Of Cattle and Men - Wyoming Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This marker reads:

You are standing just north of the route taken by thousands of people, cattle and horses migrating west on the Lander Cut-off, the northern fork of the Oregon Trail, starting in 1858. None settled here then. By the late 1870s, cattle from the west were being trailed back to stock Wyoming ranges. The first Sublette County herds were a mix of western cattle but generally not Texas longhorns. In 1878-79, Ed Swan's PL, Otto Leifer's Circle, D. B. Budd's Quarter Circle Six, Hugh McKay's Sixty-Seven and A.W. Smith's Muleshoe outfits settled on nearby Piney Creek. In the early open range days, Big Piney ranches pastured cattle east of the Green River in winter and west of the Green River in summer. The devastating winter of 1889-1890 killed up to 90 percent of the stock, and from then on, ranchers grew hay to feed livestock in winter. Hay meadows were built by clearing sagebrush, running ditches and irrigating the land. The Big Piney Roundup Association formed in the early 1890s to self-manage grazing on open range, and other associations followed. With the creation of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905, grazing fees were implemented for the first time on public lands. In 1934, the Taylor Grazing Act was passed to manage grazing on all federal lands through permits and fees. Sublette County’s ranchers and grazing associations are proud of their history of stewardship on the range, which has helped keep our area beautiful and rich in wildlife. For more information about Sublette County’s historic ranches and agriculture industry, visit the Green River Valley Museum in Big Piney.

Marker Name: Of Cattle and Men Marker Type: Rural Roadside Addtional Information: This marker is located on US Highway 189 just north of Big Piney at Mile Point 109.43. Group Responsible for Placement: Sublette County Museum Board Marker Number: None Date Dedicated: Not listed Web link(s) for additional information: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Wyoming history please include that in your log.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   06/17/2018 HM63 visited it