Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"The world needs more Joes..."}]

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, January 18, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The world needs more Joes...

Daily Smile: Thursday, January 18, 2024

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Wyoming Life

[{"type":"text","text":"Frank Canton was known for his eyes. "}]

Rancher Elmer Brock claimed that Canton had "yellow coyote eyes." Edward Burnett, a rancher who also knew him well, said that when Canton got his steely eye on a man that settled it.

“Canton carried a gun, perhaps sometimes two of them,” Burnett said. “I never knew of his using one. His eye was sufficient.”

Canton was also a man with a secret identit

 admitted his real name was Joe Horner. 

According to Margaret Brock Hanson in her book “Powder River Country,” Canton had gone on a cattle drive through Kansas when he was a teenager in 1869. On his way home through Texas, he found trouble.

“The stories vary as to the adventures of these boys,” Hanson wrote. “But it seems that they got to Jacksboro where they all got liquored up and tried to shoot up the town.”

Near Jacksboro was Fort Richardson. Hanson said the story she heard was that Buffalo soldiers tried to arrest the cowboys and some were killed. The boys escaped and headed west to unsettled country. 

[{"type":"text","text":"At Comanche, Texas, they robbed a bank."}]

“Evidently, young Joe Horner was not in on the robbery and was left behind when the other boys left town in a hurry,” Hanson said. “Therefore, Joe was the only one who was arrested.”

Another story was that Horner could not reveal his alibi without compromising a girl of good repute. 

He was tried, convicted and given a long jail sentence. Horner was said to have escaped with the help of the girl or her family. Other rumors said the jailer’s daughter became enamored with him and helped him escape. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Working for the Association"}]

In Canton’s autobiography “Frontier Trails”, there is no mention of 

 as a teenager or even that he changed his name. He does write about joining a big cattle drive when he was 17 in the spring of 1869, and about subsequent cattle drives.   

By 1878, the fugitive accepted a position with the Wyoming Stock Raisers’ Association as field inspector, with headquarters at Cheyenne.

“My duties were to take charge of the criminal work on the range, protect the interests of members of the Association, recover stolen property, and furnish evidence against stock thieves,” Canton wrote in his memoirs.

He was sent to the Yellowstone River country in Montana, with headquarters at Miles City. He then investigated a report that the Crow Indians were killing some of the association’s cattle and selling the beef for elk meat.

Canton said he took advantage of the trip to look over the battleground where Gen. Custer and 278 men were killed two years earlier at Little Big Horn.

“History calls this the 'Custer Massacre', but according to the Indian custom, I would call it a fair fight,” Canton said. “Custer made the first attack on the Indians and after that they had to fight and they certainly did fight to a finish.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"City Thugs"}]

When Canton arrived in Montana, the railroad ended in Miles City. The only way to travel west was by horse or stagecoach.

Canton said the railroad company furnished free transportation from the East to all laborers. 

se criminal element in the big cities took them up on the offer.

“The result was that the country west of Miles City, Montana, was soon overrun with the most desperate gang of cut-throats that ever went unhung,” Canton said.

He complained that the cattle thieves and the stage robbers along the Yellowstone were bad enough, but when this bunch of city thugs was turned loose, law-abiding citizens were surrounded by unbearable conditions.

“The officers were brave and determined, and did their duty, but there were not enough of them,” Canton said. “The actual residents in Montana then took a hand in the game.”

According to Canton, vigilante committees were organized and second warnings were never issued.

“If the first warning was not obeyed, you would probably find several dead bodies hanging to telegraph poles,” Canton said. “The vigilantes soon ran the crooks out of the towns.”

Granville Stuart, president of the Montana Stock Association, then recruited 50 cowboys in a war of extermination against the criminals on the range and along the Yellowstone, Musselshell and Missouri rivers.  

The criminals who escaped were said to hav

Canton moved from Miles City in 1880 and settled at Buffalo, Wyoming, still in the employ of the Wyoming Stock Association. He homesteaded 480 acres 

iles southwest of Buffalo at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains, where he began farming and stock raising.

“It was the best rendezvous for outlaws that I have ever seen,” he said. “And they were there, plenty of them.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Elected Sheriff"}]

Burnett, the rancher who knew Canton well, said the high life in the little adolescent city of Buffalo was altogether too much for the sheriff and deputy.

“The County Commissioners could not put them out of office, so they put in Frank Canton as deputy sheriff and stock inspector,” Burnett said. “He called to him a little sawed-off Texan of the name of Jim Enochs, and they hung a man or two and then things settled down nice and quiet.”

Canton was elected sheriff of Johnson County in 1882. He appointed John McDermott as undersheriff to take charge of the office and hired 18 field deputies.

“I had but little time to stay in my office for the next two years, for I was in charge of the field work myself, and in the saddle most of the time,” Canton said.

Burnett said Canton was sheriff for two terms and could have had a third, but he thought McDermott was entitled to the office so he did not run.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Neighbor Rancher"}]

Burnett, according to the Wyoming State Archives, was a native of Durham, England. He immigrated to Texas where, in 1880, he joined a trail herd bound for Wyoming. 

In Johnson County, Burnett settled on the Forty-One Ranch near Buffalo, which became one of the largest cattle ranches in the Powder River country.

“After Canton went out of office, he lived on a farm adjoining me,” Burnett said. “Cattle stealing and killing beef got bad.”

Burnett dug for coal about two miles away. One morning, he

 “A beef has been killed in those hills where you dig your coal,” Canton said. “Let’s go and look it up.”

Burnett said he saddled his own horse, Angel Eyes, and off they went. They found the head and hide of the beef and circled around looking for trail signs. When they got together again, Burnett asked Canton if he had found anything.

Canton produced the sleeve of an old shirt and said, “When we find the rest of this shirt, there will be a hanging.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Burnett looked at the shred of shirt."}]

“That’s a piece of an old shirt of mine,” he said. “My wife tied up a lunch for me the last load of coal I dug. The rest of the shirt is at home."

Years afterward, Burnett told this story to a neighbor cowman who said, “What was the brand on that beef you killed?” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Leaving Wyoming"}]

After he left the sheriff’s office, Canton returned to his job with the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association. Soon after, he became involved in the Johnson County War on behalf of his employers.

On April 9, 1892, it was Canton who led the Regulators to the KC Ranch, where the ensuing battle ended in the deaths of Nick Ray and Nate Champion.

[{"type":"text","text":"Ray was shot and killed in the opening minutes. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Champion killed at least four of the Regulators and wounded others. "}]

At 5 p.m., Canton set the house on fire. Champion burst out of the house firing his Winchester rifle and was shot 28 times. 

Champion had taken his boots off, symbolically not dying with “his boots on,” a term used to describe the death of an outlaw, according to historian Clay Gibbons.  

Two days later a huge posse, led by Sheriff Angus, surrounded the Regulators at the TA Ranch. Fortunately for Canton, the U.S. Cavalry's arrival rescued him from having to surrender. 

The newspapers portrayed Canton and the others in a favorable light because of the influences of his employers.

Canton, like the other Regulators, was freed. He left Wyoming

He eventually became adjutant general for the Oklahoma National Guard. It was there that Canton confessed that he was Horner, and the governor of Texas granted him a pardon.

Despite Canton’s tactics and cold eyes that Burnett said would have made Canton a good banker, the rancher ended his own memoirs about Canton with praise.

“As a neighbor, Frank Canton was one of the best,” Burnett said. “He had the greatest virtue of all which is Charity.”

Frank Canton and Johnson County War 7 25 26

<title>Wyoming History: Ruthless Sheriff Needed A Secret Identity From Cattle Rustlers | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Johnson County Frank Canton was so ruthless with cattle rustlers and quick with a gun that he needed a secret identity. “If the first warning was not obeyed, you would probably find several dead bodies hanging to telegraph poles,” he once said.

Wyoming History: Ruthless Sheriff Needed A Secret Identity From Cattle Rustlers

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

A Casper woman breeds and sells rare hairless Sphynx cats that go for thousands of dollars, drawing buyers from around the country who travel hundreds or even thousands of miles for one of the wrinkly felines. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Not everyone understands the appeal."}]

For every person willing to spend $3,000 to $7,000 on a hairless cat, there's somebody like Beverly Jean Luce of Big Piney.

The retired school bus driver has owned cats for most of her 79 years and estimates she's shared her home with about 10 hairy cats over her lifetime, but never a Sphynx. 

"I think they're ugly," she said matter-of-factly. "They look demonic." 

She also voices concerns about how a naked cat would survive Wyoming's famously brutal winters.

The breed's wrinkled skin, oversized ears and lack of fur often draw puzzled looks from people more accustomed to barn cats and calico mousers. 

[{"type":"text","text":"But not everyone feels that way."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Four-Hour Drive"}]

Billie Studanski wanted a Sphynx cat for nearly a decade before she found one.

When a friend tagged her in a social media post about one available in Rock Springs, she climbed into her vehicle and drove more than four hours just to meet the cat.

[{"type":"text","text":"The breeder couldn't believe it."}]

"You're going to drive four hours to meet her without buying her?" Studanski recalled being asked.

Today, Studanski owns two Sphynxes and laughs at the reactions they get from strangers.

"Most people think that they're scary," she said, "But after they spend a few minutes around them they're like, 'Oh my God, they're so cool. I want one'."

Studanski describes hers as something closer to a dog than a traditional house cat.

[{"type":"text","text":"They come when called. They walk on harnesses. And they demand attention."}]

"They're not lay-around, loungy cats," she said. "They're terrorists."

[{"type":"text","text":"The devotion goes both ways."}]

Her cats have heated beds, heated blankets throughout the house, and a floor-to-ceiling cat tree. They even have their own room.

[{"type":"text","text":"For people who love Sphynx cats, that's not unusual, Studanski says. "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Dark Side Of Breeding"}]

Casper breeder Jasmine Durkey understands why the cats generate strong opinions.

[{"type":"text","text":"She had a similar reaction herself the first time she saw one."}]

Then a 6-week-old kitten crawled into her lap.

"It was love at first sight," she said, explaining her head-first dive into the world of breeding. 

Durkey spent years studying feline husbandry, genetics and bloodlines before purchasing breeding cats and later importing several from Moscow, Russia.

Today she maintains a small cattery with six adult cats and produces only a handful of litters each year.

Breeding cats requires genetic testing, veterinary care, annual heart scans and constant monitoring, Durkey says. 

[{"type":"text","text":"And sometimes, things still go wrong."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Durkey remembers one of her first litters producing three kittens."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"One died days later."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"When you lose a kitten, it's heartbreaking,\" she said."}]

It's what she calls the "dark side" of breeding — the difficult reality hidden behind photos of adorable kittens and social media posts.

"You can put every ounce of your energy into it, and they'll still fade," she said.

The losses, expenses and countless hours of work are partly why Durkey says breeding remains more of a passion project than a path to wealth.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Chorus of Meows"}]

People have traveled from Maryland, Texas and Nevada to get a kitten from Durkey's cattery. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Throughout an interview with Durkey, meowing was heard in the background."}]

One cat demanded attention. Another seemed determined to contribute its own thoughts to the conversation.

"They're very affectionate," Durkey said. "They love to be around people."

Unlike the ornery stereotype often associated with cats, the Sphynx breeder describes them as "shadows that follow people from room to room."

[{"type":"text","text":"They burrow under blankets, seek out warm laps, and demand interaction."}]

People compare Sphynx cats to aliens. They joke about them being naked. Durkey said she hears it all.

What people don't see, she said, are the personalities hiding beneath the wrinkles.

Contact Kolby Fedore at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com

Naked cats Mix Collage 25 Jul 2026 07 07 AM 6257 7 25 26

<title>Wyoming Woman Breeds Wrinkly Hairless Sphynx Cats That Sell For Thousands | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper woman breeds and sells rare hairless Sphynx cats that go for thousands of dollars, drawing buyers from around the country who travel hundreds or even thousands of miles for one of the wrinkly felines. Not everyone understands the appeal.

Wyoming Woman Breeds Wrinkly Hairless Sphynx Cats That Sell For Thousands

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

He was a collector of cars, coins, guns, clocks, rocks, friends and anything else that claimed his interest.

And if there wasn’t a garage on his property, he built one.

A year after the passing of Dale Corkill his widow, Patricia, and stepdaughter, Amanda Lake, are trying to find good homes for two of his four-wheeled possessions. 

He and Patricia closed on a house in Glenrock, sent three cars to its garage, and then he died of cancer at a Riverton hospice on May 21, 2025, a week before he was to move in.

Patricia Corkill said she did not realize how many cars her husband of 26 years owned at the time he died, but she pulled out a stack of titles she had to get transferred into her name.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He had them stored in various garages."}]

“It took half a day at the clerk’s office to get everything switched over,” she said. “Then I had to go back. You should have seen the no-smiley faces.”

She just sold his 1941 Chevy Master Deluxe to a man from Denver. Now there just remains a 1925 Model T Opera car and a 1931 Model A Ford with a rumble seat.

“The Opera car has this shade in the back and it would also have a vase,” Patricia said. “The driver or whoever could put a flower in it.”

She said the front seat looks like a couch and noted the cars then were built for smaller people than are typical today.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Parade Car"}]

Lake said her stepdad would drive the Model T in parades in Dubois and Lander. His passenger had to pump a non-original water-filled squirt bottle with a hose attached to keep the little four-cylinder engine and radiator from overheating at the parade pace.

Patricia Corkill said when her husband bought the Model T, as well as the Model A, they were already restored. But he purchased other cars and equipment that would require his skills as a mechanic and electrical whiz.

Mostly, she believes her husband purchased the cars because he enjoyed history and old things.

The couple met at the Dave Johnston Power Plant, where Dale Corkill worked for more than 30 years as an instrument technician.

He was born in Lander and spent his high school years in Casper, graduating from Natrona County High School in the same class as the late Vice President Dick Cheney. 

“He liked him of course and Lynn also,” Patricia Corkill said. “We went to a class reunion and I got to shake hands with him. I didn’t wash my hand for a week.”

Afte Dale's retirement from PacificCorp, he spent three years working for Basin Electric.

Patricia said when she retired from the Dave Johnston Power Plant, he left the Wheatland job and they moved to a cabin he had owned for several years and spent the next 17 years in that region.

Dale knew all of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and Shoshone National Forest trails and sites of interest. He often acted as a guide for friends and others on snowmobile trips or four-wheeler excursions.

“I guess you could probably call him the original Airbnb person up on Union Pass taking care of people’s cabins and stuff for them,” Lake said. “Not everybody lives there year-round.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Skilled Mechanic"}]

Patricia Corkill said her husband was the type of guy who fixed nearly anything: Snowmobiles, four wheelers, older cars, tractors. She said he was raised in a one-bedroom house in Casper and his dad was a carpenter and mechanic.

After graduation from high school, Dale went to Casper College and graduated with a degree in electronics. Once at the Dave Johnston Power Plant in his later years he became a teacher for other operators and even after retirement would go back to put on classes, Patrica said.

Lake said he was always a man on the move working on equipment, fixing clocks, hunting rocks, or helping others.

Patricia said whenever they moved to a new home, if the property didn’t have a garage our outbuildings he built one.

The couple from 2017 to 2025 lived in Riverton and then planned to move back to Glenrock despite his illness.

“When we bought this place, he saw the garage and said ‘let’s buy it,’” Patricia said. “Before he even came into the house.”

Besides building garages, Dale loved to listen to older people tell their stories and was ready hand to help them with projects — helping one Douglas-area widow and friend with her estate after her husband died.

When the couple prepared to move from Riverton to Glenrock, it took two auctions to downsize from the all the collection of equipment, cars, rocks, clocks and other items.

They had a three-car garage, three sheds, and a big shop full of tools, cars, rocks and more.

“He was a man that loved history and enjoyed seeing it in the old gadgets,” Patricia said. “You have no idea how much stuff we had to get rid of because we were downsizing so much. It hurt him bad, but he knew that he was not able to take care of it anymore.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rock Collection"}]

Patricia Corkill said her husband’s rock collection that included polished stones as well as just rocks made more money than the first auction that included equipment, tools and household items.

She retains some of the rocks they collected as well as other unique items such as lamps used in the Glenrock coal mines, a razor sharpener, and arrowheads from all over Wyoming.

Patricia said her husband loved going to auctions.

“You could show him something and he could tell you the story behind it,” Lake said.

Mother and daughter posted the last of Dale Corkill’s wheeled collection they want to sell on social media sites a couple weeks ago.

 features wooden spoked wheels, a throttle on the column, and a battery so there's no need to twist a crank to start it — though that’s available for back up. The red-bulb hood ornament/radiator cap apparently helps the driver keep his hands from getting burned when removing the cap.

Patricia Corkill said the engine on the Model T was replaced by a previous owner, so the number does not match the original title.

 features a winged bird in flight as its combination hood ornament and radiator cap, spoked rims, spare tires with Ford covers on both sides of the car, and a metal carry rack that folds out off the back behind the rumble seat. The little four-cylinder engine boasts 4,635 miles on its odometer.

The last time both cars were fired up and driven was during a parade three years ago.

“We just want to find good homes for them,” Patricia Corkill said.

Model T and mug 7 25 26

<title>Glenrock Widow Trying To Find Homes For Husband's 1925 Model T And 1931 Model A | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Glenrock widow has stories to tell about her late husband who was a prolific collector of cars, rocks, clocks, guns, gadgets, and much more. A year after his death, she's still trying to "find good homes" for his 1925 Model T Opera car and 1931 Model A.

Glenrock Widow Trying To Find Homes For Husband's 1925 Model T And 1931 Model A

Anna-Louise Jackson

Business & Tourism

Business

With clear skies and temperatures flirting with 90 degrees, it’s a perfect weekend to enjoy a private island on Montana’s Flathead Lake. 

The only problem is you’ll still need $72 million to snatch it off the market.

While a lot has changed in the past four years, that’s not the case for 

 for Cromwell Island, a 350-acre island that’s home to an unfinished 45,000-square-foot French-style villa described as “reminiscent of Versailles” on the west side of the lake.

As anyone who has some experience in the real estate market knows, most sellers will entertain serious offers.

Whether one of those offers will strike the fancy of this particular owner, however, is a different matter.

“I guess time will tell where we make a deal, but the asking price is $72 million and that has not changed,” said Bill McDavid, the listing agent for the property with Missoula-based Hall and Hall.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"New Neighbors"}]

One thing that has changed is that the future owners of Cromwell Island could have some jet-set neighbors in the future.

That’s because Discovery Land Co., the developers behind the swanky Jackson’s 3 Creek Ranch and the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana, have proposed a 359-unit subdivision on 1,800 acres in Lakeside, less than 20 miles as the crow flies from the island.

But that proposed development — dubbed Territory 1889, a nod to the year Montana became a state — has run into some issues.

A local judge paused the water permitting process last month and some locals are fighting the development through the nonprofit Citizens for a Better Flathead.

Still, if that development proceeds as planned, it could help move Cromwell Island off the market for its $72 million asking price.

McDavid said it’s common for some people who buy into those sorts of enclaves to eventually decide they’d like a little more space and privacy, so they start looking for property nearby while continuing to enjoy the perks of a club membership.

“I could see the same thing happening here,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Languishing On The Market"}]

Another thing that admittedly has changed in the past four years is that Montana’s once-high-flying real estate market has come back to earth somewhat, and it’s taking longer for homes to move. 

As of May, Montana homes were on the market for a median of 85 days before going under contract, according to Redfin. That’s about a month longer than it was taking to move the median listing back in 2022.

It's been four years without a buyer for Montana’s most expensive luxury estate, a 350-acre private island with a huge unfinished 45,000-square-foot villa. The $72 million property also features a boat dock that can accommodate a 70-foot yacht.

Daily Smile: Thursday, January 18, 2024

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