Candy Moulton
Candy Moulton has written 17 Western history books; co-edited a collection of short fiction and a two-volume encyclopedia; and written and produced several documentary films. She has four Spur Awards, plus many other awards from historical societies, museum associations, and press associations.
During her career of more than 50 years she has edited a weekly newspaper, two magazines, and is a past executive director of Western Writers of America.
Her passions are history, travel, and writing…all of which will be subjects for future articles for Cowboy State Daily
Candy's roots are deep in the Encampment area where she was reared on a ranch. She still lives in that same neighborhood with her husband Steve.
Latest from Candy Moulton
Candy Moulton: Standing Strong in the 307
Columnist Candy Moulton writes: “I have covered many accidents and life-threatening situations. At every scene I’ve seen the professionals like EMTs, law enforcement, volunteers, and regular people doing extraordinary things."
Candy MoultonFebruary 18, 2025
Candy Moulton: What's Inside The American Windmill Museum
Candy Moulton writes: “Lubbock, Texas, has some similarities to places in Wyoming – the wind always seems to blow! That makes it the perfect place for the American Windmill Museum.”
Candy MoultonFebruary 11, 2025
Candy Moulton: Wyoming Rock Art Deserves Protection
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "Some of Wyoming’s rock art resources are well known. There are many more sites that are not easily accessible to the public, but they all deserve the protection that will be provided by the current legislation."
Candy MoultonFebruary 04, 2025
Candy Moulton: The Creative Circle Of Joseph Marshall III
Columnist Candy Moulton writes: “Joseph Marshall III, a member of the Sicangu Oyate tribe, grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, in South Dakota, on his grandmother’s land. As a child he spoke only Lakota; now he is a member of the Western Writers Hall of Fame. ”
Candy MoultonJanuary 28, 2025
Candy Moulton: On the Dinosaur Trail
Which came first, the dinosaur or the dinosaur egg? I can’t answer that question but one of Montana’s greatest dinosaur discoveries: Egg Mountain, has the highest concentration of dinosaur eggs found in the world.
Candy MoultonJanuary 14, 2025
Candy Moulton: You Don’t See Those Cowboys From The Road
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, “The Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame mission is to preserve, perpetuate, and celebrate Wyoming’s working cowboy legacy and heritage. Since its founding a dozen years ago, more than 500 working cowboys have been inducted."
Candy MoultonJanuary 07, 2025
Candy Moulton: Best Of The American West
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "In less than a year, Cowboy State Daily has become one of the great publishers of history of the American West. I’m so proud and pleased to be a part of the crew that generates these stories of the West."
Candy MoultonDecember 31, 2024
Candy Moulton: Celebrating the Holidays One Tradition at a Time
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "For me, there is nothing better than having a simple meal with my family in a cabin heated with a wood cook stove and with light provided by candles and lanterns."
Candy MoultonDecember 25, 2024
Candy Moulton – Three of Wyoming’s History Keepers
Wyoming has a long list of people who help preserve and promote the history of the state. Glen Call in Afton, Jack States in Lander, and Dick Perue in Encampment, are three people I've worked with this year who are keeping history alive in their communities.
Candy MoultonDecember 17, 2024
Candy Moulton: Hooray for Wyoming History at UW
Candy Moulton writes: “As someone who loves and writes about Wyoming history, I’m thrilled about the university and the state’s commitment to the study of our past with the Phil Roberts Faculty Fellowship in Wyoming History and the West.”
Candy MoultonDecember 10, 2024
Candy Moulton: A Return to Christmas Past at Wyoming’s Frontier Forts
Three of Wyoming’s pioneer trail historic sites are hosting special Christmas events this month that give visitors the opportunity to step back in time to see and experience a time long past.
Candy MoultonDecember 03, 2024
Candy Moulton: Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving
Candy Moulton writes: “Give thanks in any way you prefer, but taking a day to enjoy the company of family and friends is a tradition that we can all be thankful the native tribes and the early settlers in this nation started over 400 years ago.”
Candy MoultonNovember 26, 2024
Candy Moulton: From Two Coots in a Connecticut Canoe to the Kansas “Golden Rural”
Candy writes: “The two Connecticut coots had the desire for an adventure, but no interest in ‘crapping in the woods” while a Kansas grandmother could teach you how to grate the cabbage for kraut or make a hot toddy.”
Candy MoultonNovember 19, 2024
Candy’s Column: Jim Bridger Traveled Far and Wide and Mapped Wyoming
Candy writes: “The story of westward expansion is embodied in the biography of Jim Bridger – who came west with Ashley and Henry’s brigade of 100 young men in 1822 and forged pathways that were followed by mountain men, emigrants, surveyors, scientists, and the military.”
Candy MoultonNovember 12, 2024
Candy’s Column: Celebrating Wyoming’s Veterans
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, “One of the engraved statements on the Wind River Memorial is a sentiment often used on memorials: ‘Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.’"
Candy MoultonNovember 05, 2024
Candy Moulton: Preserving A World War II POW Camp
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "On the north side of Douglas, a nondescript building is the last remnant of a World War II Prisoner of War Camp that once had 180 buildings, covered a square mile of land, and housed 5,000 men who had been taken prisoner during fighting in Europe."
Candy MoultonOctober 29, 2024
Candy Moulton: We Checked An Item Off The Bucket List Before It Burned
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "Our fire crews and residents near the fires need a break. Hey, Don Day, could you give Mother Nature a call and get the moisture spigot turned on again?"
Candy MoultonOctober 22, 2024
Candy Moulton: The Work of Fall - Celebrating Cowboys
Columnist Candy Moulton writes: “Judging from the young men and women who attended the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame Induction, there is a long line of men and women who’ll be ready to join the ranks when they have 45 years of cowboy work from the back of horse under their belts.”
Candy MoultonOctober 15, 2024
Candy Moulton: Hey, Let’s Have Some Spur Spuds
Columnist Candy Moulton writes: “There’s history to potato growing and now our ‘root cellar’ is full of potatoes thanks to the Silver Spur Ranches and the Encampment FFA Chapter.”
Candy MoultonOctober 08, 2024
Candy Moulton: Following the Sandhill Cranes in Colorado
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "The fall migration of Sandhill cranes is a certain sign of winter to come, even as we have been dealing with unprecedented warm weather. But there are days when the mornings are cool, and the leaves are either at or past their peak in many regions of the high country."
Candy MoultonOctober 01, 2024
Candy Moulton: Autumn Is A Magical Time In Beaver Creek, Wyoming
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, “This time of year, when we sit outside in the evening, we hear the elk bugling down on the creek, the distinctive cry of sandhill cranes headed south, and the cry of geese.”
Candy MoultonSeptember 24, 2024
Candy Moulton: Brown’s Park Historian Focuses on Queen Ann Bassett
Columnist Candy Moulton Writes: “Among the outlaws Ann Bassett knew were a few of the young men who were destined be part of the gang that came to be known as the Wild Bunch.”
Candy MoultonSeptember 17, 2024
Candy Moulton: Dick Perue -- 73 Years Of Pumping The Press
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "The number of historical talks and treks Dick Perue has given and led is not known but imagine 70 years of involvement with museums throughout Carbon County and you get an idea of his contributions to Wyoming history.”
Candy MoultonSeptember 10, 2024
Candy Moulton: Thursday Is The Only Time We Can Tell The Postal Service What We Think
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "“When your local postal manager tells you not to send a letter by certified mail because it will likely get lost in the system, you know the mail delivery in our area just plain stinks. Let’s pack a Zoom meeting this Thursday because the USPS needs to hear what the rural West thinks."
Candy MoultonSeptember 03, 2024
Candy Moulton: Miriam Baggott -- An Englishwoman Paves The Way For Homesteaders
Columnist Candy Moulton writes: “Miriam Baggott and her young daughter often fled their home and hid in the willows when they had reports of Indians roaming in the area. Other times Miriam hung quilts over the cabin windows so their lantern light would not be seen from a distance.”
Candy MoultonAugust 27, 2024
Candy Moulton: Menor’s Ferry – This Time Of Year Huckleberries Were The Toll To Cross The Snake River
Candy Moulton writes: “During the wild berry season in late summer, Bill Menor charged ‘huckleberry rates’ to local people wanting to cross the Snake River in Jackson Hole on his ferry. A bucket of berries was good for a one-way ride over the river.”
Candy MoultonAugust 20, 2024
Candy Moulton: Filming the West – Diverse Wyoming Stories
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, " In 15 years of conflict in Iraq, the United States had 4,541 fatalities. In 2016 alone, there were 5,712 Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women cases reported in the United States. Yet many people have no idea there was even one such case."
Candy MoultonAugust 06, 2024
Candy Moulton: Bill Markley -- Telling Both Sides of the Story
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "Author Bill Markley likes Butch Cassidy the best of all the outlaws he has researched. 'He always tried to not get anybody killed during the robberies he participated in,' he said."
Candy MoultonJuly 30, 2024
Candy Moulton: Owen Wister in Wyoming
Cowboy State Daily columnist Candy Moulton writes, "Western novelist Owen Wister, who became famous for The Virginian, was a 'dude' in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, long before he wrote his classic novel."
Candy MoultonJuly 23, 2024
Candy Moulton: Bordeaux, Wyoming, Has Its Roots In The Fur Trade
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "Anyone who has driven I-25 north out of Cheyenne knows that one of the windiest places on the highway is at Bordeaux. But you may not know why it has that name."
Candy MoultonJuly 09, 2024
Candy Moulton: Hitching Horsehair -- A Western Prison Legacy
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "When Erika Rogers demonstrates how to do horsehair hitching at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie on Friday, she will be practicing an art perfected by prisoners who were once incarcerated at the facility."
Candy MoultonJuly 02, 2024
Candy Moulton: The Custer Expedition – 150 Years Later
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "To recognize the 150th Anniversary of Custer’s Black Hills Expedition the Custer County Historical Association will host a special event. This is a rare opportunity to walk on the private land where the Custer camp was situated."
Candy MoultonJune 25, 2024
Candy Moulton: From Encampment To Russia To Cuba
Candy Moulton writes, "I asked Nikita Khrushchev's son: 'At the time of the October 1962 events, the Cuban Missile Crisis, which side won the standoff?' 'My father did,' Sergio Khrushchev answered without hesitation."
Candy MoultonJune 18, 2024
Candy Moulton: Ol Max and The Rounders
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "You may know the story of The Rounders because you have seen the film starring Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford. But you may have never read the novel that inspired the film — and changed Max Evans' life."
Candy MoultonJune 11, 2024
Candy Moulton: Give Me A Homestead
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "Homesteading was not for the faint at heart as Elenore and her young daughter Jerrine found out. They left for the small Wyoming community of Burntfork in response to an ad placed in early 1909..."
Candy MoultonJune 05, 2024
Candy Moulton: The Big Boy is Headed Out
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "On June 30, Big Boy No. 4014, the largest operating steam engine in the world, will roll out of Cheyenne headed west with the first stop in Laramie that same day. Wamsutter and Green River are next and then off to Utah, Nevada, and California."
Candy MoultonMay 28, 2024
Candy Moulton: Let’s Preserve Wyoming
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "This is Historic Preservation Month in Wyoming. It took 15 years to put my grandmother's cabin back together and restore it. Now it is sturdy and strong once again. A place for family gatherings and making memories."
Candy MoultonMay 22, 2024
Candy Moulton: Advice For The Graduates
Columnist Candy Moulton recalls when she gave the commencement speech to Encampment High School: "My son admonished me, 'Don’t talk about the Oregon Trail.' 'Why not?' I asked him. 'Because it’s 2,000 miles long and boring.'"
Candy MoultonMay 14, 2024
Candy Moulton: Wyoming Writers – “I Found My Tribe”
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "Wyoming's literary landscape is unbelievably rich. It has characters known worldwide like Game Warden Joe Pickett (the creative son of C. J. Box) and Sheriff Walt Longmire, who was given life by Craig Johnson."
Candy MoultonMay 07, 2024