Induction of a Cowboy

Floyd L. Brandt
Posted 10/12/18

What every cowboy wishes for is a good horse and strong rope but to be recognized as part of the heritage of this country is the greatest honor.

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Induction of a Cowboy

Posted

GOSHEN COUNTY – What every cowboy wishes for is a good horse and strong rope but to be recognized as part of the heritage of this country is the greatest honor.

The history of the cowboy reaches back to Spain, South America and Mexico where the first cowboys came from. 

Vaqueros where the first cowboys who worked the ranches in Mexico and South America. The Spanish came to the Americas to build ranches and raise cattle after 1519. Bringing the horse from Spain to work on the ranches the Vaqueros adapted to work on the ranch. 

The Vaqueros were known for their abilities to ride, rope and herding cattle.

Ranching made its way north to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in the early 1700’s.

In the 1800’s the cowboy played a huge part in the opening up of the West and the Manifest Destiny expansion.

With the settlers making their way west they begun adopt the ways of the Vaqueros culture way of dress and cattle driving techniques. 

When the 1900’s came the cattle drives were smaller and the cowboy was being hired by privately owned ranches and the role of the cowboy declined. The occupation is not obsolete continuing to be a practical part of raising cattle on the larger ranches. 

States in the west like Texas, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming still employ the cowboy of today.

In Wyoming, the cowboy is honored and recognized with induction into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame. Two cowboys who worked and lived in Goshen County – Afton D. “Babe” Green Jr. and William C. “Chuck” Wilkinson – were inducted into the 2018 Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Green was raised on the Reverse G Cross Ranch east of LaGrange. Most people came to know him as Babe.  He made a living being a cowboy growing up learning about ranching. 

While attending school, Babe was also learning about cattle and the horse industry. After graduating from LaGrange High School, he married Mavilyn Wiley and worked as a ranch hand away from home. In 1956, he returned with a breed of registered Quarter Horse to be known as the “Tippy” and “Wimpy” line of Quarter Horse.

Babe judged amateur and high school rodeos in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska and also judged the National High School Rodeo. He helped his daughter with their horse for 4-H. Babe was known as the veterinarian around LaGrange, helping horses, cattle and the occasional dog or cat.

Afton Delano Green “Babe” died in 2018 and is buried in LaGrange.  

William C. “Chuck” Wilkinson was born into the ranching life growing up to work on ranches from Jay Em to Horse creek. The Red Canyon at Lander, to the Bell Ranch at Toltee and the Biggerstaff, the Wagonhammer north of Rozet. The final ranch he helped was the RC Johnson place northeast of Torrington. Talented at teaching his dogs to help him work the cattle, he was a natural at working with cattle, he could use a rope with a talent that most have never seen. Chuck competed in Cheyenne Frontier Days and many more competitions. Chuck was a talented ranch hand calving, branding, doctoring and many more duties only a true cowboy can do.

The early cowboy earned $25 to $40 a month the modern may earn around $19,000 a year. Not a great salary but it is all for the love and passion of being a cowboy.

You may know one or both of these men. They are now part of Wyoming’s history of the Cowboy.