Rock formation in Bighorns honors 1880s ranch worker who tried to fly
Wolfgang Copman built model gliders on the Lovell ranch and threatened to jump a 9,111-foot cliff before settling into a quiet life in Greybull.
By Simon Bennett ·
A jagged rock formation in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains stands at 9,111 feet, bearing the name of a 19th-century ranch hand who experimented with flight.
The formation is called Copman’s Tomb, a reference to Wolfgang R. Copman. He worked as a repairman and assistant cook on the Lovell ranch in northern Wyoming. Copman constructed a dugout home nearby and supported himself as a trapper, with friends checking on him periodically.
In the 1880s, Copman built and tested small flying machine models. While the devices achieved some function, they did not meet the modern definition of powered flight. That distinction requires a heavier-than-air machine to take off under its own power, maneuver, and land safely, a feat the Wright brothers later accomplished.
Copman gained local fame for a bold claim. He said he would leap from the cliff, joking that the rock would serve as his tombstone if he failed. The cliff retained that name, but Copman never made the jump.
Instead of a dramatic end, Copman married in 1890 and became a successful orchardist. He died of strokes in 1907. He had requested that his ashes be scattered on the butte, but his family buried him next to his wife in Greybull, Wyoming.
Visitors can read about the ranch worker at a sign near Shell Falls on Highway 14, which overlooks the Bighorn Mountains.
Source: KTWO · original report published
