The Darwin History
A detailed history of Darwin collected and Written by Ann Chambers Noble for nomination to the National Registry of Historic Places
Fred Dickerson Dorwin was born in 1856 in Indiana where he lived with his family until he moved to Folsom, New Mexico. Here, he filed on a homestead in 1891, but relinquished it in 1901. Dorwin next moved to Wyoming and found a place in the Gros Ventre Mountains in May, 1901. He applied for a homestead on September 6, 1901, in the United States Commissioners Office in Jackson, Wyoming, then part of Uinta County. Dorwin’s address was listed as Wells, the closest post office to his homestead. Wells was little more than a post office and a few other homesteads near the headwaters of the Green River. Dorwin’s homestead was located in Section 22, Township 40 North of Range 111 West; and was 160-acres at the head of the Gros Ventre River at the confluence of Clear Creek and Kinky Creek. The U.S. Land Office in Lander, Wyoming, verified the land was surveyed on October 8, 1901, permitted the homestead application (entry no. 1108). Dorwin also signed a Non-mineral Affidavit to accompany his homestead application, testifying that “no portion of said land is worked for mineral during any part of the year by any person or persons; that said land is essentially non-mineral land, and that his application therefor is not made for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining title to mineral land, but with the object of securing said land for agricultural purposes.” The application was received in Lander, Wyoming, on October 8, 1901, with the sum of $16.00 (Dorwin homestead files, National Archives).
Robert Miller, Forest Supervisor for the Teton Division of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve, completed Dorwin’s form on November 18, 1903. He verified that Dorwin held the homestead and had a house, 13’ X 34’ with three rooms, and a log stable, 17’ X 60’. (It is thought that the current Tack Shed and Sheep Cabin are Dorwin’s original buildings, though the measurements are not correct.) Miller determined that 120 acres were suitable for tilling, with 40 acres under plow in meadow, and 60 acres of land under ditch. Fifteen tons of hay were raised in the past season. Ten acres of timber land was on the claim, with an estimated 10,000 feet of board timber, though no timber had yet been cut. Six horses were owned and grazed on the homestead. Dorwin’s Agricultural Settlement was received in the U.S. General Land Office on January 6, 1904. This form is used by homesteaders making claims in forest reserves (Dorwin homestead files, National Archives).
The homestead application process is completed when the applicant provides proof of required residence and improvements on the property to officers of the General Land Office. The closest Land Office for Dorwin was Evanston, Wyoming, over 200 miles away on unimproved wagon roads. Therefore, on May 1, 1906, Dorwin wrote to the Evanston office; “Because of the great distance to Evanston, Wyoming, and consequent expense of a trip to the Local Land Office I desire my Homestead proofs to be made before Wesley F. King, U.S. Commissioner, at his office at Jackson, Wyoming”. A week later, the Evanston Land Office advised Dorwin that his final proofs may be delayed due to his request to make his proofs in Jackson. Nevertheless, Dorwin stayed in Jackson. The required publication was made on May 8, 1906, in the Star Valley Independent, printed at Afton, Wyoming, as the nearest newspaper to the land for the Dorwin final proofs hearing. On July 14, 1906, Dorwin made a successful homestead proof and witness testimonies, from William Binkley, Charles Purdy and James D. Merritt all of Grovont, Wyoming, and Joe Deyo of Zenith, Wyoming, and before Wesley F. King. From here, his certificate of proof was forwarded to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. His patent was awarded March 26, 1907 (Dorwin homestead files, National Archives).
Teton County historian Fern K. Nelson, in her book, This Was Jackson’s Hole; Incidents & Profiles from the Settlement of Jackson Hole, suggested that Dorwin (though she spells his name Darwin, which is inaccurate) “probably first picked out the spot [for his homestead] when hunting in the area. His friend, Teddy Roosevelt, with whom he had served in the Rough Riders, apparently gave him the land by “presidential decree.” This might explain the isolated (some might think choice) location away from other deeded land” (p. 347). Government Land Office records do not support Nelson’s theory about the presidential decree, much to the disappointment of the locals who like this story. This story may have been started because the Grantors for the land patent to Fred Dorwin was “United States of America By T. Roosevelt, Pres.” (abstract). However, all land patents awarded through the Homesteading Acts were awarded by the current US President.
The isolated inholding, completely surrounded by land managed by the U.S. Forest Service, was accessible by two ways during Dorwin’s ownership. A good wagon road from the west meandered up the Gros Ventre River, over the hydrographic divide at Kinky Creek and down, or south, along the Green River to Cora (the closest town) and Pinedale. In the early years of the ranch, another route was available coming from Jackson, about sixty miles away, up the Gros Ventre River. This route was always unpredictable due to landslides common along the Gros Ventre below the Darwin place. On June 23, 1923, a giant slide dammed the Gros Ventre River, created a natural lake (appropriately named the Lower Slide Lake) and temporarily closed the road a few miles above Kelly. Another slide about 2.5 miles below the Darwin Ranch dropped the wagon road into the river in the 1930s or early 1940s and an alternative route around that cave-in was never successfully built. From that time on the Darwin Ranch ceased to have direct access by “road” to the rest of Teton County.
Perhaps the ranch isolation can be attributed to Dorwin, himself. “Locally, Darwin [sic] was considered a cranky old cuss, and he was generally avoided by the other settlers up the Gros Ventre. He had, at different times, partners on the ranch. He ran them off. Gossip spread that he would keep them on until he had exhausted their money and physical help in building up the place, then he’d become so obnoxious that they would leave” (Nelson, 348). Dorwin “once threatened the life of an early Forest Ranger J.G. Imeson, telling him not to come back to the ranch. Darwin [sic] explained to Imeson that he did not want any more people in the country or any neighbors. Darwin [sic] gained his wish, since no one homesteaded very close to him” wrote Scott in her study, A History of the Gros Ventre Range, Wyoming. In March 1916, Nick and Etta Andrus Swain, and their young daughter, Florence, were homesteading on the Gros Ventre. Nick was also in partnership with Fred Dorwin trapping furs. An argument over the furs erupted, and both men went for their guns, and Dorwin was wounded. With Etta pregnant, the Swains snowshoeed to Pinedale, 50 miles away. Dorwin recovered, and Swain was cleared of any wrongdoing (Sommers and Myers, Revisited).
Dorwin’s sources of income from his ranch was from trapping and as a hunting camp (Nelson, 348). He likely made some income from trapping too. In the County Commissioner meeting minutes in June 8, 1907, Dorwin was paid $2.00 for road and bridge work. In 1905, he was arrested for the killing of game without a license. He was later acquitted, when nearby outfitter Billy Wells testified on behalf of Dorwin, stating that the meat had been given to him by a friend. In 1909, Dorwin leased his ranch for “one year with the privilege of five years” to Milton Robinson. It is not known how many years Robinson used of the five years (lease document, Robinson family collection.)
At least twice Dorwin made the newspapers for delinquent property taxes. Dorwin owed $12.75 in 1912 (Wyoming Press, Evanston, June 22, 1912) and $54.70 in 1914 (Kemmerer Republican, June 5, 1914). The back taxes were somehow covered and the property was not reverted back to the Government.
In 1917, Dorwin sold his Gros Ventre homestead Winnifriede (Winnie) Black (abstracts). It is not known where Dorwin went next, but in the 1920 census, he is living in Meadow Creek, Idaho. Dorwin, who never married or had children, died 1929 and is buried in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho. Despite Dorwin’s name spelling, the ranch has usually been called the Darwin Ranch and it is shown that way on the original USGS quadrangle map. Darwin Peak, with the adjusted spelling, in the Gros Ventre Range is named for this early homesteader.
Winnifriede Black purchased the ranch because when she saw the place, she declared that she wanted to live – and die here. Winnifriede’s inheritance from her father paid for the place. Two years after purchasing it, in 1919, Winnifriede deeded the place to her husband, Thomas Ray Black (abstract). But the couple and their two children stayed there only a few years. Ray, who never liked the Darwin Ranch, divorced Winnifriede and left. Likely because she was unable to run the place by herself, Winnifriede and the children left, too (Ravner interview, 2006). The Blacks used the Darwin Ranch as a private hunting lodge. While he may have had some paying guests, it was not developed as a dude ranch, nor even as a big game outfitting/hunting camp (Nelson, 348). Later, Thomas Ray Black moved to Jackson and built the Meadowbrook Motel. Black Peak in the Gros Ventre Mountains is named for Winnifriede (Winnie) and Thomas Black.
Thomas Ray Black, as a single man, sold the Darwin place to K.M. Robinson in 1927, with the release of mortgage granting the Darwin Ranch to K.M. Robinson and his wife, Wafie E. Robinson in 1930 (abstracts). A mortgage deed in 1929 gave the place to Mrs. Lulu Robinson (K.M.’s mother) from K.M. and Wafie E. Robinson, with a discharge of this mortgage in 1931. Knowlton McKinley “Bob” Robinson was born in Illinois in 1895, and moved as a boy to Jackson Hole, but back to Illinois after a few years in Wyoming. Bob enlisted in the 169th Company of the U.S. Marine Corp as a private in 1917 during World War I, and was mustered out in 1919 in Norfolk, Virginia. He married in 1919 Lulu “Wafie” Evelyn Calebaugh, recently discharged from the U.S. Navy. Wafie was born in 1897 in West Virginia. The couple located to Detroit, Michigan, where Bob attended the Michigan Pharmacy School and became a registered pharmacist. They had two sons, though their first child survived only a few days. Their other son, William (Bill) Edward Robinson was born in 1927 in Michigan (ancestry.com).
The Robinson couple came to Wyoming in the early 1920s and filed on a homestead at the headwaters of the Gros Ventre River, but failed to prove up on it. It was located directly west of the Darwin Ranch. They purchased the Darwin Ranch in 1923, which may have adjoined, or was close, to their homestead. (Records for homestead filings are not available. Only when a homestead is “proved up” and the title is granted, is the record available.) They spent their summers and falls on the Darwin Ranch operating it as a dude ranch/hunting and fishing operation for sixteen years, many of those when their son, Billy, was young. Some of their guests came from the Rock Springs, Wyoming area, while others came from Michigan and learned of the Darwin from the Robinsons. The guests would have been financially better off than many in their communities. It would have been a luxury to be able to pay to stay at the Darwin Ranch and have the Robinsons catered to them. Horses were provided to the guests, as well as guiding services. The Robinsons built a lodge cabin, known as the Elk, which is used to the present. The Robinsons spent their winters in Lincoln Park, Michigan, where Bob and his father operated two drug stores.
The Robinsons sold the Darwin Ranch in 1940 to the Severances and returned to the east to live. Bob stayed in Lincoln Park operating the drug stores while Wafie, her mother, and son Billy, then 13 years old, moved to a place in Tennessee they purchased. Billy made very little money picking cotton, so after a few months, left his mother without telling her, and took a bus alone and returned to Wyoming. Billy’s uncles in Wyoming sent him money for his birthday in March, and he used it to buy the bus ticket. The bus took him to Rock Springs, and from there Billy hitched a ride with a coal truck going to Pinedale and he then made his way to the Gros Ventre mountains. Now 14 years old, Billy decided he would rather stay with his uncles, Butch and Eddie Robinson, who had a place on the Gros Ventre River eight miles down the river from the Darwin Ranch. He never lived with his parents again (Robinson interview).
Several years later, after disposing of the Darwin Ranch, Bob and Wafie bought a place in 1946 on Fish Creek near Butch and Eddie in the upper Gros Ventre area (Robinson interview). There they established a hunting and fishing lodge, spending several summers there and, in later years, moved elsewhere during the winter months. Bob died in 1962 in a one-car accident on the Gros Ventre road on his way home to his ranch, and Wafie died in 1982 in the Jackson Hospital (obituary, Jackson Hole Guide, November 29, 1962). Bill Robinson bought his great uncle Mitt Robinson’s Gros Ventre place about six miles from the Darwin and continued to operate them as headquarters for his hunting, fishing, and outfitting business. William Edward “Bill” Robinson died after suffering a heart attack while haying at his ranch in 1996 (Jackson Hole Guide, August 4, 1996).
Edward Clarence “Clair” Severance, sometimes called “Cassie,” was born in 1890 in Nebraska. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps in France during World War I. He married Pansy Louis Allen in 1923 in Wyoming, and after losing their only child, a son, they divorced. Severance remarried and with his wife, Helen, bought the Darwin place from K.M. (Bob) and Wafie Robinson in 1940 (abstract). A mortgage was held by Mrs. Anna Dalfors for the Severances from 1940 to 1945. The Severances used it for a private get-away and hunting lodge exclusively. E.C. and Helen Severance sold the Darwin Ranch in 1946 to Phillip and Lalita Norton (abstract). Severance moved to Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he worked as a brakeman on the railroad. He died in Rock Springs in 1947 (Ancestry.com).
The Nortons purchased the Darwin Ranch also for private use only. They called their Gros Ventre place the Bar Naught Ranch. Charles Philip (Phil) Norton was a successful businessman with dealings in real-estate in southern California. He also had a political career, serving with the State Department in various European countries, chiefly Russia. He married Henri Laura (Lalita) Legerton in 1913 in California. The couple met in California and participated in a lively social circle. The couple had one son, Charles Phillip Norton II, born in 1914 in California. When Phil retired from the State Department, the couple decided to also retire from the fast-paced social life (Warren, 58; Nelson, 349). They set out to find the most remote place available, and found it in the Darwin Ranch (ancestry.com).
A Norton descendant thought that the Nortons purchased the Wyoming ranch after Phil was injured in an automobile accident which left him with Bell’s Palsy. “He was looking for seclusion because of the symptoms,” wrote Cheryl Norton, Phil’s granddaughter-in-law. Cheryl also thought that Phil and Lalita, after Phil was injured again perhaps with a punctured lung, ultimately needed to move to a dry, low-elevation climate – and that is why they chose Palm Springs (Norton, 11-16-2019).
Phil and Lalita loved their Wyoming ranch. With their comfortable financial situation, they spent a lot of money on their new home. They hired builders to construct a lovely new cabin for their use, which is now the main lodge for guests. They installed an electric generator to make the place modern with electricity. Comfortable, though rustic, furniture filled the rooms. Navajo rugs covered the polished wood floors; exotic mementoes from their travels filled the rooms. They hired a couple who were willing to share the isolation and help with the work. The Nortons brought their horses from California (Nelson, 349).
The Nortons were popular “gossip-material” for Sublette and Teton County residents. They are remembered for their “stuck-up” attitude and pampered life-styles, available to them because of their financial means. Later owner Loring Woodman remembers using lobster crates for storage that were left by the Nortons – presumably from lobster deliveries. Phil liked to trap, so he was usually gone checking his trap lines while Lalita stayed home and drank and read romantic novels. The Nortons hired couples to come to the ranch and spend the winter with them to take care of them, as well as attending to the many ranch chores. The hired people lived in the Elk Cabin and prepared all the meals there. The Nortons would go to the Elk to eat, then return to their own house. It seems like the kitchen in the lodge was not often used (Woodman interview).
The Nortons traveled to the ranch in a four-wheel-drive vehicle when possible, and in the winter, they used a sled and dog team. The dogs were alleged to be descendants of Admiral Byrd’s lead dog, who had accompanied Byrd on his expeditions to the Poles. One beautiful white husky stayed in the house as a pet, and the other ten or twelve were on chains at the edge of the timber. Initially the dogs were allowed some freedom, but complaints came from the neighbors, some as far away as twenty miles, because the dogs were herding their cattle. This forced the Nortons to keep the dogs on their own property (Nelson, 350).
As mentioned, Phil ran a trap line in the winter. His catches of martin, mink, coyotes, and lynx were tanned and proudly hung on the walls of the lodge. Phil’s trapping was for sport only, and occasionally a hired man or Lalita accompanied him. One day when she was preparing to go along, Phil was packing the sled with something that spooked the dogs. They made a tremendous lunge which caught Phil off balance, and unable to hold the lead dog. They jerked the sled against Lalita and toppled her across it, causing her a back injury. Lalita’s back never recovered. Despite pleas to get help in Pinedale, Rock Springs or Jackson, she refused to go (Nelson, 352).
After Lalita Norton’s sled accident, taking the long trip for the mail was a concern. Price Milward, a Jackson mail pilot, had a flying service in operation at that time of Lalita’s accident, so Phil got in touch with him to be added to those ranchers receiving airmail delivery right at the ranch. Norton placed two long poles in the yard with a wire and pulley system stretched between them. (Mail delivery to the ranches in the Gros Ventre Mountains began in 1946 with Otto Miller, then Jackson Hole airport manager. Miller received his flight training in the military during World War II.) Outgoing mail would be placed in a pouch and strung between the poles. Price would fly past with a hook on the bottom of the plane. He would hook Norton’s line and mail; exchange the outgoing mail for the incoming mail, and drop the pouch with an easily identifiable streamer in the yard and fly off. Mail delivery had to wait during stormy weather, obviously (Woodman interview).
Lalita’s back continued to trouble her, with her discomfort increasing with time. On one doctor’s visit, it was diagnosed that she had a ruptured disk in the spine and surgery was recommended. But, Lalita continued to refuse treatment. They brought in a contour chair to the ranch, and she tried back braces of various kinds. Finally, one winter after they agreed to dispense with the dogs, she awakened in so much pain that she couldn’t move. Phil snow shoed to Kendall to telephone to the Forest Service office in Jackson for an emergency rescue. By now the Forest Service had been using an oversnow machine for some of their winter work. This would be the quickest method to get Lalita to a hospital. The Forest Service responded, despite some misgivings. At the hospital, Lalita was put in traction. She still refused spinal surgery. After a rest period in California, she again returned to the ranch (Nelson 354).
One Christmas day the Robinson family, who lived down river on the Gros Ventre about eight miles, were just sitting down to a Christmas dinner with family and neighbors, when Phil Norton arrived at the door. The Norton’s hired man, Al Pheiffer, had died that morning, apparently of a heart attack. The snow was too deep for cars but not too deep for horses. Phil thought that if someone could help him bring Pheiffer’s wife Lee and the body this far on a toboggan, that a team and sleigh could be used to haul them on down to Jackson. Of course, the neighbors were willing to help (Nelson 354).
Glen Taylor and Billie Green, being the two youngest and most free of responsibilities, were delegated to return to the Darwin Place with Phil and bring the body out. Al’s widow, Lee, rode out with the young men when they brought the body on the toboggan, then went on into Jackson with the sleigh. After the funeral, Lee rode back up the river, returned to the Darwin place, and stayed the rest of the winter.
Phil and Lalita lived at the Darwin place from 1946 until 1957. Lalita’s back problems ultimately caused the Nortons to leave permanently. After another emergency call to the Forest Service for Lalita’s evacuation, the Forest Service personnel told them that they would come this time but that they could not respond to another call. It was setting a precedent that they could not follow (Nelson 355).
The Nortons sold the Darwin Place to Ailee H. McIntyre in 1957 and returned to California, where their son had been conducting the family real estate business. Their time in the Wyoming Mountains is permanently marked by the naming of Norton Creek, a tributary of the Gros Ventre River, and a tributary of the Snake River, which is named for them. Phil and Lalita were believed to next operate the Casa Blanca Resort Hotel in Palm Springs. Phil Norton, Sr. died in 1961; Lalita died in 1979, and their son passed in 1995 – all in California (ancestry.com).
Ailee H. McIntyre was a widow who came to the Pinedale area. The story is told that she met and had an affair with a game warden in Pinedale, who suggested she buy the Darwin Ranch (then called the Bar Naught Ranch) with money she had available to her. The game warden had suggested that together they could set up an outfitting business at the ranch. The relationship ended, but Ailee purchased the ranch anyway, which she renamed it the “Hidden Valley Ranch” (Woodman interview). The deed was in her own name until 1960 when she added her new husband, Gene W. Chapman. The deed was then listed in Gene W. Chapman and Ailee H. Chapman (formerly Ailee H. McIntyre). Ownership for a day, on November 7, 1960, went to Grace A. Smith, Teton County Clerk (abstracts). It was a common for the Clerk to take “ownership” of property for a short time to legally transfer a deed. The story survives that Ailee gave the ranch to Gene as a wedding present. Gene, though, never cared much for the ranch. The couple spent most of their time at their Pinedale home. The isolated place had little plumbing, not much electricity, and the buildings sat right on the ground without foundations or footings.
Ailee had two sons from her marriage to Mr. McIntyre. As teenagers, these boys would stay at the Hidden Valley Ranch for the summer. Ailee hired Tommy Astle, a local trapper, to take care of them. Loring Woodman thought that one of these boys passed the story on to him that Fred Dorwin received this ranch directly from President T. Roosevelt (Woodman interview).
In June 1964, ownership of the ranch changed once again when the Chapmans sold it to Charles B. and Helen Swann Woodman. In 1955, Charles and Helen Woodman brought their three sons to Wyoming on vacation. They stayed at the Trail Creek Ranch in Wilson. The youngest son, Charles Loring, who always went by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father, fell particularly in love with the area. By age 12, Loring climbed the Grand Teton, and spent a great deal of time hiking and climbing in the Teton County area. To help fund his outdoor Wyoming activities, he returned to the Trail Creek Ranch and worked as a dishwasher.
Loring let his parents know from an early age that he wanted to live in Wyoming. “When my dad was drinking martinis he would say, ‘Loring when you find the perfect place in Wyoming, I’ll buy it.’” So, Loring poured over maps of the area near the Tetons to find isolated land in a national forest. He first saw the Darwin Ranch at age 14, and fell in love with the place, especially because it fulfilled his dream of an isolated inholding.
When the Hidden Valley Ranch (formerly the Darwin Ranch) came up for sale, Loring started asking his dad to purchase it. But the one who likely made it happen was Charles’ wife, Helen Swann. According to her son Loring, she got tired of him saying “yes” when he was drinking, then “no” when he was sober. She felt this was unfair to Loring, who was trying to figure out what to do next, after graduating with a degree from Harvard in Romance Languages and Linguistics which included his junior year in Paris, France. Charles was unconvinced until his good friend, Andy Fowler, looked at pictures of the place and said, “You’d be crazy not to buy it.” Charles and Helen Swann Woodman made the purchase for the ranch in 1964. “I talked my parents into buying the ranch with every intention of running it as a guest ranch and making my living there,” says Loring.
Charles was an avid fly fisherman and a horseman, who loved Wyoming as well. It made sense he would want the place as an escape from his medical practice in New Jersey. The family lore claims that the morning after he agreed to buy the ranch, Charles tried to back out. “No, that was the martini talking,” he said. “Too late,” said Helen. “It’s bought!” The couple paid $70,000 for it. The older sons weren’t consulted with the purchase – this was Loring’s project. “I don’t think they expected me to end up there for the rest of my life, which is what happened,” said Loring (Woodman interview). In 1972, Charles B. and Helen S. Woodman deeded the Darwin ranch to their son, Charles Loring Woodman (abstract).
Loring returned the name of the ranch to “Darwin,” much to the disappointment of people in Pinedale who had grown used to the name Hidden Valley Ranch. (One exception was Jim Harrower, a Pinedale native who deeply appreciated the history of the area. He supported Loring for returning the ranch to its earlier name.) Many improvements and additions to the Darwin Ranch were made during the Woodman’s ownership. Loring recognized the importance of developing the infrastructure to the place. Under Loring’s ownership and leadership, and with the assistance from first Brad Hendricks then George (Porgy) McLelland, the infrastructure was greatly improved. The road, bridges, power, water and sewer were all installed or upgraded. Much of Brad Hendrick’s work, followed by Porgy’s work, was devoted to Loring’s various infrastructure projects, as well as the never-ending maintenance of the buildings and facilities (McLelland interview).
The original road into the Darwin Ranch was little more than a horse and wagon trail that connected the place from the USFS roads in the Upper Green River and came into the ranch from the hill to the east then crossed the field to the main lodge. During Loring’s ownership, the propane gas company refused to service the ranch anymore because of the poor road condition. It was obviously difficult for the Woodmans, employees and their guests to get to the ranch, too. After nine years, a new road was finally permitted and is currently the one used today into the ranch.
A landing strip was developed on the Kinky Creek meadows near the divide between Kinky Creek and Tosi Creek, which continues to be used to the present. This required a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service.
When the Woodmans took ownership, the buildings at the Darwin Ranch all were in need of attention. “They were sinking into the mud,” explains Loring. The Darwin Ranch is located on “gumbo-like” soil, which is unstable because it expands when it is wet then contracts when it dries. Each time it expands it goes around the foundations that are in place, and when it contracts, it causes the foundations to sink. Slowly over time the buildings sunk into the ground. Only the main lodge wasn’t in need of immediate repair, though in time, Woodman made this building more structurally sound (see details in the lodge building description above.) Loring hired Howard Walters out of Jackson to do the original work on creating foundations for the Deer, Moose, and Elk cabins. He worked along with Howard as a laborer during these two summers and learned enough about construction in the process that he was able to jack up the main lodge himself, replace its foundation, and remodel the interior with two young helpers, in 1973 after his parents turned the ranch over to him.
Loring and his crew used all local standing dead trees for repair work on older cabins and to build new cabins. Most of these came from the Union Pass area where the US Forest Service had recently constructed the road over the Pass from DuBois to Kendall. This enabled Loring to get easily get to logs, and permits in this area were available.
The Nortons were the first to put electricity in at the ranch. They used a 1.2-kilowatt gasoline generator located in a shed behind the chimney in the Lodge, or main house (which is now the sun room.) The speed for which the electricity was generated was controlled by the speed for which the wheel turned. Nickel cadmium batteries were used to start the generator, but did not store power. This provided electricity to the main house and from here, other cabins were electrified through power lines strung between the lodge to Elk, Deer and Moose cabins. Loring thought these above ground lines were unattractive, so upon taking ownership, he buried them. This system was later replaced with a hydro-electric system where the power shed is currently.
Loring built a second hydro plant off the edge of the back of the lodge (the current sitting area) in the old power shack, but this was on the river in an underground bunker. It was later destroyed by the river. The control systems were in the generator shack where the auxiliary propane generators were located. Loring only used those if he had a crisis from problems with the hydroelectric systems. Later the control systems were moved to the area south of the barn on the western end of the property in a newer building constructed by George (Porgy) McClelland. Loring put all of the original complex control systems together in the old generator shack at the north end of the lodge. (That building has since been moved and repurposed by the Klingensteins as a tack shed). The Klingensteins have replaced Loring’s engineering with new off-the-shelf components now housed in the new power generation building. The system continues to be very complicated, but it works. Loring’s original vision took advantage of grants offered by the US Department of Energy which assisted him with purchasing the components and pipelines for a combined irrigation/hydroelectric system. Power was generated by running water turning a Pelton wheel turbine, which the ranch is still using.
With the introduction of snowmobiles in the late 1960s, access became available to the remote Darwin Ranch during the winter. Loring was asked by some locals if they could visit the place during the winter, which he granted. The Upper Green River area was also promoted for winter entertainment by area newspapers, particularly the Salt Lake City Deseret News. Loring recognized that his place could be an important safety shelter for snowmobilers stranded. Unfortunately, the hospitality ended when the place was vandalized and considerable theft took place.
Loring responded by having a caretaker stay at the place in the winter. He first worked with Keith Anderson, who owned and operated “Snow Fun, Inc.” from his home in Cora with a partner in Rawlins. Loring gave these men use of the Darwin for free in exchange for watching the ranch in the winter. This lasted for three years in the early 1970s, when the arrangement ended.
From this time on, Loring and later owners, the Klingensteins have had someone at the place throughout the winter to watch the property and to tend to the hydro-power plant. Loring often covered some of the winter months, as did his wife Melody.
During his nearly 50 years at the ranch, Loring made major improvements and developments to the ranch. He renovated the old, original buildings and constructed new buildings. He developed a hydroelectric system. He built a new road into the place and constructed an airstrip. The ranch went from a rustic, relatively small operation to a fully functioning, yet still rustic, high-end twenty-first century guest ranch operation. A permanent, but unofficial, legacy is the naming of Loring Lake in the Gros Ventres, known only to ranch personnel and guests, for Loring Woodman.
Loring also developed a unique guest experience. Loring provided people the opportunity to play and explore in the undisturbed outdoors. Clients rode horseback, hiked, fished and hunted in the fall. “I used to worry about entertaining a house full of guests,” Woodman said in a 2014 interview. “When I got to the point that I could trust that nature could take care of the entertainment, all I had to do was provide some good food and a comfortable bed and a congenial atmosphere. The rest took care of itself” (Casper Star-Tribune, September 7, 2014).
When asked what is unique about the Darwin Ranch, George (Porgy) McLellan thinks about Loring. “He is unique…He understands that country a lot. He knows the botany, the trees and grasses, the geology. [He knows] the Native American history. It’s interesting to be with him.” McLellan also speaks of his own experience working there, and as a guest with his family on two occasions. “The place – aside from just its remoteness – it does have a very special feel. Being in the mountains, being down in the valley and surrounded by the peaks, and there’s no people in there. So much in every direction is for public access, and hunting and fishing. It’s just very friendly country. I can’t exactly describe the feel of the place, but it gets you” (McLellan interview).
Obtaining and maintaining good employees has always been and continues to be an ongoing issue for all working and guest ranches. The Darwin Ranch has seen numerous employees come and go, but has also employed faithful help that have returned year after year.
Miss “V” (Rubie Belle) learned about the Darwin Ranch in the early 1990s from a cousin who had been a guest. The cousin raved about this “intellectual dude ranch way up in the mountains.” Looking for work, Miss V applied to the Darwin Ranch by sending the Woodmans a hand-written resume using a calligraphy pen. Melody, Loring’s wife, was hiring that year. She was impressed with the unique resume and hired Miss V as the cook during hunting season. (She was the only person that was hired to show up!) The job morphed into more, including working the last month of the summer season and then into hunting time, and the first phase (November and December) of the winter care taking. V next worked at the Snook Moore ranch, another inholding 10 miles from the Darwin, for fourteen years helping intermittingly at the Darwin with spot packs, wrangling, and hauling fencing material with her horse. Miss V returned to the Darwin Ranch in 2014 to work for the Klingensteins, where Ollie made her job description “dishes, horses and odd jobs,” which proved to be a good description (Belle Interview).
Miss V concurred with her cousin’s assessment of the Darwin Ranch as an “intellectual dude ranch.” The living room in the lodge is lined with great books and in that room, intellectual conversations occurred. Guests who enjoyed reading and discussing deep, thoughtful topics have long been drawn to the place. The Ranch ownership consisted of educated men and women. Bob Robinson and Minnie Dunn were Pharmacists; Phil and Lalita were highly educated; Charles Woodman attended Bowdoin College and was a medical doctor while his son Loring graduated from Harvard University. Current owners Paul Klingenstein and son Henry, graduated from Harvard. Kathy Bole and Ollie Klingenstein attended Bowdoin.
After decades of owning and operating the Darwin Ranch, Loring Woodman opted to sell the place. In August of 2008, Loring found a buyer. As the major financial failures of September developed into the major recession of 2008, the sale of the Darwin Ranch fell through. With no other buyers coming forward, Loring tried to sell it at auction. In 2012, the auction was held at the Wort Hotel in Jackson, but the minimum bid was not met.
In the meantime, a former Darwin Ranch employee, Norm Lilley, was working for Kathy Bole and Paul Klingenstein at their farm in Park County. Lilley told the Klingensteins about the Darwin Ranch; certain that they would love the place. One Sunday, Paul took Norm in his plane for a pleasure flight, and opted to visit the Darwin Ranch. Normally, non-paying guests did not go to the Darwin Ranch, but with Lilley’s connections to the ranch, they were granted permission to land on the private air strip. Indeed, Paul Klingenstein was welcomed as Norm’s employer and potential buyer. Paul is an enthusiastic fly fisherman and saw the world-class streams on and near the Darwin Ranch (Bole and Klingenstein interview).
On subsequent visits, Paul’s wife, Kathy Bole and their two other children visited the Darwin and deeply fell in love with the place. The family lived mostly in San Francisco, California, and also spent time at their farm in Park County, Wyoming. The isolation and beauty of the Darwin Ranch deeply intrigued them. As Kathy explained, Paul and the family wanted to be part of the stewardship and preservation of a special place. But, Paul and the two older children were not interested in running a guest ranch. Kathy and Ollie, though, were interested. The family purchased the place in 2014, and immediately Kathy and Ollie went to work, and the other family members more or less would visit.
With Loring wanting to sell the place for nearly a decade, it’s not surprising that the maintenance became a low priority. Kathy and Ollie spent much of their first years of ownership repairing the buildings, structures and equipment. Long time maintenance employee Laura Hibbs greatly assisted the new owners with her knowledge of the place. George (Porgy) McLelland has also continued to work for the new owners, bringing his institutional memory from his many years of working with Loring. Needed repairs were made on the buildings and structures, with some replaced such as the corrals. A major undertaking for the new owners was moving the original generator shed from behind the main lodge and next to the river, to a new location south and west of the lodge and away from guest buildings. A new power house was built at the new site. This relocation required moving all the electric wiring, cables, conduits, and panels, and the generators, plus the back-up propane supply. Re plumbing for the hydro and the pipes that generate the electricity also had to be rerouted for the move.
The Klingenstein’s goal for the ranch is to operate it as a green business. New policies have been established, such as removing the garbage from the property, rather than burning it; and pigs and chickens now take care of the food scraps. Ollie developed a new range management for hay production. In the past, horses for the ranch were allowed to graze on grass anywhere on or near the property. This ended when Ollie established a rotational grazing system using electric fence enclosures. With a USFS permit, Ollie has changed the irrigation system to work more efficiently. He uses certified seed mixes for the Gros Ventre Mountain area. The new system has resulted in twice as much grass grown.
The Klingensteins also value the Darwin ranch in its historical, cultural, biological, and ecological context in which it exists. Understanding and experiencing this is important to the owners, and readily conveying these concepts to their guests is a high priority.
The Klingenstein owners recognize their uncommon location in the national forest. The experience for the staff and guests is unique because it is an isolated inholding. Public lands are crucial for the Darwin Ranch. With this unique positioning as an inholding, it is the Klingenstein’s hope that they can play a role in understanding the value of public lands (Bole and Klingenstein interview).
Ollie oversees the outdoor experience for the guests, and the work involved in making it possible. He tends to the horses and the grass management to feed them. He also hires and manages the crew. Kathy tends to the “inside” work, including the cabins, lodge and kitchen. Kathy’s love of food preparation, refined with attending culinary school, has taken the eating experience at the Darwin Ranch to a new level. Much of the food served to the staff and guests comes from the family farm in Park County and is supplemented with other organic food.
Kathy and Ollie kept some of Loring’s practices, such as having the staff sit down and eat with the guests. They also kept Loring’s practice of not offering scheduled activities, but letting the guests enjoy the place on their own. Kathy and Ollie gave considerable thought to the guest experience, wanting them to “feel that they really are here – in this place,” explains Kathy. “There isn’t a lot of noise.” The guests are unplugged. Internet access isn’t available, and they are encouraged to have no screen time. Breakfast and dinner are the only things scheduled. Activities during the days are left for guests to determine. Horseback rides, fishing and hiking are available, but not programmed. “People are really given so much freedom here, and I think that’s what keeps people coming back, is they’re having their experience – they’ve decided what to do that day. We do very little to control their experience. I think that’s why people are so connected to this place,” explains Kathy (Bole and Klingenstein interview).
As mentioned above, guests during Loring’s ownership remember the great discussions among guests and staff, especially at the end of the day when everyone gathered in the lodge. The Klingensteins have continued this practice. Ollie hired several former school mates from Bowdoin. “It felt like a mini-Bowdoin reunion at the Darwin,” said Miss V. (Belle Interview). “I hire staff based on folks who can have great conversations,” says Ollie. “It’s very important to me, important to us that we host those conversations. This place draws people like that. It’s always an exciting place to come to if you’re the type that like a great conversation, away from screens, phone, business – there’s so much talking done here” (Bole and Klingenstein interview).
Similarities have been drawn by former guests with Loring Woodman and Oliver Klingenstein. Like Loring, Ollie spent his childhood summers in the mountains of Wyoming on outdoor adventures. Ollie participated in the outdoor program, National Outdoor Leadership Schools (NOLS) based in Lander, Wyoming, and operated in the Wind River Mountains, near to the Darwin Ranch. He went to college in the East, as Loring did. Both were the youngest of three children, and both were the only ones in their families to take on management of the Darwin Ranch that had been purchased by their parents. Both took on the Darwin Ranch responsibilities right out of college.
The Darwin Ranch is one of the few surviving homestead inholdings in a US Forest that has not been subdivided. It has survived to the present because there has always been someone who feel deeply in love with the place and wanted to preserve it. They wanted it for themselves, but not exclusively so. Many owners opened this place to guests, to experience and to enjoy. When not used and paid for exclusively for private use, the Darwin Ranch has proven to be economically viable as a guest ranch. It has evolved through its history to remain in business, while maintaining its uniqueness as a special, isolated place high in the Gros Ventre Mountains of Wyoming.