One More For The Road

One more for 3 16 23

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<title>One More For The Road: Thursday, March 16, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wait, which button activates the taser???

One More For The Road: Thursday, March 16, 2023

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Public Lands

A tourist caught on video climbing on top of one of the iconic buildings in Grand Teton National Park not only broke the law, he disrespected “my family’s heritage,” said the grandson of Thomas Alva Moulton, who along with brother John Moulton, built the most famous homesteads on Mormon Row.

. A man climbed to the top of one of the historic structures adjacent to the pink house on the John Moulton Ranch.

“A tourist climbed onto the roof of one of the historic buildings just to take photos,” she said, but she didn’t say whether the man had been reported to park rangers.

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[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"My Family’s Heritage"}]

While the Moulton family no longer owns the historic structures, they still have a deep connection to their homesteads in the Teton Valley.

Steve Moulton is the grandson of T.A. Moulton, who built 

of the still-standing structures on Mormon Row and one of the most photographed barns in the world.

“My grandfather built the T.A. barn way back in the early 1900s,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “My dad helped build it and worked on it over the years. I have worked on it myself. I've been on the roof of the T.A. barn because we were putting a new roof on it.”

Moulton admitted that he climbed all over the T.A. Moulton Barn as a child, but that was when it was his family’s property.

The 1-acre parcel with the T.A. Moulton Barn was sold to the National Park Service in 2018, making it the last privately owned real estate on Mormon Row to be folded into Grand Teton National Park.

“I’m associated with the T.A. Moulton Barn, but that doesn't mean that I want to see anything going on down at the John Moulton Barn either,” Steve said. “It’s my family's heritage.”

omeone clambering over the historic building, especially since there’s been such an effort to ensure the remaining structures at Mormon Row remain standing.

“It's clear that there are people in this world who have no respect for public property,” he said. “To keep them in good condition, we have to take care of them, because yes, they are fragile.”

Grand Teton officials "are aware of the video" and warn that "climbing on historic structures can cause irreversible damage," said park spokesperson Emily Davis in a statement to Cowboy State Daily.

“At Mormon Row, visitors come to experience a remarkable historic landscape,” she added. “When someone disregards the rules and climbs on these structures, it detracts from that shared experience and puts an irreplaceable piece of our nation's history at risk.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Loved To Death"}]

Most people who visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks from around the world don’t have destructive intentions. They just want to take in the beauty of the landscape, like millions of others.

[{"type":"text","text":"That, however, can be part of the problem."}]

As visitation to national parks increases, one commonly heard concern is that they’re “

” The reason is that higher densities of tourists are, intentionally or unintentionally, causing more destruction and disturbance to the natural vistas that drew people there in the first place.

“We ask all visitors to help preserve historic buildings by viewing them from designated areas and not climbing on or entering the structures,” Davis said. “Historic buildings can be more fragile than they appear, and even what might seem like minor actions can contribute to the buildings' deterioration over time.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Steve shares some of that concern. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"As Mormon Row has become more popular, the impact on the area is evident."}]

“What bothers me is there's so much foot traffic around the T.A. Barn,” he said. “The pictures used to have green grass in front of the barn. Now, it's just dirt because there is so much traffic.”

 at Mormon Row is underway. Jenkins has said it was part of several “micro-geographic” efforts to improve popular spots in the park for a better overall visitor experience.

“We want to be able to host more visitation at Mormon Row, so we're looking at things we can be doing to help manage that visitation,” he told Cowboy State Daily in May.

The list of desired site improvements includes a larger, centralized parking lot, new interpretive and wayfinding signs, distinct walking paths, and furnishings like benches and trash cans, new restrooms, and a 0.75-mile trail extension connecting Mormon Trail Road to Antelope Flats Road.

“Construction started at Mormon Row earlier this month,” Davis said. “Site improvements there are part of a multi-phase project to improve accessibility and the visitor experience while protecting the site's historic character.”

These improvements will go hand-in-hand with an ecological restoration of Mormon Row. 

Native vegetation will be planted and damaged areas restored, and the new parking lot will be built further away from the historic homesteads to ensure the landscape and views remain as pristine as possible.

they’d help to mitigate the damage of visitor traffic. However, that doesn’t eliminate the damage caused by reckless tourists who are determined to do their own thing to the detriment of the park and its visitors.

“We want (Mormon Row) to last many more decades, so we have to be really careful with anything that goes on around them, as far as touching, climbing, or taking stuff off them for souvenirs,” he said.

Many people value the serenity of Mormon Row and the Moulton barns as much as the Moulton family itself. Steve hopes that will lead to better decisions and increased awareness.

“I want visitors to understand their historical importance,” he said. “I want them to have the same feelings as my family does about preserving the integrity of those structures, so we have to take great care to not do anything that will be destructive to them.”

Climing on Moulton building 1 7 21 26

<title>Grand Teton Tourist Caught Illegally Climbing On Famous Mormon Row Building | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A tourist caught on video climbing one of the famous Mormon Row buildings in Grand Teton Park broke the law and disrespected “my family’s heritage,” said the grandson of T.A. Moulton who, along with his brother, built the most park's famous homesteads.

Grand Teton Tourist Caught Illegally Climbing On Famous Mormon Row Building

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Jory Thomas, 14, was absent-mindedly flipping loops with a rope while visiting his grandparents' campground on the Yellowstone River over the Fourth of July weekend when he heard someone start screaming for help.

Within seconds, the Montana ranch kid emptied his pockets, splashed across a side channel and waded chest-deep into the river.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then he did something he'd spent the past year practicing on calves."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"This time, he roped a drowning man."}]

The July 5 rescue unfolded so quickly that by the time the first Sweet Grass County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived three minutes after Jory's father called 911, everyone was already safely on shore.

"My opinion, Jory saved the individual's life, 100%," Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg told Cowboy State Daily. "Had Jory not acted, I believe the chances of this individual not making it to shore were very slim.”'

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Boat Hits A Bridge"}]

The Thomas family lives on a ranch about a dozen miles outside Big Timber, directly across from a campground where Jory's grandparents had been staying for the week.

Jory wandered over to visit with his parents and grandparents that afternoon, a rope already in his hand as he casually practiced throwing loops.

"All of a sudden he heard some yells for help," Jory's father, Jase Thomas, told Cowboy State Daily.

A boat had struck a bridge pillar, throwing its occupants into the Yellowstone River.

Three people fell in, but only two managed to get out, leaving one person alone in the swift current, desperately clinging to a cooler.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jory didn't hesitate."}]

Somehow, said his father, he convinced the drowning man to let go of the cooler. Then he threw the rope, catching the man around the neck and one arm. 

Jory and another bystander then pulled the man safely to shore before emergency responders arrived. 

In the moment, Jory didn’t think about any potential danger to himself, he just acted on instinct, the teen told KTVQ television in Billings, Montana, which first 

"This current was pretty fast then, and he was moving pretty quickly," he told the outlet. "Only thing I could focus on was helping him get out of the water because I didn't want to see anyone go in front of me.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Let Me Have My Son Back'"}]

Jory's father has spent three decades on the Big Timber Volunteer Fire Department and immediately called 911.

Dispatch records show the call came in at 5:39 p.m. A deputy arrived just three minutes later and reported everyone was already out of the water. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Watching the rescue unfold wasn't easy for the elder Thomas. "}]

He knows that stretch of river, and that it becomes more dangerous just downstream, where swift current, deep holes and logjams create deadly hazards.

"My biggest concern was to let me have my son back," he said before taking a long pause, reflecting on the potential for Jory to also get caught up in the current.

"He understands water, but I don't think he understands what could happen,” Jase said. "I mean, he does, but he had one thing in mind, which is great, and he got it done." 

Jase believes the man his son rescued likely wouldn't have survived much longer.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sheriff Ronneberg agrees."}]

"I'm not sure how close the individual was to being 'lost,' but in my experience such things happen faster than you might guess they can," he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He Loves Roping' "}]

Although the rescue looked almost unbelievable, it wasn't blind luck. Jory has spent the past year immersing himself in roping.

He practices on roping dummies in his spare time and started roping calves from horseback during local brandings, his father said.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"He's always had a rope,\" Jase said. \"He loves roping.\" "}]

Outside of ranch work, he's an avid hunter and is spending this week showing a steer and a pig at the county fair. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'That's Just Who He Is'"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"To his family, the rescue wasn't entirely surprising."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Jase said his son has always been the first person to help someone else."}]

"We'll be in town at the grocery store, and you'll see an elderly person," he said. "They can't pack the groceries, and he never says a word. He goes over and gets their groceries and packs them out. That's just who he is." 

Ronneberg said the rescue is a reminder that courage often appears in ordinary moments.

"Jory saw another in trouble and acted, not for himself but for another," Ronneberg said. "He didn't pull out a phone, but a lariat. He didn't watch what was happening but intervened."

"Jory is a lesson for all of us in this day and age and showed us what is courageous and right.”

Montana lasso teen 7 21 26

<title>14-Year-Old Ranch Kid Ropes Drowning Man On Yellowstone River, Saves Life | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 14-year-old ranch kid from Big Timber, Montana, had a rope in his hand when cries for help erupted from the Yellowstone River. He sprinted into the water, threw one loop and caught a struggling man around the arm and neck, pulling him safely to shore.

14-Year-Old Ranch Kid Ropes Drowning Man On Yellowstone River, Saves Life

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

For a man in the 1950s, the little 10-by-13-foot wooden jail house in Kaycee, Wyoming, that held some of the West’s most notorious outlaws proved to be an escape from the law.

In the jail was the last place he figured anyone would look for someone trying not to get caught.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"It was not always that way."}]

Laurel Foster, director of the Hoofprints of the Past Museum in Kaycee, said the wooden jail that served the area well during the years of the Hole-in-The-Wall Gang and and other Western outlaws was built to keep the bad guys from breaking out.

The jail now sits behind the museum next to a wooden schoolhouse that once served as Johnson County Deputy Sheriff Leonard Beard’s home. 

It was Beard who who enforced the law there from the late 1890s until his resignation halfway into the next century.

“He was known as being a very tough character and very good at his job,” Foster said. “He actually chased down a lot of rough outlaws. He captured some of them. 

"Tom O’Day was one of them he chased in pursuit (as well as) Kid Curry.”

The jail was built with 41 layers of 2-by-6-inch boards that were laid flat to make up the walls of a jail that was outlaw resistant from the inside and out due to knives or other instruments trying to whittle holes in the building.

Foster, a native of Kaycee, said the jail would have been used to house more significant prisoners for a short time before they could be transported to the Johnson County jail in Buffalo.

The interior of the jail has a hole in the ceiling for a stove and the museum now displays it with a small bed to one side.

Foster said Beard used five kegs of nails to put together his jail.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Full House"}]

According to local historian J. Elmer Brock who collected oral histories and other material that was part of the 1982 book “Our Powder River Heritage," the little jail on one occasion was filled to capacity.

“He wrote that at one time there were 13 people thrown in there after they were drinking too much and being too rowdy,” Foster said, noting how small the tiny jailhouse was. “The last one was thrown on top.”

In his account of Leonard, Brock, who lived and ranched in the area during Leonard’s tenure, called the deputy “a man with unlimited courage.”

He dealt with Hole-In-The-Wall outlaws and others when the growing community, businesses were starting — and recovering from the impact of the 

Brock wrote of Leonard arresting a man named Razor Dick Hale who had a $1,000 bounty on his head. 

The lawman shot the outlaw’s horse and Hale in the arm. The outlaw never made it to the jail because while trying to get a vehicle to transport the wounded prisoner, he escaped.

The Natrona County Tribune on Sept. 11, 1902, reported about Johnson County Sheriff Kennedy returning from a chase after Hale.

“Mr. Kennedy has a close call in Powder River canyon being kicked by a horse, thrown down and being rolled over by another horse until he saw stars by the millions,” the newspaper reported.

Beard also chased Wild Bunch outlaws associated with the Wilcox train robbery in 1899, getting in a shootout that left one outlaw wounded as well as Beard’s horse.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Stolen Horses"}]

During an encounter with noted outlaw Tom O’Day and another character named Earl Shobe, Beard caught them with several stolen horses from South Dakota.

“He shot it out with them and took the horses, and the men’s pack horse as well,” Brock wrote. “O’Day later said that, ‘Beard’s bullet cut off a lock of my hair.’”

According to Brock, Beard’s jail housed several rough criminals and was the scene of just one escape.

The schoolhouse that sits next to the jail at the museum has a history with Beard as well.

The deputy lived in the building, but whether that was after it was moved to town or before is not clear. 

The building was the first home on the Kaltenbach family homestead, Foster said. 

After the family built a more substantial home it was moved to into the town area and, according to Brock who wrote his article, in the 1950s had a trap door built in it and a tunnel to a gulch.

Kaltenbach had no knowledge of the trap door.

Brock speculated that it likely was there to give him an edge on any criminals trying to ambush him.

The building also saw use as a school in addition to a stint as city hall.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Sheep-Shearer"}]

In 1903, the jail was likely overnight housing to a Dr. Norris Potts, who reportedly shot and killed a sheep-shearer outside a Kaycee bar in May 1903.

“Early last Monday morning a telephone message from Kaycee announced that a sheep-shearer known as Box-car Jackson had been shot and instantly killed in Jack Toddy’s saloon during the previous night,” the Savannah Democrat in Missouri published on May 29, 1903. 

“Potts had been on a drunken spree at Kaycee for some two or three weeks and was very boisterous and disagreeable,” the account reported.

Jackson had been shot through the chest and was unarmed. 

The newspaper, reprinting a Buffalo Voice story, stated that the doctor was arrested by the deputy sheriff in Kaycee. Potts had been brought to Buffalo and denied that he had shot Jackson.

“So far as The Voice has been able to learn, the doctor has always born a good reputation,” the newspaper reported. “Samuel Jackson, the murdered man, was about 45 years of age and has been engaged in sheep-shearing and ranch work in this country for the past three years.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Drunken Bartender"}]

Foster recounted another story about the jail and how Jack Toddy himself apparently became too drunk and unruly one night and Leonard put him in jail.

“The next day he was yelling and yelling for someone to come that he was thirsty,” Foster said. “Apparently, it was unlocked and he could have walked out an anytime.”

For those who were locked in, the jailer used a strong iron bar that was positioned across the front of the door along with a lock to secure prisoners inside.

Beard left his role with the county in 1905. 

An article in the July 8, 1905, Buffalo Bulletin said the lawman had put in his resignation and was headed to Oklahoma.

“Deputy Beard has made a good officer and his resignation will be regretted by the people generally,” the newspaper reported.

A more modern story associated with the jail involves a man who robbed a saloon and grocery store somewhere outside of Kaycee in 1950. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The thief then made a beeline for town."}]

Foster said the story was not clear where the thief came from.

“They just came up here and hid out in the jail for several days,” she said. “It depends on the time of year, I guess, but I don’t know the timing. 

"I don’t know if it would be in a newspaper or if it was just one of those things and nobody wrote it down.”

In his account of the story, Brock characterized the thief as “living the ‘Life of Riley’” for a few days, alluding to an old TV comedy show from the 1950s. 

“When finally discovered and taken to the county jail in Buffalo, the man complained bitterly, claiming he much preferred the Kaycee jail and its stock of drinking whiskey and food,” Brock wrote.

The jail was sold in 1952 and moved to the museum location in the 1990s, Foster said. It originally sat on Nolan Street just more than a block north of the museum’s location.

Kaycee Jail Inset and Interior 7 19 26

<title>Wyoming History: How A Thief Once Tried To Hide From The Law In The Kaycee Jail | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The 125-year-old jail in Kaycee, Wyoming, once housed outlaws from the Wild Bunch era It was also where a thief hid from the law for several days. In the jail was the last place he figured anyone would look for someone trying not to get caught.

Wyoming History: How A Thief Once Tried To Hide From The Law In The Kaycee Jail

You Still Here

You should probably never bring a knife to a rock fight, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman..... 

Inman 7 19 26

<title>Steve Inman: Sunday, July 19, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Steve Inman: Sunday, July 19, 2026

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

Clair McFarland

One of the most famous trial attorneys of the 20th century and a proud son of Wyoming, Gerry Spence died Wednesday in his Montecito, California, home at the age of 96, his family says. 

Spence was a legend among the trial bar, especially for his civil practice and criminal defense work.

He was known for his defense of the poor and injured, as well as for high-profile cases like the defense of Ed Cantrell in the famous Rock Springs murder case.

Spence rose to national prominence through a series of landmark cases, including a $10.5 million verdict for the family of nuclear whistleblower Karen Silkwood; the successful defense of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos; and the acquittal of Idaho survivalist Randy Weaver on the most serious charges stemming from the Ruby Ridge standoff. 

His high-profile victories also included a $52 million judgment against McDonald’s and a $26.5 million libel award for Miss Wyoming against Hustler magazine.

Beyond the courtroom, Spence began bringing lawyers to Thunderhead Ranch, in 1994, training generations of attorneys in the "Spence Method" - an approach centered on authenticity, emotional connection and moral courage. His program, Gerry Spence Method, continues today.

He was also a prolific author of more than a dozen books, a familiar voice on national television during major trials, and the recipient of lifetime achievement honors from the American Association for Justice and the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame.

Spence is survived by his wife of 57 years, LaNelle "Imaging" Spence; his brother Thomas Spence, his children Kip Spence, Kerry Spence, Kent Spence, Katy Spence, Brents Hawks and Christopher Hawks; 13 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild, according to Chris Hawks.

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

Spence also prosecuted repeat killer Mark Hopkinson, the last person Wyoming executed in 1992.

Bob Schuster, Spence’s law partner of 25 years, said Spence had “a talent and a gift that I’ve never seen before.”

“Trials can be fearsome places. It is combat, and the stakes for winning or losing can be immense. Sometimes life or death,” Schuster told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “It wasn’t that Gerry had no fear. Instead, his strength was that he had the courage to face it. But faced it through going through preparation.”

That preparation included arriving at the firm at 5 a.m., even when it wasn’t a trial week, doing things like writing out voir dire (jury selection) questions; witness questions; opening and closing statements.

Spence had a reputation for flamboyance, “and that was partly true,” said Schuster. “But there was no flamboyance in his trial preparation or his work during trial.”

Preparation wasn’t all of it: Spence could read witnesses in the moment, Schuster recalled.

“We’ve lost an historic trial lawyer,” said Schuster. “But I want to add, his success as a trial lawyer and as a human being and all of his other achievements would not have happened absent his marriage to Imaging.”

In Spence’s autobiography “The Making of a Country Lawyer,” he called Imaging “my love.”

It was her commonsense, their trust in one another, and his reliance on her that underpinned the legendary status of Gerry Spence, Schuster said.  

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

Spence was born Jan 8, 1929, on a night his father remembered as “twenty below and blowin’” in Laramie, Wyoming. His family soon moved to Sheridan, where he lived through his freshman year of high school before the family moved back to Laramie.

Lauded as bright, if a bit of a showoff, by his childhood teachers, Spence skipped the second grade — and regretted it for years, since other boys turned to men before he did.

But he was no stranger to hard work and manual labor. He worked various jobs from the age of 10.

His parents, a rail tie chemist father and homemaker mother, worked hard. They were solvent during the Great Depression, wrote Spence in his autobiography “The Making of A Country Lawyer.”

Still, they paid a great portion of their family income toward $10,000 insurance policy Spence’s father had bought due to what Spence called the only part of his father that yielded to fear of what may come: his love for his family.

The insurance policy didn’t help when it mattered, and the father was sick for months, Spence recalled in his book.

“Yet, over the years I evened the score against that industry, evened the score not once but hundreds of times,” he wrote.

After graduating from Laramie High School he went on to the University of Wyoming, graduating in 1949, then graduating magna cum laude from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1952.

He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in May 1990.

Right out of law school, he started his career in Riverton, Wyoming, alongside Frank Hill, the father of now-retired Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Bill Hill.

Bill Hill knew Spence throughout his boyhood years, though the two did not often cross paths when Hill entered the law profession as an adult.

He was tall, blond-haired, smiling, energetic and “nice to boys,” Hill recalled.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"You Won’t Enjoy That …"}]

In 1962 while he was Fremont County attorney, Spence decided to run for a U.S. House of Representatives seat in the Republican primary election against incumbent Rep. William Henry Harrison.

[{"type":"text","text":"Harrison defeated Spence."}]

Years later during the tenure of Former Gov. Mike Sullivan, Spence considered running for Congress again, this time U.S. Senate. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"And Sullivan warned Spence not to do it."}]

One of the most famous trial attorneys of the 20th century and a proud son of Wyoming, Gerry Spence, died overnight Wednesday, at the age of 96. Spence was a legend among the trial bar — especially for his civil practice and criminal defense work.

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