Archives West Finding Aid

Fred G.S. Hesse was born in England in 1852 and immigrated to the United States in 1873. In 1876 he went to Cheyenne, Wyoming, from Texas with a herd of cattle belonging to brothers Moreton and Richard Frewen, who were members of an English landed-gentry family. Hesse settled at the Frewen’s 76 Ranch as foreman. Moreton and Richard parted ways and in 1882 Moreton established the Powder River Cattle Company with Hesse remaining as foreman. In 1884, Hesse filed for his own homestead and established the 28 Ranch while remaining foreman of the 76 Ranch. Both ranches were located on Crazy Woman Creek near the town of Buffalo, Wyoming. Also in 1884 Hesse married school teacher Isabella “Belle” Sutherland. The couple had six children, although only Fred W. Hesse, George S. Hesse, and Vivienne S. Hesse survived to adulthood.

By 1886 Moreton Frewen had severed ties with the Powder River Cattle Company due to mismanagement and depression in the cattle industry. Company directors turned to Sir Horace Plunkett, who later gained famed as an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer. Sir Horace was a partner of Frewen in the Powder River Cattle Company, and he ran the E K Ranch in Powder River country. Hesse remained as foreman. Plunkett managed the Powder River Cattle Company until the end of 1887, although he retained some financial interest long afterwards.

Hesse was a main participant in the Johnson County War, which was a series of range conflicts that took place in Johnson County, Wyoming between 1889 and 1893 due to long standing disputes between large operators, who owned cattle herds numbering in the thousands, and small operators. Hesse was arrested along with other participants for an 1892 raid that targeted select small operators, killing two men, but Hesse was never convicted. In 1893 he sent a brief account of events preceding the raid to Frank Wolcott, a Justice of the Peace and co-conspirator in the 1892 raid. Some aspects of the incident are reflected in Hesse’s correspondence of 1892. Afterwards, Hesse continued in the cattle business until 1906, when he added sheep-raising. In the late 1910s, Hesse entered the oil and natural gas business and participated in the early 1920s as a company partner in drilling the Billy Creek Field located near Buffalo, Wyoming. Hesse also served on the Executive Committee of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, and as a member of the Highway Commission during 1927-1928. He died in 1929.