John Wayne in Wyoming

Antelope Flats near Jackson, Wyoming, is famous as the filming site of "Shane". However, John Wayne rode that range 25 years before, in "The Big Trail".

Most movie lovers are familiar with the sight of the Tetons from the western classic Shane, best seen in a burial scene on a hill. Not to be outdone, John Wayne rode up that same hill twenty-five years before Alan Ladd, to watch over his wagon train circulated on the Antelope Flats below. 

Moran Camp, on Jackson Lake, Wyoming, was funded during the making of John Wayne's "The Big Trail".

In Wyoming, the Big Trail company re-created pioneer history and actually made American history, in a small but significant way. „There was a place called Moran Camp, on Jackson Lake,“ Wayne recalled in 1978. They enlarged the place, built cabins and sets, and they ended up with an establishment that is now called Moran, Wyoming. “It’s a township. We started it. “ You’ll find the little settlement on Moran Town Road, just off U.S. Hwy 26.

Filming site of this spectacular scene from the John Wayne classic "The Big Trail" can be found near Jackson hole, Wyoming.

The film’s “lowering of the wagons” sequence was shot near Jackson Hole. Walsh had dreamed it up – it was not in the script – when he spotted the ideal hill as he was coming out of Moran (in later years, Walsh would mistakingly give St.George as the place of this specific location, however, the Tetons appear in the background, as seen in this picture).

Filming site of a classic John Wayne scene: Buffalo Fork River was used in "The Big Trail".

The exact spot can be found on the left-hand side of U.S. Hwy 26, with the Buffalo Fork River rolling below.

The movie location of this classic John Wayne "Big Trail" scene was found at Buffalo Fork River, outside Jackson, Wyoming.

In the last shot  of the sequence, the young star crosses the Buffalo Fork River on this very spot.

Movie Location for a John Wayne scene in "The Big Trail": Lewis Falls, in Yellowstone Park.

Although the exact place was not recorded, the scene in which Tyrone Power tries to ambush Wayne...

Lewis Falls at the southern entrance to Yellowstone Park provided the background for a scene in John Wayne's "The Big Trail".

...was probably shot at Lewis Falls, at the southern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The Big Trail company was in Jackson Hole for nearly eight weeks. 

This scene from John Wayne's "Hellfighters", starring Katherine Ross, was filmed on the Jackson Hole Airport, Wyoming.

John Wayne returned to Jackson Hole in 1968 for a few scenes of Hellfighters. The scene in which Jim Hutton picks up Katherine Ross was shot on the Jackson Hole Airport, 1250 E Airport Rd.

A filming site of the classic John Wayne "Hellfighters" can be found outside Casper, Wyoming.

Officially, principal photography for Hellfighters began on March 14, 1968. By mid-May, production had moved on to Casper. Residents were able to see the huge pillars of fire in the scenic bluffs west of their town.

Bessemer Bend, outside Casper, Wyoming, was used for action sequences in John Wayne's "Hellfighters".

That same strip of land as it looks today: Bessemer Bend doubled for Bolivia.

John Wayne shoots an action scene for "Hellfighters" at Bessemer Bend, near Casper, Wyoming.

 Follow Wyoming Highway 220 fifteen miles out of town to get to Bessemer Bend. The distinctive red terrain to the right was chosen to portray the oilfield where Wayne’s crew has to fend off Bolivian guerillas. More exteriors in Casper were reportedly shot on the grounds of Snodgrass Ranch. 

The old airstrip of Wardwell Field, a former Casper airport, was used for this scene of John Wayne's "Hellfighters".

For the sequence in which Wayne’s freight plane lands on a South American airfield, production made use of Wardwell Field, a former Casper airport that contained six miles of paved runways. Ideally suited because grass was already growing on the abandoned landing strips. Nowadays, the hangars are used for boat storage. 

John Wayne's picture displayed in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center shows him in Cody in 1976.

John Wayne first set foot into Cody, Wyoming, the town named after its founder William F. Cody, when the Big Trail Company crossed the Yellowstone Park to Jackson. In 1976, Wayne participated in the opening of the Cody Firearms Museum of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, celebrating the Bi-centennial. He was the grand marshal in the Fourth of July parade. 

John Wayne's shirt displayed at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody.

The museum at 720 Sheridan Ave. displays a shirt John Wayne wore, obviously from his later period, the kind he wore in Rooster Cogburn and the commerials that followed his final films.

John Wayne receives a Winchester Union Pacific Centennial carbine in Laramie, Wyoming, May 1969.

In May 1969, the High Iron Company's 14-car Golden Spike Centennial Limited took passengers on a two week adventure from the heart of Manhattan to the rolling hills of Utah in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit. Wayne was one of  the 175 persons. In Laramie, Wyoming, a number of Sheepeater Indians from Cody presented A Winchester Union Pacific Centennial carbine to Wayne.