Carl Sawyer’s journey to Cheyenne began by chance, but would become a lifetime of dedication to Cheyenne Frontier Days™ and the Western way of life. As a young man working as a taxi driver in Oklahoma City, Carl picked up a passenger named C.B. Irwin. Fate intervened when Irwin realized he knew Carl’s family, and on the final day of the trip he invited Carl to head west with him. Carl accepted.

Carl traveled by cattle car from Oklahoma City to Minneapolis, where Irwin was producing one of his Wild West shows, and eventually made his way to Wyoming and the Y6 Ranch. There, Carl worked for Irwin as a cowboy and, most importantly, as his driver. The Y6 cowboys stayed in the upper floor of the Y6 barn on Randall Avenue during CFD and were often called upon to fill events at CFD when entries were short. Carl recalled working every event at CFD over his career except bull riding. When a Y6 cowboy placed, the reward was often nothing more than a plate of beans.

While at the Y6, Carl regularly hauled Native American performers and their belongings from South Dakota to Frontier Park for CFD and returned them home after the celebration. Through this work, he formed lasting friendships with several Native American families that he valued throughout his life.

After leaving the Y6 Ranch, Carl competed regularly at CFD in saddle bronc riding, calf roping, bulldogging, and steer roping through the mid-1970s. During those years, Carl and his wife Wilda often found their young daughter, Carlene, had wandered off during CFD, but they always knew she could be safely found at the
Indian Village, in the company of Princess Blue Water, who would even make Carlene beaded moccasins.

In the early 1950s, late 1960s, and early 1970s, Carl was selected as stock contractor for the steers used at CFD. He often shared stories of driving stock into Cheyenne for CFD. One memorable year in the early 1970s, the steers arrived by truck, were unloaded north of town off Horse Creek Road, and then driven down Yellowstone Road into Frontier Park.

In the late 1960s, Carl invited a good friend from Oklahoma, Dan Taylor, to help as chute boss at Chute 9, drawing and sorting steers for competition. This marked the beginning of Dan Taylor’s long and meaningful association with CFD. Carl even stepped in to flag the steer roping one year when Everette Shaw was forced to step away due to health issues.

Well into the late 1980s, Carl occasionally drove carriages in the CFD parades for George and Paul Bruegman. He and Wilda also proudly served as the 2000 Grand Marshals of the CFD Parade.

For many years, Carl was a familiar presence at Chute 9, seated beside Dan Taylor. He never missed a final Sunday performance and proudly claimed to have attended every Cheyenne Frontier Days™ from 1924 through 2003. The only final he missed was in 2004, when injuries from an ATV accident left him hospitalized. Carl passed away on July 30, 2004 at the age of 96, watching that year’s finals, as his family said, with a bird’s-eye view.