Pages


Friday, November 04, 2022

The Wyoming Corner Crossing case is headed to federal court

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) -If you haven’t already heard about the corner crossing case in Wyoming, it involves four Missouri hunters who came to hunt in our state. 

They were eventually charged with criminal trespass by a neighboring private land owner when the hunters built a makeshift ladder to cross from one corner point of public land to another.

*

The best way to understand the controversy around "corner crossing" is to drive around on a county road through southern Wyoming. In the small town of Elk Mountain, passers-by can see pronghorn, elk, herds of cattle and very few vehicles.

Here, like in other parts of the West with a lot of federal public land, fence lines can mark where private land ends and public land begins, forming a grid irrespective of physical geography. That’s a relic of the 1800s when railroad companies were granted plots in a checkerboard pattern as they traversed the region.
-Robert

*

A GoFundMe account has been set up to combat legal fees. If you'd like to donate, you can find it HERE