Your map analysis makes sense, but...Ten Sleep is the closest town to Brokenback Mountain, and there are several other clues that Signal is Ten Sleep. For one thing, the most prominent geologic feature is Signal Butte, just outside of town.
Great point. I don't mean to put off your analysis and that of Pent, because we really don't know where they are because there is no "Signal",WY or a "Brokeback Mountain" located in WY., they were made up. The idea that Brokeback Mountain is in the Big Horn region is just a valid as mine. But I have a restless mind and I like to look for geographical clues. Fortunately AP did give us some clues in the short story. I use the short story as canon in this analysis, if you use the movie, you can come to different conclusions.
Follow me along, and if you don't agree its all in fun anyway!(To start, call up a detailed map of Wyoming, a topographical map that shows the communities with pops over 300 and all of the major physiographical features such as mountain ranges, creeks, the national forests, and rural roads.)
My assumption is that "Signal" is not Ten Sleep, but it actually should be a community near Dubois in the Wind River Ranges. Perhaps Burris or Crowheart. Why?
1)
We know that the boys were tending to Aguirre's sheep on allotments. That means Brokeback Mountain is located inside National Forest lands.
Joe Aguirre gives them his point of view, "Forest Service got designated camp sites on the allotments." Indicating to me that Brokeback Mountain is located inside a National Forest that allows private sheep owners to use the forests service lands for seasonal grazing. A common practice out west.
2)
We know that after shovedown the boys ate in Dubois,WY. In the 1967 scene in the Siesta motel Ennis says to Jack, "That summer, when we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puck, thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois."
So they had to be reasonably near Dubois,WY after the sheep were trucked off. If they were in the Ten Sleep area after shovedown, it just doesnt make any sense to drive the 175 miles plus to eat in Dubois. They would eat somewhere close to Aguirre's base of operations in Signal.
3) The National Forest lands near Dubois are in the areas where the Wind River ranges, the Gros Ventres, and the Absorokas blend together.These forests are the Bridger-Teton and the
Shoshone. 4) We know also from the short story that Brokeback Mountain itself is
north of Fremont County,WY. "Ennis, why are you rootin through them post cards?"
"Scene a Brokeback Mountain."
"Over in Fremont County?"
"No, north a here"
I take from the story that Ennis is probably shopping in Riverton, WY which is in Fremont County, although I admit that is not made clear in the text. Why would the store owner say "over in Fremont County"? I think that she meant outside the immediate vicinity of the city but still within the same county as Riverton. I noticed in my summers in Montana that a lot of natives to the N. Rockies will refer to rural lands outside the cities as the "county".
So, what are likely spots for Brokeback Mountain just north of Fremont county within easy drive of Dubois?
That would be the section of the Shoshone National Forest north of the Wind River Indian Reservation (there is also a section of the Shoshone south of the reservation) up towards Park County, WY. Perhaps not far from where the Continental Divide turns south near Brook Lake.
The Continental Divide! What a metaphor for what happened to the boys that summer.They crossed over the "divide", but couldn't face the reality of the new territory they had crossed into, hence the tragedy of the story.
For what its worth, that's my take.........
