Wyoming is known worldwide as the Cowboy State, earning the nickname from its rich history of cattle ranching and cowboy culture that remains the core of what's become known as the Cowboy Code.

This way of life is embodied in the thousands of cowboys who have worked in Wyoming for more than 150 years.

Even marginal cowboys are tough, hard-working, no-nonsense folk who develop a bond with the land and cattle that in some ways go deeper than family. It takes someone exceptional to be singled out in Wyoming as a cowboy's cowboy.

One such cowboy was Alva Miller of Chugwater.

In the early 1900s, Miller was just 9 years old when he and his older sister Georgia were hired by the Swan Land and Cattle Co. for a few summers. Their job was to individually take a team of horses to the different sh

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