Original Wyoming And Colorado Brand Book Kept By Leander E. Blackwell, Who Operated Out Of Glenrock, Wyoming

LEANDER E. BLACKWELL

Other works by LEANDER E. BLACKWELL

Publication: Leander E Blackwell manuscript brand book writer, 1890 - 1905, Glenrock, Wyoming, 1890-1905

This is a 15 x 9.5 cm (6" x 3 3/4") quarter cloth and stiff pictorial wrappers, n. p. (34 pp.), each page is lined horizontally in blue and vertically in red The front cover denotes that the booklet was originally intended to be a grocery store account book as it is printed with the words "Fine Groceries, Flour of all grades, Selected Teas, Pure Coffees and Spices, ......" Blackwell converted the entire booklet to be his brand book. This is a highly legible and extensive manuscript brand book written totally in ink, that contains more than 630 brand marks for the cattle and the name of their owners on the ranges of Wyoming and Colorado.

This book was composed and used by Leander E. Blackwell, a cattleman who operated a cattle ranch out of Glenrock, Wyoming for much of the 1890s and early 1900s. He and his wife Lillian settled in Glenrock in 1891, and remained there until moving to the town of Shoshoni, near the Wind River Reservation in 1905. The last three pages of the book delineate just over 60 brands for Colorado cattle with about 570 brands for Wyoming cattle during the years that followed the range war in Northern Wyoming.

The brands include marks for many famous names from the ranching history of the state such as the Swan Land and Cattle Company and the individual Swan brothers, Alexander (A. H.), Thomas (T. J.), Henry, Henry's son William.(W. R.), Joseph M. Carey of J. M. Carey and J. M. Carey & Bros.. Carey was a member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the Cheyenne Club as an early member. Many other names and brands appear including A. H. (Heck) Reel, G. A. Searight, E. Nagle, A. B. Pratt, all of whom are listed in the booklet (some several times). L. E. Blackwell was born in 1854 and he was 18 years old when the Wyoming Stock Growers Association was formed in 1872. We do not know if he was a member of the association but it is likely that he would have had membership. Additionally we do not know if he participated in any way in the Johnson County War. His brand does not appear in the book.

Blackwell died at age 83 in 1937. He is buried in a family plot in the Mountain View Cemetery in Riverton, Wyoming. Book is in very good condition with one detached page that includes the words "This book sent to W. L. Sterett by his great aunt Lea Sterett Blackwell in 1940, from Shoshoni, Wyoming." Overall a solid very good tight and serviceable copy housed in an attractive clamshell case with titles on centered label on the front cover.

Inventory Number: 53960