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Print118 Years and Counting
Wilsons’ Alta operation honored as a Wyoming Centennial Farm and Ranch
Photography Courtesy of the Wilson family
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When Gideon Wilson sees his dad ride up on a four-wheeler, he goes running for his blue cowboy hat, which is so big on him that you have to stoop to see him grin. Although he’ll likely tell you he’s four (or even older), Gideon is just three years old, the youngest member of a family that has ranched in Alta for five generations—since Gideon’s great-great-grandfather, Thomas Ross Wilson, purchased the property in 1891.
Meredith Wilson is the tall, strawberry blonde rancher who is currently at the wheel of running the ranch. In 1987, when the allure of one day passing on the ranching way of life to his family outweighed any other job opportunities, Meredith decided to move back home from Utah State University to run the Wilson Double Diamond Ranch.
Today the farm grows barley, hay, and the Wilsons’ prize-winning lambs. Just last year, Wyoming’s State Historic Preservation Office honored the family as a Wyoming Centennial Farm and Ranch for having owned and operated the ranch for more than a hundred years. Only ninety-six other farms in Wyoming have received the honor.
As pointed out by Nancy Weidel, program manager for the Wyoming Centennial Farm and Ranch program, it’s astounding any time you find a family that has worked the same piece of ground for more than a century. That means they survived both world wars, the Great Depression, droughts, predators, and a host of other challenges. “You have to have a lot of tenacity to stick it out for a hundred years,” Weidel says.
Of course, when you see the strikingly beautiful piece of property Meredith and his wife Dana ranch on Alta North Road, it may become clearer why he and his forebears made the choices they have made. The 180-acre ranch is a storybook setting. Several huge Belgian draft horses graze a pasture silhouetted by the Tetons. In the distance, more than a hundred lambs and ewes shore up under chokecherry and aspen trees, taking a break from the midday heat, while two Great Pyrenees guard dogs snooze in the noonday sun.
No doubt about it, this is Wilson country. Across the street lives Meredith’s uncle, Grant Wilson, while his cousin Lorin Wilson ranches down the road. Meredith’s mother lives next door. “It’s not just about me,” Meredith says, as he strolls toward an old foundation. “I happen to live on the homestead, but it’s also their heritage,”
The ranch is full of their ancestors’ stories. Meredith explains that his great-grandfather served in the Wyoming state legislature for three terms, starting in 1903. He also was a game warden, furniture maker, and taxidermist, and served as a local health practitioner. Meredith’s grandfather, who built the farm’s shop and granary, was a civil engineer. He passed the ranch over to his son after World War II.
Although Meredith doesn’t say much about the line of Wilson women, if Dana and the couple’s daughters are any indication of what came before, then the women were a strong lot, as well. Dana describes her job as nurturing the children, a job she loves. She also jokes that she is affectionately known as the “butt kicker” for her ability to get things done. According to her, she’s written her name in the dirt of this ranch and, she says, it’s been worth it to pass on to her children the values of hard work, team play, and land stewardship.
From oldest to youngest the couple’s children go like this: Gabriel, fourteen; Isabella, twelve; Olivia, nine; Amelia, seven; Eliza, five; and Gideon, three.
Every other child, starting with the oldest, is a redhead.
Gabriel is particularly fond of life on the ranch. “I like being outside working here because it’s where my dad worked, and his dad’s dad, and his dad’s dad. In the morning, the sun just comes up over the hill and the grain down below is just golden and the valley’s all lit up and the trees are brightening … it’s just great.”
In a shady spot by one of the barns, Meredith explains that his forefathers chose an excellent ranch site. Warm breezes come down out of the mountain valley, making his property less prone to frosts. Teton Creek provides good water, the soil is rich, and cottonwoods, spruce, and aspen line the property’s edge, blocking the breeze....(Continued)
