Wyoming
People And Places That Make Wyoming Special
A man is seen along West Lincoln Way on Saturday July 20, 2024 in Cheyenne, WY. Wyoming became a … [+]
Wyoming is famous for its rugged scenic beauty, as I discovered on a recent visit. But the state’s people and places are as interesting as the vistas.
Southeast Wyoming grew quickly following the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad in Cheyenne in November 1867. Cheyenne was called the “Magic City of the Plains,” growing to 5000 people by 1868. Cheyenne became a hub for railroad maintenance, shipping and the cattle boom. The town became the capital of the Territory and later the state of Wyoming.
Erasmus Nagle, who made his in lumber, cattle and groceries, spent $50,000 building what is now known as The Nagle Warren Mansion in 1888. It was one of the costliest homes west of the Mississippi, but Nagle could afford to live on Millionaire’s Row. At his death just two years later, he was one of the richest men in Cheyenne, worth a half million dollars.
Today the mansion has been restored as the Nagle Warren Mansion Bed and Breakfast. Its furnishings, wallpaper, cherry, mahogany, and oak woodwork and stained-glass windows are right out of the American Old West period.
However, Francis E. Warren, later the state’s first governor and U.S. senator, remarked on the “rough and tumble” atmosphere of early Cheyenne. “Every man slept with from one to a half-dozen revolvers under his pillow, for depradations [sic] of every character could be expected at any hour, day or night.” Such lawlessness no doubt led to the 1872 construction of the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie.
After Nagle’s death, the house was eventually sold to Senator Warren in 1910. General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, Buffalo Bill Cody, Teddy Roosevelt and President William Howard Taft all were guests at the mansion.
A breakfast table is set for guests at the Nagle Warren Mansion, a bed and breakfast in downtown … [+]
I stayed in the Pershing room. It had red wallpaper, a vast king-size bed with a carved wooden frame, a carved wooden fireplace, and portraits and photos of the General looking stern, even with his family. Evening reading was a vintage copy of the Hemingway-edited “Men at War,” with “the 37 best war stories of all time.”
Jas Barbe, proprietor of the Mansion, is a colorful character who has been a hospitality consultant and a Cordon Bleu graduate and Michelin-starred chef. He was the owner of a buffalo herd in Centennial, Wyoming, after returning from Vietnam.
In 2021, it became his mission to restore the elegant residence once known as the “Duchess of Cheyenne.” As he serves the beautiful breakfast he cooks for guests, Barbe will entrance you with backstairs tales of The Nagle Mansion, where the ornate hand carved ceilings and stairs and the restored library and parlor takes one back to the Western version of the Gilded Age.
Cheyenne is also home to the Wild J Trading Hat Bar and Boutique, operated by Jennifer Thompson. Ms. Thompson helps men and women create their own customized cowboy hats, accessorized with hat bands, feathers, threads, stars, playing cards, fabric roses and even spent cartridges. I chose to add a coyote and a cactus, as well as yellow feathers, part of an anti-suicide campaign spurred by the death of a local cowboy.
Owner Jennifter Thompson shows off one of the cowboy hats she has personalized with hat bands, … [+]
In Laramie Country, Las Vegas transplant Chad Brown, created Laramie County’s first licensed distillery in Pine Bluffs. Brown came from Las Vegas to open Pine Bluffs Distilling. The growing distiller is family owned and operated, and all grains are locally grown and malted on site. Variants like 5 grain whiskey, straight rye whiskey, oat whiskey, wheated bourbon, vodka and gin can be tried in the tasting room, straight or as cocktails.
Like the Nagle Warren Mansion in Cheyene, the Laramie Plains Museum at the Historic Iverson Mansion shows what life was like for the wealthy in late 19th Century Wyoming. The mansion has a collection of Victorian fixtures and furnishings, kitchenware and old appliances, and even a one-room schoolhouse.
I wore my new hat to Torrington, a Wyoming agricultural town where one can see a livestock sale in real time. Improbably, Torrington is home to the Bread Doctor, a bakery that draws regular customers from as far away as Montana.
The origins of the popular bakery are simple. Owner Edzan Fluckinger is a doctor who came to Torrington more than 20 years ago to provide medical services. He and his wife have a daughter with Down’s Syndrome. Fluckinger learned to bake and eventually created the bakery, with the thought of having a place where his daughter could work.
The bakery employs many of Torrington’s young people, including his daughter. And its breads, pastries and carefully decorated cakes are delicious.
The Bread Doctor at work: Dr. Edzan Fluckinger, a medical doctor, is also the baker and owner of the … [+]
The city of Laramie is home to “U Dub,” or the University of Wyoming. In 1998, Matthew Shepherd, a gay student, was beaten to death near Laramie. One of the murals that are part of the Laramie Mural Project commemorates the “angels” who held sheets up like wings at the courthouse, to protect Shepherd’s family from homophobic demonstrators.
Today the city has a bohemian vibe. It has brewery and mural tours, as well as many shops and restaurants travelers will enjoy. Even the most confirmed carnivore will find something at Melissa Murphy’s 25-year-old vegetarian restaurant, Sweet Melissa, which also includes a full bar.
“What did you do for financing?” I asked Ms. Murphy. “I borrowed $2,000 from my mother 25 years ago.” She says tourists fanatically look for vegetarian restaurants, and that the students and faculty of the University have also been key customers.
Another Laramie success story is The Range Leather Company, which crafts wallets, journals, pocketbooks, business card holders and bands for Apple Watches. Range also does custom work imprinting a city name or company brand on its leather goods. Owner Kyle Koster started leather work at his kitchen table in 2014 as a hobby. Range now employs over 25 people. Its three key tenets are on its web page; Full Grain Leather, Made In The USA, and a Forever Guarantee.
Jim Osborn (middle) is the central figure of a mural in downtown Laramie alongside fellow angles … [+]
Ruth Williams, owner of Sugar Mouse Cupcake House (“a little piece of England in downtown Laramie”) also has an interesting story. The tall, elegant Williams is originally from Essex, where she met her husband, who was on a Mormon mission. They married and she followed him to Laramie. She raised their six children and worked providing childcare.
But Williams had a cause; she became passionately involved with helping girls and young women ensnared in Cambodia’s sex trade. She started selling cupcakes at the Farmer’s Market to generate revenue, using recipes she had learned in England using rich cream and real sugar. After a rainstorm ruined hundreds of cupcakes, she knew she needed a storefront.
Sugar Mouse is now a frilly pink tea house for afternoon tea, with scones, crumpets, soup of the day, English stew and, of course, cupcakes. A children’s tea house in the basement is under way.
I ended my tour of Southeast Wyoming with lunch at The Malt in Saratoga, (“Burgers, BBQ, and Whiskey”) drinking a “boozy malted” Irish coffee. Then it was off to soak in a teepee at the mineral springs at the Saratoga Hot Springs Resort and enjoy a steak at 130-year-old Hotel Wolf (“Discover the Wild West”) before sadly returning to Los Angeles.
Ruth Williams, owner of Sugar Mouse Cupcake House in Laramie, Wyoming. She is pictured here in the … [+]
A man’s body was discovered in the Grand River in Wyoming Saturday evening.
A passerby discovered the remains near the 2000 block of Indian Mounds Drive, according to a news release from Wyoming Police.
Police received the call shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday.
The body is that of an adult man, police said.
As authorities continue to investigate, anyone with information is asked to call Wyoming Police at (616) 530-7300, or submit a tip anonymously through Silent Observer at 616-774-2345, 1-866-774-2345, or online.
A casual favor turned into a lifelong fascination for Glenrock’s Mike Cushman, owner of the much-in-demand Powder River Percherons, who have become a regular sight at many of the state’s largest and most popular parades.
“I used to lease a ranch back in the late ’80s, and the guy who owned it had a hitch of Belgians,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And one day he just asked me if, in my free time, I could help him with that.”
Once he’d learned how to handle Belgians, he started his own team, but the popularity of the large draft horse was driving up prices. That led him to give two dapple-gray Percherons a try.
It was like love at first sight.
“We were trying to create something that had a little flair,” he said. “So those two just escalated from a team of four to six, and before we knew it we had 11 or 12 dapple-gray horses, and we were doing work all over Wyoming, anywhere from Jackson to Cody to Sheridan and Cheyenne and most all the towns in between.”
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Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
The War Horse Of France
Percherons are conversation starters everywhere they go.
The war horse of France, these animals are massive and athletic, while also being uncommonly beautiful and stylish.
They are actually bigger than the more well-known Clydesdales, standing at 6 feet from the withers and weighing up to 2,600 pounds. Their hooves are the size of dinner plates, which help support all that weight.
Their actual origins have been lost to time, but the oldest known record goes back before the Crusades, when mares of the Le Perche region of France were mated with Arabian stallions.
The result was a breed more athletic than most horses. In Cushman’s opinion, they’re among the most fearless breeds of horse anywhere.
“I suppose if I needed to, I could probably drive them through a fire,” he said. “They would trust and believe in me.”
To be clear, Cushman has never tried to drive any of his Percheron teams through a fire.
He has, on occasion, put them through a bit of a commotion while testing them for parade readiness.
“I know if there was a protest line with a bunch of PETA people standing there waving flags and everything, I could put these horses right over the top of them,” Cushman said. “They would do that for me.”
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Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Big Brains, Bigger Personalities
Percherons are also super intelligent creatures, and full of personality. That’s led to some funny escapades over the last 24 years.
Like the horse that managed to get itself captured in a bog.
The poor fella had to wait until morning for rescue, but all was well in the end.
One year at Don King Days in Sheridan, after the team finished its exhibition round on the polo field, Cushman remembers tying the team to the trailer while he and the crew went to lunch.
When they returned, a big gray gelding named Sarge was somehow standing out in the middle of the vast green field, enjoying a tasty snack of fresh polo field grass.
“I hollered at him and he jerked his head up and ran back to the trailer and put himself right back into the slot where he came from,” Cushman recalled, laughing. “Like a milk cow going into a stanchion.”
What had happened was a loose buckle.
“The neighbor horse and Sarge would fiddle around with each other all the time,” Cushman said. “So the neighbor horse had grabbed the tongue of Sarge’s halter and pulled on it. He pulled that strap through and unbuckled it.”
Sarge knew just what to do then. With no humans around, it was time for play.
Turning Up The Volume
Budweiser is famous for its advertisements featuring long, shimmering lines of large draft horses in their glittering harnesses, clopping down the street.
It’s a classic six-up hitch — three teams of two, one pair in front of the next.
Percherons can do the same thing, but Cushman has his own idea of how to turn the volume up for parades.
Instead of the six-up, what he likes to do for a “wow” factor is a four abreast setup.
Picture four massive Percherons side by side across the front of the wagon, rolling shoulder to shoulder down a parade route. It’s a wall of horse flesh coming at you, with a team that stretches nearly 14 feet wide.
“We get a lot of compliments on it,” Cushman said. “There’s a ‘wow’ factor in it.”
Cushman did that last Saturday in Thermopolis because it fit the theme of the event. For the Fourth of July in Cheyenne, meanwhile, he plans to go with the classic six-up.
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Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Small Town To Big Time
Cushman’s Powder River Percherons have performed for small Wyoming towns like Kaycee and Thermopolis to much larger venues like the Denver National Western Stock Show Parade, where the crowds range up to 100,000 people.
They’ve been as far away as Tucson, Arizona, on up into Montana, and over to Deadwood, South Dakota.
Most of the venues, though, are Wyoming.
“Wyoming is home,” Cushman said. “We just try to take care of our own.”
The horses have carried three Wyoming governors, including Gov. Mark Gordon, as well as former U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi.
They’ve also carried several celebrities, like actor Cole Hauser, known to millions as Rip from the popular television series “Yellowstone;” and Robert Taylor, who played Sheriff Walt Longmire, the hero of Craig Johnson’s Longmire universe, in the television hit series of the same name.
The Percherons have also carried a number of Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world champions, including legends like Donnie Gay and Larry Mahan.
They’re popular in parades and weddings, but have also been tapped for funerals to carry someone’s loved one to a final resting place.
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Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons) -
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Training Each Other
The horses might seem to naturally take everything in stride from parade to funeral, but there’s quite a bit of training that goes into that even temperament.
That training effectively starts before Cushman ever buys a horse with the Amish families who raise them.
“We buy them usually when they’re 3 years old,” he said. “And we prefer the Amish horses, because they have good manners and they just haven’t seen the big city life or anything.”
Amish horses also seem to work harder, Cushman said, making them a better value than other options.
“I mean, the Amish make their living with horses,” Cushman said. “Even the carpenters and the craftsmen will have a saddlebred horse, or will be riding a horse around back and forth to work or to the store or whatever.”
Cushman puts his new horses in a pasture near the interstate, which he believes helps desensitize them to big vehicles and unexpected noises — things that are common in parades.
He will also blend his new horses in with older, more experienced animals as he’s training them for parades.
“They learn from each other,” he said. “They go, ‘Oh well, this is not bothering these guys, why would it bother me?’”
Not A Good Wall Street Bet
For all their popularity, celebrity passengers and big-stage appearances, the Powder River Percherons would not be a good Wall Street bet.
By the time Cushman figures in hay, feed, farrier work, veterinary care, equipment, fuel, hotels, and wages for a crew of five to six people, the retired rancher knows he’s not necessarily breaking even with these horses.
“We aim to at least cover expenses for our travel and whatnot,” he said. “If we took in all the feed and care and the shoeing for these horses and charged that back to the customer, we’d be out of business pretty quickly.”
He likes to think of his horses as a kind of rolling ambassador for the draft horse tradition. The team is a labor of love, everywhere he goes, one where the real payoff is the gee-whiz-cool expressions he sees on the faces of young and old alike.
His Percherons have rolled under flags and fireworks, past squealing children with grocery bags full of candy.
When the show is over, they go home and wait for the next call, ever-ready to channel that eternal sense of Americana that every parade needs.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
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