Steven C. James

Steven C. James was born in Jackson Hole but at age seven he moved with his family to Daniel, where he has been engaged in ranching for his entire life. As a child in Jackson Hole, he helped herd 1,500 head of cattle from the family ranch south of Jackson to Moran for summer pasture. After the family moved to Sublette County, he worked on his parents’ ranch and helped an aunt and uncle, learning how to ranch and becoming a better cowboy and horseman. His main job was breaking colts and moving cows to and from the Hoback Basin. For the much of Steve’s life, he lived on the James Ranch and worked for his father. He loved working his work horse team to pull the hay sled and feed cows. As Steve started to take over his part of the family ranch, he continued to ride lots of horses and cowboy. He eventually developed an interest in working cow horses, leading into cutting horses. This became his primary business as a nationwide trainer for himself and the public. Recently, Saunders Ranch acquired a large grazing permit on the Hoback allotment and began running yearlings on it. In the fall, Steve began to come to the Basin and help with their shipping and part of the roundup. The cowboy had come home. Steve is always willing to share his knowledge with anyone. He is never one to boast about any of his qualifications that make him a legend. The few ranch people left in the Basin will always think of Steve as one of their own.