In the late 1870s, wild horses roamed American prairies. They were made up of horses that had escaped from immigrants and domesticated mares that were run off by stallions. The wild herds were hard to catch, and the reward for killing a wild stallion in those days was $50--a going price that would compare to a nearly $1,000 reward today. But the roundups were dangerous affairs requiring five or six riders. The wild horses would charge the riders, trying to make their horses rear and throw them out of the saddle.

But Jerome “Jerry” McGahen wasn’t afraid of horses. On the contrary, he loved them. As a kid, he spent summers helping farmers handle their teams of horses and bring the harvest in. During the school year, he worked a variety of odd jobs, but his favorite was probably the livery stable. Sometimes, he even skipped class to spend more time with the horses.

When Jerry turned seventeen, he followed the railroad west to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and worked in the yards for the Union Pacific Railroad. He worked hard and spent his time off hunting on the prairie. After a couple of months in Cheyenne, he was assigned to work with the Colorado Central Railroad division, where he helped lay the tracks south of Denver. When the line was finished, he collected his pay and made up his mind to go southeast. He’d heard of the wild roundups on the prairie and figured there ought to be a better way to corral the horses--he’d just have to do it himself.

His approach was unique, and it required patience and careful observation. WIth three saddle horses, Jerry would locate a herd of thirty or forty wild horses and follow them to their water source, then set up camp in their territory. Then he spent the day playing a leisurely game of cat and mouse--he’d ride one of his horses near the wild herd, causing them to move in the opposite direction until he had directed them back to his camp. For three days, Jerry would move the wild horses, never letting them stop for water or rest. By the end of the fourth day, he could drive the tired herd anywhere--but Jerry, who had been up for days in the saddle, was exhausted too. Stil, he’d ride among them, and with rope as a whip he’d bring them to his corral. This process earned him the name “Wild Horse Jerry.”

Before the railroad came to Sterling, Colorado, in 1881, Jerry roped the horses together and sold them to local settlers as well as the government, often for $75 per head. But Jerry’s horse corralling days eventually came to an end. With the railroad came a changing landscape and community, and more settlers meant fewer wild horses. He retired and instead raised livestock on a ranch near Raymer, Colorado, where he also helped a man named Walter Rising get a job and a place to stay. But tensions rose between the two men, and exploded when Walter accused Jerry of scattering his cattle in the middle of the night.

This feud would end in total tragedy. One day, in 1910, Jerry drove his housekeeper’s granddaughter, Ida Mae Todd, to town for new colored glasses. As they rode along the public road that passed through Walter’s land, Walter shot and killed them. Both Wild Horse Jerry and Ida Mae Todd now rest in Riverside Cemetery.