Historical Marker
The One Mile Hog Ranch
Converse County · Wyoming
The year the hog ranch closed was the year Owen Wister first came to Wyoming. In 1885 the young Philadelphian stayed with Frank Wolcott at the VR Ranch near Douglas and was taken with the stage drivers, gamblers, cowboys and soldiers he met. The fading settlement around old Fort Fetterman, which the Army had left in 1882, became Drybone in his fiction, the setting of his 1897 story Destiny at Drybone. A history of the fort took that name for its title.
What the plaque says
The One Mile Hog Ranch Also known as the Hog Ranch at Fetterman, the One Mile Hog Ranch was perhaps the rowdiest, roughest and most dangerous red light establishment in Wyoming. Built by Harrison Kane in 1880, the saloon sat just across the Platte River about one mile north of Fort Fetterman, a government-controlled military reservation on the Bozeman Trail. With the addition of a dance hall and bawdy house, the place soon acquired a tough reputation. Not only did Kane's whiskey business flourish but he had poker games going night and day. Herds of cattle often changed hands according to the way cards fell. The military post was soon abandoned and the Hog Ranch was acquired by new owners John Lawrance and John (Jack) Saunders. In 1884 the operation was moved across the river and the new "hog ranch" was opened in one of the abandoned military buildings. Billy Bacon bought out Lawrance's interest in late 1884 and went into partnership with Saunders. From the beginning, violence marred the Hog Ranch. Hot disputes and bigger arguments erupted frequently, with many decided by the barrel of a gun. Outlaws and freighters, visited the establishment where the whiskey flowed freely, and cowboys from ranches within a one hundred mile radius came to Fetterman to drink, gamble and revel in their spare time. The One Mile Hog Ranch became known for several years as the most notorious gambling, red light house west of Chicago with a reputation as a sanctuary beyond the law. The infamous One Mile Hog Ranch at Fetterman was finally closed by the authorities on December 8, 1885 when the partners got into an argument and mortally wounded one another.
Where it stands
42.85928, -105.49661 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Bill Hooker — 6.5 mi
- Ayres Natural Bridge Park — 7.5 mi
- Little Box Elder Creek — 8.1 mi
- Douglas World War II POW Camp — 8.3 mi