Wyoming on the Page

Despite its small population, Wyoming has a large literary legacy.

/ By Jim Mahaffie 

For a state with so few people and so much open landscape, Wyoming is rich in writers and literature. Over the past century, both Wyoming and Jackson Hole have bred and attracted distinguished writers of fiction, nonfiction, journalism, magazines, mysteries, and children’s literature. 

Attracted by the lifestyle and natural beauty, many writers have relocated here, like Ted Kerasote and Struthers Burt. Wyoming is the setting for popular mystery series by Craig Johnson and C.J. Box. Renowned authors like Alexandra Fuller and Annie Proulx have lived here and written bestsellers. Still others have documented their lives in Jackson, like Olaus Murie and Donald Hough. Popular histories include works by writers such as Kristiana Gregory and David Gonzales.

Wyoming’s is truly an inspiring landscape with a long legacy of colorful charcters and interesting history.

Ours is a truly inspiring landscape with a long legacy of colorful characters and interesting history. We are readers, too, with a population of curious and well-educated people consuming every genre of literature in local bookstores and a busy public library just off Broadway (U.S. Hwy. 26/89/191) in Jackson. 

“Our area has so many people that come from other places and travel widely. Their professions, pastimes, and hobbies are inspiring and give them great experiences to write about,” says Lizzie Sartoris, manager of Wilson Book Gallery. 

The following is a too-brief look at Wyoming’s literary legacy. 

Old Jackson

The Diary of a Dude Wrangler was first published in 1924, after Struthers Burt headed west from a Princeton education to become a rancher and founded the Bar BC Ranch on the Snake River in what is now Grand Teton National Park. Find out what it was like to build, live on, and visit one of the most famous dude ranches back in the Roaring Twenties. Other Burt works include Powder River: Let ‘er Buck (Rivers of America) and his introduction to Owen Wister’s classic Western novel The Virginian. 

Other notable authors and works: Jenny of the Tetons by Kristiana Gregory; And That’s the Way It Was in Jackson’s Hole by Jack Huyler; Cocktail Hour in Jackson Hole by Donald Hough; The Early Days in Jackson Hole by Virginia Huidekoper; and Legacy of the Tetons: Homesteading in Jackson Hole by Candy Vyvey Moulton.

The Natural World 

Published in 2024, Kevin Grange’s Grizzly Confidential: An Astounding Journey into the Secret Life of North America’s Most Fearsome Predator isn’t a story just about bears, but also about the people who study and look after them. A local writer, firefighter, Park Service paramedic, and outdoorsman, Grange also wrote Beneath Blossom Rain, about his 24-day trek through the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, as well as Wild Rescues: A Paramedic’s Extreme Adventures in Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton and Lights and Sirens: The Education of a Paramedic. 

Other notable authors and works: The Elk of North America by Olaus Murie; Track of the Grizzly by Frank Craighead; Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure! by Karen B. Shea and Kelly Halpin; A Hunger for High Country: One Woman’s Journey to the Wild in Yellowstone Country by Susan Marsh; and Grizzly 399: The World’s Most Famous Mother Bear by Thomas D. Mangelsen.

Novels

Outdoorsman and expedition kayaker Peter Heller writes adventure novels, and his recent book The Last Ranger features a range war and an enforcement ranger in Yellowstone National Park who likes wolves better than people. The book is filled with colorful residents of Cooke City, Montana, just outside Yellowstone, and wildlife guides, clueless tourists, hunters, poachers, and wealthy vacationers. Besides his eight novels, Heller has authored four books of nonfiction, about challenging river expeditions, surfing, and saving whales.  

Other notable authors and works: Heart of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone.

Series

Walt Longmire is the fictional sheriff of fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming. Together with a memorable cast of characters, including his best friend Henry Standing Bear, he solves crimes and mysteries around his county and state. There are 24 books in the Longmire series by Craig Johnson, beginning with The Cold Dish in 2004. Somebody is obviously seeking revenge when a man is found dead near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. He’s one of four former high school boys given suspended sentences two years before for raping a local Cheyenne girl. It’s an ideal start to the terrific Longmire mystery series. 

Other notable authors and works: The Joe Pickett mysteries by C.J. Box. 

Commentary 

In Powder Days: Ski Bums, Ski Towns, and the Future of Chasing Snow, you can take a closer look at skiing, from the original mom-and-pop hills in New England to the mega resorts of today. Ski journalist Heather Hansman lived, worked, and skied in Jackson Hole, and skiing here has a starring role in this collection of short essays about skiing counterculture, ski bum life, ski town economics, and climate change. “It’s about the fantasy of living the ski bum dream, and why it’s not always as dreamy as it seems,” she says of her book. Her first book was Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West, about her trip down the Green River and water challenges in the West.

Other notable authors and works: Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West by Justin Farrell; Angle of Repose by Greg Von Doersten; Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West by Christopher Knowlton; The Grand Teton Reader by Robert W. Righter; and The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich. 

Classics

Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx includes the iconic Brokeback Mountain, as well as other tales of loneliness, violence, and bad love, all set in tough ranching and rural landscapes. Her other collections include Fine Just the Way It Is and Bad Dirt. Each story reflects her time living in Saratoga and Centennial, Wyoming, and her uncanny ear for the struggles and speech patterns of Western characters. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author also wrote The Shipping News, Barkskins, That Old Ace in the Hole, and Postcards, among other bestselling books. 

Other notable authors and works: The Virginian by Owen Wister; Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote; The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie Jr.; My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara Alsop; Rising from the Plains by John McFee; and many of the Western novels of Louis L’Amour. 

Regional History

In Along the Ramparts of the Tetons: The Saga of Jackson Hole, author Robert B. Betts tells the full story of the Teton Range and Jackson Hole from the creation of the mountains all the way up to the present day. Betts lived in the valley and developed a deep attachment to early hunters, native history, mountain men, outlaws, ranchers, tourists, and more. He chronicles the struggles to create Grand Teton National Park, the creation of the National Elk Refuge, and Chester Arthur’s infamous horsepacking trip through the area before he became the 21st president of the United States.

Other notable authors and works: Jackson Hole: On a Grand Scale by David Gonzales; Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone by George Black; and Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the Call of the American West by David Weston Marshall. 

Only in Jackson Hole

Together with his wife, Jane, Grant Golliher has spent his life with horses. The third-generation ranchers own Diamond Cross Ranch in Jackson Hole, where Grant has trained thousands of horses, many of them traumatized or abused. In Think Like a Horse, Grant relates his Horse Whispering Method of training to lessons anyone can use to live a fuller and more successful life. Grant travels the country talking to people about his work, and celebrities, executives, and families come to the ranch from around the globe to learn from him. 

Other notable authors and works: Its Head Came Off by Accident: A Memoir by Muffy Mead-Ferro and Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park by Lee H. Whittlesey. JH