Sam Hampton started riding for his family’s ranch when he was 6 years old on a pinto pony named Bugs.
By the time he was 10 he was moving sheep camps in the Bighorn Mountains. As an adult, he ran the ranch, led wagon trains and rode for Pony Express relay reenactments.
This Washakie County pioneer will be inducted into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame in October.
Samuel Reed Hampton was born June 10, 1935, to Carl and Wanda Hampton.
Sam or Sammy, as he is called, has lived his entire life in the sheep and cattle business on the family ranch his father built starting in 1911. Sam married Phyllis Hefenieder in 1955 and they have been married 69 years. Their three sons and a daughter still maintain the family ranch in Washakie County.
When he was 6, Sam rode bareback on his pinto pony Bugs across the Big Horn Basin badlands all the way to the summer rangelands on top the Big Horn Mountains where his father ran several bands of sheep, tended to by four hired sheepherder camps. Along the way he would visit the other sheepherders of local sheepmen “riding the grub line,” as he would say.
The Hampton Ranch bought Hereford cattle in the 1950s and kept their sheep herd. Sam said the two species were the optimal grazing combination for the land. The sheep would keep the weeds under control and there was plenty of grass for both. The badlands provided salt sage and the best grass to fatten both sheep and cattle.
As information spread of the benefits of black Angus cattle, it wasn’t long before the Herefords were replaced with the hardiness of the Angus.
The trail from Worland to the top of the Big Horns and the summer pasture was around 80 miles. The livestock was herded there by horseback. His family says they don’t know how many horseback miles Sam accumulated over the years.
At cattle branding time, Sam was the one with the hot iron doing the branding. Though he was known to do any other branding day task needed to get the job done.
Sam also helped ranch crews lamb out 5,500 ewes annually through the sheds in the Hampton Sheep Co. heydays.
Sam learned to be a teamster at a young age as his father Carl pulled sheep camps with a four-up team — that is, a team of four horses.
In winter the livestock was fed hay hauled on wagons pulled by teams. The Hamptons also fed ground hay and corn to the cattle and they bought molasses from the local sugar factory that they fed to the sheep.
Sam Hampton was only 6 when he started riding on his pinto pony Bugs. (Courtesy Photo) 
Sam Hampton has spent a lifetime on horses, and will be inducted into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame next month. (Courtesy Photo) 
Sam Hampton drives a wagon during a local parade. (Courtesy Photo)
The Wagon Master
During the 1990 Wyoming Centennial celebration, Sam joined many other enthusiasts in in a wagon train that traveled the Bridger Trail from Casper to Powell and Cody.
He also served as wagon master several times from 1990 to 2009 for the New Pioneer Wagon Train group on their eight-day trail trips every August. Sam would have at least one wagon on the trip, and often loaned out others. At one time he had six Belgian teams and all the harness needed to hitch those horses to the wagons.
As wagon master, Sam often rode his surefooted black paso fino Jet back and forth from the first wagon all the way back to the end wagon to make sure all the harness and horses and people were in good order. Those were long, enjoyable days he looks back on with fondness.
When he was 74, he retired from wagon mastering, but continued to drive smaller teams and buggies with friends until he was 81.
Pony Express Rides And Clowning Around
The 1990 Wyoming Centennial events also started the local Pony Express reride from the Hyattville Post Office to the Ten Sleep Post Office, a total of 18 miles. Sam carried the mail via Pony Express many years with family members and local riders. Those riders would then be a part of the Ten Sleep Fourth of July Parade before the annual rodeo.
Sam and his family members, usually his daughter and granddaughters, would ride the first legs of the Pony Express mail relay so they could shuttle to Ten Sleep in time to hitch the team to his wagon for the parade where Sam, a Lion’s Club member, would have the mayor or grand marshal ride in the wagon.
In 2011, the Hampton family rode in their own wagons in the Ten Sleep parade to celebrate 100 years of ranching in Washakie County. Three years ago, Sam was honored as the Ten Sleep grand marshal.
Besides ranching, and celebrating history, Sam Hampton had a fun side to his personality and was the local rodeo clown for years.
For his act he always wore the same clown outfit. He did skits with a little Boston terrier and balloons, a willing volunteer from the audience, a donkey named Josie that laid down on cue, and he used a dune buggy to chase steers in the arena.
The last time he entertained at the Ten Sleep Fourth of July Rodeo, Sam was 69 and dressed up in a skirt and wig and rode a big workhorse gelding bareback around the barrels carrying an umbrella.
A lifetime staple in Sam’s family has been the 1926 sourdough starter started by his father Carl and given to Sam and Phyllis as a wedding present, along with the mixing bowl and spoon. That starter has been shared around the world to any who’d like one.
The waffles and hotcakes made from it are “divine,” according to his family. They say that sourdough is the glue that keeps the family together.
Sam always went out of his way to help anyone, especially neighbors. Many days in the saddle were spent on the trail helping move cattle with friends and neighbors, helping at brandings, fall preconditioning, and moving his livestock out of the path of other herds coming through. Docking lambs and shearing required a big crew and every sheepman appreciated Sam’s help. This Hall of Fame cowboy lives by the saying, “To have good neighbors, first you have to be one.”
Visit the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame at wyomingcowboyhalloffame.org.
Candy Moulton can be reached at Candy.L.Moulton@gmail.com.
