Photographs by Rod Hanna.

“He looks like he rode right out of Marlboro country, but his roots to the land are deeper and go a lot farther back than that.” So begins Rod Hanna’s story about Pat Mantle, which appeared in the summer 1979 edition of Steamboat Magazine. Pat was the original Steamboat cowboy, rugged, with a leathery face from being outdoors and one tooth missing from an encounter with a horse. Through decades, Rod photographed Pat on rides, roundups and adventures. These pictures depict the annual spring roundup and two-day drive of some 400-600 head of horses from BLM leased land in Brown’s Park over 40 miles of open land and down Highway 40 to the Sombrero Ranch west of Craig.

During the drive this particular year, in the late 1970s, a freak snowfall for early May found three of the volunteers astride a corral fence to count the horses as they were released into a large pasture at the end of the drive.

Cowboys know how to cook (and eat) on the ground. This tasteful combination was prepared by Pat to feed guests while camping at Luna Lake high in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness.

Guiding a large herd of horses over two days takes a lot of volunteers to control them. Pat selected horses out of the herd by roping them each morning for the volunteers to saddle up and ride.

This is the profile of the real deal, no question this is a cowboy– with leathery skin, hawk nose and hat perched at just the right angle. Pat used to say, “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” He loved his beer, and whiskey, too.

On the second morning of the drive, it was time to gather the herd and saddle up for the final stretch to the ranch. Pat gathered a few strays along the banks of the Yampa River.

Bunched up in a corral at the end of the two days and with a light snow falling, this palomino was the only horse among the various breeds with an eye toward the photographer.

Totally comfortable in the saddle, Pat sat astride one of his favorite horses during the final preparation before the two-day drive from the gathering near Greystone in Brown’s Park to the Sombrero Ranch west of Craig.