Pitchfork Ranch

The reasons why people moved west in the 1800s, or any move in history, are varied. For Otto Friedrich Heinrich Franc von Lichtenstein, later known as Otto Franc, it was for his health. He was told he needed to get out of New York and go to a drier climate. At first Otto decided to go to Wyoming for go hunting. That could serve two purposes, I suppose…the first would be to get to a drier climate as prescribed, and the second to see if Wyoming was going to be for him. So, on July 24, 1878, Franc and a group of weary easterners exited their passenger train in dusty Rawlins, Wyoming Territory. It was Franc’s first real look at the West. He was 32 years old.

In New York City, Franc worked with his two brothers in the banana-importing business until his doctor recommended that he move to a drier climate for his health. New York had not been good for Franc. In Wyoming, which he described in his journal as “the finest and wildest country I have ever seen, abounding with fish and game,” Franc discovered the site of what would become his future home in the Bighorn Basin. It was a beautiful place that he later called the Pitchfork Ranch.

Otto Franc was born in 1846 near Frankfurt, which was then part of the German Confederation. Not much is known about his childhood, but it seems he came from an ambitious and well-connected family, advantages he later utilized effectively. After completing his education, Franc left Germany in 1866 to join his older brothers, Charles and Carl, in New York City. They were managing a successful business importing bananas from their plantation in what was then part of Colombia, on the Isthmus of Panama. By the time Otto arrived, they had established a fleet of vessels transporting the fruit from the Caribbean and distributing it to American customers. Things were going well, until Franc’s health began to give him trouble. So, a trip to go hunting seemed like just the thing to revive him. Following a successful hunting trip, Franc went home to New York, but he returned to Wyoming the following year to stay. He might have stayed on the first trip, but concerns over Indians took him home for a year. Still, the lure of the West was strong.

On his return the next year, Franc ventured farther north into the basin, eventually locating a wide natural pasture on the upper Greybull River along the eastern foothills of the Absaroka Mountains. While Indians and buffalo still frequented the area, Franc understood he could locate a large open-range cattle operation there. He would make himself prominent among the area’s early white pioneers, and the Pitchfork Ranch was born.

The Pitchfork Ranch is on the market for $67 million. Established in 1878, this historic property covers about 96,000 acres and is renowned for its cattle operations and rich heritage. This marks only the third ownership change in its history, and it’s being sold as a fully functional ranch with facilities for 1,300 cattle. In many ways, I think it is quite sad that it has changed hands, but then, change is inevitable, I guess.