Pioneers of Outlaw Country

The most famous cowboy prank in Wyoming... may never have happened. Or did it? In his novel, The Virginian, Owen Wister tells of a baby swapping prank that happened at a rural dance. It was common practice in those days to pile the babies under chairs and tables to sleep while the parents danced the night away.   According to Wister, two cowboys took advantage of this situation to pull a legendary stunt! 

After his novel was published, residents of Thermopolis and other western towns claimed that the incident was real. According to homesteaders of Owl Creek, Bridger Creek, Lost Cabin and Thermopolis - that person was a young French cowboy named David Picard. 

Follow along on this adventure that made its way even to Hollywood and determine for yourself.... Is it a tall tale or did a mischievous cowboy really pull the ultimate joke on unsuspecting parents? 

The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association.  

 This program has been made possible through a grant from Wyoming Humanities.

 David Picard, Cowboy Prankster was a production of Legend Rock Media with your host, Jackie Dorothy.

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

When Owen Wister brought his family to Wyoming in 1912, they brought along a special friend: Peeshee, the waltzing mouse. The inclusion of this tiny tourist in their family gives us insight into the Wister family dynamics and their love of nature in all forms.
The Waltzing Mouse, once as common as goldfish as pets for children, was a puzzle to the scientists who studied them. These tiny creatures would whirl in circles rather than walk in straight lines and were more docile than their cousins. 
Peeshee spent the summer waltzing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to the delight of the four Wister children.
The next year, tragedy struck when their mother died in childbirth and, unknown to them, this was the last summer they would spend in their beloved Wyoming. 
Peeshee the Waltzing Mouse was a delight to all and a fun memory of their time in Wyoming,

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

"Young man, go west!"
Among the cowboys and frontiersmen, miners and homesteaders were a group of young adventurers - the rich young tenderfoot. These tourists were not seeking their fortunes but were tourists, looking to get away from the confines of civilization even briefly. 
One of these young men took his journals and turned them into fiction, becoming one of the best-selling authors in America. Even today, his novel, The Virginian, is one of the top 50 fictions in the last century. 
Owen Wister was proud of his status as Tenderfoot. And even prouder when he was able to shed the title and call himself a pioneer of Wyoming! 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

In 1902, the most popular book in America was The Virginian by Owen Wister.  This book changed America's perspective on the cowboy and turned the once maligned cowhand into a romantic hero.

Told at times through the eyes of the Tenderfoot, this is a story of a courageous but mysterious cowboy known only as “the Virginian”. He works as foreman of a cattle ranch in the Wyoming territory during the1880s and is admired by his friends and enemies alike. The gunplay and violence of his frontier code threaten his romance with Molly, the pretty schoolteacher from the East. The novel’s climactic gun duel is the first “showdown” in fiction. It also introduced the now-classic phrase that the Virginian utters when confronting Trampas, the villian of the story: “When you call me that, smile!”

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

In 1903, Tom O'Day was villainized in the newspapers as a notorious horse thief but his friends and acquaintances defended him as a cheerful Irishman who may embellish a brand once in awhile. That February he was unarmed when, suddenly, he was in the fight of his life. 

Join us on this exciting escapade of one of Wyoming's most beloved outlaws, Tom O'Day! 

 Thank you for listening to Hot Springs County Pioneers. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association.  

 This program has been made possible through a grant from Wyoming Humanities.

 This was a production of Legend Rock Media.

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Happy New Year! What better way to celebrate than to travel back in time to 1884 in the Wyoming Territory. 

Warning... Sprinkled in with the 1884 New Years predictions are superstitions and even an old-fashioned romance. We are celebrating the 1884 New Year just as residents did that same year and reading through the Cheyenne Daily Sun after staying up to bring in the New Year!

1883 had been a time of prosperity for many in Wyoming and the fledging city of Cheyenne. The cattle were thriving, and the railroad was bringing in opportunities to the young territory. The Wyoming and cowboys of the 1880's would soon be immortalized by author Owen Wister in his famous book, The Virginian, but today, as 1884 dawned, the territorial citizens were still living in the world Wister would depict less than 20 years into the future.   

As the citizens welcomed in 1884, little did they know that the future, for some, was going to be dire. For, in just two years, a severe winter would kill thousands of cattle.  It would became known as “The Great Die-Up" and help bring on the war between the wealthy cattlemen association and the small-time homesteaders they saw as a threat to their vast empire.

In 1884, the thoughts were on New Years celebrations and superstitious from the old world. The modern world of electric lights made it easier to enjoy love stories from their homes back east and to look forward to a bright future.

Hello 1884!
Be sure to join the conversation on Facebook and to join our growing community.
(20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association and was a production of Legend Rock Media Production. Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy & Dean King.

Season two will be exploring the Wyoming of Owen Wister, the author of The Virginian

This program has been made possible through a grant from Wyoming Humanities.
Home - thinkWY

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

They were daring adventurers, forgers of a new life, homesteaders …. and forgotten to history. These vanished people were true pioneers of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories. 

 The Lost Owl Creek Colony

           Many, many years ago, strangers came from the south and began to build homes in the solitudes of Wyoming. To the tribes who roamed this area, it was a prized hunting ground known for mild winters. They had fought bloody wars for their right to hunt the plentiful game and were jealous of any who also tried to claim the valley beneath the Owl Creek Mountains. 

The Indians say in their own language: “Beautifully the Great Spirit looks at the other countries in the summer, but he lives here all the year.”

These newcomers were seen as a threat by the tribes. The strange people worked among the rocks in the mountains, the country yielding them rich treasures, not only furs, but gold and other precious metals taken from the ground. 

According to their oral traditions, the Indians attacked and destroyed the outsiders in their new homes. They took as their prize the strange animals belonging to these interlopers. This was how the tribes in the Big Horn Basin first came to own horses.

Some dismiss this story as mere legend… a tale told to General George Sliney in the late 1800’s that he wrote down in his memoirs. But was it really only a myth? 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

He was the founder of Thermopolis, well-respected businessman and cattleman, a dashing bachelor, expert horseman and a murderer. 

 This cattleman and businessman was a true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

 The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories. 

 Ben Hanson, The Murder of Tom Bird

 A rumor of an unfaithful wife and friend, three gunshots, in rapid succession, a man on the run…. This is the story of Ben Hanson and Tom Bird. 

Ben Hanson, a young cattleman and expert horseman, homesteaded land bordering on the Wind River Indian Reservation in the early 1890’s. He had spent years in the saddle as a cowboy for other men and was now ready to make his own fortune.

He knew this land well. It was untamed and lawless – and full of promise. Both cowboys from the Embar Ranch and outlaws from the Hole-in-the-Wall country, flush with spending money, were roaming the area. They were visiting the hog ranch at Andersonville and the campground at Rocky Row, which was then an illegal settlement on the hot springs belonging to the Shoshoni and Arapaho Indians. 

However... his life was to take a dark turn... 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

She was the daughter of an oil man, grew up in the Grass Creek oil field – playing among the pumpjacks and dancing at the one-room school house in the early part of the 1900’s. 

 This student of the land was truly a pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming.

 The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories. 

 Elizabeth McCrady Nuhn, Daughter of Oil

 Armed with rifles, and wearing masks, three men, self-proclaimed vigilantes, “compelled” a large number of claim jumpers to evacuate the camps they had established illegally. 

It was 1917 and a new era of outlaws had taken over the Wild West. 

Oil had been discovered and men flocked to the remote outposts of Wyoming in search of the black gold. Businessmen, such as Martin McGrath, a founding father of Thermopolis, and former outlaws like Elzy Lay of the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, joined in the hunt for the liquid treasure. 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Major George “Sandy” Forsyth: His Forgotten Diary 

 He was a Civil War veteran, Cavalry Officer, Indian Fighter, General Sheridan’s aide de camp, avid fisherman, author, husband and Brigadier General.

 This courageous soldier was a true explorer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories. 

Major George “Sandy” Forsyth: The Forgotten Diary 

In the Hot Springs County Museum in Thermopolis, Wyoming, a nondescript brown journal was displayed without acknowledgement of its historical importance. This journal was on display in the military exhibit with a small photo of its author, Major George “Sandy” Forsyth. 

Someone had stamped the cover with the old address of the County Museum before that museum was burned and moved to its present location on 700 Broadway in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Somehow, the journal survived the devasting fire although its outer edges are tinged with old soot. 

This journal was on its way to the Smithsonian when instead, the owner chose, through a series of twists and turns, to send the journal to Thermopolis. That is because this journal was written in 1877 about a journey through the future Hot Springs County.

Major George “Sandy” Forsyth was General Sheridan’s aide de camp and, along with many notable officers of the time, was on a journey through the Big Horn Mountains to Camp Custer. It had been one year since General Custer had been killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The company of soldiers, who had all known him and his regiment, were on their way to the new posts being built along the Rose Bud and Tongue River. The Indian Wars were coming to an end and the company was accompanied by Sioux Scouts. 

They had left Chicago on the train and arrived in Cheyenne within one day. From there, they took the train and stagecoach to Camp Brown, a fort near the future town of Lander. This trip was unlike any from the previous years when danger lurked on the countryside from hostile Indians. The Indian Wars were over and now the soldiers hunted and fished their way across the beautiful landscape.

Sandy Forsyth was a skilled writer and his words describe a world as beautiful as any park. He describes the bright blue of the larkspur and forget-me-nots, the string of trout they caught and the mosquitoes that plagued them. In 1877, buffalo still roamed Hot Springs County in large herds and the area was still being mapped.  

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Over the Stage Line to Thermopolis

 They were adventurers, farm boys, prospectors, family men and former soldiers. These men who drove the stage through Wyoming had to be endure the heat of summer and the sleet and snow of winter... and bandits. 

 These hardy stagecoach drivers were true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories. 

Driving the stage could be dangerous business.  

Early in his career, coal miner John Hultz drove stage over Birdseye Pass which took him from Shoshoni to Thermopolis over steep grades and miles of lonely wilderness. This route began in late 1905 when travel over Mexican Pass was halted by the tribes.

One summer day, John was driving the stage on Birdseye when two men tried to stick him up. He said that one little fella climbed up on the wheel and pointed the gun in his face. At the same time, the other bandit climbed up on the right side and put the gun on the man that was riding shotgun. 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

  A single gunshot rang out. It was night on a bustling Wyoming street - yet no one admitted to recognizing the gunman who escaped into the crowd…. 

 Dora McGrath: A Lady of the Wild West 

She was the daughter of homesteaders and wife of a coal miner. A mother, business woman, stylish lady of society, soldier advocate, and first woman senator of Wyoming. 

 This courageous mother was a true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

 The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories.

           

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Joe Meek: The Mountain Man

 He was the tall Virginian. A trapper, Indian fighter, pioneer, peace officer, frontier politician, and lover of practical jokes and Jacksonian democracy. 

 This friend and companion of Kit Carson and Jim Bridger was a true pioneer of Wyoming and Hot Springs County. 

 The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories. 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association.  

This podcast was supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

 This is a production of Legend Rock Media.

 Copyright 2023 Legend Rock Media 

 With a special thank you to Tony Messerly and the Many Strings Band. For more of their lively music, visit them at www.ManyStrings.net.

Big Horn River Pilot, Volume 02, Number 09, May 11, 1898
Joe Meek: The Merry Mountain Man, A Biography by Stanley Vestal

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

As the wind blew across the snow, the mountain men made a winter camp without provisions or hope of getting any until they reached the plains where the buffalo roamed. They were living off the land and the deer and elk had fled this high country. 

It was 1829 and Joe Meek was a teenage runaway who had joined this band of men as a hired hunter and trapper only the spring before. The tall Virginian had already been attacked by Indians, lost in the country and had met starvation. However, this new frontier held him and, as he hunkered near the fire, warming his hands and celebrating Christmas, he wasn’t ready to go back to civilization. 

Merry Christmas from the wilderness of Wyoming! 

This History Tidbit is courtesy of the Hot Springs County Pioneer Association and Legend Rock Media Productions. 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

He was a man of the West. A cowboy, husband, father, outlaw, hired assassin, lawman and lone wolf.  

 This Deputy Sheriff and Horse Rustler was a true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

 The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Thermopolis and Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Here are their stories. 

 Albert Slick Nard, Lawman & Outlaw

 Part II –– Lawman to Outlaw 

It is 1892 and the Horse Rustler Wars have been declared in Wyoming. Albert “Slick” Nard had been recruited from the ranks of horse thief to that of Deputy Sheriff. His former best friend and fellow outlaw, Jack Bliss, has just escaped from the Lander Jail and stolen the racehorse, Red Bird. This famous horse belonged to another horse thief turned deputized lawman, Manuel Armenta.  

Here is the rest of Slick Nard's story... 

This podcast was researched and hosted by Jackie Dorothy and Dean King of Legend Rock Media Productions with special thanks to Author and Historian, Mike Bell. 

For more adventurous reading and to learn more about this family and their friends, we suggest the following books which we used to research their story:

• Butch Cassidy, The Wyoming Years by Bill Betenson
• History of Wyoming, Big Horn Basin by Taceta Walker
• Incidents on Owl Creek - Butch Cassidy's Big Horn Basin Bunch and the Wyoming Horsethief War by Mike Bell

Shop the Independent Bookstore | Lulu

Music Credits:

• Dude, Where's My Horses by Nat Keefe with the Bow Ties
• Horses and Trains, Jesse Gallagher
• Rattlesnake Railroad by Brett Van Donsel
• A Fallen Cowboy by Sir Cubworth
• Western Spaghetti by Chris Haugen

Travel back to the past with a trip to Hot Springs County!

     Thermopolis, Wyoming is home of the "World's Largest Mineral Hot Springs" and still retains much of its western charms. Only a few hours from Yellowstone, you can come visit and for yourself why this town was once an outlaw hideout! 
Home - Hot Springs Wyoming Tourism (thermopolis.com)
     You can even visit Old Thermopolis on Black Mountain Road where all that remains are memories - and a great fishing hole.  Slick Creek, named after our infamous lawman/outlaw, Slick Nard, is still in existence, a marker of by-gone days and highway robbery.
     Afterwards, lounge at the actual Hole-in-the-Wall bar that the Wild Bunch visited, now at the Hot Springs County Museum. 
Hot Springs County Museum & Cultural Center | Thermopolis, Wyoming (thermopolismuseum.com)

Be sure to look us up - the Hot Springs County Pioneers! 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

 He was a man of the West. A cowboy, husband, father, outlaw, hired assassin, lawman and lone wolf.  

This Deputy Sheriff and Horse Rustler was a true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

Hot Springs County, Wyoming was a lawless rugged country, far from civilization and the law. The pioneers who came to this land had to have grit and the desire to survive. 

Albert Nard a.k.a. Slick had come to Wyoming up the Texas Trail in 1884. Tempers had just begun to boil between the homesteaders and free-range cattlemen. Within six years, this young cowboy, now a husband and father, fell in with Jack Bliss, a known horse thief. The two rustled cows and horses in the Lost Cabin area and were well-known by the locals. Slick knew the Hole-in-the-Wall gang members and early pioneers of the area as he plied his trade to provide for his young family. It was there, during the Horse Rustler Wars, that Slick was given a choice by a vigilante- turn informant or go to jail.

The Worland Grit claimed that “Nard hung out in the Hole in the Wall country but generally played a lone hand. He had earned a right to be called “Slick” through his cattle and horse rustling. For a time, he rode with the Curry gang of train robbers and was supposed to have been an actor in several of the big looting deals that gang was responsible for.”

This podcast was researched and hosted by Jackie Dorothy and Dean King of Legend Rock Media Productions with special thanks to Author and Historian, Mike Bell. 

For more adventurous reading and to learn more about this family and their friends, we suggest the following books which we used to research their story:

• Butch Cassidy, The Wyoming Years by Bill Betenson
• History of Wyoming, Big Horn Basin by Taceta Walker
• Incidents on Owl Creek - Butch Cassidy's Big Horn Basin Bunch and the Wyoming Horsethief War by Mike Bell

Shop the Independent Bookstore | Lulu

Music Credits:

• Dude, Where's My Horses by Nat Keefe with the Bow Ties
• Horses and Trains, Jesse Gallagher
• Rattlesnake Railroad by Brett Van Donsel
• A Fallen Cowboy by Sir Cubworth
• Western Spaghetti by Chris Haugen

Travel back to the past with a trip to Hot Springs County!

     Thermopolis, Wyoming is home of the "World's Largest Mineral Hot Springs" and still retains much of its western charms. Only a few hours from Yellowstone, you can come visit and for yourself why this town was once an outlaw hideout!
Home - Hot Springs Wyoming Tourism (thermopolis.com)
     You can even visit Old Thermopolis on Black Mountain Road where all that remains are memories - and a great fishing hole.  Slick Creek, named after our infamous lawman/outlaw, Slick Nard, is still in existence, a marker of by-gone days and highway robbery.
     Afterwards, lounge at the actual Hole-in-the-Wall bar that the Wild Bunch visited, now at the Hot Springs County Museum.
Hot Springs County Museum & Cultural Center | Thermopolis, Wyoming (thermopolismuseum.com)

Be sure to look us up - the Hot

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

She was the daughter of a cavalry soldier. A teacher, caregiver, rancher, homesteader, wife, mother and to some, an angle of mercy – even when the person in need was also a wanted outlaw. 

This courageous homesteader was a true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming.

Mary Hayes Picard and her sister-in-law, Lottie Weber Hayes, were home alone at the remote 2B ranch owned by the Picard family. The children were suffering from whooping cough and the men were gone when Kid Curry appeared on their doorstep. He had been shot and needed help.

Who was Mary, this ranch wife closely acquainted with the Hole-in-the-Wall gang? 

The Hot Springs County Pioneer Association brings you the story of Mary Hayes Picard, a teacher and ranch wife of Wyoming.  

We especially want to thank the daughters of Raymond Picard, Cecil and Mary, for taking the time to share their family memories and oral history. Please note that they pronounce their name "Pick-erd" rather than the French pronunciation of "Puh-card".  

This podcast was researched and hosted by Jackie Dorothy and Dean King of Legend Rock Media Productions 

For more adventurous reading and to learn more about this family and their friends, we suggest the following books which we used to research their story:

• He Rode with Butch and Sundance: The Story of Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan By Mark T. Smokov
• Halleck Country - The Story of the Land and its People by Edna B. Patterson and Louise A. Beebe 
• History of Natrona County by Alfred James Mokler 
• History of Wyoming, Big Horn Basin by Taceta Walker

Music Credits:

• Dude, Where's My Horses by Nat Keefe with the Bow Ties
• Shenandoah (Instrumental) by Mickey Raphael 
• Miner's Song in the Klondike Gold Rush
• A Ghost Town by Quincas Moreira 
• Rattlesnake Railroad by Brett Van Donsel
• The Wild West by Ross Bugden

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

He was a man of the West. A cowboy, ranch foreman, top rider and roper with the Buffalo Bill Show, husband, father, homesteader, saloon owner... and outlaw.

This member of the Wild Bunch was a true pioneer of Hot Springs, County.

Walt Punteney was a stockman in Wyoming who sidelined as an outlaw in the infamous Hole-in-the-Wall gang. He counted as friends such well-known outlaws as Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Harvey Logan.

He lived in what is now Hot Springs County, Wyoming in a time when a cowboy could brand his own cattle and become named as a rustler. It was dangerous times but Walt never lost his zest for life or his smile.

Your Hosts:
Jackie Dorothy & Dean King  

Music Credits:
Surrender, Dan Lebowitz
The Colonel, Zechariah Hickman
Wild West, Zitron Sound
Horses and Trains, Jesse Gallagher

For further reading on Walt Punteney and his companions, we recommend the following books:
Tim McCoy Remembers the West by Tim McCoy
Wind River Adventures: My Life in Frontier Wyoming by Edward J. Farlow
The Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost  by Pearl Baker
Butch Cassidy: The Wyoming Years by Bill Betenson
Desperate Men: Revelations from the Sealed Pinkerton Files by James Horan

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Welcome to the first episode of this 12-part series featuring stories from pioneers of the outlaw country of Wyoming; Hot Springs County.

He was a man of the West. A cowboy, rancher, friend of the Indian warrior, cavalry officer, Hollywood movie star, and showman. 

He lived by the adage, “Never look back; something might be gaining on you.”

This son of Irish immigrants was a true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming. 

During his lifetime, Tim McCoy was one of the most famous men who called Hot Springs County, Wyoming home. 

In the early days of film, he was one of the Big Four of Hollywood Western Stars alongside Tom Mix, Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson. He starred in over 100 movies, had his own tv show, won an Emmy and his star is on Hollywood Boulevard.

Today, many people never heard of Tim McCoy even in his hometown of Thermopolis. Tim McCoy’s early years were tied to Hot Springs County and he ranched up Owl Creek at the Eagles Nest for 30 years. He often said that his heart belonged to Wyoming – not the glitz and glam of Hollywood.

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association.  We are dedicated to preserving the history of our unique county and city of Thermopolis.

This podcast was supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

This was a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Music Credits:

• Rattlesnake Railroad by Brett VanDonsel
• Roundup on the Prairie by Aaron Kenny
• The Gunfight by Everett Almond
• The Old Chisholm Trail by Harry McClintock (1928)
• Celtic Impulse by Kevin Macleod
• A Fallen Cowboy by Sir Cubworth
• Western Spaghetti by Chris Haugen

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Pioneers of Outlaw Country

Hot Springs County was a remote area in Central Wyoming, lawless and frequented by the Hole-in-the-Wall gang. In the late 1800’s, there were no jails, many saloons, and wide-spread homesteads. There were numerous opportunities for the daring and enterprising businessmen – cattlemen, horse traders, store owners, saloon operators, farmers, coal miners and oil men. 

In the 1920’s, businesswoman Dora McGrath realized that these stories needed to be preserved and founded the Hot Springs County Pioneer Association with the dream of one day opening a museum. Early members of the association included former outlaws and lawmen, business owners, ranchers, and Shoshone and Arapaho tribal leaders. 

Today, the descendants of these early settlers remain in the region and are working together to preserve the history before it is lost. 

These are their stories. 

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association.  

This podcast was supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

Music: Rattlesnake Railroad by Bret Van Donsel

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association. Join us on Facebook!

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.