The following quote is from True West Magazine about a sheepman named Jack Edwards. Edwards and his sheep outfit were involved in several episodes of the Colorado-Wyoming range wars. My research leads me to believe that John Kelly Hartt purchased a portion of his sheep from Edwards.
“Little Snake River Valley is one of those areas where sheep raising continues. You’ll likely see small farm flocks as you travel along Highway 70, while large range herds are usually present in the open country north and west of Baggs and Savery.
The dispute of 1895 may have been diffused in Colorado, but, in this part of Wyoming, folks made constant threats to local sheepmen who threatened to cross into northern Colorado. Jack Edwards wanted to move his sheep south so that he could load and ship them from Colorado rail heads operated by the Denver & Rio Grande. Yet in April 1896, Edwards acknowledged the sheep and cattle lines established for the range, pledging to “do all in my power to protect such lines given to cattlemen and ranchmen, against any foreign sheep that may try to cross the lines agreed upon.”
That spring newspapers in the region published continued warnings of potential violence against the sheep and their herders. In late June, Edwards, who had moved some of his sheep into Colorado, received reports that his herders there had been killed and his sheep scattered. He rode horseback toward where he knew his flocks were on the Colorado range. A party of masked men ordered him to move the sheep off the range.
Although Edwards did back away from confrontation that summer of 1896 by withdrawing his ewes and lambs, he told an Omaha reporter on January 23, 1897, that whenever the cattlemen sent word that they would be “coming over to clean me out.… I have assembled my men and stayed there. I have an armed force of about fifty ready for the clash when it comes. I am compelled to keep a small army about my place all the time. A short time ago three hundred sheep were killed and two herders; for a while it looked as though the entire Colorado militia would have to be called out, but the sheepmen and cattlemen looked out for themselves, and there are several graves in the vicinity of Meeker that go to show that they know how to do this.”
Source: Moltoun, C. (2011). Conflict on the Range. True West Magazine. https://truewestmagazine.com/article/conflict-on-the-range/
Pearl Lake State Park History 