EP 2-31 STEVE MOULTON
Wendy Corr:
Well, hey there, folks. Welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on really interesting people in the cowboy state. And our guest today, he and his family have embodied the spirit of the cowboy state and his family's legacy is still making memories for tourists who come to Wyoming even today.
So we'll get to that in just a minute, though. First, I want to make sure that you know about another really great podcast that's based on the business of Wyoming, and it's called the “Business From the Basement” podcast. It's put out there by the Wyoming Business Alliance. So make sure to check that out. If you're a business person in Wyoming, it's full of great information and people and connections.
But that's what the Roundup is about, too, is great people and connections. So we don't want you to go there before you stick around and hear this conversation with Steve Moulton. If anybody's been to Jackson, hello, and if anybody's seen that iconic picture of the old barn in front of the Tetons. That's the Moulton ranch. That is Steve's family, and he is going to tell us about that today.
Steve and his wife Candy, their lives are devoted to keeping the history of Wyoming alive, whether it's through films and productions and wagon ride rides, or whether it's going to the Grand Encampment, which is coming up here yet in July, and keeping those traditions alive as well.
So Steve Moulton, we are so glad to have you on the Roundup today. How are you?
Steve Moulton:
I'm good. Wendy, how are you?
Wendy Corr:
I'm great. I'm great. Steve, you and your family have just made so many memories without people even really realizing that it's you and your family. But yet, Steve, you're out there still doing all the things in the old ways and and I just love that. Tell us a little bit about what your day to day life is like right now, before we get into the Moulton barns and the history of that.
Steve Moulton:
Well, I am now retired from I worked 20 plus years, the last years I was working, 20 plus years on ranch here locally, in encampment, full time on the ranch, but I did have done other things. So right now I'm still building some furniture that I enjoy building. And then, at the moment, my wife has got a big film project and and so the last few days, and for the next few days and week, we're going to be working on that project about history of Wyoming.
Wendy Corr:
That's great. Of course, your wife, Candy Moulton, is in charge of our American West series at Cowboy State daily. And I had a lovely, lots of conversations with Candy, and she's just so accomplished in that way. I love the fact that you guys work on these things together. But Steve, what she's doing is preserving it, and what you're doing, and have done for so long is is preserving it in a different way.
Like, for example, putting together the grand encampment that is an annual event that is happening this this year, this month, actually. Tell us about the importance of the grand encampment gatherings that you've done over the last few years.
Steve Moulton:
Yes, some years ago, I think this is the 22nd year. I'm not sure exactly, but Candy and I were, both of you might say, founding members of the grand encampment cowboy gathering. And it had, there had been a gathering in Rawlins, and for whatever reason, they decided to shut it down, and we moved it to encampment.
And we bring some of the top musicians, western genre musicians, cowboy poets, and we really had some great people here over The years. This year we're going to have John Chandler from Denver. John's a great musician. He's got that really great, deep voice that people just love, you know, and he's got a side man that plays every instrument that you can imagine. And if I could play like him, oh, man, I just love it.
But I've participated too, and I played in the gathering, not for a few years, but that genre of music just is something that I love. I love to listen to, and it's been fun to get to know these, these great musicians of that genre.
Wendy Corr:
Now, Steve, though you have yourself won awards for cowboy music, in fact, we have that in common because I have been the recipient of a wrangler award from the Western Heritage Association, just this year for my podcast, this podcast.
You though received one of these amazing bronzes and awards for your music back in 2010 - tell us about that.
Steve Moulton:
Well, that was, I don't know, maybe kind of a fluke. I don't know, my wife's entered the awards program many times. She has been a judge in it many times. And we had actually gone to the Western Heritage Awards prior to that, so I kind of knew what it was.
And she said, in 2010 I recorded an album. There was only one song on the album that I wrote. The rest were covers. But she said, you know, you should enter your album in the Western Heritage Awards. She was also entering something that year. And I said, I don't know if, I don't think I could ever do well there, and she but we went ahead and I, I filled out the form and sent it in.
And I was working down at the ranch one day, and she called me and said there was somebody from the Western Heritage Awards that called, and they won't tell me what they want, but they only want to talk to you.
So I got the cows fed and went home and called them, and sure enough, I had won a Western Heritage Award. So, and it's a it's a wonderful event. As you know, they treat people very well. It was so much fun. Michael Martin Murphy awarded me my award. And as I you know, the musicians have to get up on stage, or they did then and sing to the guests.
Wendy Corr:
They still do.
Steve Moulton:
I had never sang in front of 1000 people before, so I would just a country boy like me. I was I was nervous. I got out on stage and I sang the Master's call. And you certainly know that song, yeah, first song I ever learned, the Master's call.
And just as I walked out on stage, Tom Selleck was sitting down right in front of me, the first table in front of me, so that even made things worse, you know, but I got it through it well, and and I think I did okay, and it was a great experience.
Wendy Corr:
That's fantastic. It is. It's an amazing experience. And I'm so thrilled to to be able to share that experience with you, and to have you share that with us as the as the audience here on the Roundup, the music for you is again, one of the ways that you keep the old traditions alive.
You also do that through your woodworking and your furniture building. Because the tools that use, so many of the tools that you use, are actually your grandfather's tools. Tell us about your woodworking business and your furniture building business. I've always liked to build create.
Steve Moulton:
My grandfather in Jackson Hole, on my mother's side was a carpenter, cabinet maker, and that's probably where I get that gene, I don't know. And some years ago, I was able to get some of his equipment.
And for since the mid 90s, I've been building, and only in my spare time, furniture for we've got a local dude ranch here that I've built furniture almost every winter for. They've kept me busy, and I've greatly appreciated that. And I've had other good clients over the years, some in Cody that I've built a lot of stuff for, and have enjoyed working for them.
Growing up in Cody as you know, you see the Molesworth style and so that always interest me. And I didn't, wasn't able to do much till in the 90s, when I was got to where I could build my own shop and and that's kind of where I started, was in that style of furniture. There's, you know, in Cody, there's some great furniture builders there.
Still there are been wonderful things, and it's fun to see their stuff. And so I've kind of continued with that basic ranch furniture, mountain furniture type over the years, and it's it. I'm one of those people who can't sit in the house and watch TV. I don't watch sports, so I've got to have something to keep my hands busy, so I go out in the shop and and just create whatever.
Wendy Corr:
That's awesome. I want to switch over here real quickly. This is a great place to segue because you're using your grandfather's tools and your grandfather was T.A. Moulton.
Steve Moulton:
Okay, the furniture or the tools I'm using is my Woodward grandfather, my mom. T.A. Moulton is my father's dad, right? And the Moultons came from England. They joined the Mormon church in England and came with the handcart companies.
And they were in in the Willie handcart company that got stranded on South Pass. You know, many of those people didn't make it. They died. There was seven people, seven kids in the Moulton family, two adults, seven kids. My great grandfather was born about two or three days out of Liverpool on the ship, and he was the only infant that survived that entire trek to Salt Lake.
They had seven kids, so they had two hand carts. I don't know if that was a blessing or a curse, but, but they made it. They ended up in Heber City, Utah, where they raised their families and then my great grandfather took, when he had his family, he took them to Idaho, okay, and he took a homestead, I guess, in Idaho.
But my grandfather, then, as a young man rode his horse into Jackson Hole and took a homestead in the shadow of the Tetons, and there he built the barn that everybody the barn you got to know. There's two of them, right? The TA barn has the steep pitched roof. The John Molton barn, which was his brother, had the gambrel style roof.
But it's so interesting to go over there. You can you can go before daylight in the morning in the summer, and people just flock in there to take pictures of that barn, and it was used as a cover for Saturday Evening Post
Wendy Corr:
You were in that illustration.
Steve Moulton:
I don't know. The illustrator said in a caption inside that he saw three children playing in the barnyard, and when he took a photo, and then he he illustrated it, and the three kids probably would have been my sister and my brother and I, I don't know.
But anyway, it's been a it's been a fun thing for the family to know what, what has gone on over there, and all the people that dearly love to go there and photograph it.
Wendy Corr:
You and Candy were instrumental in preserving that.
Steve Moulton:
Yes, back in the 90s, it was caving in. The North lean to was caving in. And I don't know how she did it, but she's pretty tenacious, and she got permission from the Park Service to let the family go in and rebuild that roof on that North lean to.
And then we did some other work then next summer also. But they they ask her, Well, how are these people that are going to work on this barn? Are they qualified? And she said two those people that built the barn, my dad, his brother, will be on that roof, and other more descendants who are contractors will be on that roof. I think we're qualified, so they let us rebuild it.
And the Park Service has done a lot, too, and we appreciate that to keep it stable so it won't fall over, you know, and so it was a lot of gratification to be able to to work on the barn.
Wendy Corr:
Absolutely and again, a lot of red tape that Candy was able to cut through and to make it happen.
Steve Moulton:
Working for the park service is not easy.
Wendy Corr:
Well, we're all so grateful that that landmark is still there. It's still such an iconic image for anybody who comes to the Jackson Hole area, they want to drive out that country road, and they want to stop there, and they want to take that picture. I've done it, yeah, take that picture with that barn.
Steve Moulton:
Good. I wrote a, I wrote a song called the icon of Jackson Hole. And it's, it's about the family barn, of course, of course.
Wendy Corr:
That's so wonderful. Your family, though, has has really touched Wyoming history in other ways too. You've got a connection to the iconic horse Steamboat. Tell us about that.
Steve Moulton:
My great grandfather, on my mother's side, Guy Holt, rode Steamboat in 1903 at Cheyenne and won Cheyenne that year on Steamboat. He also rode the horse in Laramie that year. And he he got bucked off, but there was a picture taken of him by BC Buffum, who was a University of Wyoming professor.
And the picture just, you know, laid in the files for a few years. I don't know how long, but when they were developing the these cowboy logo for the University of Wyoming. They used that photograph to develop, develop the logo. And we know that because Candy, when she and my mother wrote a book about Steamboat and the riders, and when she was researching, she found in the UW records that fact.
My grandfather had to sign a release to let them use that picture.
Wendy Corr:
My goodness. So every time we see the logo, we see our license plates, we see UW merchandise, and you know, Steamboat, it's it's your grandfather.
Steve Moulton:
Well, we don't claim the license plate. A lot of people do claim it. We've never said, Oh, it is Guy Holt. It isn't. We've never claimed it, but maybe it's, we've always said it's a composite of a lot of different writers, but it's certainly Steamboat.
Wendy Corr:
That is just the coolest. We love hearing stories like that. Again, you're keeping that alive. You're keeping that in your life, in your family, you're really the embodiment of this iconic history of Wyoming. What is it, Steve, that is so important to you to keep this culture, this cowboy culture, in the minds of people who live here, but also those who visit?
Steve Moulton:
Well, Wyoming is the cowboy state. It is. We claim it. Just growing up in the state, both my wife and I are Wyoming natives. We love that culture, and we love to hear those stories, and somebody has to keep those stories alive. So I guess this is how we do it. We talk about it.
And my wife is executive director of the Wyoming Cowboy hall of fame, and all those stories are coming to life with all those old cowboys. And they're, they're great to listen to.
Wendy Corr:
They are, oh, my goodness, that's wonderful. Now, when you've we're talking about the grand encampment and the cowboy gatherings and things like that, we have all of the elements here, including dutch oven cooking and things like that. How many people, I mean is, is the gathering growing?
Steve Moulton:
I won't say it's really growing. It stayed pretty consistent over the entire life of it. Encampment is a small town. There isn't a lot of places for people to stay, so you're sometimes limited by hotel rooms, you know, but we do have a good turnout. A lot of Northern Colorado people, Cheyenne people, come and join us. And it's just been a lot of fun over the years to to bring that to the people.
Wendy Corr:
Now you're going to miss out this year, which is the first time since it started, probably that you two are not going to be able to be there, but you've got other important things that you're working on for that you've got going on.
Steve Moulton:
Yes, we've been to every one of them, or I have anyway since it began. But this year, a family event came to pass in Jackson, so I thought I needed to go up there. They want me to sing a couple songs, couple of the songs that I've written at their event. So so I'm going to go see them and see some of my family members.
Wendy Corr:
And this is the Moulton family, or the Woodward family?
Steve Moulton:
My mother's side of the family.
Wendy Corr:
But also with the rich history there, obviously. So you've got the connections more than just the Moulton name. Your whole family has these amazing ties to Wyoming.
Steve Moulton:
Yes, you know, my mother's family came across Wyoming in a wagon. They went clear to, I think, Oregon, and just they did. It rained too much. So they came back to Wyoming and ended up in Jackson Hole. They took a homestead in Jackson Hole also.
Wendy Corr:
So both sides of the family just go way back to those times. What are your thoughts, Steve, as we kind of wrap up here, what are your thoughts about how much tourism has changed the area that you grew up in? I mean, you grew up in Cody, but your family's got the Jackson connections. What are your thoughts on that?
Steve Moulton:
Well, it's sometimes hard to see, Jackson has grown to be a place that the normal person struggles to live there because of the cost of living. It's fun to go back. Every time we go back, we go out to the barn and just look, you know, see how it's doing, check up on it.
And then Cody. Cody was a great place to grow up. The (Moulton) Homestead was sold in 1960, then we, my folks had a year to get out and find something else. And in ‘61 we moved to Cody, so I spent most of my young life there, started first grade there, and graduated high school.
But Cody has grown, I was on, we were on the South Fork. I remember when we could drive up the South Fork and name almost everybody under every yard light.
Wendy Corr:
Not so anymore.
Steve Moulton:
No, you can't but, but Cody was a great place to grow up. There's so much to do there, and it was great place.
Wendy Corr:
It is a great place. It is a great place. Just one more bit of history. When, when the TA Moulton, so when your grandfather sold the place in the 60s, your uncle stayed and so John Moulton, that family stayed there, right?
Steve Moulton:
Well, two things there, the John Moulton family, that was TA’s brother, my dad's uncle. He actually sold earlier in ‘57 or ‘58, I can't remember which, but he took a lifetime lease, and he fooled them. He lived to be 103, so that that side of the family was able to stay on that other homestead for quite some time.
I think it was maybe early 90s when they had to get off. But I thought that was great when he lived to be 103. And then my my dad's brother, Clark, when he was married, they gave him an acre in the corner of the Homestead, and when they sold the homestead, he kept that acre.
So he lived, continued to live there, and he passed that down to his daughter, and then his grandson had it, and a few years ago, they decided they had enough. It was, they were living in a fishbowl. There's so many people around, and they decided to give it up and the Park Foundation bought it, which was the best thing.
Yeah, and now the foundation has turned it over to the park, so it's all a part of the park now.
Wendy Corr:
My goodness, what deep roots you and your family have in this in this amazing state of Wyoming, and everywhere you look, there's a reminders of your family, whether it's your mom's side or your dad's side, this is your home, and your you and Candy are living and preserving that, and we're grateful to you for that.
Thank you, Steve, for all that you and Candy have done to really elevate the history and keep that in the front of our minds as we all live and enjoy this place.
Steve Moulton:
Well, you're welcome, and it's been nothing but joy to do so.
Wendy Corr:
Good for you. Steve, thank you for your time today. Thank you for the podcast and for this interview. Folks, thank you for your time today, for listening to just a little bit and a deeper dive into the people and the places that we call home, and the history of these things that you didn't know, I bet, until today. So we're glad that you came along with us for this conversation.
Steve, thank you. Folks, have yourselves a great week, and don't don't forget to tune in. Next week, we're going to have another great guest. In fact, it's going to be somebody that I bet you'll know who it is. Thank you so much for tuning in. Have a great week.
