Huge Milk Bottle Collection Traces 175 Years Of Wyoming’s Rich Dairy History

Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.

AR
Andrew Rossi

July 27, 20257 min read

Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)

Can you tell a comprehensive history of Wyoming with milk bottles? You can if you're Steve Wallace, collector, author and historian for all things dairy in the Cowboy State.

Wallace is putting the finishing touches on his latest book, "Following the Trail of Wyoming Dairies." It's a comprehensive history of Wyoming's dairy industry from 1850 to 2025. 

Wallace, who lives in Casper, has been collecting milk bottles for decades.

After becoming curious about the history behind his hobby, he decided to milk it for all it was worth. 

"There have been over 1,000 dairy farms, creameries and cream stations in Wyoming in the last 175 years, but most people couldn't tell you where there's a dairy in Wyoming today," he said. "This book is about reliving Wyoming's dairy business." 

  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)

Collecting Information

Wallace, who grew up in Pennsylvania, has been living in Wyoming since being transferred to F.E. Warren Air Force Base during his military service. But he had been collecting milk bottles since childhood. 

"When my collection exceeded 1,000 milk bottles from around the country, I knew I had to downsize somehow," he said. "So, I got rid of all of them, except for the ones from Wyoming." 

As Wallace reviewed his collection of Wyoming bottles, he discovered more than interesting designs and images. He realized he had a unique archive of historical information preserved in glass. 

"I started finding milk bottles from historical places, ghost towns, and things like that," he said. "It just blossomed into collecting dairy advertising on anything that had to do with the dairy from Wyoming. I was quite avid about this." 

Wallace published "Wyoming Dairies & Dairy Collectibles" in 2009. Since then, he has received dozens of inquiries from people sharing and asking for more information about Wyoming's dairy history.

The new book is an "update" that's 210 pages of history told through the lens of glass milk bottles, he said, adding that it took him more than two and a half years to compile. 

"It's probably as complete as it will ever be," he said. "I've been to museums and archives across the state to get information and photos. There's just so much information there, and the neat thing is, it's not just all reading material." 

Whole Milk

Wyoming isn't necessarily known as a dairy state, but Wallace said it has its own unique place in the dairy industry. Wallace hopes his new book will add more visibility to the Cowboy State's long and storied history. 

"The first record of dairy cows coming into Wyoming was in 1868," he said. "A lady moved to the newly started Laramie City from Denver, and she brought all her household goods, including six dairy cows." 

When the Transcontinental Railroad laid tracks through southern Wyoming, dairy products could be transported across the country. That's what jump-started the state's dairy industry, which reached its peak in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

That industry is much "smaller" in the 21st Century. Wyoming's modern dairy farms are fewer and farther between, but they operate on a much larger scale than their historical predecessors. 

Wallace was amazed when he toured a modern dairy farm near Carpenter in Laramie County. It showed him the industry is alive and well in Wyoming.

"There were only five dairy farms in Wyoming in 2024," he said. "I grew up on a dairy farm, and when I was a kid, we milked 10 cows twice a day. I was shocked to learn that they were milking 6,200 cows three times a day in Carpenter. That's 10 semi-loads of milk every day. It's unbelievable." 

The history of the hundreds of dairy farms that have come and gone in the last 175 years is still preserved. Wallace knew where to look.

Bottling Up History

There's a thriving community of milk bottle collectors, and many of these collectors are willing to part with their milk money and then some to acquire rare and unique bottles. 

Even among the experts and ardent collectors, Wyoming's milk bottles are highly sought after.

Wallace said that Wyoming dairy farms and creameries, which delivered high-quality dairy products back then, embellished their bottles with everything collectors aspire to acquire today. 

"Wyoming's dairies were unique in producing what collectors want today," he said. "Some people collect milk bottles with war slogans on them, and Wyoming has milk bottles with some of the finest war slogans anywhere in the country. Some collect bottles with historic images, and there are plenty of those." 

One bottle Wallace acquired, produced by Converse Creamery in Douglas, included an image of the nearby Ayres Natural Bridge. Eden Valley Dairy in Rock Springs produced a bottle featuring an image of the Rock Springs Coal Arch, which once spanned across C Street. 

In 1906, “Shy Ann” encouraged people not to cry over spilled milk — unless it’s Shy-Ann Jersey Dairy from Cheyenne. The dairy’s name was inspired by a popular song, “Cheyenne,” released that year.

Yellowstone Dairy in Casper had an image of the Lower Falls in Yellowstone National Park on their Grade-A pasteurized whipped cream. And, of course, there were plenty of bucking horses on bottles, advertisements, and anything produced by Wyoming dairies. 

"They wanted Western pictures for everybody back east," Wallace said. "It was true then, and people are still super fascinated by any Western scenes and pictures on milk bottles. That's what makes Wyoming's milk bottles so desirable." 

Wallace doesn't like to think about value when it comes to milk bottles, but he said a Wyoming milk bottle in good condition can go for upwards of $2,000. 

"I didn't get into the money in my book, but it's an indication of exactly how prized and valued some of the Wyoming bottles are," he said. 

  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)
  • Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
    Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)

Published Before It Perishes 

Wallace extensively researched the history of Wyoming's dairies and creameries for his soon-to-be-released book, but a lot of his information came from close to home. His basement houses the Wyoming Milk Bottle Museum, a personal collection of hundreds of milk bottles that he has acquired over several decades. 

"I have probably 99% of all the Wyoming milk bottles that are known," he said. "I had to go to some other folks that had collections and see if I could pick out one or two here and there that I didn't have in my collection to get photos for the book. I even did a couple of TV commercials, trying to find additional items that some of the old-timers could help me with." 

Wallace's museum also includes a wide range of advertisements, labels, and other artifacts from Wyoming's dairy history. One item in particular sparked his interest in pursuing the more expansive book, which has taken nearly three years to complete. 

"I found a token from a dairy farm in Cambria, Wyoming," he said. "It was good for one quart of milk. That town's long gone, but they had a dairy farm there." 

Cambria, established in 1889, was a thriving coal-mining town in Weston County until it was abandoned in 1928. It's a ghost town today, but Wallace's token serves as a reminder of a vibrant history that has since disappeared. 

That, according to Wallace, is the purpose of his book: to record and remember a unique piece of Wyoming's history that he was uniquely positioned to chronicle through his expansive collection of milk bottles. 

"It's my last great hurrah on the dairies and creameries of Wyoming," he said. "All this stuff is history that will someday be forgotten. The milkman disappeared around 1960, and for a lot of young folks, that history hasn't been forgotten because it was never learned. That's what the whole book is about — reliving the Wyoming dairy business from 1850 to today."

Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com

Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history.
Steve Wallace grew up milking cows on a dairy farm, but now he’s milking Wyoming history for all it’s worth. The Casper man’s huge milk bottle collection traces 175 years of Wyoming’s rich dairy history. (Courtesy Steve Wallace)

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.

Authors

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Andrew Rossi

Features Reporter

Andrew Rossi is a features reporter for Cowboy State Daily based in northwest Wyoming. He covers everything from horrible weather and giant pumpkins to dinosaurs, astronomy, and the eccentricities of Yellowstone National Park.