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.

Find Jackie Dorothy

Latest from Jackie Dorothy

A Wyoming detective stopped the “Yellow Kid,” Chicago’s most notorious con man, from scamming a banker out of $14,000 on a train ride in the early 1900s. “They wanted something for nothing. I gave them nothing for something,” the Kid once said.

Wyoming History: How Wyoming Detective Stopped ‘Yellow Kid’ — Chicago’s Most Notorious Conman

A Wyoming detective stopped the “Yellow Kid,” Chicago’s most notorious con man, from scamming a banker out of thousands on a train ride in the early 1900s. “They wanted something for nothing. I gave them nothing for something,” the Kid once said.

Jackie DorothyNovember 09, 2026

Wyoming’s Loch Ness Monster ‘Smetty’ Terrorized Lake De Smet — Until He Exploded

Wyoming’s Loch Ness Monster is a giant serpent name Smetty that, according to legend, swallows people whole and has terrorized Lake De Smet for generations. A Sheridan man once claimed he captured Smetty, but the monster exploded before he could prove it.

Jackie DorothyNovember 08, 2026

Codi-Brooke Robinson said that working on a diesel truck is like a big puzzle and requires paying attention to details - skills that she said girls are good at. She believes that more young women would love to work on their trucks if given the chance and is now on a mission to help them learn.

Meeteetse's ‘Diesel Dame’ Got Start Fixing Her Diesel Truck With YouTube Videos

Codi-Brooke Robinson of Meeteetse, a self-described “diesel dame,” got her start as a mechanic by fixing her own diesel GMC truck using YouTube videos. She did it to save money as a broke student, “then I realized how much I enjoyed wrenching around.”

Jackie DorothyNovember 08, 2026

White Mountain and Pilot Butte near Rock Springs, Wyoming, viewed from a distance. The search for a missing 16-year-old boy in 1963 led to the formation of Sweetwater County Search and Rescue. But the boy, Edward Eskridge, was never found. That still haunts a now 90-year-old George Liska, who helped with the search for the teen.

The Boy Never Found Still Haunts Wyoming Searcher 63 Years Later

When a 16-year-old boy went missing in the Wyoming Wilderness in 1963, a desperate search was launched. More than 200 looked for Edward Eskridge, including the National Guard, but he was never found — and it still haunts one of those searchers, 92-year-old George Liska.

Jackie DorothyNovember 07, 2026

Now blocked by a gate and a radiation warning "no trespassing" sign, the Split Rock uranium mine and mille operated in Wyoming's Gas Hills from 1957 through 1981. As a girl in the area, Roni Roemmich played with uranium, and decades later can still set off Geiger counters.

Wyoming Woman Who Played With Uranium As A Kid Still Sets Off Geiger Counters

A Riverton woman who spent a summer in Wyoming's Gas Hills playing in the raw yellow uranium with her best friend and a poodle still sets off Geiger counters. At least "I don't glow in the dark," she said about other side-effects decades later.

Jackie DorothyNovember 01, 2026

Gracies was a brothel in Hudson until it was shut down 60 years ago by Gerry Spence. It has been converted into a haunted house nine years ago and this year, over 2,000 came to be spooked by both actors and the real spirits said to haunt the old brothel.

Halloween Haunted House In Hudson, Wyoming's Haunted Brothel Freaks Out Volunteers

The historic Gracie's brothel in Hudson, Wyoming, is a great place to stage a haunted house because it's actually haunted, people say. The owner won't walk through the building by herself, even in the daytime. "I find the building to be highly creepy."

Jackie DorothyOctober 28, 2026

Ghosts Along Horse Thief Trail Still Play Poker In Tunnels Below Remote Cabin

In the 1880s, the Axelby Gang reportedly hid out in a cabin near Devils Tower, from which they stole horses and sold them through a network of ranchers, bankers and other prominent men. Locals say they still play ghost poker in tunnels below the cabin.

Jackie DorothyOctober 27, 2026

The Galloping 'Laramie Ghost' Has Haunted The Oregon Trail For 154 Years

A young woman is said to gallop along the Oregon Trail near Fort Laramie every seven years since 1872, disappearing before anyone can catch her. The legend of the Laramie Ghost grew among the Indians and traders, and she's still riding.

Jackie DorothyOctober 25, 2026

Before moving to Thermopolis, Cozette Medill-Matthews grew up on a quiet street in Denver. When she was 9 years old, that was all changed when Interstate 25, then known as “Valley Highway” was built literally in her backyard. Her neighborhood was condemned and promptly demolished to make way for the highway.

Thermopolis Woman Remembers When Her Denver Neighborhood Was Flattened For I-25

Thermopolis resident Cozette Medill-Matthews was 9 when her family's Denver neighborhood and many others were flattened to build what is now I-25, displacing 15,000 people. She remembers when men arrived to tell them their lives were about to change.

Jackie DorothyOctober 24, 2026

In the mining camp of Hartville (pictured), men took the custom of sitting up all night next to a dead friend to the next level. While playing poker and enjoying a shot of whiskey, they’d make sure the dead man was included as part of his wake. Inset: Poker game from Wyoming State Archives

In Wyoming Mining Camps, Dead Men Would Play Poker And Smoke Cigars

In the event someone died at a mining camp — and out of fear that one could be buried alive — miners would stay up with their dead friend overnight. That included, sitting them up and playing poker. The corpse’s winnings would defray funeral expenses.

Jackie DorothyOctober 17, 2026

During his years as a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer on the Wind River Reservation, Leslie Shakespeare had encounters with strange lights, people that weren’t supposed to be there and sounds he couldn’t explain.

Apparitions, Lights And Ghost Soldier: Wind River Cop Says Rez Is Plenty Scary

Leslie Shakespeare saw some unexplainable things as a cop on the Wind River Reservation, including strange lights guiding him, apparitions and a ghost soldier. “I got a cold feeling that wasn’t from the temperature,” he said of his first case, a murder.

Jackie DorothyOctober 17, 2026

Wyoming History: Slim And Quick’s Terrifying Night Sleeping Under A Hanging Tree

A pair of Indian hunters named Slim and Quick weren’t afraid of much, but were terrified the night they unknowingly fell asleep under a hanging tree — and awoke to corpses dangling over them.

Jackie DorothyOctober 17, 2026

Other Authors

Ella Randol, an employee at the Cowboy Bar & Cafe, claims that the bar in Meeteetse is haunted by three spirits. The most dominant spirit is a woman that Randol believes is Sylvia Mikkelson, a founder of Meeteetse who once ran a dry goods store on the same block the Cowboy Bar & Cafe is on now.

Sylvia Came To Meeteetse In 1898, And Cowboy Bar Patrons Say She's Never Left

The ghost of Sylvia Mikkelsen, who ran the Meeteetse dry-goods store in the early 1900s has never left, say Cowboy Bar patrons. Bartender Ella Randol, who says she has spoken with Sylvia, says whenever anyone gets unruly, things get bone-chilling cold.

Jackie DorothyOctober 12, 2026

That Time Gerry Spence Shut Down Shoshoni’s Haunted Blue Goose Brothel

Shoshoni legend has it that a madam killed at the Blue Goose brothel was still haunting the place when famed lawyer Gerry Spence shut it down in the 1960s early in his career. The Blue Goose was known to be a house of ill repute for decades in Shoshoni.

Jackie DorothyOctober 12, 2026

Drew Bott was commissioned by McDonald's to build the pedestal world’s largest Qarter Pounder, which is in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Riverton Sculptor Known For McDonald's 11-Ton Cheeseburger, Philadelphia Eagles, Loves Making Memorials For Vets

When McDonald’s wanted a tribute made for its quarter-pounder, the hamburger giant turned to Riverton's Drew Bott. He had just created a monument for the Philadelphia Eagles after they won the Super Bowl. What really inspires him, though, is making monuments for veterans.

Jackie DorothyOctober 11, 2026

No, The Town Of Shoshoni Is Not Closed Down Despite What Google And Apple Maps Say

Shoshoni Mayor Joel Highsmith is blaming AI for Google and Apple Maps telling travelers on Monday that the entire town is closed down. The messaging caused drivers to end up on isolated dirt roads which can be impassable for large trailers and campers.

Jackie DorothySeptember 28, 2026

Reba Teran is resurrecting a nearly forgotten Shoshone art that's often depicted wrong in Western art. The traditional saddles are made of wood, covered in rawhide, and warriors would be mortified if depicted riding women's saddles.

Wyoming People: Reba Teran Keeps Alive The Art Of Making Shoshone Woman’s Saddle

Reba Teran is resurrecting a nearly forgotten Shoshone art that's often depicted wrong in Western art. The traditional women's saddles are made of wood and covered in rawhide. Frederic Remington is one artist called out for putting male warriors in high-horned women’s saddles.

Jackie DorothySeptember 26, 2026

Paris, Wisconsin, was the first stop on Marvin and Ann Robinson's bucket list to hit every town in the United States named Paris. 61 years ago this October 8 the couple had eloped to Paris, Idaho as teenage runaways.

Casper Couple On A Mission To Visit Every Place Named ‘Paris’ In The U.S.

A Casper couple is on a mission to visit every place named “Paris” in the U.S. It’s a flashback 61 years to when as a young couple, they eloped to tiny Paris, Idaho, to get married. So far, “I probably enjoyed Paris, Illinois, the most," she said.

Jackie DorothySeptember 26, 2026

Wyoming History: Buffalo’s Stately 1880 Occidental Hotel Started As Frontier Tent

Buffalo's stately Occidental Hotel didn’t begin that way, starting as a frontier tent hosting early Wyoming miners. Eventually, the tent became a shack, then the two-story Occidental by 1880. For nearly 150 years, it’s been the social center of Buffalo.

Jackie DorothySeptember 26, 2026

Artist and historian Larry Edgar examines the mysterious 1811 stones from Pappy-Po Butte at Old Trail Town in Cody. Edgar and his brother Bob Edgar investigated the butte after the first inscribed stone was found in 1978. Bob believed that the weathered sandstone inscriptions provide tantalizing physical evidence behind a much older local story of a battle on the butte.

Mysterious 1811 Pitchfork Ranch Rocks Change Timeline Of White Men In Bighorn Basin

Pitchfork Ranch cowboys had long heard about the battle of "Pappy-Po Butte," and the legends were affirmed when sandstone grave markers etched with "1811" were found. It's proof white men were in the Bighorn Basin earlier than thought, historians say.

Jackie DorothySeptember 20, 2026

When Ben Arthur saw that his grandson could not play rough with his toys, he felt nostalgic for the toys his own grandpa had made him. These wooden toys could be thrown across the room and not lose a wheel or be pulled around for hours without falling apart.

Kirby’s ‘Grandpa Ben' Makes Old-School Wooden Toys Kids Can Beat The Crap Out Of

Ben Arthur of Kirby — aka ‘Grandpa Ben’ — has spent the past 40 years making colorful and Wyoming-tough old-school wooden toys that are meant for kids to beat the crap out of. “Kids today need to have toys like I had as a kid,” he said.

Jackie DorothySeptember 19, 2026