The Stone Wall Ranch was the first permanent ranch homestead within the Little Snake River Valley. Founded by one of the valley's first permanent cattle raising residents, Noah Reader, in 1871, the ranch retains material culture elements that embody the relationship between stockmen and the local environment--elements that express an articulation between a mode of livelihood and local environmental constraints. The ranch name derived from the natural sandstone escarpment that still forms the back (north) wall of the ranch's main corral. The Stone Wall Ranch is significant because it is the first permanent settlement in the Little Snake River Valley and because of its unique environmental setting. Cultural elements of the property are integrated with the environmental features and elicit a feeling of confinement rather than the open spaciousness so common among Wyoming ranches.