Bartlett Richards (1862–1911) was a prominent cattle baron and banker in Wyoming and Nebraska, known for his vast landholdings and controversial land practices. Born in Weathersfield, Vermont, Richards moved west to Wyoming in 1879 to improve his health. He soon immersed himself in the cattle industry, purchasing 1,000 head of cattle and establishing the Ship Wheel Ranch in Wyoming. By the early 1880s, Richards was managing multiple ranches and, by 1883, he had taken over the Bronson Ranch in Nebraska, renaming it the Lower 33.
Richards became heavily involved in ranching and banking, serving as president of the First National Bank of Chadron, Nebraska. Despite the 1885 Van Wyck fence law prohibiting the fencing of public lands, Richards and his brothers fenced in vast tracts of federal land with barbed wire. By 1902, his Nebraska Land and Feeding Company had enclosed millions of acres, securing control over extensive grazing areas for their cattle.
President Theodore Roosevelt vetoed his attempts to legalize these landholdings through legislation, and he also sent federal agents to remove illegal fences. Richards and his brother-in-law William G. Comstock were convicted of land fraud in 1905, and after a second trial in 1906, they were sentenced to fines and a year in prison. Richards continued to manage his ranches and banking interests until his death in 1911, leaving a legacy as a key figure in the cattle industry and a symbol of the land conflicts of the American West.
