Sheep Industry News November 2023

Wyoming Man Looking to Restore Sheep King Mansion

RENÉE JEAN Cowboy State Daily O ne of the last things people passing through the remote Lost Cabin area of Wyoming might expect is to see is an architectural wonder sitting in what is the high plains desert. It’s a big mansion built of sandstone and pinewood, with a turret at the top that makes it seem like a castle. It is the multi-story mansion of J.B. Okie – Wyoming’s “sheep king” – a man who came out West with nothing more than the clothes on his back and some spare change borrowed from his mom for a train ticket to Rawlins, Wyo. Okie dreamed of making his fortune as a cowboy, but be came a sheepherder instead – and made millions of dollars doing it. It wasn’t an easy road, but the incredible success is evident with just a glance at the five-bedroom mansion. It includes a third-story cupola, out of which Okie would gaze at the land around – most of which he owned – as well as an additional servants’ quarters over the garage space and a tremendous sandstone wraparound sun porch. Today the mansion is still there, about an hour northeast

of Riverton, Wyo., and is not readily visible to the casual traveler until one gets really close up. Ancient cottonwood trees have surrounded the place. In fact, well before the mansion comes into view, there are several signs that warn of “bad gas” when lights are flashing. That “bad gas” is hydrogen sulfide from nearby oil and gas activity. It’s one of the first things the home’s present occu pant – Zane Fross – tells guests about before he gives a tour of the 122-year-old place. “We are surrounded by pipelines to carry the nasty gas from 26,000 feet below the surface,” Fross told a recent tour group. “They say your first breath (of that gas) is your last breath. So, I want you to be aware you’re here at your own risk the whole time. I’ll do my best to keep you safe.” A GLASS WONDERLAND One of the favorite stories Fross likes to tell is about the glassed-in aviary that Okie added to his mansion after mar rying his second wife. “It was large enough to be a house,” Fross said. “And he boasted of having the largest collection of exotic birds in the territory.” The aviary was built in 1910, after Okie and his second

J.B. Okie's mansion near Lost Cabin, Wyo. Opposite page: Zane Fross holds a fish that was a gift from descendents of Okie. Page 24: J.B. Okie

Photos By RENÉE JEAN Cowboy State Daily

22 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org