early years in the Midwest, Wyoming area. He grew up helping his folks, Frank and Billie Jean, run cattle on the open range. His summers consisted of living at cow camp; which meant they lived out...

Born in Gillman, Illinois in 1882, Charles Boaz (Charlie) Shaffer was the ninth of eleven children born to Samuel A. and Sarah Jane (Horn) Shaffer. When he was still a baby, the family moved to McCook, Nebraska where his father was a tin smith by trade. When Charlie was...

Bill was born May 20, 1934 to Harold Woods & Bertha Jane (Anderson) Scott. He spent his childhood on the historic Scott Ranch in Gillette, Wyoming. His father built a 30 x 90-foot barn by hand in the 1940’s and remains an icon of the working ranch in existence today,...

Donny was born into a ranching family on March 22, 1933 in the old Ivinson Hospital in Laramie, Wyoming. His parents Murl and Bess Robbins lived and worked on their isolated ranch in Marshall, WY located in Northern Albany County. Baby Donny was welcomed into this world...

Clark was born into a ranch family and raised in the Rocky Point area in northern Campbell County. He left school in 8th grade to start working for an area rancher lambing. On his 21st birthday he married Kathleen Ann Kane. He worked on area ranches in southern Campbell...

Louis Robert Rankine was born June 6, 1949 in Worland Wyoming to John and Elaine Rankine as the power was being turned on to the Ranch on Gooseberry Creek. He went to grade school and junior high in Grass Creek Wyoming. After graduation from Thermopolis High School and...

Harry Harriman (H.H.) Price, known throughout his life as “Jim” was born in Tie Siding, Wyoming, September 20, 1883. At the age of 10, Jim moved with his family to Casper to live on the family ranch where he attended Casper Schools. After graduation from Casper High School...

Born Aug. 15, 1918 on the family sheep ranch in Crowheart, Wyoming, he was the son of George and Maud Pennoyer. He attended schools in Crowheart and Lander. As a young man he worked on the family ranch and other dude ranches in the Dubois area. One of his greatest memories...

Francis Charles Orton or better known as, “Bud” was born on January 25th, 1924 to Charles and Nellie (Ellis) Orton in Laramie, Wyoming. Bud had a determined demeanor which was apparent from the start. He fought with sickness, as an infant, and spent a good portion of his...

Charles Powers Noble was born March 26, 1879 in Joplin, Missouri, the son of Robert Powers and Mary F. Long Powers. He was adopted by Zachariah Thomas Noble (1848-1921) and Sarah Ellen Webster Noble (1854-1918), with whom he came to Big Piney in 1887, residing here since...

Eldon C. “Pete” McKee was born to Clyde and Lottie Miller McKee on July 10, 1925 in Pottersville, Missouri. He was the second of what would become nine children. Missouri soon became crowded and Clyde and his family moved to the Grover, Colorado area in 1929. It was at...

Morris McCarty was born in June of 1920 in Terry, Montana. He attended school there until the 9th grade when he quit school to work. He worked breaking horses and building ditches with a Fresno and a team of four horses. During the war he was in the CCC’s and did a lot of...

Frank Lee Martinez was born in Ocate, New Mexico to Lee and Ester Martinez on October 15, 1935. Frank was the oldest of six children and his cowboy days started at a young age when he was 9 years old.  He would saddle the horses and head out to the mountains to take care...

The dashingly handsome “Mexican” John Marroquin was born in Texas, just across the border from old Mexico. He’d come to Wyoming with a trail herd in 1877 and worked for future Wyoming governor John Kendrick on the famed OW (located north of Lusk at the time) before...

Lonnie M. Mantle was born in a homesteader cabin in Bear Valley about 20 miles west of Elk Springs, CO July 1, 1935 to Charley and Evelyn Mantle. While Lonnie has long considered himself a Wyomingite, his family ranched on the Yampa River in the remote Hell’s Canyon of...

Carl Johnson was born on a horse farm outside of Athens, Ohio August 29, 1884. While there he drove wagons, buggies, or whatever for A.L. Johnson Transfer and Storage. In 1900, at the age of 16 he came to Wyoming. The first few years in Wyoming he ranched north of the town...

Richard Duane Jarrard was raised in Kaycee, Wyoming at the family ranch. The 3rd oldest of 9 children, his early education was at Sussex, Kaycee and Midwest. He regularly walked or rode colts to and from school from an early age. Dick and his brothers started and trained...

Joe Hickey was born on a ranch in Lonetree Wyoming in 1905. He is the son of Eugene Hickey who came to Wyoming when he was 16 years old then ranched there the rest of his life. His mother, Betty Hereford Hickey, was born in Burnt Fork, Wyoming. She was the fourth of...

Mike Henry was the founder of the “88 Ranch” one of the most ambitious Wyoming ranching operations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mike was a soldier during the Civil War, a pioneer rancher, a bank president, and a promoter of oil and coal development. He was an...

Harold was born at his parents homestead south of Robertson. His mother passed away when he was 4 years old and while his dad wanted to keep his sons with him, he was frequently away from home to work. One day he saddled up his horse, stuck each boy in a pannier and headed...

Earl Hardeman was born January 4, 1925 to Gerrit and LaMar Crandall Hardeman in Kelly, Wyoming. Gerrit immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands in 1910 and homesteaded in Kelly, Wyoming in 1919. Earl Hardeman grew up on the ranch with his siblings Marie...

Curtis Raymond “Ray” Hammond was born to Curtis and Pauline (Dockery) Hammond on July 23, 1942 in Thermopolis.  Brought up in the saddle, he is a true cowboy and ranch hand deeply rooted to Wyoming.  He grew up on various ranches, learning the skills of the trade that made...

Gene was born in Spearfish, S.D. January 19, 1942. He is the oldest son of Don and Gladys (Storm) Griffis and was raised on his parents ranch in the Bearlodge Mountains in Northeast Crook County, Wyoming. Gene was put on a horse when he was 5 years old. He started school...

Raised on the Reverse G Cross Ranch 7 miles east of LaGrange, Wyoming, Afton Delano Green, Jr. (most know him as “Babe”) was a true Wyoming cowboy indeed. In the spring of 1883, Babe’s grandparents, Milton & Louisa loaded their covered wagon and started west. They...

John “Jack/Jackie” Fitzhugh Jr. was born June 19, 1920 at Douglas, WY, to John and Bessie (Scott) Fitzhugh Sr. Jack is a great grandson of John and Mary Fitzhugh, one of Douglas’s earliest pioneer families, who first went through WY with the gold rush of 1849. Jack went to...

Stub Farlow’s life story is best told by him, his widow Netta, and by the people in Lander who knew him well. Remember, these were times before modern transportation or communication. Stub was well known in Wyoming and some surrounding rodeo grounds in Montana, Idaho, and...

Oley Darlington was born July 17, 1897 the oldest child to David & Sarah Edna Darlington, in Cedar County Missouri. Seven siblings to follow; Mamie, Walter, Mina, Georgia, Gordon (Bill), Russell and Drusilla (Sid). The family possessions of horses, cattle, chickens,...

Charlie Cook was born in 1932 in an old farmhouse west of Sheridan, Wyoming to parents William Albert Cook and Ima Irene Frink. He got his education in Sheridan except for a couple of years at the Wolf Creek School and ultimately graduated from Sheridan High School....

Joseph Black Chrisman was born September 14, 1916, on the Chrisman place up North Piney Creek in a two-story house to Chester Fredrick “Chet” Chrisman (1882-1957) and Edna Black Chrisman (1892-1939). He had the following siblings: Bill Chrisman, Barbara McMyer, Edna Mae...

Jack Brodie was born in Lander August 29, 1925 and spent his entire life in Lander. He was the son of John and Annie Jane (Jean) Brodie, Scottish immigrants who came through Ellis Island to Lander in 1921 to raise Suffolk sheep. When Jack was a young boy, his parents...

John C. “Charley” Borgialli was born to Charley and Rena Ann (Micheal) Borgialli on their homestead in Weston County Wyoming, on July 15, 1910. Having already traveled from his native Italy to America, Charley and his bride Rena arrived in Wyoming in 1908 in a railroad...

Bernard Betz was born the oldest of 7 children to Alvin and Mary (Vannoy) Betz on July 22, 1939 in Buffalo, Wyoming. He grew up for 15 years on their ranch 11 miles south of Clearmont, Wyoming on what is now known as Thompson Creek Road. Ranching was not an easy life, nor...

Kenny Ballard is considered a Cowboy on the ranch or in the rodeo arena. He grew up on a ranch on Snyder Creek, north of Lance Creek in Converse and Niobrara counties. He went to work breaking horses for Smidt Brothers when he was 15 and worked for the Joss Ranch, Joe...

*Mary Naomi (Willard) Brooks Relationship: BB Brooks Wife Nickname: N/A Date of Birth: 6-10-1864 Date of Death: 2-6-1948 Hometown: Casper, WY County: Natrona Years of Cowboy Experience: 62 years Parents: Judge Lockhart Dickman & Olive Hester (Clark) Willard Ranch Name:...

John Lawrence Atkinson was born on February 9, 1935, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Day and Connie Atkinson. Connie had traveled to Cheyenne to stay with her father, John Ulrich, until Lawrence was born. After his birth they returned to the small cabin at Day’s 640-acre...

Buck Alameda was born March 7, 1918 and died January 3, 2003. His parents bought Pass Creek Ranch in 1922 and lived there until 1948. It was a primitive and harsh life, and everyone had to work to make a living. Buck rode a horse to the Campbell School where he completed...

Byron E. Wollen was born in 1898, in Ceresco Nebraska,the eldest of 6 children. He was raised on his parents farm. As a young man he worked on the family farm. They used a lot of work mules. He didn't like them very well, much preferring horses. That is where his love of...

Gary Walker was raised in a family of life long ranchers. His grandfather came west by covered wagon to homestead near the Badlands of South Dakota. They drought out and trailed their cows and large horse herd to Nebraska where they settled. Gary grew up on a small cattle...

Hugh and Mary Vass began their ranching life together on August 5, 1949. They lived at the mouth of Prospect on Cottonwood Creek until 1959 when they moved to their ranch on Owl Creek 34 miles west of Thermopolis where they raised three children. They lived there together...

Raymond Everett Smith was born November 18, 1932 in Newcastle, Weston County, Wyoming. His parents were Everett Minus George Smith and Ida Alice (Sedgwick) Smith. He went home to the place his parents had leased, south of the Cheyenne River, in northern Niobrara County....

William Elmer Sherman was born May 15,1894 in Alice, Texas to E. E. and Winifred Kate Sherman. Billie’s father died, and his mother with Billie and his sister, Hazel, moved to Ft. Washakie by 1898 where Winnie Sherman was the matron at the Indian school. Billie Sherman was...

Dick Shaw was born in O’Neill, Nebraska, Sunday February 9, 1936. He was the second son born to Harold and Helen Shaw. The full name given to him was Warren Richard, but his Aunt Florence nicknamed him “Dickey Bird” as a young child. It stuck with him and was eventually...

Tom Schutte’s journey to becoming a Wyoming ranch hand & cowboy began on April 3, 1942 in Dixon County, Nebraska. Tom was born to Gus & Rachel Schutte and had 3 older siblings. The Schutte family owned a farm on the eastern side of the Cornhusker state where they...

Norman Sanford moved to Thermopolis, Wyoming with his parents Tom and Kate Sanford when Norman was 4 years old. Norman lived and ranched in Thermopolis until his death in September 9, 2003. Norman worked for his father Tom on the ranch from the time he was 14 years old....

Dale Robbins has been a cowboy in Northern Albany County his entire life. He was born in 1938 to Jim and Yvonne Robbins. He was raised on the ranch with his younger brother, Dwight. He attended school at the ranch, in Rock River and Laramie. He was active in FFA and was...

James C. Ramsay was born February 10, 1894 in Rock Springs, the son of Robert Ramsay and Elizabeth “Bessie” Anthony Ramsay, and attended school in Rock Springs. Jim had the following siblings: John “Jack”, Elizabeth, Mary, Samuel, Alma, Robert Jr., Agnes, Anthony “Tony,”...

Georgia Romios Platt was a true Wyoming cowgirl. She could rope, ride, fix fence, hunt, operate haying equipment, and then still cook a hearty meal for the crew. She was born November 21,1928 to Frank and Alice Romios, on the ranch outside of Encampment, Wyoming. She grew...

Carleton Perry, Dec. 1, 1931 to March 6, 2017, parents Russell and Hester Perry, the oldest of 6 children, born in Ware, MA As a thirteen-year-old boy, Carleton left his home and family in MA and moved to Montana to pursue his dream of becoming a cowboy. He worked for a...

Eugene Paul Pearson Sr. "Gene" was born August 17, 1946 in Kemmerer, Wyoming to Tony and Kathryn Pearson. Gene has been a true cowboy from the day he was born. For the first six years of his life, he lived on the Phillip's place, also known as the Gransden place in Daniel,...

Paul Hamilton Miller (Blinky) was born in Sageeyah, Indian Territory, (now Claremore, OK) on July 14, 1897. He was the tenth of eleven children born to Massie and Mary Jane Orr Miller. Paul lost his mother in childbirth at the tender age of four. Paul's father, Massie,...

Gerald was born in Deadwood, S.D. He grew up on his parents’ ranch there, and still owns the home place. He attended school at the Buckhorn school , Dupree, S.D and St. Onge, S.D, He graduated from Spearfish High School. He married Jacquie Olsen in 1963 and they have five...

“Peter McCulloch, riding point on the herd of 2000 Oregon cattle, topped the cedar ridge and looked westward into the upper reaches of the Big Horn Basin. He had seen a lot of Wyoming Territory since leaving Fort Bridger but this was the most spectacular and beautiful of...

Earl James Marsh was born along with his twin Edith (Edith Cinderella Marsh Trotter) on September 27, 1901 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  They were the youngest of the seven children born to pioneer Wyoming ranchers France and Amanda Yoder Marsh. They were the first born in a...

Jeffery Nathan Lupher (Nate) was born on July 4th, 1960 onto the Lupher Ranch, in Uinta County. Nate was born to James Wesley Lupher and Myrna (Behunin) Lupher. As a child Nate never wanted anything but to be a cowboy. He ate, slept, breathed, and dreamed of it. The drive...

Jerry Lanchbury was born in Park County at the Powell hospital in Wyoming November 9, 1930. He spent the first 5 years of his life out on the Eagles Nest Stage stop which his Grandparents Thomas and Emma Lanchbury had started in the later 1800s. ​There he was influenced by...

Bruce Laird's attitude toward a cowboy's life is simple. He wants to learn, “What makes this cow tick?” “What approach can I use so this horse knows we can do our job together and enjoy it?” Bruce always surveys the situation to determine cause and effect. He can see ahead...

Dan Kirkbride was born November 11, 1898 at Cattail Ranch which was part of the Indian Hill community in north central Laramie County, Wyoming to Alex and Mary Kirkbride. He was the youngest of seven children. In March of 1919, he married 16 year old Peggy Harding who he...

Archie Johnson was born in 1944 to Frank and Elizabeth Johnson. He was the only boy born in his generation on the Broken Box Ranch. He has spent his entire life on the family ranch outside of LaGrange Wyoming in Goshen county, as his father did before him. Archie is a...

Lora Mae Reynolds Johnson was born in Gillette, Wyoming August 8, 1951, the youngest of 5 children born to Ellis and Jean Reynolds. She started riding at a very young age-as some of the elders say "she could ride before she could walk." She was always a horseback even if...

Roy Jarrard will be the first to tell you that he never wanted to ever do anything other than be a cowboy. He was devoted his entire life to his ranch and his life stock with his family He does not have any shortage of stories from the countless years and miles he has...

Rulan Oliver Jacobson was born November 27, 1918 to Oliver and Lydia Jacobson. Rulan was one of the eight children born at home on the Jacobson ranch that sat on Elk Creek in Idaho (no under Palisades Reservoir. In his young years his father taught him how to ride, rope,...

ALL IN A DAYS WORK This is the sentence that Bud Huseman used at the end of a telling of an adventure or misadventure. Albert William Huseman was his given name, but little Buddy soon was shortened to Bud. Born in Ogden Utah in 1908 to the parents of german/dutch...

Glenn E. Hanson was born in Newcastle, Wyoming on July 30, 1917, the youngest of three children born to Henrick and Roxie (Freel) Hanson. He was born in the “preacher’s house” near his grandparents’ home on the eastern edge of town. He spent the rest of his life on the...

William “Bill” Samuel Hancock was born on January 14, 1929. He was the son of Samuel and Irma Hancock. He lived in the Red Canyon area of Fremont County where he started working on surrounding ranches when he was ten. He was well known to be a good hand with a horse and...

Joseph Brutus Graham was born July 24, 1924 to George and Iola (Sloan) Graham in Custer, Montana. Joe was the middle child in their family of seven kids. In 1940, at the age of 16, his journey began from Parkman, Wyoming to Crook County, Wyoming with his family looking to...

With courage and determination Bill Frank, Sr. moved his family to Fremont County in January of 1948, a move that would mark a milestone in Bill’s lifelong goal of owning a ranch in the shadow of the Wind River Mountains. That first morning in their new surroundings on...

Jack Finnerty was born in Cheyenne in 1939. His father bought the M Bar Ranch in 1945 and Jack at the age of six became a main cowhand. He says he became a cowboy because he was too young to build fence. ​Jack attended high school at Saint Mary's in Cheyenne and attended...

A.W. Dickinson III, known as Wright or Dick, was born April 30, 1931, in Rock Springs, Wyoming to A.W. Dickinson Jr. and Margaret Sparks Dickinson. He went home to the ranch south of Rock Springs that had been established by his maternal grandfather, Charles L. Sparks, in...

Dick Curtis was born in Meeteetse Wyoming on July 21, 1929 to C.W. (Chuck) and Edith Curtis. Dick was a third generation Wyoming rancher, his grandfather Alfred came to Wyoming in the 1880’s and settled into ranching in Big Horn County, with the exception of six years...

Joe Coykendall was born in Rand, Colorado on November 12, 1917. He grew up on a small ranch owned by his parents, Frank and Edna Coykendall. The family lost the ranch in the Great Depression. Eventually, around 1935, Frank Coykendall became ranch manager of the Joe Miller...

William E. Carr was born September 5, 1895 in South Pass, Wyoming to William Joseph Carr and Ella Potter Carr. His siblings were Frank (1894-1963), Fred (1896-1964), Guy (1898-1992), Eugene Charles (1900-1947), Ella "Mickey" Moore (1901-1979), Lillian Brown (1903- ), Lida...

Thomas John Borgialli was the first of six children born to Charley and Ruth (Van Sickle) Borgialli. He came into this world November 18, 1931 in the Orville Stevens house in Newcastle, Wyoming. The “Cowboy” way was installed early in Tom’s life, as he worked alongside his...

Harry Aaron Borgialli was born January 8, 1937 in Newcastle, Wyoming to John C. “Charley” and Naomi “Ruth” (Van Sickel) Borgialli. He grew up on the family ranch with his three brothers and two sisters. Harry lived on the family ranch 15 miles southwest of Newcastle his...

Wells was raised on his parents ranch/farm in Rigby, Idaho. At a young age, he was very good at handling cattle and horses. One way his family made a living was freighting grain with teams and wagons from the dry farms located on Idaho’s Antelope Flats to market. Wells at...

Robert "Bob" Beard was born March 29, 1939 in Wichita, Kansas to Earl and Maysel Thompson Beard. He had three brothers. Because it was the end of the Depression, Bob's family moved all over the west, so his father could find work. They lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, California...

The final chapter in the life of one of Carbon County's old-time residents closed Oct 31,1949, with the death of Jesse William Barkhurst. He was born December 21,1877, in Mt. Ayer, Iowa, the eldest child of Mr. and Mrs G.H. Barkhurst. ​In 1880, the family moved west to...

Arthur F. “Art” Bales was many things in his life of 88 years; however, being a rancher was among his favorite things. Arthur loved his wife, his children, and his many grandchildren, but among those favorite things was his love for ranching and for his animals. Art was...

Tommy Jarrard was born in Sheridan, and has been a cowboy since he started riding horses and working cattle on the family ranch long before he was old enough to go to school. He is a rancher, horseman, cowman, sheepman, cowboy. In the fall of 1962, when he was just 17...

Thomas Francis “Franny” Pearson was born in Burntfork, Wyoming. Fran grew up loving and caring for livestock and the land. There are many stories of him camping out with a herd of cattle, branding on the open range, roping, and riding horses. On February 13, 1942, when...

Teddy, or simply “Ted,” grew up on the family ranch just north of Lost Springs -- the family ranch that Ted would never leave, and later named Rocky Top Ranch, after the ranch’s most notable landmark. His childhood was spent mostly attending school and helping out with all...

Sue was born in Lancaster, California, on the Rancho La Liebre Ranch where her working cowboy parents Frank and Georgie Sicking were both employed. About the time Sue turned five, Frank and Georgie purchased their place south of Fallon, Nevada, where they raised hay and...

Alonzo, John Fee, William Gary, & Horace Greeley “Dutch” Stepp African Americans Alonzo and Esther Stepp brought their family, including sons John Fee and William Gary Stepp, from their home in Berea, Kentucky, to southwest Wyoming in the late 1890s. Another son,...

Stanley G. Murdock was born in Heber, Utah, on July 11, 1865. As a teenage lad, Stanley hired on with Texas cattle drives and guided a herd of several hundred Texas cattle through Utah into Wyoming. In 1883, when Stanley was 18 years old, Rody Thornton hired him to help...

Russell “Pinky” Walters was raised on a farming/cattle operation outside of Lingle. He participated in 4-H and FFA throughout his school years. He started riding bulls at the age of 16, much to his parent’s disapproval. Pinky attended Eastern Wyoming College for a while,...

When Ross was a young boy his parents homesteaded north of Bear Creek and east of Chugwater, and he lived and worked in this area his entire life. In the 1930s, he broke and sold horses to the Army. Ross was a natural horseman; his life revolved around horses from the time...

Ronald E. Crawford was born on the family homestead in Holt County Nebraska. In a one-room schoolhouse he managed, with some difficulty to complete his eighth grade education but cowboy life was calling, him. As early as nine years old, Ron was working on cattle drives for...

Bobby Good was born at a homestead on Beaver Creek near Shell. He loved the land, quality horses, good livestock, and the wisdom of the old-time ranchers who instilled in him the value of ranching and doing the work quietly and effectively. Bobby started riding horses when...

Robert Earl Curtis was born into a ranching family and was reared on the Pitchfork Ranch with his two brothers. Growing up he would work on the ranch with his dad. After graduating from high school, he married his high school sweetheart, Frances Hamby. He was a...

Raynard McKenzie was born in Montana but left home at age 13, coming to Wyoming where his first job was with rancher Sandy Perriman, at Powder River. Raynard trailed horses from Powder River to Gillette for two springs. It was a 70-mile trip and took three days. His pay...

Ralph Thomas Foster was born on January 3, 1930 to homesteaders Grace and John Foster. They lived on their Buffalo Creek ranch north of Leiter in Southeast Sheridan County. The family moved to town and this country boy would have had a much tougher time adjusting if not...

Patrick “Pat” Ace Miller was horseback from a very early age. As a young boy he rode from home to the Lance Creek School and later to catch the school bus into Lusk. In February of 1964, Pat married Beverly “Bev” Grant. After earning degrees from the University of Wyoming,...

Mel Stonehouse was three years old when his father froze to death in a snowstorm in 1915. Mel was placed in a Denver orphanage. He struggled until he escaped at age seven and began bouncing from one ranch to another trying to find enough work to survive. Mel ended up in...

Marie Jordan Bell was born in Laramie County to Iron Mountain rancher John L. Jordan and Jeannette Liggit Jordan. All Marie ever wanted to do was work outside with horses and cattle. She got her first horse at age four; broke her first horse at nine; worked extensively...

Elijah H. “Lige” Driskell (also spelled Driscoll, Driscol, Driskoll) was born in Kentucky. He left Missouri and went to California to hunt for gold. He came to Wyoming with Johnston’s army at the close of the Mexican war, and during the “war” with Mormon pioneers. The army...

Kenny’s 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Chaney, had a big impact on his life. She would read to the class every afternoon and Kenny learned to love the West and western ways through those books. One of his favorite authors early on was Will James. While in Mrs. Chaney’s 5th grade...

Kenneth Dean Canfield was born on February 28, 1919, on his father’s homestead southwest of Sundance on Inyan Kara Creek, Crook County, Wyoming. He was the son of Willard and Ada O’Haver Canfield. The Canfields came to Crook County from Wisconsin in immigrant cars in 1887....

As a child, Jack Darnell lived at Pilot Butte where his father was a ditch rider. While still a toddler they moved to Derby Dome Oil Field where his dad worked as a boiler and at age five, Jack started first grade. When his older sister started high school the family moved...

Jim Price spent his school years working for various ranches to include Bill Snodgrass, Louie Irene, the ID Ranch owned by the Miller Estate Company, and Miles Land & Livestock Company. Jim was known to be a good hand with a horse, could work cows like no other and was...

Jep learned to work on his family’s ranch at an early age. Once, when he was seven, he and sister Verla trailed a herd of horses that had been running on the desert, moving them forty miles in a day. Jep came by his love of horses naturally. His father, Ebb, loved his...

Pioneering runs deeply in Jean’s blood. Her Sherwin paternal family helped save the buffalo in Colorado; and her grandfather Len Sherwin instituted and produced a traveling Wild West Show around 1904. Jean’s personal ranching/cowboy legacy was honored at the American...

Jim Wilson was born in Platte County in 1932 and has ranched near Glendo his entire life. He attended the University of Wyoming, earning degrees in Agriculture Education and Animal Science while also competing on the UW rodeo team. From the time he was able to mount a...

James Delmar Baker, DVM, worked hard in school to make good grades and played basketball. After high school went to Casper College on a basketball scholarship and was the college’s first student to major in Pre-Veterinary Science. When he transferred to the vet medicine...

Fred was born and raised in the Douglas community growing up on the family ranch northeast of Douglas and north of Shawnee. Fred served in the 82nd Airborne Division in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After having worked as foreman for the LAK Ranch at Osage, Fred...

Fred Wilson was born in Gillette in 1938. He was active in all sports in high school, basketball, football, and track. He attended Colorado State University on a track scholarship. After one year at CSU, he went to Casper College where he had been offered a rodeo...

Francis was born in the family’s Wyoming ranch home on the Cheyenne River (near present Mule Creek Junction). When he was three his Mother, going to the corrals to look at the new foals, stepped on a rusty nail, contracted blood poisoning, and died. His dad never...

Edward, or “Ed,” was born at Salem, Wyoming, west of Albin. His father, Hajelmer August Johnson was a Swedish immigrant. His mother, Janet Brown Johnson was the daughter of a coal miner. Just before Ed’s first birthday the family bought CP Ranch north of Albin on the...

Ed Cooper “Coop” was born in Faith, South Dakota, to Marie and Arthur Cooper on May 18, 1933. The family moved to Buckhorn, Wyoming in 1941. Ed attended school in Buckhorn and Newcastle. He landed his first job lambing for Howard Sheridan for $50 a month when he was 15...

Donnie was about five or six years old when his grandfather John A. Hanson purchased a first horse for the boy. He spent the majority of his youth helping his grandfather and Uncle Frank Hanson on the family ranch. After the purchase of his first horse, it became his...

Donald Kortes was born in Hanna, in 1917, to Andrew and Inez Kortes. He grew up on the family’s Black Canyon Ranch north of Hanna in the area known as Leo. As a young man he worked on the Buzzard Ranch and then went to work for Gus Nelson on the Lost Creek Ranch in 1936....

Don Proffit always knew he would be a cowboy, judging from scenes in his youth: choosing to ride a horse while his brother rode a bike, and making sure to brand his stick horses with a car cigarette lighter. Wyoming has been home to Claudia Hamilton Proffit nearly all of...

Dale M. Sims was born at his grandmother’s house in Greybull in 1937. He attended school at Avent Country School, Otto, and Greybull until his junior year when he married Bonnie LaRose Coguill on June 18, 1955. Dale worked at the Holzworth Farm in Worland until 1957,...

Chancy R. Wheeldon was raised on the family ranch in Horse Creek in Jackson Hole, and is the fourth generation to run the ranch. His family raised 140 head of draft and half draft horses, that were used for the hunting operation. Everyday when not in school he was helping...

A measure of Butch Reynolds is the fact that his high school class nominated him to the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame at a recent reunion. Butch follows in his dad’s footsteps, not only in the WCHF, but also in ranching and cowboying. He was only seven when he and his...

Kenneth “Buss” M. Fear was born on the family ranch in Big Piney. He graduated from Big Piney High School and married his sweetheart, Mardell Bennett, in 1938. Soon after, the young couple moved to the cookhouse on the family ranch; they lived on the ranch until retiring...

Bertha Matilda Hamilton was born on Christmas Eve, in a two- room cabin on the Hill Ranch, which her father purchased from mountain man Amos Hill. While her older sister Allene enjoyed helping their mother with cooking, cleaning, and gardening, Bertha became her dad’s...

Ben Kern was nine years old when he arrived in Carbon County with his family. His father worked for the Dixon Ranch on the Albany-Carbon County line and Ben drove a team of horses during haying season on ranches near McFadden, Rock River, and Medicine Bow. He attended...

Born on an isolated ranch in the hills east of Sheridan, Archie L. Nash, an only child, created a bond with horses and animals from the very beginning. After graduating from Sheridan High School in 1922, he went on to attend Chillicothe School of Business in Chillicothe,...

As a child Aldin Reynolds lived in a sheep wagon on the prairie in the Weston and Rocky Point area. Aldin was riding at age four and rode to school at age five, staying at the teacherage during the winter months. By the time he was 13 he no longer attended school, but...

Gene was born in Casper, April 8, 1949. His father had always been on horseback, and it was not long before Gene was put on a horse. His parents were living in Dubois, running an outfitting business. Gene started first grade in Dubois, but his parents separated, and before...

William Edwin Amspoker was born in a sod house near Cadiz, Ohio, and in 1885, when he was 21, he went to work for cattle baron Abel Pierce trailing cattle from Texas to Montana. He then trailed longhorn cattle from Texas to Montana for Dudley Snyder. In all, Ed made three...

Violet May Coy Sedgwick never worked for wages on a ranch but helped the cook at the 4W when her husband cowboyed there for them. She grew up on her family’s ranch in Montana, and when she was a child moved to the AU7 Ranch on the Cheyenne River in Nebraska and Wyoming and...

Straitor V. Clark was born at his paternal grandparents, Fred and Olive (Thompson) Clark’s house at the foot of Inyan Kara Mountain, near Sundance. Straitor was the oldest of nine children. Straitor was only able to obtain a 4th grade education, needing to work as a ranch...

Sherry McKay Reynolds, the daughter of Dean and Betty McKay of Gillette, started working on the family homesteads claimed by her grandparents as a girl. She has spent years ranching with her husband, Butch. Among the ranches where she worked are the Wagensen, Keeline,...

Russell Eugene “Bud” Hoffner grew up working the feedlot where his family lived in Ault, Colorado. Pasture was leased east of Ault for stocker cattle to graze. Bud would ride horses to check and doctor the cattle and to move them to corrals for shipping. When he was four...

Rod Schuppan was born to Ralph and Darlene Schuppan in Cheyenne. He began his cowboying at a young age which all started with his father at the Hunter Ranch, working there as a kid and until 1981. In high school while ranching and going to school, he rodeoed participating...

Robert John “Bob” Johnson was the oldest of four boys of Robert and Victoria Johnson. He spent his youth growing up and working on the family-owned A Bar One Ranch in the Pass Creek Basin near Elk Mountain. When he was a freshman, he was enrolled in school at Elk Mountain...

Robert Britain, known to most as Bobby J., was down in the family barns riding and working horses from the time he was young. He graduated from high school and went to work at the Lost Cabin Gas Plant to help with the ranch. Even when he was tired from a long day at work,...

From the young age of five, Bob Rabou started to learn all aspects of feeding, doctoring, and caring for cattle and horses. He made his living working the land, growing crops to feed the cattle they raised, and spent many hours in the saddle. From a very young age he...

Richard “Dick” Skeen was born February 15, 1928, to John R. and Inez Skeen of Hyattville. In his youth the family lived in camps while his dad worked construction building roads through Yellowstone National Park. At the age of 11 his dad died so he, his mother, and brother...

Alex 1873 - 1951 Clay 1908 - 1976 Doug 1909 - 1993 Alex Price and his two oldest sons, Clay, and Doug were very good cowboys and did a great deal of cowboying during their lifetimes. Alex was a charter member of the Upper Green River Cattle Association and ran his cattle...

Paul and his identical twin brother Pat had a very close bond. Their father died when the boys were 14, and Paul did all he could to be with horses and cowboys when he was young. Paul enlisted in the Marines when he was 18 and went to Vietnam. When his hitch in the Marines...

Marion Aimone, whose nickname was Black Hat, was granted 160 acres of land at Heart Mountain Relocation Center. Whether this land grant came under the Homestead Act, or as a special program for returning WWII veterans, is not known. He irrigated the land using a siphon...

Billy Francis was born in Idaho but moved to Wyoming with his family in June of 1913 when his father purchased a ranch near Kelly. The family later traded for a ranch up the Gros Ventre River. Billy was inducted into the Army in 1917 and went with the Jackson contingent to...

Lee started cowboying at the age of 14 when he stayed by himself all summer at cow camp on the Kirby Creek east of Thermopolis taking care of a small herd of cows. Growing up he worked at various ranches, the Arapahoe Ranch near Thermopolis, Pitchfork Ranch near Meeteetse,...

LeRoy Shumway is a third generation Wyoming rancher on his father’s side and fourth generation on his mother’s side. His love has always been horses. Often, he would ride to school or in parades on horses that he broke and trained himself. He was an expert roper and...

Gary “Sonny” Lee Pulver was born to James and Minnie Pulver of the Pulver ranch on Laramie Peak. Sonny served in the Army 1967-70 and was stationed in Germany for most of his service. After his tour, Sonny returned home to Wyoming and landed outside of Casper for a ranch...

Kenneth Norris Graves grew up on the Norris family homestead ranch, 25 miles from Kaycee. His grandfather, Frank Graves, purchased the homestead in 1908 and six generations of the Graves family have been living and ranching on it for 113 years. At age eight, Ken and his...

Tim spent most of his life on horseback working cattle. While attending high school and Casper College, he discovered a love of leather work, making belts and a saddle among other leather projects. When younger, Tim broke horses. Many winter seasons found Tim feeding his...

Jim Caines started life on a small ranch west of Hyattville in the mid-1930s. He got his start in the horse business when he and Tom Mercer (at 12 or 13 years of age) were out in the badlands horseback (bareback) when they ran across a bunch of wild horses. They chased...

James Lester Leath moved to Cheyenne from Pennsylvania in 1910 to work cattle for Senator F. E. Warren and Senator Joseph M. Carey before moving to Buffalo in 1912 where he was urged to attend school. After one day he thought that was sufficient and he would be better off...

Jim Zimmerschied was the eldest of two sons born to Wilber and Edna Zimmerschied, a pioneering family in Crook County. The family was known for their raunchy horses and this is where Jim learned to cowboy. After Jim graduated from Moorcroft High School, he worked for...

Jake Johnson began ranching in Wyoming after he purchased part of the Fiddleback Ranch north of Douglas, in 1944. He had ranched in the Nebraska Sandhills for many years prior to moving to Wyoming. His love for horses began at an early age when he saw the soldiers ride by...

When Henry Huff Williams was still in his teens, he was the mail carrier between South Pass and Big Sandy. One day a blizzard swept into the area and Henry and his horse sought shelter in the Dry Sandy Stage Stop. The shelter consisted of a shed for the horse and a cabin,...

Henry Hittle was born in Prairie City, Illinois, May 25, 1898, to George A. Hittle and Amanda E. Mitchell Hittle. The next year the family moved to Wyoming to run and partner in a ranching operation on the East Fork of the Green River with George’s Uncle John Hittle. The...

Glenn Taylor was born July 28, 1934, to Verland and Joella Taylor. Shortly after his birth in Blackfoot, Idaho, his family, returned to Jackson Hole. During his childhood the family moved around so his father could find work. They spent summers at Grassy Lake near...

Born in 1942 at Kinnear, Gerald grew up on the family homestead in Fremont County. The family raised sheep, cattle, and horses. He got his first paying job at the age of 12 as the horse wrangler for Diamond G Ranch west of Dubois. He stacked thousands of bales of hay,...

Andy Van Patten was raised at the Springsteen Ranch west of Hell’s 1/2 Acre where his grandfather homesteaded in 1917. Andy learned all phases of ranching at a young age. He worked for the Brewer Ranch, Buffalo Creek Ranch, and Bill Clark on the Pine Mountain Ranch as a...

Gary was born in Gillette to Vince and Leola Thar. As soon as he could be alone on a horse, he was trailing cattle and lending a hand on the ranch. By age eight, Gary was a full-time hand on his father’s custom haying crew every summer until he went to college. After...

Frank Svalina was born on January 9, 1934, to Pete and Margaret Svalina in Moorcroft. His grandfather had homesteaded in 1912, eight miles west of Oshoto. Growing up on the ranch Frank helped his dad trail cattle 30 miles into Moorcroft to be shipped by rail to Omaha,...

Francy has spent most of her life on a ranch. She owns a small ranch near Casper. She competed in high school rodeo, winning barrels, poles, and All-Around Cowgirl honors at Wyoming’s State High School Rodeo Finals. She competed in three National High School Finals Rodeos...

Eugene Olson Bischoff was the 12th child of Annie Sophia Olson and Nephi Daniel Bischoff of Lovell. Eugene’s father passed away suddenly from a farming accident when Eugene was only 17 years old. Eugene and his four brothers took over the responsibilities of running the...

Don was born in Wheatland, to Ralph and Mae Rogers, who had a small ranch at Chugwater. He left school at the age of 15 and went to work for the Miller Ranch where he was part of the cowboy crew, working with cows in different areas. He liked to ride saddle broncs at the...

Don Robert Hamm was born to Hugh “Bob” and Evelyn Hamm on July 17, 1948, in Gillette. In 1940, Adolph Hamm, Don’s grandfather, bought the Adon Ranch that Don now owns. Adolph was a big influence in Don’s life. He served as the Wyoming Commissioner of Ag after he retired...

Crystal was born in Lyman where he became a star basketball player and known for his musical talent. One of Crystal’s first big jobs was driving a team of horses and hauling lumber from Carter where it came in by freight train in big carloads and going to the sawmills in...

Clure Smith was born on March 19, 1897, in LaBarge, the son of Frank and Minnie Smith. Clure was the third child and he grew up helping on the family homestead. At an early age he started riding for the Mumblie Peg Association on Beaver Creek and Horse Creek. Clure married...

Clarke Jackman was born September 10, 1936, in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1954 Clarke enrolled in Colorado State University where he studied animal science and was on the rodeo team. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Husbandry, Clarke moved his young...

Chris Russell (Russ) Christensen was born on the homestead his father claimed on the Cheyenne River in Niobrara County. Russ rode his horse to a country school until he attended Newcastle High School. After graduation, he served in the Army as a medic during the Korean...

Albert Pomeroy “Bud” Sommers was the third of four children born to Albert Pomeroy (Prof) Sommers and May McAlister Sommers. Bud’s true interest in life was ranching. At the age of eight, he was driving four head of horses abreast in front of a fresno, building ditches. At...

William Henry Budd was born in Salt Lake City on May 27, 1908, to Henry and Leata Budd who were both from early Big Piney pioneer families. Bill rode as a child for the Big Piney Roundup Association when it was under the direction of George Hereford. He was so little they...

Bailey Day Atkinson was born on September 5, 1900, in the log house on the Sheep Creek Ranch to Felix and Lizzie Atkinson. He was the middle of five boys. Felix built an empire in the sheep business and all the boys grew up tending sheep camps and working with the herds....

Andrew William Gifford, known to everyone as “Andy,” was born into the lifestyle of being a cowboy. When he was four, his parents bought their ranch on Crystal Creek, southeast of Lovell. Andy attended country school until the 8th grade, at which time he left home to work...

Zane Hilman lived on the family homestead up Little Goose Canyon in Big Horn and enjoyed sharing it with his family. He was often known to ride to school. On one occasion Zane endured the subzero weather to ride five miles only to hear that school was canceled due to the...

Wayne Hunter was born and raised on Cherry Creek in Goshen County where his family raised cattle, horses, and draft horses. Wayne attended country school in the Cherry Creek Community and later he graduated from Torrington High School. The family had a ranch southwest of...

Wayne and Biddy Bonham of Federal are the epidemy of a truly devoted Wyoming ranch couple. Their bond was inseparable and their work ethic unmatched. Wayne was born in Sterling, Colorado on the family ranch. Always a cowboy, he worked with his family until he went to work...

Tom started his cowboy life at an early age on the banks of the Powder River some 20 miles south of Arvada. He learned his craft from his dad, Bill Wagoner, and went on his own in his early teens. He broke horses for others and his reputation to make good horses grew. He...

Thomas Daniel (T.D.) O’Neil, Sr., was born July 5, 1867, in Pomeroy, Ohio. T.D. was widely known for wearing a suit and tie during all his ranch operations whether he was moving cattle, branding, haying, or attending cattle auctions. T.D. married Mary Ellen Searcy, a...

Rod grew up and has spent most of his life on the Little Powder River north of Gillette. He was raised as a fourth-generation rancher and started riding horses at a young age. Rod’s love of horses has involved him in nearly every part of the industry from training horses,...

Bill Hamilton grew up on a ranch on the Wind River near Fort Washakie. He was a fourth generation Wyoming rancher, who knew he wanted to be a rancher from the time he was a toddler. His dad gave him his first heifer and from that first heifer, he continued to keep his...

Robert H. (Bob) Borgialli was born January 29, 1933, to Charlie and Ruth Borgialli (the second of six children) at the Marshall and Hazel Cullum home in Newcastle. He grew up on the family ranch and attended grade school at the Borgialli Country School. He then attended...

Richard H. Hamilton was born August 28, 1944, to John H. and Lola Landers Hamilton. He is a fourth-generation cattle rancher, descending from a long line of cowmen dating back to the 17th century in Virginia. Richard learned ranching skills working alongside his...

Ramul Dvarishkis was born February 7, 1910, in Scranton, North Dakota. At age seven he and his family moved to Wyoming to start sheep ranching with his uncle Nick Wishwell. In his early teens and into his 20s Ramul supplied the sheep camps with whatever they required. In...

Philetus Rathburn was born in New York in 1882. He never knew his parents. His first home was an orphanage near the Brooklyn Bridge that was operated by the Children’s Aid Society. In 1889, Phil was placed on an orphan train and sent west. The following year, he was...

Ivan Samuel “Pete” Hoagland was born March 3, 1910, in Benkelman, Nebraska, on the family farm. He met an old fellow who worked as a carpenter and they decided to go to Wyoming and wound up in Pinedale. Pete stayed in Sublette County and cowboyed. Pete wound up in the Big...

Neal Schuman was born on March 16, 1938, to Philip and Pauline Schuman who had moved to the United States from Russia to start a better life for them and their family. Neal grew up in Clearmont, where he and his sisters helped their parents’ farm and ranch on leased...

Milford Byron “Mike” Steele was born on April 17, 1902, at the Ed P. Steele Ranch in Boulder. Mike married Hannah Ellen Allen. Three children were born to their union. The family’s first recorded beef drive took place in November 1922. The cattle were driven by Mike...

Maurice Williams was born on April 24, 1908, on Raven Creek south of Moorcroft and attended school there. He spent most of his 85 years working on ranches. In his youth and later he worked on the family ranch on Raven Creek and on other ranches during spring roundup...

Lua Kelly was born in Riverton on June 23, 1942, to Earl and Louise Kelly. In 1953 his family moved to Lander where Earl was employed by Grieve Land and Cattle Co. Lua rode the Spring roundups until he graduated high school, then got in on the Fall and Winter roundups....

Charles Leonard Priebe was born February 5, 1906, in Wichita, Texas and died July 8, 1984, at their ranch in Boulder, Wyoming. In 1936, he met Verna Belle Steele from Boulder at a dance held at the Bronx School. When Cye Kelley purchased a herd of cattle in Denver and...

Larry was born and raised in South Texas where he lived on his family’s small cattle outfit. He served in the US Army after graduating from high school. Larry covered a lot of the West, working on numerous ranches in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming...

Kent Snidecor was born June 30, 1943, outside of San Bernardino, California. Kent left California when he was 17, the day he graduated from high school. He stayed in New Mexico with the Mescalero Cattle Association until November 1963 at age 20 and wound up in Sublette...

Joseph Stewart Bassett was the youngest of six children born to George Russell Bassett and Lauretta Stewart Bassett in Kane, on May 24, 1927. Joe’s dad died in 1937 of pneumonia. From 11 years old on, Joe was raised with his other five siblings by his widowed mother. Joe...

John H. Hamilton was born June 9, 1910, to Charles B. Hamilton and Roda M. Johnson. He was a third generation Bridger Valley cattleman. His grandfather came to the area with Albert Sidney Johnston’s army in 1857 (as part of the Utah or Mormon War) and then became cattle...

Jim Maher has been a Wyoming cowboy for 49 years. His life in the saddle began at the age of eight in Arizona. He rode with his uncle on his boy’s ranch and worked for Scottsdale Feedlot as a pen rider detecting sick cattle and doctoring them. He also worked for the V Bar...

Frank E. Miller was a third-generation cowboy, having worked and managed his grandfather’s outfit in Carbon County from the early 1920s until his retirement in 1984 when the family left the place for good. Throughout this time, he developed a keen ability to manage sheep,...

Charles Alfred Stillman-Philbrick was born with a twin, James W. Stillman-Philbrick, July 26, 1869, to Emma Wilson Stillman Philbrick and James W. Stillman at South Pass City. Charles was associated with the Taliaferro Livestock Company for years, later going in ranching...

Col. Jesse Lincoln Driskill - 1820-1894 Jesse Lincoln “Link” Driskill II - 1858-1946 John Wylie “Bud” Driskill - 1851-1906 William Walter “Tobe” Driskill - 1852-1922 Jesse Loring “Diddy” Driskill - 1882-1973 Jesse Belvin “Buz” Driskill - 1907-1987 Malcolm Franklin Driskill...

Dennis Robert Daly was born February 27, 1938, in Minneapolis to Robert and Leona Daly. In 1941, the family, which included older sister Patricia, moved to Laramie and later to their newly acquired ranch in Glendo. Dennis started his cattle entrepreneurship early with a...

Dee Burtch was born in a sheep wagon, on September 22, 1895, in Alcova, in a draw north of the North Platte River. He attended the ranch school for two years then went to the Alcova School for six years. Some sessions of school were only three months long. During WWI Dee...

Clyde Woolery was born in December 1947 to ranchers Harvey and Violette Woolery. As a child, he, his two brothers, and sister worked alongside their parents in daily running of the ranch operation. The family split their time between the “home place” in Kinnear Valley and...

Clyde came to Wyoming with a family friend after his parents both died in 1904 from a flu epidemic. After arriving in Wyoming, Clyde helped the Davis family establish their homestead and day worked for neighboring ranches until he landed a job with the Bill Yates family on...

The Renner family came to Wyoming in 1897 and settled on Gooseberry Creek, south of Meeteetse. Chris was born on October 15, 1944, the youngest child of Clifton Adison (C.A.) Renner and Grayce (Fehyl) Renner. Chris has ranched his entire life, first on his father’s ranch –...

Charles L. “Chuck” Reynolds was born in Gillette and began his cowboy career on the Old Reynolds Ranch at Rocky Point. He left the ranch in 1957 and moved to the Parks Land and Livestock where he broke horses and did other cowboy work. He moved from ranch to ranch...

Carl Philip Mathisen, who was born September 1, 1912, was known to everyone in Sublette and Fremont Counties as “Red” because of his hair. He was truly a cowboy in the basic sense of the word. For 63 years he was paid to care for other ranchers’ herds from the back of a...

Bob Lucas was born into a ranching family in Jackson in 1952. Both sets of grandparents (the Lucases and the Imesons) were among the early settlers into Jackson Hole, one family arriving in the valley in 1889 and the other in 1896. These early settlers were the generation...

Bob Bessey was born June 27, 1940, in Riverton. His dad, Lyle Bessey, was a livestock trucker who brought mustangs home for Bob to break and train. This was the beginning of Bob’s true passion, riding and training horses. At 13-14 years old, he shod his first horse in...

Bert Lamb was born March 16, 1927, to George Dewey Lamb and Josephine Isabelle Meyer Lamb in Rock Springs. His parents owned a small ranch on Henrys Fork in Washam, but his dad was away from home a lot working to support the family. Bert and his brother Keith would go out...

Artie is a descendant of pioneering Wyoming families. The family of Artie’s paternal grandmother, Clara Hitshew Joss, came to Wyoming in 1876. The Hitshews built a house at the head of Lance Creek about seven miles north of Keeline, in 1888. Art Joss Sr. bought this land...

Woodrow Wilson Moreland AKA “Hard Rock Willie” quit school just shy of 16 years of age to pursue his life of a working cowboy. Already an accomplished horseman and ranch hand since the age of 12 he had often missed school because he was “too busy.” Moving from one job to...

William Patrick “Pat” Dew was born on March 6, 1892, in Wood Lake, Nebraska. As a small boy, he helped his father feed cattle on their farm in Nebraska with a team. Pat Dew came to Wyoming in 1908 and worked for different ranches along the Nebraska border. In 1913 when Pat...

Bill was born May 24, 1921, in Kemmerer to William and Emma Angeli Thoman. He graduated from Kemmerer High School in 1941, and married Mary “Mickey” Ferentchak (2018 WCHF Inductee) on April 3, 1948. They raised seven children. In 1957, they established the Thoman Ranch...

Wallace and his twin sister Wanda (Materi) were born on May 1, 1929, on the family ranch. Wallace and Wanda were the youngest children of Willard and Ada Canfield. He had two older sisters Leona and Rachel and a brother Kenneth. Wallace only went to the 8th grade. After...

Tom Breen grew up on the Triangle X Ranch and lived there until he graduated from Jackson Hole High School. At that time, Triangle X was primarily a dude ranch having about 150 horses and mules as well as a herd of cattle until around 1970. Tom went to work, mounted on a...

Stan and Mary Flitner were born to Wyoming pioneer ranching families. Mary’s family came to Wyoming in 1878 and established the Budd Ranch, now the site of Big Piney. In 1906, Stan’s family moved from Iowa and bought a ranch in the Shell Valley. Stan was the youngest of...

Simeon “Sim” Leon Thayer was born April 10, 1889, in Indian Territory Oklahoma to Aurilla Soper Thayer and Richard Leon Thayer. In 1890 the Thayer family moved by covered wagon from Oklahoma Territory to Wyoming. From 1890 to 1903, Richard moved his family around Wyoming...

Shirley Dawn Wright Lilley was born August 29, 1932, in Cheyenne, to Alan and Nina Wright. Her father was a bricklayer by trade, but also a very skilled horseman who trained horses for his family and others. In high school, Shirley helped with the training. She said, “He...

Ross Russell Rhodes was born March 3, 1945, on the rim between Meeteetse and Cody. He was so anxious to get his life started, his mother didn’t make it to the hospital in Cody. He was delivered by his father alongside the road. The family lived on Wood River until 1949...

Richard Henry Hamilton (RHH) (1828-1888) came west from Missouri to settle at Fort Bridger in 1857-58. He and his brother-in-law and 1st cousin William A. Carter, became partners in a cattle operation to provide beef for the military troops that then served at the fort. In...

Ray C. Fritz, born June 7, 1948, was raised by his grandparents on the Highlands Ranch in Colorado, where his grandpa was foreman. In 1966 he graduated from Bear Creek High School and that fall he joined the national intercollegiate rodeo association. He served in the US...

Marion Harold Scott was born on November 27, 1932, to Harold and Bertha Jane Scott. Marion was the oldest of five children and was raised on the family ranch in northern Campbell County homesteaded by his grandparents in 1917. He spent most of his life horseback working...

Lewis Clifton “Sonny” Bennion was born at Sunshine, Park County Wyoming. At the age of four he began riding horses and herding cattle. In his teens, Sonny continued to work on his father’s and other ranches, trailing cattle to stockyards and railheads. Sonny established a...

Larry Cundall, born in Platte County July 31, 1949, was the fourth-generation manager of the Cundall ranch east of Glendo. Larry grew up on horseback, helping his grandfather, Don Sommers, trail cattle from his ranch south of Glendo to cow camp on the Laramie Plains, a...

Julius Frederick “Jule” Bock was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on June 5, 1867. In 1872, at the age of 5, he came to America and settled in Nebraska with his parents, two brothers and seven sisters. Julius attended country schools until he was 13, and then worked on...

James Michael Taylor, better known as “Mike,” was born August 2, 1939, in Driggs, Idaho to Ernest Glen and Mary Isabel Taylor. He went to school in Teton Valley Idaho and graduated from Teton Valley High in 1957. Mike left his parents’ ranch in Driggs, Idaho and came to...

George K. Fraker, GK, was born in Buffalo, but moved to northern Idaho with his parents when he was young. As a kid, GK worked on his parent’s place as well as neighboring ranches learning how to work with and care for horses and cattle. After GK and Kate married in 1972,...

Gary Zakotnik was born in Kemmerer in 1945. He liked to tell people that he was born with coal dust in his veins and slack in his pants. From the summer of 1957 when as a 6th grader he lived in a sheep camp herding sheep for his uncle until the present, he has been...

Gary was born to Vernon and Doris Rice on December 3, 1939, the second of three children. He was reared on the family ranch just east of Ten Sleep. Gary spent his days involved in the day-to-day operations of the ranch since he could walk and continued with his involvement...

Dru Myron Roberts was born in Jackson Hole, on June 15, 1949, to Dick and Leona Roberts. He was the oldest of six children. Tawny Jo was born on November 5, 1951, in Shelley, ID to Merlin Fransden and Mary Jean Issacs. She was the youngest of three children. She was raised...

Donald Gene Scheer was born February 8, 1936 on a farm near Center, Nebraska the oldest of six children. His parents moved to a ranch in Lingle when Don was just a toddler. He learned to sit a horse before he could walk, rode a horse several miles to and from school at the...

Charles L. Vyvey worked on his family’s farm near Eernegem, Belgium, from the time he was a boy until he was 24 years old. This work involved raising and training horses. He left Belgium in 1907 at age 24 to immigrate to the United. To help pay for his fare, he cared for...

Carl Knudson was born in 1904 in Portland, North Dakota. The oldest of four siblings, he quit school in 8th grade. His widowed mom struggled to make ends meet so he hopped on a horse and rode to Broadus, Montana. He went to work for his Uncle Bert as a ranch hand for $5 a...

Carl T. L. Jorgensen was born in Pinedale at the Jorgensen home place on October 12, 1902. He was the third son of Nels Jorgensen and Karen Lauritsen Jorgensen. The Upper Green River Cattle Association was formed in 1916 and his dad was one of the charter members and...

Tim Barkhurst learned much about cowboy ways from his uncle Jess Barkhurst, who rode with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. While growing up on the family ranch on Brush Creek, south of Saratoga, Tim built his first bucking chutes at the age of 4 or 5. Tim attended the Bennett...