Let's Talk Wyoming
A podcast about Wyoming and everything we talk about including the weather, politics, energy & agriculture, sports & everything else effecting our state.
Let's Talk Wyoming
Spring Rain, Ranch Tales, and Wyoming's Rich History
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming. I'm Mark Hamilton, your host. Today. We'll be taking a look at our spring wet weather. We'll be talking about lawnmowers. We'll also be looking at other things happening in our state. We'll have an encore presentation of our May mental health moment from last year and we'll also have a story today on the Pitchfork Ranch here in Park County, wyoming. Thanks for joining us and we hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 1:Taking a look at the weather here on the 28th day of April April is just about behind us here. On a Monday morning, hot Springs County woke up to rain. This morning the rain has slowly but surely turned into some snow A little bit of rain and snow mixed in. It's been going at it for the entire day and I don't know when this is going to let up. It looks like tomorrow could be a little nicer and maybe some more on Wednesday. So we're in our spring weather, but again we're getting some great moisture.
Speaker 1:And I'll tell you what I wish I had finished up on a project where I was going to reseed some grass. I didn't get time on Sunday to finish it up, and this is the way it always works Sure sign that there must be moisture coming. I do have a couple apple trees excuse me, a couple of apple trees coming in that I need to plant. I want to put a couple of trees out in front, get those down and get pick up some plants. I was in Billings last week and picked up some plants at Costco. They need to get planted. But it's getting to that time of the year Even starting to look at a new push mower. My two mowers I've had for quite a while and it seems like every year it's rebuilding and getting them to run. So I've been eyeing different options. All you see now is there's so many electric mowers. I just don't really want the electric mower. Battery degradation is a big one, especially if you have a small piece of grass to mow. It's not too bad. But we have quite a bit of grass to mow and even in our pasture area and such around here, with all this moisture, boy, the grass and weeds are going to start growing at an unbelievable rate coming up. So going to have to get in front of all that stuff. But mowers are probably one of those things I'd be looking at, trying to get trees and trying to get irrigation set back up.
Speaker 1:Got the pump going again Again. I live outside of Thermopolis and we do have city water or rural water that is fed here, and then we do have a well and we use the well. Previously that was our water source for the home. With the water line coming in, we were able to use that water just for irrigation purposes. So I fired up the pump on Saturday to make sure everything was still functional. That pump's been in that well at 153 feet for 22 years now and it continues on.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to decide whether I want to do some preventive maintenance and need to pull that and run it in on poly. So just debating on what to do on that side of stuff, but that time of year everything's starting to get rather busy. Also, we've got Mother's Day coming up here in the month of May that's not too far off. So that's an important date that we all need to take and make sure that we remember our mothers Now. Unfortunately, my mother passed away a few years ago, but my mother-in-law is still alive. She's at 93 and going strong, so we'll have to celebrate her on Mother's Day.
Speaker 1:And I did see a news of the area that they are looking at opening Beartooth Pass by the end of May. I don't know how these storms and some of that high elevation has been getting more snow, whether that'll be delayed. Of course, with this rain it's going to cause some flooding around the area. I think they had some warnings for over in the Dayton Ranchester Sheridan area If you remember last summer that they were on fire up in the Bighorns and a little bit lower for quite some time lost a lot of vegetation. So when you get this type of moisture and a lot of rain and such starting to melt, snow melting and stuff, with all that vegetation gone, it could cause some problems. So we'll keep an eye on that. I did see in the news for people in Oklahoma. A lot in Oklahoma got flooded with some storms. It seems like parts of the country have just been getting some severe weather. I know, having lived in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has seemed to have had a lot of weather hitting them.
Speaker 1:But it's that time. We're almost at the end of April. May day is right around the corner. One of these days we'll be complaining there's no rain coming. When's the rain going to come? It always works that way. Coming When's the rain going to come? It always works that way.
Speaker 1:I was making a trip, I said, to up in the Bighorn Basin and all the barley is up and green and looking great from here up into Montana. Good timing on those farmers. They love this type of moisture. They've got the water back in the canal so they'll be irrigating those crops. I've been trying to plan some trips for the summer, visit Wyoming and parts of Montana.
Speaker 1:Spent a lot of time and lived in Montana for 18 years, my second home and I was watching on YouTube a show about Glasgow, montana, fort Peck and all that area and I was thinking about maybe making a trip up that way. I haven't been through Glasgow but lived over in Cutbank and in Billings but just never made it to that part along Highway 2, along the High Line. So I'm thinking I might make a trip up to Glasgow, montana. Also. I want to make a trip down into southwestern Wyoming this year, have some spots there, some historical sites I'd like to take in, and the other one that I want to take in is Chugwater, the Chugwater soda fountain. Years ago some people came in and bought that and put it back in service and they served meals and such.
Speaker 1:I was in Cheyenne a few weeks ago and planned to go back and stop at Chugwater and go to the Soda Fountain for breakfast. I've heard they have good meals and they were showing on their website that they were open on Saturdays. So I made the trip there on the way home and, you know, really looking forward to some breakfast. Got there and they had a sign on the door that said they would be closed that day One of those. Something came up and they had to close. So the luck. So I'm going to have to stop back at Chugwater and go to the soda fountain. So a lot of things coming up in the summer. I hope it's the same for you Today. I'd like to welcome back to the podcast for our May mental health moment, marci. What are we going to talk about today, marci?
Speaker 2:Hey, mark, today I wanted to touch on improving relationships with parents as an adult. So this would be you know, when we grow older, our parents have also grown older. You know, when we grow older, our parents have also grown older. But maybe we've moved on and have our own families wanting to improve that relationship or communication for that stage of life.
Speaker 1:Oh, that sounds good, Marcy. So what are some of the things that we need to do?
Speaker 2:So everyone you know we all grew up in different households, have different relationships with our parents, maybe have different caregivers growing up. So I think it's good to also realize that once we're both adults, it's good to communicate with your parents as an adult. So that means being honest in your communication, maybe being more direct, being more forthright with the message you're trying to give to your parent.
Speaker 1:That's a good idea, Marcy.
Speaker 2:What else do you have? Well, often there can be. You know, parents often want to give advice or feedback to the adult child, let's say about child rearing or different life steps. Let's say about child rearing or different life steps. And I think it's good to realize this isn't coming from a place of criticism, but more help. So being open with feedback, not shutting down, not taking it personally, but realizing that perhaps your parents have went through that season of life and so this is coming from a place of experience, and to listen freely and allow that back and forth conversation to take place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is a good point. What else do you think, Marcy, would help improve that communication?
Speaker 2:Well, you know I think we saw this through lockdowns and different things that children and adults need to take more initiative to communicate, to plan visits, to check in or share those small details about your day-to-day life. We often get so involved in our day-to-day activities that we kind of forget to clue in people that you know. Just letting your parents know about that new job or that new relationship can really give them a peek into your current life and make them feel more connected.
Speaker 1:Do you think that a lot of times maybe parents don't want to be too nosy or too involved or bother?
Speaker 2:You know, I think most people I talk to they feel most people are, when they're communicating with parents, that it's often the parents going on about their life and there's no questions or inquiry into their life. So I think most people we all like to talk about ourselves. So showing a curiosity maybe you both love to work out or travel and so inquiring about that next trip or that gym that you just signed up for so showing curiosity on both ends is a really great way to bridge that gap.
Speaker 1:You know that is a good point I guess we talked about it earlier during the week as I related a story that I heard but I think making ourselves available for each other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, Mark. I think often we're the most interconnected society with all our modern technology, but yet we're the loneliest because people often, you know, we get our little bubbles and we kind of just hibernate into our routines and so that one call or that one message can really open the door for more communication.
Speaker 1:That's really good stuff today, Marcy. Anything else you'd like to share before we close?
Speaker 2:You know, I think also, like I always add in, is boundaries. Let's say, maybe there's a topic that you know it's often a point of contention, so maybe avoiding topics that are going to cause stress or anger and including more upbeat, positive topics. But again, it's showing an interest, it's talking to each other with respect and showing care. I know it's Mother's Day here soon, so maybe this Mother's Day, you know, calling mom early, asking about her bridge club, just showing a genuine interest and realizing that we have limited time with our parents and children as well, so making the most of it.
Speaker 1:Very good, marcy. Again, thanks for coming on board and we look forward to the month of June to hearing what you have for us then, what you have for us then. Today in our history section we've got an interesting story from wildhistoryorg Otto Frank and the Pitchfork Ranch by Brian Bevasis. On July 24th 1878, a weary group of Easterners exited their passenger train in dusty Rawlins, wyoming territory. They were from the east, intent on hunting the west's vast spaces for their health and recreation. Among them was a 32-year-old German immigrant known as Otto Frank. In New York City, where Frank was a banana importing business with his two brothers, his doctor had advised him to seek drier climates for his health. He had not thrived in New York. In Wyoming, in the finest and wildest country I had ever seen, abounding with fish and game, as he wrote in his journal, frank would lay his first eyes on the Seusser site and here in the Bighorn Basin, home of the Pitchfork Ranch In New York, where Frank was in the banana importing business with his two brothers, his doctor advised him to seek drier climates for his health. He had not thrived in New York, in Wyoming, in the finest and wildest country I have ever seen, abounding with fish and game. As he wrote in his journal, frank would lay eyes on the site of the future Bighorn Basin home, the Pitchfork Ranch. Frank located his headquarters on the upper reaches of the Gravel River in a wide valley just upstream from an outcropping known to the local tribes as Papua Butte and began building a cattle herd. He trailed in 1,200 Hereford Shorthorns in from Oregon and adopted a Pitchfork brand to mark them. He trailed in 1,200 Hereford shorthorns in Oregon and adopted a pitchfork brand to mark them. He bought Herefords in the Gallatin Valley of western Montana and trailed them south into the Big Horn Basin, letting them forage on the open range. There is no clear census of Frank's early herds, but 1880 Fremont County tax rolls assessed the pitchfork herd at 6,000 to 7,000.
Speaker 1:Though a pioneer, frank was not the first cattleman to locate in the Bighorn Basin. While Frank was scouting the upper gravel in 1879, judge Charles Carter of Fort Bridger in southwest Wyoming had sent his foreman Pete McCullough into the Bighorn Basin with a cattle herd and a directive to locate on the ranges of the Stinking Water, later renamed the Shoshone River. Henry Lovell came into the basin that same year and founded a ranch along the Bighorn River. As the 1870s turned into the 1880s, other cattlemen located along the mountain streams and wide river valleys of the Bighorn Basin. In the summer of 1880, frank started building permanent structures at his headquarters. He first built a small cabin of cottonwood logs. A few years later he built a larger main house with adobe walls 18 inches thick, allegedly to protect against Indian attacks. The original cabin became a blacksmith's shop and he added a detached cookhouse and bunkhouse for his hands.
Speaker 1:Initiated as a business venture with his brother, it soon became clear that the ranch was best suited for the younger Frank. In the fall of 1884, otto's brother, carl, visited to get a look, but he quickly returned to the banana business. Otto eventually bought out his brother's shares in 1896 and became the sole owner. As there was little in the way of community government, frank took the initiative to form his own institutions. In 1882, the US Postal Service created the first post office in the basin. It was located at the Pitchfork and named Frank. Otto Frank was named postmaster. A few years later it was moved downriver to the site of the growing town of Matizzi. By the end of 1883, there were numerous other ranches in the basin. Otto Frank was no longer in such an isolated country. Other operations now included George Baxter's LU Ranch on Grass Creek, harry Cheeseman's operation on Wood River, joseph Carey's YU Ranch on the Lower Gravel and Andrew Wilson on Matitsi Creek. Just above the Pitchfork was the ZT owned by the eccentric English remittance man Richard Ashworth and the four-bear ranch of the famous grizzly hunter, colonel William D Pickett.
Speaker 1:In the early days Frank had to hunt frequently. He often mentioned riding out into the hills to look for bands of elk. He also shot small game around his ranch. In those days there were still a few buffalo along the foothill of the Exarchies. They often gave Otto Frank trouble as he was erecting sawbuck fences around his homestead. Old bulls would routinely destroy the new fences, much to Frank's frustration. Later he told of shooting at several of the hard-headed animals from his porch. But the few remaining buffalo in the Bighorn Basin were soon killed out by hide hunters, visiting sportsmen and local cowboys. A lover of fresh eggs and vegetables, frank also raised chickens and tended a large garden at his ranch. He regularly harvested abundant amounts of cabbage, perhaps to remind himself of Germany.
Speaker 1:Any provisions and ranch equipment Frank and his neighbors could not acquire locally had to come by freight wagons over miles of often impassable wagon roads. This was extremely expensive and only arranged at a last resort. On April 9, 1883, frank penned a letter to the Board of Trade in Billings, montana Territory, asking them to help finance a bridge across the Stinking Water, now the Shoshone River, to improve the primitive road running the length of the Bighorn Basin towards Billings. Heretofore we have been getting our supplies from Fort Wash Gee and Lander. Frank explained the road to those places is rich and the extreme almost impassable. The road from the Stinking River to Billings is very good. South of the Stinking River is not so good and requires some work. Our principal bugbear, however, is Stinking River. The only remedy would be to build a bridge across it, making the case that a sturdy bridge and a good road would bring the trade north. Frank helped convince the leaders of Billings to improve the transportation infrastructure in still largely undeveloped northwest Wyoming.
Speaker 1:Open-range cattle ranchers in the Bighorn Basin and throughout most of Wyoming depended at the time on the public domain, that is, the ranchers rarely homesteaded or accumulated large tracts of land for their stock. Instead they headquartered on a small piece of homestead land with easy access to water and grazed their herds on the open range for free. This arrangement was profitable as times and money expended on an actual animal husbandry was limited. They rarely concerned themselves with thoroughbred animals or expensive breeding stock. Instead they preferred hardy, rangy animals that could fend for themselves through winter. Throughout most of the year the cows were in a semi-wild state. Open-rain ranchers rounded up their stock twice a year, once in the spring to brand and castrate the new calves, and again in the early fall to gather healthy fat animals to be sold. The system was cheap compared to the more labor-intensive livestock operations elsewhere in the country. There was little incentive to conserve the quality of the range and there were few barriers to running as many cattle as possible. Eventually, the overgrazing of the open range and increased competition for land with new homesteaders would bring violence to the open range.
Speaker 1:In the late 1880s and early 1890s the roundups were communal. Each ranch had its representatives participating to separate their employers' cattle and ensure the best interest of their outfit. Tom Osborne, an early cowboy at the Pitchfork, recalled the roundup. Frank had on average eight cowboys, a horse wrangler and a roundup cook. They would start in April or May and be on the range most of the summer. His range extended from the Clark's Fork to the Owl Creek, the south side of the Big Horn Basin. All along the Rocky Mountains there is a huge stretch of country running along the mountain front from north of what is now Cody Wyoming to west of Thermopolis, wyoming. As the Wyoming range became crowded, cattlemen found themselves cut off from more and more of free grazing land to which they had enjoyed access only a short time before they had to file claims to secure more land and build fences to contain their once free-ranging herds.
Speaker 1:Unlike most cattlemen, frank realized that changing circumstances required changing operation. The Pitchfork was one of the first ranches in the area to cultivate an annual hay supply. Ranch hands slowly turned the wide sagebrush flats between Papapo Butte and Timber Creek. Ranch hands slowly turned the sagebrush flats on the ranch. They removed countless river stones and leveled bumps and draws. In 1897, frank's men turned the wide natural pasture at the north end of the Papapo Creek into a field where he reportedly was growing 12,000 tons of hay. Many of the men he had hired for this work were Mormon settlers who had recently formed a small community 50 miles down river With their own farm still struggling. The men appreciated the jobs Frank offered and named their community Otto in honor of the ranch upriver. Frank also hired men to build irrigation ditches and undergo drainage systems to make hay crops more reliable.
Speaker 1:Frank's herds usually emerged from the harsh winters in much better shape than his neighbor's herd did. When Frank first established his ranch, the nearest rail line was more than 150 miles north at Huntley Montana Territory, east of Billings. He recognized it made no sense to trail cattle all that way only to sell them at the shipping point lean and hungry East of Billings. From his range in the basin, the cattle he wished to sell and slowly moved them north to the reservation during the summer. They arrived at the railhead fat and primed for sale on the Chicago market later that fall.
Speaker 1:While many of his neighbors struggled from the harsh winters, rain, drought and low beef prices, frank made preparations to avoid disasters. He was shrewd, but it also appeared that he was genuinely curious. He was shrewd, but it also appeared that he was genuinely curious. In his journals he recorded the return of the bird species in the spring and the habitat of animals near his home. He bought a bicycle and rode on the roads and over the range, undoubtedly the first cowboy in the area to abandon a horse for a pair of wheels.
Speaker 1:Like many of his neighbors, frank did not always spend the winters on the ranch. Instead, he chose warmer climates or family back east where he could conduct business in more civilized settings. He passed the winter of 1883 with his family in New York but later came to prefer temperate Southern California as his winter home. In 1898, he spent two months off the coast of Catalina Island fishing and sailing. He spent two months off the coast of Catalina Island fishing and sailing. Frank employed many local men as cowboys, ranch hands and irrigators, but often had to travel to buildings to find workers. While many in the area appreciated the work, frank also had a reputation for being strict, firing cowboys for laziness or drunkenness.
Speaker 1:The Bighorn Basin was still largely lawless in the 1880s and 1890s and a place of refuge for many who wished to lose themselves or disappear. And Frank had his own bad habits. As a lifelong bachelor, he was used to living on his own terms and never having to reconcile himself with the needs of others. He became extreme in his demands for personal neatness. Frank was the clean type, one of the longtime cowboys observed fussing as an old maid, always getting after the men for not keeping their clothes clean. However busy, frank kept himself and his cowboys. He also approved time for solace. The Reverend Louis Thompson traveled the basin from end to end, holding services in tents, cabins, private homes, wherever he could assemble a group. The pitchfork was one of the largest operations and Reverend Thompson was pleased to provide services to the cowboys, though the services of the pitchfork seemed to have been the most popular among residents of the upper tribal country. Reverend Thompson later built his first church in the Bighorn Basin at the town of Ottawa, in a region where the population was small and competent leaders.
Speaker 1:For you, frank cannot help being drawn into politics. He served as a justice of the peace with a jurisdiction covering a large part of the Bighorn Basin. In this capacity, frank oversaw the trials of cowboys, the surge of wrestling activities in northwest Wyoming and slow implementation of wildlife protection in the Bighorn Basin. Although Frank was known among locals as the Little man, a passport application listed him at 5'2". He cast a big shadow over the dwindling lawlessness in Wyoming.
Speaker 1:On the evening of November 30, 1903, frank went for a walk along the north side of the Grable River just east of his ranch house. Frank went for a walk along the north side of the Grable River just east of his ranch house. He carried an exposed hammer, double-barrel shotgun in case he happened upon any rabbits or ducks. A short while later, a single shot was heard by the cowboys back at the ranch, figuring their boss had found his quarry. They thought nothing of it until after dark Frank had failed to arrive home. Until after dark, frank had failed to arrive home.
Speaker 1:A small party found Frank's body laying face up about three feet from the barbed wire fence with his 10-gauge shotgun still propped up nearby. The right barrel was empty as the shell had been fired, and the left was loaded with the hammer still at full cock. Frank's death shocked his neighbors but also reported in local newspapers as a tragic accident. Investigators theorized that after crossing the fence himself, frank had begun pulling the gun towards him through the wire when it discharged a blast into his chest just above the heart. He died instantly. There was no sign of struggle. So it was, as one newspaper reported, that the man who faced a thousand dangers of frontier life without harm met death in this unfortunate manner.
Speaker 1:Other speculation questioned the conclusion. It was an accident. Some doubted that Frank would have been so foolish as to carry around a loaded shotgun with the exposed hammers primed, much less pull that same loaded and cocked gun through a barbed wire fence. Others immediately pointed to the enemies Frank had made in his dealings with wrestlers and encroaching sheepmen suspecting foul play. Regardless, it was clear to everyone that a figure of long-standing importance was no longer part of the community.
Speaker 1:Dead at the age of 55, otto Frank was buried in the Matizzi Cemetery. The funeral was attended by hundreds. The largest Bighorn County had seen to this point. Beyond Wyoming too, frank was well known in the stock raising community. Mr Frank was widely known and recognized as a prince among men. The Chicago Livestock World reported Frank's death marked the end of an era. Having started his operation when Crow, arapaho and Shoshone people were still hunting buffalo on the flanks of the Azorca Mountains, and having seen the country filled with cattle, frank lived to witness the open range transformed into a landscape controlled by irrigation and barbed wire fencing.
Speaker 1:Five miles upriver from the Pistfork Ranch, a large tributary enters the Grable from the south. It initially appears on the maps as Wolf Creek, but since the 1890s has been called Frank's Fork. This stream runs from the mountains where it begins on the eastern flanks of Frank's Peak at 13,158 feet, the highest peak in the Absarokas. In 1884, otto Frank and his friend Thomas Arsborn, climbed the peak as part of their regular effort to better understand the landscape. From the top, frank could see the Tetons and Yellowstone Park to the west and to the east, the Grable River Valley, most of the Bighorn Basin and the Bighorn Mountains and beyond.
Speaker 1:We can hope this restless man stopped long enough to enjoy the view. We can hope this restless man stopped long enough to enjoy the view and just an outstanding story talking about the Pitchfork Ranch, which is still in operation, well-known throughout the cattle industry. Thanks for joining us today and we hope you enjoy our podcast. As per the code of the West, we ride for the brand and we ride for Wyoming. We'll be right back 1-2, 1-2, 1-2. Testing and see if we got any sound right now. Thank you.
