Mark E. Miller

The HO pasture was our winter range in the early 1980s, a broad sweep of Wyoming land where cattle roamed far and wide. Getting to the eastern reaches to check the herd meant crossing Dirtyman Draw, and that was never easy. The two-track road dropped down into a cut that sometimes ran twenty feet deep and then crossed the drainage channel where Dirtyman spilled into Seminoe Reservoir. When the reservoir was full, the shoreline turned into a soggy mess, too wet to cross.

My dad typically hired young boys to help on the ranch, and our relatives were no exception. My stepson, Shawn, and his cousin worked for him one summer, but they mostly played. They also got into things they shouldn’t have, as young boys do.

My dad typically hired young boys to help on the ranch, and our relatives were no exception. My stepson, Shawn, and his cousin worked for him one summer, but they mostly played. They also got into things they shouldn’t have, as young boys do.

When I was a young boy, we built pasture fences and corral pens all over the ranch. Our shearing pens were centrally located, and secure corrals were critical there for holding livestock between moves from pasture to pasture. One year, a couple of us dug scores of holes three feet deep to sink treated railroad ties as corral posts, which gave added strength to the pens. It was back-breaking work. Sticky sweat dripped into our eyes and poured down our bodies in dust-clogged ri

In the early 1970s, Miller Estate Company hired a rugged individual who had powerful shoulders and a soft heart. We all called him Hummer...

Imagine having an asset that can simply walk away from you, sometimes miles away, and end up intermingled with other people’s identical...

In 1969, my dad hired my brother, Rod, to build a fence line dividing the Coal Creek country into two pastures. He took a former high ...

My great-grandfather, Isaac, was born in 1844 on the Danish island of MØN in the Baltic Sea. This farming region had only 84 square miles...

When I was in my late teens, five of us young cowboys made up the ranch crew. We had all been friends for years. About mid-summer, Gib...

British politician Lord Acton warns that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This may be true for politicians, but...