Clear Creek Cattle Co., 1917 of Natrona, Washakie, & Fremont Counties

Clear Creek Cattle Co. headquarters on Badwater Creek.

Clear Creek Cattle Co. was incorporated in 1950 but its roots go back much farther. In 1906 William “Scotty” Hendry emigrated from Scotland. As the third son he knew there was no future for him in his native country. He used to say “John got the farm, Alexander got to go to medical school, and there was nothing left for me”. He was apprenticed to an ironmonger (hardware) and worked for him long enough to earn passage money to America. After reading stories about the American West, he knew he wanted to become a cowboy. After he landed in New York, he worked at various jobs until he had enough money to come to Wyoming. He traveled by train to the end of the line (Moneta, WY) and took the stagecoach on in to Lander. Someplace between Arapaho and Lander, the team ran away. The one other passenger, a fat lady, and the driver bailed out. Scotty, being a cautious soul, stayed aboard. The team ran straight to the livery barn in Lander. After securing a hotel room, he went for a haircut, and ran into a man named Bill Madden, who convinced him he didn’t want to be a cowboy, but a sheepman. Mr. Madden hired him on the spot, and took him to camp and showed him the boundaries where the sheep were to be kept, and left him. He said he nearly ran his legs off afraid the sheep would get away. He didn’t know all he had to do was keep track of the black ones to know they were all there. While working for Madden, part of his wages was paid in lambs and that is how he started his own sheep herd. When he had enough sheep of his own, he moved to the Lost Cabin area. He leased land up until 1917 when he purchased the “Home Place” on Clear Creek.

In 1912, Anna Dana traveled from her home town of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania west to become a school teacher. She taught in Shoshoni and Lost Cabin, where she met Scotty. They were married in the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Colorado on March 9, 1917. They went on a honeymoon trip to San Francisco and the Grand Canyon, where they rode by mule to the bottom and back. Upon their return, they spent their first summer in a sheep wagon. When it became obvious there was to be an addition to the family, he bought the “Home Place” on Clear Creek. At that time, it was a two-room cabin made of logs and held together with chinking and square wood pegs instead of nails, so it was quite old. The roof was planked and covered with dirt. It was a real challenge to keep house in those days!! As the family increased, so did the house, ending up with three bedrooms, large living and dining room, kitchen, and service porch. Five children were raised there – Helen, Jean, William, James, and Margaret.

Helen started school when she was five, traveling by horseback 1 and 1/2 miles west to the neighboring ranch, where the school was located in a former bunkhouse.

William “Scotty” and Anna Hendry wedding picture – March 9, 1917

By the next year, the Badwater School and barn was built 1 mile west of the Home Place. All five children started school there, but Jean and Helen were the only ones to go all through elementary school. When Jean and Helen were ready for high school, it was decided Anna would rent a house in Casper and move to town. Scotty stayed at the ranch and batched or sometimes had a couple stay, she to cook and keep house and he as the hired hand. All five children graduated from Natrona County High School in Casper.

Scotty made most of his trips to sheep camp by lumber wagon drawn by a four-horse team to take supplies. He wintered the sheep between Lysite and Moneta. When lambing time came, the sheep were split into small bunches and a herder hired for each bunch. All of the riding horses were pressed into service, since each herder had to have a horse. At this time, one of the lead team of horses, Bill, became a saddle horse. This was not to his liking, and the ritual was always the same. Scotty saddled up and came up to the fence. Anna and the kids were assembled on the other side. Scotty mounted and Old Bill started to buck. He bucked, with Scotty yelling “whoa” until he bucked his hat off, then he quit. He got off, retrieved his hat, and they eyeballed each other. Lambing season had officially begun!! If the camp cook quit, or was hung over after a trip to town for supplies, Jean and Helen were pressed into service. This was no easy job–those men expected three full meals a day. As soon as lambing was complete, the sheep were sheared and trailed to the mountains for the summer. As the boys got old enough, they were given the summer job of herding the sheep on the mountain. This necessitated living in a sheep wagon, doing their own cooking and housekeeping–a job they both detested. Neither of the boys cared to hunt, fish, or camp after their summers on the mountain.

All five children attended college. Jim attended Drake and the University of Wyoming. He was at the university when Pearl Harbor was bombed and he promptly enlisted in the Army Air Corp. He flew missions over the Philippines and Guam. After the war, Jim returned home to begin ranching with his father. He had saved some money from his pay and wanted to get into business. Law practice looked interesting to him, but that meant another year and half of college. His parents were semi-retired at the ranch. His father had sold nearly all his sheep, dropped most of his grazing leases, and sold some of the other lands, but, if Jim wanted to become a partner, they would plow back into the livestock business with him. Cattle were purchased to run with the sheep. More land was added to the operation as well. In 1950, Jim married Mary Helen Cheatham in Casper, WY. They moved to the MO ranch that was purchased by Scotty for his daughter Jean and her husband Jim Luckett. After they left the ranch, Scotty had to purchase it back from them. So in essence he bought this ranch twice!! The MO ranch is located two miles east of the Home Place and today serves as the headquarters for Clear Creek Cattle Co.

Mary Helen was born in Texas, but raised in Craig, Colorado. She moved to Casper after high school when her dad was transferred to work at the Texaco Refinery. Mary Helen was not raised on a ranch. She was a journalist working for the Casper Star Tribune when she met Jim. She continued to write stories for the paper about her experiences on the ranch.

James D. Hendry

Mary Helen Hendry.

She was called “Badwater Mary” because the title “Crazy Mary” was already taken. She had many interests including painting, pottery, photography, and writing. She wrote three books. One was on rock art and she visited and documented many of the rock art sites in the state. “Tales of Old Lost Cabin” were stories told to her by the locals in the area. Her third book, “Petticoats and Pistols” was about a madam, Lou Polk, and her adventures in Casper. She also was a strong supporter of education and served on the Arminto School Board and the Natrona County School Board for a number of years.

Their only child, Robert, was born in 1957 in Riverton, Wyoming. When Rob was five, Mary got her wish for a new house. This house is still in use on the ranch today. Rob attended schools in Lysite, Shoshoni, Arminto, Laramie, and finished up high school in Casper. He attended Casper College for one year, but knew the ranch was where he wanted to be. Growing up, Jim instilled in him the love of the ranch, agriculture, and the outdoors. In 1981, Rob married the neighbor, Leslie Coffman.

Leslie grew up on a sheep ranch north of Powder River, WY. Even though they had land that bordered each other, they did not meet until high school. Rob and Leslie graduated from Natrona County High School in 1976 and Leslie attended the University of Wyoming graduating with a degree in Mathematics. She graduated in May and they got married in June and moved to the ranch. Having grown up on a ranch, she fell easily into the ranching lifestyle helping every chance she got. Working with cattle was a lot different than sheep, but she learned (sometimes the hard way while running from an angry mama). When Jim found out she liked numbers and bookwork, he promptly turned over the books to her. She continues to keep the books today. She and Rob have two boys, J.W., born in 1984 and Jarrod, born in 1989. J.W. is married and has one child, Avery. He lives and works in Riverton. Jarrod is unmarried and works on the ranch with his parents.

Jim embraced the newest technology and innovations and was continually learning and he instilled that James D. Hendry. Mary Helen Hendry knowledge into Rob.

Warming up after trailing cattle on a rainy/foggy day.

Together they expanded the ranch to the size it is today. When Jim began ranching with his father, he wanted to incorporate cattle into the operation along with the sheep. They started with Hereford cows and that evolved into Black Angus cattle. Numerous bulls were tried (Hereford, Saler, Charlois, Limousin, Murray Gray) and they finally settled on Charlois. Today the ranch breeds Black Angus cattle to Charlois bulls for a terminal cross, selling both steers and heifers. They ran sheep until 1978 when 50 % of the lamb crop was eaten by coyotes.

The early 1980s were particularly hard for the cattle business. Both land and cattle took a severe devaluation. Major changes needed to be implemented to survive. The ranch expansion days of the 50s & 60s were over. The ranch changed from a cow/calf, yearling operation to just cow/calf selling all the calves every year and buying bred heifers and continues that practice today.

Clear Creek Cattle Co strives to keep up with the latest tools and innovations. The Hendrys completed Wyoming’s Beef Quality Assurance program and adhere to the management practices they learned. Before electronic identification eartags for cattle became readily available, the Hendrys placed tags carrying their ranch name in their calves’ ears. Today, calves leaving their ranch are fitted with an electronic button in place of the tag. Cattle are marketed on the Superior Livestock video auction and each year their calves are close to the top of the market. Beginning in 2009, the Hendry family certified their calves as “non-hormone treated cattle.” This newest addition to the information that accompanies the calves to market makes them eligible for sale anywhere in the world, including the European Union and Japan, as hormone free beef.

Clear Creek Cattle Co has partnered with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Land Management to launch a monitoring program to ensure the health of their rangeland. They developed a monitoring program and document the health of both their private and public rangeland. The goal is to ensure that the ranch is managing their rangelands to the best of their ability and to develop the data necessary to protect them in the event of a lawsuit from activist groups that oppose ranching.

In 2001, Rob started an oilfield construction company doing work for Encana Oil and Gas on and near some of the ranch property. It was started to reclaim the locations and plant them back to grass quicker. As more equipment was acquired, the duties expanded to building roads and locations and other facilities that were needed for the oil company as well as selling gravel and maintaining the roads. The construction company still operates and is the dirt contractor for the new company, Aethon Energy in the Moneta Divide area.

Rob grew up wanting to become a pilot. He was able to fulfill this dream by getting his private pilot’s Warming up after trailing cattle on a rainy/foggy day. 19 license after high school. His father purchased a Cessna 182 for use on the ranch at that time. It has become a valuable tool looking for lost cattle. In 2014, a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter was added to the fleet as well as a Supercub. With these eyes in the sky, management of the livestock has increased.

Today, Jarrod Hendry is working into the management of the ranch. He has been manager of the cattle operation for a few years and now is taking over the hay operation as well. Clear Creek Cattle Co runs on approximately 180,000 acres of deeded, state, BLM, and leased land. It’s nearly 60 miles from the ranch headquarters to the southernmost property in the Rattlesnake Mountains. From the dream of a Scottish Highlander to the ranch today, Clear Creek Cattle Co has survived for 100 years and looks forward to the fourth and fifth generations to continue the legacy.

William “Scotty” Hendry – lambing time.

The five Hendry children, left to right: Margaret, Jim, Bill, Jean & Helen. Saddled up and headed two miles down the road to school. Picture taken in the late 20s.