Pitchfork Ranch

The Cowboy Era in America ended in the 1890’s with the major growth of the railroads and the increased privatization of land. The cowboys as we knew them will never again be fully realized, but the lifestyle didn’t just end 130 years ago; it evolved. Though the time of the gunslingers and interstate cattle-drives is over, the cattleman’s way of life carries on through ranchers large and small. These ranches pit themselves against the dynamic modern world, but even the truest holdouts must change as time goes on.

Established in 1878, the Pitchfork Ranch in northwestern Wyoming has seen the rise and fall of the times, and now approaches the end of yet another era. In late 2023, the roughly 100,000 acre ranch was listed for sale with a 67 million dollar price tag. The current owners, the Baker family, have retired from the cattle business.

“We’ve had a lot of interest,” said Ranch Manager and Listing Agent Ben Anson. “[The ranch] is pretty unique in that all the acreage is contiguous… we can [push cattle] straight from deeded ground to our mountain, do it all in a day. Then they’re on 35,000 acres on our big forest permit for the summer, which is a lot of country to cover.”

Mr. Anson has worked for Pitchfork since 2016, starting as a simple ranch hand and eventually graduating to second-incommand, taking charge of the 1,300 cows that reside there.

At the time of the interviews, calving season had just begun at Pitchfork. Mr. Anson and a couple ranch hands had corralled the second-year heifers. They were administering vaccinations and deworming doses to prepare the heifers for giving birth. Heifers (females that have not yet had their first calf) are generally accepted as a pain. They require more attention and face higher chances of complications during birth.

Pitchfork Ranch ‘calves out’, meaning that the hands get the cows and heifers sorted into specific pastures and take a ‘let them be’ sort of approach. The cattle still get checked and cared for, but this style of calving keeps the mothers calm and prevents the ranch hands from having to be awake at odd hours of the night to constantly watch the herd.

These more natural ways of doing things have kept the ranch firmly rooted in tradition and ‘the old ways,' further cementing its already respectable position in the cattle business.

Further, the Pitchfork Ranch has built a reputation as ‘stewards of the land.' The ranch is protected by conservation easements and has made efforts with the surrounding communities to continue to preserve the Greybull River Valley in which the acreage lies. The ranch even works with surrounding operations to keep neighborly relations in a good place.

“There’s three oil fields that have access through the ranch,” Anson said. “The road is private but with a public easement… [as part of] the easement with the Forest Service the oil fields [keep the road clear].”

Pitchfork Ranch is located in the Absaroka Mountains, a subrange of the famous Rocky Mountains that stretch across the North American continent. Hunting is incredibly prevalent in these mountains, and are an important part of the ranch’s continued preservation efforts.

“It’s all on a hunting management area, we save a couple meadows right next to the house, to try to keep hunters away from the house," Anson said. "The guys here can hunt those meadows if they have a whitetail tag or something, but everything else is pretty open to the public.”

The Absarokas fall under the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, an area known for having the largest population of Grizzly Bears in

the contiguous United States. Grizzly Bears are currently protected as a ‘threatened species’, meaning one cannot harm or harass the bears except in cases of self-defense. The Pitchfork Ranch deals with these bears regularly; nearly every surrounding drainage has been territorially claimed by boars and sows alike.

“You can’t do anything with the bears — they are a pain,” Anson said. “They get worse and worse every year. I take a dog with me everywhere I go. My dogs are pretty used to being around bears, a lot of times they’ll take off and I won’t even see the bear, they take care of them for me so that’s pretty nice. I tell everybody to take a dog with them… the Game and Fish wants you to take bear spray but a dog works better.”

Despite concerns with bears, wolves and cougars, running cattle on the mountain has not been affected by the carnivores. Typically predators will not go after such herd-oriented animals unless facing the most desperate of situations.

The cattle don’t even bother other residents of the Absarokas; deer and elk have become accustomed to the ranch over the past century. Herds of elk migrate through the ranch every year to and from Yellowstone, and can be seen grazing the same pastures as the cattle in the fall.

These elements of the ranch; the organization of the operation, healthy relations with neighbors and wildlife and continued conservation efforts; make the property an enticing one to buyers.

“[We’ve gotten calls] from all over the place,” Anson said. “From out of the country too. I think people who have that money want a place to park it, the economy’s at an all time high and who knows when that's going to fall apart.”

Along with Mr. Anson, every other employee of the ranch has their own hopes and worries about the eventual sale of Pitchfork. Sarah Sperry has lived on Pitchfork Ranch for 5 years, working alongside her husband Kyl, one of the ranch hands.

“We really enjoy the owners that have [Pitchfork Ranch] now, they’ve been so good to us that it’s sad in a way, they’ve been so good to my family and everything," Sperry said. "So that part is a bit disheartening but we understand why they have to [sell the ranch].”

Though this isn’t the first time the ownership of Pitchfork Ranch has changed hands, it’s a rare enough occurrence to attract large amounts of attention. The ranch was founded by Otto Franc Von Lichtenstein in 1878 then later sold to LG Phelps. The ranch then stayed in the Phelps family for 95 years.

“I’m guessing whoever [the Baker family] sells it to, they’ll do a good job,” Sperry said. “I don’t know what they’ll do with it but kinda waiting to see. If they keep [the current employees] great, if not, it just happens.”

Ranch life is something only a lucky few get to experience, and fewer still get the opportunity to turn it into a lifelong occupation. It takes hard work and isn’t for everyone, but to those it suits it can be one of the most rewarding lifestyles possible. There’s something so pure in the simple acts of care and respect it takes to be successful with livestock, and all the while living up to the responsibilities inherent with the land.

Those whose only exposure to ranch living is through media or television shows like Yellowstone may not grasp the sense of fulfillment so many ranch and farm hands experience from a ‘menial’ life. While real life doesn’t pit biker gangs against cowboys and cattle wars are a thing of the past, hands find excitement in the first steps a calf takes, the first sprouts in a bean field. Ranch life is incredibly grounding, and while it does isolate you, it also opens one up to the roots of the land, even unknowingly.

The great stories of John Colter and Jim Bridger in the Absaroka mountains feel so much more real because the mountains are still there, untouched by time. In the same way also the old tales of cowpunchers and Vaqueros ring true because there are places like the Pitchfork Ranch keeping the traditions and way of life around.

“I like [the ranch],” Sperry said. “I like living out this far. With the kids — it gives them the ranch living experience, they get to have their horses and cows, we get to go fishing, all sorts of stuff. It’s a beautiful place to live for sure. It’s just a good spot, all in all. It’s beautiful, I don’t have to go on a trip to see pretty mountains, go fish or anything like that. The mountain cabin is probably one of our favorite spots as a family, the kids like it up there.”

The 5 employees that keep Pitchfork Ranch operable may not know how this impending sale will turn out for them. Logically one can reason that they’ll continue working the ranch just as they have in the past and in the present. Change is not necessarily a bad thing, the world depends on growth. Every ranch on the planet has adapted to the modern climate, but the fact that one can still go out and live the life of a time gone by makes the everyday a little less hectic, and a little more constant.

Story by Austin Graft & Photography by Nathan Feller