The Cottonwood is an 85-square-mile ranch of over 54,883 acres in one contiguous block situated in the shadow of three mountain ranges in the Upper Green River Valley of northwest Wyoming. This historic cattle ranch has extraordinary water rights irrigating 6,310 acres and has 40 miles of meandering freestone rivers and streams offering some of the last remaining great habitats for Colorado River Cutthroat and exceptional fishing for Rainbow, Brown and Brook Trout. It is conveniently located just seventy miles south of Jackson and nine miles south of Daniel, Wyoming with local jet airport access.
The 11,138 deeded acres is surrounded by public lands and is nestled in a protected valley adjoining the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the foothills of the Wyoming Range. The ranch has an extraordinary diversity of wildlife and critical habitat for large populations of moose, antelope mule deer, elk, sage grouse and migratory birds.
The ranch topography is generally flat open meadows and pastures along the stream and riparian corridors with adjoining sage pastures followed by rolling open native grass hillsides, ultimately including aspens and pines at its interface with the National Forest. There are incredible scenic vistas to the west, north and east with unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains.
The ranch and cattle operations are enhanced by the adjoining 43,745 acres of adjoining and integrated BLM and State grazing leases. The ranch in Wyoming is easily accessed off of Highway 189 and a county road runs the full 22 miles length of the property providing access to the entire ranch. The elevation ranges from 7,100’ near the entrance on the eastside of the ranch to 9,040’ on the west end adjoining National Forest.
Improvements
The headquarters compound is located ¼ mile from the entrance off highway 189 and rests besides the Cottonwood River and irrigated fields The headquarters consists of numerous working facilities lying near the river and irrigated fields with the owner’s home resting on a small hill overlooking the expansive ranch with views of the surrounding mountain ranges. The owner’s home or Hill House is a four bedroom and two and half bath home that was updated in 2008 with an expansive deck and attached garage. The main compound below consists of numerous guest and workers quarters including a three bedroom, two bath log home with attached garage and covered porch; three bedroom, one bath cookhouse; two bedroom, one bath bunkhouse with porch; historic and operational log barn; repair shop; and numerous log and pole buildings and sheds for storage. The extensive main working cattle facilities with corrals, chutes and scale are located on a small ridge nearby with separate truck access for shipping.
In addition, on the west side of the ranch and about seventeen miles from the Hill House is the Beecher Place. Beecher is a historic homestead in beautiful setting with irrigated meadows and backing up to the foothills of the Wyoming Range. It included a charming recently renovated historic two bedroom, one bath log cabin with deck; three single room cabins; log barn; and horse shed. In addition, there are numerous historic cabins dotting the ranch including the Gabe Place and Peterson Place.
Locale
The Cottonwood is located in Sublette County of northwest Wyoming, just 9 miles south of Daniel, 14 miles north of Big Piney, and 70 miles south of Jackson along State Highway 189. Some of western Wyoming’s most spectacular mountain ranges are located within this glacial valley, including the Wind River Range to the east, the Gros Ventre to the north, and the Wyoming Range immediately to the west. The valley is home to a rich grassland climate that supports large tightly held ranches and a extraordinary and diverse wildlife population combined with numerous rivers and creeks providing incredible fly-fishing opportunities.
The roughly 4,000-square-mile Green River Basin is a dry sagebrush steppe, carved by numerous rivers and creeks created by snowmelt from the surrounding mountains creating hay fields, pastures and ranches along its edges. Numerous slow, meandering streams are interspersed on the basin floor and eventually come together to form the headwaters of the Green River, which flows just east of ranch. Most of the floodplains along the streams are irrigated meadows, while the low rises adjacent to these waterways and the higher rises on the refuge are characterized by sagebrush grasslands.
The Upper Green is a corridor for migration of both domestic and wild animals. Each spring, ranchers drive several thousand head of cattle from high desert mesas up the rivers into the mountains and the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The valley has such an incredible diversity of wildlife it is quite simply the Serengeti of the West. Hardy forage make the basin an important winter range for as many as 100,000 ungulates, including the largest herds of pronghorn antelope and Shiras Moose in the US. Elk, deer, moose, and pronghorn follow the path of the river during their seasonal migrations and the longest ungulate migration corridor in the lower forty-eight runs through the valley and the ranch as mule deer and pronghorn antelope pass through in the spring and fall.
In addition, many other species of wildlife follow the river corridor. The ranch and area is home to a myriad of bird species like sage grouse, trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, and a vast array of migratory birds appear throughout the valley.
Daily commercial air service in available in Jackson Hole with four major carriers; the Ralph Wenz Airport in Pinedale services most jets with a 8,900’ x 100’ runway and is twenty-six miles away; and the Miley Memorial Field in Big Piney/Marbleton with its 6,805’ x 75’ runway is just eleven miles from the ranch.
