n 1884 as the world rushed to the American West and its offer of "free" land, John J. Sullivan, a young Irish immigrant, filed a homestead in central Wyoming’s Shirley Basin.

During periods of growth and despair, ranchers and homesteaders tried to make ends meet with attempts at skunk ranching, potato farming, and bootlegging, although nothing worked as well as hard work. When homesteaders could not force the Wyoming land to yield a living for them, they pulled up stakes and sold to the Q. Today’s Q Creek is a combination of the original Sullivan Homestead, the Shamrock, the Qualey Ranch, the Schmale Ranch, the Palmer Ranch, the Dana Meadows, the Meer Ranch, Leo Sheep Company, and the McKee Ranch.

For decades, Q Creek was a typical Old West ranch. Horses were the only mode of transportation and power source for farming. At one point, draft horse teams on the ranch numbered more than 20. But teamsters were scarce, and technology marched on, and in 1945, Q Creek bought its first tractor.

Following many years as a sheep ranch, Q became a permanent cattle ranch. In 1981, Clayton Williams, a Texas oilman and conservationist, bought the Q and developed the current system of 30 lakes and ponds. The water systems complemented the cattle operations, increased the aesthetic value, and wildlife appeal of the ranch.

The major operation of Q Creek is the cattle operation. Q Creek usually pastures around 12,000 cattle depending on the year, and are taken care of in the ways of the past. Cowboys are still a major part of working the cattle along the use of their horses. Technology has come a long way, but the ways of the past are still in use today. For a ranch the size of Q Creek, housing, feeding and coordinating activities for cowboys and ranch hands becomes a big part of the routine which is managed at the ranch headquarters. Years ago, ranch hands lived in 30 or more sheep wagons scattered around the ranch. Now, unmarried cowboys live in Q Creek's version of the old-time bunkhouse at the headquarters. In the evenings, if some spare time shows up, the cowboys head over to the roping arena after suppers. The cowboys are honing their skills with their rope, and training horses since efficiency is vital to rounding up and moving more than 12 million pounds of beef.

The ranch's history still shows in today's daily operations. The intensity, effort and creative ideas such as bison ranching, fishing, guest lodging and conservation are the same approaches that first carried an Irish coal engineer to success on a 160-acre homestead.