A series where we take a #lookback at the stories and history of our community, brought to you by Mick Pryor, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.
Even though Fremont County was mostly quiet during the Johnson County Wars that pitted large ranchers against small homesteaders and sheep herders, there were some incidents locally.
In 1889 violence broke out on the Sweetwater when a group of large ranchers belonging to the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association lynched Ella Watson (known as Cattle Kate) and Jim Averill, allegedly for rustling cows from the large cattle operators.
That same winter A.J. Cooper and Charles Stough, who also had small homesteads along the Sweetwater River, were herding cows along the river when Cooper was ambushed and killed by a group of men who accused him of rustling. Stough saw the killing from a distance.
Cooper’s wife Minnie was at their homestead with her two small children – son Glenn age 1, and daughter Clare who was 3 when A.J. was killed.
Minnie got re-married to Charles Stough in 1891. Stough had just been elected as sheriff of Fremont County in 1891. The family moved to Lander and Clare, and her brother, were raised as Charlie’s children. In the Lander newspapers the family were often mentioned, with Clare and Glenn usually called by the last name Stough, but sometimes also Cooper.
Clare went to school in Lander, Utah and Nebraska. She attended the University of Wyoming in 1906. She is notable for being one of the few women admitted to the University. She was one of only 174 students.
Clare is often mentioned in the Laramie papers for her athletics, performances, writing and society and club activities. She married Martin Murphy in 1912 and moved to Montana, but never forgot her Wind River roots. When Martin died, Clare returned to Lander in 1948 spending the rest of her life there.
She wrote poetry, and had at least one volume published. In her book of poetry, “Shadows of the Buttes,” she says “the country and the life had a mysterious hold on me. I feel I have lived a speck of this, and it is part of me.” According to the book’s jacket notes “She knows her state’s history with an old-timer’s deeply personal involvement – It is in this spirit that she recreates the land in the shadows of the buttes”.
Clare lived until 1978, dying at the age of 92. She is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. Her simple granite marker near Charles and Minnie’s stone, reads “Clare of the Winds.”
Much of her poetry is a reflection on people, places and things along the Sweetwater and in the Lander Valley.
Her poem “The Shepherd of Beaver Rim” goes:
There he stands
A windswept figure,
Calling, and guiding the fold:
They stop, then turn, and
Move under his directive all and command.
Evening descends, and in its shadows
They bed down close to the shepherd’s
Prairie home-called a Sheep herder’s wagon.
The coyotes howl,
But all is peaceful in the fold,
They show all trust in their shepherd.
Clare’s poem “Lander, Wyoming 1906” goes:
Here the rails do end,
And the trials begin.
If you go far enough
Toward the Teton rim.
Thos magic rails,
And the Galloping Goose
Will bring you on
To the rail end roof.
Here the guides with horses
Will take you on
To the lakes and peaks
Where your worries seem gone.
You can eat your fish
From a frying pan,
And the roundup bread
Tastes better than said.
Author: Randy Wise
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
June 6, 10am with the Pioneer Museum, “Mt. Hope Cemetery Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
June 6, 10am with the Riverton Museum, “Mountain View Cemetery Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
June 6, 9am with the Dubois Museum, “Historic Absaroka Ranch Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
June 9, 7pm at the Pioneer Museum, “J.K. Ralston” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
June 10, 6pm at the Riverton Museum, “From Sea to Shining Sea” Allan Maybee Book Signing
Daily through December at the Pioneer Museum, “Sweetwater Ranch Life, The Paintings of Jack Corbett” Exhibition Opening
Rare Relics Road Show: Save the Date: Saturday October 10, 2026 Lander, WY Lander Community Center, You Are Invited!
Call the Dubois Museum 1-307-455-2284, the Pioneer Museum 1-307-332-3339 or the Riverton Museum 1-307-856-2665 for detail regarding their programs.
The Dubois Museum, the Pioneer Museum in Lander and the Riverton Museum need your financial support. In the current economic environment, the museums are more reliant than ever on donations from the private sector to continue to provide the quality programs, collections management, exhibits and services that have become their hallmark over the last four years. Please make your tax deductible contribution through the Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation https://windriverccf.funraise.org/ or by sending a check to Fremont County Museums 450 N 2nd Rm 320 or taking it directly to the museum you choose to support.