Colorado Cattlemen vs. Cow Creek Sheep: The 1903 Stampede (History pp. 5)

It was early in the summer of 1903 when Hartt had a major run-in with the Colorado cattlemen. Word had apparently spread among the Routt County Cattlemen that the Cow Creek sheep were grazing in the Whiskey and Big Red Parks. These parks lay northwest of Steamboat Springs and approximately 15 miles south of the Wyoming border (29). One of the participants is directly quoted as stating: “Over three hundred of us rode . . . One of the greatest sheep stampedes in the history of the range warfare occurred that night and the following day. Nothing was ever said about it, and no one was killed; but the sheep were moved out” (30).

Whiskey and Big Red Park area, Colorado

This same source also quotes James Harl Sizer (widely known as the “Cowboy Poet” of Northwestern Colorado), who at the time was wagon boss for Ora Haley’s outfit, as saying of the Cow Creek incident: “I think it was early June the next year that seven or eight bands of sheep were shoved across the Little Snake River north of Hahn’s Peak onto cattle range into a heavily timbered area where the sheepmen thought that they would not be discovered . . . They had little more than gotten their sheep distributed . . . When one of the herders saw two heavily armed men riding through the camp.” This herder, recalling past incidents with cattlemen, apparently became very frightened and commanded the dogs to drive the sheep back into Wyoming. This terrified flock of Cow Creek sheep panicked several other band of sheep that belonged to other owners. As a result, approximately 30,000 “exhausted and terrified” sheep ran through this densely forested landscape, with a large number being killed or crippled. It took several days at the sorting pens in Savery Creek Wyoming to straighten out the sheep for their owners again (31).

Whiskey and Big Red Park area, Colorado
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Exploring the History of Pearl Lake State Park: A Journey Back in Time: Chapter Index

All content in the Exploring the History of Pearl Lake State Park: A Journey Back in Time, including all subsections, are written by Cathy Hartt, granddaughter of Pearl and John Kelly Hartt. Original article written in 2001 with revisions through 2024. Please request written permission for reprints by emailing the author.