The Swan name is inseparable from the history of Wyoming and the
West, and when Swan made his mark in Wyoming in the 1880s, ranching
was king. The largest among Alex Swan's many corporate creations,
The Swan Land and Cattle Company, Ltd., was one of the larger
livestock companies to operate in the American West, and it
survived long after it founder's financial debacle in the great
winter of 1886-1887. At one time, the Swan was said to be the
largest private landowner in Wyoming, and at its peak it was
certainly one of the largest sheep companies in the country. This
new work for the first time relates the life of Alex Swan, and
offers a complete history of the Swan companies. Lawrence M. Woods
has combed the surviving corporate records and other documents held
in the United States and abroad. At the height of his financial
life, Swan was said to be the richest man in Wyoming Territory, and
his influence extended beyond business affairs to community
service, both in Wyoming and in Iowa. Yet, after his dramatic
financial collapse, there were many who ridiculed what he had done,
and Swan's silence has left those criticisms on the record, without
rebuttal. Swan, a leader in the Wyoming Stock Growers Association
from its founding in 1873, served as its second president.
Promoting the use of Hereford cattle on the high plains, he was a
force in the Wyoming ranching world, especially after his move to
Cheyenne in 1874. Woods details Swan's life in the years after his
separation from the Scottish-controlled Swan Land and Cattle
Company, especially his activities in Ogden, Utah. The Swan
companies continued operation into the mid-twentieth century. John
Clay played a major role in their operation, and he figures
prominently in their story. Alex Swan and the Swan Companies is an
important portrait of the inner workings of the western cattle
industry and its leaders. The book has a bibliography, index, and
three appendices. It is bound in rich brown linen cloth and has a
foil stamped spine and front cover. Western Lands and Waters
Series, XXII.
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