Local Federer ranch to celebrate 100 years
Little did Theodore Federer know in 1910 that his hard work would pay off and his ranch would be honored a century later.
By Baylie Evans
CHEYENNE -- An old sepia-tinted photograph shows a life that many in the Federer family remember fondly.
It shows a smiling, chubby-cheeked baby in a baby bonnet, a windmill above a weathered brick building and chickens polka-dotting the landscape.
It's the life that Theodore Federer built for his family after he bought a train ticket westbound from Illinois in 1910 and stopped here.
Theodore Federer had heard that there was free land out west for anyone that could make it, and he was ready to try.
He set up about 16 miles northwest of Cheyenne and worked the land for several years before it legally became his.
He couldn't have known that his ranch would survive 100 years and would receive recognition for becoming a centennial ranch. He only knew that he had to work hard enough to put food on the table each day, which was no easy task.
Carl Federer, the youngest son of Theodore and Edna Federer's eight children, said he remembered growing up on the ranch just after the depression.
"Folks did everything to make a living," he said.
His family raised chickens, milked dairy cows, grazed cattle and broke horses to buy groceries each week.
Theodore Federer even hunted coyotes, which fetched a price at the time. He would leave before sunrise with his hound dogs and return after dark, Carl Federer recalled.
"You had to be tough to do that," he said.
Life on the ranch was different than it is now, Carl Federer said.
In high school, he would milk 25 cows before catching the school bus at 7 a.m.
Once, he broke his collarbone in a rodeo and couldn't milk them. The family had to sell the dairy cows, he said with a chuckle.
He recalled a blizzard in 1949 that he and his family were lucky to survive.
"It was horrible," he said.
His mother, sister-in-law and several children got trapped in a car during the blizzard and had to be rescued with a toboggan.
"We went out looking for cows after that and, this is no lie, we drove over the telephone lines," he said.
Doctor visits were rare and neighbors took care of each other back then.
"It was a pretty tough life," he said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything."
At 4 p.m. this Friday, more than 100 friends and family of the Federers will gather at Lions Park for a reunion and celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ranch. They will come from all over the country.
Eileen Federer-Williams, a granddaughter of Theodore Federer, said she and her family are proud to still have the family's ranch in their name 100 years later.
The future of the ranch is a little uncertain right now, but she said it will likely remain in the family name for some time to come.
"It means a lot to our family," she said. "We just feel like this is Wyoming's heritage."
She grew up only a quarter of a mile away from the Federer Ranch, herself.
"Honestly, it was the most wonderful experience to have grandparents so nearby," she said.
While the men and boys were out working, the women and girls would work inside.
Her grandmother taught her how to serve and be kind as well as how to quilt and crochet, she said.
"If you asked who the biggest influence in my life was, it would be her," she said.
A lot of homesteaders didn't make it and had to look for work in town. But the family's work ethic made it possible.
"I think it's a little harder these days to teach work ethic," she said. "The farm made it necessary."
She hopes to honor her grandparents in the coming days with the reunion and by accepting recognition from the state as a centennial ranch on Saturday at the State Fair in Douglas.
"(My grandparent's) influence is still felt," she said. "Believe me."
