A 130-foot-tall flagpole supports a 1,500-square-foot American flag atop a prominent hill in Star Valley. When the massive flag needs to be replaced, ranch owner Darcel Hulse (78) insists on doing it himself.
“I’m an old guy, but I’m not afraid of heights,” said Hulse to Cowboy State Daily. “Our hired hand and my son-in-law are a little timid about it, but it doesn’t bother me a bit.”
When a microburst windstorm ripped the ropes holding the flag up, Hulse summoned a local crane operator to hoist him up and install a new line of much stronger rope. Amy Rhodes, Hulse’s daughter, filmed her father being lifted to the top of the flagpole.
“I offered to do it,” Rhodes explained. “But (Dad) said, ‘A mother of five? “I won’t let you do that.”
Rhodes shared a video of her father rigging and raising his flag over the Salt River Ranch once more. Since August 12, it has received over 1.4 million plays, accompanied by a surge of optimism and patriotism.
“We’ve had wonderful responses from the community,” she said. “Wherever you go, they don’t know your name, but they know you by the flag.”
His Statement
Hulse, the owner of the Salt River Ranch, first raised the massive 50-foot-by-30-foot flag on its towering flagpole last September. He went big because he wanted to make a big statement.
“I have a great love for the country, but I was not in love with what was going on in our country at the time,” he said. “I decided to put that flag up as my stand against all of the stuff and show our love for the country.”
A 50-foot-tall hill on Hulse’s ranch was chosen as the perfect spot to put the homemade 130-foot-tall flagpole. Once the pole was painted and installed, Hulse bought the huge American flag from Colonial Flag in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Since then, the flag has become a fixture of the landscape in Star Valley. When the ropes broke this summer, Hulse took the opportunity to replace the flag, as well.
“Because of the strategic location, you can see it from quite a ways away,” he said. “Our new flag is more colorful, but flags fade in our harsh environment, and we need to keep a vibrant flag out there.”
Star Valley residents definitely noticed when that star-spangled banner wasn’t yet waving o’er the land of Star Valley.
“When it was down, everybody was calling,” Rhodes said. “They said, ‘Where’s our flag? What happened to our flag?’ They feel like it’s their flag, too, and it’s become part of the community.”
Grade A In The USA
Hulse was born in Idaho, not far from Star Valley, but spent a good portion of his life in California.
“They had better education at that time, and so we raised the family there,” he told me.
He moved to Wyoming in 2009 and purchased the Salt River Ranch in 2018. It was his way of “returning to his roots” after leaving the West.
Hulse now runs a family ranch that sells high-quality, dry-aged beef free of hormones and antibiotics.
“We sell premium beef by the cut and bundle,” Rhodes explained. “We are a direct-to-customer business. All of our cattle are born and raised on our ranch before being transported to a USDA processing facility and shipped directly to customers’ homes across the country.
Rhodes oversees the Salt River Ranch’s marketing and social media efforts. Since they opened three years ago, business has been brisk, and the presence of her father’s massive flag has helped.
Hulse is pleased with the Salt River Ranch’s growing success, which he attributes to his daughter’s marketing expertise.
“If I were in charge of all that stuff, we wouldn’t be selling any beef,” he joked. “I would enjoy the ranch on a smaller scale. She does all of the marketing.
Oh Say Can You See
Patriotism runs in the family. American flags have been abundant on the ranch since the family moved there.
“We raise flags on the border of our property along Highway 89 every Fourth of July,” Rhodes told me.
Hulse had installed solar-powered lights at the base of the flagpole to keep his massive flag well-lit at all times. He was considering lowering the flag this winter to save himself the trouble of clearing snow from the panels, but Rhodes was skeptical.
“He didn’t take it down last year, and I know he’ll keep it up this year,” she replied.
At the very least, Hulse hopes he will not have to climb to the top of the flagpole anytime soon. The new rope is much stronger, so the flag should stay up, and just because he’s fine fiddling 130 feet in the air doesn’t mean he wants to do it all the time.
“There wasn’t much extra boom to get me to the top, I’ll tell you that,” said the politician.
Nonetheless, the massive flag on the Salt River Ranch has become a source of pride for Hulse, his family, the Star Valley community, and thousands of people who admire it from a distance. Hulse is prepared to go to any length to ensure that his flag remains in place.
“That’s our goal, and we’re committed to it,” said the man.
