Ranching on the Powder River

The panel dates the Johnson County war to 1889; the invasion came in April 1892. Its foreign investors are best told through Moreton Frewen, an Englishman who reached the Powder in April 1879 and built, at the forks east of here, a two-storey log house cowboys called Frewen's Castle, with a private telephone line running some twenty-two miles to Powder River Crossing. He married Clara Jerome, Jennie Churchill's sister, in 1881, reorganized his ranch in 1882 as the Powder River Cattle Company with an English board, and had lost the manager's job by 1886.

What the plaque says

Ranching on the Powder River From the top of the Big Horn Mountains on the west to the Pumpkin Buttes on the east, this area evolved with grazing animals, from bison and other wildlife hunted by the nomadic Indians, to the vast herds of cattle brought in by foreign investors in the late 1800's. Foreign investors and their free grazing of the range ended as the homesteaders arrived. Lured by the American dream of owning land these homesteaders started new lives, learning to live in harmony with the land, becoming the original environmentalists. The Johnson County Cattle War in 1889 was the culmination of the clash between the homesteaders and the free grazing cattle barons. With irrigation and range management these new citizens of the Powder River country made the valley bloom. Irrigation, stock water development, and predator management enabled the ranchers of this region to have sustainable cattle and sheep operations, resulting in a dramatic increase in the diversity and numbers of wildlife in this once nearly treeless environment. This additional water and forage created many recreation and natural resource opportunities. This is a major sheep and cattle producing area with many hard working and independent families continuing to make a sustainable living by providing good stewardship of the land. This sustainable life style protects our open spaces.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• The Dull Knife Battle — steps away
• Powder River Country — steps away
• Nate Champion and Nick Rae — 0.8 mi
• Fort Reno — 21 mi