Jim Fish

Cattle to Coal: the Transformation of a Wyoming Cattle Ranch Jim Fish

The northeastern part of the State of Wyoming is a relatively flat area, full of history, and uninteresting to the eye, but a place where cattle roamed freely for many decades as did those people who called it home. The men and women who settled there were hard of body but soft of voice and nature. Through their own efforts, they gave their children an exceptional education and appreciation for learning, an understanding of the value of hard work, and a strong sense of honesty. Patriotism and love of country were second nature and it was shown in their daily actions.

Tom Jenkins was a tireless rancher who bought and tamed a huge part of the plains, raising thousands of longhorn cattle and sheep. He and Betty, his wife, had one son whom they almost lost in the war in the Pacific. Eventually, Tom Jr. and his wife, Suzy, became the owners of the 12,000-acre ranch known as the T Bar J.

After many years of running cattle on the ranch his father built, Junior took the acreage through a major transformation. It became a fabulously valuable coal producing property, as did many of the other ranches in that part of Wyoming. There were some heartaches with some happy moments along the way, and that is how Cattle to Coal unfolds.