T Cross.com - History and Setting - Early History of the Region

Early History of the Region

History - Eastern Shoshones

The Eastern Shoshones established control over the Wind River region when they obtained horses in the mid 1700s. Their range stretched into Canada and the Great Plains. When Lewis and Clark explored the region. a Shoshone woman, Sacajawea, became their trusted guide. Closer to modern times, the great Chief Washakie represented the Shoshone in negotiations that created the Wind River Reservation.

History - Henry Seipt

T Cross is a 160-acre ranch granted under the Homestead Act of 1862. Henry Seipt, a German immigrant and Spanish-American war veteran, took over in 1918 and called the ranch The Hermitage. He and his family began hosting guests and the dude ranch business steadily grew. In the fall of 1929 Helen and Bob Cox bought the ranch and renamed it T Cross after the Cox’s own brand “T+.”

Dubois was a center for rodeos and dude ranching then. Ranching and recreation are still the bases of the region’s economy. The timber industry, supplying the railroad boom, also attracted residents and supported the population until mid 1900. Visit the Dubois Museum for a look into old Dubois.