Summer 2007 - the Wyoming State Library

Warden tells tales of rugged,colorful people of WestWyoming is truly like no other placeon earth — the wildlife, the history and,most importantly, the people.Author and Wyoming Chief GameWarden Jay Lawson knows this betterthan anyone. His first book, Men ToMatch Our Mountains, is a compilation ofstories about the most colorful outdoormen and women of early TwentiethCentury Wyoming, including trappers,cowboys, forest rangers, hunting guidesand early game wardens. Realizingthis unique generation was nearly lostto history, he spent years conductinginterviews and chronicling the lifehistories of these intriguing characters.He also collected more than 140 oldphotographs from all over Wyomingincluding some of the earliest huntingcamps.“Here you have a state that was largelyundeveloped at that time, very sparselypopulated, and made up of diversehabitats. It made Wyoming unique; itmade the people very unique,” he says.Many of the characters in his bookcame to settle in Wyoming because ofthe Homestead Act. We usually think ofhomesteaders creating ranches or farms,but these folks settled in the mountains,utilizing their 160 acres as base camps forhunting and trapping operations.Lawson, who is a featured author at theWyoming Book Festival, has always beendrawn to the characters of the West. At avery young age, he began listening to thetales of old cowboys and trappers wholived near him. “In the beginning, they’dtake me fishing and I would listen. Lateron, when they were much older andunable to take me fishing, I’d take themfishing,” Lawson says.Most of the individuals Lawson writesabout have since passed away. They toldhim their stories when they were elderly,and although they may have lacked thecharisma of their younger days, thetales still intrigued him. “I was just reallyfascinated. If you expressed an interestin their life history, they would reallyopen up to you.” In the case of thoseindividuals who had already passed,relatives, friends and other acquaintanceswere more than happy to share theirexperiences with Lawson as well.“It is important to preserve the historyof this time,” Lawson says, “and thatwas my primary goal for the book. Inaddition, I wanted to help fund wildlifeconservation in Wyoming, so I amdonating all proceeds from the bookto the Wildlife Heritage Foundation ofWyoming.”As a game warden, Lawson workedPhoto of Kenny Martin, Courtesy of Mike Martinmany areas of the state and he begantaking notes of the stories he heard.When he actually began thinking aboutwriting the book, he sought out peoplehe’d heard about from other gamewardens.“When I became the supervisor inLaramie, one of my game wardensrelated an incident that intrigued me.He was up near Laramie Peak during asnowstorm and checked a woman witha bull elk who was hunting in a skirt andcowboy hat. I made a mental note ofthat and thought, man, I’ve got to meetthis woman.”Later on, Lawson was able to interviewand obtain photos from the woman,Leone Olds, one of the few peoplefeatured in his book still living.“It’s the beauty of the state, thewildness of the state, and the ruggednessof these individuals. They’re just suchcolorful characters. They were justincredible.”Speaking: 11:15 a.m., Saturday, Nature &Outdoors TentBook signing: 12:30 p.m., SaturdayWyoming Library Roundup • Summer 2007 19