For five generations, the Draper family has made its living ranching in Wetmore, Colorado. But beginning in the 1950s, the family found another way to support their ranching operation: providing horses, cattle, and wagons for Western movies.
Jerry Draper, who lives on the Draper Land and Cattle Company near Wetmore, has watched that history unfold across generations. What began as a family ranch became part of Colorado’s Western film legacy, connecting the Drapers with Hollywood actors and productions that brought the ranching lifestyle to the big screen.
James Lewis Draper, known as J.L. Draper, and his wife, Ethel Sweeten, a woman from the Wetmore area, started the ranch in the 1920s. Their sons, William and George, inherited the ranch. William moved to Pueblo to work as a cabinetmaker and eventually gave his share of the property to Jerry and her husband, Buddy. George continued ranching, and his family’s involvement eventually passed to Buddy and Jerry.
“Through the years, starting in the 1950s, the Drapers got involved with making Western movies,” Draper said. “Which supplemented a salary coming in to help you survive on the ranch.”
The family’s first film work included “Vengeance Valley” and “Saddle the Wind.” George supplied horses and cattle for the productions, while his wife, Leona, served as a stand-in for actress Julie London in “Saddle the Wind.”
The work grew into a decades-long connection with the film industry. The Drapers contributed to 18 feature films, many of them made in the Wet Mountain Valley and surrounding areas. Their contributions went well beyond providing animals.
The family supplied wagons, horses, and cattle, while George and Buddy worked as wranglers. The work sometimes took them far from home, including trips throughout Colorado from Wetmore to La Junta and Black Hawk to transport wagons for film productions.
The Drapers’ experience also connected them to some of Hollywood’s biggest names. George worked on “The Cowboys” starring John Wayne, and the family had a small role in the history of Buckskin Joe, the Western-themed attraction that once operated near the Royal Gorge.
One production, however, stands out in Draper’s memory: “Comes a Horseman,” the 1978 Western starring Jane Fonda and James Caan, with Mark Harmon and Jason Robards also among the cast.
The film brought the production to the ranch, where the actors wanted to learn what working cattle was really like.
“They wanted to do know what it was actually like for two people to be able to work cattle and brand and so forth,” Draper recalled.
Before Memorial Day weekend in 1977, Buddy and George demonstrated how they gathered cattle, brought them into a corral, and worked calves. One man would rope a calf while the other brought it down to be branded and tagged, dehorned and castrated.
Fonda wanted to try the work herself.
“So she actually learned to do all of that,” Draper said.
Fonda also wanted to learn team roping, a sport the Draper family practiced and competed in for years. At the ranch’s roping arena, she worked on her riding and roping skills.
“She got to where she could catch two or three steers in the roping arena, and she really enjoyed that,” Draper added.
For the Drapers, the film work offered more than memorable encounters with actors. It provided additional income since making a living from ranching can be difficult. Their knowledge of livestock, horses, and the rhythms of ranch life made them valuable to productions seeking an authentic Western setting.
That connection eventually faded. Draper recalled that Karol Smith, Colorado’s film commissioner at the time, helped bring productions to the state. After Smith died, she said, Western movies became less common in the area.
The family’s ranching tradition, however, has continued.
Jerry and Buddy raised two sons, Wade and Chad, and the family remains committed to keeping the operation going. Draper hopes the next generation will carry that work forward.
“I think my grandkids plan on coming back after they graduate from college to continue ranching,” she said.
After decades of raising cattle and helping bring Western stories to the screen, the Draper family’s own story remains rooted in the same place it began: the land near Wetmore, where ranching continues to shape the family’s past and its future.
That story is part of a Rocky Mountain Community Radio project marking Colorado’s 150th year of statehood and the United States' 250th birthday.
Rocky Mountain Community Radio is a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, including Aspen Public Radio.
Copyright 2026 KLZR.