Charles A. “Chuck” Sanger

Charles A. (Chuck) Sanger was born October 7, 1937 in Rawlins, Wyoming. His parents, Charles J. and Millicent resided on the Sanger Ranch. He was born a fifth generation member of the Sanger family. His great, great grandfather Elijah Moore homesteaded a portion of the Sanger Ranch in the 1860’s.

Chuck’s first transportation around Sanger Ranch was a Shetland pony named Snowball. He quickly transitioned to a horse. Chuck never missed an opportunity to move cattle. By age eight he was riding in the Medicine Bow National Forest with the ranch crew to move cattle and pack salt.

As an adolescent Chuck spent much of his time with his grandparents, Al and Katheryn Enberg. Mr. and Mrs. Enberg were pioneer ranchers in Carbon County. Chuck has many fond memories with his grandparents on their ranches. In the summer Chuck helped trail cattle sixty miles from Jack Creek to the summer range at the Sulphur Ranch on the Muddy Creek. His time there was spent moving cattle and gathering horses. Some of the horses were broke and trained for saddle horses on the ranch. All of the cattle work and sorting was done on horseback. The remaining part of his summer was spent in the hayfield on the Jack Creek Ranch and Sanger Ranch.

Chuck attended school in Saratoga, Wyoming where he graduated from high school in 1955. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1959 where he earned a degree in Agriculture. Chuck was a member of Sigma Nu and Alpha Zeta fraternities. During college, all of his summers and many weekends were spent working on the family ranches.

After college he dedicated his life work to the family ranches. In his free time he enjoyed team roping and participated in rodeo events in the area. In 1965 the family ranches were organized as Sanger Ranches, Incorporated. Chuck was the President and General Manager. He was a hands on manager.

Chuck continued with the old traditions of trailing the cattle and gathering horses. He raised quarter horses from a small herd of brood mares and personally broke and trained many of the colts for use on the ranch.

Sanger Ranches, Inc. had a quality cattle operation. They ran a cow calf operation, retaining the calves until yearlings. The original cow herd was Hereford and with the addition of Angus bulls the herd evolved into mostly black and black baldy cows.

Chuck was always intrigued with aviation and learned to fly in 1969. His first airplane was a Super Cub. The airplanes were a valuable tool for locating and monitoring cattle.

In 1988 the family ranches were divided. Chuck and his wife, Bobbie, made their home on the Sanger Ranch. They operated the Sanger Ranch as A Cross Ranches, Incorporated. In cooperation with the Forest Service and using holistic management practices with rotational grazing, they increased their

Forest Service allotment to over 60,000 acres. This created an abundance of grass and weaning weights were greatly increased. They raised high quality black and black baldy calves and yearlings which were highly sought after by cattle feeders in Colorado and Nebraska. Chuck and Bobbie also operated a fishing club known as the Sanger Fishing Club. Members of the club enjoyed the Platte River and French Creek.