Spring Rain, Ranch Tales, and Wyoming's Rich History

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming.
I'm Mark Hamilton, your host.
Today.
We'll be taking a look at ourspring wet weather.
We'll be talking aboutlawnmowers.
We'll also be looking at otherthings happening in our state.
We'll have an encorepresentation of our May mental
health moment from last year andwe'll also have a story today

(00:44):
on the Pitchfork Ranch here inPark County, wyoming.
Thanks for joining us and wehope you enjoy the show.
Taking a look at the weatherhere on the 28th day of April

(01:04):
April is just about behind ushere.
On a Monday morning, hotSprings County woke up to rain.
This morning the rain hasslowly but surely turned into
some snow A little bit of rainand snow mixed in.
It's been going at it for theentire day and I don't know when
this is going to let up.
It looks like tomorrow could bea little nicer and maybe some

(01:27):
more on Wednesday.
So we're in our spring weather,but again we're getting some
great moisture.
And I'll tell you what I wish Ihad finished up on a project
where I was going to reseed somegrass.
I didn't get time on Sunday tofinish it up, and this is the
way it always works Sure signthat there must be moisture

(01:47):
coming.
I do have a couple apple treesexcuse me, a couple of apple
trees coming in that I need toplant.
I want to put a couple of treesout in front, get those down
and get pick up some plants.
I was in Billings last week andpicked up some plants at Costco
.
They need to get planted.
But it's getting to that timeof the year Even starting to

(02:11):
look at a new push mower.
My two mowers I've had forquite a while and it seems like
every year it's rebuilding andgetting them to run.
So I've been eyeing differentoptions.
All you see now is there's somany electric mowers.
I just don't really want theelectric mower.
Battery degradation is a bigone, especially if you have a

(02:34):
small piece of grass to mow.
It's not too bad.
But we have quite a bit ofgrass to mow and even in our
pasture area and such aroundhere, with all this moisture,
boy, the grass and weeds aregoing to start growing at an
unbelievable rate coming up.
So going to have to get infront of all that stuff.

(02:55):
But mowers are probably one ofthose things I'd be looking at,
trying to get trees and tryingto get irrigation set back up.
Got the pump going again Again.
I live outside of Thermopolisand we do have city water or
rural water that is fed here,and then we do have a well and

(03:19):
we use the well.
Previously that was our watersource 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 onSaturday to make sure everything
was still functional.
That pump's been in that wellat 153 feet for 22 years now and

(03:42):
it continues on.
I'm trying to decide whether Iwant to do some preventive
maintenance and need to pullthat and run it in on poly.
So just debating on what to doon that side of stuff, but that
time of year everything'sstarting to get rather busy.
Also, we've got Mother's Daycoming up here in the month of
May that's not too far off.

(04:03):
So that's an important datethat we all need to take and
make sure that we remember ourmothers Now.
Unfortunately, my mother passedaway 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

(04:24):
on Mother's Day.
And I did see a news of the areathat they are looking at
opening Beartooth Pass by theend of May.
I don't know how these stormsand some of that high elevation
has been getting more snow,whether that'll be delayed.
Of course, with this rain it'sgoing to cause some flooding

(04:45):
around the area.
I think they had some warningsfor over in the Dayton
Ranchester Sheridan area If youremember last summer that they
were on fire up in the Bighornsand a little bit lower for quite
some time lost a lot ofvegetation.
So when you get this type ofmoisture and a lot of rain and

(05:06):
such starting to melt, snowmelting and stuff, with all that
vegetation gone, it could causesome problems.
So we'll keep an eye on that.
I did see in the news forpeople in Oklahoma.
A lot in Oklahoma got floodedwith some storms.
It seems like parts of thecountry have just been getting
some severe weather.
I know, having lived inOklahoma.
Oklahoma has seemed to have hada lot of weather hitting them.

(05:31):
But it's that time.
We're almost at the end ofApril.
May day is right around thecorner.
One of these days we'll becomplaining there's no rain
coming.
When's the rain going to come?
It always works that way.
Coming When's the rain going tocome?
It always works that way.
I was making a trip, I said, toup in the Bighorn Basin and all
the barley is up and green andlooking great from here up into

(05:53):
Montana.
Good timing on those farmers.
They love this type of moisture.
They've got the water back inthe canal so they'll be
irrigating those crops.
I've been trying to plan sometrips for the summer, visit
Wyoming and parts of Montana.
Spent a lot of time and lived inMontana for 18 years, my second
home and I was watching onYouTube a show about Glasgow,

(06:17):
montana, fort Peck and all thatarea and I was thinking about
maybe making a trip up that way.
I haven't been through Glasgowbut lived over in Cutbank and in
Billings but just never made itto that part along Highway 2,
along the High Line.
So I'm thinking I might make atrip up to Glasgow, montana.
Also.
I want to make a trip down intosouthwestern Wyoming this year,

(06:41):
have some spots there, somehistorical sites I'd like to
take in, and the other one thatI want to take in is Chugwater,
the Chugwater soda fountain.
Years ago some people came inand bought that and put it back
in service and they served mealsand such.
I was in Cheyenne a few weeksago and planned to go back and

(07:07):
stop at Chugwater and go to theSoda Fountain for breakfast.
I've heard they have good mealsand they were showing on their
website that they were open onSaturdays.
So I made the trip there on theway home and, you know, really
looking forward to somebreakfast.
Got there and they had a signon the door that said they would

(07:29):
be closed that day One of those.
Something came up and they hadto close.
So the luck.
So I'm going to have to stopback at Chugwater and go to the
soda fountain.
So a lot of things coming up inthe summer.
I hope it's the same for youToday.
I'd like to welcome back to thepodcast for our May mental

(07:52):
health moment, marci.
What are we going to talk abouttoday, marci?

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Hey, mark, today I wanted to touch on improving
relationships with parents as anadult.
So this would be you know, whenwe 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 andhave our own families wanting to
improve that relationship orcommunication for that stage of

(08:17):
life.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Oh, that sounds good, Marcy.
So what are some of the thingsthat we need to do?

Speaker 2 (08:21):
So everyone you know we all grew up in different
households, have differentrelationships with our parents,
maybe have different caregiversgrowing up.
So I think it's good to alsorealize that once we're both
adults, it's good to communicatewith your parents as an adult.
So that means being honest inyour communication, maybe being

(08:44):
more direct, being moreforthright with the message
you're trying to give to yourparent.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
That's a good idea, Marcy.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
What else do you have ?
Well, often there can be.
You know, parents often want togive advice or feedback to the
adult child, let's say aboutchild rearing or different life
steps.
Let's say about child rearingor different life steps.
And I think it's good torealize this isn't coming from a
place of criticism, but morehelp.
So being open with feedback,not shutting down, not taking it

(09:19):
personally, but realizing thatperhaps your parents have went
through that season of life andso this is coming from a place
of experience, and to listenfreely and allow that back and
forth conversation to take place.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, that is a good point.
What else do you think, Marcy,would help improve that
communication?

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well, you know I think we saw this through
lockdowns and different thingsthat children and adults need to
take more initiative tocommunicate, to plan visits, to
check in or share those smalldetails about your day-to-day
life.
We often get so involved in ourday-to-day activities that we

(10:03):
kind of forget to clue in peoplethat you know.
Just letting your parents knowabout that new job or that new
relationship can really givethem a peek into your current
life and make them feel moreconnected.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Do you think that a lot of times maybe parents don't
want to be too nosy or tooinvolved or bother?

Speaker 2 (10:25):
You know, I think most people I talk to they feel
most people are, when they'recommunicating with parents, that
it's often the parents going onabout their life and there's no
questions or inquiry into theirlife.
So I think most people we alllike to talk about ourselves.
So showing a curiosity maybeyou both love to work out or

(10:47):
travel and so inquiring aboutthat next trip or that gym that
you just signed up for soshowing curiosity on both ends
is a really great way to bridgethat gap.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
You know that is a good point I guess we talked
about it earlier during the weekas I related a story that I
heard but I think makingourselves available for each
other.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, I agree, Mark.
I think often we're the mostinterconnected society with all
our modern technology, but yetwe're the loneliest because
people often, you know, we getour little bubbles and we kind
of just hibernate into ourroutines and so that one call or
that one message can reallyopen the door for more

(11:33):
communication.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
That's really good stuff today, Marcy.
Anything else you'd like toshare before we close?

Speaker 2 (11:39):
You know, I think also, like I always add in, is
boundaries.
Let's say, maybe there's atopic that you know it's often a
point of contention, so maybeavoiding topics that are going
to cause stress or anger andincluding more upbeat, positive
topics.
But again, it's showing aninterest, it's talking to each

(12:01):
other with respect and showingcare.
I know it's Mother's Day heresoon, so maybe this Mother's Day
, you know, calling mom early,asking about her bridge club,
just showing a genuine interestand realizing that we have
limited time with our parentsand children as well, so making
the most of it.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Very good, marcy.
Again, thanks for coming onboard and we look forward to the
month of June to hearing whatyou have for us then, what you
have for us then.
Today in our history sectionwe've got an interesting story
from wildhistoryorg Otto Frankand the Pitchfork Ranch by Brian
Bevasis.

(12:38):
On July 24th 1878, a wearygroup of Easterners exited their
passenger train in dustyRawlins, wyoming territory.
They were from the east, intenton hunting the west's vast
spaces for their health andrecreation.
Among them was a 32-year-oldGerman immigrant known as Otto
Frank.
In New York City, where Frankwas a banana importing business

(13:00):
with his two brothers, hisdoctor had advised him to seek
drier climates for his health.
He had not thrived in New York.
In Wyoming, in the finest andwildest country I had ever seen,
abounding with fish and game,as he wrote in his journal,
frank would lay his first eyeson the Seusser site and here in
the Bighorn Basin, home of thePitchfork Ranch In New York,

(13:23):
where Frank was in the bananaimporting business with his two
brothers, his doctor advised himto 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 Basinhome, the Pitchfork Ranch.

(13:46):
Frank located his headquarterson the upper reaches of the
Gravel River in a wide valleyjust upstream from an
outcropping known to the localtribes as Papua Butte and began
building a cattle herd.
He trailed in 1,200 HerefordShorthorns in from Oregon and
adopted a Pitchfork brand tomark them.

(14:08):
He trailed in 1,200 Herefordshorthorns in Oregon and adopted
a pitchfork brand to mark them.
He bought Herefords in theGallatin Valley of western
Montana and trailed them southinto the Big Horn Basin, letting
them forage on the open range.
There is no clear census ofFrank's early herds, but 1880

(14:28):
Fremont County tax rollsassessed the pitchfork herd at
6,000 to 7,000.
Though a pioneer, frank was notthe first cattleman to locate in
the Bighorn Basin.
While Frank was scouting theupper gravel in 1879, judge
Charles Carter of Fort Bridgerin southwest Wyoming had sent
his foreman Pete McCullough intothe Bighorn Basin with a cattle

(14:51):
herd and a directive to locateon the ranges of the Stinking
Water, later renamed theShoshone River.
Henry Lovell came into thebasin that same year and founded
a ranch along the Bighorn River.
As the 1870s turned into the1880s, other cattlemen located
along the mountain streams andwide river valleys of the

(15:12):
Bighorn Basin.
In the summer of 1880, frankstarted building permanent
structures at his headquarters.
He first built a small cabin ofcottonwood logs.
A few years later he built alarger main house with adobe
walls 18 inches thick, allegedlyto protect against Indian
attacks.
The original cabin became ablacksmith's shop and he added a

(15:34):
detached cookhouse andbunkhouse for his hands.
Initiated as a business venturewith his brother, it soon became
clear that the ranch was bestsuited for the younger Frank.
In the fall of 1884, otto'sbrother, carl, visited to get a
look, but he quickly returned tothe banana business.
Otto eventually bought out hisbrother's shares in 1896 and

(15:57):
became the sole owner.
As there was little in the wayof community government, frank
took the initiative to form hisown institutions.
In 1882, the US Postal Servicecreated the first post office in
the basin.
It was located at the Pitchforkand named Frank.
Otto Frank was named postmaster.
A few years later it was moveddownriver to the site of the

(16:19):
growing town of Matizzi.
By the end of 1883, there werenumerous other ranches in the
basin.
Otto Frank was no longer insuch an isolated country.
Other operations now includedGeorge Baxter's LU Ranch on
Grass Creek, harry Cheeseman'soperation on Wood River, joseph
Carey's YU Ranch on the LowerGravel and Andrew Wilson on

(16:43):
Matitsi Creek.
Just above the Pitchfork wasthe ZT owned by the eccentric
English remittance man RichardAshworth and the four-bear ranch
of the famous grizzly hunter,colonel William D Pickett.
In the early days Frank had tohunt frequently.
He often mentioned riding outinto the hills to look for bands
of elk.
He also shot small game aroundhis ranch.

(17:05):
In those days there were stilla few buffalo along the foothill
of the Exarchies.
They often gave Otto Franktrouble as he was erecting
sawbuck fences around hishomestead.
Old bulls would routinelydestroy the new fences, much to
Frank's frustration.
Later he told of shooting atseveral of the hard-headed
animals from his porch.

(17:26):
But the few remaining buffaloin the Bighorn Basin were soon
killed out by hide hunters,visiting sportsmen and local
cowboys.
A lover of fresh eggs andvegetables, frank also raised
chickens and tended a largegarden at his ranch.
He regularly harvested abundantamounts of cabbage, perhaps to
remind himself of Germany.
Any provisions and ranchequipment Frank and his

(17:47):
neighbors could not acquirelocally had to come by freight
wagons over miles of oftenimpassable wagon roads.
This was extremely expensiveand only arranged at a last
resort.
On April 9, 1883, frank penneda letter to the Board of Trade
in Billings, montana Territory,asking them to help finance a

(18:07):
bridge across the Stinking Water, now the Shoshone River, to
improve the primitive roadrunning the length of the
Bighorn Basin towards Billings.
Heretofore we have been gettingour supplies from Fort Wash Gee
and Lander.
Frank explained the road tothose places is rich and the
extreme almost impassable.
The road from the StinkingRiver to Billings is very good.

(18:28):
South of the Stinking River isnot so good and requires some
work.
Our principal bugbear, however,is Stinking River.
The only remedy would be tobuild a bridge across it, making
the case that a sturdy bridgeand a good road would bring the
trade north.
Frank helped convince theleaders of Billings to improve
the transportationinfrastructure in still largely

(18:49):
undeveloped northwest Wyoming.
Open-range cattle ranchers inthe Bighorn Basin and throughout
most of Wyoming depended at thetime on the public domain, that
is, the ranchers rarelyhomesteaded or accumulated large
tracts of land for their stock.
Instead they headquartered on asmall piece of homestead land
with easy access to water andgrazed their herds on the open
range for free.

(19:10):
This arrangement was profitableas times and money expended on
an actual animal husbandry waslimited.
They rarely concernedthemselves with thoroughbred
animals or expensive breedingstock.
Instead they preferred hardy,rangy animals that could fend
for themselves through winter.
Throughout most of the year thecows were in a semi-wild state.
Open-rain ranchers rounded uptheir stock twice a year, once

(19:34):
in the spring to brand andcastrate the new calves, and
again in the early fall togather healthy fat animals to be
sold.
The system was cheap comparedto the more labor-intensive
livestock operations elsewherein the country.
There was little incentive toconserve the quality of the
range and there were fewbarriers to running as many
cattle as possible.
Eventually, the overgrazing ofthe open range and increased

(19:57):
competition for land with newhomesteaders would bring
violence to the open range.
In the late 1880s and early1890s the roundups were communal
.
Each ranch had itsrepresentatives participating to
separate their employers'cattle and ensure the best
interest of their outfit.
Tom Osborne, an early cowboy atthe Pitchfork, recalled the

(20:19):
roundup.
Frank had on average eightcowboys, a horse wrangler and a
roundup cook.
They would start in April orMay and be on the range most of
the summer.
His range extended from theClark's Fork to the Owl Creek,
the south side of the Big HornBasin.
All along the Rocky Mountainsthere is a huge stretch of
country running along themountain front from north of

(20:40):
what is now Cody Wyoming to westof Thermopolis, wyoming.
As the Wyoming range becamecrowded, cattlemen found
themselves cut off from more andmore of free grazing land to
which they had enjoyed accessonly a short time before they
had to file claims to securemore land and build fences to
contain their once free-rangingherds.

(21:01):
Unlike most cattlemen, frankrealized that changing
circumstances required changingoperation.
The Pitchfork was one of thefirst ranches in the area to
cultivate an annual hay supply.
Ranch hands slowly turned thewide sagebrush flats between
Papapo Butte and Timber Creek.
Ranch hands slowly turned thesagebrush flats on the ranch.

(21:21):
They removed countless riverstones and leveled bumps and
draws.
In 1897, frank's men turned thewide natural pasture at the
north end of the Papapo Creekinto a field where he reportedly
was growing 12,000 tons of hay.
Many of the men he had hiredfor this work were Mormon

(21:41):
settlers who had recently formeda small community 50 miles down
river With their own farm stillstruggling.
The men appreciated the jobsFrank offered and named their
community Otto in honor of theranch upriver.
Frank also hired men to buildirrigation ditches and undergo
drainage systems to make haycrops more reliable.

(22:02):
Frank's herds usually emergedfrom the harsh winters in much
better shape than his neighbor'sherd did.
When Frank first establishedhis ranch, the nearest rail line
was more than 150 miles northat Huntley Montana Territory,
east of Billings.
He recognized it made no senseto trail cattle all that way
only to sell them at theshipping point lean and hungry
East of Billings.
From his range in the basin,the cattle he wished to sell and

(22:26):
slowly moved them north to thereservation during the summer.
They arrived at the railheadfat and primed for sale on the
Chicago market later that fall.
While many of his neighborsstruggled from the harsh winters

(22:48):
, rain, drought and low beefprices, frank made preparations
to avoid disasters.
He was shrewd, but it alsoappeared that he was genuinely
curious.
He was shrewd, but it alsoappeared that he was genuinely
curious.
In his journals he recorded thereturn of the bird species in
the spring and the habitat ofanimals near his home.
He bought a bicycle and rode onthe roads and over the range,

(23:08):
undoubtedly the first cowboy inthe area to abandon a horse for
a pair of wheels.
Like many of his neighbors,frank did not always spend the
winters on the ranch.
Instead, he chose warmerclimates or family back east
where he could conduct businessin more civilized settings.
He passed the winter of 1883with his family in New York but

(23:30):
later came to prefer temperateSouthern California as his
winter home.
In 1898, he spent two monthsoff the coast of Catalina Island
fishing and sailing.
He spent two months off thecoast of Catalina Island fishing
and sailing.
Frank employed many local menas cowboys, ranch hands and
irrigators, but often had totravel to buildings to find
workers.
While many in the areaappreciated the work, frank also
had a reputation for beingstrict, firing cowboys for

(23:50):
laziness or drunkenness.
The Bighorn Basin was stilllargely lawless in the 1880s and
1890s and a place of refuge formany who wished to lose
themselves or disappear.
And Frank had his own badhabits.
As a lifelong bachelor, he wasused to living on his own terms
and never having to reconcilehimself with the needs of others
.
He became extreme in hisdemands for personal neatness.

(24:12):
Frank was the clean type, oneof the longtime cowboys observed
fussing as an old maid, alwaysgetting after the men for not
keeping their clothes clean.
However busy, frank kepthimself and his cowboys.
He also approved time forsolace.
The Reverend Louis Thompsontraveled the basin from end to
end, holding services in tents,cabins, private homes, wherever

(24:35):
he could assemble a group.
The pitchfork was one of thelargest operations and Reverend
Thompson was pleased to provideservices to the cowboys, though
the services of the pitchforkseemed to have been the most
popular among residents of theupper tribal country.
Reverend Thompson later builthis first church in the Bighorn
Basin at the town of Ottawa, ina region where the population

(24:56):
was small and competent leaders.
For you, frank cannot help beingdrawn into politics.
He served as a justice of thepeace with a jurisdiction
covering a large part of theBighorn Basin.
In this capacity, frank oversawthe trials of cowboys, the
surge of wrestling activities innorthwest Wyoming and slow
implementation of wildlifeprotection in the Bighorn Basin.

(25:19):
Although Frank was known amonglocals as the Little man, a
passport application listed himat 5'2".
He cast a big shadow over thedwindling lawlessness in Wyoming
.
On the evening of November 30,1903, frank went for a walk
along the north side of theGrable River just east of his
ranch house.
Frank went for a walk along thenorth side of the Grable River
just east of his ranch house.

(25:39):
He carried an exposed hammer,double-barrel shotgun in case he
happened upon any rabbits orducks.
A short while later, a singleshot was heard by the cowboys
back at the ranch, figuringtheir boss had found his quarry.
They thought nothing of ituntil after dark Frank had
failed to arrive home.
Until after dark, frank hadfailed to arrive home.

(26:02):
A small party found Frank's bodylaying face up about three feet
from the barbed wire fence withhis 10-gauge shotgun still
propped up nearby.
The right barrel was empty asthe shell had been fired, and
the left was loaded with thehammer still at full cock.
Frank's death shocked hisneighbors but also reported in
local newspapers as a tragicaccident.
Investigators theorized thatafter crossing the fence himself

(26:23):
, frank had begun pulling thegun towards him through the wire
when it discharged a blast intohis chest just above the heart.
He died instantly.
There was no sign of struggle.
So it was, as one newspaperreported, that the man who faced
a thousand dangers of frontierlife without harm met death in
this unfortunate manner.

(26:45):
Other speculation questioned theconclusion.
It was an accident.
Some doubted that Frank wouldhave been so foolish as to carry
around a loaded shotgun withthe exposed hammers primed, much
less pull that same loaded andcocked gun through a barbed wire
fence.
Others immediately pointed tothe enemies Frank had made in
his dealings with wrestlers andencroaching sheepmen suspecting

(27:06):
foul play.
Regardless, it was clear toeveryone that a figure of
long-standing importance was nolonger part of the community.
Dead at the age of 55, ottoFrank was buried in the Matizzi
Cemetery.
The funeral was attended byhundreds.
The largest Bighorn County hadseen to this point.
Beyond Wyoming too, frank waswell known in the stock raising
community.
Mr Frank was widely known andrecognized as a prince among men

(27:30):
.
The Chicago Livestock Worldreported Frank's death marked
the end of an era.
Having started his operationwhen Crow, arapaho and Shoshone
people were still huntingbuffalo on the flanks of the
Azorca Mountains, and havingseen the country filled with
cattle, frank lived to witnessthe open range transformed into
a landscape controlled byirrigation and barbed wire

(27:50):
fencing.
Five miles upriver from thePistfork Ranch, a large
tributary enters the Grable fromthe south.
It initially appears on themaps as Wolf Creek, but since
the 1890s has been calledFrank's Fork.
This stream runs from themountains where it begins on the
eastern flanks of Frank's Peakat 13,158 feet, the highest peak

(28:12):
in the Absarokas.
In 1884, otto Frank and hisfriend Thomas Arsborn, climbed
the peak as part of theirregular effort to better
understand the landscape.
From the top, frank could seethe Tetons and Yellowstone Park
to the west and to the east, theGrable River Valley, most of
the Bighorn Basin and theBighorn Mountains and beyond.

(28:33):
We can hope this restless manstopped long enough to enjoy the
view.
We can hope this restless manstopped long enough to enjoy the
view and just an outstandingstory talking about the
Pitchfork Ranch, which is stillin operation, well-known
throughout the cattle industry.
Thanks for joining us today andwe hope you enjoy our podcast.

(28:53):
As per the code of the West, weride for the brand and we ride
for Wyoming.
We'll be right back 1-2, 1-2,1-2.

(30:12):
Testing and see if we got anysound right now.
Thank you.