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Mike Laughlin - Cowboy Profile

I Did Not Die

Do not stand by my grave and weep.

I am not there.  I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints in the snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there.  I did not die.
Mike LaughlinMike Laughlin
My Life by Mike Laughlin, Cowboy

I was born on the north side of a snow bank in North Dakota in the winter of the "big snow" - March 16, 1936.

My father took my pregnant mother in a team-drawn bobsled to Dickenson, ND and then on by car to Aberdeen, SD where her family lived and I was born.  We never got back to the ranch until two months later.

I grew up on the ranch with cowboys and saddle bronc riders.  Some of the best bronc riders in the US came out of ND at that time.

I joined the military when I was 18 years old and spent 2 1/2 years in North Africa during the Algerian Revolt trying to stay alive.

When I got out of the military I got married and hired on as a US Government trapper.  I trapped predators that were killing ranchers' livestock.  I left ND and trapped for the government in Arizona.  While there, I attended Arizona State University on the GI Bill and obtained a degree in Wildlife Biology. 

I transferred to Utah and supervised trappers there in the north of Utah while working on a master's degree. 

I spent a few years in Bend, Oregon supervising trappers, hunting lions and coyotes horseback and from both fixed-wing and rotor-craft aircraft.

After a few years, I transferred to Elko, Nevada where I supervised trappers throughout the state and hunted lions horseback with hounds. We also used fixed-wing and rotor-craft aircraft.  Our job description throughout was protecting livestock and human health and safety.

Then I transferred to Wyoming and ran their government trapper program statewide for several years then on to Montana doing the same work, ending up in Miles City where I retired after 31 years of government service.

In 1988, I hired on with Sombrero Ranches out of Colorado and spent 17 years with them handling over 2,000 head of horses.  Might mention that in the same year I met my best partner, Lee Raine, and we have traveled together ever since. 

We ran Sombrero's concession at Glacier Creek Stables in Rocky Mountain National Park for 10 years.  In the fall of the year we rented hunting horses and guided for elk and deer hunters, and outfitted in the Flat Tops Wilderness of Western Colorado, out of Meeker, CO.

In between here, I worked for Russell Ranches out of Eureka, NV in the winter and spring of '92/'93, a really tough winter in Nevada. They represented 30,000 head of cattle on 20 million acres.  And then for Silver State Ranches out of Warm Springs, NV, a real buckaroo outfit with a wagon. 

Also have written for Western Horseman Magazine for probably 20+ years and represented the magazine throughout the west as well as writing articles for a number of other western publications.

In around 2002, I rolled up and took a job punching cows in Montana out of Miles City for CM Coffee Ranches, a Montana icon stockman.  After two seasons there, we went to work for ourselves and bought a ranch in the Ruby Mountains of Northeastern Nevada.  I also worked for Maggie Creek Ranches Lamoille Division for five years and dayworked for ranches in the Lamoille Valley while taking care of our ranch. 

I presently take care of cattle in the Ruby Mountains in Elko County on a summer grazing permit and private ground and daywork for ranchers in the Lamoille Valley.  In the winter, I work for livestock auction yards in Fallon, NV, pen riding and sorting cattle, as well as day working for ranchers in the Churchill County, Nevada area where we have a winter ranch.

I have stayed horseback all these years and have made a lot of horse tracks in mountains and canyons of the west and will continue horseback.  I have the best string of saddle horses I ever had and the best partner I ever had.  I am "living the dream" and life is good in my cowboy world! 

(March 2014)


Other articles about Mike Laughlin:

In the Big Nevada Desert by Ty Fowler

Range Bull by Gary Vorhes


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  • Home
    • Web Site Design >
      • Privacy Policy
    • Links
  • Gear
    • Pistol River Saddlery
    • Cowboy Gear - Tips and Tricks: >
      • Three-Way Hobbling
      • Piggin' String
      • Stirrup Hobbles
      • Tying Your Rope Up
      • Buckaroo Scarf Knot
      • Cowboy Night Latch
      • Cut-away saddle pad
      • Center-firing your Cinch
      • Pack Saddle Latigo Safety Knot
      • Quick Keeper
      • Tire Changer Aid
      • Safety Tie-Up
      • No Roll Saddle Stand
    • Saddle Makers >
      • Wade Saddle History
      • Don Howe Working Cowboy Saddle Maker
      • Hamley and Co.
      • Bill Maupin
    • Spurs >
      • E.F. Blanchard Spurs >
        • How to tell authentic Blanchard spurs.
        • More Blanchard Spurs
      • Garcia Bits and Spurs
      • Amozoc Spurs
      • Prison Made Spurs
      • Adolph Bayers Spurs
  • Arts
    • Poetry >
      • Cowboy Poetry by Gary Vorhes
      • Charlotte Thompson Poetry
      • Mike Meaux Poetry
      • Audrey Hankins Poetry
      • Carole Jarvis Poetry
    • Rodeo Photos
    • Cowboy Photos
    • Horse Photos
    • Cattle Photos
    • Gear Photos
    • Dogs and Animals Photos
    • Reminders of the Past Photos
    • Windmill Photos
    • People Photos
    • Ready to Rodeo
    • Books by Dale Woolley
  • Horses
    • Diamond Z English Shire Horses
    • 5 Tips for Traveling
    • Harnessing A Team
    • The Dameles and the Curly Horse
    • Rounding Up Wild Horses
    • Extreme Horse Camping
    • First Pull on the Latigo
    • Twister Heller Starts a Colt
    • Cowboy Martingale
    • Cowboy Training Halter
    • Cowboy & Colt Clinic
    • Using the McCarty
    • Teach a Horse to Stand
    • Cowboy Draw Reins
    • War Knots >
      • Tying War Knots
    • Tail Knot for Pack Horses
    • Cavvy Marks
    • Deworming Your Horse
    • Safe Fall Trail Riding
    • Horse Remedies
    • Hormone Implant
    • How to buy a mule
  • Brands
    • Brands II
  • Chuckwagon
    • Dutch Ovens
    • Recipes
    • Sourdough >
      • Grant's Sourdough
    • Cowboy Coffee
  • Articles
    • Grubbing Hoe Ranch
    • Trevor and Emily Fuhriman
    • Land of Extremes
    • Jersey Valley Cattle Co
    • Diamond Tail Ranch
    • Gang Ranch of British Columbia
    • TS Ranch of Nevada
    • When the TS Ran a Wagon
    • IL Ranch
    • Basque Ranching
    • Crystal Rose Cow Dog College
    • Wyoming Honor Farm Inmate/Wild-Horse Program
    • Cowboy Etiquette
    • Arizona Trigger
    • Longhorn Cattle
  • Stories
    • For the Love of a Horse
    • Breakheart Station Master
    • Freighters Outbound
    • DK Cowboy Stories: A Prophet With Antlers
    • Ben's Trail
    • Spendin’ Time at Cow Camps
    • Slewfoot The Black Bear
    • Orphan Boy
    • Mooney's Stories - The Circle A Ranch of Nevada >
      • Cotton the Horse
      • Wigwam, the Wrangle Horse
      • Spanish Ranch 1
      • Spanish Ranch 2
      • Spanish Ranch 3
      • Spanish Ranch 4
      • Miss Beymer’s Boyfriend by Bill Mooney
      • Recollections by Bill Mooney
      • Branding out of a Rodear on the Spanish Ranch, Part 1
      • Branding out of a Rodear on the Spanish Ranch, Part 2
      • C Ranch
    • Wild Horse Casey >
      • ​A Dirty Ole Mustanger Like Me
    • Hero Cattle Dogs
    • Ranching Traditions
    • Life Lessons
    • Dave’s Summer Adventure
    • Fire-Proofing the Range
    • Cowboy Superstitions
    • Cowboy Humor
    • Portrait of a Cowboy >
      • Cowboy Obstricition
    • Tons of Silver
  • History
    • Fort Worth Stockyards
    • Horseshoe Ranch
    • Andrae - Marvel Nevada Oral Histories
    • Texas 6666 Ranch Historical Photos
    • Gerlach Cattle Company 1906
    • Cattle Roundup Photos
    • Cowboy Historic Photos
    • Sheepcamp
    • Comstock Lode
    • Pony Express
    • Horn Iron
    • Historic Sites
  • Cowboy Profiles
    • Victoria Jackson
    • Flying M Ranch Women's Team
    • In the Big Nevada Desert
    • Mike Laughlin, Cowboy
    • Bob Tanner
    • Bill Kane
    • Wally Blossom
    • Ian Tyson The Legend
    • Allie Bear
    • Marge Prunty
    • Bryan Neubert Cowboy Clinician
    • Rex Blackwell
    • Wiley Carroll - Legendary Hunter
  • Glossary
    • Horse Terms
    • Cattle Terms
    • The People & The Land
    • Saddles and Gear
    • Personal Gear
  • Cowboys of the World
    • Cowboys of the Dark Continent
    • Scrubber Running
    • The Day it Nearly All Ended
    • The Goring
    • Horse Breaking
    • Honduras
    • Mexico