The Spring Creek raid ended deadly violence in Wyoming's Sheep Wars, marking the final assertion of law over open-range conflict between cattlemen and sheepherders.
Key Facts
- Date of attack
- Night of April 2, 1909
- Victims killed
- 3 (Joe Allemand and two associates)
- Attackers
- 7 masked cattlemen
- Sheep killed
- Approximately 24 head
- Convictions
- 5 convicted; sentences ranged from 3 years to life
- Wagons destroyed
- 2 sheep wagons burned
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Longstanding hostility between cattle ranchers and sheepherders over grazing rights on Wyoming's open range had fueled a series of violent raids throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cattlemen resented sheep competing for pastureland and repeatedly resorted to intimidation and violence to drive herders away.
On the night of April 2, 1909, seven masked cattlemen attacked the camp of sheepherder Joe Allemand and four associates along Spring Creek near Ten Sleep, Wyoming. Three men, including Allemand, were killed—likely executed—two escaped, two wagons were burned, and roughly two dozen sheep were shot.
Seven men were arrested; five were convicted and imprisoned. The successful prosecution signaled that frontier lawlessness would no longer be tolerated in Wyoming. Although sporadic sheep raids continued into the 1910s, no further deaths occurred, and the Spring Creek raid is regarded as the effective end of deadly open-range conflict in the state.