New Fork Cattle Bridge

While working on this article, I was put in contact with a fellow rancher and writer, Nancy Espenscheid, who had worked for the Pinedale Journal at its inception in 1996. She gave me many photos to use, but unfortunately, I was unable to find the original article she wrote regarding the New Fork Cattle Bridge. Thank you to my Mother, Jeannie, and friend, Jonita Sommers for your help writing this.

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Since the civilization of the west, livestock has traveled with settlers west. As various towns and rural areas were civilized through westward expansion so did the livestock industry. Rural communities grew and found ways to sustain themselves by relying on the many natural resources to thrive. While small in size, these rural communities had big needs and ideas with each generation.

In Sublette County, situated in western Wyoming, many of the rural families settled their homesteads in the late 1800s and still continue to ranch to this day. For many of the families that reside in the Green River Valley, they trail their cattle on the Green River Drift, a historic 80-mile cattle drive. This cattle drive starts in the Little Colorado Desert located south and east of Big Piney, Wyoming covering an area of about sixty thousand acres. So large in fact, that some old-timers recall it being closer to go to Farson than Big Piney depending on their location on the Little Colorado.

The use of this desert land came as ranchers realized the need to utilize the short growing season after an extremely harsh winter. The act of stockpiling hay became a necessity to care for livestock during the long winter months.

Driving, or trailing, cattle to various areas became a necessity to many operations in the spring and summer months as they irrigated, cut and stacked hay. Dividing the workload of haying and cattle came with the use of "cow camps" where many ranch youths spent their days moving these cattle from spring to summer allotments. My Mother and Uncles being a few of the children from the neighboring ranches who rode with the Upper Green River Valley Cattlemen's Association Forman, Rex Wardell. He, along with the kids, would move cattle through the allotment to manage grazing and herd health. Eventually, they would start the long cattle drive towards Green River Lakes.

The days of working at Cow Camp on the desert might be over and the bridge more weathered with age, the work is still the same. When my mother and uncles rode for Rex they would push the cattle towards the New Fork River. There the cattle were sorted accordingly as some moved their cattle to other areas to graze and any "slick", or unbranded, calves were branded before moving on. My mother, Jeannie Lockwood, recalled many long days getting to that point.

"We would sometimes ride from Yellowpoint to the New Fork and finally sort, move the cattle across the river and brand all in one day. You would be tired of riding by the time it was done."

Like the early settlers that traveled the Lander Trail, the trailed cattle would cross the New Fork River as they started the 10-14 day drift to the summer allotments near Green River Lakes. Concerns for the wellbeing of both the cattle and riders, specifically the calves and young riders, grew over the years. Soon a cattle bridge was sought after in the early 1940s by the Green River Valley Cattlemen's Association. It took three years to finally have the bridge in place, with the first cattle to go across in 1945, streamlining the drive with the thousands of cattle moving north. In The Drift National Register nomination it indicates, "The New Fork Cattle Bridge is a three-span timber-iron Howe pony truss bridge with a plank deck built by Association members in 1945. The Association paid for extensive repairs to the bridge in 1969, 1970, and again in 2005."

The importance of this bridge is not only cultural but also historical. It indicated the start of summer for many ranchers as well as a marker to the long drive ahead for all who ride. While used once a year, it brought peace of mind and ease to a tiring day for many generations.

As a child, I recall gathering cattle on the desert, south of State Highway 351 just past the New Fork highway bridge, and trailing them several miles up-river to a small sorting ground that was down off of a hill before the cattle bridge. This area was perfect to sort as the two fencelines funneled down to the bridge, with a smaller fence line situated farther up from the bridge to create a "U" shape. This made it easier for the riders to hold large amounts of cattle as one person sorted.

The bridge has seen many generations of cattlemen and ranch families as well as cattle and horses in its lifetime. Unfortunately, the bridge is no longer in use but still spans the New Fork River. The bridge can be viewed from either the Paradise Road (east of the double cattle guards) or from the Boulder South Road (west from first cattle guard off the hill).

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Timeline

1942 - Arnold Olson, Rex Wardell, and Solon Murdock appointed to the committee to determine the exact location for Cattle Bridge on the New Fork River between Thygsen and Butler place. Sent petition to County Commissioners to see if the county would build the bridge.

1944 - Cattle Bridge on New Fork River finally in place.

1945 - Joe Murdock (local rancher) and Rex Wardell (Cow Camp Boss) put cattle across the bridge on New Fork River for the first time. The trail comes off of the Little Colorado Desert and crosses the cattle bridge on the New Fork River. The trail starts in the Bertram Draw on the Mesa and crosses to the Soaphole Draw.  It comes up the Soaphole until the draw crests on the top of the Mesa (also the location for the Pinedale Anticline).

1969 - Joe Murdock, Sprout Wardell, and Pete Olson were appointed to a committee to oversee the repair of New Fork Cattle Bridge.

2005 - Repaired New Fork Cattle Bridge

2009 - Easement for stock driveway and Cattle Bridge across the Newfork River was obtained from Ena Olson of the 3-H Ranch and Rendezvous Ranch.

2013 - The last year cattle crossed the Cattle Bridge was in 2013 with Espenscheid's and Murdock's crossing the bridge. (Soon after this was published, it was brought to my attention that during the filming of "The Drift" documentary that the bridge was crossed again in 2016. Unfortunately, the film crew was unable to make it to the bridge in time for the crossing.)

The cattle bridge around 2013.