Name: Riding along on the Green River Drift, the longest-running cattle drive left in America
Uploaded: 2022-06-17T19:56:56.000Z
Duration: 14 min 2 s
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The cattle drive is an enduring symbol of the American West.

Basic passive voice

The image of tough cowboys pushing huge herds of cows across the open range is stamped on

But by the 21st century – with western states growing and changing fast - most horseback

cattle drives have been run off the range by suburban sprawl, government regulation,

lower beef consumption, and the return of protected predators.

But there's a group of stubborn men and women in Wyoming who every spring push thousands

of cows along the same 70-mile route their ancestors pioneered 125 years ago.

As we first reported last fall, this throwback to the old west is called the Green River

Drift, and it's the longest-running cattle drive left in America.

Just after dawn one Saturday in June of 2021, I'm trying to help Wyoming rancher Albert

Sommers and his team move hundreds of cows – most of them mothers with new calves – in

a cloud of dust toward high pastures where they'll graze all summer.

ALBERT SOMMERS: And if you feel inclined, Bill, you can whistle.

BILL WHITAKER: I can do anything to m-- move these--

ALBERT SOMMERS: This is like a cowboy's therapy.

BILL WHITAKER: “C'mon cows, move cows!”

…BUT IT'S NOT QUITE AS GOOD AS LITTLE SHAD SWAIN, THE SON OF ALBERT'S RANCHING

BILL WHITAKER: Shad, if you can do this I can do this, ok?

SHAD GOT TO DO IT WITH A SOUR APPLE LOLIPOP IN HIS MOUTH.

ALL OF US, WITH THE HELP OF SOME FEARLESS HERDING DOGS – MOVE CATTLE OVER HILLS, ACROSS

CREEKS, (nats) THROUGH SHIMMERING GROVES OF ASPEN, ALONG WHAT COWBOYS CALL DRIVEWAYS … AND

ACROSS HIGHWAYS, NORTH TOWARD THOSE DISTANT MOUNTAINS.

BILL WHITAKER: How long does it take you to get them to the summer feeding area?

ALBERT SOMMERS: So it-- it takes about 13 days from when we start to when we get up

ALBERT SOMMERS IS ONE OF 11 RANCHERS WHO WORK TOGETHER TO DRIVE MORE THAN SEVEN THOUSAND

THOSE 11 RANCHES ALL LIE IN WYOMING'S GREEN RIVER VALLEY, SOUTH OF JACKSON HOLE.

HERE, THE WYOMING RANGE IS TO THE WEST, THE WIND RIVER RANGE IS TO THE EAST, THE VALLEY

BETWEEN IS PART BONE-DRY HIGH DESERT AND VERDANT RIVER DRAINAGE WHERE NATIVE AMERICANS ONCE

TODAY, THE GREEN RIVER RUNS THROUGH ALBERT SOMMERS' RANCH.

BILL WHITAKER: And your family's been doing this how long?

ALBERT SOMMERS: My family's been doing this since about 1903.

ALBERT'S NEIGHBOR JEANNIE LOCKWOOD'S FAMILY HAS BEEN AT IT EVEN LONGER

JEANNIE LOCKWOOD: This was my granddad's ranch.

HER RANCH IS ABOUT 20 MILES SOUTH OF ALBERT SOMMERS' PLACE.

WE JOINED HER ON HORSEBACK BEFORE DAWN THE DAY SHE STARTED MOVING HER CATTLE NORTH…

…ALONG THE SAME PATH HER FAMILY HAS TREKKED FOR 125 YEARS.

BILL WHITAKER: So you're going to be doing this for the next two weeks?

BILL WHITAKER: Getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning.

THOSE EARLY STARTS BARELY COMPARE TO WHAT OLD-TIMERS ENDURED, WHEN COWBOYS STAYED OUT

UNDER THE STARS ALL NIGHT AND THE SUN ALL DAY UNTIL THEY GOT THE HERD TO HIGH PASTURES.

ALBERT SOMMERS: “Well, I think we can go home.

TODAY, THEY GO HOME AFTER EACH DAY'S DRIVE.

THE NEXT MORNING THEY TRAILER THEIR HORSES BACK TO WHERE THEY'D LEFT THE CATTLE, ROUND

UP THOSE THAT HAVE STRAYED, AND MOVE 'EM OUT AGAIN BEFORE DAWN.

THE OLD CHUCKWAGON: IT'S BEEN REPLACED BY A COOLER AND THE TAILGATE OF A PICKUP TRUCK.

BILL WHITAKER: But compared to what your grandfather did-

DRIVING CATTLE IS HOT, DUSTY, DEMANDING, AND THEY'LL BE LUCKY TO MAKE A $50 PROFIT PER

COW WHEN THEY FINALLY SEND THEM TO MARKET.

JEANNIE'S DAUGHTER HALEY AND SON-IN-LAW FRANCE HELP WRANGLE THE HERD, HER HUSBAND,

THEY ALL LEFT “REGULAR” JOBS AND MOVED BACK TO THE RANCH SEVERAL YEARS AGO AFTER

JEANNIE'S BROTHER, WHO HAD BEEN RUNNING THE PLACE, DIED IN AN ACCIDENT.

JEANNIE LOCKWOOD: It takes all of us to do it, it seems like.

BILL WHITAKER: So what is it about this place that makes you give up regular, normal American

jobs and come back here to do this really hard work?

JEANNIE LOCKWOOD: Well, first of all, it was home to me.

And I know it was hard work for my grandparents.

LOVE MIGHT SUSTAIN THE GREEN RIVER DRIFT, BUT IT WAS BORN IN CRISIS.

CLINT GILCHRIST: The winter of 1889/'90-- is really what started the Drift.

CLINT GILCHRIST IS AN HISTORIAN WHO GREW UP IN THIS VALLEY AND HAS WRITTEN ABOUT THAT

CLINT GILCHRIST: And it killed off-- the vast majority of the cattle herds that

were here, because they weren't prepared for a bad winter.

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Riding along on the Green River Drift, the longest-running cattle drive left in America

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