Person

James Nathaniel Edwards

Quick Facts
Significance:
Wyoming homesteader
Place of Birth:
Ohio, USA
Date of Birth:
February 14, 1874
Place of Death:
Scottsbluff, Nebraska, USA
Date of Death:
January 6, 1951
Place of Burial:
Scottsbluff, Nebraska, USA
Cemetery Name:
Fairview Cemetery

James “Jim” Edwards has been dubbed the greatest black cattle rancher in all the West.

He was born James Nathaniel Edwards in the state of Ohio on February 14, 1874. In 1900, Edwards headed West in search of work at the coal mines in Newcastle, Wyoming, but was run off by Italian laborers.

Unable to secure work at the coal mine, he walked more than 80 miles south to Lusk and found work as a ranch hand at the Wilson Brothers’ Running Water Ranch. He worked on the ranch herding sheep, cattle, and horses until December 1914.

During his employment at the ranch, he had become foreman supervising white employees. He was sent to Lost Springs to run cattle for the Wilson Brothers, but Edwards applied for a patent on that land in his own name. This resulted in a lawsuit with the Wilson brothers that he won. By December 1913, he had received a patent for 318.06 acres near Harney Creek.

James Edwards married Lethel Dawson in 1914 shortly before leaving the Running Water Ranch. Before they married, she had traveled the world singing with a troupe of musician. They soon started a ranching business.

He regularly rode with his cowhands as far as Mexico and Canada to drive steer to his ranch. He was an early member of the Association of Wyoming Cattle Raisers and co-owned a Southern restaurant in Casper, Wyoming. Edwards was so successful that he was able to thrive during the Great Depression, surviving a $30,000 loss.

James Edwards was the first person in the area to have hot running water and an indoor shower. His stone house was also the first to have a telephone, radio, and pressurized kerosene cook stove.

Neighbors recounted run-ins related to rustling cows and a perpetual fear of rampages by Edwards’ wild hogs. In Ebony magazine, they characterized Edwards as “close to the movie and pulp magazine version of a cowboy as can be found in American today.” In 1949 he owned 14,000 acre at the Sixteen-Bar-One ranch coving two counties. He is quoted as saying, “Let ‘em know right away that you’re going to fight for what you own. Just because a man’s colored, is no reason for people to think he’s a coward.” The ranch name Sixteen-Bar-One represented the ratio of white to black men in the area.

Despite his success he still faced discrimination. He made sure not to enter homes where a white woman was alone and did not attend social functions with mixed company.

After Lethel’s death in 1945, Edwards looked for competent black cowhands to take over the ranch. He found the four Furmon brothers in Cold Springs, Wyoming. He was still living on the ranch and supervising them in 1949.

He sold his property and moved to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He died on January 6, 1951 at the age of 76 and was buried at Fairview Cemetery located in Scottsbluff.

Sources

Homestead National Historical Park

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Last updated: September 27, 2021