When University of Wyoming graduate student Josie Corbett arrived at the American Heritage Center in 2024 as a Women in Public Life Fellow, she came with a mission: to investigate the “multifaceted contributions of women ranchers in Wyoming to the historical ranching industry.” Her ongoing research through the archives, combined with the Center’s abundant oral history collections, reveals a powerful story of resilience, innovation, and indispensable labor that challenges traditional narratives about who built the American West.

The Invisible Foundation of Ranch Life

Corbett’s research through the AHC’s collections paints a vivid picture of women whose work extended far beyond the domestic sphere, even when it was framed that way. Take Maggie Keyes Williams from the Double X Ranch Family Records, who married at 17 and moved west in 1873. While described by her daughter as a “splendid wife and mother, helping in every way to further the success of her husband,” the reality was far more complex. Maggie milked 30-40 cows daily, produced pounds of butter for her husband to freight, and literally built their home—transforming a log house into a comfortable dwelling through her own efforts.

This pattern of essential yet undervalued work emerges throughout ranching oral histories at the AHC. As Toni David, interviewed in 2021, recalled about her ranch experience in the Big Piney area: “Sometimes I was cooking five meals a day, because I would have a haying crew of like 15 men. And then, separate from them, the company had just cowboys hired to take care of the cattle. So, they might show up in the middle of the day for a meal.” Toni also described getting up each morning to make lists of daily tasks: “So, it was a lot of work. But it wasn’t just me doing it. Every cook on those other ranches…had a cook on each ranch. Because at that time, we did cook for the crews.”

Kathy Davison, interviewed in 2022 at her ranch between Kemmerer and Opal, echoed these sentiments about the demanding nature of ranch life: “We started out, Ron made $100 a month from his dad, and our boarding room, we lived here. We started out poor, but we were happy…I liked the sheep more because when Ron wasn’t home I could deliver a lamb pretty easy. A calf was a little harder.”

Care Work as Community Building

Corbett’s analysis reveals how women’s labor functioned as what she calls “care work”—extending beyond immediate tasks to encompass “the physical, emotional, social, and intergenerational well-being of the ranching family.” This care work manifested in countless ways: nurturing family members, managing household and ranching economies, doctoring animals, maintaining infrastructure, and fostering community ties.

AHC oral histories bring this concept to life. Nancy Espenscheid, who grew up on a ranch near Big Piney and later operated her own ranch, described the integrated nature of women’s contributions: “I did a lot of horseback riding. I did all the bookkeeping, the accounting. I drove pickup trucks and did errands…Calving, we helped with calving. I mean, it wasn’t anything that took a genius. It was just somebody that would pay attention and care about the outcome is how I describe it.”

The community aspect of this care work was crucial. Patricia Frolander, who moved from Boston to a Sundance ranch in 1969, initially struggled with isolation but found that neighboring was essential: “When we’d harvest, the neighbors would get together, we’d do it together. When we branded in the springtime, we did it together—ranch-to-ranch.” She noted sadly in her 2021 interview that “That’s all completely changed now. And that’s a loss to community when that happens.”

Kathy Davison described similar community cooperation with sheep ranching: “We had a lot of nights we had the whole house full of lambs because we had lamb on our land…we had to check on every two hours. Bring them in to warm them up.” The physical intimacy of ranch life meant that caring for animals was inseparable from caring for family.

A Unique Western Equality

Eleanor Stepp Johnston’s experience as a woman of mixed Black and white heritage reveals how ranching communities could transcend social barriers in remarkable ways. Born in 1939 and raised on a ranch her great-grandfather homesteaded along the Green River, Eleanor found acceptance that challenged conventional prejudices: “I’ve never been mistreated because of my race. I feel like, rather, it was looked upon as, ‘Wow. She’s a friend of ours. It doesn’t matter if her skin’s black or blue or purple.’”

Her family was deeply respected—her grandfather held positions as brand inspector, road commissioner, and county assessor because “he had a greater education than most of the white people here.” Her father’s musical family played throughout the region, and when bigots once threatened them, “the locals heard them talking. And those men left town. They were slightly beaten up. But they left town.” Eleanor herself was “included in everything” in school and “served as an officer in every organization,” with family social events often held at their home “because we had a big house…and that’s where the piano was.”

Breaking Barriers, Building Futures

Perhaps most significantly, Corbett’s research documents how women actively broke gender barriers while preserving ranching traditions. Patricia Frolander’s experience illustrates this tension perfectly. When she arrived at her first branding as a neighbor, she was told: “Oh, no. The men eat first. We eat second table.” But she persisted, explaining: “And the women were not in the corrals. The women did not ride cattle, they stayed home, and they prepared the meals, raised the children…I broke a lot of barriers here.” Her own mother-in-law predicted she “would never last a year” on the ranch, but that skepticism became motivation: “I’d think about what she said, and I’d think, ‘No, I’ll stick it out.’”

The Cooksley Sisters, Elsie and Amy, documented in the James D. Folger papers at the AHC, exemplified this barrier-breaking spirit. English immigrants who became cowpunchers during World War I, they later owned a ranch near Kaycee and started guiding big game hunters in 1955. By the 1970s, when photographer Jim Folger befriended and wrote about them, they had been hunting guides and ranchers for more than twenty years. Despite their recognized competence—as one neighbor noted, Amy “stood in her tan leather boots, more capable than most men”—they faced challenges securing employment through agencies, revealing persistent biases against women in ranching and guiding roles.

The Evolution of Recognition

The oral histories reveal changing attitudes over time. Mary Budd Flitner, born in 1942, reflected in 2021 on how expectations for women evolved: “I don’t think we gave as much thought to it as we did just assumed that life would take care of us…We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about what we were going to be. But we were just on the edge of that, because as I went on to college, then girls were talking about the Peace Corps and different advocacy groups.”

Contemporary ranchers like Trudi Julian represent both continuity and change in women’s ranching roles. Operating a major sheep ranch near Kemmerer with her brother, Trudi embodies the hands-on approach that has always characterized ranch women: “I’m a person who likes to see things get done. I’m a doer, you get something done.” Her operation runs “between 9,000 and 10,000 herd of sheep” across vast areas of Wyoming, from “the Bridger National Forest, which is north of Kemmerer” in summer to “the Rock Springs Lease Desert” in winter.

The family legacy continues through the next generation. As Trudi proudly noted: “My daughter that’s working on the ranch, she’s the fifth generation working on this ranch, which is pretty neat.” At 26, her daughter Marie represents the future of an industry where women increasingly take leadership roles.

The Continuing Legacy

The pattern emerges clearly from the archives: women’s care work maintained the working heritage of family ranches across generations. This legacy continues today in ranchers like Trudi Julian, whose family has operated their sheep ranch near Kemmerer for generations. As Trudi proudly noted: “My daughter… she’s the fifth generation working on this ranch, which is pretty neat.” At 26, her daughter represents the future of an industry where women increasingly take the lead.

The oral histories preserve voices that capture this evolution—from Toni David reflecting “I’ve always been able to express my opinion and not suffer for it,” to Patricia Frolander’s transformation: “Within 30 days, I had 17 bum lambs to feed…I was terrified…but three years later, I was so invested in the land and the livestock, our home, I would have never left.”

Eleanor Johnston’s experience demonstrates how ranch communities could transcend barriers: “I love being a woman in Wyoming…I’ve been able to get out there and do things and go places.”

These stories reveal that women were essential to ranching’s creation and evolution. The “grass ceiling” was broken long ago by countless women whose legacy continues in every female agricultural student, every contemporary rancher adapting to modern challenges, and every community sustained by the care work that makes ranching life possible.

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The American Heritage Center’s Women in Public Life Fellowship supports research that illuminates women’s contributions to American society. Josie Corbett’s research, along with the Center’s extensive oral history collections, provides crucial documentation of women’s roles in shaping the American West. To learn more about the AHC’s collections or fellowship opportunities, visit uwyo.edu/ahc.