The Moore Brothers
Cheyenne County’s Frontier Legacy

Before Yellowstone, Cheyenne County Had Its Own Dutton Brothers: Jim and Charley Moore

Long before Yellowstone brought ranch life into living rooms…
before fences divided the land…
before the West became something people watched on a screen…

The High Plains of Cheyenne County and the surrounding region were already living that story. And at the center of it were two brothers — Jim and Charley Moore.

Two Brothers, Two Strengths

The Moore brothers came west in 1859, drawn by opportunity like so many others of their time. They worked in freighting and along the Overland Route, learning how goods moved, how people traveled, and how to survive on the frontier.

Even early on, their strengths were different. Jim was built for the open country — fast, strong, and willing to take risks. Charley, on the other hand was ambitious and enterprising. He saw opportunity in stage routes, river crossings, railroad towns, and new settlements. Where Jim rode, Charley built.

Together, they would leave a mark on Cheyenne County and far beyond it.

The Rider

Jim Moore rode for the Pony Express — one of the most dangerous jobs on the frontier at that time. In Pioneer Paths, Clark Fuller described Moore as having “almost perfect physique… straight as an arrow… with the limbs of a thoroughbred,” adding that he was “as active as a panther and as courageous as a lion.”

His route ran from Midway Station to Fort Sedgwick — 140 miles one way. He rode it round trip, 280 miles, once a week. On one occasion, when his relief rider was unable to continue, Jim rode to Fort Sedgwick in eleven hours, turned around, and rode again — covering 280 miles in just twenty-two hours. It was that kind of endurance that made hima legend. 

The Brand That Became a Place

After the Pony Express faded into history, the brothers turned first to sheep and then to cattle. By the late 1860s, they were building one of the largest cattle operations in the Wyoming Territory.

Jim’s brand was “J M.” Spoken aloud, it became Jay Em.

On the open range, a brand was more than a mark burned into hide. It was identity. It was livelihood. It was reputation. In a land with no fences and few boundaries, a brand carried a man’s name across miles of grass and water.

For anyone raised in cattle country, the significance is instinctive. A brand is legacy.

In time, the community of Jay Em, Wyoming took its name from that brand — a rancher’s initials becoming a place on the map.

That kind of imprint does not happen by accident.

Building in Cheyenne County

While Jim managed cattle across open range stretching from Colorado through the Nebraska Panhandle and into Wyoming, Charley focused on building within communities.

When the Union Pacific established Sidney in 1867, Charley traded Denver property for two blocks in the new town.

Together, the brothers established a feed and supply store and what was likely one of the first hotels on Front Street.

Travelers stopped.
Freighters resupplied.
Railroad crews passed through.
Stories were shared.

Sidney was not a quiet town. It was a stage stop, a railroad hub, a supply point for the Black Hills, and a place where fortunes were made — and lost.

Ambition and Complication

Frontier enterprise was rarely simple.

Charley’s 1915 obituary described him as “always honest and avoiding debt,” yet also noted he was “too trusting” — a trait it credited as the cause of several poor business deals and the loss of much of his early fortune.

Family accounts add another layer.

Charley’s brother-in-law, Frank Tarbeaux, later had his life story recorded in The Autobiography of Frank Tarbeaux, as told to Donald Henderson Clarke. The account describes a life of gambling, fraud charges, and international escapades. Newspaper records confirm that in 1877, Tarbeaux was arrested in Sidney on fraud charges and forfeited a $3,000 bail.

Whether Charley was directly drawn into those risky ventures or simply connected through family ties is difficult to fully document. What is clear is that frontier business networks often included men whose reputations were as bold — and as volatile — as the land itself.

Loyalty, ambition, and risk sometimes sat at the same dinner table.

A Hard Time on the Plains

Life on the High Plains was not peaceful. As railroads, settlers, and ranchers moved into the region, Native American tribes were being pushed from lands they had lived on for generations.

Jim Moore was shot twice in the neck during conflicts in the region and survived his wounds. He later traveled with the U.S. Army during efforts to respond to raids across the plains.

It was a dangerous and unsettled era for everyone involved.

A Cheyenne County Story

From stage routes, to the Pony Express…
To cattle ranching and railroad towns…

The Moore brothers adapted. Jim left his mark on the Nebraska territory’s open range, while Charley left his mark on Cheyenne County and long before television dramatized ranching dynasties, Cheyenne County had its own frontier saga.

It happened right here.