Our History
A Rich History
A pioneer named Peter Johnson first settled this place in 1865. He built a rude cabin, and spent five years digging two large irrigation ditches. Neither ditch ever really worked. But no matter. Awarded his patent in 1870, he purchased his neighbor’s homestead for $1000 and then sold the 340-acre Red Butte Ranch to a Scottish veterinarian named Arthur Stokes. The name changed to the Stokes Ranch.
Stokes was a remittance man, addicted to horse racing. Well-supported by his family back in Scotland, he paid Mr. Johnson cash for his land and started building the magnificent log structures seen today. He once bought a European stud champion for $5000 and shipped him to Laramie by boat and rail. As soon as the horse arrived, Stokes began training for the match of the century. A blast from a pistol set the two thoroughbreds off south along the rough track that defined the racing oval. Spooked by the shot and then the crowd, Fireball took the bit in his mouth, jumped the outer fence, and ran all eight miles back to his barn.
Stokes had the great fortune of hiring a local Swede as his ranch manager. Axel Palmer was as steady as a rock, and he and his brother, Gus, were excellent horsemen and entrepreneurs. Axel expanded the equine inventory, eventually adding draft horses, polo ponies, carriage horses, cavalry mounts, and saddle horses to Stokes’ famous string of racehorses.
In 1886, a young Oxford University student, named Arthur Whitehouse and his best friend, Steward Gordon, traveled to Laramie on a lark, intending to experience America’s wild west. Giddy with the scenic beauty and perhaps the altitude, Arthur and Steward set off to hunt antelope one evening after the hay was up. Wearing the buckskin suits of the day, they grabbed their long rifles and pursued a stray buck up a narrow canyon. Hoping to get ahead of the fleeing animal, Steward scaled to the top of the gulch.
