A n'ewe' day at Little Snake River Museum

For nearly as long as cattle have grazed along the plains of Wyoming, so to have sheep. While cattle has been king in the Platte Valley, for many years the sheep industry was largely influential in the neighboring Little Snake River Valley.

On August 15, the Little Snake River Museum officially unveiled the newest addition to their grounds; the MacPherson Sheep Center. The nearly palatial barn houses five sheep wagons donated to the Little Snake River Museum by Saratoga residents John and Cathy MacPherson. Residents from within and without the Little Snake River Valley were in attendance for the dedication.

Linda Fleming, Little Snake River Museum board member and local historian, began the dedication by recounting the influence that the sheep industry had on the area.

"It started in the early 1900s with sheep coming through this valley and the sheep would come from the Rawlins area. At that time, they would try to come to the Colorado border and Colorado would not accept sheep," said Fleming. "In our '30s and '40s, we had lots of sheep people. We had sheep people up until about the 1950s."

Eventually, sheep began phasing out but, according to Fleming, the Little Snake River Museum Board had long wanted to make themselves a destination for those interested in the sheep industry. 

Enter the MacPherson's.

While John and Cathy MacPherson are attorney's, both have an agricultural background that have influenced them throughout their lives. John's father, William "Billy" MacPherson, raised sheep after World War I until 1948.

"My father came from Scotland, 19 years old, ended up on what was called the Ellis Ranch, which is north of Medicine Bow and worked there for a short period of time and then had a homestead out in the Bairoil area," said John.

The Ellis Ranch, in fact, had played a factor in the lives of both MacPhersons. While John's father worked there before embarking on his own, years later Cathy would spend time on the Ellis Ranch after first moving to Wyoming from Missouri.

"(My father) Ended up going to World War I and, because of his agricultural background and because of the use of horses in World War I, got assigned to a veterinary unit and actually became a U.S. Citizen while being transported from American to Europe," John said. "(He) Came back and ended up in the sheep business. In the winter time, we ran sheep west of Baggs. Our lambing grounds were north of Baggs and our summer range was in an area called Fletcher Park, which is south and east of here."

When William MacPherson sold out of the sheep business in the spring of 1948, he narrowly avoided the natural catastrophe that would befall countless families still involved in livestock during the Winter of 1949. Even though he retired, William MacPherson found plenty to keep him busy as he served as a brand inspector.

"He passed away when I was a freshman in high school but, because of that background and because we always had a house in Rawlins to attend school, I continued to go to high school and I went to Regis College in Denver. Graduated from Regis and went back to the University of Wyoming Law School," said John. "I've always had an affinity for anything connected to ranching and, particularly, to the sheep business. I started collecting sheep wagons and, in the winter time, I would work on them and finish them."

Eventually, John and Cathy came to a point where they decided they wanted to donate the sheep wagons they had collected over the years.

"We came to a point in our life where you realize that you're not going to live forever, so rather than have those sheep wagons disbursed and because of the importance and the historic significance of the sheep industry in Carbon County ... we agreed that we would donate them to the Little Snake River Museum," John said. "Frankly, I can't say enough nice things about the way we've been able to deal with both the staff and the board at the Little Snake River Museum. They just do a great job over here."

While the MacPhersons donated the sheep wagons and money to help build the large barn in which the wagons are housed, they give a lot of credit to the Wyoming Community Foundation. Also getting deserved credit is Director Lela Emmons, who developed the display within the MacPherson Sheep Center.

According to John, the decision to go with the Little Snake River Museum for the display of the sheep wagons was one of familial ties due to his father's history in the area raising sheep.

"We know a lot of people in the valley and are really good friends with a lot of people in the valley and have represented a lot of ranchers in the valley, so we just have a feeling of a very close relationship to the people here and to the community," said John. "We just want to share what really has been our good fortune with the people in the community that allowed us to practice law and to do the things that were able to do."

Though it has been some time since the MacPhersons have been involved in the agricultural industry, the MacPherson Sheep Center is proof that it is still something that they admire and respect.

Said John, "I've just always had an affinity for ranchers and for people that work hard to make a living. They say there's no better way to make a living than ranching, but boy there are a lot of easier ways to do it."