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<title>You Still Here? Thursday, February 9, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Now let's lightly lay a glass desk on its side...

You Still Here? Thursday, February 9, 2023

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, July 24th.  I’m Reece Cowan, filling in for Mac Watson

This newscast is brought to you by the Wyoming State Fair. Wrap up your summer at the Wyoming State Fair, August 11th through the 15th in Douglas!

Rodeo, Demolition Derby, live music, entertainment and fair food await. Learn more at W-Y State Fair dot com. See you at the fair! This ad was paid for by Converse County Tourism.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"–"}]

Moments after lightning struck, Casper missionaries watched the Fish Creek Fire explode to life and rushed 20 teen campers to safety. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that residents stayed behind to look after neighbors and livestock.

“As they were driving away, they said that they saw the mountain burning. The owner of Fish Creek Ranch nearby says"Ranchers, if you know them, won't leave until they have to leave. So while most people were evacuating, he decided to stay to make sure everyone was okay. Check on neighbors, check on people's livestock, and luckily, no injuries have been reported yet. As of Thursday afternoon, the Albany County Sheriff's Department said that the fire is now 50% contained. The area is still in a go evacuation mode, which means people need to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.”

As firefighters continue working to fully contain the Fish Creek Fire, officials are asking the public to avoid the area so emergency crews can safely continue their work. 

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Thursday that he'll intervene in the Colorado River crisis — if he has to. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports Burgum tells Cowboy State Daily “We have one-fourth the water and four times the people.”

“The the Colorado River crisis is just getting worse. It's been going on for decades with feuding between the seven states that share the water from the Colorado River, and they they've kind of come to a head headwaters, so to speak, especially this year when they've had a record warm winter, record low snowpack in the upper basin states like us here in Wyoming. It really is a complicated dilemma on how all these seven states can work it out because each state wants what they want, and the interesting thing here is, there's a deadline for these states to kind of come up with a solution on their own.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said ‘When the water was divided up in 1922, there were 16 million acre-feet of water available from the Colorado River. This year there’s only 3.5 million available, which increases pressure from lower basin states for the upper basin — which includes Wyoming — to release more water. 

Teton County rancher Frank Chapman dropped out of the 10-candidate race for the Republican nomination in Wyoming's U.S. House race on Thursday. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Chapman told Cowboy State Daily that "There’s too much clutter" in that crowded race.

“There are 10 Republican candidates in this primary race. One of them will move on to the general, meaning a person with just a sliver over 10% could have won the primary, and arguably the general in this red state, and so on Thursday morning, Frank Chapman announced that he's dropping out of the race. He has loaned himself about a million dollars in the race, had spent closer to around $600,000 as of July 1st, and he said, 'This is cluttered. It's hard to get your message across in this field, and this doesn't seem like a good use of anyone's money.'”

Chapman told Cowboy State Daily he may run for office again, if the people wish it. 

Skeletal human remains found in an abandoned building west of Cheyenne on Wednesday could take months to identify, investigators say. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the discovery has renewed hope and fear among families of Wyoming's missing.

“So far, investigators say there are no signs of foul play, according to Desiree Tanoco, who founded Missing Persons of Wyoming. This news brings both shock and hope to families of missing people across the state and even across the nation. Tanoko as well as Stacy Kester, the president of Wyo Find Search Rescue and Recovery, both emphasize that it's important not to speculate, but both both said the location immediately reminded them of Quinn Nash, a Laramie resident who went missing in 2024. He was known to ride his bicycle in the Happy Jack Road area.”

Tinoco said cases like this also remind people how many Wyoming disappearances remain unsolved, some dating back decades. She noted that many of those investigations are so old the original investigators have retired or died.

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the Hoback River Homestead has hit the market for $59.5 million. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports it’s a legacy Sublette County ranch that brokers say has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River.

“It's not that there's a $20 million mansion sitting on this property. It's the the size and the exclusivity that you're getting here. You have two miles of the Hoback River. Nobody owns that much frontage of the Hoback River in a single ranch. You're right on the edge of Jackson Hole, you've got these mountains all around you. There's national forests on three sides of you. You've got the Hoback River, two miles of this world-class fishery. This is this is quite the property as far as the land value goes, and that's really really what the price is all about. This is the first time this property has been for sale in 138 years.”

Hall and Hall real estate broker Pete Widener said the family selling the ranch has chosen not to be identified, but said they are well-known locally and have decided to go in a different direction after the passing of the family’s patriarch a few years ago.  

When a state lawmaker asked why Campbell County parade floats couldn't hand out Bibles but a Lander float could hand out condoms, the Lander float organizers said they did no such thing. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Campbell County's Bible saga is much more complicated. 

“John Bear wrote a July 15 column published in Cowboy State Daily, noting that people had been barred from handing out Bibles and constitutions at Campbell County's July 4th parade. As I unpacked the saga, it got a little trickier because I found that there is a wholesale ban on paper products in the parade because they've had trash problems in the past. Bear said, 'Why can the Lander LGBTQ advocates hand out condoms at that parade?' Well, I talked to the Alliance Group out of Lander, and they said 'we absolutely did not hand out condoms. It would be expensive and inappropriate.'”

Parks and Recreation staffer, Darla Cotton, said staffers have had recurring conversations with city officials about the trash problem, and main discussion driving that rule happened in 2021. 

The famed Mollie’s Pack was just “looking for food” when it left Yellowstone to den on the Shoshone National Forest, a biologist says. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that in doing so, the wolves kicked off a tempest of controversy over whether they should be hunted. 

“This bit of a controversy has has broken out over that because they've usually abided in Yellowstone National Park, where there's no hunting allowed. They have moved east out of the park and onto the Shoshone National Forest, in a section of land where the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has proposed wolf hunting seasons for 2026. Game and Fish, their claim is 'look we base we we base our management decisions on science what is good for the species and the conservation of the species not necessarily concern over one particular wolf or one particular pack of wolves.' I also talked to one of the wolf advocates and his claim is it doesn't serve any function because wolves once they get to a certain population, the competition between packs becomes so fierce they're going to start fighting and killing each other and naturally regulating the population anyway.”

Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce said the supposed location has been circulating on social media, adding that revealing such information is strictly against Game and Fish policy. 

The owner of a gas station in Wapiti is frustrated that for the fourth time this summer, a driver pulled away from the gas pump with the nozzle and hose still connected to the car. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the owner says “they fill up, forget they were filling up, and drive off." 

“I spoke to the owners of Wapiti's Red Barn, which is the only gas station between Cody and the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. They say that people drive off with the gas nozzle and hose still in their car about once or twice a year. But there have already been four incidents in this summer alone. Their big thing is that the people in this most recent incident just weren't honest about it. They put the nozzle back in its case, and they drove off. They didn't acknowledge what they had done. They didn't tell them, and they might not even have been fined for causing any damage.”

“Please be honest,” said Manda Siebert, owner of the Red Barn gas station. “Come back in, own up to your damage, and let us know so we can fix it. Don’t drive off and expect others to clean up your negligence.” 

And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Reece Cowan, in for Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 7 24 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Friday, July 24, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Today's headlines include:
*Campers Evacuated In Albany Co Fire
*Bibles And Condoms In Wyoming's July 4 Parades
*Interior Sec In Cheyenne, Talks Colorado River Crisis

 

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Friday, July 24, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

Gillette Fourth of July Parade participants not being allowed to hand out Bibles and copies of the U.S. Constitution has prompted a complaint to the Campbell County Commission. 

State House Appropriations Chairman John Bear, R-Gillette, asserts in 

 that community groups “were barred by Campbell County Parks & Recreation officials from handing out U.S. Constitutions and Bibles during the Independence Day 250 parade.”

Campbell County Parks officials say they were merely enforcing a rule against handing out paper products at the parade, adopted around 2021 to curb trash cleanup after the event.

Bear wrote in the same column that a few towns away, Lander’s local LGBT advocacy group handed out condoms to parade-goers and kids.

“Since when are free condoms protected by the Constitution while Bibles are not?” asked Bear in the column.

Organizers of the Lander parade’s Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) float adamantly deny handing out condoms.

Carol Smith in an open letter to Bear, which she sent to Cowboy State Daily, says she was on that float, and no one on it handed out condoms.

“We handed out candy to children and celebrated inclusion with the community, just as we have in previous years,” wrote Smith, who reiterated the point in a phone interview this week.

Sarah Reilley, who said she’s driven the float for three years but couldn’t attend the parade this year, told Cowboy State Daily she would never have handed out condoms.

“Absolutely not,” said Reilley in an interview. She wrote in a Facebook post last week that doing that would have been both expensive and “WILDLY inappropriate.”

"It's important for leaders in our state and elected representatives to do the work to fact-check for themselves, instead of taking fake images and spreading lies in order to create division," said Reilley. 

Bear told Cowboy State Daily that a “solid” witness had alerted him to the alleged Lander incident. The witness said no to being interviewed by Cowboy State Daily, said Bear.

According to Reilley and a screenshot she posted, the image Bear dispatched of two hands holding what appears to be a condom returned a Google Reverse Images result of a viral SnapChat screenshot.

Cowboy State Daily’s own Google Reverse Images search, days later, did not replicate that result. That could be because SnapChat doesn’t retain images, Reilley said.

The rest of the controversy is now a complaint that is pending before the Campbell County Commission.

[{"type":"text","text":"First, The Church"}]

Kurt Siebenaler applied for a permit to run a float on behalf of his church, Church at the Barn, in Campbell County’s Fourth of July parade, he told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

[{"type":"text","text":"It was a fun task before all the drama, he said."}]

“The theme was, our country was founded on Biblical principles,” he said. 

Congregants decked out the float with Bibles, a big USA sign and a liberty bell. They’d planned to hand out pocket versions of the U.S. Constitution and New Testament volumes, he added.

When Siebenaler applied to be in the parade, the application said fliers, stickers, paper products, brochures, paper handouts, and leaflets weren’t allowed in it, he recalled.

Siebenaler went to check with a Parks and Recreation staffer, Darla Cotton, and she said the volumes would not be allowed under that rule, he added.

“She said because if people don’t want them, they’re just going to throw them on the ground when they leave,” Siebenaler said. 

He countered that they weren’t going to hand them out to “a half dozen kids or whatever” but would be more targeted.

Cotton maintained her veto but said the churchgoers could sign up for a booth at the later hot dog feed at Bicentennial Park and hand out Bibles and Constitutions there, Siebenaler said, adding that the church approved that plan.

Cotton contacted Siebenaler ahead of the hot dog feed to say the department had run out of room for booths and needed to give political candidates priority to be fair across races, he recalled.

Siebenaler told the church, and “word got out to a couple (county) commissioners.”

Then Cotton reportedly told Siebenaler that if the church could find a political candidate willing to share a booth, it could hand out its volumes from there.

Ira Shober, a county commission candidate who attends the church, agreed to share, Siebenaler said.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Monday Meeting"}]

Commission Chair Bob Jordan and Commissioner Jerry Means met with Campbell County Parks and Recreation Director Dwayne Dillinger, superintendent Adam Gibson, Bear, Republican state Rep. Abby Angelos, at least one attorney representing the county and other stakeholders to discuss the issues on the Monday before July 4.

Dillinger and Angelos are both Republicans running against each other for a Gillette-based seat in the state Senate.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bear is running again for his seat in the House."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The primary election is Aug. 18."}]

In Bear’s telling, Dillinger wasn’t aware of the dustup, “but he defended it when the time came.”

“I keep telling him if you have a conflict, you can’t err on the side of trampling people’s inalienable constitutional rights,” Bear told Cowboy State Daily.

Dillinger was reticent in his interviews with Cowboy State Daily, saying he had to be careful not to campaign in a story told from his professional post because of the Hatch Act.

That federal law bars people working for agencies that receive federal money from using their positions to campaign.

He said the parade rules on which Cotton relied were implemented long before he became the director.

Bear said that county personnel said Gillette city officials didn’t want the trash, but that a later call to the city debunked that.

Cotton sent Cowboy State Daily the PDF copies of the rules for each year from 2021-2026. Those show the ban on “flyers, stickers and other types of materials” starting in 2021, with the warning that “they end up everywhere as trash rather than in the hands of the parade attendee.”

“They’re the same (rules) for everybody,” said Cotton in a Thursday interview. “We’re not restricting what they can say; just how they deliver it because of the trash issue.”

[{"type":"text","text":"In 2024, that rule expanded to all paper products."}]

Cotton said Parks and Recreation staffers have had recurring conversations with city officials about the trash problem, and main discussion driving that rule happened in 2021.

And in 2021 the streets division contact was a different person, she said. “Back then it was different people (voicing these concerns) than are there now,” said Cotton.

[{"type":"text","text":"The City Council Candidate"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Ben Decker is a Gillette City Council candidate.  "}]

Cotton is managing campaigns for two other candidates, Heidi Gross and Eric Scott. She said she’s received permission since these are nonpartisan campaigns and she works for the county, not the city.

She said she’s helped with social media work for legislative campaigns, but doesn’t manage any legislative campaign.

Decker in his own interview referenced a 

Vomhof defied the Parks and Recreation director that year and ran a float highly critical of the city’s then-mayor, whom 

 over the sudden resignation of now-mayor, then councilman Shay Lundvall.

[{"type":"text","text":"That was before Dillinger ran the Parks and Recreation department."}]

Vomhof said in a Thursday interview that both the Parks and Recreation director of the time and county commissioners tried to shut him down.

But he ran the float — which showed a jail cell and signs reading “fire the mayor” — after what he described as a conversation in which the police chief noted that running a parade float without a permit isn’t an arrestable offense.  

Decker told Cowboy State Daily that the war between some residents and “tyrannical” officials started with Vomhoff’s protest float and continues today.

Decker asserted that Cotton, who is his second cousin, has tightened the rules each year based on whatever he did the prior year.

[{"type":"text","text":"Cotton denied that assertion, pointing to the largely stagnant rules."}]

Decker said an early version of the hot dog feed rules required candidates to stay at their tables and prohibited them from handing out fliers and Bibles. 

The rules were later changed so that booth holders could hand out paper products and no longer had to stay at their booths, he said.

The rules were acceptable but their earlier, tougher version “created a chilling effect” on attendees, who “self-censored,” said Decker.

Decker ignored the rules altogether by leaving the designated area for political candidates and handing out fliers to people standing in line at the hot dog feed, he said.

Decker said the flier contained the political group Coal Country Conservatives’ list of preferred candidates for various offices. That flier included an endorsement of Bear and Angelos.

In Decker’s telling, Dillinger called the cops on him for campaigning outside the designated area. Decker calls the move unconstitutional. His complaint to the commission asserts a First Amendment rights violation. 

[{"type":"text","text":"In Dillinger’s telling, he did not call the cops on Decker."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"So The Cops Weigh In"}]

Gillette Police Department Deputy Chief Brent Wasson clarified in a Thursday interview.

Dillinger didn’t call the police department. He contacted an officer directly.

“I’m assuming he had seen (the officer) working the parade and … spoke with him about the concern at the park,” said Wasson.

Gillette officers patrolled the parade on bicycles then ride over to the park.

[{"type":"text","text":"All this happened just after midday July 4, the deputy chief said."}]

The encounter was brief. Officers told Decker they didn’t want to interfere with his campaigning, though he was outside the designated area. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“And that’s pretty much it,” said Wasson."}]

“That’s what we do when we have big events. We make sure there’s security. We bring in different security people for fireworks, and that’s what we do,” said Dillinger. “I was just doing my job. … It was a simple call: ‘Are you guys heading out to the park after you get done at the parade on your bikes?’ That’s all there was to it.”

He theorized the original fallout over the Bibles involves political fervor. "Now that I'm a candidate, it's an issue." 

[{"type":"text","text":"The Bible Ladies Venture Out Too"}]

Siebenaler wasn’t paying close attention to all that, but recalled that women from his church booth were emboldened by Decker’s move. They also verged toward the hot dog line, he said.

“They were just outside the fence and holding up Constitutions and Bibles, and asking politely, or just showing people, ‘Would you like to have one?’” Siebenaler said.

The rules seemed practical at first, Siebenaler said. But looking back on it, he’s not as sure.

“That would be in their mind or heart to what their motive was,” said Siebenaler of the involved county officials.

Campbell County Commissioner Scott Clem wasn’t involved in this situation, but knows about Decker’s complaint now pending at the county’s human resources department level, he said in a Thursday interview.

That complaint will likely be handled in executive session since it involves personnel, he noted. That’s a provision of state law.

“Something will come out of this so that we avoid problems like this in the future, and we’ll try as much as we can to correct things now,” said Clem.

Jordan, who chairs the commission, told Cowboy State Daily he's shaking his head at how the saga unfolded. 

"It’s not good optics to have yourself and your employee making it hard on somebody else," said Jordan of Parks and Recreation management. "I personally wouldn't ban Bibles and Constitutions." 

Gillette Fourth of July parade 7 23

<title>Unpacking The Campbell County Parade Fallout Over Bibles But Not Condoms | Cowboy State Daily</title>

When a state lawmaker asked why Campbell County parade floats couldn't hand out Bibles but a Lander float could hand out condoms, the Lander float organizers said they did no such thing. Campbell County's Bible saga is much more complicated.

Unpacking The Campbell County Parade Fallout Over Bibles But Not Condoms

Coy Knobel

Don Day Weather

Sunny in Wyoming on Friday. Chance of rain, patchy smoke, hot in some areas. Mostly clear overnight. Highs from the mid 80s to low 100s. Lows from the low 50s to low 70s.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

Patchy smoke, sunny today with a high near 94 and mostly clear overnight with patchy smoke before 10 p.m. and a low near 65.

Patchy smoke after 9 a.m., sunny today with a high near 96 and mostly clear overnight with patchy smoke before 10 p.m. and a low near 63.

 Patchy smoke after 8 a.m., sunny today with a high near 96 and mostly clear overnight with patchy smoke before 10 p.m. and a low near 68.

 Sunny today with a high near 86 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 55.

  Sunny today with a high near 92 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 62.

Patchy smoke before 10 a.m., sunny today with a high near 89 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 53.

 Slight chance of rain and patchy smoke after 2 p.m., otherwise sunny today with a high near 85 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 8 p.m. and a low near 55.

 Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., patchy smoke after noon, otherwise sunny today with a high near 90 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 56.

  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., patchy smoke after 1 p.m., otherwise sunny today with a high near 87 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 53.

 Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., patchy smoke, otherwise sunny today with a high near 85 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 8 p.m. and a low near 54.

  Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., patchy smoke, otherwise sunny today with a high near 90 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 8 p.m. and a low near 55.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Patchy fog before 8 a.m., patchy smoke, sunny today with a high near 83 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 7 p.m. and a low near 49.

Patchy smoke, sunny and hot today with a high near 97 and mostly clear overnight with patchy smoke before 9 p.m. and a low near 67.

:  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., patchy smoke, sunny today with a high near 95 and partly cloudy overnight with patchy smoke before 10 p.m. and a low near 67.

  Patchy smoke, sunny and hot today with a high near 97 and mostly clear overnight with patchy smoke before 10 p.m. and a low near 66.

   Patchy smoke, sunny today with a high near 92 and mostly clear overnight with patchy smoke before 10 p.m. and a low near 68.

  Extreme heat warning through Sunday. Slight chance of rain after 5 p.m., otherwise sunny and hot today with a high near 102 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 60.

:   Slight chance of rain after 5 p.m., otherwise sunny and hot today with a high near 92 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 63.

Sunny today with a high near 97 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 68 and wind gusts as high as 18 mph.

   Sunny today with a high near 95 and wind gusts as high as 18 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 72 and wind gusts as high as 18 mph.

:  Sunny today with a high near 98 and wind gusts as high as 18 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 67 and wind gusts as high as 16 mph.

  Sunny and hot today with a high near 97 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 68.

  Sunny and hot today with a high near 92 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 66.

  Patchy smoke, sunny today with a high near 96 and mostly clear overnight with patchy smoke before 10 p.m. and a low near 63.

   Sunny and hot today with a high near 91 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight and a low near 64.

  Sunny today with a high near 85 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 62.

   Sunny today with a high near 88 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 58.

  Sunny today with a high near 87 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 64.

   Sunny today with a high near 88 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 61.

   Sunny today with a high near 87 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 62.

Daycap small 7 24 26

<title>Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Friday, July 24, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Friday, July 24, 2026

[{"type":"text","text":"Karens Gone Rabid, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman......"}]

Inman 7 24 26

<title>Steve Inman: Friday, July 24, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Karens Gone Rabid, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman......

Steve Inman: Friday, July 24, 2026

Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Every player in the group in front of me…."}]

Darwin 7 24 26

<title>Daily Darwin: Friday, July 24, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Every player in the group in front of me….

Daily Darwin: Friday, July 24, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Around Wyoming

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the Hoback River Homestead — a legacy Wyoming ranch that brokers say has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River — has hit the market.

The 2,062-acre ranch located just south of Bondurant doesn’t boast a $20 million mansion, but is still listing as one of Wyoming’s most expensive properties on the market today at $59.5 million. 

That’s because it’s one of the rarest opportunities Hall and Hall real estate broker Pete Widener says he’s ever seen.

Widener, who specializes in high-end ranch properties, says the ranch’s size and its intact nature — including the original homestead — make it almost impossible to compare to anything else on the market. The ranch’s size is particularly notable given its proximity to heavily carved-up valleys near Jackson Hole. 

“If you took a ruler and made a line and had a radius around Jackson Hole and you did 100 miles out, this would probably be the largest ranch without encumbrances on it,” he said. “It’s probably one of the larger ranches in existence without easements on it — no encumbrances — and it’s certainly the only one I know of that’s never been sold since homesteading.”

The ranch’s marquee feature is its live water. The 2-mile stretch of the Hoback River means private access to a productive cutthroat trout fishery, all surrounded on three sides by mountains and federally managed land. 

“Every corner you go around that looks like the fish will be in it — they’re in it,” Widener said. “They’re nice-size cutthroat rising to dry flies … It’s just really fun, visual fishing, with the river and the mountains in the background.”

The Hoback isn’t the only live water on the ranch, either. Fisherman’s Creek provides important irrigation diversions that support large meadows across the valley floor, which in turn supports 45 to 100 livestock.

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the 2,000-acre Hoback River Homestead is on the market. The legacy Wyoming ranch has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River and is listed at $59.5 million.

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