Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office

Historic Context

Wyoming Homesteading, Ranching, and Farming: 1860-1960

Resource Management Issues and Opportunities Associated with Ranching, Farming, and Homesteading in Wyoming

Michael Cassity

The management of Wyoming’s historic resources associated with homesteading, ranching, and farming is a responsibility that beckons to us all so that we can work together to understand the many buildings and structures that dot the countryside. In addition to understanding the history of the state and its homesteaders, farmers, and ranchers, and the structure of the world of which they were a part, we also need to be aware of those parts of the story that we do not yet know enough about, and there are many of them. We must be knowledgeable (1) of how scattered remnants of the past fit together with others no longer there or far away, and (2) that the resources we see scattered around the ground were not just randomly placed there. In addition, we must be vigilant as we make sure that the actions we take on the same ground that earlier generations of Wyoming’s peoples built their lives are undertaken with a sensitivity to Wyoming’s past, present, and future.

This is a significant responsibility. It is also a significant opportunity.

Download the Management Issues & Opportunities PDF.