Writer

Jackie Dorothy

Jackie Dorothy is a reporter for Cowboy State Daily based in central Wyoming.

Over the past 20 years, Jackie has worked in television, radio and print across Wyoming. In this role, she has won numerous writing and history awards including the Wyoming Governor’s Journalist of the Year and SBA Journalist of the Year.

Jackie is also the podcast host of ‘Pioneers of Outlaw Country’ that explores little known historical stories of Wyoming with entertaining narrative.

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Latest from Jackie Dorothy

Growing a garden in Wyoming’s climate can be difficult, especially when you plant the wrong seeds. A new company is helping Bighorn Basin gardeners find the right seeds for the Cowboy State’s unique climate.

How To Outsmart The Bighorn Basin Climate When Planting Your Garden

The Bighorn Basin has a long growing season, but it's very cool in the spring and very hot in the summer. If you pick the wrong seeds, you're doomed. A soil scientist in Worland says she has cracked the code and can un-doom your garden.

Jackie DorothyMarch 23, 2025

The American West: Wyoming’s First Woman Senator Brought Back The Saloons

When Thermopolis pioneer, businesswoman and advocate Dora McGrath decided to run for the Wyoming senate in 1930 it was to give soldiers all the freedoms for which they risked their lives -- including the freedom to drink alcohol.

Jackie DorothyMarch 23, 2025

A sheep wagon was built by individuals who had their own unique design. They left behind clues of who they were and Jim O’Rourke had been identifying these sheep wagons before his death in 2024.

Wyoming Man's Obsession Helped Preserve And Promote Sheep Wagons

Jim O'Rourke spend years crisscrossing Wyoming to find, preserve and promote the state's unique ranching invention — the sheep wagon. A year after his unexpected death, his wife continues that momentum of preserving and promoting sheep wagons.

Jackie DorothyMarch 23, 2025

Paleontologist Jason Schein, executive director of Elevation Science Institute, shows off the articulated tail of a 150-million-year-old long-necked sauropod from the Late Jurassic Period. The tail is among thousands of other dinosaur bones found in the Anderson Site on the Montana side of the Bighorn Basin near Bridger, Montana. Tracking dinosaurs throughout the basin, and across time, is what a new digital app is all about.

Digital Timeline Map Lets Anyone Track Dinosaurs When They Inhabited Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin

A new digital map called the “Bighorn Basin WY Land Mammal Age Map” allows users to track dinosaurs, prehistoric animals and ancient plants that once thrived in and ruled the Bighorn Basin in central Wyoming.

Jackie DorothyMarch 23, 2025

Park Ranger Sid Sibo was inspired to write her award-winning novel, “The Scent of Distant Family,” by the Wyoming landscape she worked and lived in for the past 30 years.

How A Dog Lost In The Wyoming Wilderness Inspired Park Ranger Turned Author

A former park ranger was inspired to write her first novel by Wyoming’s wilderness and a lost dog’s journey home. The result was “The Scent of Distant Family,” which has just been nominated for a national award.

Jackie DorothyMarch 21, 2025

Wyoming Cowboy Rapper, aka Jiggy Buckaroo, Takes His Outlaw Flow To Nashville

Growing up in Buffalo, Wyoming, once called the most lawless town in America, with a love of all things Western and rap music, it was inevitable Ryan Charles Kinzer would become the Jiggy Buckaroo cowboy rapper. He's taken his outlaw flow to Nashville.

Jackie DorothyMarch 21, 2025

The oil paintings for “A Home For Steamboat” have been framed and are ready to be displayed across the Cowboy State. Author Casey Rislov and Illustrator Zach Pullen are excited for the debut of their very Wyoming children’s book about the iconic figure on our license plates.

Casper Duo Casey Rislov And Zak Pullen To Release New Children's Book On Wyoming's Famed Steamboat

Casper children’s book author Casey Rislov and illustrator Zak Pullen are at it again. This time, they're telling the story about the iconic bucking horse on Wyoming’s license plate, Steamboat. The new book will be released in April.

Jackie DorothyMarch 15, 2025

Chancey Williams performs at the 2024 Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Moorcroft's Chancey Williams Looking Forward To Fifth Time Playing Cheyenne Frontier Days

This year will mark the fifth time Moorcroft's Chancey Williams will be playing at Cheyenne Frontier Days. He has opened for legends Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, Gary Allen, Dierks Bentley and now Brooks and Dunn.

Jackie DorothyMarch 15, 2025

Wyoming Teacher Rode Same 1,900-Mile Bicycle Route Buffalo Soldiers Did In 1897

The story of Buffalo Soldiers riding bicycles 1,900 miles from Montana to Missouri in a post-Civil War military experiment had been nearly forgotten. Then a Deaver, Wyoming, teacher biked it himself. "It was one of the most meaningful things I've ever done in my life,” he said.

Jackie DorothyMarch 09, 2025

American West: The Kidnapped Doctor And Wounded Outlaw

In 1904, two masked men kidnapped a Thermopolis doctor to save the life of an outlaw at their remote ranch. The horse thief had been shot in a shoot-out with lawmen and his true identity remains a mystery to this day.

Jackie DorothyMarch 09, 2025

Lynette St. Clair of Fort Washakie, Wyoming, grew up listening to the language of her Shoshone people. She realized 30 years ago that it took only a generation for the Shoshone language to become endangered.

Wyoming Woman On Mission To Not Let Shoshone Language And Culture Die

Lynette St. Clair of Fort Washakie grew up listening to the language of her Shoshone people. She realized 30 years ago that the language and culture could die. So she made it her mission to share the language, culture and history with the next generation.

Jackie DorothyMarch 08, 2025

Kaden Horrocks of Utah, riding a King Rodeo Co. bronc at the 2024 Frozen Fury Bronc Futurity hosted by the Hell on Wheels Rodeo Company of Cheyenne.

Started When Cheyenne Frontier Days Was Canceled, Popular Hell On Wheels Rodeo Still Going Strong

In 2020, when Cheyenne Frontier Days was canceled because of COVID-19, Cindy DeLancey and her family launched the Hell on Wheels rodeo. Five summers later, their open rodeos are still being held beginning June 6, leading up to Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Jackie DorothyMarch 08, 2025

Other Authors

Englishman Mike Bell didn’t start out to become an expert on Butch Cassidy and Wyoming outlaws. But his research led him to writing several books on this very topic and sharing his love of the Wyoming west in his home country.

The English Westerner Society: Brits Obsessed with Wyoming, Outlaws And All Things Cowboy

The English Westerner Society started in the 1950s to give American West enthusiasts in England a place to talk about their favorite topic. Mike Bell is one of those British enthusiasts. He has written several books on Butch Cassidy and Wyoming outlaws.

Jackie DorothyMarch 02, 2025

Left: Japanese waltzing mice crawl all over 18-year-old Pat Palmer, who worked at a pet shop in the 1950s. Right: A portrait of Abbie Lathrop by Jesus Romero.

Wyoming History: When The Waltzing Mouse Was The Most Popular Pet In America

More than a century ago, the waltzing mouse exploded as the most popular pet in America. Now we know these spazzed-out tiny rodents have a neurological disorder, but then they were beloved for their “dancing.”

Jackie DorothyMarch 02, 2025

Barb Tomes Vietti is passionate about history in her hometown of Thermopolis and admits to going down a rabbit hole when she started investigating the history behind the Smoky Row Cemetery. Her research has revealed that the cemetery has three graves, not the six to 10 that legend had claimed.

Where Are The Six Bodies Missing From Wyoming’s Smoky Row Cemetery?

As many as nine people were long believed to have been buried in the historic 1890 Smoky Row Cemetery in Hot Springs State Park in Wyoming. Now ground-penetrating radar shows six of them aren’t there, so where are the missing Smoky Row bodies?

Jackie DorothyMarch 01, 2025

Tom O’Day’s booking photo (left). Tom O’Day poses in a photo that now hangs in Cody’s Old Town (right)

The American West: How A Wyoming Outlaw Won A Gunfight With A Coffee Mug

When outlaw Tom O’Day was ambushed in a Thermopolis café back in 1903, a coffee cup was his only defense. Although O'Day was injured, he was declared the winner of the gunfight by newspapers all across Wyoming. The media lampooned the gunman for losing to a coffee cup.

Jackie DorothyMarch 01, 2025

The American West: The Doomed Gold Rush Of Wyoming’s Wind River Canyon

In 1906, a gold rush erupted in Wyoming’s Copper Mountains above the Wind River Canyon. Asmus Boysen’s dream to build a dam and power for these mines was destined for ruin.

Jackie DorothyFebruary 28, 2025

For 50 years, Jerry Kintzler has been designing flower arrangements from his store, Jerry’s Flowers, in downtown Riverton, Wyoming.

Meet Jerry Kintzler: 55 Years Of Designing Flower Arrangements — And Saving Lives

Jerry Kintzler has been designing flower arrangements for 55 years in Riverton and has even saved lives with his flower knowledge. At least twice, he warned people that premature dead flowers were a sign they had gas leaks in their homes.

Jackie DorothyFebruary 23, 2025

Ski Instructor Karl Milner lost a leg during while fighting in the military. Now he and Eric teach first-time skiers at Antelope Butte.

He Lost A Leg In Combat, Now Wyoming Vet Teaches Others To Adapt And Overcome

Karl Milner lost a leg in combat, but the Gillette veteran used his military training to adapt and overcome to map out a new mission in life. Now he treats others facing mental and physical challenges to ski. He's a better teacher, he says, because "he's been there."

Jackie DorothyFebruary 23, 2025

Maria Kelson’s debut novel is a crime thriller available at both local bookstores and through national chains. She loves that after ten years of writing, she can walk into the Storyteller in Thermopolis and see her books on display.

Award-Winning Wyoming Author Debuts First Crime Thriller That Took 10 Years To Write

Maria Kelson was already an award-winning Wyoming poet when she decided to tackle something totally different — a crime thriller. The result is “Not The Killing Kind,” a gripping whodunit that took 10 years to write.

Jackie DorothyFebruary 23, 2025

Chancey Williams was inspired to write and record “The Ballad of Uncle Don” after listening to his uncle Don Williams' stories.

Chancey Williams’ Ode To His Wyoming Cowboy Uncle Hits No. 1 On CMT Music

Inspired by his uncle Don Williams and the joy of bronc riding, Chancey Williams’ new hit song “The Ballad of Uncle Don” has hit No. 1 on the CMT Music charts. Chancey said the song came about over cup of coffee with his uncle in Moorcroft, Wyoming.

Jackie DorothyFebruary 22, 2025