Vale University Library

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Wyoming historical society.
Miscellanies. 1919.

190

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

*937

WYOMING
HISTORICAL SOCIETY

MISCELLANIES 1919

Laramie Wyoming:
The Laramie Republican Company
Printers and Binders
1919

FOREWORD

The following miscellaneous articles have been selected from
the archives of the Wyoming Historical Society and have been
printed in order that the information contained therein may -be
more accessible to the public.
The article by Mr. W. E. Chaplin is the most comprehensive
and authoritative history of the early Wyoming newspapers which
has been written. Agnes R. Wright, Custodian.

CONTENTS

Some of the Early Newspapers of Wyoming.
Wheatland Colony.
The True Story of the Lost Cabin Mines.
Copy of Letter Written by S. V. Miller From Salem, Ore
gon, Nov. 24, 1852.
The Texas Trail.
Letter Written for the Cheyenne Industrial Club by Mr.
Hiram B. Kelly.

SOME OF THE EARLY NEWSPAPERS
OF WYOMING

BY W. E. CHAPLIN.

Because of the lack of positive information relating to many
of the early newspapers of the state a sketch must necessarily be
inaccurate and incomplete in some particulars. Pioneers in the
business were men of strong character and dignified their profes
sion. Small population and magnificent distances made their
financial lot difficult, but they did not complain and followed the
usual bent of the small town purveyer of news in giving the reader
more than warranted by the patronage. Up to this time ( 1918)
no Wyoming newspaper man has made a fortune in the business.
A few have accumulated a small compentence and a number have
prospered, but not a single one has reached the $100,000 mark.
Those who attained the greatest fame died without leaving wealth
made from their business to their dependents. Bill Nye was in
debt when he left the state. Dr. Hay ford was almost penniless
when he died and Col. E. A. Slack made the small competence he
left his family from other sources than his life work. Bill Bar
low (M. C. Barrow) probably made more ready cash out of his
. newspaper work than the others mentioned, but he was a spend
thrift and left only a small sum to his heirs. To make money in
the newspaper business one must be where there is opportunity
for large circulation. . In Wyoming the average newspaper man
can view the limits of his business from the roof of his county
court house. This condition was of course decidedly more pro
nounced in the days of the pioneer.
THE CHEYENNE DAILY LEADER.
edited and published by Nathan A. Baker, was the first paper pub
lished in Wyoming. Mr. Baker is still living, his residence, being
Denver, Colo. The first issue of his paper was given to the world
on September 19, 1867. It was a four-pfige folio, four columns to
the page, and was printed one page at a time on a Gordon job
press. It was sold for 25 cents per copy. It entered into a frank
discussion of all the topics of the day, including the territorial
establishment of Wyoming, official appointments, woman suffrage,
etc. It had such events as lynchings, Indian massacres in the out
skirts of the city and the work of the vigilantes to record. In 1876,

8 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
it was a sufferer by the great fire in Cheyenne and the proprietor
was compelled by the serious loss to concentrate to some extent
his printing business. After publishing the Leader successfully
for a period of two and one-half years he Sold it to Major Herman
Glafcke. He returned to Denver, from whence he came to'Chey-
enne, in 1872 and has been engaged in stock business, farming and
real estate. He is now retired.
Major Glafcke conducted the Leader as a republican paper
for many years, selling it in the eighties to a couple of Pennsyl
vania gentlemen named Morrow and Sullivan. Thev brought with
them from the Quaker state to act as editor, John C. Baird, who
became prominent as an attorney. During this time the majority
ownership in the paper was held by Hon. W. C. Irvine, a nephew
of Mr. Morrow. After the transfer from Major Glafcke it Was
independent in politics until one morning without the knowledge
or consent of the majority owner, it announced its fealty to the
democratic party. When this came to the knowledge of Mr.
Irvine, he at once proceeded to the office and his interview decided
the management to again take up political neutrality.
Morrow and Sullivan continued the publication of the Leader
till 1890, when it passed into the hands of John F. Carroll and
Joseph A. Breckons. Under this management it Occupied a small
building on the alley just north of the Carey block. Carroll was
a keen, able writer, but had no means and little capacity for busi
ness. Breckons had a nose for news and looked after the business
end of the establishment. It was unprofitable to the owners and
after some five or six years of struggle they sold out to Col. E. A.
Slack, at that time the proprietor of the Cheyenne Sun, who
merged it into the Sun-Leader. Carroll and Breckons had run
the Leader as a democratic organ and it had been hoped by the
editor that when the democratic party came into power in 1893
that he would be given the position of receiver of the land office
at Cheyenne, which would have been a material aid in keeping the
Leader from sinking. The office was given to another, who%vas
entirely undeserving, and Carroll left the state never to resume his
citizenship here. He became well known as the editor of the Den
ver Post prior to the present management and subsequently went
to Colorado Springs, where he edited a leading paper. From Colo
rado he changed to Portland, Oregon, where he became the editor
of the Evening Telegram, dying in 1917. He was perhaps the best
political writer that ever wielded a pen in Wyoming
Col. Slack conducted the hyphenated paper for some vears
and then dropped the "Sun" choosing to retain the name that was
the pioneer. In 1904 he sold the paper to his son-in-law Wallace
C. Bond, and Harry Clark, who conducted it until about 1006
when it was sold to a syndicate of democrats, who elected I s'
Bartlett as editor. In turti it was a couple of years later trans

MISCELLANIES, 1919 9
f erred to another democratic management with W. S. Edmiston
as the controlling spirit. Prior to the campaign of 1912 Edmiston
sold his interests to J. R. Carpenter, Alexander Hastie, J. B. Ken-
drick, John E. Osborne and others. Hastie was made editor and
continued in. that position till illness caused him to resign. He was
succeeded by Burke H. Sinclair and shortly afterward passed to
his reward. Since that time the editorial management has changed
frequently. At present (March, 1918) it is edited by Meredith
Davis and the business manager is E. A. Swezea. And so the pio
neer paper, after many changes politically and constant reverses
financially, still lives, bringing the news fresh each morning to
many readers. THE FRONTIER INDEX.
Perhaps the greatest distinction attached to the Frontier
Index, Laramie's first paper, was the fact that it was the pioneer.
It was published in a log building at. the corner of Second and Gar
field streets, the site now being occupied by the four-story brick
structure of the W. H. Holliday Company. It was a three-column,
four-page paper and carried much advertising for its size. The
publishers were Freeman & Co. Amone the advertisements ap
pears that of the Childs House, corner First and South C. streets,
V. Baker, proprietor. Baker is still living, being a resident . of
Cheyenne. The professional card of Dr. J. H. Finfrock also ap
pears. He "passed to his reward some years since, but his son W.
E. Finfrock, is still residing in Laramie. To prove that Laramie
was right on the frontier at that time it is onlv necessary to quote
a news item from the Index of July 21, 1868: '
"A Big Haul — On Saturday the Indians ran off from near
Carbon station, eighty miles west of here, 104 head of mules and
horses belonging to Messrs. J. M. and Ed. Creighton. Mr. James
Creighton had been stopping at the Frontier house, in this city, for
several days prior, and upon receipt of the telegram announcing the
disaster, he took the cars, to start with his herders in pursuit of the
red devils, who are headed by white men, and they in turn en
couraged and outfitted by the Indian treaty men. A posse of
troops couldn't get ready to start on such a chase in less than a
week, and then would never find a fresh track. The herders
started in pursuit the day of the stampede, but coming upon a
bad looking canyon with camp fire in it, they turned back, and
after getting reinforcements, started out a second time, since which
they have not been heard from."
Another item of interest: "Five hundred cases of sunstroke
in New York City in the last few days, and as many more in other
hot parts of the states. Thank the Gods, ve Laramieites, for our
delightful breezes."
There was some controversy over the weather in those days,
too. The Index of July 21, 1868, ca>lled the Omaha Herald to ac-

XO WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
count as follows: "We wish to inform the Omaha Herald that
its report of snow and frost here on the Sth inst is «™?~"s- * ™
weather has been balmy, genial, pleasant and everything ; else ^a
person could desire ; cool nights and refreshing noonday showers.
It was democratic. in politics, supporting Seymour and Baw
In the fall of 1868 the Frontier Index passed on with the
railroad to the town of Benton, then located where Fortbtete
now stands, and from thence on to Bear River, where it was soon
after destroyed by a mob.
THE LARAMIE DAILY SENTINEL.
May 1, 1869, N. A. Baker, who had previously established the
Cheyenne Leader, began at Laramie the publication of the Lara
mie Daily Sentinel. James H. Hayford was the editor. Mr
Baker continued its publication until May 1, 1870, when he sold
his interests therein to J. H. Hayford and J. E. Gates, both of
whom were his former employes. It was a bright, newsy sheet
and from the start showed every evidence of permanence and being
a power in the community. It was republican in politics. During
its existence as a daily the Sentinel waged some bitter political
battles, Editor Hayford being an exceedingly trenchant writer. A
more extended sketch of this forcible newspaper character is
given elsewhere. From 1876 to 1879, when the daily issue was
suspended, Bill Nye was employed as city editor. It was while he
was performing this work, that he attained a. reputation _as a
humorous writer. In March, 1895, its publication was given up
entirely. James E. Gates, the junior partner, lived in Laramie
many years and then changed his residence to Santa Monica, Cal.,
where he now makes his home.
THE SOUTH PASS NEWS.
About the same time that N. A. Baker established the Lara
mie Daily Sentinel hcalso began the publication of the South Pass
News, South Pass being at that time the county seat of Sweetwater
county, South Dakota. He afterward sold this paper to Judge
Church Howe and it successively passed into the hands of C. J.
Cowles and E. A. Slack. The latter was running it at the time of
a fire in South Pass, which destroyed the building in which he was
located and a large portion of the material. In December, 1871,
Slack removed the material to Laramie, and in company with T. J.
Webster, began the publication of, the
LARAMIE DAILY INDEPENDENT.
Edward A. Slack was the editor. While claiming independ
ence politically, it espoused the cause of the National democracy
and waged a strong fight against the Territorial administration.

MISCELLANIES, 1919 11
On the 21st of March, 1875, T. J. Webster sold his interest to
C. W. Bramel and the name of the paper was changed to "The
Laramie Daily Sun." It then tqpk up the democratic cause with
out reservation. February 22, 1876, E. A. Slack purchased the
interest of C. W. Bramel and it was moved to Cheyenne, where,
on March 3, 1876, it came out as the "Cheyenne Daily Sun," a
republican paper, with Col. Slack wielding the quill. He continued
the publication of the Sun until its merger with the Leader in
about 1895, mentioned elsewhere, when the Sun ceased to shine
forever. While the Sun was being published in Laramie it had at one
time in its employ a young man named James Barton Adams who
subsequently gained a national reputation as a humorist, working
upon and contributing to many of the most notable humorous pub
lications of that day. His most important newspaper work was
perhaps the editing of the "Postscripts," that appeared for many
years on the editorial page of the Denver Post. He wrote a poem
''every day to head that column and many of his verses possessed
rare merit. The Carrier's Address of the Laramie Daily Sun, Jan
uary 1, 1876, was written by him, and the writer of this sketch
was the carrier. It was in verse and an exceedingly good produc
tion. Among other accomplishments, Adams was a telegraph oper
ator and was for some years in the employ of the Union Pacific
railroad company. While acting in that capacity upon one occa
sion in the city of Rawlins, he concluded to get married and was
strenuously opposed in his matrimonial desires by a brother,-
Joseph B. Adams, who happened at that time to be the county
clerk of Carbon county, Wyo., and who refused to issue the license.
This was no barrier to Brother James. He simply entered the
house of his brother after the latter was-asleep, took the4ceys of the
clerk's office from his trousers' pocket and entered the court house,
where he hunted up the proper record book and issued his own
license. Getting married was a confirmed habit with him, and he
just couldn't resist the temptation. »
THE LARAMIE DAILY CHRONICLE. .
Judge Charles W. Bramel was so constituted -that it seemed
impossible for him to keep out of the newspaper business. After
the removal of the Daily Sun to Cheyenne he cast about and
secured an outfit for another paper at Laramie, which he launched
as the Laramie Daily Chronicle about May, 1876. Its office was
at first located on First street in a small wooden building between
Garfield and Custer streets. In a short time it was moved to the
second floor of the Henry Wagner building, on Second street. It
at once launched into politics and was a strong factor in the cam
paign of that year, being a staunch supporter of Tilden and Hen-

12 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY -
dricks and the entire democratic ticket. Tudge Bramel hit hard
licks, but always acknowledged that he was unable to throw as
much mud as '.Editor 'Hayford of the Sentinel, On one occasion
while publishing the Chronicle he became engaged in a controversy
with the Rev: Edmonston, at that time pastor of the Methodist
church. One article appearing in the paper relating to Edmonston
was headed, "A Pestiferous, Pious Politician Pointedly Peppered."
The controversy ended in a street fight. Bramel had gone to the
telegraph office to get some report and met the preacher at the
corner of Second and Thornburg: A wordy war ensued until the
divine shook his. fist at the judge and said : "Bramel, I am not
afraid of you." The remark was immediately followed by a blow
from Bramel's right that sent the minister to the gutter. Upon his
arrival at the printing office the judge nonchalantly remarked, "I
licked the Methodist preacher while I was out."
Judge Bramel was arrested- and fined for a breach of the
peace, but the crowd assembled in the justice court immediately
paid the fine as a testimonial of their regard and faith in his -in
tegrity. The election of 1876 went largely against the democratic party
and the county printing was given to the Sentinel. • Judge Bramel
decided to retire from the printing business for the time being and
sold the paper to three employes, T. J. Webster, A. R. Johnson
and Geo. A. Garrett, who continued its publication in Laramie till
the spring of 1877, when they moved it to Cheyenne, where it was
run under the name of the "Cheyenne Daily Gazette," Judge
•Bramel again taking an interest in the paper. Shortly thereafter,
finding no field in the capital city, the Gazette was moved to Dead-
wood, Webster and Johnson going with the paper and Bramel and
Garrett remaining behind. Judge Bramel resumed his law prac
tice in Laramie and was for the time satisfied with his newspaper
losses. THE LARAMIE DAILY TIMES. ,
In the fall of 1878 the democrats of Albany county were not
satisfied with the drubbing Editor Hayford of the Sentinel gave
them and Judge L. D. Pease and Judge C. W. BtameJ. decided to
start a daily. If was launched as "The Laramie Daily Times" Jan
uary 2, 1879. !t occupied the lower floor of the brick building op
posite the Union Pacific depot, still standing". At the same time
the Daily Sentinel suspended publication and the daily field was
left to the Times. This state of affairs continued throughout the
years 1879 and 1880. In the election of 1880 the democrats were
so annoying to their adversaries from a newspaper standpoint that
the republicans decided that they must have a daily paper of their
own. Bill Nye (Edgar Wilson Nye) had been the justice of the
peace for the Laramie precinct, the United States commissioner
and at the same time was corresponding for several outside papers

MISCELLANIES, 1919 13
but this was not considered sufficient to occupy his time, so his
friends, and they were legion, decided to back him in a daily paper,
THE LARAMIE DAILY BOOMERANG.
Judge Jacob B. Blair was one of the chief spokesmen for the
new company, but it embraced many of the prominent republicans
of Albany county. The incorporators were M. C. Jahren, Robert
Marsh, Henry Wagner* A, S. Peabody and J. J. Strode. The
stock was divided into one hundred shares of $30 each, an amount
sufficient at the present time to purchase one average linotype ma
chine. The entire equipment cost about $2,000, leaving $1,000 for
a working capital. It occupied the building now owned by the
Kern bakery, the second floor, and began business March 11, 1881.
The press was a Washington hand press, known to printers as a
lemon-squeezer. The purchase of an inadequate press and the
renting of an unsuitable building were Nye's first serious news
paper mistakes.
The office force at the start consisted of Bill Nye, editor and
manager ; Robert G. Head, city editor ; George A. Garrett, fore
man of job room; W. E. Chaplin, foreman of newspaper; M. C.
Barrow, Will Kemmis and J. T. M. Kingsford, printers. C. D.
Spalding, at present the very capable cashier of the Albany county
National bank, was one of the carrier boys. Four of the crew are
still living — Garrett,' Chaplin, Kingsford and Spalding.
A year later Nye attempted to rectify the mistakes in the
matter of press and building. The paper had been hard pressed
for money from the very beginning, business management being
foreign to the editor's make up, so he sold the job office to Garrett
arid Chaplin in order to get enough money to> buy a Prouty press,
which was only a little better than the handpress. At thevsame
time he riiOved the office to the second floor of the Haines livery
barn, a brick building just completed at the corner of Third and
Garfield streets, where the Holliday warehouse now stands. This
was another grave mistake, as the fumes from the livery stable
below were almost intolerable. It was in ascending to this office
that he cheerfully gave the advice to "twist the gray mule's tail
and take the elevator." Nye was a lawyer, but he gave Garrett and
Chaplin, who were unused to business matters, a bill of sale signed
by "Bill Nye," and the sale had not been authorized by the board
of directors. Later the board took action confirming the sale.
In the winter of 1882-3 Nye conceived the idea of making the
Boomerang company a closer corporation and asked G. A. Garrett
and W. E. Chaplin to associate themselves with him in the pur
chase of a controlling interest in the stock. They agreed to do so.
The central plan was to obtain a faster press, suspend the issuance
of the daily and give all their effort to the publication of a na
tional humorous weekly. At that particular- time, subscriptions

14 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
were coming in at a rapid rate from all over the nation. Garrett
and Chaplin raised the funds required by the agreement and
turned them over to Nye, who went among the stockholders and
made purchases of stock. He secured many shares and then was
suddenly taken ill. He was a very sick man for some time and
when able to travel was taken to Greeley, Colo., and thence to his
old home in Wisconsin. From Greeley he wrote to W.E. Chaplin
relating to business matters and again from River t alls, Wis.
The latter letter, because of its significance in the disposition ot
Boomerang stock, is given herewith in full :
"River Falls, Wis., May i, 1883.
"Friend. Chaplin :
"I am temporarily laid up again and do not know whether I
can ever get back to Laramie, so want to give you and George and
Mark a chance at my stock instead of a stranger who has been
figuring a little with me. I think if the three of you wished to
take it among you, say one-half cash and balance in six months
and one year, at 1% per cent interest, you could easily do so.
There is but $450 or $500 worth of the stock. As to the balance
due me from the company, I think that it can be easily arranged.
I hope that no one will be allowed to evade the payment of their
debts to the company by claiming that they paid me. Lots of
people would do so if permitted. The balance shown on old
cash book, less what amounts have been turned in my favor, is
the amount due me, whatever that may be, and any man who
will make oath or show receipt of mine as to the payment of an
account may have the same charged up to me. I shall probably
be money out on the paper the best I can do, but I do not want
it charged that I am going to beat anybody. I believe that with a
reduction of nearly $300 per month on expenses the paper would
pay you, George and Mark comfortably with the start it has.
Please talk it over privately with George and Jennings and see
what you can do. I have said all along that I did not wish to
give anyone else control till the old crew had a chance, and I
shall stick to it. Would write a letter for publication but have
not the strength yet. In fact I have hundreds of dollars of work
"on the string" now that I cannot do. Love to all the boys.
"Bill Nye."
The George and Mark referred to in the letter were George A.
Garrett and Mark Jennings. The contents of the letter were chill
ing to Garrett and the writer hereof, as we had built rather large
air castles relating to a great national humorous weekly, with Nye
as the card to bring in the money. Again, our money had been
spent in purchasing stock with that end in view and now it was
the purpose of Nye to get out and make us assume the burden.

MISCELLANIES, 1919 15
We talked it over privately, as he suggested, and reached the con
clusion that we would not pay him par for his stock and interest
at 18 per cent per annum on deferred payments. As a result of
our conference we asked Matthew Dawson, cashier of the Wyom
ing National bank, to. offer thirty cents on the dollar for the
stock. It had become common knowledge that Nye was not to. re
turn to the paper and few bejieved that it could be made to pay
without his writings. A large majority of those holding stock
went to Dawson and took the thirty cents. Among them was Bill
Nye himself, who arrived in the city about a week after the offer
was first made. That gave the three of us about 80 per cent of
the stock of the company and we decided to continue the paper
as a purely local purveyor of news without any pretensions at
humor. Nye presented a bill to the company for $3,300 salary he
claimed was due him. This was a shock we had not been look
ing for, as we had believed that he was paying himself as he paid
others connected with the office. In order to determine the mat
ter a friendly suit was instituted. Judge L. D. Pease was ap
pointed by the court as a commissioner to take testimony and to
him was delivered the "cash book" Nye referred to in his letter
from River Falls. After the testimony was all in, Judge Pease
made a return to the court awarding Nye $213. He stated to the
writer, however, that he believed that if a true accounting of all
matters pertaining to the paper could have been had, that Nye was
indebted to the paper and not the paper to Nye. The bill was paid,
and Nye shook the dust of Wyoming from his feet never to re
turn to reside therein. . This was in the summer of 1883..
From the day that Nye severed his connection with the paper
it began to get on a better financial basis. Expenses were cut
and better business methods were introduced. In. 1884 the plant
was moved into the second story of the Collins block, corner of
Second and Garfield streets. In 1886 Mr. Jennings, who had
meanwhile purchased nearly all the stock, sold his interests to
T. L. McKee, Charles L. Rauner and W. E. Chaplin. Not long
after that purchase the small amount of stock outstanding was
picked up and the company was dissolved, the firm of McKee &
Chaplin taking over the paper, but disposing of the job office
to Charles L. Rauner. In 1890 the plant was sold to Mr. N. E.
Corthell, representing a syndicate of democrats, and it has been
continued during all the years since, under varying managements,
by the same corporation, reorganized as "The Laramie Boomerang
Company." In its time the Boomerang Company has employed many able
men. Its first city editor, Robert G. Head, was a newspaper man
of rare ability, but John Barleycorn was too much for him. He
was one of the pioneers who trudged across the Great American
- Desert and located in Seattle in the 50's. he had the good for
tune to woo and wed one of that shipload of girls that A. S

16 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mercer took frpm Boston to the northwest. To her it was a mis
fortune." His jealous temperament and dissolute habits made the
divorce court the only possibility. Head was one of the most in
dustrious workers that ever handled a pencil. His work was ac
curate and excellent. In his service with Nye he furnished the
hard facts, Nye the "lurid glare." He fell under the wheels of
a freight train near Rock Springs and passed from the earth.
Following Head as city editor, M. C. Barrow was promoted
from the composing room. Barrow was talented beyond Head
in imagery and was a more fluent writer. He held the position
till 1884, when a republican paper was established at Rawlins and
secured his services. From Rawlins he went to Douglas and
established "Bill Barlow's Budget," the pioneer paper of Con
verse county. He made of it a paper with something more than
a local reputation and prospered beyond his hopes. Several years
prior to his death he established a small magazine which he called
"Sagebrush Philosophy." It acquired a wide circulation and was
the means of bringing in considerable income. Barrow died about
1910. His paper still lives, but "Sagebrush Philosophy," a crea
ture purely of his brains, could not survive.
W. H. Kent was another city editor of rare ability who held
down a desk in the Boomerang office for many years. Only a
few years ago he died in Omaha, where he was employed on the
Bee. He had read a proof about half through, when the death
angel summoned him and" he passed to his reward. He was a
prolific writer and a tremendous worker. He was at one time em
ployed on the Salt Lake Tribune, when Judge C. C. Goodwin was
the editor. THE MISSING LINK.
. ,Jn .1882 Charles L. Rauner and Charles F. Wilson established
;a daily paper in Laramie- which they were pleased to call the
"Missing Link." It continued as a democratic daily for a few
¦months,- then subsided into a semi-weekly and finally died, Mr
Rauner taking oyer the losses, They found that it was unable
to. connect the proprietors with the substance of the community
hence its death. THE WYOMING TRIBUNE.
The Wyoming Tribune, published by W. C. De'ming at Chey
enne, is more of a pioneer in Wyoming journalism than the num
ber it now carries indicates. It was first established in 1884 by a
man named Hobart, who came from Denver. He was backed by
F. E. Warren of Cheyenne, who generally had some surplus money
for any printer or publisher in distress. , Hobart was also backed
to spmedegree by Senator Hill of Colorado, who owned for many
years the Denver Republican. Hobart employed Mr Charles T
Argesheimer of Cheyenne as city editor. Later it passed into the

MISCELLANIES, 1919 IT
hands of Mr. John Shingle, with Robert Shingle, now prominent
in the Hawaiian Islands, as city editor. In 1894 it was under the
control of Mr. George W. Perry, now of Sheridan, and there
after it passed into the hands of Joseph M. Carey, with Frank
Bond, now chief clerk of the general land office, Washington, D.
C, as editor. Mr. Deming was employed by Judge Carey in
1901 as editor and manager and Mr. Bond went to Washington.
Not long thereafter Mr. Deming, associated with Mrs. Zell P.
Hart, J. H. Walton and others, took over the Tribune from judge
Carey. Recently Mr. Deming purchased the interest of J. H-
Walton, the latter retiring to assume the position of cashier of the
Stockgrowers' National Bank of Cheyenne. The Tribune, under
its present management has climbed to first place among Wyoming
newspapers. THE LARAMIE REPUBLICAN.
After the sale of the Boomerang to N. E. Corthell and his
associates in the spring of 1890, the republicans of Albany county
decided that they would have to have a paper to expound their
doctrines. They accordingly offered $1,500 to any person or per
sons who would establish a republican paper at Laramie prior to
the campaign of 1890 and continue its publication till after the
campaign of 1892. Thomas L. McKee and W. E. Chaplin were
preferred in the offer and they undertook the contract and carried
it out. In the latter part of 1891 Chaplin negotiated for McKee's
interest in the real estate and J. C. McRae took over his interest
in the newspaper. The paper was continued under the firm name
of Chaplin & McRae till the latter part of 1894, when McKee again
came back into the firm, purchasing McRae's interest. In 1896
F. D. Spafford, who had been with the paper since its establish
ment, was taken into the partnership, and in 1898 McKee's inter
est was purchased by James Mathison, who had also been with
the institution from the first. Since 1898 Chaplin, Spafford and
Mathison have owned the paper jointly, part of the time running
it under the firm name of Chaplin, Spafford & Mathison and part
of the time as a stock company, the stock being equally divided
among the three. W. E. Chaplin has been the editor, James Mathi
son the manager of the newspaper and F. D. Spafford the man
ager of the job department. During fifteen years of the time
George A. Cook, who came to the Republican from Sedalia, Mo.,
has been the city editor, and it is the judgment of the management
that he has not had a peer as newsgatherer in the history of the
state. From the very beginning the Republican has been, td all
intents and purposes, under one management. It has been re
publican in politics, independent in character, and has ever lent
its influence to the upbuilding of the moral and intellectual forces
of the city and state.

IS WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A PAPER IN THE NORTHLAND.
In 1883 the people away up in the northern portion of the
state, in the new county of Johnson, concluded that they must have
a paper to give them the news and through which to express their
opinions. A plant was ordered and a printer and editor hired.
We say printer and editor for the reason that he was first a printer.
His name was Hugh R. Morgan. He went to Buffalo, the county
seat of the new county and the only town of any importance in all
that vast section. After waiting around for some time for the
material to arrive, he became disgusted and returned to the rail
road. The writer is not advised as to the first publishers of the
Buffalo "Echo," but does know that when Jack Flagg got hold of
the paper some years after, along about 1892, he changed the
name of the paper to the "Voice." He seemed to be of the opinion
that it was more than an "echo." It is still running; an exceed
ingly bright, well edited paper, under the ownership and editorial
management of Hon. Hayden M. White.
With a single exception the writer has confined this sketch
to publications that were daily. Numerous papers have been es
tablished in more recent years, but none in the daily class that
have been sufficiently lived to be ranked among the early papers.
Ex-Governor John W. Hoyt at one time conceived the idea that
he could run a paper built along the lines of Harper's Weekly
in Wyoming. He had his publication office for the office Wyom
ing Journal at Laramie. -It was short-lived. The Wyoming
Stockgrowers' Journal, published by A. S. Mercer at Cheyenne,
was a notable publication. There have been others of both a
technicaland general' nature.
FOUR OF THE GREATEST.
Among those who ranked high in western journalism and
who have passed on may be mentioned without controversy E A
Slack, J. H. Hayford, Bill (Edgar Wilson) Nye and M c"
Barrow. They will be taken up in the order of their departure.
EDGAR WILSON NYE  185O-1896.
In the month of May, 1876, a tall, angular young man, blonde
in complexion and extremely awkward in his movements got off
the train one afternoon at Laramie and proceeded to hunt uo
Judge N. L. Andrews, at that time justice of the peace and United
States commissioner He had a letter of introduction to the
ttt *T°m a TtUal f nend in Wisc°nsin. It was Edgar. Wilson
(Bill) Nye. He inquired about the opportunities for a y u,J
man at Laramie and particularly desired employment in news
paper work. Judge Andrews took him to the office of the Dailv
Sentinel, run by Hayford & Gates. After formalities the ques

MISCELLANIES, 1919 19
tion of employment was broached, and it was finally agreed that
Nye should become city editor of the Sentinel at the weekly stipend
of $10 per week and board, he taking up his domicile at the Hay
ford residence. From the very beginning of his work it was noted
that he had a keen sense of humor. The most trivial local item
was given a turn that provoked a smile. Such characters as
Bill Root, General Worth, August Vogelsang, Jed Holcomb and
others, furnished ample material for a humorist and the trait grew
upon the young man from Wisconsin. He soon took up corre
spondence for Other papers outside of Laramie, among them be
ing the Denver Tribune. O. H. Rothacker was its able editor
and Eugene Field was city editor. Field was a humorist of na
tional reputation and at once noted the quaint style possessed by
the Laramie correspondent of the Tribune. He became person
ally acquainted with him and encouraged its cultivation. Nye's
humorous correspondence became rapidly more prolific and cor
respondingly profitable. He had on his list such papers as Texas
Sittings, Detroit Free Press and Peck's Sun.
As a newsgatherer Bill Nye was not a great success. His
mind ran more to "lurid glare" than to facts. On one occasion,
in 1877, he and the city editor of the Cheyenne Daily Sun changed
places for a week. James P C. Poulton was at that time the city
editor of the Sun and a most industrious seeker after local items.
The result was that he had an exceedingly interesting local paper,
A week of Bill Nye was all that Colonel Slack, the editor of the
Sun, desired. He was mighty glad when Poulton got back into the
harness. Nye had no conception of the value of the personal
item or the short- paragraphs that go to make up the grist of news
that makes a local paper popular with its readers. His mind was
constantly running in another channel.
. On occasion Bill Nye lapsed into verse. Following is a fair
sample of his poetry: ODE TO THE CUCUMBER.
O, a cucumber grew by the deep rolling sea,
And it tumbled about in reckless glee
Till the summer waned and the grass turned brown,
And the farmer plucked it and took it to town.
Wrinkled and warty and bilious and blue .
It lay in the market the autumn through ;
Till a woman with freckles on her cheek
Led in her husband, so mild and meek.
He purchased the fruit, at her request,
And hid it forever under his vest ;
For it doubled him up like a kangaroo,
And now he sleeps 'neath the violets blue.

20 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
His main forte, however, was prose, in which he made rapid
flights from' the sublime to the ridiculous. In repartee he was. a
master, and in his fights over patronage and other local matters
with Editor Hayford of the Sentinel he found plenty of oppor
tunity to keep in practice. With withering arraignment and bit
ter sarcasm he made it impossible for Dr. Hayford to succeed
himself as postmaster in 1882, and then the question arose, who
was to take the office. Frank Hatton was first assistant postmas
ter general and a personal friend of the Wyoming humorist. He
wired Nye one day that he would see that the man whom he
favored was appointed. After hasty consultation, Nye decided
to favor himself. He appointed Chas. W. Spalding as his deputy
and at times did considerable work in the office personally. He
held the office about a year and was compelled because of failing
health to resign. His letter of resignation is perhaps the best
piece of humor he wrote while in Laramie or during his entire
career. It follows :
"Postoffice Divan, Laramie City, W. T., Oct. 1, 1883.
"To the President of the United States:
"Sir : — I beg leave at this time to officially tender my resigna
tion as postmaster at this place, and in due form to deliver the
great seal and the key to the front door of the office. The safe
combination is set on the numbers 33, 66, and 99, though I do not
remember at this moment which comes first, or how many times
you revolve the knob, or which direction you turn it at first in
order to make it operate.
"There is some mining stock in my private drawer in the safe,
which I have not yet removed. This stock you may have if you
desire. It is a luxury, but you may have it. I have decided to
keep a horse instead of this mining stock. The horse may not be
so pretty, but it will cost less to keep him.
"You will find the postal cards that have not been used under
the distributing table, and the coal down in the cellar. If the
stove draws too hard, close the damper in the pipe and shut the
general delivery window.
"Looking over my stormy and eventful administration as
postmaster here, I find abundant cause for thanksgiving At the
time I entered upon the duties of my office the department was not
yet on a paying basis. It was not even self-sustaining Since that
time, with the active co-operation of the chief executive and the
heads of the departments, I have been able to make our postal
system a paying one, and on top of that I am now able to reduce
the tariff on average-sized letters from three to two cents I might
add that this is rather too low, but I will not say anything that
might seem undignified in an official resignation which is to be
come a matter of history. Through all the vicissitudes of a tern

MISCELLANIES, 1919 21
pestous term of office I have safely passed. I am able to turn
over the office today in a highly improved condition, and to pre
sent a purified and renovated institution to my successor.
"Acting under the advice of Gen. Hatton, a year ago, I re
moved the feather bed with which my predecessor, Deacon Hay
ford, had bolstered up his administration by stuffing the window,
and substituted glass. Finding nothing in the book of instruc
tions to postmasters which made the feather bed a part of my
official duties, I filed it away in an obscure place and burned it in
effigy, also in the gloaming. This act maddened my predecessor
to, such an extent that he then and there became a candidate for
justice of the peace on the democratic ticket. The democratic
party was able, however, with what aid it secured from the re
publicans, to plow the old man under to a great degree. It was
not long after I had taken my official oath before an era of un
exampled prosperity, opened for the American people. The price
of beef rose to a remarkable altitude and other vegetables com
manded a good figure and a ready market. We then began to
make active preparations for the introduction of the strawberry-
roan two-cent stamps and the black-and-tan postal note. One re
form has crowded upon the heels of another, until the country is
today upon the foam-crested wave of permanent prosperity.
"Mr. President, I cannot close this letter without thanking
yourself and the heads of departments at Washington for your
active, cheery and prompt co-operation in these matters. You
can do as you see fit, of course, about incorporating this idea into
your Thanksgiving proclamation, but rest assured that it would
not be ill-timed or inopportune. It is not alone a credit to myself.
It reflects credit upon the administration also.
"I need not say that I herewith transmit my resignation with
great sorrow and genuine regret. We have toiled on together
month after month, asking no reward except the innate conscious
ness of rectitude and the salary as fixed by law. Now we are to
separate. Here the roads seem to fork, as it were, and you and I,
and the cabinet, must leave each other at this point.
"You will find the key under the door, and you had better
turn the cat out at night when you close the office. If she does
not go readily, you can make it clearer to her mind by throwing
the canceling stamp at her.
"If Deacon Hayford does not pay up his box rent, you might
as well put his mail in the general delivery, and when Bob Head
gets drunk and insists on a letter from' one of his wives every
day in the week, you can salute him through the window in the
box delivery with an old Queen Anne tomahawk, which you will
find near the Etruscan water pail. This will not in any manner
surprise either of these parties.
"Tears are unavailing. I once more become a private citizen,
clothed only with the right to read such postal cards as may be

2-2 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
addressed to me personally, and to curse the inefficiency of the
Jostoffice department. I believe the voting class to be divided into
two parties/viz. : Those who are in the postal service and those
who are mad because they cannot receive a registered letter every
fifteen minutes each day, including Sunday.
"Mr. President, as an official of this government I now re
tire. My term of service would not expire until 1886. I must,
therefore, beg pardon for my eccentricity in resigning. It will be
best, perhaps, to keep the heart-breaking' news from the ears of
the European powers until the dangers of a financial panic are
fully past. Then hurl it broadcast with a sickening thud.
"Bill Nye."
After leaving Laramie in the latter part of 1883 it took him
some months to recover his health. Meanwhile, however, he did
some syndicate writing. In 1885 he toured the country with
James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier poet, and made a hit on the
lecture platform.
Among Nye's works are Bill Nye and the Boomerang (1881),
Forty Liars and Other Lies (1882), and two comic histories of the
United States ( 1894) and England from the Druids to the Reign
of Henry VIII (1896). He died in 1896.
DR. J. H. HAYFORD.
The editor of the Laramie Sentinel throughout its entire
career came near being the pioneer newspaper man of Wyoming.
He was employed by N. A. Biaker, who was virtually the pioneer,
during the year prior to his purchase of the Sentinel, in company
with J. E. Gates. Dr. Hayford was a man of strong convictions
and never hesitated to say in his editorial columns what was up
permost in his virile mind. He had the gift of being able to con
dense a great deal into small space. Judge Bramel used to say of
him that he could sling more mud with a teaspoon than he could
with a scoopshovel. In his competition with Bill Nye he undoubt-*
edly got the worst of it, as Nye had the backing of the republican?
organization of the county and took from the Sentinel practically
all the public patronage. This was so galling to Dr. Hayford that
he at one time (1884) consented to run on the democratic ticket
for justice of the peace. At the same time he agreed with the re
publican county committee to write some scathing articles in aid
of the republican cause This was after Nye had been compelled!
through illness to leave Laramie. One of the most bitter of the J
political articles contributed to the republican cause by Dr Hav
ford was branded by the Boomerang management "nJV/j
by Dr Hayford." That let the cat onT^S andttpS
ated the democrats to such an extent that thev defeated h^ f
election. This was the election of which NyTsafd?none "f h"

MISCELLANIES, 1919 23
syndicate articles : "The democratic party was able, however,
with what aid it secured from the republicans, to plow the old
man under to a great degree."
After the death of Judge J. W. Blake in 1895, Dr. Hayford
was appointed Judge of the Second Judicial District, a position
which he held till January, 1897. During this time he presided
over the court at the trial of Crocker at Evanston, thereafter
granting a new trial to the convicted man, who secured a change
of venue to Cheyenne and was acquitted. This decision on the
part of the judge was unpopular and doubtless had more to do
than any other one thing with his not becoming a candidate for
election to the bench. After retiring from the district bench he
was justice of the peace of the Laramie precinct.
Dr. Hayford was twice married and was the father of a very
large family of boys and girls..
EDWARD ARCHIBALD SLACK.
From 1869 up to 1905 Edward Archibald Slack was the lead
ing newspaper man of Wyoming. His paper was always interest
ing and he used it for a purpose. His editorial work was of an
extremely virile nature and when aroused to- action he never
hesitated to call things by their proper names. In a political cam
paign any subject under discussion seemed to grow in his mind
from day to day until his competitor was overwhelmed. In finan
cial matters he was generous, caring little for money except for
the use he could put it to in carrying on his business and in sup
porting his family. He was lavish in entertainment and loved to
associate with his fellow editors. At the annual meetings of the
Wyoming Press Association he thoroughly enjoyed greeting the
editors from other portions of the state. He was a philosopher
and his advice to others was always of the very best. It was a
source of great pleasure to him to get a couple of the boys working
in his office on a Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours' conver
sation, he doing all the talking. But they enjoyed his talks and
profited by them. Hje was a practical printer and on many occa
sions did a great deal of his own mechanical work. He partic
ularly delighted in job printing and always conducted a good job
office in connection with his newspaper.
About seven or eight years before the death of Colonel Slack
he seemed to come to a realization of the necessity for accumulat
ing some money to leave to his family. Up to that time his busi
ness had taken every dollar, and all that he can be said to have
received from it was a bare living for himself and family. In the
short space of time indicated he was able to get together, entirely
outside of his newspaper business, a competency of about $45,000.
Edward Archibald Slack was born October 2, 1842, at
Owego, N. Y. He married Sarah Frances Neely September 22,

24 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1870, the wedding taking place in the state house at Sprmgfield,
111 Mrs Slack being the sister of the wife of Gov. J. M. Palmer.
They at once set out for the great undeveloped west, taking up
their residence at South Pass, Wyo., where the husband had
pioneered in 1868. Colonel Slack's first business in Wyoming was
mining. He also ran a sawmill and a lumber yard. He was ap
pointed clerk of the United States district court when South Pass
was in the territory of Dakota. In 1869 he purchased the South
Pass News and was thereafter engaged in the newspaper business.
For a period of about nine years before his death he was Receiver
of the United States Land Office at Cheyenne, Wyo. He died
March 23, 1907, leaving a wife and two daughters, Mrs. Harriet
Bond and Mrs. Dora Dubois, of Cheyenne.
MORRIS C. BARROW.
In the early spring of 1879 a young man by the name of
Morris C. Barrow applied for work on the Laramie Daily Times
and was given the position of city editor. He was a good news-
gatherer and made the Times a very readable paper.- When Bill
Nye started the Boomerang in 1881 he applied for a position as
compositor and was given "cases." Shortly thereafter he was
raised to the position of city editor and remained in that place
until Bill Nye resigned, when he became editor. Later he went
to Rawlins and conducted a paper there for about two years, when
he was seized with the idea that the Northwestern railroad was
going to bring central Wyoming rapidly to the front. He pur
chased a printing outfit and hastened with it to old Fort Fetter-
man, thereafter removing it to Douglas, in 1886, where he estab
lished "Bill Barlow's Budget," conducting the same till the date
of his death. Sagebrush Philosophy, mentioned elsewhere, was
also a creature of his fertile brain. A vein of humor ran all
through his work, and yet it was not the same kind of humor as
that of Bill Nye. It was more like Elbert Hubbard or Brann of
the Iconoclast. He had a wonderful vocabulary and was a fluent
writer upon many subjects. He was born at Canton Pa October
4, i860, but was raised in the state of Nebraska. His father was a
minister of the Christian Church. He died October 9 1010 at
Douglas, Wyo., leaving a wife and two daughters, Mrs. H. B. Fay
and Mrs. Helen M. Brees. Mrs. Barrow lives at Douglas Wyo

WHEATLAND COLONY

Cheyenne, Wyo., Dec. ist, 1914.
Dear Miss Davis :
You wished me to write some of my western experiences.
Suppose I take for my subject the origin of Wheatland, though it
is not so ancient as some other reminiscences I might mention, but
as it is one of the greatest factors in the development of our state
a brief historical account ought to be preserved in the archives of
our state. In 1878 I emigrated from Colorado to the location where
Uva is situated. No name for the place at this time, only Laramie
River. Fort Laramie, being a military post, was in existence long
before the above date, and tales are told about expeditions from
the Post against the hostile Indians that would fill a large volume.
It was the month of March — this date can't escape memory, it
being the month of what is known as the great March storm.
Recollection of it will never be forgotten by those who experienced
it or saw its effects. This was prior to moving my family and
getting something of a habitation for them erected.
I anrived on the banks of the Laramie with team, supplies and
a hired man. It was about four p. m. I told my man, George
Harden, to unharness the team while I ran up the creek to get
some game. It did not take a Nimrod then to kill game, deer and
antelope being plentiful. I was gone only a short time when it
began to rain slightly. I happened to look up to judge the weather
conditions and what met my gaze in the northwest is beyond de
scription, an inky blackness with a rift here and there showing
almost rainbow colors. These elements were by no means sta
tionary, but seemed to be at war with one another, flitting from
one part of the heavens to another. I arrived in camp with saddles
of deer on my shoulders, made fire and had the usual menu for
supper, which consisted of baking powder biscuits, black coffee and
the venison I had killed. Soon the shades of night began to fall.
Had the team tied to the wagon with a little hay to nibble at. I
had a few boards on the running gear to make part of the floor
for the prospective mansion. Under this we made our bed. No
sooner were we under cover when the rain turned to snow, and the
violence of the wind almost swept us off of the ground. It ap
peared the devil and his hosts were having an outing for amuse
ment. The night of Tarn O'Shanter was not a circumstance to
this night. Of course, no sleep could be entertained during the
night, and how we longed for daylight, which finally dawned in

26 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY

one sense to our joy. As we began to see distinctly, what a sight
met our gaze. Horses still tied to the wagon, but they seemed a
Slid pile of snow, hadn't the semblence of horses. Trees loaded
with snow, branches torn from trunks. Ail nature seemed in
volved in a war of the most fiendish character.
We still remained under the wagon covered with snow, while
the tempest raged unabated, and in spite of all we could do the
snow wished to be a bed fellow. Luckily we did not go to bed
undressed, a common custom under unfavorable conditions. Fin
ally we could stand it no longer. George said, "We must get up ;
I'm not going to be smothered without making an effort to escape."
When on our feet it seemed the wind came from every direction
and with such a fierceness it was almost impossible to withstand
it, even with mouth and ears closed. A quarter of a mile or so
away was a cabin on the bank of the stream, occupied by William
Bacon and his wife. (Bacon has a history I would like to go into,
but must forbear.)
We must decide quickly what to do. As we 'were on the
river bank and had an idea of the downward course of the stream,
we joined hands, keeping on the edge of the bank. Finally we
stumbled against the cabin and what a merciful deliverance. Bacon
and his wife were simply bewildered at our appearance. The
cabin was small, perhaps ten by twelve, built of small Cottonwood
logs, and hadn't been properly chinked. The inmates spent all the
night corking the seams to keep out the storm. We now felt in
Heaven, and how sweetly some things taste which at other times
would be repugnant.
The question arose, how were we to return to the wagon and
•secure our team, bedding, grub and oats. 'Tis said fortune favors
the brave, and this was the occasion to show bravery. About what
we thought was sundown it seemed the storm rather subsided, or
perhaps took fresh wind. However this may be, we took 'ad
vantage of the lull in the storm and got team, bedding and grub
to the cabin. I put the team in a small shack without roof using
part of my bedding as a covering, tying same with a rope and gave
them oats three times daily. We took turn about to keep fire
Inalfy subsSed.^ *"** f°Ur ^ ^ ^ wh- the Sorm
I have encountered many storms prior and subsequent to this
one, but they were merely a cat's paw in comparison After the
t^?treamblwarUsimD? bmlt' ^i* *? to the'cottonwoo^s along
deep What was ZY, imP°ssible. Snow from six to ten feet
deep. What was now to be done to secure timber? We were in
formed that tin Cottonwood CVppL- zt^ ..,: vve were in
get abundance of rimW a *¦' , teen miles dlstant, we could
u Lrees> ancl -1- know some stumps must have been

MISCELLANIES, 1919 27
ten feet above ground. By the time we had sufficient timber to
construct a house, twelve by sixteen feet, the snow had subsided
and small loads could be hauled to Laramie, and while George
hauled a load, which took all day, I had a load in the building.
We established what is called a road ranch in those days. It
was a case of necessity, with houses fifteen to twenty miles apart,
for travelers to secure food for man and beast. This is a long
preface to get to my text, but I'll get to Wheatland by and by.
If my memory is correct, about 1880 Judge Carey had large
cattle interests in the vicinity of Casper. This being a half-way
stopping place, he occasionally put up at my hostelry. By this
time I was getting the lay of the country, and having had seven
years' experience in Colorado as an irrigator, and knowing the
development of the country around Greeley by irrigation, when
my eye caught the land that is now Wheatland I thought what an
eligible site for a colony. I was so impressed with such a favor
able location that I kept it uppermost in my mind. Finally, one
night when the Judge was stopping with me I unfolded my idea.
We discussed the matter until a late hour and I so impressed him
that on his arrival in Cheyenne a committee was appointed to in
vestigate what he had heard. The committee reported favorably
and a camp was at once organized for the construction of large
irrigation works to convey water from the Laramjie River on to
the lands. Engineers, men and teams were soon employed, and
the hum of development work was now in full swing for what is
now known as Wheatland. Now, instead of the cactus prairie,
where roamed the wolf, coyote and prairie dog in all their glory,
with not a habitation within the compass of the eye, which is a
fairly good picture of the primitive condition of this settlement,
behold the change that has taken place in so short a time. All the
conditions transformed by the magic touch of water and an in
dustrious peasantry, who, by their vigorous efforts, have wrung
from the inhospitable prairie prosperous homes that would vie
with any farming community in the land.
And what a gorgeous setting for a colony, the fertile, re
sponsive prairie, bounded on the west by picturesque hills clothed
densely with evergreen, spruce, pine and cedar, and the majestic
Laramie Peak in the distance, a sentinel, as it were, whose apex
is bathed in the morning clouds, and Old Sol, loath to leave the
scene', plants a farewell kiss on her majestic brow. To the east
an enchanting and unobstructed view over an almost limitless
country meets our gaze, including the Chugwater valley, renowned
in border story, the undulating hills and an ever-varying panoramic
view, until the horizon obstructs our vision.
But the greatest of all features is its abundance of water sup
ply from the never- failing Laramie River, besides numerous other
streams which abound in the vicinity with a copious supply of the
purest water, which is the greatest essential in this arid country.

28 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
My pen is inadequate to give due credit to the originators of this
laudable undertaking. No one will gainsay or deny the honor to
Judge Carey, who took the initiative with heart and soul in all
development work, even to the present day. Due credit must' also
be given to E. S. Nettleton, consulting engineer, who stood on the
topmost round of his profession, and also to J. A. Johnston, who
had had long experience in Colorado as an engineer, and who had
full charge of all construction work, which has stood the test of
time until the present day. John H. Gordon.

(Details as given to 'I. S. Bartlett by Charley Clay in Wash
ington, D. C, March, 1894.)
THE TRUE STORY OF THE LOST
CABIN MINES

The Lost Cabin gold placers of Wyoming were discovered
and worked for three days, in the fall of 1865, by seven men who
came into the region from the Black Hills country. Five of the
seven men were killed by the Indians; two escaped. The two
who escaped brought away $7,000 in coarse gold. Since that day
no effort for the discovery of this locality has been successful, al
though many attempts have been made by large and small parties
to find this wonderfully rich placer ground where the gold could
almost be literally picked up from the ground.
The account given by Charley Clay, an old Wyoming pioneer
(formerly of Douglas, Wyoming), now in Washington (March
20, 1894), is this (and it is delivered djrectly from the two men
who escaped and gave him the gold to put in the safe at the Post
Traders', store at Fort Laramie) : In October, 1865, two men
reached Old Fort Reno at the point which is now the crossing of
Powder River, in a terribly weak arid exhausted condition. They
explained that they had belonged to a party of seven gold pros
pectors who came into the Big Horn Mountains on their eastern
slope from1 the Black Hills of Dakota. They traveled along the
base of the range, going south and testing the ground until they
came to a park surrounded by heavy timber, through which ran
a bold mountain stream, and which a few hundred yards below
joined a larger stream. Here they found rich signs of the yellow
metal and at a depth of three or four feet struck bed rock, where
the gold was very plentiful and coarse. They immediately camped,
having tools and grub which they brought by two pack animals.
Among their tools they brought a big log saw and with that sawed
enough logs to construct a flume. They also built a log cabin.
The seven men, all working hard, furnished their habitation and
flume in three days and then began to work the gold in good ear
nest. Late one afternoon on the third day they were suddenly at
tacked by a band of Indians and five of the men were killed al
most instantly, the 'other two escaping to the cabin, where they
held the Indians at bay till nightfall. In the darkness of the night
they succeeded in escaping without being seen by the Indians.
They were on foot and took nothing with them but the gold, their

30 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
arms and some food. From this time on they traveled at night
and hid themselves during the day. After three nights of rapid
and continuous walking they reached Fort Reno and told their
story. The commanding officer, who did not credit the tale fully,
had them arrested as deserters from the army (deserters were
frequent then) , and they were taken to Fort Fetterman, where an
examination convinced the authorities they were innocent, and
they were discharged from custody. They then went to Fort
Laramie and spent the winter. Here Mr. Clay met them and,
being clerk in the Post Traders' store, they gave him the gold for
safe keeping. They gave it to him in three baking powder cans —
three one-pound cans full of gold as they brought it in. He put
the gold in the safe until their departure. They were Swedes and
totally ignorant of the country, not knowing the names of the
streams or mountains among which they traveled, but gave him
this report as here set forth, describing the locality with some
more detail.
They left in the spring determined to go back, and in order
the better to find the place went to the Black Hills, formed a new
party to go over their old trail.
In this expedition some ten or twelve persons engaged and
all were killed by the Indians.
Colonel Bullock, the Post trader at Fort Laramie, without
knowing the fate of the Black Hills party, set about forming a
large expedition to find the Lost Cabin claims. He had 150 men
enlisted in the undertaking and all preparations made to start out
when an order came from the commanding officer of the depart
ment forbidding the expedition and ordering out the military
forces, if necessary, to prevent it, as the Indians were then hostile
and an extensive Indian war was feared. For the next twelve or
fifteen years succeeding it was unsafe to go- into that region and
prospect. The place is still a mystery, although it has been much
written about and searched for.

Copy of Letter Written by S. V. Miller from
Salem, Oregon, November 24, 1852

Salem, Oregon Territory, Nov. 24, 1852.
Dear Friends :
We are well; hope you are all well. We propose in this to
give you a sketch of what we deem would be interesting to you
and the friends. Well, we left the Grove (Pleasant Grove, Indi
ana), as you all know, on the 24th of March — from thence via. the
following towns : Montecallo, Payetta, Millford, Independence,
Attica, Danville; Illinois — Bloomington, Peoria, Knoxville, Bur-
tington ; Iowa — Middletown, Bermingham, Iowaville, Drakes-
ville, Unionville, Gardengrove, Pisgah, Kainsville (now Council
Bluffs), 722 miles. Crossed the river at this point May 20th;
north side of Platte to Fort Laramie, 572 miles ; north side,
upper crossing of Platte, Sweetwater, 54 (turnout) Sweetwater,
107, to summit of Soutb Pass; junction of Salt Lake and Sub-
let's cut-off', 19; to Green River on Salt Lake road, 44 miles;
Keemies' cut-off to Ham's Fork, where Sublet cut-off crosses that
branch of Bear River, 51 miles; thence to Fort Hall on Sublet's
cut-off, 180 miles ; south side of Snake River on Louie's Fork of
Columbia to Fort Boise, 380 ; to Dalles, 375 ; to Portland, 155 ; by
water to Salem, 60 miles, where we are now.
Whole distance from Pleasant Grove to Salem, 2,928 miles.
(A rough sketch is given of the route, names of town written in.)
Well, now I will resume my history. After a great deal of
trouble and expense I got in company with my teams at Iqfiiaville.
I missed them at Peoria. They took the left-hand road ; they
should have taken the right. Well, we thought best to lie by one
week to recruit our cattle, which we did near Iowaville. From
thence we made the best of our way to Kainsville. We were so
late in the season we could not find time to go by St. Joseph to
meet Hitchcock. In the western states I found no country that
possessed any advantages over northern Indiana for farming.
Kainsville is situated four miles from the Missouri River, in
a ravine. The buildings are small and mostly built of logs and oc
cupied by Mormons and traders ; it is only supported by travelers.
The Missouri River is a muddy, deep river ; in fact all the streams
and pools through Iowa were muddy and warm. Making the most
of Iowa, it is a miserable state. On the 20th of May we crossed
the Missouri ; we rolled out two miles and camped till next morn
ing. The 2 1st we rolled six miles, passed the old Mormon winter

32 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
quarters ; here the Mormons, after they were driven from Navuoo,
attempted to form a city. They built a strong wall around the
outside of the city. It being an Indian territory, the Indians com
plained ; the Indian agent gave them notice to evacuate the city,
which they did in due time. It is astonishing the amount of work
they did in so short a time, taking into consideration that during
their stay in that place an epidemic broke out among them and
slayed by hundreds — this epidemic was supposed to be some kind
of poison in the water.
May 211 st we formed into a company, 12 wagons, had our
officers, etc. ; 22nd we moved on to a creek. There is a miserable
low tribe of Indians that inhabit the country up and down the
Missouri River, called the Omihaws or Ninahaws. They are
harmless to all appearances. Elk Horn is a considerable stream,
30 miles from Kainsville.
There was but one ferry when we were there ; they charged
$2.00 per wagon and crossed every five minutes, and were behind
a day when we got there.
The owner of the ferry was a crusty old fellow and the emi
grants had to ferry themselves ; he cleared some $500 every day.
I understood that they had put another ferry below a piece after
we passed. Well, for 200 miles after we crossed the Missouri River we
passed over a splendid prairie country ; the only possible objec
tion there could be urged against this country is the want of
timber. Twelve miles from Elk Horn we struck Platte River; good
grass all the way near the river ; but out from one to four miles
from the river high land bluffs follow the river; between the
river and the bluffs is what is called the Platte Bottom. We passed
up the Platte a good ways before these bluffs made their appear
ance. On these bluffs there is scarcely a trace of vegetation, ex
cept oflCe in a while small sage-brush or a spear of greasewood.
We found some little valleys still further out, where we saw
considerable herds of buffalo and millions of wolves and ante
lopes — wolves of every color and size. The antelope is something
shaped like a deer, the horns fall back in a half circle, their quar
ters are heavier and squarer than a deer's ; they run very fast and
are very wild. We also saw quantity of hare; they are nearly
white and about three times as large as our rabbit.
West of Elk Horn and on the river we saw the first Pawnees.
They are numerous and occupy a great extent of country. They
are a black, tall, slim Indian, a very sneaking; beggarly, thieving
class of beings. They shave their heads all but a narrow strip
which runs from the crown to the back of their necks ; this they
leave about two inches long ; it makes them have a very wild and
savage appearance. They let on to be very friendly, but if they
could get any of the emigrants out where they could strip them

MISCELLANIES, 1919 33
they did not fail to do so and in some cases would even kill. They
are at war with all the other nations.
From Loup Fork (which we came up some 60 miles and
crossed, then struck to Platte 35 miles in southwesterly direction)
the Sioux Indians inhabit to Fort Laramie. They are a large, fine
looking Indian ; they are also a very numerous tribe of Indians.
They are trying to kill all the Pawnees. (I wish them great suc
cess in that pious work.)
The country from Loup Fork to Fort Laramie bears a more
barren appearance, though we still had grass by picking our place
for grazing. We found some alkali here in places. The distance
between these points is about 300 miles.
If I were going to cross again I would use the Platte water,
for between these points the water was so warm and muddy ; the
trains would dig little wells and drink quantities of the water,
which was usually cool and a little alkalish. Between these
points the trains suffered most from sickness and cholera.
I was talking to a muleteer that had come up the Platte when
the emigration had nearly all passed. He said that from Loup
Fork to Fort Laramie it would average six fresh graves to every
mile. From other accounts I should think this estimate was none
too great. The bottom from here on was narrow and irregular, some
times passing over considerable up-land. I will give you a de
scription ol Fort Laramie. When we came in sight of it, it
looked like a settlement of houses. Everyone was straining his
eyes to catch a glimpse of white settlements. The day we passed
Fort Laramie was a very fine looking day. Though it was Mon
day, we all stopped and went over to see (our feelings were some
thing like the sailor when he gets into port after a long voyage).
There was a store, a grocery, several dwellings and the fort and
soldiers' quarters, which was a long shed, or stable, appearing
building, and the magazine-house.
The fort is a long, hollow square about 30 feet high and walls
about 20 inches thick, built of unburnt bricks ; three or four can
non mounted on the walls. There are several small rooms on the
inside of this square and a kind of a porch on the inside within
four or five feet of the top.'so wide that six men can walk abreast.
Near this is the magazine house. If is under strong guard day
arid night. This squad of buildings is situated about two miles
from the Platte on the Laramie Fork. The first fort built here
was on the north side and a little up the Platte, about 60 years
ago. The next was built by Captain Laramie on, or near, the
present fort.
There were about 60 soldiers stationed here. When we
passed the whole squad of buildings seemed under guard. I pre
sume this was done more for form than necessity. The soldiers
are under absolute control by their officers ; they are mostly boys

34 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and foreigners They have blue caps, white pants and round-
aoouts X outside seams of their pants are trimmed with blue
blue patches on their shoulders and stripes of blue on the front
* Four°miies above Fort Laramie we struck the Black ffills.-
It is about 40 miles through these hills, through which the road is
very rough. We began to see some bad roads nov^ but nothing to
what we did see after we crossed Green River. The Black Hills
are covered with scrubby pine and cedar. At a distance they look
black, being covered with this dark verdure; I suppose hence the
name. From this to the Dalles we had only patches of grass, some
times two or three days without any grass, then we would have
a little for two or three days, then none, and so on.
What then is the ground covered with, you ask? Why, I will
tell you; from the Black Hills onward there was a species of
•sage-brush that increased in size and quantity till we go to the
summit of the Rocky Mountains. This brush varied in size from
one to seven feet high, it was usually about eighteen inches or two
feet in height ; with this was the greasewood, which had thorns
like the hawthorne, and the surface of the ground was literally
covered with cactus or prickly pear, still increasing in quantity to
the summit and afterwards gradually decreasing.
After we left the Platte we struck for Sweetwater, then we
began to see mountains. On the north and south these moun
tains were piles of rocks. Every night we could hear on these
mountains wild animals — the bear, wolf, cougar ; this last animal
is a specie of the tiger.
In 50 miles we came to the Independence Rock. It is about
150 feet high, 300 long and is oblong; thousands of names are
cut in this rock of granite.
In five miles we came to the Devil's Gate. This pass is
formed by the Sweetwater, as it were', breaking a spur of the
Rattlesnake Mountain. The walls of the gate are about 250 feet
perpendicular up and down; they run only 200 or 300 yards to
the south. The road passes around the end of this spur. We
were six miles south of this gate on the 4th of July, where we had
a celebration. There was an oration from a lawyer from Quincy,
111. — a good orator — a fine dinner, a flag, singing and the names
of every man, woman and child were enrolled and officers, pre
amble, all was taken on paper and then pasted on a board and
nailed to the liberty pole.
In addition to all the fine dishes we could obtain usually in
the states, to our fare was added antelope and sage fowl flesh ; it
was a great day with us.
July 5th we started on, right up Sweetwater, still rising till
we came to the summit. The rise to the summit was so gradual
that we could not tell from appearance when we were on the

MISCELLANIES, 1919 35
dividing ridge ; though in a mile or two we came to what is called
the Pacific Springs, and here the water turned west. Nothing
important transpired on the route from where we struck Sweet
water till we got to the summit. We still had trouble about feed,
but our cattle looked pretty well. We saw snow in the ravines
and under ledges of rock and it snowed very hard the day we
crossed the summit (about July 12).
We went on till we crossed Green River and our company
separated here; eight wagons went to California, five took
Keenie's cut-off to intersect Sublett cut-off at Ham's Fork of
Bear River. Here we passed over some stupendous mountains
near Ham's Fork. We came on to Bear River and had better
grass here. We came down that stream 60 miles, but did not
cross it. We left the California road and Bear River four miles
this side the soda springs. The springs are some of the great
curiosities of nature. When you come within four miles of the
springs you see two white mounds ahead, Bear River near to the
left, a little farther to the left Bear River Mountains, which are
very high and commanding, to the right a cedar grove. As you
approach the mounds you see water gushing out, bubbling and
sputtering. A little basin catches nearly all the water, a little
water issuing out' of the basin and coursing its way down the
side of the mount. When you walk on the mound it seems hol
low or shelly within. You are almost afraid to walk for fear of
breaking through. You taste the water; it is lukewarm and has
a strong soda taste and is rather red in, appearance. You then
go to the other mound, a little further to the right, 100 yards
from the first. There you see a similar spring, only not quite so
large and the water not quite so red. Then go 100 yards up a
little stream from the last mound and you see a spring about as
large as a washtub sputtering and boiling very hard ; this has no
perceptible outlet, the water is clear as crystal ; taste it, it is cold
as ice, much stronger of soda, but not very unpleasant. The gas
rising from it makes it necessary for you to hold your breath
very particularly or you will strangle. One rod from this is a
spring not quite so strong and the water is nearly red ; it is al
most thick with some red substance. Above these is the cedar
grove. A mile off is some good pure cold water springs. The
ground all around the neighborhood is spongy, white, red, yellow,
ash color and almost all other colors, and there are signs all around
of old soda springs having dried up. The earth here undergoes,
from appearances, some powerful emotions from some cause. A
mile below these mounds is another powerful soda spring right
on the bank of the river. This spring is cold. Stoop down and
try to drink out of it, and it will almost take your breath ; the
gases will hit you nearly hard enough to knock you down. You
can hear these springs from 100 to 200 yards distant, roaring and
effervescing. Go around the bend of the river one-quarter of a

36 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
mile and you hear something like a steamboat and see the water
splashing up 12 or 14 feet high, near the river, still not in it.
This is the celebrated Steamboat Spring. Go to it, stick your head
down in the spring where the water spouts out of ; be careful not
draw the least breath or you will strangle; it is a little warm.
Do this. I did it. This is very interesting. It seems the water
will burst the ground all around, seeming to come with such
force at times. It is also soda. There are several old craters,
dry now, which were evidently once springs of similar character.
We turned from this and in three miles left the California
road and Bear River, thence to Fort Hall, 55 miles. I must here
go back. The Crow Indians possess the country from upper
crossing of Platte to Summit north; we saw but one of that tribe
and that was a squaw. She was a low, heavy, black, dirty piece
of God's creation. However, we traveled all the way up Sweet
water with 500 to 600 Shoshone or Snake Indians;- they were
very peaceable and quiet.
From Fort Hall we kept on south side of Snake or Louis'
Fork of Columbia over a sandy, sage plain. Here let me say that
from Fort Hall to Burnt River is the most drear and desolate
country that you could imagine. It is certainly one of the most
God-forsaken countries in the world. Here we suffered, here our
cattle died, here we gave out, here we thought every night we could
not stand it another day, here we only made ten miles a day, here
I threw away my wagons, here Greek met Greek, here we were
sick, here we run out of provisions, here, we had to pay 60c a
pound for flour.
With the exception of the sickness we had on the Platte, our
trip was a pleasure trip till we came to Fort Hall. The country
after we came to Burnt River had a more livable appearance;
grass more plentiful. Here we met numbers of Oregonians com
ing out to meet their friends. They told us fine stories about
Oregon and said our troubles were nearly over.
I told one of these old Oregonians what bad luck I had. He
said, "Have you lost any of your family?" "No," said I. "If you
get through with all your family," said he, "and lose all your
property you may consider you are very lucky."
We came to Grand Rounds, a beautiful valley on the Grand
Round River ; this is a very fertile valley ; a few white traders
live here. We got a -good many vegetables, peas, beans, potatoes,
green apples, etc.; we paid well for them, though.. We gave a
dime apiece for potatoes as large as a walnut, other things in pro
portion. We came eight miles from the Grand Rounds on the Blue
Mountains through very heavy timber and crossed the Grand
Rounds River. Next day we came 13 miles and camped, next day
16 miles and camped. Here we remained three days. My wife
was sick. The next morning after we came to this camp a moun-

MISCELLANIES, 1919 37
taineer came to us and as he had no name we called him John.
He came with us the balance of the way. We have him yet and
he and Dan (two years old) are both fat, ragged and saucy. (See
note at end of letter.)
Next the Umatilla. It is about 45 miles across the Blue
Mountains and through very heavy timber.
While I was at Great Rounds I lost my pony. He started up
the mountains and I had to leave him. However, I swapped a
cow for another pony and brought him about 185 miles and he
ran off or was stolen. Then I had a pony left and have him yet,
that I swapped a saddle for on the Blue Mountains. From Uma
tilla we came to Agency, which is an old missionary station 90
miles on the other side of the Dalles. We had a pretty hard time
till we got to the Cascades. The Dalles is so named from there
being natural troughs or dalles in the Columbia. From here it is
45 miles to Cascade in the Columbia by water. Between these
places I saw the first seal I ever saw ; they look like dogs swim
ming in the water.
The Columbia is a very deep river. It has been sounded 900
feet in one or two places and no bottom found. Many of the
emigrants went from the Cascades straight to Puget Sound.
It is now the rainy season and it rains nearly every day ; ev
erything has rather a gloomy appearance. The earth is almost
covered with water, the green grass is starting and all vegetation
is as if it were spring.
There is a considerable portion of level prairie in the Wil
lamette Valley, and to take the whole into consideration, it is an
excellent valley of land and well adapted to farming purposes. I
think the soil produces a little larger crops than the soil of north
ern Indiana. Crops are more certain. Wheat and oat straw look
almost white here ; potatoes are larger ; in fact all culinary veg
etables are larger in this country than that.
This country is evidently easier for a man to make a living
in than that. I doubt it being any more healthy than Indiana. I
have had the worst kind of a cold for four or five weeks ; both of
our children have had colds, but Jane is in good health. Thomas,
Margaret and their child are well. They live in Portland now,
though they will not stay long, I expect, for I think they are not
making much ; but if we can all make a living this winter we will
do well. William Lackey, Edward Waters and Taylor McLaughlin
left us on the head of Burnt River and footed it through. I told
them to come on and that we could make out. I understand they
got through very well. I cannot leave this part of my story with
out saying that William Lackey has not his equal for perseverance
and integrity. His conduct with me will ever be green in my
memory and to say the least of him we owe him for our success
in getting through. His vigilance saved our cattle; he kept us

38 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
from quarreling and dividing. He has all the good qualities that
can be embodied in one man. My other boys were very good, but
they could not compare with him. I had but -one difficulty with
the boys and that was a mere matter of moonshine.
Well, concerning the Indians on the route: -We had no dif
ficulty with them. The Diggers were said to be the most danger
ous, but they proved to be the most friendly. Tust, my cattle
swam Snake river 35 miles above Fort Boi (blurred, but probably
Boise) ; I could not get them across back. Offered $50 to any
one who would bring them to me.
Mr. Singleton, from Missouri, found two Digger Indians
six miles down the river ; he brought them to me. I got them to
?wim across and bring my cattle. The white caps were rolling
three feet high and the Indians swam the river when I suppose
no white man could have done it.
Another time a white man was thrown overboard at the up
per crossing of Snake and was drowning-. Two Diggers saw it
from the other side. They jumped 20 feet into the water and
swam like fish to where he was and saved him from instant death.
It is true they gave them each a suit of clothes and enough pro
visions to last them two months.
Next tribe Nepensees, next Cayuse, next Umatillas, next
Wallas, next Deshutes, next Claekam, next Chicataws.
Advice in reference to your ever coming to> this country: I
will say that I would never bring a family across the plains again
for Oregon and California both and all they contain. I wish you
were all here, but how you are to get here is the difficulty. I
would say that if you can't come by water you better stay where
you are. I am here and am well satisfied, but if I were in the Grove
(Pleasant Grove, Ind.) and fixed as well as I was six months be
fore I startedand knew what I know how, I would stay there.
I am located in Salem and there is a good prospect of me
doing well at my business here. I have a first rate supply of
drugs and surgical instruments. ' I send you my card in this.
Boyd can never get here with all his family to cross the
plains, neither can Hugh; as for the other boys, they can do as
well there as they can here; Money is very plenty here and no
credit. The old Oregonians are pretty healthy. Some Indians
so old they can recollect when Mount Hood was a hole in the
ground and the Columbia a spring branch. They assist the whites
to work some, but they are rather slothful.
Speculation runs very high here. Many old Oregonians say
as soon as they can get money enoilgh to do> them; they are going
back to the States; But nineteen out of twenty say they will make
this their home. . .
Well, when I get $7,000 I will go back, not before, but if I
stick the right way it will not take me long to make that. As for

MISCELLANIES, 1919 39
the mines, I will not go there, for I do not see any chance for me
to do anything there.
There is no business here when well followed that will not
yield a good profit. Every man has $300 or $400 in his pocket
who has been here a year or two. I am sure that there is no bet
ter country under the sun for making money than Oregon, but
God knows those who cross the plains earn all they ever get here.
Now, if any of you ever cross the plains after what I have
-said to you observe the following: Cross at Fort Kearney by
fir st. of May,' or don't start at all. If grass is not up enough, take
some feed with you ; then cross to the north side of the Platte at
new Fort Kearney. Bring nothing but what you will need on the
road. I prefer horses or mules. Travel every day that you can.
Don't lie by to rest your stock ; make a few miles every day that
'you can. Take 200 pounds bread stuff, 80 pounds meat, 15 pounds
dried apples, 2^4 pounds soap, 15 pounds rice, 1 pound macaroni,
J4 pound farina and other little necessaries for each grown per
son; 6 pounds coffee, if you wish; tea is preferable to coffee.
Bring some spare animals. If there is much of an emigration
you will find enough of traders on the road selling everything a
man wants, but at very exorbitant prices. Last, if any of you are
determined to come let me know as soon as you possibly can and
I will meet you with mules as far as Fort Boise, if no further.
I understand a new route is now surveying to start from the
upper part of this valley and intersect the old road 15 miles this
side of Fort Boise, which will save 250 or 300 miles and a much
better route. It has already been viewed and is said.to be a good
route. On the old road you have' the Cascade Mountains to cross,
which is 81 miles of the worst road in the world and no grass. Or
come by water, bring your stock on the pack trail, which is almost
impassable, or sell them for a song, then it will cost you $20
apiece to come down by water. When you get here you will meet
a hundred skinners and they are bound to strap you before you
get into any business. No matter how much you may have then,
you have got to begin the world anew.
The climate here is very damp and I think subject to as many
changes as that, though not so severe. Jt is now as cold, they say,
as it will be this winter. The weather resembles our April weather.
The people sow wheat in every month here.
Prices : Clothing is very little higher here than there. Gro
ceries : Molasses, 50c to $1.00; tea, 75c to $1.37; coffee, 50c,
sugar (brown and white), 10c to 20c ; saleratus, 20c ; tobacco, 25c
to $1.00; all other groceries in proportion. Flour $15 and on the
raise; beef, 8c to 12c; pork, 20c; wheat, $5.00 per bushel; but
ter, 62c to 75c. Cows, good, $100.00 ; good horse, $250.00; lum
ber $30.00 per thousand ; labor, $2.00 and board ; boarding, 75c
per' meal ; $10.50 per week at taverns.

40 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The emigration this season being so great, it has brought
flour up from $6.00 to $15 ; work from 50c to $2 per day,
Sacramento City is burnt to ashes. That raised flour, too, arid
lumber from $20 to $30 ; at Portland to $60 per thousand. For
prescription and medicine, $5.00; visit, 5 miles, $15.00 cash down,
for, as I said, no credit here ; that is a glorious thing for us.
If I could forget my old friends, or rather if I had them here
I think I should be willing to spend my days here in Salem. The
weather here in the- summer must be splendid. From what I can
hear the Puget Sound is going ahead now. Rogue River Valley,
I am told, has some splendid locations unoccupied.
I have not heard of John Miller since I started, nor Benjamin
Ritchie, nor from any soul there, nor from Hitchcock since he left
Independence Rock.
The last I saw of McCaslin he was in Portland in the hospital;
he had some money. He was so discouraged that I believe he will
die there. I cannot tell much about any of the other boys who
came from that country. Tell all of my friends where I am, and
if you wish let them read this. You must excuse errors and the
want of connection, for I took several evenings to write and may
have said the same thing twice. I have not time to connect or
even read it.
Tell Father to rest contented about us ; we are satisfied and
safe here as we would be there. We will likely come to see you
in two years if you do not come out here.
Let Samuel know where I am. Tell him to let Father have
some of those things Jane left there. We have, as I said before,
not received one word from any of you since we left the Grove.
Don't be afraid to write. Letters are only ten cents here and we
throw away all change under 25 cents. So when you begin to
write we will save them to get the letters with. We. hope you will
not neglect us.
We remain as ever your devoted brother and sister.
(Signed) S. V. and M. J. Miller.
Salem, Oregon Territory, Nov. 24, 1852.
The original of this letter is in possession at this time of D. B.
Miller, the son of the writer, who is in the General Land Office
of the United States, in Washington, D. C. Mr. S. V. Miller died
in 1858. *
Copied for the Wyoming State Historical Society by Mrs.
H. B. Patten, 1654 Park Road, Washington, D. C., July 6, 1914-
Note — The "mountaineer who came to us" and had no name
was a new son, named at that time "John." In three days the
mother and babe began their journey to Oregon.

THE TEXAS TRAIL

(BY JOHN B. KENDRICK.)

The "Texas Trail" was the highway over which a tide of :
cattle was moved from southwestern and western Texas to the
northwestern states, including Indian Territory, Kansas, western
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming Territory, North and South Da
kota and Montana.
The surplus of these cattle had been accumulating for many
years, being the increase of herds during the years just preceding
and those including the period of the Civil War. Many of the cat
tle were even unbranded at the time the movement began.
Those who have enjoyed reading Dana's "Two Years Before
the Mast" will recall the good ship "Pilgrim" which sailed from
Boston in 1834 around Cape Horn and the coast of California,
returning to Boston in 1836. The ship had for her cargo on the
return voyage 40,000 cattle hides, these hides representing the only
part of the animals that had any commercial value. This suggests
the myriads of cattle that even at that early date roamed the coast
country, now known as California.
The millions of cattle ranging in southern and western Texas
at the close of the Civil War were all of the Spanish breed and
originated from the cattle taken to Mexico by the Spaniards in
the sixteenth century.
The absence of live stock in the new states and territories
above mentioned provided a splendid outlet for this surplus of cat
tle, and the success of accidental tests made by people crossing the
plains and compelled to winter, their stock without feed other than
they could obtain, for themselves, proved the nutrition and feeding
value of the grasses and forage plants covering the northwestern
plains. The movement began in the early '6o's, including first a few
droves of cattle that found market in Indian Territory and eastern
Kansas, increasing in volume with each passing year until it
reached its flood tide in 1884, when it was estimated that 800,000
cattle were moved over the Trail. ; .
A few scattered herds were driven in '85 and as late as '86,
but the volume had greatly subsided and gradually ceased alto
gether, on account of the occupation of the country along the Trail
by settlers and the difficulty of crossing the country with large
numbers of stock without trespassing and incurring the ire of the
settlers.

42 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The "Trail" represented the routes over which this tremen
dous movement of cattle was made from the countries as far south
as the Gulf of Mexico to a line as far north as Southern Canada.
In appearance and shape it was not unlike the branches of a
stream, coming in from different directions until it finally reached
the main highway or channel, starting in the neighborhood of
Brownsville and Corpus Christi, eastward to Gonzales and Vic
toria. The Trail through Texas and Indian Territory included two
branches, and came to be known as the Eastern and Western
Trails ; the branches of the Eastern Trail converging at a point
not far from the present city of Austin, extending north through
Fort Worth and on through the Indian Territory on almost a di
rect line, northward to Dodge, Kansas ; the Western Trail, with
its different branches, converging not a great way from San An
tonio and extending north and west to the Red River not far frbni
the present town of Wichita Falls and joining the Eastern Trail
at Dodge. From Dodge north to Ogallala, Nebraska, the Trail
represented the main highway, but at Ogallala it again had its di
verging points, one branch extending up the South Platte River to
points in Colorado and southern Wyoming, including a branch up
Pole Creek to points in the neighborhood of Cheyenne; another
crossing over to the North Platte, following this -river generally
up to the Nebraska and Wyoming line, where' there were other
diverging lines, some of which extended north to the eastern side
of the Black Hills into North and South Dakota ; and yet another
branch following up the Platte River into Wyoming and then ex
tending north and west into Montana, almost as far as the Cana
dian line.
The class of cattle moved included all ages and all kinds; ex
cept calves, which in the movement of female cattle were num
erous enough on the Trail, but were in almost all cases either given
away or destroyed in order to save trouble and to avoid delaying
the movement of the herd. And here let me say that the founda
tion of mariy a valuable herd was laid by the acquisition of these
calves along the route.
The numbers handled and driven by companies or individuals
ranged from a few hundred, including one of several brands in a
herd, to as many as 25,000 or 30,000 head, driven annually.
As a rule the herds numbered from 2)500 to 3,500, and in rare
instances 4,000 head. The average was 3,000 and 3,500 was known
as a large herd.
While some of-the owners drove the cattle for the purpose of
maturing them on their own ranges, the great majority were un
der contract to northern buyers, who would receive them at points
along the Trail, such as Dodge, Ogallala, Julesburg, and not in
frequently at Cheyenne. ' *; " "' " '¦-

MISCELLANIES, 1919 43
The ordinary outfit and equipment of a herd included usually
from 10 to 12 men — the foreman, cook, horse wrangler and from
7 to 8 cowboys ; a mess wagon drawn by 4 horses or mules (in the
early days of the business oxen were used) ; a band of saddle
horses, ordinarily from 40 to 60 head, giving 5 or 6 horses to the
man and 2 or 3 extra for the foreman.
The horses were furnished by the owner, but the saddles,
bridles and bedding were owned and supplied by the men them
selves. The wages paid were about as follows : $100.00 to the
foreman, $40.00 to the cook and $30.00 to the horse wrangler and
the cowboys. A trip over the Trail was the most severe test of physical en
durance, and the constant round of daily duties became very mo
notonous, being varied only by a case of "more so" on account of
bad weather arid storms, but it had its compensations as I shall en
deavor to show.
And now if the members of the Club will overlook and forgive
personalities for a few minutes, I shall endeavor to tell of some
of my own experiences when I came over the Trail.
My experience on the Trail began March 17, 1879, one day's
drive north of the City of Austin, and included a trip southward
about 200 miles to the ranges bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, in
the neighborhood of Matagorda Bay, where, after a week's travel,
we were occupied for some two weeks receiving and branding our
herd of 3,000 steers, ranging in ages from one to five years. This
was at a point not far from the present town of Victoria, Texas.
The branding at that time was an entirely different process
from that of today. Then we roped and threw the cattle almost
entirely on foot, as we were saving our horses to work with on'the
Trail, and the roping process was very hard on them as well as
being extremely dangerous, owing to the characteristic viciousness
of the cattle during the roping and branding. It was less difficult-
for a man to dodge or escape the fighting cattle than for a horse to
do so. Employers thought it better to use men, and hire extra
help if necessary, rather than to risk the horses, for then men were
indeed "cheaper than horses." Our best help in branding these
cattle were negroes and Mexicans, who were the most proficient
ropers on foot that I have ever known. The cattle were thrown by
roping them by the front feet.
When our herd was complete we started on our travels, which
lasted over a period of about 5 months, beginning in the early
days of April and ending on the 27th day of August, when we
turned the herd loose at a point on the Running Water, just a mile
west of the present town of Lusk, Wyoming. The only sign of
civilization for miles around that point was a road ranch on the
banks of Running Water on the Cheyenne and Deadwood stage
coach and freight road.

44 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In our travels we averaged about 15 or 20 miles a day with
the cattle. A day's routine was about as follows : The men were di
vided as a rule into two reliefs in the day time and four reliefs of
night guards, the latter usually of two men each and each guard on
duty from two to two and a half hours. The last guard in the
morning called the cook and after breakfast had been eaten the
daily round commenced.
The last relief turned the cattle from the bed ground in the
morning and they were allowed to graze until about 7 or 8 o'clock.
Then after breakfast the foreman would go on, followed by the
cook and horse wrangler with the wagon, and locate the water and
site for the noon camp. In the meantime the entire force of men
would bunch the cattle and herd them toward the Trail. After the
discipline of a few days the cattle would take the Trail and march
like soldiers ; there were always natural leaders among them that
would step out and lead the herd. During the entire journey the
'cattle were not allowed, if possible to avoid it, to take one step
except in the direction of their destination, and in this way they
would often cover two or three miles while grazing and before the
day's march had really commenced, and as great a distance when
the day's march was over.
I have often viewed these trailing cattle from a hilltop or some
slight elevation when strung out from a half to a mile in length,
and to me they never resembled anything quite so much as an im
mense serpent, with its sinuous, undulating movements.
After the herd had been driven from six to ten miles, accord
ing to the distance to be traveled that day to reach the nooning
point or the night camp, they would again be thrown off the Trail
from one to two miles distance from the water, with a view of
allowing them to reach the water a few at a time and thus protect
.against a rush to the water that would disturb and muddy it, for
then they would not drink to their satisfaction. As a rule one-half
of the men would be detailed to stay with the cattle while they were
grazing and the other half would be relieved to go on to the noon
day camp, where they would remain until they had had dinner
and changed horses. By the time dinrier was finished and the
horses changed the herd would, as a rule, be on the water and rest
ing, where they would be allowed to remain under ordinary cir
cumstances until from two to three o'clock, according to the length
of drive that it was necessary to make to get to the next watering
place and the distance to be traveled during the afternoon.
After leaving the water the wagon and horses would be moved
on "to the next camping place, generally from six to eight miles
away, where the pasture was more apt to be fresh and not so
badly grazed off as around the watering places, and here again
after making a drive in the afternoon, usually shorter than that of
the forenoon, the herd would be diverted from the Trail when

MISCELLANIES, 1919 45
within two or three miles of camp and allowed to graze in until
time to round them up and bed them down for the night.
After supper was eaten and the cattle disposed of for the
night the cowboys, with the exception of those on the relief, would
gather about the camp fire and tell their most vivid and thrilling
tales, each trying to outdo the other.
When we would be nearing a town or station on the railroad
where trail supplies could be had and where it was usually possible
for the cowboys to find the diversions characteristic of the fron
tier, the boys would take turns in going "to town," and these little
excursions were eagerly looked forward to and enjoyed.
The vicissitudes of the trip were many including instances of
long drives across barren country, where perhaps there was a
shortage of either grass or water — -sometimes of both — for long
distances, and whole herds of cattle were known to go blind after
being compelled to suffer intense thirst for several days. Then
there was the danger to be encountered in crossing swollen
streams, which had to be forded at any cost. The difficulty of
crossing the herd and horses as a rule was not great, though not
infrequently numbers of cattle would be lost through drowning,
particularly when the herd would become confused and "mill" in
swimming water, and once in a great while a man and his horse
would drown and wash away in the muddy current of the river.
The crossing of the swimming rivers with a mess-wagon and
team and saving the supply of provisions, was one that involved
all kinds of personal risks and danger of damage to or entire loss
of provisions. The importance of saving these will be better un
derstood wheri the long distance to the sources of supply is re
membered. Not infrequently the herd would be thrown to water on a
stream with terrific qualities of miring. Not often, to be sure,
but once in a while, the water would be so strong with alkali that
we would sustain a loss in that way. I have seen the cattle stuck
in the mire, probably in only a few inches above their hoofs, but
it would prove so tenacious in character that they could be gotten
out only by carefully working around each hoof and digging away
the mire, releasing one foot at a time. Any attempt to pull them
out by roping or by hand would have resulted in pulling the animal
to pieces, so firmly were they embedded.
Then there were the frequent electrical storms at night, when
instead of being "off and on" as when' we stood relief, we were
"on and on" throughout the entire night to hold the frightened
herd together, as they were oftentimes stampeding and running
from darkness to dawn. It was not an unusual thing under such
conditions to stand guard in the rain all night long with the cattle
running every few minutes, and when the only thing visible was
the electricity on our horses' ears and the lightning creeping or
crawling along the ground at our very feet. More than once in

46 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
my experience I have seen cattle killed within 25 or 30 feet of me.
With the coming of daylight we would begin a number of short
circuits over the surrounding country to try to discover traijs
leading from the herd made by cattle that had escaped during the
night, and an accurate count would be necessary to determine
definitely as to the shortage of numbers.
However, I do not now recall a single instance when after
such a night's experience, without regard to the absence of rest
for both man and beast for the past twenty-four hours, we did
not start on the Trail with the plan of making our usual fifteen or
twenty miles that day.
The fare was of the most frugal kind, being composed only
of the barest necessities. The reason for this was the difficulty in
hauling, for we had to economize with the teams, which were very
scarce and could hardly be bought at any price, and stations at
which the supplies could be obtained were hundreds of miles
apart. I remember a conversation between two cowboys one evening
while we were sitting around the campfire. One of them was
criticising the cook for being so very untidy. The other said, sar
castically, "I don't think you are fair in roasting the cook, for he
can't keep clean when his mess-box is so greasy."
So you will see that an outfit on the Texas Trail was no place
for a fastidious person.
Our "neighbors" on the Trail included the men with other
herds, both in front of and behind us. traveling within a radius
of a few miles. Our relationship with them was the same as is
usual in other lines of human endeavor — friendly or otherwise,
according to whether our interests were in common or clashed.
Particularly did this apply to the question of water and feed for
our cattle and desirable camp and bed grounds. If a foreman al
lowed a neighbor to get in ahead of him to water or an especially
desirable bed ground, he was criticized by his men — although not
to his face, of course — as a "punkin roller" whose proper sphere
of usefulness was on the farm.
On my first trip we never saw. as I remember it, a single
habitation of man from a point in Texas, fifty miles south of Red
River, until we reached Dodge, Kansas, 50 miles north of the Kan
sas and Indian Territory line, at the crossing of the Cimarron
River, a distance of 400 miles. When we reached the river there
was nothing in sight but a bed of sand over which one could walk
without even dampening the soles of one's boots ; within half an
hour after this enormous herd of cattle had "struck" the river bed
there was a flow of at least six inches of water running over the
sand as a result of the tramping by the cattle, and in this way our
herd was watered without, difficulty.
Another interesting thing I might mention is that I do not
remember coming in contact with or seeing a wire fence between

MISCELLANIES, 1919 47
Fort Worth, Texas, and the head of the Running Water in Wyo
ming. To illustrate how our state has developed : Mr. J. D. Wulf-
jen, the foreman of our outfit and I were talking one day, and he
said to me: "You know, there are a couple of fool Englishmen
that have taken a herd of cattle away out to Powder River, and
they are getting three-year old beeves off the range that weigh
1200 pounds in the market."
Shortly after entering Indian Territory we encountered vast
numbers of Indians, who hung on our trails almost incessantly,
demanding pay for pasture crossing their territory. The conten
tion growing out of such demands would not infrequently result in
altercations, sometimes of a serious nature, between the cowboys
and Iudians,.if the Indians were not satisfied. However, usually
we would give them what they wanted, if at all possible, in order
to be rid of them. Then they would ask for a "paper, paper,"
meaning a written word or two- that thev could show to the fore
man of the next outfit in the way of recommendation, to the effect
that they were good Indians and worthy of consideration. Of
course as the Indians could not read these messages it gave the
cowboys endless opportunities to play jokes on them, and you may
be sure the opportunities were not overlooked. Not infrequently in
these messages the name applied to the Indian would be anything
but a recommendation.
In addition to the danger growing out of any misunderstand
ing with the Indians was the greater danger of their becoming dis
gruntled, for they would then almost invariably attempt to stam
pede the cattle at night while on the~bed ground, and in this way
take their chances on securing the strays from the herd, which in
the short time allowed at that one place would be overlooked in an
effort again to regather or round up the cattle that had escaped
under such conditions. In the majority of cases the cattle were
under contract for delivery on a certain date, and the distance to
be covered each day was carefully mapped out and followed.
One of the astonishing things in moving these cattle was the
moderate loss in numbers sustained on the trip, and the very
trifling expense involved in moving them such a great distance.
Between the Gulf line and the average point in Wyoming a dis
tance of approximately 1,500 miles was involved. When the cat
tle were started they were generally very thin and in poor condi
tion, and there was necessarily some loss incurred by those that
were foot-sore and unable to travel. A slight loss also was un
avoidable on account of the storms at night.
In spite of all this the last herd of cattle that I came through
with, numbered at the start 3,47°. and we turned loose on one of
the tributaries of Cheyenne River, 3,430, and this without doing
any of the "recruiting" along the Trail, for which cattle men have
a proverbial reputation.

48 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The actual expense involved in moving this herd of cattle was
about, all told, except the cost of the cattle lost, as I remember it,
between 40 and 50 cents a head.
There is one feature of the trip that I feel I must mention
particularly, because it impressed me so strongly, and that was the
ever-changing but ever-beautiful scenery through which we
passed. As our route lay northward, as I mentioned before, for a
distance of hundreds of miles, we had almost perpetual spring.
Feed and water became more plentiful as we cleared the straggling
settlements, until we found ourselves, in this way at least, in per
petual clover, particularly when we had entered the Indian Ter
ritory. Going south from the starting point difference in the
growth of all kinds of vegetation was easily noted from day to
day. At our starting point the green grass was perhaps two or
three inches long; on the Gulf of Mexico, 200 miles south, it was
easily ten inches long. At our starting point people were just
planting their gardens ; in the coast country we found all kinds of
vegetables already grown and matured.
The trip was indeed beautiful : the wide level stretches of
country covered with a splendid growth of grass and ornamented
with all kinds of fragrant flowers, with here and there a beauti
ful grove of live oak trees with long trailing moss was a wonder
ful sight. The live oak is a tree unusually slow of growth and
many of these old trees seen on that journey had been marking
time for hundreds of years when the Declaration of Independence
was signed. All this, with the balmy spring air, the Gulf breezes
playing and the air filled with the songs of all kinds of birds, rep
resented an experience not to be forgotten in a lifetime.
After a hard night's work with stampeding cattle and the ele
ments, every man would swear that that trip would be his last, but
I never knew a man to* give up work on the Trail because of its
physical hardships, and I knew men at that time who had been
over the Trail eight or ten times, each trip fraught with its own
particular dangers. Perhaps if the Trail were still used they
would even now be making their journeys over it, if still alive. I
think the reason for this lay in the fact that however dreary and
monotonous the days became, there was a real fascination con
nected with the experiences of the Trail, due in part to the con
stant change of scene that came with each day's travel, and a new.
camp every night. Then too the most hardened and unobservant
cowboy could not help but be impressed with the beautiful and
ever varying scenery on the way. The element of danger that was
a part of almost every day's experience did not detract from the
fascination of the trip, you may be sure — the danger from Indians
and the holding of a large herd of cattle in a night so dark that no
ray or glimmer of light was to be seen, and when the most in
significant incident or the slightest accident — a stumbling horse, a

MISCELLANIES, 1919 49
flash of lightning, the smell of a wild animal— might cause a stam
pede that would last for hours.
After such a night of hardship and terror the men would be
exhausted and utterly discouraged with their lot, but a good night's
rest would cause them to look upon life in the same cheerful way
again. In conclusion let me say that a goodly percentage of live stock
is still moving from the pastures and ranges of" the southwest to
the northern states, and more recently another movement number
ing many thousands of cattle, greatly improved in breeding, is
made directly from the southern pastures to the feed lots of the
northern states and as far east as the State of New York, where
they are finished on grain and sold as "baby beef;" this in ages
ranging from one and a half to two and a half years ; in striking
contrast to the order which required from four to six and even
seven years in which to mature an animal for beef. Then, too,
these cattle are now moved in the same number of days that it
originally required months.
¦ It is not unlikely that had it not been for the building of the
riorth and south lines of railway, there would have been estab
lished a permanent highway, not only wide enough to serve for
large bands of cattle to trail over, but widened areas to serve as
grazing stations while enroute to the north, so important was this
movement from a commercial and economic standpoint. In fact
a plan for such legislation was actually advocated 'before the
building of the railways mentioned. The building of these, to
gether with the encroachment of settlers, served to bring about an
entire abandonment of the old system.
What at one time was a great highway traversed by millions
of" cattle in charge of thousands of men and accompanied by hun
dreds of thousands of horses, has been abandoned, and lives now,
if at all, only as a part of the history and development of the great
West in which we live.

Letter Written for Cheyenne Industrial Club
by Mr. Hiram B. Kelly
Denver, Colorado, March 22nd, 1915.
Mr. H. B. Crain,
Cheyenne, Wyoming.-
My Dear Sir : — In answer to your letter of March 19th, 1915,
I will say:
I left Independence, Missouri, the 8th day of May, 1849, for
California, up the North Platte, by way of old Fort Laramie (then
in the Dakotas, now Wyoming), at that time an American Fur
Company post. Stayed in California until 1852, in the .mines ;
back by way of the Isthmus to Independence, Missouri, in 1853;
drove six yoke of cattle to a freight wagon to Santa Fe, New
Mexico, and back in the fall. The freight train consisted of about
twenty-five wagons and about thirty men. In 1854 I drove ten
mules over the same route to Santa Fe, New Mexico, loaded with
merchandise for merchants in Santa Fe — about thirty ten-mule
teams in the train — and back in the fall.
In 1855 went with a mail party from Independence, Missouri,
to Santa Fe, New Mexico, working for the mail contractors, H°ck-
aday & Hall, in which business I remained until 1857. The mail
went each way every month, taking about twenty-one days to make
the trip, allowing the balance of the time for lay-over for the
teams to rest. We had many difficulties with the Indians at dif
ferent times. In September, 1856, Colonel Sumner had a- fight
with the Cheyenne Indians in the Smoky Hjll country, and I met
him at Little Arkansas as he was on his way to Fort Leavenworth
and I was on my way with the mail party to Santa Fe, New Mex
ico. He was camped below the road some distance and sent an
orderly up to say that he wanted to see me. I went down to his
camp ; he told me that he had had a fight with the Cheyenne In
dians on the Smoky Hill and had killed some eleven of them, and
that I had better look out on my route crossing the Arkansas ; he
thought that I might come in contact with these Indians and they
would be on the warpath. I asked him for an escort until I met
the incoming mail to Independence, and he said his mules were
poor and he could not furnish me with an- escort. I told him I
would have to go ahead and do the best I could, I supposed, with
out an escort, which I did. After I crossed the Arkansas, one
evening in the sand hills some ten miles from the crossing, I ran
into a band of about one hundred Cheyenne warriors, all painted

MISCELLANIES, 1919 51
up and on the warpath. They jerked me off the seat of the coach
and wanted to know if I was "capitan" — meaning the man in
charge. I told them, "Yes." They said they had had a fight with
the Great White Father's soldiers, who had killed some of them.
They took the wood off the top of my coach and built a little fire,
got out their pipes and formed a ring around the fire and put us
mail boys inside of it, and they told us they had had a fight with
the soldiers, and the soldiers had killed some of their party and
they wanted revenge, and they proposed to take it out of us, but I
out-talked, them. They had a little Mexican boy along whom they
had captured several years before, who had learned to talk the
Cheyenne language, and I had a man who could talk Spanish, so
I interpreted through my man to their boy, and the boy would in
terpret to the Indians what I would say. I told them that there
were plenty of them, that they could kill us ; to go ahead and kill
us, we could not help ourselves as they outnumbered us and had
overpowered us ; but I said the Great White Father, to whom
these papers that I was carrying belonged, will kill all of you if
you kill'us, so there won't be arty of you left. They would talk be
tween themselves, and one party of them was for letting us go and
the other wanted to kill us, but after about six hours' jangling
amongst themselves they decided to let us go. I told them then, as
they had taken .all of our supplies and we had several hundred
miles to go before we could get to Fort Union and something to
eat, I would have to turn back on my trail that I made that day
and catch up with a freight train of Majors, Russell and Waddell
that I had passed early that morning to get some supplies, before I
could continue my journey. They finally agreed to let me go back,
and they formed a line on both sides of the road as we turned
around, and there was where I expected they would "feather" me
as we went back. I went back to the train, got there about day
light that morning, and we fed our mules and laid down and took a
sleep, and when we got up the- train had pulled out. We got some
thing to eat, hitched up and overtook the train and traveled with it
up to the place where the Indians had attacked us, and then went
on and made our time into Santa Fe with the mail, traveling day
and night, as we had lost several days. Some six years after that,
on Horseshoe, at Ben Holliday's old stage line station, I met one
of these Indians that was with the party which attacked us up on
the Arkansas in 1856, and he told me that after they let us go
that night they made up their minds to kill us, and they took after
us, but didn't overtake us.
In the fall of '58 I took a train of thirty-six eight-mule teams
from Atchison, Kansas, loaded with supplies and merchandise for
Livingston & Kinkaid, to Salt Lake, Utah. Our mules were all
wild and the weather was bad in September. The mules got so
thin and poor that we had to winter at Fort Laramie. In the
spring of '59 we continued our trip on to Salt Lake, and unloaded

52 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
our wagons at Salt Lake and Camp Floyd. Camp Floyd was a
government post commanded by Johnson. We left the mules in
Utah that summer, as Hoard & Smith, the owners of them, thought
they could sell them to the government, but they didn't sell them
and the mules were taken back to Independence, Missouri, that
fall. Meantime I went back to Independence ahead of the mules,
and in the fall drove them to St. Louis and put them on the mule
market there and they were sold.
In March, '60, I drove a four-mule team to Denver for two
men by the names of Ki Harrison and Sid Barnes. The wagon
was loaded with nails. Nails at that time were worth 25 cents per
pound in Denver. The latter part of March, i860, I went up into
California Gulch in the vicinity of what is now Leadville. There
were some 3*000 people in the gulch that summer when I was there,
would be my guess. I mined there that summer, came back to
Denver in the fall of i860 and wintered in Denver down on Blake
and Sixteenth Street, in a little old frame house where the Inter-
Ocean Hbtel now stands.
In the spring of '61 I went to Fort Laramie and got a hay con
tract from the Government to furnish 100 tons of hay at the post at
$29 a ton. Another man and I cut it with scythes. I put in that
contract that summer and in the fall of '61 went to work for Ben
Holliday on the Overland Stage line, and ran asjnessenger from
Julesburg to South Pass several trips and then the superintendent
of Slade's put me in charge of the transportation of the bull teams.
I had charge of them, putting in wood and hay at the stations
along the route. I would place five or six teams at a station and
put a man in charge of them and he would go ahead and put in hay
and wood according to my directions, and I would travel up and
down the line on the stage coaches and see that the work was
carried out, etc.
In '62 they moyed the stage line from the North Platte road
across to Denver, and they ran from Denver, then to Laporte,
Cache la Poudre and up Cherokee Trail to Bitter Creek, and then
intercepted the old road. We established the Virginia Dale sta
tion as headquarters. I got out the logs to build that station.
In '63 I quit the stage line and went hack over to Fort Lar
amie and during the summers traded with the emigrants that were
on their way to California and Oregon. I would trade them well
stock for lame stock, etc., and followed that up until 1864. In the
fall of '63 E. W. Whitcomb and I were putting up a lot of hay in
Chugwater and cutting it with scythes to feed our horses that win
ter, right where the station now stands. It was pretty tough, hard
work, and I got tired one day and threw my scythe up in a bunch
of willows, and told them I was through.
In the spring of '68 I bought some teams, took a contract for
helping to move the government posts Fort Reno and Fort Phil
Kearney down to Fort Steele in Wyoming. During that time, just

MISCELLANIES, 1919 53
after I got back off that trip in the fall, I was living on Horse
Creek twenty-five miles north of Cheyenne. The Indians came
along and ran off twenty- four or twenty-five horses— all I had but
one. In 1869 a man named John Richards and I took a wood and
hay contract for Fort Fetterman. We went up in the spring and
started in to work on our contract. He was to put in the hay and I
was- to put in the wood. He had mule teams .and I had ox teams.
During the summer he got drunk and riding along in front of the
settlers' store at Fort Fetterman, he shot and killed a soldier who
was sitting alongside the settlers' store and then he went with the
Indians that were on the war path. I was at that time camping on
Deer Creek, above the Fort some thirty miles. We were then
working on the hay. The Indians came along one day and got
after my men who were running the mowers and they all got into
the brush and willows and beaver dams and lay there two days
and came into camp at night, wet as rats. I could not get them to
cut any more hay, so I went to Omaha to the chief quartermaster
and tried to get the contract annulled, but they needed the hay and
would not stand for it. The men would not do any more work
while I was away. I came back down to the Chugwater along
about December. I had to hitch up my train and come over to
Cache la Poudre, in Colorado, and bought the hay and had it baled
and hauled up to Fort Fetterman about two hundred miles, at $20
per ton. I lost about $5,000 on the one hundred tons of hay. I
had William M. Brown in charge of the train.
In July, 1870, 1 sold all my work cattle to a man by the name
of Pritchard. We loaded them right where the Cheyenne depot
now stands into the. cars in one of those little short chutes that they
loaded and unloaded horses in. They were the first cattle loaded
and shipped out of Wyoming, and they went to Paris for beef, as
it was the time of the Franco-German war. I got $70 per head for
them and Pritchard got about $1 50 per head.
In the fall of 1870 came my first experience in the range cat
tle business. That fall I brought two hundred head of two-year
old heifers on the Chugwater. The country was all open then and
I had good success with the cattle. I think I had about ten Dur
ham bulls with this bunch of cows. The only range stuff in the
country at that time was that of Bullock & Mills, later Bullock &
Hunton, who had a small bunch of cows below the mouth of Rich
ard's, known as S. O. Ranch.
In the winter of 1871 and '72 I got a government beef contract
at Fort Fetterman. I bought my beef cattle to fill that contract
from Ab Loomis, who lived on the Cache la Poudre, in Colorado.
They were mostly dry cows.
I stayed on the ranch at Chugwater with this herd of cattle
until 1884, when I sold out to a Scotch company.

54 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In February, 1873, ( ?), the association was formed known as
the Laramie County Stock Men's Association. Mr. W. L. Kuy-
kendall was secretary. The association was composed of the few
stockmen in the country who had a number of herds in Western
Nebraska, Northern Colorado, and at that time South-eastern Wy
oming. The purpose of this association was to further the inter
ests of the range cattle business, and to formulate a system of
round-ups. M. B. Boughton was the first president of the asso
ciation. We used to hold meetings in Judge Kuykendall's court
room in the old probate court, and had some very warm times, in
discussing the best way to handle this new business, but we had' an
exceptionally good class of men in with us, which made the re
sults of the association very productive. A little later the actual
industry began to grow. Large interests came from Eastern
money centers, such as Boston, and this business developed into
the largest industry in the West. In about 1879 this little asso
ciation was merged into what is known as the Wyoming Stock
Growers' Association, of which A. H. Swan was the. first presi
dent and Tom Sturgis secretary.
This association protected the stockgrowers when they made
their shipments to Chicago, which at that time was the only mar
ket, by having inspectors at the points to which they were shipped
to inspect the brands. When sold the proceeds of any man's brand
(it did not make any difference who had shipped the cattle) were
held out and sent to the owner. The mavericks on ranges were
generally conceded to belong to the man that owned the stock on
that range, or what they considered his range. Later on the mav
ericks were sold and the proceeds turned into the association1.
These systems were adopted at the annual meetings, which were
held in Cheyenne the first week in April of each year, at which
time there was a gathering of all cattle kings, ranchmen and ranch
foremen of the different outfits, who were always there to see that
"the round-up districts were divided so that they could be handled
without too much confusion and for the benefit of all concerned.
After selling out I handled some stock down on Bear Creek,
at the Y-Cross ranch. I did not consider I was in the stock busi
ness after I sold out on Chugwater in 1884. The association is
still in existence and has proven to be a success in the Western
country, Wyoming especially. Yours truly,
(Signed) Hiram B. Kelly.

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