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1966

WYOMING

Annals
of Wyoming

M-

Epperson Collection
Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department

AMES MONUMENT

April 1966

WYOMING STATE LIBRARY, ARCHIVES AND
HISTORICAL BOARD

Judicial
District

7
Member at Large
Ex-Officio

Fred W. Marble, Chairman Cheyenne

Mrs. Leonard Stensaas Rock Springs

Mrs. R. Dwight Wallace Evanston

Mrs. Cecil Lucas Gillette

Richard I. Frost Cody

Mrs. Virgil Thorpe Newcastle

Mrs. Frank Mockler Lander

Mrs. Dudley Hayden Jackson
Attorney General John F. Raper

WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT

STAFF

Neal E. Miller Director

Mrs. Katherine Halverson Chief, Historical Division

Paul M. Edwards Chief, Museum Division

Mrs. Bonnie Forsyth Svoboda Chief, Archives Division

ANNALS OF WYOMING

The Annals of Wyoming is published semi-annually in April and
October and is received by all members of the Wyoming State Historical
Society. Copies of current issues may be purchased for $1.50 each.
Available copies of earlier issues are also for sale. A price list may be
obtained by writing to the Editor.

Communications should be addressed to the Editor. The Editor does
not assume responsibility for statements of fact or of opinion made by
contributors.

tAmals of Wyoming

Volume 38

April, 1966

Number 1

Neal E. Miller
Editor

Katherine Halverson
Associate Editor

Published biannually by the

WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT

Official Publication of the Wyoming State Historical Society

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OFFICERS 1965-1966

President, Mrs. Charles Hord Casper

First Vice President. Glenn Sweem Sheridan

Second Vice President, John Banks Cody

Secretary-Treasurer, Miss Maurine Carley Cheyenne

Executive Secretary, Neal E. Miller Cheyenne

Past Presidents:

Frank L. Bowron, Casper 1953-1955

William L. Marion, Lander 1955-1956

Dr. DeWitt Dominick, Cody 1956-1957

Dr. T. A. Larson. Laramie 1957-1958

A. H. MacDougall, Rawlins 1958-1959

Mrs. Thelma G. Condit, Buffalo 1959-1960

E. A. Littleton, Gillette 1960-1961

Edness Kimball Wilkins, Casper ...1961-1962

Charles Ritter, Cheyenne 1962-1963

Neal Miller, Rawlins 1963-1965

The Wyoming State Historical Society was organized in October, 1953.
Membership is open to anyone interested in history. County Historical
Society Chapters have been organized in Albany, Big Horn, Campbell,
Carbon, Fremont, Goshen, Johnson, Laramie, Natrona, Park, Platte. Sheri-
dan, Sweetwater, Teton, Washakie, Weston and Uinta counties.

State Dues:

Life Membership $50.00

Joint Life Membership (Husband and wife) 75.00

Annual Membership 3.50

Joint Annual Membership (Two persons of same family at

same address.) 5.00

County dues are in addition to state dues and are set by county organ-
izations.

Send State membership dues to:

Wyoming State Historical Society
Executive Headquarters
State Office Building
Cheyenne, Wyoming

table of Contents

MILITARY COMMAND AT FORT LARAMIE 5

John Dishon McDermott
Gordon Chappell

THE ARCHITECTURE OF H. H. RICHARDSON IN WYOMING .... 49
H. R. Dieterich, Jr.

A PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY FOR THE SMALL MUSEUM 54

Paul M. Edwards

THE UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE

JOHNSON, COUNTY INVASION _ 59

Robert A. Murray

GHOSTS TOOK OVER THE TUNNEL 77

W. R. Bandy

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK NO. 2 85

Trek No. 16 of the Historical Trail Treks
Compiled by Maurine Carley

PONY EXPRESS, Poem 104

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

President's Message by Mrs. Violet Hord 105

Minutes of the Twelfth Annual Meeting, September 11-12, 1965 .... 106

BOOK REVIEWS

Larson, History of Wyoming 120

Sandoz, Old J ides Country 121

Josephy, The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest 123

Cook, Folsom. Peterson, The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone 124

Hart, Old Forts of the Far West 124

Karolevitz, Newspapering in the Old West 126

Frink, Barthelmess, Photographer on an Army Mule 127

Fielder, Wild Bill and Deadwood 128

Andrews, Photographers of the Frontier West 129

Urbanek, Wyoming Wonderland 130

CONTRIBUTORS _ _ _ _ 131

ILLUSTRATIONS

Ames Monument Cover

Fort Laramie, 1858 4

Lt. Garnett, Capt. Dunovant, Capt. Bee, Col. King 8

Lt. Col. Grover, Col. Merritt 10

Lt. Col. Bradley, Lt. Col. Burt 48

Tunnel Crew 76

Headquarters, Wiley Tunnel Project 76

Heading of No. 2 Tunnel 80

Gravel Chute and Storage Bins 80

Cheyenne to Deadwood Stage Route, Map 84

Trekkers at George Lathrop Monument 86

Hold-up of a Southbound Stage 88

Junior Historical Society Members, Dr. McCracken 114

Officers, Wyoming State Historical Society 118

Military Command
at Jort Caramie

By
John Dishon McDermott

, AND

Gordon Chappell

During the forty-one year period that Fort Laramie was a mili-
tary post, from 1849 to 1890, eighty-two different officers served
as its post commander, an average of two per year. Some of these
men are familiar figures to those acquainted with Civil War battles
and Indian campaigns, for their names and deeds fill the pages of
many a book. Others are obscure and forgotten figures, men
whose only printed memorial is a line or two in Army Registers
of the period or such encyclopedic works as William Powell's
List of Officers of tke U.S. Army, 1776-1900 and Francis Her-
man's two volume Historical Register and Dictionary of the United
States Army. Whatever their fame, infamy, or obscurity, each
deserves a measure of recognition. Some commanded Fort Lara-
mie under incredible handicaps. Some lacked men and supplies.
More than a few lacked experience. Yet, considering the circum-
stances, most of these men performed adequately, and a few
brilliantly.

Of these eighty-two commanders, sixty-eight were officers of the
Regular Army, while the remaining fourteen were members of
Civil War volunteer regiments. Forty-three of the Regulars repre-
sented the infantry branch, two the artillery. The other twenty-
three were cavalry officers, the term here including one dragoon
and two from the Regiment of Mounted Rifles.1 In rank these
officers ranged from second lieutenant to colonel. No general
ever served as post commander, though twelve officers of lesser
actual rank who did command the post were entitled to be ad-

1. Major Winslow F. Sanderson and First Lieutenant Washing. on Lafay-
ette Elliott, both of whom served as post commanders in 1849, represented
the Regiment of Mounted Rifles; Captain Samuel Henry Starr, who com-
manded in 1860, was an officer of the Second Dragoons. By an act oi
Congress dated August 3, 1861, the Regiment of Mounted Rifles was re-
designated as the Third Cavalry, and the Second Dragoons became the
Second Cavalry.

6 ANNALS OF WYOMING

dressed as "general" and to sign correspondence with that rank as
a result of brevet commissions. -

Among the sixty-eight Regular Army officers, only twenty-
seven, or roughly forty percent, were graduates of the United States
Military Academy at West Point, New York. Two of these ranked
as high as fourth in their class, while two others managed to
finish last. Their graduating classes ranged in years from 1814 to
1882.

Twenty-one of the Regulars had received direct commissions
from civil life with no previous enlisted military service on record.
Most of these received their first direct commission in some state
volunteer unit when the Civil War broke out, then during or shortly
after the war obtained a direct commission in the Regular Army
on the basis of the record of their experience as officers in the
volunteer service. There were a few, however, who received
direct commissions either during the War with Mexico or during
peacetime. The creation of two new cavalry regiments in 1855,
for example, was the occasion for several direct commissions to fill
the new vacancies.3

Twenty of the Regular Army officers who commanded Fort
Laramie had served as enlisted men at some time prior to becoming
commissioned officers. Most had enlisted in Civil War volunteer
regiments, and when these units became decimated in battle,
enlisted men were commissioned to fill vacancies left by officer
casualties. In a few instances the enlisted service was in a Regular
Army regiment, again with promotion to fill a vacancy created by a
bullet.

Of the fourteen officers of volunteer regiments who commanded
Fort Laramie, eleven were cavalry and three were infantry. Colo-
nel Maynadier was one of the latter, and was the only West Point
graduate among the volunteer officers who served as post com-
mander. His regiment, the Fifth U.S. Volunteers, was also unique.
It was not enlisted under a state quota, thus carried "U.S." in its
title; furthermore, it was composed of Confederate prisoners of war

2. Technically, John Gibbon was an exception, for he was promoted
from colonel commanding the 7th Infantry and the post to brigadier general
on July 10, 1885, while at Fort Laramie. However his promotion carried
with it orders to leave for Fort Vancouver where he was to assume com-
mand of the Department of the Columbia, and he immediately relinquished
command of the post to Captain Benham.

3. Albert Gallatin Bracken was one such officer. Although appointed a
captain in the new Second Cavalry from civilian life, he did have very brief
prior service as a Mexican War lieutenant in an Indiana volunteer regiment.
Another example of such an appointment was Eugene Wilkinson Crittenden,
appointed second lieutenant in the newly-formed First Cavalry on March 3,
1855, with no prior military service.

MILITARY COMMAND AT FORT LARAMIE 7

who found the task of fighting wild Indians in Union blue more to
their taste than a Federal military prison.4

The Civil War proved a pivotal experience for most of Fort
Laramie's post commanders, as indeed it was for the nation itself.
Some, such as Major Isaac Lynde who had commanded the post
before the war, met only with disgrace.5 Many others, such as
Colonel Albert Brackett, gained fame and promotions. Still others
found only death.

Many officers of the Regular Army in ante-bellum years were of
Southern origin; many of these naturally fought for the Southern
cause. Three Southern gentlemen who commanded the post dur-
ing the 1850s, Lieutenant Garnett, Captain Dunovant, and Captain
Bee, resigned their commissions to become generals in the Con-
federate States Army. All three lost their lives in uniforms of gray.
Richard Brooke Garnett died at the third day of Gettysburg; John
Dunovant died in a fight on the Vaughn Road in Virginia in 1864;
and Barnard Elliott Bee met death near a Virginia creek known as
Bull Run a mere eight months after he had left Fort Laramie in
1 860.6

Not all of the officers who commanded the post were wise and
judicious in their role. Some fell far short of being adequate.
Captain Avery Cain, for example, engaged in a petty squabble with
the post surgeon over a man detailed from his company as a hos-
pital orderly. The post commander, Colonel Slemmer, upheld the
surgeon, but shortly thereafter died of a heart attack one night,
which left Captain Cain as his successor. The captain then pro-
ceeded to take his revenge on the poor surgeon by making a
shambles of hospital routine.7

In contrast, many officers were highly experienced and extreme-
ly capable. Colonel Brackett had written and had published his

4. For a detailed history of this unit, see Dee Alexander Brown's The
Galvanized Yankees (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1963).

5. In July, 1861, Major Lynde surrendered Fort Thorn, New Mexico
Territory, and its Union garrison to an inferior force of Texan Confederates.
Unlike General Twiggs who surrendered his entire department to the Texans
and then joined the Confederate Army, Lynde was no traitor and did not
join the Rebels. But for his mishandling of the situation at Fort Thorn he
was summarily dropped from the United States Army. Following the Civil
War, in view of his long previous service, he was reinstated and immediately
retired. For a first-hand account of the Fort Thorn affair, see Lydia
Spencer Lane's / Married a Soldier: or Old Days in the Old Army (Albu-
querque: Horn and Wallace, 1964; a reprint of the original 1893 edition).

6. According to unverified local tradition around Fort Laramie, wild
mint which grows along the Laramie River is a legacy of Southern officers
stationed at the post prior to the Civil War who planted mint in order to
have it for their juleps.

7. For a detailed account of this affair, see Gordon Chappell, "Footnotes
to Old Fort Laramie; The Trouble with Raising Cain," The Torrington Tele-
gram (published biweekly at Torrington, Wyoming) October 2, 1961.

ANNALS OF WYOMING

1ST LIEUT. RICHARD BROOKE
GARNETT

CAPT. JOHN DUNOVANT

CAPT. BARNARD ELLIOTT BEE COL. JOHN HASKELL KING

Courtesy of Fort Laramie National Historic Site

MILITARY COMMAND AT FORT LARAMIE 9

History of the United States Cavalry a full decade before he com-
manded the post. Colonel John Gibbon had commanded the
famed "Iron Brigade" during the Civil War and followed that with
long, distinguished frontier service before he became Fort Lara-
mie's post commander.8

There were also the highly inexperienced, such as Second Lieu-
tenant Hugh Fleming, who in 1854 sent an even less experienced
subordinate with highly discretionary orders and in violation of an
Indian treaty into a Sioux village with a greatly outnumbered de-
tachment to arrest a brave who allegedly had stolen a cow. Rather
than criticize Mr. Fleming, however, one might better condemn
those responsible for assigning a mere second lieutenant to so
sensitive and important a command as Fort Laramie.9

Among the post commanders, one officer filled that position
under two different names. Captain John Rziha commanded the
post briefly in 1870, and on May 3, 1874, officially changed his
name to John Laube de Laubenfels. Later that year he command-
ed the post under his new name.1" Another interesting case in-
volved George Drew. As a volunteer major he commanded the
post in 1865. Fourteen years later he was again in command for a
few hours during his superior's absence as a first lieutenant of
Regulars; quite a demotion. To make the affair more confusing,
he had been promoted to captain a few weeks before, but neither he
nor anyone else in the garrison was aware of it.11

Oddly enough, West Point, generally credited with producing
the cream of the officer corps, provided Fort Laramie with not only
some of its finest but also some of its poorest commandants. A
comparison of the records of the West Point graduates with the
records of those who had either come up from the ranks or received
direct commissions from civilian life indicates that the West Point-
ers were, as a whole, neither better nor worse than those officers
who had never seen that bluff on the Hudson River.12

8. Gibbon had commanded one of the three major columns in the Sioux
War of 1876, and the following year was severly wounded in the Battle of
the Big Hole against the Nez Perce. He was certainly one of the army's
most capable officers.

9. See Lloyd E. McCann's "The Grattan Massacre," Nebraska History.
Vol. XXXVII, No. 1, March 1956), pp. 1-25.

10. de Laubenfels, a Pole, was for some reason dismissed from the serv-
ice on December 31, 1875.

11. Drew commanded the post on June 8, 1879 for only one day and
possibly for less than a day. He had been promoted captain on March 20,
1879, but had not yet been informed of the promotion.

12. For a comparison of officers records, consult the biographical section
of the manuscript "Military Command at Fort Laramie," by Gordon Chap-
pell, in the research files at Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

ANNALS OF WYOMING

LT. COL. CUVIER GROVER COL. WESLEY MERRITT

Courtesy of Fort Laramie National Historic Site

Thus in its forty-one years as America's most famous frontier
military post, Fort Laramie was commanded by an extremely
diverse range of individuals — men of widely varied background,
education, and experience. Nevertheless each one who served in
this capacity, regardless of ability and all questions of competence
aside, earned at least a small place in the history of the American
West.

I. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF FORT LARAMIE POST
COMMANDERS

Immediately below the name of the commander appears infor-
mation concerning the reasons that officer assumed or relinquished
command, if such information was reflected in the records. The
words "beginning" and "ending" are abbreviated 'kB" and "E".
In a few instances there is an additional entry preceded by the letter
"R", signifying remarks. Such remarks concern a particularly
important event which occurred during that officer's tenure.

MILITARY COMMAND AT FORT LARAMIE

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42 ANNALS OF WYOMING

II. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF FORT LARAMIE POST
COMMANDERS

Rank and Name Year (s)

Colonel Edmund Brooke Alexander 1860-1862

Captain Asaph Allen 1862

Captain Augustus Hudson Bainbridge 1872

Major Eugene Mortimer Baker 1 874

Captain Barnard Elliott Bee 1860
Captain Daniel Webster Benham 1883-1886, 1888

Major Matthew Marsh Blunt 1871-1874

Colonel Albert Gallatin Brackett 1 879-1 880

Lt. Colonel Luther Prentice Bradley 1 874-1 876

Captain John Wilson Bubb 1880

Captain Levi Frank Burnett 1 889-1 890

Captain Thomas Bredin Burrows 1876

Lt. Colonel Andrew Sheridan Burt 1888
Captain Avery Billings Cain 1868-1869, 1878-1879

Captain Francis Newman Clarke 1 859

Captain William S. Collier 1 879-1 880

Lt. Colonel Edward Collins 1 887

Lt. Colonel William Oliver Collins 1863-1864
Captain Richard Comba 1883, 1885-1887

Ma'or Eugene Wilkinson Crittenden 1871

Colonel W. R. Davis 1865

Major Hannibal Day 1 859-1 860

Captain John Laube De Laubenfels* 1874

Colonel Thomas Casimer Devin 1877-1878

Major George Augustus Drew 1865

Captain John Dunovant 1860

Major William McEntire Dye 1 868-1 869

1st Lieutenant Washington Lafayette Elliott 1850
Major Andrew Wallace Evans 1876, 1 878-1879

Major William H. Evans 1866

2nd Lieutenant Hugh Brady Fleming 1854

Colonel Franklin Foster Flint 1869-1871

Captain William D. Fouts 1864

1 st Lieutenant Richard Brooke Garnett 1 852-1 854

Colonel John Gibbon 1 882-1885

Lt. Colonel Cuvier Grover 1872

Captain Nicholas Harrington 1862

Major Verling Kersey Hart 1880-1882

Captain Edward Mortimer Hayes 1881-1882

Major William Hoffman 1854-1857

Major George Washington Howland 1866

Major A. J. Hughes 1866

Captain Jacob Lee Humfreville 1866

MILITARY COMMAND AT FORT LARAMIE 43

Captain Guido Ilges 1871-1872

1st Lieutenant John Burgess Johnson 1878

Captain Sanford Cobb Kellogg 1880-1882

Captain William Scott Ketchum 1 850-1 852

Colonel John Haskell King 1 874

Captain Thaddeus Sandford Kirtland 1889

Captain Christopher S. Lovell 1859

Major Isaac Lynde 1857-1858

Major Thomas L. Mackey 1863-1865

Captain Thomas J. Majors 1865

Captain Louis Henry Marshall 1861

Major Julius Wilmot Mason 1 877-1 878

Colonel Henry Eveleth Maynadier 1865

1 st Lieutenant George Wilcox Mclver 1 890

Captain Robert Peebles McKibbin 1868

1 st Lieutenant John McNab 1861

Colonel Henry Clay Merriam 1885-1889

Colonel Wesley Merritt 1880-1882

Captain Alexander Moore 1877

Lt. Colonel John Munroe 1 858-1 859

Captain Samuel Munson 1877

Major George Morgan O'Brien 1866

Lt. Colonel Innis Newton Palmer 1866-1867

Captain Charles Cotesworth Rawn 1882-1884

Captain Daniel Robinson 1889

Captain Gerald Russell 1878, 1880

Captain John Rziha * 1870, 1874

Major Winslow F. Sanderson 1 849-1 850

Captain James Madison Johnson Sanno 1885

Lt. Colonel Adam Jacoby Slemmer 1867-1868

Colonel John Eugene Smith 1871-1874

Captain Samuel Henry Starr 1860

1st Lieutenant Charles William Taylor 1890

Captain John A. Thompson 1862-1863

Major Edwin Franklin Townsend 1876

Major James Van Voast 1 866

Captain Henry Walton Wessells, Jr. 1 880

Captain Constant Williams 1887

Major John S. Wood 1864

Captain Albert Emmett Woodson 1882

* Captain Rziha changed his name in 1874 to John Laube de Laubenfels,
and commanded Fort Laramie that year under the latter name. He is listed
alphabetically under both names.

44 ANNALS OF WYOMING

III. MILITARY TITLES OTHER THAN ACTUAL RANK
COMMANDING OFFICERS ENTITLED TO BE
ADDRESSED AS GENERAL

For one or more reasons, the officers listed below were entitled
to be addressed as "general'1 at the time they commanded Fort
Laramie. With one exception, none were paid or commanded
troops in that actual rank while post commander. Below each
officer's name and actual rank while he commanded Fort Laramie
are listed one or more reasons he could be addressed as "general";
any single reason was sufficient justification. If an officer had
actually commanded volunteer troops during the Civil War with
the rank of general, even though he served at a reduced rank in the
Regular Army after the war it was common courtesy to address him
as a general officer. Likewise, it was common courtesy, and for
awhlie it was mandatory, to address an officer by his highest brevet
rank if it exceeded his actual rank. In most cases, an officer who
had been a general of volunteers held one or more brevets to the
rank of general also.

Bradley, Luther Prentice Lieutenant Colonel

1. Brigadier General of Volunteers, July 30, 1864.

2. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 2, 1867.

Devin Thomas Casimer Colonel

1. Brevet Brigadier General (Volunteers), Aug. 15, 1864.

2. Brigadier General of Volunteers, October 19, 1864.

3. Brevet Major General (Volunteers), March 13, 1865.

4. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 2, 1867.

Dye, William McEntire Major

1. Brevet Brigadier General (Volunteers), March 13, 1865.

Gibbon, John * Colonel, Brigadier General

1. Brigadier General of Volunteers, May 2, 1862.

2. Major General of Volunteers, June 7, 1864.

3. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

4. Brevet Major General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

5. Brigadier General of Regulars, July 10, 1885.

Grover, Cuvier Lieutenant Colonel

1 . Brigadier General of Volunteers, April 14, 1862.

2. Brevet Major General (Volunteers), October 19, 1864.

3. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

4. Brevet Major General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

* Gibbon's promotion from colonel to brigadier general came through
while he was Fort Laramie post commander, and he then relinquished
command. He might technically be considered the only general officer
(actual rank) who commanded the post, though that is stretching the point.

MILITARY COMMAND AT FORT LARAMIE 45

King, John Haskell Colon si

1. Brigadier General of Volunteers, November 29, 1862.

2. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

3. Brevet Major General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

4. Brevet Ma^or General (Volunteers), May 13, 1865.

Maynadier, Henry Eveleth Colonel

1. Brevet Brigadier General (Volunteers), March 13, 1865.

2. Brevet Major General (Volunteers), March 13, 1865.

Merritt, Wesley Colonel

1. Brigadier General of Volunteers, June 29, 1863.

2. Brevet Major General (Volunteers), October 19, 1864.

3. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

4. Brevet Major General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

5. Major General of Volunteers, April 1, 1865.

O'Brien, George Morgan Major

1. Brevet Brigadier General (Volunteers), March 13, 1865.

Palmer, Innis Newton Lieutenant Colonel

1. Brigadier General of Volunteers, September 23, 1861.

2. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

3. Brevet Major General (Volunteers), March 13, 1865.

Slemmer, Adam Jacoby Lieutenant Colonel

1. Brigadier General of Volunteers, November 29, 1862.

2. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 13, 1865.

Smith, John Eugene Colonel

1. Brigadier General of Volunteers, November 29, 1862.

2. Brevet Major General (Volunteers), January 12, 1865.

3. Brevet Brigadier General (Regulars), March 2, 1867.

4. Brevet Major General (Regulars), March 2, 1867.

BREVET RANK OF COMMANDING OFFICERS

This list contains the names of those officers who held a brevet
(honorary) rank at least one grade above their actual rank but
below the brevet of general — with one exception which is noted.
These officers were entitled to sign correspondence and to be
addressed according to the brevet rank shown, a practice which
has hopelessly confused many competent historians and myriad
novelists. In some cases a Regular officer held brevet rank in
both the Regulars and the Volunteers. If commanding the post
as a Regular, he was entitled to be addressed only according to his
Regular brevet, even if the Volunteer brevet was the higher. Vol-
unteer unit officers, of course, were entitled to be addressed accord-
ing to their Volunteer brevet.

One officer commanded Fort Laramie once as a Volunteer and
once as a Regular, and held brevets in both services. In each case,
the brevet in the particular service applied.

ANNALS OF WYOMING

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MILITARY COMMAND AT FORT LARAMIE

IV. WEST POINT GRADUATES AMONG FORT LARAMIE
POST COMMANDERS

Alphabetically Arranged

Class

Standing in class

Alexander, Edmund Brooke

1823

33rd

of 35

Baker, Eugene Mortimer

1859

12th

of 22

Bee, Barnard Elliott

1845

33rd

of 41

Blunt, Matthew Marsh

1853

8th

of 52

Clarke, Francis Newman

1840

11th

of 42

Day, Hannibal

1823

23rd

of 45

Dye, William McEntire

1853

32nd

of 52

Evans, Andrew Wallace

1852

26th

of 43

Fleming, Hugh Brady

1852

29th

of 43

Flint, Franklin Foster

1841

35th

of 52

Garnett, Richard Brooke

1841

29th

of 52

Gibbon, John

1847

20th

of 38

Grover, Cuvier

1850

4th

of 44

Hoffman, William

1829

18th

of 46

Howland, George Washington

1848

38th

of 38

Ketchum, William Scott

1834

32nd

of 36

Lynde, Isaac

1827

32nd

of 38

Marshall, Louis Henry

1848

41st

of 43

Maynadier, Henry Eveleth

1851

17th

of 42

Mclver, George Wilcox

1882

19th

of 37

Merritt, Wesley

1860

22nd

of 41

Munroe, John

1814

4th

of 30

Palmer, Innis Newton

1846

38th

of 59

Slemmer, Adam Jacoby

1850

12th

of 44

Taylor, Charles William

1879

60th

of 67

Townsend, Edwin Franklin

1854

28th

of 46

Van Voast, James

1852

8th

of 43

AVERAGE

25th

of 43

A NOTE ON SOURCES

The principal source for information on post commanders is the
file of Post Returns in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.,
xerox copies of which are on file at Fort Laramie National Historic
Site. Only the year 1873 is missing from these records.

Additional sources are the Letters Sent File, Orders, Circulars,
Endorsements, the Medical History of the Post, Quartermaster
Records, and the like. These supplied information which supple-
mented that in the Post Returns, particularly information concern-
ing the reasons commanders left the post or relinquished their
commands. In certain instances these supplementary materials
showed that the Post Returns did not accurately list the officer in
command, and that the absence of a commander during a given
month did not appear on the return. This was a consequence of

ANNALS OF WYOMING

LT. COL. LUTHER PRENTICE
BRADLEY

LT. COL. ANDREW SHERIDAN
BURT

Courtesy of Fort Laramie National Historic Site

the fact that the Post Returns showed only those commanders who
were assigned as commanders, and did not list officers who were
acting commanders during a temporary absence of the assigned
commander. As the present list is concerned with who was in
actual command, adjustments were made as indicated by the
supplementary source material.

In those cases where information relative to the exact beginning
or ending of a commander's period of service was incomplete, the
present list reflects the uncertainty.

Zlte Architecture
of H* M. Kickardson in Wyoming

A NEW LOOK AT THE AMES MONUMENT

H. R. Dieterich, Jr.

The sixty-foot granite pyramid near the site of the old town of
Sherman in southeast Wyoming holds a minor but colorful place
in the history of the region. Erected to the memory of Oakes
Ames and Oliver Ames, Jr., by the creature of their own financial
genius, the Union Pacific Railroad, the monument stands at what
was once the highest point on the Union Pacific line, some 8,247
feet above sea level. Since the monument was completed in 1882
the rail lines have been twice moved to the south, leaving the site
isolated from all but the venturesome automobile traveler. The
granite pile, decorated only by a simple inscription, "In Memory
of Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames" and by two sculptured medal-
lions, still symbolizes the union of a family, a railroad and the
West.1

The monument itself figures in the anecdotal history of both
Laramie and Cheyenne. There was the episode in which an
imaginative and enterprising frontier justice of the peace from
Laramie discovered that the monument had inadvertently been
erected not on land owned by the railroad, but on a section of the
public domain. The financial possibilities in this situation were
glowingly evident to the Laramie entrepreneur, who hustled to
Cheyenne and filed a land claim on the tract that held the monu-
ment. His scheme was to sell advertising space on the side of his
monument, at least until he made other arrangements for its
disposition.

Here the story suddenly goes flat; having acquired apparent
legal title, the would-be operator lost his nerve. After modest
negotiations a staff of Union Pacific attorneys out of Omaha con-
vinced the Laramie man that he should relinquish his claim to the

1. "The Ames Monument," ANNALS OF WYOMING II (January,
1925), 50-52.

50 ANNALS OF WYOMING

monument and that he would be unwise indeed to tangle with the
railroad, and the matter was dropped. -

Along with such lore, a host of minor facts attend the monu-
ment: some eighty-five men were more or less continuously em-
ployed over a two-year period in its construction; the granite used
in the monument was cut from a huge outcrop nearby and was
skidded by horse and derrick to the site; the cost of the monument
finally amounted to approximately sixty-four thousand dollars.
In 1901 the main line of the railroad was moved several miles to
the south; fifteen years later the railroad considered the possibility
of moving the monument to track-side again, but nothing came of
this. And so the stories go.3

But the significance of the monument transcends considerably
these matters of essentially local interest. Few are aware of it,
but the monument is a representative example of the work of
Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the greatest of American archi-
tects and a figure whose importance has long been recognized by
students of American architecture and by American cultural his-
torians generally.4 The Ames monument was one of some half-
dozen projects he did under commission to the Ames family in the
late 1870's and 1880's. In a relatively short career (he died in
1886 in his 48th year) Richardson established for himself a place
in American architecture equalled only by Louis Sullivan (pioneer
developer of the skyscraper) and, in our time, Frank Lloyd Wright.
The monument at Sherman, Wyoming, was Richardson's only
commission west of St. Louis and is one of the handful of his works
that may still be seen today. Moreover, the granite plaques that
carry the likenesses of the Ames brothers on the east and west sides
of the monument near the top are the work of one of the most
talented of American artists, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
a man who equalled in his own field the importance of Richardson
himself/'

2. This particular story is recounted in detail in W. O. Owen, "The
Great Ames Monument Plot," The Railroad Man's Magazine XXXVII
(September, 1918), 1-10. Owen had been at the time the County Surveyor
of Albany County and his article forms the basis for an account of the
episode that appeared in the Laramie Republican, November 19, 1918.

3. "Ames Monument" folder, Hebard Collection, Western History Ar-
chives in the University of Wyoming Library. Material in the folder is
limited to newspaper and magazine clippings, various random notes and
letters that pertain to the monument.

4. The two standard works on Richardson and his architecture are
Marianna Guilder Van Rensselaer, Henry Hobson Richardson and His
Works (Boston, 1888), and Henry Russell Hitchcock, The Architecture of
H. H. Richardson and His Times (New York, 1936).

5. Hitchcock, 197; Van Rensselaer, 72; Wayne Andrews, Architecture.
Ambition and Americans (New York, Glencoe Free Press paperback, 1964),
163. A curious aspect of the sculptured plaques on the Ames Monument is
that Saint-Gaudens identified each likeness with only a simple monogram of

THE ARCHITECTURE OF H. R. RICHARDSON 51

Those who have written about the monument in the context of
western history have not mentioned these facts, although in some
specialized studies of American architecture and of the architect
himself the commission is discussed at length.6 Richardson's name
nowhere appears in early accounts of the monument and its con-
struction. It was apparently assumed that the design came directly
from the firm of Norcross Brothers of Worcester, Massachusetts,
the contractors who built the monument." The stark simplicity of
the design helps to explain this curious situation; then, as now, it
seemed difficult to view as "art" a plain granite pyramid, even one
that towered sixty feet from its base. The Cheyenne Leader must
have expressed a common and continuing reaction when it noted
shortly after the monument had been completed that it lacked the
"grand appearance that so much money ought to buy" and that it
seemed overshadowed by the natural heaps of granite nearby.8 A
certain obscurity seemed to mark the work, according to the
Leader: the visibility of both the inscription and the medallions
was much inferior to that of the advertisements for various com-
mercial products that paint and business enterprise had left on
other boulders along the right-of-way. The frontier environment
fostered little interest in the aesthetics of architecture. It was the
railroad that was important, not the name of an eastern architect
who designed a western monument to its promoters.

But H. H. Richardson was more than just another eastern archi-
tect; in the 1870's and 1880's he was unquestionably the leading
figure in his profession in America. His influence was so pervasive
that critics today speak of "Richardson Romanesque" as a distinct
movement in the evolution of American architecture. Richardson
owed much to the architectural tradition of Renaissance Europe —
he had been trained in the School of Fine Arts in Paris, but the
vigor and originality of his talent transmuted these ideas into an
original style, unmistakable and impressive. An acknowledged
master in the use of stone, brick and timber (he worked before the

the initials "OA" and with the year of birth and death. Oakes (1804-1873)
appears on the east side, Oliver (1807-1877) on the west. Regrettably, the
plaques have been seriously damaged by the rifle fire of vandals unaware,
we may assume, of the artistic importance of the sculpture.

6. As for example in both the Van Rensselaer and Hitchcock volumes.

7. Comment to the effect that the contracting firm also designed the
monument was common. See for example Charles Fitz, "Tales from Old-
Timers," The Union Pacific Magazine (May, 1924), p. 30, a copy of which
is in the "Ames Monument" folder in the Hebard Collection. The Norcross
firm executed most of Richardson's commissions, including his best known
one, Trinity Church in Boston. Van Rensselaer, pp. 29, 143.

8. October 3, 1882. But the Leader estimated badly the total cost of the
monument when it mentioned the figure of two hundred thousand dollars.
As noted earlier in this essay, the monument cost something over sixty-
four thousand dollars.

52 ANNALS OF WYOMING

development of structural glass and steel), Richardson designed
buildings marked by richly contrasting natural materials, low-slung
massive archways and boldly simplified lines.

For Richardson each commission was a unique problem, the
solution to which evolved out of the context of the problem itself —
the purpose of the structure, the materials at hand and the creative
genius of the architect. The unity of idea and form that Richard-
son imposed on his materials contrasted sharply with the imported
hodgepodge of architectural ideas that so often characterized the
American scene in the Gilded Age. Befitting an age of opulence
and monumental self-assurance, the Richardsonian style was ex-
pensive, heavy, dramatic and uncompromising in its architectural
and artistic integrity. Trinity Church in Boston was his greatest
achievement — it was completed in 1877, and it remains one of the
landmarks in American architecture.

Against this backdrop, the monument at Sherman, Wyoming,
takes on added significance. The commission was one of a number
that came to Richardson at least in part through his personal
friendship with the Ames family. Frederick Lothrop Ames, a
director of the U.P. and son of Oliver Ames, Jr., was in Richard-
son's immediate circle of friends in the Boston area where the
architect moved easily among the financial elite of New England/'
In the years 1877-79 Richardson designed both a town hall and
public library for the town of North Easton, Massachusetts, me-
morials to Oliver and Oakes Ames respectively. These were fol-
lowed in 1879 by the monument at Sherman. Between 1880 and
1886 he completed five more commissions for Frederick Lothrop
Ames, including three commercial buildings in Boston and two
buildings on the Ames estate in North Ear-ton— one a gatelodge,
the other a cottage. His work for the Ames family comprised but a
small portion of the commissions he handled during these years,
but it represented some of his best building, stamped not only by
the architect's genius but by his esteem for the Ames dynasty as
well.10

Richardson's most recent biographer has stated as much, term-
ing the monument in Wyoming "perhaps the finest memorial in
America . . . one of Richardson's least known and most perfect
works."11 The two-step pyramid, fitted together of great random
blocks of native red granite, is an artistic tour de force, more
nearly the work of a sculptor than an architect in its elemental
simplicity, its boldly massive form. The design is entirely original
— no hackneyed Victorian statue of brothers Oakes and Oliver

9. Hitchcock, 197.

10. Van Rensselaer, 139-140, includes a listing by year of Richardson's
commissions, compiled from his office records.

11. Hitchcock, 197.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF H. R. RICHARDSON 53

alongside a Union Pacific engine — and uniqusly fitting for a family
and a railroad that were impressively successful in an era of rugged
self-assertion. Against the background of the Rockies, the pyra-
mid is like an abstract mountain itself, a dramatic statement in
granite about the persistence and vigor of a pair of industrial
movers.

The monument also says something about the extraordinary
power and character of its architect. It is the work of a man
neither timid nor doubtful about the spirit of his time. Talent and
self-assurance on a grand scale are clearly evident in a design that
relies simply upon the fundamentals of solid masonry mass and fine
sculpture. For the low-relief granite medallions that carry the
likenesses of the brothers Ames, Richardson called on the best
sculptor of his day, a young artist who had worked with him earlier
on the Trinity Church commission. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the
architect knew, could be counted on to produce sculptured por-
traiture as uncompromising in its artistic integrity as Richardson's
own work.12

It is altogether possible that the significance of the monument
for us stems from the fact that we see the architect and his work as
one. In retrospect we know that H. H. Richardson was one of the
great precursors of modern architecture, a genius whose work
embodied the strongest and most lasting aspects of his era, the
Gilded Age, and the monument holds our attention in this light.
But this does the monument itself an injustice; it is a success in its
own right. A contemporary of Richardson's was Frederick Law
Olmstead, a distinguished and famous landscape architect and the
designer of Central Park in New York City. He saw the monu-
ment shortly after it was completed, and Olmstead was greatly
impressed. "I never saw a monument so well befitting its situation
or a situation so well befitting the special character of a particular
monument," he wrote.13 At the peak of a great hill among other
great hills, the monument was not often seen by the public, Olm-
stead admitted, but its appropriateness for the site was striking.
And striking as well was the wind across the summit, blowing
cinders from along the right-of-way. Olmstead concluded: "It is
a most tempestuous place, and at times the monument is under a
hot fire of little missiles driven by the wind. But I think they will
only improve it." And he was probably right.

12. Richardson used the talents of Saint-Gaudens on a number of his
commissions. Each man held the other in the highest regard. See Homer
Saint-Gaudens, ed., The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (2 vols.,
New York, 1913), I, 328-331.

13. Quoted in Van Rensselaer, 72.

A Philosophy of History
for the Small Museum

By
Paul M. Edwards

It is the plight of the small history museum that it tends to grow
haphazardly. This is generally the case for two reasons; first its
collections are based on what is given rather than what is wanted,
and secondly it lacks a general plan that is usually so obvious in
the museums that boast large staffs. The first of these conditions
results from the fact that needing so much, the small museum ends
up taking everything. The collections grow because the donors
are cleaning the attic. It is hard, especially in those areas where
the community is closely tied, to refuse such gifts. However, most
of them have little or no relation to the needs of the history museum
and a selective "no" is a vital factor in controlling the confusion.

The second condition, and the one to which I wish to turn my
attention, exists because the goal of the museum, never really
thought out or defined, is ever at the mercy of the whims of either
the donor or the curator. Many have inherited museums whose
artifacts are stacked into cases nearly as old and in need of cleaning
and repair as the artifacts they house. This sort of collection and
the confusion it represents comes from three characteristic failures
of the small museum. (1) The curator has never assumed a
position as to the character of the present. He has never under-
stood, or at least agreed upon, where he stands, what his museum
is supposed to be, and what it is to represent. (2) The curator has
never limited his museum to a selected area of historical preser-
vation and display. He tries to be all things to all people which is
no more successful in museum work than it is in politics. (3) The
curator has never defined history to his own satisfaction. That is,
he has never come to any conclusions as to what history is, or what
it means. He has never tried to deal with it in the general terms
of an abstraction, or the particular terms of an influence or a force.
Far too many curators are collectors rather than historians. Yet
in the final analysis the curator is an interpreter of history. He is
an historian, and the museum is his vehicle of expression. He will
either express his views well, or his lack of views will leave history
voiceless.

His museum is rightfully devoted to an interpretation of the
world of men by materials selectively designed to appeal through
direct experience. It is concerned with the formation of an idea

A PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY FOR THE SMALL MUSEUM 55

about the past and the resulting ideas of the future that come from
this interpretation. Thus, if the museum is to be effective in
carrying out its role, it is necessary for the curator to have given
serious consideration to the nature of history — to have a philos-
ophy of history.

PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY

This term tends to be frightening if it is not understood from
the beginning that it is one way of expressing a theory of historical
significance. It is really a systematic interpretation of a universal
history in which events have some ultimate meaning.

Sir Lewis Namier has said that the historian is a painter rather
than a photographer. That is to say that the historian is a creative
artist rather than either a scientist or a narrator. The truth of this
is seen when we recognize that the life and thinking of the historian
is a part of the history he interprets; thus history as he sees it is
"creatively" different than the view of others. The thing that
separates the antiquarian from the historian is that while the first is
concerned with collecting old things, the second is concerned with
the value of things. And value is a personal, created attitude.
For values are intuitive; that is, they are based on a process that
goes beyond reasoning. Thus our first step is the understanding
that historic values are personal and are a part of the contribution
of any interpreter of history.

Theories of history are as numerous as the events they unify.
Some see history as the progressive unfolding of God's revealing
plan. Others suggest that history is the overview of life cycles,
either for men or civilizations, that re-occur as they move through
the episodes of growth and decay. Still another view is that history
is the obvious outcome of the presence of certain imminent laws.
In a scientific sense once the conditions are known the historic
outcome is inevitable. It works the other way also, suggesting
that once the historical outcome is understood man can go back
and introduce the causes that brought it about. Another sugges-
tion is that history is the influence of one factor such as the
economic interpretation of history : the suggestion that the history
is the record of the struggle of the classes for predominance and
control of the resources of the world.

While I am neither suggesting that the above are wrong or that
they are not significant in man's struggle to understand himself, I
wish to offer a suggestion as to a philosophy of history that asso-
ciates itself with the museum curator.

History is individual and thus it is at best the record of man in
time. This does not discount the divine theory or, for that matter,
the economic theory. Instead it is designed to particularize his-
tory— to bring into our discussion the realization that man is
history and that history is to be recorded by recording man in a

56 ANNALS OF WYOMING

single space and at a single time, in an infinite number of cases.
It never repeats itself because the fact that it follows the previous
experience makes it different. The knowledge of the rise and fall
of earlier civilizations makes the citizen of this civilization different
from the Greeks.

History is a value, not a thing. It is an attitude that can be
traced back through the ideas and the actions of men, not objects.
It is carried on by human beings whose singleness of character
grants it a uniqueness, and whose sharing of the triumph and
tragedy of the time and space they occupy, is the story that the
historian is called first to tell and later to be committed to. While
history is more than the sum of the facts, it is what ties them
together.

But what does this mean to the development of a philosophy of
history? It means that when the curator begins to think of the
story of man he needs to be concerned with the men and women of
the past, not the objects they held, or the chairs they sat in. This
is not a plea for the end of museums, it is instead a plea that objects
of the museum be considered and dealt with for what they are.
For they are the symbols of human dreams, they are the outcomes
of human effort, they are the remains of human folly, they are the
manifestations of men and women living in an era that challenged
them. The role of the curator is to live with the objects as if they
were the canvas, the paints, the brushes with which to paint a
picture which will pull men from the vast generality of the past to
a given time and given space: to give to those who come to view
the displays, a human scene, that they might feel akin to the strug-
gles of man living in his world.

The past is known by the overlapping of the years. Your son's
link with the past is your life which overlaps his grandfather's and
his own experience. The thing which gives us the edge over the
animals is that we have been able to begin where our father left
off rather than starting anew. Man is the key — the historical
conductor who needs to be involved both in understanding the past
and in living in the future in order for the present to have some
real meaning.

The carefully-developed museum is the point at which the ever
fleeting present has been captured. Yet this "present" must be
fitted into the flow of history, indicating to us the full impact of
what was happening and why man was so motivated. If the
artifacts are to contribute to the story then they must be displayed
in recognition of the fuller influence they had. If they are scattered
everywhere, with no unity, with no relationship to past or future
then history is seen by the visitor as being scattered and isolated
and the events and the items of history are lost in the confusing
maze of the "yesteryear".

Series of displays that indicate the duration of history, yet stop
the moments to be seen by the contemporary visitor, will serve still

A PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY FOR THE SMALL MUSEUM 57

another purpose. For it is the historian who is called to express
the unity of man. In this age of specialization the role of the whole
man, involved in past and future, involved in economics and re-
ligion, involved in fun and in work, involved in fear and happiness,
needs to be presented. A responsible representation can view man
in no other way. This is not a thing of the past, but is contempo-
rary in the realization that the past has been lived by those who
lived as whole men. It carries with it something of the realization
that it is man's duty to know and to inquire into every area of man's
multiple concerns.

In the final analysis it is the human situation that the museum
seeks to describe. And only when it does so will it be a significant
contribution to the community it seeks to serve. Your exhibits
are reflective of your interpretation and depend on your philos-
ophy— a philosophy which needs to be developed, not adopted.
If your displays are cluttered and disassociated, history will be
interpreted as cluttered and disassociated. If your displays are
dull and drab and dead, history will be interpreted as being dull
and drab and dead. The exhibit then must present, to the most
casual visitor, a clear picture of the story you want to portray.

Communications is the key to the effort. Clarity is essential.
Well planned simple displays will assure the visitor the attitude of
history without the presentation of more facts than he can handle.
If your museum is unselective, if it is a depository for any and all
who would preserve their names on a donor card, it becomes a
labyrinth of history to which the visitor has no key and in the long
run will seek no entrance.

The exhibits must present a flow by which the visitor can become
involved in the duration of history and can move along with it,
learning, growing, as he stands in the presence of the manifestations
of such development. It must merge the local character with
national character, the local citizen with the world, not by having
artifacts from the world over, but by not isolating the fact that
we live in a complex and multiple society and that for most of us,
our locale is but a moment in the migration of millions.

It needs to be remembered that if history is individualistic and
illustrative of an attitude, the visitor is a character in the historic
pageant. When he walks among the props of previous acts, he is
still a member of the cast. He is involved, and the lure of the
museum is the lure of personal participation. The past is not dead
for the visitor who finds there a breadth to his experience, a depth
to his values, and a reason for making his present significant. It
will have meaning to him if it is presented in such a way that it
lives, and moves in such a way that he can identify his human
emotions and concerns with those of the past that found their
solutions in the creation and the use of the artifacts on display.

What I wish to emphasize is that value is created at the cost of
human effort and it costs human experience to make man aware of

58 ANNALS OF WYOMING

the values of his present position. The museum is the place where
the attitude of history — which is value in man — can be portrayed
in such a way as to give significance to those who wander in for a
taste of the past.

bibliography

This is not specifically a bibliography for the preceding article. It is a
listing of publications and articles which will be of interest to persons en-
gaged in museum planning and administration.

Norling, Bernard, Better Understanding of History, University of
Notre Dame Press, 1960

Miller, Herbert, The Uses of the Past, Mentor Book, 1945

Spence, Peterson and O'Connor, Church Archives and History,
American Association for State and Local History, Vol. 1, No.
10., April, 1946, University of North Carolina Press

Carr, Edward, What is History?, Alfred A. Knopf, 1964

Theory and Practice in Historical Study, Bulletin 54, Social Science
Research Council, New York, 1946

Gustavson, Carl, A Preface to History, McGraw-Hill, 1955

Parker, Arthur, A Manual for History Museums, Columbia Univer-
sity Press, New York, 1935

Russell, Charles, Museums and Our Children, Central Book Com-
pany, Inc., New York, 1956

Guthe, Carl, The Management of Small History Museums, Ameri-
can Association for State and Local History, Volume 11,
Number 10, 1959

Adam, T. R., The Civic Value of Museums, American Association
for Adult Education, New York, 1937

Zhe United States Mmy

in the Aftermath

oftnefloknson County Invasion

April through November, 1892

By
Robert A. Murray

The Johnson County Invasion has been a highly controversial subject for
nearly seventy-five years. We are aware that exception may be taken to
elements of this article. To the best of our knowledge, the records of the
Adjutant General of the United States and the Fort McKinney military
records, upon which this article is based, have not been used previously as a
research source on the subject. The following article, as a result, has unique
historical value and interest among the published writings on the Johnson
County Invasion. Ed.

The year 1892 stands about midpoint in the decade and a half
in which Northern Wyoming's livestock industry evolved from the
transitory open-range phase toward a land-use pattern essentially
like that of today.

The army ended effective Indian occupation of this region in the
decisive campaigns of 1876-77, and settled down to slow-paced
years of intermittent police action against tribal fragments straying
from the reservation. The vast grazing land attracted first and
briefly, the buffalo hunter,1 then the cattlemen who had already
filled the range of southern Wyoming and adjacent states.2

Open-range cattle ranching found its basis in the idea that a
stockman could use public owned grazing lands free of charge and
up to the full extent that he could stock them. A belt of such open-
range stockmen formed one of the westward-moving layers of the
frontier from the American Revolution on. These stockmen fol-
lowed the hunter and the soldier and occupied any given tract only
until the land began to fill with legitimate settlers, and then moved

1. The story of Wyoming's buffalo-hunters has never been brought
together in one place, but is mentioned and dated in John Barsotti's fine
article "Freund & Bro., Gunmakers on the Frontier," in the 1957 Gun Digest,
John T. Amber, editor, Gun Digest Publishing Co., Chicago.

2. Walter von Richtofen, Cattle Raising on the Plains of North America,
University of Oklahoma Press, reprint, 1964.

60 ANNALS OF WYOMING

on to new pastures. Conflicts over land use did not ordinarily
arise, since land law and tradition were clearly on the side of the
settler, and since more and better grazing land lay ahead to the
west.:!

The southern end of this stock raising belt thrust into Texas in
th3 1830's and there, under favorable circumstances, flourished
ahead of the slowly developing agriculture of the state. The
stockmen of Texas found a new market as rails thrust westward into
the plains in the late 1 860's. They also discovered the potential of
a vast belt of grassland extending on to the great continental forest
of Canada. Every advancing railhead a ready market, an abun-
dance of stock cattle, cheap labor, all led the southern cattlemen to
expand their operations northward as fast as expulsion of the
Indians could be achieved. Other sizeable stocks of cattle lay
available in the prairie belt of the upper midwest, and in the moun-
tain valleys of the great northwest.

Widely-publicized instances of high profits lured speculative
investment capital into the industry and a cattle boom was on.
The year 1885 saw much of the plains region effectively occupied
by herds owned by large corporate cattle companies. The specu-
lative bubble burst when the severe winter storms of the mid-
eighties dealt a heavy blow directly, and indirectly exposed a
wealth of "blue sky" capitalization, book-count herds and other
shaky management practices. Surviving corporate cattle firms
worked in straitened circumstances. Foreign and eastern capital
was less available. Credit was hard to find and more costly. The
free use of public lands was increasingly criticized. Heavily
stocked ranges held beef prices down. Diffusing knowledge of
irrigation techniques, barbed wire fencing, windmills, and an
expanding railroad network made it easier for the individual ranch-
er to carve out a workable owned-unit from the public domain by
purchase and by homesteading. Mavericking and assorted other
sharp practices that were stock in trade with the corporation men
were taken up by others.

Corporate cattlemen reacted in various ways. They all com-
plained about the demise of the "old days1'. The more realistic
and progressive tightened their organizational belts and tried to
adapt management practices and ranching techniques to the chang-
ing conditions. Some others of them reacted defensively and
violently. They glorified open range practices as "rights" and
rose to defend them.4

Northern Wyoming may have appeared ideal test ground to this

3. Paul C. Henlein, The Cattle Kingdom in the Ohio Valley, 1783-1860,
University of Kentucky Press, Lexington, 1958.

4. Edward E. Dale, The Range Cattle Industry, University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman, 1930.

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 61

faction. There were sizeable corporate holdings there. Better
watered than much of the state, it had attracted small owner-
operator ranchmen and farmers early, and by 1892 there were
several thousand residents in this region.

During the winter of 1892, belligerent defenders of "free grass"
organized and planned a raid into Johnson County. Ostensibly
this was to be a punitive expedition against "rustlers" of cattle from
corporate herds. This approach gained them the sympathy and in
some cases the financial support of men and corporations not
willing to participate directly. The size and the extra-legal nature
of the expedition belie the assertion that the few "rustlers" of the
region were their goal. It seems equally unrealistic to assume
that they planned a complete reign of terror. Rather it appears
they aimed to do in a number of alleged "rustlers" plus enough of
the "guilty-by-association" (or rather by lack of association with
the corporate interests!) to discourage not only rustling, but any
influx of small landholders into the region. The expedition failed
miserably to achieve its objective. The general facts and many
details of the "Invasion" and subsequent events have been widely
publicized.5 The role of the U.S. government in general, and in
particular that of the U.S. Regular Army have not. Federal cor-
respondence on the topic is particularly valuable in that it contains
the largest surviving volume of continuous contemporary corre-
spondence on the subject. Most of it, too, is the writing of persons
who were not among the contenders, but who had the uncom-
fortable and difficult role of peace-keepers in those tense times.

The army had fairly substantial forces scattered through the
northern plains in 1 892, largely because of the recent Ghost Dance
trouble on the northern reservations in 1 890-9 1.6 Fort D. A.
Russell, with eight companies from the 7th and 17th Infantry
Regiments, stood just outside Cheyenne.7 Near Buffalo was Fort
McKinney, with Headquarters and three companies of the 8th
Infantry and three companies of the 6th Cavalry. s Fort Custer,
Montana, and Fort Robinson, Nebraska, were but a short distance
from the state's boundaries.

5. The classic exposition of the so-called "Johnson County War," is of
course Asa S. Mercer's Banditti of the Plains, most readily available in the
University of Oklahoma Press reprint of 1954. Other useful collections of
fact and opinion are:

Daisy F. Baber-The Longest Rope, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho, 1959.
Frank M. Canton, Frontier Trails, N. Y. 1930

Robert B. David, Malcolm Campbell, Sheriff, Casper, Wyo., 1932.
Bohlen and Tisdale, An Era of Violence, Cheyenne, 1963.

6. Robert M. Utley, Last Days of the Sioux Nation, Yale University
Press, 1964.

7. Letter, Major H. C. Egbert, 17th Infantry to Adjutant General, De-
partment of the Platte, April 23, 1892.

8. Fort McKinney, Wyoming, Post Return for April, 1892.

62 ANNALS OF WYOMING

There was little real legal reason for federal intervention in
Wyoming's cattle troubles. The "Invasion" was planned and
executed in violation of Wyoming law. The Invaders on April 9th,
killed Nathan D. Champion and Nick Ray and burned the KC
Ranch. Sheriff W. G. Angus soon assembled a legally-constituted
posse and surrounded the invading party some 13 miles from
Buffalo. That numerous members of Wyoming's state government
sympathized with the Invaders has been abundantly proven by
other writers, whose contentions are borne out by subsequent
justice department investigations some months later.9

Colonel J. J. Van Horn on April 11, 1892 sent the first official
news of trouble in Johnson County, for the information of the
commanding general, Department of the Platte:

I have the honor to report the following in regard to the disturb-
ances now taking place in this county, so far as I am able to learn from
citizens in this vicinity and from my guide (Grouard) viz: It appears
that a body of about fifty armed men known here as "white caps" and
supposed to be in the employ of the large cattle owners left in the
vicinity of Casper about the 6th instant and proceeded to a point on
the North Fork of Powder River sixty miles from post, known as K. C.
Ranch, where they killed two men (Nate Champion and one other
man) and burned the ranch. One body was so badly burned that it
was hardly recognizeable, this on the 9th instant. The "white caps"
are now at the T. A. Ranch situated about sixteen miles from the post
on the North Fork of Crazy Woman where they are strongly en-
trenched, and defending themselves against a posse comitatus of citi-
zens (about 80) from Buffalo and vicinity who have them surrounded.

It is more than possible that quite a number of lives will be lost
before the "white caps" can be captured by the civil authorities. The
telegraph line is in bad working order at present, and has been down
for several days until yesterday. I have a repair party out now, which
will not be in for ten days.

I will endeavor to keep the Department Commander informed as to
the facts and true state of affairs in this county, with reference to the
present disturbances as often as I am put in possession of accurate
information. The people are greatly excited and I have been entreated
for help, which of course, I declined to give.

My course is plainly defined by statute.10

Van Horn made further report on the morning of April 12th:

I have the honor to report the following in addition to my report of
yesterday, viz: Sheriff Angus was seen last night on his return from
the T. A. Ranch. He talked very sensibly regarding the situation and
says he is bound to arrest all of those concerned in the killing of Ray
and Champion and for that purpose has sworn in a large posse to act
as deputies. Should the so-called regulators resist arrest, he cannot
be answerable for their lives. The wagons owned by the outfit have
been captured and the teamsters and cooks taken. One of the latter

9. Report of Examiner F. B. Crossthwaite, Department of Justice, to the
Attorney General of the United States, November 2, 1892.

10. Telegram, Colonel J. J. Van Horn to Adjutant General, Department
of the Platte, April 11, 1892.

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 63

has divulged the names of the regulators, says the expedition is offi-
cered by a Major Wolcott, a large cattle owner, lieutenants are Frank
Canton, now out on bail charged with killing an alleged "rustler" last
year, and Fred Hesse, a prominent cattle owner of this county. Other
well known residents of Johnson County are said to be with the party.
The entire country is aroused by the news of the killing at K. C. Ranch
and some of the best citizens are enlisted in the Sheriff's posse, deter-
mined to bring the regulators to justice.

The County Commissioners were seen last night and talked very
feelingly. They resent the many slurs cast upon their county by the
cattle barons who are trying to drive the smaller stockmen off the
range. They admit there are some rustlers or cattle thieves in the
county, but claim the big owners are just as bad, if not worse than
the men they are seeking to exterminate. All express deep horror at
the recent outrageous murders, but are satisfied to let the law take its
course. Governor Barber has ordered Co. "C" Wyoming National
Guards to be in readiness for protection of life and city property at
Buffalo. Will give you all reliable information as to the state of
affairs in this vicinity as soon as known.11

Other wires were busy on April 12th. Acting Governor Barber
telegraphed Brigadier General John R. Brooke, commanding gen-
eral, Department of the Platte, in Omaha, to apprise him of the
situation.12 Barber next telegraphed the president, certifying a
"state of insurrection" to exist, and calling for federal aid to
suppress it.13 He further telegraphed the secretary of war request-
ing an issue of arms and ammunition to Company G, 1 st Wyoming
National Guard Infantry at Sheridan, to be used in suppressing
"insurrection."14 It is interesting to note that while he had called
Company C of this unit at Buffalo to duty, this company had no
official supply of arms and ammunition, and he made no effort
to arm them during this period.15 Major General Schofield, com-
manding the army, had Brooke alert the troops at Fort McKinney
to await a presidential decision.16

The Invaders had a party out to cut the telegraph wire on then-
way up country.17 Fortunately for them, however, a prolonged

11. Telegram, Colonel J. J. Van Horn to Adjutant General, Department
of the Platte, April 12, 1892.

12. Telegram, Brigadier General John R. Brooke to Major General
Schofield, Commanding the Army, Washington D. C, April 12, 1892,
quoting a telegram he had just received from Acting Governor Barber of
Wyoming.

13. Telegram, Acting Governor Barber, Cheyenne, to the President of
the United States, Washington, D. C, April 12, 1892.

14. Telegram, Acting Governor Barber to Secretary of War Elkins, April
12, 1892.

15. The arms of this company of the Wyoming National Guard had been
routinely turned in for replacement during the winter, and were not yet
replaced. There is abundant correspondence in the Fort McKinney letters-
received file on this point.

16. Telegram, General Schofield to General Brooke, April 12, 1892.
Two telegrams, Brooke to Schofield April 12, 1892.

17. See Mercer, pp. 50-51, and others on this point.

64 ANNALS OF WYOMING

break was not achieved until just before 1 :00 a.m. on April 13th.
Telegraphic instructions from General Brooke, conveying the pres-
ident's orders reached Colonel Van Horn at Fort McKinney at
12:05 a.m. Van Horn's own report of the next twelve hours is
especially interesting:

I have the honor to submit the following report of my action under
telegraphic instructions from the Department Commander, directing
me to carry out the orders of the President of the United States, dates
April 12, these orders were, in substance, to send a sufficient force "to
cooperate with the Governor of Wyoming, and suppress disorder and
protect the state against domestic violence, to prevent conflict between
the opposing parties, to act with prudence and discretion, but with
firmness so as to preserve the peace." In connection with my dis-
positions to secure the results desired, I received on April 13th a tele-
gram from Governor Amos W. Barber of Wyoming in which he sug-
gests "that a competent representative of the state be at the place for
purpose of cooperation, C. H. Parmelee of Buffalo, my aide-de-camp,
has been my representative at that place. The situation at Buffalo is
of such character as to suggest that he may be acting under coercion,
and not voluntarily. I request that you secure the presence of Captain
Parmelee at Fort McKinney at once and satisfy yourself whether he
is in a position to act independently and without fear. If you are
satisfied that he is in a position to represent me, I then request that you
confer with him and take such immediate steps as may be necessary
and advise me. It is very important that all hostilities be stopped at
once, and that no violence be permitted to any of the persons con-
cerned. Considering the excitement in the vicinity it seems advisable
that the people who are now beseiged should be given protection at
Fort McKinney until time can be had for further action."

The orders of the president as transmitted by the Department Com-
mander were received at 12:05 a.m. 13th inst., and at 2:00 a.m., I left
the post for the scene of disorder, viz: the T. A. Ranch on North Fork
of Crazy Woman with the following officers and men: Major E. G.
Fechet, 6th Cavalry, 1st Lieut. R. H. Wilson, Adjutant 8th Infantry;
Troop H 6th Cavalry, Capt. W. M. Wallace, 1st Lt. C. B. Gatewood
and 2nd Lieut. Alonzo Gray; Troop C 6th Cavalry, Captain William
Stanton, and 1st Lieut. R. B. Paddock, 8th Cav.; Troop D., 6th Cav-
alry, Capt. G. L. Scott, 1st Lieut. J. A. Cole and 2nd Lt. Elmer Lind-
sley, a total number of 1 1 officers and 96 enlisted men. The com-
mand was accompanied by Sheriff Angus of Johnson County, and
three other citizens who rendered valuable service in finding the road.
While passing through the city of Buffalo, Captain C. H. Parmelee,
A.D.C. to Governor Barber, joined the command and remained with
it during the day.

Following the Casper road, the T. A. Ranch 13 miles from the post
was reached at 6:45 a.m., while still several miles distant, my approach
was discovered by both of the hostile parties, and the beseigers from
that time kept up an almost continuous fire upon the buildings occu-
pied by their opponents.

Upon arriving at about 800 yards from the ranch, I halted behind a
hill. The situation was found to be as follows: the house and barn
of the T. A. Ranch had been occupied by the regulators and arranged
for defensive purposes. The house which was made of sawed beams
8 inches thick, was occupied by the main body, the horses were kept
in the stable which was also garrisoned. On a slight rise about 100
yards west of the barn, a small redoubt had been constructed by
excavating a ditch about 2 feet wide and deep and placing upon the
parapet beams from the house for head logs, the whole forming a very

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 65

efficient field work, occupied by about 12 men. The buildings and c.
are shown in the accompanying sketch. The beseigers were dispersed
in parties so as to completely surround the regulators and at a distance
of not less than 500 yards. Firing had been going on by day and night
for several days. Immediately after halting as stated, I requested
Sheriff Angus to cause the beseiging party to cease firing. This was
soon effected, and as soon as it was evident that the firing had ceased,
the squadron was formed in line, moved forward to a point about 300
yards west of the redoubt, and halted, after waiting here a moment I
rode forward toward the redoubt, accompanied by several officers,
sheriff Angus and the guidons. A white flag being displayed it was
immediately responded to by the men in the redoubt, and the men
stationed in it came out to meet me.

The commander of the Regulators, Major Wolcott, in reply to my
demand that he should surrender his party to me, replied that he
would do so if it should be understood that he should be given pro-
tection by the military and taken to Fort McKinney. He said that
he and his party would rather die than surrender to Sheriff Angus.
His conditions having been accepted, he at once surrendered his party
and turned over the arms and horses and his men to an officer desig-
nated for the purpose. A list of names and owners of each weapon
being taken at this time.

The names of the men surrendered are: [here follows the same
list of 45 names reproduced in Mercer and elsewhere]

The arms surrendered comprise 45 rifles, 50 revolvers and 5,000
rounds of cartridges. Upon examining the house a man whose name
was afterwards found to be Alexander Louther was found seriously
wounded. An ambulance was provided and he was taken to the post
hospital for treatment. The surrender and turning over of arms
occupied about two hours and was all accomplished without any
difficulty. During its operation the beseigers collected in a large party
of about 200 horsemen and observed the proceedings very attentively,
coming as close as the cordon of troops would permit. The arms
being turned over, and loaded into a wagon and the regulators formed
in a column on the road, a party of cavalry was placed at their head,
and each side and a guard in the rear of all.

The return march was begun at 8:45 a.m. The beseiging party took
up a position on the hillside near the road but without any attempt at
disturbing or molesting the movements. In fact their conduct so far as
relates to their intercourse with the troops was extremely moderate
and creditable to themselves. The return march was accomplished
without incident. Another road was taken so as to avoid passing
through the city of Buffalo and the post was reached at 12:15 p.m.
The prisoners were placed in quarters under a strong guard and their
horses were turned over to the post quartermaster. A wagon, four
horses and harness, belonging to the regulators was brought to the post
by the troops. During the conflict at the ranch no lives were lost
and the only casualty that occurred as far as I can learn was the
wounding of the regulator, Alexander Louther by the accidental dis-
charge of his own revolver. Five horses belonging to the regulators
were killed and several others wounded.18

18. Letter, Col. Van Horn to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte,
April 13, 1892.

66 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Acting Governor Barber during this time first planned to go to
Buffalo himself and requested a cavalry escort from Gillette to
Buffalo. Brooke and Schofield approved his request, but he
apparently changed his mind on finding that the Invaders were
safe at Fort McKinney. 1!' The first outline of Van Horn's action
reached Washington, D. C, on April 14, along with news of Bar-
ber's decision to have the prisoners escorted to Douglas.20 Secre-
tary of War S. B. Elkins forwarded this news to Senators Francis
E. Warren and Joseph M. Carey the same day.21

Sheriff W. G. Angus went to Ft. McKinney on April 14, and
there served a writ on Colonel Van Horn for delivery of the prison-
ers to civil authority. Van Horn refused to deliver the prisoners,
stating that they were held pending receipt of instructions from
the president through channels.22 Angus then telegraphed a de-
mand for their release to the president. 2:{ On the 1 5th, Van Horn
summarized events of the previous day, mentioned the considerable
excitement of the public and the interest in the Champion and Ray
funeral to be held that day. He also stated that the telegraph was
again out of order and that the "rustlers" were interfering with
traffic to the post.24

The federal government ignored Angus' request, since that same
day orders were sent out to turn the prisoners over to the governor
of Wyoming,25 and Acting Governor Barber was informed of this
action. 2,i General Brooke made the following report that day:

I report as follows: my last information from Colonel Van Horn
stated his arrival at the post with the 46 surrendered men. They are
now there. The line has since been down and direct communication
by wire not possible until this evening. I expect his report in full by
mail about the twentieth. At this moment the telegraph company
report that my order to Col. Van Horn of today to send the prisoners
to Douglas in compliance with request of Gov. Barber has been deliv-
ered. The Governor has directed the Sheriff of Johnson County to
deliver to Col. Van Horn four of the Wolcott party arrested by the
Sheriff when he captured Wolcott's wagons prior to the surrender of

19. Three successive telegrams, General Brooke to General Schofield,
April 13, 1892.

20. Telegram, General Brooke to General Schofield, April 14, 1892.

21. Telegram, Secretary of War Elkins to Senator Francis E. Warren,
April 14, 1892, and duplicate of same date to Senator J. M. Carey.

22. Endorsement by Van Horn on writ presented by Johnson County,
April 14, 1892. also: letter Colonel Van Horn to Adjutant General, Depart-
ment of the Platte, April 15, 1892.

23. Telegram, Sheriff W. G. Angus to President Benjamin Harrison,
April 15, 1892.

24. Letter, Colonel Van Horn to Adjutant General, Department of the
Platte, April 15, 1892.

25. Telegram, Secretary of War Elkins to General Brooke, April 15,
1892.

26. Telegram, Secretary of War Elkins to Governor Barber, April 15,
1892.

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 67

Wolcott to Col. Van Horn. The Governor desires me to obtain pos-
session of the four men in the hands of the Sheriff by force if neces-
sary. I have asked the Gov. to state to me whether taking them by
military force is necessary to protect life and preserve the peace. The
question about these four prisoners will remain in abeyance until he
answers my question. On the surrender of Major Wolcott's party, I
directed Col. Van Horn to hold them till he received order from me.
I am confident he has done so.27

He supplemented this report on the 1 6th, stating that the Governor
had certified the taking of the prisoners necessary to protect their
lives, and wished them to be taken by force if necessary. He stated
that Colonel Van Horn found that only two prisoners were in jail,
the cooks and teamsters having been released on bail. Brooke gave
Van Horn instructions to obtain these men, using prudence and
discretion.28 Secretary of War Elkins replied:

You can have the Wolcott party taken to Fort D. A. Russell, as re-
quested by the Governor, and deliver them to him there. You will
not allow Colonel Van Horn or the military to take parties held in
custody of the sheriff from the sheriff by force; but the military
authorities may, upon request of the Governor, protect parties held in
custody of the Sheriff from violence.29

Brooke informed both Van Horn and the governor of these instruc-
tions.80 Van Horn then issued orders for the escort of the prisoners
to Douglas leaving the next day.31 After this party got under way,
Van Horn reported that he had secured one prisoner, R. M. Allen,
from the sheriff on the 1 6th, and that the others were free in Buf-
falo, and reported to Major Kellog that they felt themselves in no
danger.32 The escort, commanded by Major E. G. Fechet, 6th
Cavalry, consisted of companies C, D, and H of the 6th Cav-
alry, along with a small detail of infantry serving as crew for a
1.65 inch Hotchkiss gun, an ambulance and medical personnel,
and a special telegraph operator. Despite muddy roads, snow
drifts and general foul weather, they reached the site of old Fort
Fetterman on the 23d of April.33

Major H. C. Egbert, 17th Infantry, came by train to the Fort
Fetterman site with nine officers and 108 enlisted men of the 17th
and the 7th Infantry. They received the prisoners and returned to

27. Telegram, General Brooke to Secretary of War Elkins, April 15,
1892.

28. Telegram, General Brooke to Secretary of War Elkins, April 16,
1892.

29. Telegram, Secretary of War Elkins to General Brooke, April 16,
1892.

30. Telegram, General Brooke to Elkins, 9 p.m., April 16, 1892.

31. Orders #57, Headquarters, Ft. McKinney, April 16, 1892.

32. Letter, Col. Van Horn to Adjutant General, Department of the
Platte, April 17, 1892.

33. Letter, Major E. G. Fechet, 6th Cavalry to Post Adjutant, Fort Mc-
Kinney, May 2, 1892.

68 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Fort D. A. Russell without incident, finding that the governor had
requested the prisoners held there. 34 The specific orders under
which the prisoners were held at Fort D. A. Russell were:

Replying to your message transmitting dispatch of Governor Barber
to you about holding Wolcott party, it is the desire of the President
and you are instructed to hold the party as suggested at Fort D. A.
Russell in vacant barracks; only temporarily, however, and until they
can be turned over to the Governor and civil authorities, and on the
condition that the military authorities are holding them at the request
of and subject to the orders of the civil authorities, and to be released
only to them; and while they are so held the expense of their sub-
sistence shall be borne by the civil authorities or by the prisoners.
It is believed that the Governor and civil authorities should, without
unnecessary delay take charge of the prisoners. There will be no
objection, for the time being, to the party occupying the vacant bar-
racks even after they are in charge of the civil officers if desired.35

Action for a time shifted to the political. On April 23d, repre-
sentatives of nine large cattle companies sent a long plea to Senator
C. F. Manderson of Nebraska, soliciting his support for the efforts
of Senators Warren and Carey on behalf of the Wolcott party.36
Manderson sent this on to the secretary of war with a strong en-
dorsement.37 That same day (May 9th) Governor Barber request-
ed General Brooke to continue to hold the prisoners at Fort D. A.
Russell, stating:

If the prisoners are delivered to the civil authorities at this time I will
have to turn them over to the officers of Johnson County, as the only
authority authorized to receive them from me, and in their custody I
believe there would be so much danger of violence to the men that I
would be unable to protect them. After the place of trial has been
fixed the proper civil authorization to receive them from me would
then be the sheriff of the county where the prisoners are to be tried,
and the state will then be ready to relieve the military authorities and
take charge of the prisoners. :w

A counter proposal in the form of a petition to the president
requested the immediate return of the prisoners to Johnson County
for trial. This document came from Big Horn, in Sheridan County,
and bore the signatures of 171 citizens of that area. The names

34. Letter, Major H. C. Egbert, 17th Infantry, to Adjutant General,
Department of the Platte, April 25, 1892. also: telegram, General Brooke
to General Schofield, April 21, 1892.

35. Telegram, Secretary of War Elkins to General Brooke, April 21,
1892.

36. Letter, Henry J. Windsor, John A. McShane, Patrick Bros., Converse
Cattle Co., H. S. Manville, Gen. Mgr.; M. A. Paxton, Oglalla Land and
Cattle Co., Pratt & Ferris Cattle Co., Henry A. Blair, Clay and Forrest, to
Senator C. F. Manderson, dated at Omaha, April 23, 1892.

37. Letter, Senator Charles F. Manderson to Secretary of War Elkins,
May 9, 1892.

38. Letter, Governor Barber to General Brooke, May 9, 1892.

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 69

on this petition are not those of "rustlers" but rather read like a
charter list of "first families" of northern Wyoming, substantial
individual ranchers, homesteaders, doctors, ministers, miners, all of
whom supported the views of their Johnson County neighbors.39

About this time, Senator Carey secured copies of all the War
Department correspondence on the subject of the Invasion, and
traveled to Cheyenne in time for the pre-trial conferences between
county and state authorities and representatives of the prosecution
and the defense.40 Following the initial conference Barber tele-
graphed the Secretary of War:

The attorneys for the prosecution and the defense in relation to the
Wolcott party now at Ft. D. A. Russell have today held a full con-
ference at my office with the Judge of the district court and with the
authorities of Johnson County and with my approval it has been vir-
tually agreed that you should be respectfully requested to so modify
your order relating to the custody of the Wolcott party that an officer
of Johnson county be admitted whenever necessary for the purpose of
serving warrants and that the Wolcott party be further held in the
same manner as heretofore but to be delivered to the civil authorities
from time to time as the Judge of the district court may request. I am
assured by the prosecution and the defense and by the District Judge
that these cases will be brought to trial and disposed of as soon as
possible. I therefore earnestly request that the modification suggested
be made.41

Senator Carey strongly endorsed this course,42 but Elkins, appar-
ently somewhat impatient by this time replied:

Replying to your message of the 21st instant, I desire to say that the
Department considers that the prisoners are now in your custody and
under your control, subject to your orders and your disposition and are
held only at your request and that of the civil authorities. That their
being held at Fort D. A. Russell was upon your statement and others
that the civil power was unable to protect them from violence. You
can make any arrangements that you see fit about them and how you
surrender them to the civil authorities for trial, the sooner the better,
however. I have no objection to the occupation of vacant barracks
at Fort D. A. Russell temporarily, but as soon as you can do so, it is
the desire of the Department that you not only have the full charge
and control of the prisoners, but that you give them the protection you
now seek and have from the military authorities.43

Finally, on July 5, 1892, the Wolcott party was formally turned
over to representatives of the state and taken from Fort D. A.
Russell and General Schofield instructed that they not be received

39. Petition from Citizens of town of Big Horn, and Sheridan County
Wyoming to the President of the United States, April 1892.

40. Letter, Secretary of War Elkins to Senator Carey, May 13, 1892.

41. Telegram, Governor Barber to Secretary of War Elkins, May 21,
1892.

42. Telegram, Senator Carey to Secretary of War Elkins, May 21, 1892.

43. Telegram, Secretary of War Elkins to Governor Barber, May 23,
1892.

70 ANNALS OF WYOMING

back without orders from the War Department.44 Thus ended one
phase of army involvement in the Wyoming troubles.

Meanwhile several events occurred to lend support to the cattle-
men's assertions of lawlessness in northern Wyoming. On May
12, 1892, the remains of Deputy U. S. Marshal George Wellman
were brought to Buffalo. 4r> The death of Wellman complicated the
local situation. He was a foreman at the Hoe ranch, whose em-
ployers had been involved in the Invasion. He was, however,
well thought of personally in Buffalo. His funeral took place in
St. Luke's Church on May 13th and was attended by members of
the local Masonic lodge.4'1 There are widely divergent theories
about Wellman's death, some seeing it as a cattleman's plot to
discredit Johnson County,47 others holding that "rustlers" were
responsible. 4S Whatever the truth, the incident did create dissen-
sion in Johnson County and was used as argument by the cattle
companies in seeking martial law for the region.49

The second incident occurred May 1 8th, when a disastrous fire
destroyed the post exchange and several barracks at Fort Mc-
Kinney. A second smaller fire several days later was of definite
incendiary origin and it was generally supposed that both were.50

Now the Invaders and their supporters struck a new political
blow. They sent the following demand to Senator Carey in a
telegram on June 1st:

We want changes of troops made as follows: Headquarters of eighth
infantry and three companies of that regiment now at Fort McKinney
ordered to Sidney. Major Egbert and 17th Infantry and three
companies of that regiment ordered from Russell to McKinney. This
gives us commanding officer. We want cool level headed man whose
sympathy is with us. Order Major Fechet and the two companies of
the Sixth Cavalry from McKinney to Niobrara, anywhere else out of
that country. He and his men have relations with the sheriff and his
gang that make the whole command very undesirable for us. Send
six companies of Ninth Cavalry from Robinson to McKinney. The
colored troops will have no sympathy for Texan thieves, and these
are the troops we want. See General Manderson who understands
situation and will assist in carrying out this plan. It is important that
action should be taken at once. We urge that time is everything. This
is preliminary to declaration of martial law. Advise us when order
is made.51

44. Telegram, General Brooke to Adjutant General, Washington, D. C,
July 5, 1892. also: endorsement, Schofield to Brooke, July 7, 1892.

45. Letter, Col. Van Horn to Adjutant General, Department of the
Platte, May 12, 1892.

46. Lillian H. Baker, The History of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, pri-
vately printed, Buffalo, Wyoming, 1949, p. 7.

47. Mercer, Banditti of the Plains, pp. 112-114.

48. Baker, op. cit.

49. Telegram, Senator Warren to Senator Carey, June 1, 1892.

50. "Report of a board of officers," May 22, 1892 at Fort McKinney.

51. Telegram, Wolcott, Hay, Baxter, Blair, Clay and VanDevanter to
Senator Joseph M. Carey, Washington, D. C, June 1, 1892.

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 71

Senator Warren sent a telegram from Cheyenne to Senator Carey
the same day, stating:

Declaration of martial law seems inevitable. Please direct attention
Department to depredations at Ft. McKinney. Facts show and Flagg's
People's Voice 21st instant acknowledge twenty carbines stolen from
cavalry and incendiary fire at post buildings attempted by rustlers.
Very latest information I saw matters Chicago, Burlington officials
Omaha, late letters from Mayor Burritt, Buffalo, also merchant Mun-
kres, banker Thorn, editor Bouton, manager Winterling, all asserting
in the most positive terms that nothing less than immediate drastic
measures from the authorities outside and above county officials can
reduce present state of almost if not complete anarchy Johnson Coun-
ty. Parties writing send letters in private hands over part of route,
asserting mails tampered with at small intervening offices. Northern
letters implore martial law. Perry Organ tonight emphatically urges
martial law. Exhibit, but do not file this dispatch because I am only
permitted to use northern names Secretary, they fearing destruction of
their property and assassination if publicity given their names and
views.52

Carey forwarded these on June 2nd to Secretary of War Elkins,
with this comment:

I enclose you copies of dispatches which I desire you to read and hand
back to Mr. Morris, as it is not well to file them at present.

I had a very satisfactory talk with the President yesterday, and also
with General Schofield. I dislike to leave here; but I cannot well do
otherwise, so I go to Minneapolis.

General Schofield believes in concentrating troops in the disturbed
district in Wyoming immediately. This would be a good move, and
would be carrying out the plans heretofore adopted at the army head-
quarters with reference to summer encampments.53

General Schofield asked General Brooke's opinion on June 3,
1892,54 and received this reply:

Replying to your telegram of today I would say that a cavalry camp
can be established near where the Burlington and Missouri Railroad
will cross Powder River-the cavalry from Robinson and Niobrara to be
sent there. From present information and to accomplish the purpose
referred to, I think it would be better to establish two camps-one to
be between Douglas and Casper, at such point as may be found best.
In this case, the cavalry from Robinson should be at Powder River
Crossing and that from Niobrara at the other place. The troops to be
moved as circumstances may require. The garrison at McKinney
should not be disturbed. Rail transportation should be used as far
as practicable owing to the heavy rains having made the country very
difficult.55

Schofield approved Brooke's suggestion,56 and the troops were

52. Telegram, Senator Warren to Senator Carey, June 1, 1892.

53. Letter, Senator Carey to Secretary of War Elkins, June 2, 1892.

54. Telegram, General Schofield to General Brooke, June 3, 1892.

55. Telegram, General Brooke to General Schofield, June 3, 1892.

56. Telegram, General Schofield to General Brooke, June 4, 1892.

72 ANNALS OF WYOMING

in motion by June 7th,57 six troops of the 9th Cavalry going into
camp near the point where the Burlington Railroad was to cross
Powder River, and six troops of the 6th Cavalry camping near old
Fort Fetterman northwest of Douglas.58

Major C. S. Ilsley, commanding the contingent of the 9th Cav-
alry found the small but typical end-of-track town of Suggs occupy-
ing his projected camp site. He preferred to go on to Clear Fork,
to find better campgrounds and to avoid contact between his
colored troops and the citizens of this hard-looking little town.
His orders seemed to preclude crossing Powder River, so he moved
the column upstream some four miles and went into camp.59 This
"camp-of-instruction" was designated Camp P. A. Bettens.60

Conditions at Suggs were ready made for trouble. There were a
number of saloons in the town. Troops of Ilsley's command were
colored regulars, steady and well-proven in combat, but sometimes
inclined to be a bit turbulent in camp.61 Citizens in the town were
generally resentful of the presence of troops. Some, especially the
businessmen, were at least civil to the troops. Others, a collection
of miscellaneous drifters, unemployed cowboys and the like, were
belligerent and insulting to white officers and colored enlisted men
alike when these were in town on business.

The command had as a civilian guide one Philip du Fran, who
had been sent to Major Ilsley by General Brooke, and represented
as one who knew the Powder River country thoroughly. This was
the same Phil du Fran captured as a member of the Invaders at
the TA Ranch, and at this time was supposed to be in confinement
at Fort D. A. Russell awaiting trial. Du Fran's presence led the
citizens to believe the troops would be used in a federally sanc-
tioned raid on the region. Du Fran himself said that when "his
friends in Cheyenne" were free, he would come back with a com-
mission as a deputy U. S. Marshall with warrants for over 40
citizens of the Powder River country, and a regiment to back him
up. He agitated among the soldiers and openly aired his views to
junior officers.

57. Telegram, Adjutant General, Department of the Platte to Command-
ing Officer, Fort McKinney, June 8, 1892. also: telegram, General Brooke
to Adjutant General, Washington D. C, June 8, 1892.

58. Ibid.

59. "The Affair at Suggs," a report by Major C. S. Ilsley, 9th Cavalry, to
Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, June 19, 1892.

60. Presumably named for 1st Lt. Philip Augustus Bettens, one-time
officer of the 9th Cavalry, who died in March, 1892.

61. The combat records of the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments and the
post records of several posts where they were stationed seem to bear out
this statement.

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 73

Just one spark was needed and a lady of easy virtue supplied this
on June 16th. The unnamed woman had formerly lived at Craw-
ford, Nebraska, near Fort Robinson, and at other points down-
track, and with other girls also now in Suggs "had been in the habit
heretofore of dispensing their favors regardless of color." Private
Champ, of G troop, in town without permission, somehow found
the girl was in town and went to call on her. She, now living with a
white man, styled a "rustler", refused to let Champ in the house.
After a few ineffective kicks at the door he drifted down town to a
bar, and was joined there by Private Smith of E company, in town
on an official errand. Moments later, the "lady's" white lover
stalked in, pointed a cocked revolver at Champ and cursed him
unprintably. Private Smith drew his service revolver and covered
the "rustler." Bystanders in turn drew their revolvers and covered
Private Smith. The bartender intervened, got all to holster their
guns, and showed the soldiers a good route out of town. As they
rode out, mounted double on Smith's horse, a fusillade burst from a
house behind them, one bullet passing through Smith's hat. They
returned the fire with their revolvers and sped off to camp.

Their arrival created great excitement, but prompt action by
Ilsley and his officers and N.C.O.'s prevented a mass foray to the
town. Anticipating trouble the next night, the 17th, Ilsley doubled
the guard around camp and ordered two nighttime check roll calls.
Even so, during the nearly evening hours, Privates Smith, Champ
and eighteen others slipped out of camp, armed, and assembled
near the town.

They moved in a body to near the stage station and fired a volley
into the air to attract attention, then commenced firing at stores,
houses, and at a saloon they called "rustler headquarters". Towns-
men swarmed out and opened a heavy fire with their repeating
rifles and a general melee ensued. Women and children rushed
out in their night clothes and headed out the other end of town to
hide in the sagebrush. The soldiers retreated toward camp under
a brisk fire from the town, leaving Private Willis Johnston dead in
the street, and bringing their wounded, Privates Champ and
Thompkins with them. One citizen received a slight wound in
this foray.

When officers in camp heard the firing, they formed up the
command. Captain Johnathan Guilfoyle and companies I and A
were sent to town to investigate. On the way they met and arrested
the absentees straggling back to camp. Guilfoyle threw a picket
screen around the town to protect it, and spent the night calming
the citizens and conferring with officials and prominent citizens to
restore the peace.

A series of investigations followed. Du Fran's role exposed, he
was escorted to Gillette by a company of cavalry. Investigating
officers thought Private Willis Johnston might have been killed by

74 ANNALS OF WYOMING

the fire of his comrades. The army was extremely embarrassed
over the entire affair.62

General Schofield instructed the adjutant general to issue the
following order:

" your troops should be kept out of the town and away from

the people. The military commander has no functions whatever to
perform there respecting the civil authorities, and no duty in respect
to the preservation of the peace. Under the present state of feeling
the troops should be kept in their camps and entirely separated from
those who may entertain hostile feelings.68

Thus ended the direct involvement of the army in Wyoming's
affairs. The troops at Camp Bettens and Camp Elkins continued
their field training and were withdrawn to their respective posts
early in November.64

Through that summer and fall, other federal intervention tapered
off. A presidential proclamation at the end of July pleased the
cattlemen and reassured some of Johnson county's worried citizens.
Behind the scenes, U. S. Marshall Rankin, once assured of the
support of the assistant U. S. Attorney and the federal district judge,
calmly let Johnson County simmer down, without provoking fur-
ther incidents, and with confidence restored, sent in three good men
to arrest and /or run off the mere handful of actual outlaws believed

62. This account of the Affair at Suggs is carefully drawn from the fol-
lowing:

"Report of a Board of Officers," Camp Bettens, Wyo., June 18, 1892

Report-"The Affair at Suggs" Major C. S. Ilsley, 9th Cavalry, to Adjutant
General, Department of the Platte, June 19, 1892

Letter, 1st Lt. G. S. Bingham, 9th Cavalry, to Major C. S. Ilsley, command-
ing the Camp P. A. Bettens, June 18, 1892.

"Report" Capt. Jno. F. Guilfoyle, 9th Cavalry to Camp Adjutant, Camp
Bettens, Wyoming, June 18, 1892.

"Proceedings of a Board of Officers Which Convened at Camp Bettens,
Wyoming, near the Town of Suggs, Wyoming, pursuant to Camp Orders
No. 3, June 18, 1892."

"Report on the Trouble at Suggs, Wyoming on June 16th and 17th, 1892"
by Major Jno. M. Bacon, 7th Cavalry, Acting Inspector General, Depart-
ment of the Platte, to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, June 28,
1892.

Telegram, General John Brooke, Department of the Platte to Adjutant
General, Washington, D. C, June 19, 1892.

Letter, General John Brooke, Department of the Platte, to Adjutant General,
Washington, D. C, July 21, 1892.

63. Memorandum, General Schofield to the Adjutant General, Washing-
ton, D. C, June 20, 1892.

64. Telegram, General Schofield to General Brooke, November 12, 1892.
also: telegram. General Brooke to General Schofield, November 13, 1892.

AFTERMATH OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY INVASION 75

to be in Johnson County's back country.65 A justice department
investigation upheld Rankin, sharply criticized the role of U. S.
Commissioner Churchill, and of certain state officials, and stated
that the federal government should never have intervened in the
situation at all.66

Through the closing months of 1892 at the state level, the
Invaders politicked their way to freedom, having lost their "battle"
and their "war" and infinitely complicated Wyoming politics for
many years.

65. The "three good men" were: Frank Grouard, Post Guide of Fort
McKinney, Baptiste "Little Bat" Gamier, Guide at Fort Robinson and a
Pinkerton Agency detective. This data from reports of Marshal Rankin,
accompanying the Crossthwaite report of 2 November 1892.

66. Comments on the activities of Marshal Rankin and other U. S. Civil
authorities are based on:

Special File 6316-92 — "Letters Received and Sent relating to the 'Johnson
County War' in 1892 in Wyoming," found in the Records of the Department
of Justice, RG 60, National Archives. (Microfilm copies on file in the
Western History section of the Library at the University of Wyoming, Lara-
mie)

Note on military sources: All the military correspondence cited above will

be found in one of the following:

"A. G. Document File 29763, PRD 1892" Records of the Adjutant Generals

Office, RG 94

Post Records Fort McKinney, Wyoming; Post Records Fort D. A. Russell,

Wyoming; Records of the Department of the Platte; all RG98, "Records of

U. S. Army Commands" National Archives, Washington, D. C. (microfilm

copies have been placed on file with the State Archives and Historical Dept.)

ANNALS OF WYOMING

Courtesy of W . R. Bandy

The Tunnel crew at the entrance of No. 2 Tunnel. W. R. Bandy, and his
assistant, Mr. Beryl, are at the right.

Courtesy of W. R. Bandy

Headquarters office buildings at No. 2 Tunnel. Mr. Bandy's office was the
second building from the left.

Q hosts Zook Over the Zunnel

By
W. R. Bandy

The west has lots of ghost towns, many well known. But how
about ghost tunnels — some old abandoned irrigation tunnels such
as the Wiley Project in Wyoming's Big Horn Basin?

These could well be favorite haunts of a whole flock of ghosts —
the dynamiters, the muckers, the loaders, even the horses that
worked along the sage-covered slope of Carter Mountain's foothills.

Once those diggings were the scene of beehive activity. Now,
just a few who roamed the Basin at the turn of the century still
have vivid recollections of seeing groups of overall-clad workmen,
armed with picks and shovels, darting like ants in and out of those
holes in the hillside.

Back of that activity was a scheme devised by S. L. Wiley,
public-spirited resident of the Basin, to irrigate and develop large
tracts of desert lands in the Dry Creek valley.

The general plan was to bring water from the South Fork of the
Shoshone River by means of a 60-foot canal for a distance of more
than 30 miles to the Oregon Basin. There it would be spread upon
the land. Along this long canal were to be four tunnels cutting
through high boulder-strewn spurs and ridges. Work on that canal
and the four tunnels was just getting under way when I arrived on
the scene in the fall of 1907.

Now, on my occasional visits to Cody, the old familiar scars on
the foothills to the south remind me of days long ago when as a
young surveyor I had the good fortune of playing a small part in
the construction of those tunnels.

This was my first job on tunnel work. I was on my own, with
major responsibilities.

I stumbled onto this job through George W. Zorn, then chief
engineer for the Wiley outfit. The company was officially known
as the Big Horn Basin Development Company, with headquarters
at the Wiley Ranch on Sage Creek south of Cody. My duties
included doing survey work on the tunnels during construction.
My headquarters were at the main camp at the east end of No. 2
Tunnel. To reach the camp from Cody I caught a ride on the
freight wagon. The long and dusty road led southwest across Irma
Flat and wound up over the hills at camp. The trip of about 15
miles took most of the afternoon. The camp was approached by
going down a steep grade on the east side of a ridge to the head of a
gulch. I still remember the grade because we often had to push

78 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Wiley's automobile up the grade a few chugs at a time to get him
started off for Cody.

My first view of camp, which was to be my home for two years,
was from that ridge. It was a thrilling sight to see new buildings
spread out on the sagebrush slopes below. The fact that they were
constructed of rough, undressed lumber covered with tar paper
failed to dampen my enthusiasm, as they were such an improve-
ment over the flapping, dusty tents that had been my shelter the
past summers in the desert. The camp structures were grouped
around the two main buildings, the combined cookshack and dining
room and the office and commissary. The stables and powerhouse
were situated down the coulee.

I was gratified to learn I would have a 1 2 x 1 6-foot shack all to
myself for an office and living quarters. In it were a homemade
table, two stools, a flat-topped coal stove, with bench and water
bucket close by. After putting up my cot and rolling out my bed-
roll I had all the comforts of home, luxurious in comparison with
the dirt-floored tent and sagebrush stove I had been sharing with
two other boys on the survey. Electric lights replacing the tallow
candles were added blessings.

A. L. Phillips, the superintendent, was a dynamic person with
forceful personality. He understood all phases of the work and ran
a very efficient camp. William B. Edwards, a likeable young fel-
low from Chicago, was chief clerk, and was in charge of the com-
missary. Billy, as he was affectionately called, has remained a
close friend of mine over the years.

The tunnel excavation was carried on 24 hours a day at each of
six headings. We worked three eight-hour shifts. At the height
of activities an average of 250 men were employed at the various
camps. In addition to the tunnel camps, other camps were main-
tained at a coal mine on Sage Creek, a sawmill on Carter Mountain,
near a ditch crew on Sage Creek and a steam shovel on South Fork.

During winter months the camps buzzed with activity. Carpen-
ters busy with ax and saw lined the tunnel excavation with timbers
to hold back slacking shale and rock.

Clank-clank of blacksmiths could be heard as they sharpened
drillers' steel. A steady stream of muck, shale and rock poured
from the tunnel mouths in horse-drawn dump cars. Arriving daily
were freight teams drawing wagons laden with supplies from Cody,
lumber from the saw mill, coal from the company's mines on Sage
Creek.

Electric wire was continuously extended as tunnel headings
advanced with 200 sweating miners working around the clock
blasting their way through the mountains. In addition to the crews,
each camp had its quota of cooks and flunkeys, as well as a stable
boss, camp-tender, time-keeper, and "crumb boss" who looked
after the muckers' bunk houses.

Compressed-air drills and dynamite were used in the tunnel

GHOSTS TOOK OVER THE TUNNEL 79

excavation. Mucking and loading the dump cars was done by
hand. The tunnels were horse-shoe shaped in cross section. The
finished inside diameter was 12 by 13 feet, making it necessary to
excavate a hole about 16x17 feet. The grade was a drop of three
inches per 100 feet. Two of the tunnels were approximately one-
half mile in length, while the other two were a little over 400 feet
long. The two long tunnels had curves at each end so one could
not see out after the first 400 or 500 feet under the ground.

By mid-winter three of the tunnel crews were working beyond
the sharp curves, thus placing the entire dependence of alignment
upon proper calculations by trigonometric formulas.

This first experience with underground work caused me some
sleepless nights, with much turning and tossing in bed as I reviewed
my procedures. I was well aware that a misplaced decimal point
might prove disastrous, not only to my reputation, but also to my
employer.

To make matters worse for me, when the two opposite headings
began to approach each other within 200 feet or so, and the sound
of blasting on the opposite side seemed to come from the side of
the tunnel instead of directly ahead, there was some good-natured
ribbing from the crews and the suggestion that the other crew
might be bypassing us. I put up a brave front. But when the
breakthrough did occur, I revealed my true feelings or lack of
complete faith by being the first one to look through the hole,
although it meant staying up all night on the graveyard shift.

Before the break-through occurred at No. 2 Tunnel, preparations
were begun for lining the tunnel with concrete. Suitable concrete
aggregates were found in deposits of gravel on top of the bench
above the west end of the tunnel. A mixing plant was built where
the material could be screened and placed in bins on the edge of
the bench. Then it could be moved by gravity, as needed, down
chutes to the mixer at the mouth of the tunnel below. Concrete
forms were made by bending dump-car rails to the desired shape.
Placing the freshly mixed concrete behind the forms in the top
segment of the tunnel roof was accomplished by hand shoveling, a
rather crude arrangement in comparison with modern methods.

The breakthrough on No. 2 Tunnel finally came the morning of
April 12, 1908. For a month the drilling crews had been hearing
the shooting on the opposite side. They knew they were getting
closer and closer together. But the tension did not get high until
I told them on April 11 that the crews were only 12 feet apart.
From then on they raced to see who could be the first to break
through. The night of the eleventh I stayed up with ths crew on
the east side, thinking they would break through when they dyna-
mited an hour before midnight.

However, they failed to break through. So, I decided to stay
on with the graveyard shift until they shot at 7 a.m.

Mike Flannery, a big Irishman, was boss on the graveyard shift.

Courtesy of W. R. Bandy

The heading of No. 2 Tunnel, showing the upper half of the tunnel, always

kept ten feet ahead of the "bench." Note the curled fuses in the heading,

ready for blasting. Members of the work crew are not identified.

Courtesy of W. R. Bandy

The gravel chute and storage bins for delivering gravel from the pit at the
top of the "bench" to the tunnel entrance where concrete was mixed. Horse-
drawn dump cars are shown at the top of the picture.

GHOSTS TOOK OVER THE TUNNEL 81

About 25 to 30 holes were drilled in the heading and bench of the
face of the tunnel during each shift, and each was loaded with a
heavy charge of dynamite. It was set off by an exploding cap
placed on the end of the old-fashioned fuse and stuck into the
charge of dynamite. The fuses were lit by hand. They were cut
long enough to allow time to light all of the 25 or 30 and run to
safety before the first explosion.

I helped Mike ignite 28 fuses for the shot at 7 a.m. Hand light-
ing so many fuses takes considerable time, even with two working
at it. The first ones continue to spew sparks and smoke around
one's feet while he is lighting the remainder.

It was hard work for me to keep my mind on my business with a
dozen or more fuses spewing around my feet. I was ready to run
for it when Mike said "That's all!" and started to yell, "Fire! Fire!"

Running down the tunnel out of range of flying rocks we
crouched behind some posts and counted the shots as they explod-
ed. Finally Mike said that was all. We rushed back into the
smoke and gas to see if we had broken through.

We had missed count!

Just as we approached the heading, another charge exploded in
front of us. Fortunately, it was a lifter down deep in the muck and
did not throw rocks on us.

Waiting a few moments, we climbed over the loose rock. We
could hear voices ahead. We knew the breakthrough had oc-
curred. By that time we were choking on smoke and gas. We
stuck our noses down into fresh air pouring through a small open-
ing in the face of the tunnel.

A few questions put to the opposite crew assured me that we had
struck head-on. My worries were over.

Through the winter and spring of 1907-08 all phases of the work
progressed satisfactorily.

Accidents were few and minor, with the exception of one fatality
among the ditch crew working Sage Creek. When they were cut-
ting through a 20-foot ledge of sandstone, using hand steel and
black powder an accident occurred. While they were loading a
20-foot drill hole by pouring powder into it, the powder clogged in
the hole part way down.

A workman picked up a steel drill instead of a wooden stick to
clear the hole. A spark touched off the powder sending a piece
of sandstone weighing several tons rolling over the man.

Occasionally, personal altercations between workmen enlivened
the camp. One morning the fat Chinese cook and the big white
flunky got into a fight over who should fill the hot water tank on the
back of the range. One used a cleaver and the other a heavy iron
dipper, and they made quite a mess.

The fight broke up when the cook bit a chunk out of the flunk-
ey's leg. The cook came running toward the office with his bloody
apron wrapped around his head and neck. At first glance it looked

82 ANNALS OF WYOMING

like his head had been cut off. To top it off, our pet coyote,
sensing something wrong, set up an awful howl.

Another time a chainman flipped a steel tape against the wet
trouser leg of the electrician while the electrician was standing on a
wooden box for insulation while holding two hot wires. Fortunate-
ly, the electrician's wild leap when the shock hit him broke the
contact, without serious results.

Cody was booming during the winter and spring of 1907-08, as
a result of the many men employed on different public works
projects in the area.

In addition to the Wiley Project were the Shoshone Dam above
Cody, the Corbett Tunnel and the Shoshone Project irrigation
canals. Among Cody's principal stores were the Cody Trading
Company, managed by Jake Schwoob, and Dave Jones' store, the
"Outfitter for Men and Boys."

Seven saloons on Main Street supplied refreshments while Etta
Feeley's night club provided entertainment.

Things were flying high during the summer of 1908 until hard
times struck. Money for public works became tight. The manage-
ment of Wiley Project decided to try to raise more money to con-
tinue the work by advertising a big land opening to prospective
farmers.

Special trains brought hundreds to view the lands. To carry
the visitors over the area and to make a showing of prosperity, the
company imported six big, red touring cars from Chicago. They
were about the first cars of that size to hit the Basin.

The young drivers of the cars, also imported from Chicago, had
a lot of fun before the crowds arrived by racing the cars over dusty
roads, scaring teams and killing farmers' chickens that wondered
into their paths.

The prospective settlers from the east looked over the sagebrush
and salt-sage flats, dry as a bone and with promised water ditches
far from complete. They shook their heads and returned home
with their money in their pockets. The big land sale was a com-
plete flop.

Shortly after that all work on the irrigation project stopped.
Creditors swarmed in, and by means of mechanic liens, salvaged
what they could from the equipment.

The workmen scattered to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Being
footloose and free, I departed for my old home in Missouri for an
extended vacation and to look over the new crop of girls.

It was more than 50 years later when I again visited the old
abandoned construction sites. That was in 1959 with one of those
Missouri girls as my wife.

Picking up Billy Edwards and his wife, Alice, at their Emblem,
Wyoming home, we drove up to the old Wiley Project, tramped
around the old campsites and tunnel mouths.

With mixed emotions we viewed the old caved-in tunnels we had

GHOSTS TOOK OVER THE TUNNEL 83

at one time been so proud of. Thoughts of bygone days haunted
us as we viewed familiar landscape.

What changes had taken place.

The most impressive factor to indicate the lapse of time were
six-inch pine trees growing in the bottom of the old canal! Nature
had done its best to heal the scars by grassing over most of the
slopes. But the ragged banks of the tunnel portals could not be
healed so easily. Broken and rotten timbers hung from tunnel
tops, piles of slacked shale all but blocked the tunnels once so
spick and span.

Bats and wild animals now shared the dark caverns with the
tunnel ghosts. From the ridge above the camp, familiar land marks
were pointed out to our wives. South, on the north face of Carter
Mountain, I could spot where I had felled my first buck as he
bounded across open sliderock. Northeasterly were the reddish,
pink badlands of McCulloch Peaks bringing memories of thirst,
sweat and toil as I surveyed that waste land. Northward was the
dark grove of timber on the tip of Hart Mountain, pinpointing the
spot where in 1911 I established an iron post section corner for the
U.S. General Land Office.

Leaving the tunnels and their ghostly inhabitants to their accus-
tomed peace we drove to Cody where the hustle and bustle was a
welcome change.

Gone from the streets, however, were the 1 0-horse freight outfits
with their jerk-line drivers, heading for such faraway places as
Meeteetse, Thermopolis, or perhaps the Kirwin mines up on the
shoulder of Frank's Peak. Gone were Tex Holm's four-horse Yel-
lowstone Park stages. Missing also was the prancing buggy team
sometimes seen in front of the Irma Hotel impatiently waiting to
take Colonel W. F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody to his plush TE Ranch
at the close of a show season.

At end of our visit, Bill and I both agreed our experiences on the
Wiley Project had been a valuable part of our education, and added
to our stock of tall stories to tell our children and grandchildren.

ANNALS OF WYOMING

raac so. 16

LUSK TO EEADWDOD VIA JERNEY STOCKADE
July 16 - 18, 1965

Miles
1^9 Deadwood ....

136 Cheyenne Crossing

108 Pour Corners

88 Newcastle

Deadwood

ft _ Cold Springs in Dakota
(* _ Canyon Springs

Beaver Station Stockade

Jenney Stockade

Robber's Roost

53 Cheyenne River
Rest Stop

Qi_ noDoer-s noost
Oj _ Cheyenne River Station
' .O ... Unit. Creek Juncrhii

Hat Creek
Junction

0 Lu£k . . . . '^r>r-- ,**%£>&
Lathrop -ujY"7-"* ***~

Monument-' / '

Mule Creek Junction

Lance Creels or May's Ranch

Old Woman Crossing

Hat Creek Station, Junction of Indian
Creek Route

Water or Silver Cliff

Stage Stations and
Doadwocd Trail-O-

Highvay 85 .

County Roads >>>>*■

CHEYENNE TO DEADWOOD STAGE ROUTE, 1867-1887

Ckeyenne-'Deadwood Zrail Zrek

Trek No. 16 of the Historical Trail Treks

Sponsored by

WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL

DEPARTMENT

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Weston County Chapter, Wyoming State Historical Society

in cooperation with

Society of Black Hill's Pioneers, Deadwood Chamber of

Commerce, Lead Chamber of Commerce and the South Dakota

Historical Society

under the direction of

Dick Eklund, Lyle Hildebrand, Paul Henderson and
Maurine Carley

Compiled by

Maurine Carley - Trek Historian
July 16-18, 1965

Caravan - 60 cars - 135 participants

OFFICERS

Captain Sergeant Carey, Wyoming Highway Patrol,

Lusk

Wagon Boss Paul Henderson

Announcer Bill Dubois

Guides Dick Eklund, Lyle Hildebrand, Ed Cook,

Jim Griffith, Stanford Brewster,

Lewis Darrow, Fred Sweet

Historian Maurine Carley

Topographer H. M. "Doc" Townsend, U.S. Geological

Survey, Denver
Photographers Pete LaBonte, Helen Henderson,

Marguerite Martin
Press The Lusk Herald,

The Newcastle News Letter-Journal

Registrars Meda Walker, Jane Houston

Tickets Fran Boan

Top Hand in Dakota.. Nell Perrigoue

CHEYENNE DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 87

NOTE: Mileage will continue from Running Water Station
(133.07M.)

This trek completed the Cheyenne — Deadwood trail north from
Lusk to Deadwood. So many changes were made in the stage
route north from Running Water that it is impossible to follow one
direct trail to Deadwood. One route crossed Sage Creek and
Horse Head Creek and entered the Black Hills through Red Can-
yon; another went to Custer City by way of Indian Creek; another
included Inyan Kara, Sundance and Spearfish. One interesting
story tells that after the long, dusty trip from Cheyenne fresh, clean,
light gray horses waited in Whitewood ready to make a spectacular
dash into Deadwood. We followed the trail north from Hat Creek
via Jenney Stockade. An account of Trek No. 15, covering the
first half of the Cheyenne — Deadwood route, can be found in
Annals of Wyoming, April, 1965.

Friday - July 16, 1965

The trek began Friday evening at 6:30 with registration and a
picnic at the Pioneer Court Motel in Lusk. The rest of the evening
was spent in the Lusk Opery House, an open air structure built by
the actors, who had also written their own parts. Everyone thor-
oughly enjoyed the clever Meller Drammer, "Woman Suffrage
(Wyoming Style.)" A trio, comedy singers, can-can girls and folk
songs rounded out the program. Gaity and hilarity abounded.
Lusk will long be remembered for its generous hospitality.

Saturday - July 17

Guides: Dick Eklund, Jim Griffith, Stanford Brewster.

7:30 A.M. The group assembled rather promptly at the La-
throp Monument two miles west of Lusk on U.S. Highway 20.
After introductions, Jim Griffith briefly told about George La-
throp, the last stage driver on the Cheyenne-Deadwood run. (His
full account of George Lathrop is in the April, 1965, Annals of
Wyoming) .

8:10 A.M. The long motorcade traveled from Lusk on High-
way 85 for four miles then turned east on a county road for about
three miles and got on a branch of the old trail which passed
through pine-covered hills topped by castle-like formations of
sandstone. Suddenly we were stopped for a real treat when a
group of road agents held up a south-bound stage in a very realistic
manner for our benefit. Ed Cook, son of a driver once in the
same predicament, was the driver. The people of Lusk added this
enactment of an historic incident to our trek.

8:55 A.M. Reluctantly we departed from the exciting scene of
the hold-up on our way through the breaks. Hat Rock could be
seen in the distance to the left. It may have been that Hat Creek
Stage Station (149.8 M.) received its name from this rock.

ANNALS OF WYOMING

HAT CREEK STAGE STATION

By Mae Urbanek

Ninety years ago it was prairie wilderness where we now stand.
Only trails of buffalo and Indians bent the grasses of these mead-
ows. Change came in 1875 when soldiers built a fort here. Fort
Hat Creek, as it was called, was a mistake that made history.

First a few words of background events. After gold was dis-
covered in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1 874, Captain Egan
with a force of cavalry was sent out from Ft. Laramie to establish
a fort on Hat Creek in Nebraska. His expedition met Indian
opposition and wandered in the unmarked wilderness. When they
came to a stream that answered the description of Hat Creek, they
decided they had traveled far enough. On a bend of the creek,
close to wood and water, they built Fort Hat Creek, a barrack of
logs chinked with mud, having a dirt roof and floor. A horse
corral of logs was a part of the building. A tunnel roofed with
logs was built from the fort down to the creek, so in case of siege
by Indians, the garrison could still obtain water. Later it was
discovered that the fort was not built on Hat Creek in Nebraska,
but on Sage Creek in Wyoming Territory. By coincidence a wind-
carved, sandstone hill to the southwest resembles a hat and is
locally known as Hat Rock.

Stages loaded with passengers and mail were rolling north from
Cheyenne in early spring of 1876. Where we now stand was the
last outpost of safety — beyond to the north was the most dangerous
section of the entire route from Cheyenne to Deadwood; first
infested with roving bands of hostile Indians; later with road

Courtesy of Lush Herald
Hold-up of a southbound Cheyenne-Deadwood coach, staged in the breaks

area near Lusk.

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 89

agents, often disguised as Indians, who made a practice of holding
up the stages, robbing them of gold being transported to Cheyenne.
Among the thousands of passengers were New York promoters in
tall silk hats, miners, prospectors, missionaries, gamblers, Chinese
laborers, wives, mothers, adventurers, soldiers, Wild Bill Hickok,
and not the least in notoriety — Calamity Jane disguised as a team-
ster. Rumor has it that at Hat Creek she got drunk and was fired.
A book could be written about the hundreds of incidents akin to
the best in western movies.

In the early 1880's John Storrie and Tom Swan erected this two-
story building by which we now stand. Later they sold to Andrew
Falconer, whose granddaughters, Katherine and Rosalie Fields,
are the present owners. Present occupants are Mr. and Mrs. Durl
Holtz.

I am going to close by reading a few lines from Songs of The Sage by
Mae Urbanek.

Change must come — it is a part of time.

No red man's arrows and no dashing rain

Can stop this surging drive of life, fighting

To fill all vacancy — to build and wreck

And build again, and dream of something better

Beyond the blue-black hills that curtain off

From view tomorrow's path.

Now buildings stand and white man's children play
Where herds of buffalo once had their day.
Yet, every age of men who come and go
Would like to mold all life and leave it so —
Frozen in that pattern. But life is free!
And pioneers will always live to say
Tomorrow is another, different day.

9:30 A.M. We left Hat Creek Station on the trail, then went
two miles west to Hat Creek Store where we turned north on the
pavement. At 163 M. we could see the trail again. At 170 M. it
crossed to the west side of the highway. This was a pleasant ride
in Old Woman Valley with Sage Creek to our right and Lance
Creek off to the left. Fields of sun flowers and yellow sweet clover
added to the beauty, with low hills in the background.

10:15 A.M. We arrived at Mule Creek Junction (183 M.)
where we caught the first glimpse of the Black Hills in the distance.
Since we were unable to get to the next two stations — Old Woman
Creek Station (148 M.) and May's Ranch (176.54 M.) — the two
papers were read at the Junction.

OLD WOMAN CREEK STATION
By Mrs. George Christian
Read by Albert DeGering

The north route of the Cheyenne-Black Hills stage route ran
along the fork of Old Woman's Creek toward Jenney Stockade.

90 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Old Woman's Creek was so named because the ghost of an Indian
squaw was supposed to be seen dancing in the moonlight on a
rimrock above the creek. A road ranch was built on Old Woman's
Creek in 1877 and Sourdough Dick was the stock tender.

Since the stage carried mail, the Post Office Department depu-
tized Scott Davis, D. Boone May and eight others and equipped
them with good horses and ammunition to protect the stage. These
men were paid $5 a day plus $200 bonus for every road agent they
captured dead or alive.

On September 13, 1878, six men robbed the mail on a north-
bound coach about 1 1 o'clock at night at Old Woman's fork.
After taking $10 from a passenger named Goldworthy, they re-
turned it because he said he was a laboring man. They did not
molest the other passenger, a woman.

The coach went on and soon met the south bound coach and
warned its driver that robbers were in the vicinity of Old Woman's
fork. Boone May and John Zimmerman, who were riding about
200 yards in the rear of the coach, dropped farther back and kept
out of sight. When the coach reached the vicinity of Old Woman's
fork and the recent robbery, it was stopped by a command from
the outlaws.

As soon as the robbers had "gone through" the passengers, they
put the mail sacks on the ground. Suddenly they realized that the
shotgun messengers were closing in on them. The outlaws opened
fire. May and Zimmerman returned the fire instantly. A robber,
afterwards identified as Frank Towle (or Toll) fell, fatally wound-
ed. According to Boone May, he recognized one of the robbers
as Frank James, alias Tom Reed.

"Get in the coach and drive on," the robbers shouted to the
passengers as they began to retreat. They kept up a steady fire
in the direction of May and Zimmerman. Since these two men
soon realized they could not dislodge so many outlaws, they mount-
ed their horses and joined the retreating coach. The mail was left
in the road near the body of the fallen robber. The next morning
when the mail was recovered, there was a pool of blood in the road
beside the rifled sacks. C. H. Brown, of Denver, a coach passen-
ger, who was robbed of $10 and a satchel, praised the guards very
highly for the way they conducted themselves during the attack.

MAY'S RANCH OR LANCE CREEK STAGE STATION

By Pauline Marchant

In June of 1877 a new cutoff was opened on the Cheyenne-
Deadwood Stage Route, which went north from Hat Creek. About
28 miles north was May's ranch on Lance Creek, known as the
Lance Creek Station. Here Jim May was stock tender and station
keeper. The official survey made by Captain W. A. Stanton and

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 91

his assistants was finished on August 25, 1877, and showed that
Lance Creek Station was 176.54 miles from Cheyenne.

About November 1, 1877, Dune Blackburn and James Wall
stole eight horses from the Lance Creek Station. Scott Davis, a
messenger, who was just recovered from a wound in his leg, asked
authority to go after these thieves. With a detail of four men and
a non-commissioned officer from Fort Laramie, Davis started out.
They headed westward. Heavy snows had fallen and the soldiers
refused to go on when they got to Sweetwater valley. Davis,
thoroughly disgusted with the men, pushed on alone. When his
horse gave out he exchanged it for another, found in a ranchman's
barn one night. He traveled on to South Pass and left his horse,
took his saddle and guns and boarded the south bound stage for
Green River. He got off at Alkali stage station and inquired as to
whether they had seen two men with eight horses. He found the
men sleeping in a haystack. Shooting started and James Wall went
down wounded in both legs but Blackburn escaped without his
coat, shoes or hat. Wall was turned over to Charles Brown, a
Deputy from Green River. Davis found the eight horses and head-
ed for Green River. That night Blackburn also came into town to
buy some clothes and he was arrested. When the Overland Ex-
press of the Union Pacific thundered into Cheyenne, November 23,
1877, it carried Davis, the two road agents and the eight recovered
stage horses. A large crowd came to get a look at the man who
had nerve enough to capture two road agents.

When the soldiers came back to Fort Laramie they were court-
martialed for neglect of duty and it is said they were sent to the
Federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.

George Draper, a member of the Wyoming legislature, then in
session, introduced a resolution of thanks that was adopted by the
lawmakers. It read: "Resolved by the Council, the House of
Representatives concurring, that the untiring efforts and signal
bravery displayed by Mr. Scott Davis in his recent capture of the
notorious 'road agents' Dune Blackburn and James Wall, deserves
recognition by the Fifth Legislative Assembly of Wyoming Terri-
tory, and that the thanks of the Assembly are hereby tendered him
for his services in bringing these marauders to justice.

"Resolved, that the Honorable G. W. French, Secretary of the
Territory of Wyoming, be requested to furnish Mr. Scott Davis
with a copy of this resolution."

On January 12, 1878, Davis received $400 for the arrest and
conviction of Blackburn and Wall.

The coach that left Deadwood for Cheyenne on July 23, 1877,
was detained at Jenney Stockade because of high water, making it
arrive at Lance Creek late, about 2 o'clock in the morning. At
Lance Creek it was held up by six masked men. Only one passen-
ger, Rev. J. W. Picket, was on board. They did not molest him or
the driver but robbed the mailsacks of registered letters and other

92 ANNALS OF WYOMING

valuable material. They broke open the treasure boxes but found
them empty. After about half an hour they ordered the driver to
go on. This was the first time on the Cheyenne to Deadwood route
that the United States mails were robbed.

In the latter part of August, 1877, a northbound coach was
stopped between Cheyenne River and Lance Creek by three agents.
After compelling the passengers to throw up their hands the rob-
bers went through their pockets, took two watches and a small
amount of money. They cut open the mail sacks and took the
registered letters and left the balance of the mail strewn on the
ground. After this, Postmaster General Key ordered that regis-
tered mail going up to Deadwood should be carried only on the
treasure coach.

On September 10, 1878, three armed men stopped a southbound
coach near Lance Creek. They robbed the four passengers and
plundered the mail. Just then the northbound coach arrived.
They stopped it, robbed the passengers, cut open the mail sacks
and broke the treasure boxes and took their contents. One of
these thieves wore no mask and was thought to be William Wallace
(Lengthy) Johnson. When he was captured and taken in he
was released because of lack of evidence.

One time when Mrs. Charles Partridge, wife of the telegraph
operator at the Hat Creek Station, was a coach passenger enroute
from Deadwood to Hat Creek, the stage was held up by a lone road
agent at the second crossing on Lance Creek, which was about one
mile north of the Lance Creek Stage Station. The bandit made
the driver cut the team loose. He then dynamited the safe and
obtained one gold brick. The stage started off again, and as they
were crossing Lance Creek near the station they saw the road agent
watering his horse. The driver shot and killed him, but the gold
brick had disappeared. It was presumed to have been buried or
hidden somewhere between the two crossings. It is my under-
standing that much hunting has been done for this gold brick.

My grandfather, Henry Thompson, was a freighter between
Cheyenne and the Black Hills in 1876, '77 and '78. He made one
trip in 1878 over this Cheyenne-Deadwood trail, but the rest of the
trips were made farther to the east of here. How I wish I had been
older and could remember more of the stories he told of his trips
as a freighter.

In 1895, my husband's grandfather, John T. Hogg, and his fam-
ily came from West Virginia, following a son, Will, who had come
to Wyoming in 1888. They built the HOG ranch on Lance Creek,
within a hundred yards of where the Lance Creek stage station
stood. In 1896, while fencing the yard, Will uncovered a set of
heavy white dishes, four plates, three cups, saucers, vegetable dish
and pitcher, which had been buried many years before, as the
ground was well packed around them. There are many supposi-

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 93

tions as to what might have happened when these dishes were
buried.

10:45 A.M. Ed Cook and Lewis Darrow led us to the Chey-
enne River Rest Area, a shady spot on the Cheyenne River. It was
impracticable to get to Robber's Roost Station (193 M.) so Mose
Cooksey, owner of the site, gave its history while Mrs. Cooksey
showed rocks with fossils embedded in them, cartridges and other
relics found there. It is believed that watches were burned in a
Dutch oven at Robber's Roost during the trail days, but these have
never been found. In fact all fossils and artifacts are now under
the grass.

ROBBER'S ROOST STAGE STATION
By C. R. (Mose) Cooksey

Robber's Roost Station was located about three miles south of
what was known as Robber's Roost Crossing where the Cheyenne-
Deadwood stages crossed the creek on their many and dangerous
trips. This bridge over the creek was one of the spots most dread-
ed by the stage drivers in those days.

The bluffs to the west and south afforded fine lookout posts for
the road agents as they waited for the stages to come down from
Deadwood or north from Cheyenne. The agents could see the
stages on the trail for miles and still have time to hide under the
bridge before the driver and guards could see them.

The first time I was at the Crossing was in 1903 and all that was
left of the old bridge were two pilings. These were carved with the
names and initials of many of the early-day settlers.

Now, what is left of Robber's Roost Station or Burnt Station,
as some call it, is on my land down close to Cheyenne River. Its
exact location is N.W., N.W; S. 29, 40, 61. While I was visiting
with Fred Sullivan in Lusk about 20 years ago, he told me that
Robber's Roost Station was located three miles south of the Roost
bridge because they had to get down close to Cheyenne River in
order to get a water well. A depression in the earth still marks the
place where this well was located. Only a pile of rocks was found
where the fireplace must have fallen when the station burned.
Rumor tells us it was burned by the Indians in 1886, so it was in
use by the stage line for only about nine or ten years.

Chris Holly was another of the old stage drivers. He and a
friend came back to the Robber's Roost country about 20 years
ago in search of a treasure that Big Nose George Parrot had taken
from one of the stage coaches. He was supposed to have buried
it on Sheep Creek. Holly carried a map supposedly made by Big
Nose George at the time he buried the gold, but the treasure was
never found. Metal detectors have since been used and still no
treasure has been located.

The only road agent I ever knew was Doc Middleton, whose

94 ANNALS OF WYOMING

right name was James Riley. When I knew Doc he had settled
down considerably and was a law-abiding citizen. He ran a saloon
at Ardmore. When he made trips to Edgemont in the '90s he
drove a team and stabled it at the livery barn. Several other small
boys and I spent a lot of time at the livery barn listening to the
exciting tales Doc told of his adventures on the old trail.

It was in that barn that I first learned of Robber's Roost Bridge,
the Creek and Station, and heard the story of the station being
burned by the Indians in 1886. Little did I think that someday I
would live so near this historic spot. I think a marker should be
placed on the highway giving the history of this historic station.

11:25 A.M. A short distance from Cheyenne River an old
gnarled tree was pointed out. From its branches a road agent once
hung. We continued on the highway to Newcastle where lunch
was eaten on the lawn near the Chamber of Commerce which was
built from the logs brought in from Jenney Stockade. Coffee and
cold drinks were provided by the Weston County Historical So-
ciety, while the group rested under the trees and listened to the
history of Jenney Stockade.

JENNEY STOCKADE
By Marie Graham

According to history, a topographical engineering party, headed
by Lt. G. K. Warren in company with Dr. F. V. Hayden, geologist,
were the first to stop at the site of the Jenney Stockade. They
camped on the east bank of Stockade Beaver Creek. After they
built a log corral about 300 feet east of the present ranch house of
the LAK Ranch they explored the Hills for gold, oil and minerals.

Eighteen years later, on May 17, 1875, 75 geologists and miners
headed by Professor Walter P. Jenney, left Cheyenne City (Chey-
enne, Wyoming) for the Black Hills. At Fort Laramie they were
joined by 432 soldiers under the command of Lt. Col. Richard
Irving Dodge. Two ambulances also came along. They arrived
at the Warren camp site June 3 and started building a log fort the
next day.

Construction was delayed because Henry Keets, the first boot-
legger in the Black Hills, came driving up with his team of ponies
hitched to a two-wheeled cart. He sold whiskey at fifty cents a cup
but was soon escorted back to Fort Laramie.

The building at Camp Jenney was finally completed in ten days.
It was used as a supply depot for all the camps throughout the
Hills. The men worked all summer from this camp but returned
to Fort Laramie and Cheyenne on October 5. They left a supply
of provisions with one man in charge.

About this same time a man by the name of Keise was shot
through the head by his partner. He is buried about two miles

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 95

northeast of the LAK on the road going to Stonewall City, better
known as Custer.

Camp Jenney, later known as Jenney Stockade, was used as a
stage coach station for several years. The Cheyenne-Deadwood
stage coaches made regular stops here. Besides gold, salt was
mined from the salt springs located about ten miles above the camp,
near the Flying V Ranch. This salt was sold to the people of the
Black Hills as late as 1884. The first oil locations were made
about two miles above the Stockade. Soon about 100 oil wells
were located.

On June 22, 1877, the land on which the Stockade was located
became the property of Flarida, Burrougs (Burrows) and Spencer.
That winter, Spencer secured Flarida's interest and organized the
LAK Cattle Company. (Lake, Allerton and Spencer).

The stockade building, in the shape of a large "L", served in turn
as a stockade, stage station, hostlery, dwelling house, store house
and blacksmith shop. For fifty years it served thus but when the
modern buildings of the LAK were built it became necessary to
move the old stockade. The Twentieth Century Club of Newcastle
decided to salvage at least part of it. Three men, Ben Hilton,
Frank Hilton and Jack Cross, dismantled it log by log and num-
bered each one so they could be reassembled properly. It was
erected on the Court House lawn and is now used as the Chamber
of Commerce office in Newcastle. This building still has the
original port holes.

1:10 P.M. We left Newcastle on Highway 16 for the site of
Jenney Stockade (221 M.) where we stopped to read the marker:

JENNEY STOCKADE

1/2 miles east of this spot was a supply depot for army units con-
voying the Professor W. P. Jenney party, which in 1875, surveyed
mineral and other resources of the Black Hills for the United States.
In 1876 it was a station of the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Line.

One reference mentions that in February, 1878, an early thaw
melted the snow in the gulches and the sleighs had to be taken off
the run between Jenney Stockade and Deadwood, the coaches
travelling hub-deep in water-filled ruts, but they were put on again
during a five-day blizzard early in March.

On September 26, 1878, Beaver Station played a minor role in
the well-known Canyon Springs treasure coach robbery. Jesse
Brown, Boone May and Billy Sample, three of the regular "shotgun
messenger" guards, waited there to be ready to pick up the loaded
coach on its down journey and to accompany it on horseback from
Beaver Station to Hat Creek. When the coach didn't arrive on
schedule the three started up the road to look for it and thus met
Scott Davis, who had escaped the bandits and was headed for
Beaver Station on a horse he had obtained at the Eager ranch.

96 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Other than this, there was apparently no excitement at this station
during the time it was in use.

The next month, October, 1878, the route was changed to avoid
the hilly roads north of Jenney Stockade and Beaver Station was
abandoned after 1 6 months.

When the Edward Thomson family arrived on Beaver Creek in
September, 1886, they moved into the only available building on
the Creek — abandoned stage station on the Eager ranch. They
lived there during the winter of 1886-87. At that time the Thomas
P. Sweets were the only other family on the Creek.

Today all that remains to mark the place where the station stood
is a deep depression in the grassy slope of the west side of the
valley where the cellar was. A few stones still imbedded in the
ground indicate the position of the fireplace. Down the valley a
few hundred feet a faint trail can be seen as it comes over a hill
between scattered boulders.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Jess, and Willard, A.M.
The Black Hills Trails
Ed. by John T. Milek

Rapid City, So. Dakota Rapid City Journal Co., 1924

Lee, Bob and Williams, Dick
Last Grass Frontier

Sponsored by South Dakota Stockgrowers Assoc.

Black Hills Publishers, Inc. Sturgie. So. Dak. 1964

Copyrighted by S. D. Stockgrowers Assoc.
Spring, Agnes Wright

The Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage and Express Routes
Glendale, Calif., The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1949
Interview with Sarah Thomson McCoy, pioneer.

2:00 P.M. We returned to Newcastle with its winding, hilly
streets and immediately entered the Black Hills. Soon we passed
a red butte with a flat top called Fanny's Peak. Mrs. Graham said
that this peak was used by both Indians and whites as a lookout.
In the 1 850's, Sir George Gore, of Iligo, Ireland and 75 men
slaughtered a large number of buffalo near here. He is the one
who named the peak for his friend, the astronomer, W. A. F.
Fitzwilliams. A large telescope was mounted there to study and
observe the stars.

2:15 P.M. We continued to the crossroad from Four Corners
to Mallo Camp Ground. Since it was impossible to turn such a
long motorcade around at Canyon Springs (241 M.) we stopped at
the marker.

CANYON SPRINGS

By Mabel Brown

We cannot see the location of the old Canyon Springs Station
from here, but if we were to go on down the road about three and

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 97

one half miles to the east, we could see it back there in the timber.
It was located on upper Beaver Creek, about 37 miles south of
Deadwood and 20 miles north of Jenney Stockade, on the Wyo-
ming side of the line. Old maps place it a short distance southeast
of the present Four Corners store.

The old station was built of logs, with quarters for the stock
tender in one end, and a stable and feed storage in the other. It
was known as a relay station, where teams were changed quickly
before going on to the next stop. The structure was torn down
many years ago.

Perhaps we would never have heard of Canyon Springs Station
had it not been the site of the daring robbery of the bullet-proof
treasure coach, the Monitor. This coach had steel-plated walls, a
chest bolted to the floor and a combination safe lock. The builders
claimed that it was robber-proof for twenty-four hours. Holdups
along the Cheyenne-Deadwood trail occurred so frequently that
Hills residents paid them little heed but their attention was caught
that 25th day of September in 1878.

Scott Davis, Galen Hill and Cap Smith were riding shotgun on
the treasure coach. Gene Barnett was driving and, contrary to
the rules, Hugh Campbell was a passenger. He was a telegraph
operator on his way to a job at Camp Jenney. The Superintendent,
W. H. Ward, had started out with the coach but for some unex-
plained reason had turned back after the noon stop at Cold
Springs, three miles north.

About three o'clock in the afternoon, the treasure coach pulled
up in front of the Canyon Springs Station. Things seemed pretty
much the same as usual except that Bill Miner, the stock-tender,
was nowhere in sight. Hill yelled for the tender, then jumped
down and put a chock block under the wheel of the coach. As he
raised up he was met by gunfire from the stable. Although badly
injured, he managed to wound one of the road agents but received
another bullet through the arm. He fell, but dragged himself out
of range into the edge of the brush. One of the bullets in the
barrage hit Campbell, who died almost instantly.

Cap Smith was hit by a splinter from the top of the coach and
knocked unconscious. Scott Davis thought that Smith was killed
and realizing he must do something mighty fast, jumped out on the
opposite site of the coach from the robber's position and made a
run for a big pine tree. He signaled Barnett to whip up the horses
and get out of there. Barnett had remained in his place as he was
supposed to do and tried to carry out Davis' orders but one of the
outlaws grabbed the horses. Davis dropped the outlaw. Another
agent had maneuvered his way to the barn where he could catch
Davis in a cross fire and drive him out. Hill, half-dazed by pain,
was able to raise his gun and fire. The robber fell dead.

The leader of the gang ordered Barnett down from the coach and
used him as a shield as he advanced toward Davis, shouting for

98 ANNALS OF WYOMING

him to surrender. Davis told the bandit if he came an inch closer
he would shoot. He probably would have done so but saw that he
would also kill Barnett. Davis leaped back into the deep brush
and managed to get away. He proceeded down Beaver Creek
where he met Jesse Brown, Boone May and Billy Sample coming to
see what had delayed the coach. Less than two hours later when
the men arrived at Canyon Springs, the treasure box had been
broken open and the valuables taken. The gang had divided the
loot and split up to make their escape.

Eventually most of the treasure was recovered but a portion of
it was never found and is believed to be buried somewhere in the
vicinity. Youngsters and oldsters alike have searched for the
buried loot, but all in vain.

I recently heard a tale which may account for the gold remaining
undiscovered. A long-time resident of the Canyon Springs prairie
told me that he had heard of a man who was believed to have found
the gold. The man lived near Red Butte. One day as he was
digging potatoes in the field near where the treasure was supposedly
cached, he suddenly picked up something, dumped the potatoes,
threw the sack over his shoulder and walked out of the field, out
of the country and out of the lives of his family. He has never
been heard from since.

The Canyon Springs Station continued but a short time after the
robbery. It was abandoned when a new route out of the timber
was established.

COLD SPRINGS STATION
By Joe Koller

In 1964 Will Robinson, South Dakota State Historian, Sam
Hooks and I made a field trip to locate the site of Cold Springs
Stage Station on the Cheyenne-Deadwood line. Sam had been
raised in that area, and he knew where the station had been
located from what the old timers told him as a boy.

He led off the highway, in a left turn, a short distance south from
the South Dakota — Wyoming highway marker on U. S. 85. We
drove up a little grassy draw in a southeasterly direction and soon
came to a good flowing stream of clear water, Cold Springs Creek.
We followed up the creek and came to the old log stage barn that
Sam said was built and used after the old Cold Springs facility had
been destroyed by fire.

Presently the draw bent to the south and jack pine timber crowd-
ed the hilltops. The creek seemed to grow narrower and shallower
and soon there was no creek at all. In a washed gully centering
the grassy draw we found a group of springs that boiled out of the
ground and gave the creek its flow. A guess as to the distance
traveled from the take off point on the highway to the springs area
might be two miles, more or less. A survey stake with an engraved

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 99

brass cap on it was found near the springs site. Mr. Robinson
took its number and information and upon examining topographic
maps declared that the Cold Springs were located on Section 8 and
9, Township 2, North; Range 1, East. The station site was about
an eighth of a mile farther up this gulch. The location was near
the state line, perhaps on the Wyoming side.

Sam Hooks led on foot up the draw and after examining the sur-
roundings, pointed to a scattering of limestone rock on the east side
of the draw, near its grassed-over bottom, and said that was the
original location of Cold Springs Stage Station. There was no
evidence of a building ever having been there. Jack pines surround
the area now and grass covers the region. Hooks and Robinson
scouted over hill tops for some sign of the old trail but could not
locate it. After 86 years, time has erased such route markings.

Before coming to the log barn Sam pointed out a ridge along a
flanking hillside to our north and said it was the old ditch that
miners had dug in early days in an effort to run the Cold Springs
water from the creek across the hills country to Tinton District,
south of Spearfish Canyon, for sluicing purposes. The project
failed because too much water was lost enroute by seepage and
flumes.

Cold Spring Stage Station was located on Charley W. Snow's
1878 ranch, according to historical research, and was likely built
of logs. It was an important station on the Deadwood — Cheyenne
line because it was the only junction station in the northern Black
Hills on the system. South of Cold Springs lay Canyon Springs
Station in the forested hills. Northward the line advanced toward
Deadwood via Ten Mile, Cheyenne Crossing and the Whitewood
Gulch route. A branch line ran east from Cold Springs Station to
Mountain City (now Deerfield) where it forked; its upper branch
leading on to the Rochford mines, and its lower branch proceeding
to Tigerville and Hill City where it connected with the Telegraph
Road to Custer.

These feeder lines brought traffic to Cold Springs. It was a
station of services. The treasure coach that left Deadwood in the
morning made Cold Springs its dinner stop while the teams were
changed for the run south. Here in September, 1878, it is said,
William Ward, the stage line's superintendent at Deadwood, who
was supposed to ride the treasure coach all the way to Hat Creek
Station that day, gave his seat in the Monitor to Hugh Campbell, a
passenger, and taking a company horse rode back to Deadwood
the fateful day of the robbery.

Cold Springs was used as a station only a few months. After
the treasure coach robbery a new route was laid out that kept more
in the open, and both the forest-bound Cold Springs and Canyon
Springs stations were abandoned. Later the facility was somehow
destroyed by fire. That is when the big log barn was built farther
down the draw for stage line use. It is one of the few buildings

100 ANNALS OF WYOMING

left that were once associated with the coach travel era. From the
barn, the trail, so Hooks pointed out, headed straight east keeping
to high ground in its routing on to the head of Whitewood Canyon
and Deadwood.

Highway 85 crosses Cold Springs Creek so anyone trying to find
the barn and station site can do so by following the creek up to its
source and beyond to the white rocks designated as the old station's
site.

3:00 P.M. At the Canyon Springs stop we were delighted to
meet the South Dakotans who had come to welcome us to their
state. They were Fred Borsch, president of the Society of Black
Hill's Pioneers, Mr. and Mrs. Cushman Clark and Mrs. Margaret
Furois. At the border of Wyoming our patrolman turned us over
to Earl Engebretson, Deputy Sheriff of Lawrence County. He led
us over Oneill Pass (6700 ft.) and down beautiful Spearfish Can-
yon. The canyons were shrouded in clouds. From 256 M. High-
way 85 followed the stage road to Deadwood.

4:00 P.M. We stopped at Cheyenne Crossing (270 M.) where
the Deadwood trail crossed Spearfish Creek. Here Mr. Walter
Daniels, president of the Lead Chamber of Commerce, and Mrs.
Daniels welcomed us. John Moody distributed an attractive
booklet of The Homestake Story and we listened to a paper in the
mist.

CHEYENNE CROSSING STATION
By Cushman Clark

The Cheyenne Crossing Station on the Cheyenne-Deadwood
route had probably the shortest life - about 12 months - of any
major station on the system. According to Agnes Wright Spring's
book on the stage lines, a new route was started in June, '77,
bypassing Custer and avoiding Red Canyon, a worrisome spot
along the early run. This new location was through Jenney Stock-
ade and Cold Springs and came from there to Deadwood via
Whitewood Creek, as did the earlier route from Custer. Coaches
came into Deadwood from Pluma and crossed the Lee Street
bridge to get to the stage station on Main Street.

It was in the fall of 1877 that the route was changed to come in
from Cold Springs by way of Spearfish and Ice Box Canyons,
evidently a snorter or easier location, and it is at the juncture of
the two canyons that this Cheyenne Crossing Station was located.
After going up Ice Box Canyon, the road goes down what we now
call Aztec Hill (or it may have been in the adjoining gully to the
south), then to Whitetail, Lead, Poorman Gulch to Deadwood
Creek (location of the richest placer deposits) and then through
Central City to Deadwood, coming in on upper Main Street.

Two weeks after the Monitor treasure coach was robbed at
Canyon Springs in late September '78, the route was drastically

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK 101

changed, to come into Deadwood on the east side of the Hills, by
way of Buffalo Gap and Rapid City. This change had been under
consideration for some time, and the robbery no doubt hurried the
change-over along. This new way exposed the coaches to the
fewest steep grades and densely-forested roads, and was in open
country, allowing few chances for road agents to take cover.

For some time, Sidney, Nebraska, gained at the expense of
Cheyenne, for the new route was shorter to that point on the rail-
road. Thus, Cheyenne Crossing had about a year's exciting life
on the early bandit-infested run from the gold camps to the
railhead.

When he was nine years old, my father, Horace Clark, came in
on this route with his parents on July 4th, 1878, and distinctly
remembers Spearfish Canyon and Cheyenne Crossing. My mother,
Charlotte Clark, came in with her family when she was three.
From what her mother often told her, she remembers that they
came in on the run from the east. It was in late October, 1878,
probably after the October 10th change in the stage route. Her
memory is that they came directly into Deadwood down a steep
hill, which would have been the Spearfish Hill run from Crook City.

5:00 P.M. Ice Box Canyon seemed appropriately named as we
traveled up, only to go down Aztec Hill. In Lead we stopped for a
moment to see the huge scar in the mountain cut away by miners
at the famous Homestake Mine.

5:30 P.M. We arrived in Deadwood (282 M.).

MINER'S DINNER

6:30 P.M. Nell Perrigoue, the very capable secretary for the
Deadwood Chamber of Commerce, had arranged a Miner's Dinner
at the Franklin Hotel. The tables were gay with red plaid table-
cloths and candles in beer bottles. The food, served family style,
was huge platters of corned beef, cabbage, boiled potatoes with the
skins on, beans, corn bread with syrup and gingerbread.

Mr. George Hunter, the past president of the Society of Black
Hill's Pioneers, was the toastmaster and raconteur of lively tales of
historic Deadwood. Greetings from Wyoming's Governor Cliff
Hansen were read:

Howdy, neighbors!

Our Wyoming travelers carry greetings from us to you
history buffs of South Dakota. Your hospitable reception is
warmly appreciated.

These treks across the very spots where history was made
bring our great Western heritage clearly to life. All of you
are to be congratulated for taking part in reliving a bit of our
two states' exciting past.

I know our Wyoming people will welcome the opportunity,
especially during this Diamond Jubilee year, to return the fine

102

ANNALS OF WYOMING

hospitality of South Dakota. In the meantime, accept our
thanks for making their trip more pleasant and interesting.

With best wishes, Sincerely, Cliff Hansen

EVENING IN DEADWOOD

8:00 P.M. We all went out on the street to see the capture of
Jack McCall, then followed to see "The Trial of Jack McCall for
the Killing of Wild Bill Hickok". Two members of our party,
Verne Mokler and Robert Larson, served capably on the jury.

Sunday - July 18

After breakfast our group toured the Wax Museum and the
Adams Museum. The patrol then escorted us to the cemetery
where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried, and onto
Highway 385 which led us toward home. This road roughly fol-
lows one of the other trails used by the stages. It wound through
beautiful hills covered with aspens and pines.

We passed the site of Sheridan Stage Station, now completely
submerged under sixteen feet of water. We saw in the distance
the mountain where the statue of Crazy Horse is being carved,
then drove through Custer where once stood a stage station.

Mr. Carey, our Wyoming patrolman, was waiting for us at the
Wyoming line. He escorted us safely back to Lusk where Trek
No. 16 ended.

TREKKERS ON THE CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL - 1965

BUFFALO
Howard S. Watts

BURNS

Mrs. T. Wesley Bastian

Mr. and Mrs. H. Fletcher Youtz

CASPER

Richard A. Eklund

Marian Haseas

Mr. and Mrs. Bert Jones

Hazel M. McGinley

Mr. and Mrs. Verne Mokler

Mrs. Irene Patterson

Joseph P. Snowden

Edness Kimball Wilkins

CHEYENNE

Rosalind Bealey

Winifred S. Bergren

Mr. and Mrs. James Boan and

Kelley
Maurine Carley

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Carlile

Virginia Carlisle

William Dubois

Paul Edwards

Jane Houston

Mary Hutchinson

Robert Larson

Marguerite Martin

Vera Ritter

Dorris Sander

Loretta Strande

Meda Walker

Grant Willson

DOUGLAS

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Carson

Lyle Hildebrand

Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Stevens

FORT LARAMIE

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Stout

GREEN RIVER

Louis Hellervell

CHEYENNE-DEADWOOD TRAIL TREK

103

HAT CREEK

Mr. and Mrs. Albert DeGering
Leonard DeGering

HILLSDALE

Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Towns

LARAMIE

Mr. and Mrs. Phil Kundz

LINGLE

Grace Vandel

LUSK

L. E. Carey

Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Cook

Mr. and Mrs. lim Griffith

M. C. Kaan

Nick Kaan

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Kuhn

Jerry Urbanek

Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Watson

Mr. and Mrs. Glen Willson

Dale Windom

MULE CREEK

Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Spencer

NEWCASTLE

Mable E. Brown

Julie Clark

Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Cooksey

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Darrow

Debbie Dumbrill

Mr. and Mrs. James Fletcher

Mrs. Hugh Graham

Judge and Mrs. Rodney Guthrie

Pauline Marchant

Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Mikesell

Elizabeth Thorpe and Stacy

PINE BLUFFS
Mildred W. Fann
Mrs. Esther Schacher

TORRINGTON

Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Hertzler
Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Peterson
Mr. and Mrs. Warren Russell

ARIZONA

Mr. and Mrs. J. A. LeMay

CALIFORNIA

Sidney Miller
Ruth Petty

COLORADO
H. M. Townsend

MASSACHUSETTS
Pierre LaBonte

MISSOURI

Christine Williams

NEBRASKA

H. H. Dodd

Mr. and Mrs.

John Mador

Vance Nelson

Mr. and Mrs. John Waitman

Sterling Enlow
George Ellis
Franklin Heady
Paul Henderson
William Lenley

SOUTH DAKOTA

Harry Anderson

Fred Borsch

Mr. and Mrs. H. N. Brigham

Mr. and Mrs. Cushman Clark

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Eklund

Margaret Furois

Will Robinson

Cawille Yuill

WISCONSIN

Marilyn Schenk

AUSTRALIA

David Geddes
Richard Peters

Pony 8k press

By
Leeland U. Grieve

Last night as I stood dreaming
All alone in a hotel door
An aeroplane flew over me
With that humming drumming roar.

Like an eagle in the sky it was
So strong, so light, so frail
It was headed toward the setting sun
And carrying the western mail.

Let's turn back a page in history
To another age and day
It's still a tale of carrying the mail
But it's told in another way.

Across a bleak and bare prairie
A calm and lonely wilderness
They ruled alone on a galloping throne
And they called it the Pony Express.

There was a kind of lonely silence
In this silent, lonely land
Where success hung on the trigger
And the staff of life was sand.

They rode a half-breed mustang
Of a true and tried-out breed
They sacrificed the comfort
And put it all in speed.

For they could not stop to argue
The subject pro or con
The mail must be delivered
The rider must go on.

The horse is long forgotten
Their guns have turned to rust
The riders in the grave yards
Have moldered into dust.

That sight tonight was progress
It proves that they were right
Their spirits may be flying
With that drumming plane tonight.

Wyoming State Mis tor tea I Society

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

By
Violet Hord

In 1953 a little news note came out in Wyoming newspapers
stating that all interested persons were invited to meet in Casper
for the purpose of forming an historical society. Many came from
all over the state and a society was started.

Miss Lola Homsher, director of the Wyoming State Archives and
Historical Department, felt people throughout the State could be
very helpful in collecting history and took this means of bringing
them together.

In looking back at the annual state meetings many interesting
and delightful occassions are brought to mind.

Casper held the first meeting and the group visited old Fort
Caspar but most of the time was devoted to organization.

Lander hosted the next meeting and the group laid more plans
and toured historical sites.

Everyone who attended well remembers the Gillette meeting and
the trip to Devils Tower, where the members had arranged a buf-
falo and beef barbecue. Several thousand people attended on that
day. Passing tourists saw cars and people and came down and
joined them. Many members were strangers to each other and the
tourists just mingled with the crowd, probably thinking that Wyo-
ming people were most hospitable — which they are.

There was the meeting in Cody where the John Colter pageant
was presented — and the luncheon at Valley Ranch given by Larry
Larome. I hope he knows how much it was enjoyed.

Many had never heard of the Grand Canyon of Southeastern
Wyoming until the convention in Cheyenne. There the group
stood on the rim of the canyon and looked far south — down to the
smoke rising from Fort Collins — many miles away. Cheyenne
members cooked and served the breakfast in a Cheyenne park on
Sunday morning while the costumed Cheyenne Ki-Ann Indian
dancers performed authentic Indian dances.

At the annual meeting in Rawlins the breakfast was held on the
river by old Fort Steele. Mr. A. H. MacDougall, president of the
State Society at that time, had killed the antelope that supplied the
sausage for the breakfast. He said it was the last time he would
ever go hunting.

In some ways the Sunday morning breakfasts are the most
friendly time of the meeting. Everyone circulates around and gets
acquainted.

106 ANNALS OF WYOMING

In Buffalo trips were made to many points of historical interest.
Members breakfasted on the beautiful lawn of the Wyoming State
Soldiers and Sailors Home, west of Buffalo, with the residents of
the home. Here in the fresh fall air, with the Big Horn Mountains
in the background, a group performed Basque dances much to the
enjoyment of the visitors.

Torrington has many historical sites. The group visited old
Fort Laramie — now being restored and well worth the trip to see it.
They viewed Register Cliff with its hundreds of pioneer names
carved on its surface. The old wagon trails cut deep down into
solid rock and the paths worn by the feet of the drivers beside the
ruts are a moving sight. The late Pat Flannery spoke at the site
of the Grattan Massacre.

The members toured the many beautiful new buildings at the
University of Wyoming in Laramie. On Sunday morning the
group visited the site of old Fort Sanders. One of the buildings
has been moved into Laramie and is being restored for a Com-
munity Center by the Albany County Chapter.

In Sheridan the Sheridan Inn was of special interest. On Sunday
morning there was a trek to Custer Battlefield with many stops
along the way at historic sites.

There was Rawlins in 1964 with breakfast at old Fort Steele
again. A fine trip was held later to the Platte River Crossing on
the Overland Stage Trail. Here Mr. Edward McAuslan read a
paper on that historic spot. The trip ended here with lunch served
by the efficient cooks.

The Cody meeting was last year. The Irma Hotel, Buffalo Bill
Museum and the Whitney Gallery of Western Art were special
attractions. Hours can be spent looking at the Museum and Gal-
lery exhibits.

These are Just the highlights of the social side of the meetings.
Of most importance are the business meetings and the speakers.

Members and interested persons are urged to attend these An-
nual meetings. In 1966 Fremont County will host the society in
Riverton. There is no nicer way to meet people and see different
sections of the state.

TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING
Cody, Wyoming September 11-12, 1965

As the members of the Wyoming State Historical Society regis-
tered in the Cody Auditorium on Friday evening, they greeted old
friends and enjoyed the display of beautiful paintings by Nick
Eggenhofer, Cody artist.

At 9:45 on Saturday morning. President Neal Miller introduced
Dr. Harold McCracken, Director of the Buffalo Bill Historical
Center and the Whitney Museum of Western Art, who gave an

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 107

illuminating and instructive talk on archaeology in the Cody area.

By means of a chart showing excavations made in Mummy Cave,
he paralleled the 16 culture layers found there with events in his-
tory which made clearer the times involved. Twenty-one radio
carbon datings have been made which show cultures back to 9,000
B.C. For centuries Mummy Cave had been preserved under fan-
tastically ideal conditions with no seepage. "Mummy Joe" and
over 25,000 artifacts have been taken from this cave. This is the
first time anyone has been able to see what a cave man in the
Rockies looked like. Speculation is that he came up to the moun-
tains sometime during the tropical period which lasted 3.000 years.

Dr. McCracken asked the Society to help stop the vandalizing
of important sites and discoveries. He stated it was much more
important to gather the information that could be obtained by
proper methods of digging than to merely collect artifacts.

After the Auditing Committee, composed of Rev. Stuart Frazier,
Gene Brown and Robert Larson, was appointed, time was taken for
a coffee break.

Paul Edwards, Chief, Museum Division, State Archives and His-
torical Department, spoke on "Setting Up and Maintaining Small
Museums." He stated there is no history that is not local history.
A local museum has a job to perform in interpreting the local story
which a state museum cannot do. He offered several suggestions
for operating a successful small museum : ( 1 ) Decide first of all
what is to be portrayed; then preserve only significant historical
items which contribute to the desired interpretation. (2) Have
revolving displays. Storage space and "think" space are also
essential. (3) One good article well displayed means more than a
filled case. (4) People who direct museums should have a funda-
mental knowledge of history. (5) Remember that artifacts are
living, tangible evidences of living people. (6) Don't forget the
objective and stay within it. Be honest.

Katherine Halverson, Chief, Historical Division, State Archives
and Historical Department, spoke on "Oral Interviews and Tape
Techniques." She stressed several points: (1) Less-known
people are sources of authentic and valuable information, often
more so than well-known people. (2) Do not edit or polish up
tapes. The real value is often lost by so doing. (3) The person
conducting the interview should have some knowledge of the sub-
ject. (4) Relationship between both parties should be informal
and friendly. Better interviews often result if they know each
other. (5) Pioneer contributions are completely irreplaceable.
(6) Tapes are invaluable and unique research tools.

At eleven o'clock, following the workshop, President Miller
called the meeting to order and began the first phase of the annual
business meeting, requesting the annual reports of county chapters.
The reports were enjoyed by all members, and have been filed with
the Executive Secretary at the Wyoming State Archives and His-

108 ANNALS OF WYOMING

torical Department. Only thumbnail sketches of unusual activities
are given here.

Fremont County (read by Mrs. Emma Martin) The Chapter
celebrated its eleventh birthday on November 8, 1964. Interesting
papers presented included one on the work accomplished under
each of the past presidents and another on "Christmas in Wyoming
Around the Turn of the Century."

Campbell County - No report.

Goshen County - No report.

Laramie County (read by William Dubois) Members have re-
paired the monument on the grave of Portugee Phillips, entertained
the Pioneer Club at a tea, made preparations to move an old coun-
try schoolhouse into Cheyenne, and arranged to place a plaque at
the site of the old Cheyenne Club.

Albany County (read by Mr. B. W. Marston ) The group has
worked hard to re-establish the Albany County Museum. The
Junior Historical Society contributed $11 to the special museum
fund. Gowns in the Museum collection were modeled at one
meeting by the daughters of Laramie pioneers. A handsomely
illustrated volume, Book of the American West, was presented to
the Albany County Carnegie Library as the Chapter's memorial
to their late president, Henry Jones.

Natrona County (read by Mrs. Charles Hord) $20 was donated
to help the Wind River Mountain Men go to Washington, D.C.,
for the inauguration of President L. B. Johnson. One meeting
was devoted to "Personal Experiences" of members of the Chapter.
At another Robert Evans displayed his sculptured articles and
lectured on the art.

Carbon County (report mailed in) Letters of appreciation and
thanks regarding the state meeting held in Rawlins in 1964 were
read at one meeting. Two new cases were purchased for the
Carbon County Museum. Most meetings followed carry-in din-
ners. A goal of 125 members for 1965 was set.

Johnson County (read by Rev. Stuart Frazier) Members saved
lids and bands from coffee cans and secured a coffee maker for
their social hour. New attractive stationery has been printed for
the chapter. Students from the new Big Horn School were invited
guests at one meeting.

Washakie County - No report.

Park County (read by Mrs. Lucille Patrick) The chapter has
spent most of its time planning and preparing for the 12th Annual
Meeting. Reports of past presidents were entertaining. A scrap-
book has been begun which will be invaluable to future officers.

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 109

Members hope to encourage more Powell neighbors to join the
Park Chapter.

Sweetwater County (read by Henry Chadey) Two interesting
treks were taken and a dinner celebrating the ninth birthday of the
chapter was held. Terms of officers have been extended to two
years. One hold-over officer always serves. The members are
working to save Point of Rocks Stage Station, and they had a
pioneer grave moved from the route of the new Interstate High-
way 80.

Uinta County - No report.

Sheridan County (read by Florence J. Hamm) Orman Pratt,
winner of the state seal contest last year, was honored by presenta-
tion of a special certificate from the Wyoming State Historical
Society. The chapter instigated the organization of the corpora-
tion, Sheridan Inn, Inc., the purpose of which is to purchase the
historic Sheridan Inn and be responsible for its preservation and
use. $8,000 has been raised. A marker in memory of the Sawyer
Expedition was dedicated.

Weston County - No report.

Platte County (read by George Grant) Members are continuing
their writer's sessions at which they contribute papers on local
history. The chapter sponsored a historical display at the county
fair.

Big Horn County - No report.

Teton County - This chapter was organized in May and made no
report.

The meeting was recessed from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m.

ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING

Mr. Miller called the annual business meeting to order and
asked the members to observe a short period of silence as a tribute
to the members of the State Society who had passed away during
the year.

Mr. Miller announced that only paid members would have the
privilege of voting during this meeting. He then asked members
present to stand by counties. Laramie County and Park County
had the largest representations.

It was moved by Rev. Frazier to dispense with the reading of the
minutes of the Eleventh Annual Meeting since they were printed in
the Annals of Wyoming. The motion was seconded and carried.
However, portions of the minutes of two Executive Committee
meetings were read and approved. These executive minutes had
previously been sent to all county chapters.

The Treasurer gave the following report :

110

ANNALS OF WYOMING

TREASURER'S REPORT

September 12, 1964-September 11. 1965

Cash and investments on hand September 12, 1964
Receipts

Dues

Hunton Diaries

Cheyenne Sun

Gifts

Teton Charter

Interest

Disbursements:

Annals of Wyoming

Eleventh Annual Meeting

Officers' Expenses

Phone

Printing

Postage

Handbooks

Bond and Secretary of State

Seal

Historic Trek

Committees: Standing

Awards: Scholarship
Grant-in-Aid
Junior Historians

For Resale: Hunton Diaries
Cheyenne Sun
Pinettes

$3,770.00

315.50

742.30

20.00

10.00

620.72

$5,478.52

$1,935.00

225.00

267.50

22.52

89.92

123.38

97.35

6.00

40.29

16.49

34.43

200.00

300.00

80.09

270.00

595.13

717.82

$5,020.92

ASSETS
September 11,

1965

First National Bank and Trust Company, Cheyenne
Federal Building and Loan Association, Cheyenne
Cheyenne Federal Savings and Loan
Federal Building and Loan, Life Memberships
Federal Building and Loan, Bishop Memorial Fund

$15,740.42

5,478.52
$21,218.94

5,020.92
$16,198.02

$ 1,756.74

9,409.55

1,303.03

3,423.25

305.45

$16,198.02

REPORT OF PRESIDENT
By

Neal E. Miller

I wish to thank the membership for permitting me to continue in
office a second year. In the course of this second year most of
our accomplishments have been administrative and they are not
mine alone but the result of a joint effort by your other officers, the
State Archives and Historical Department, and others.

We completed the Chapter Handbook. We sincerely hope you
will consult its pages for the answers to your questions and for ideas
and pass it on to your successor. As a contribution to the 75th

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 111

Anniversary of Wyoming's Statehood, we sold almost all of our
order of 5,000 of the facsimile copies of the July 24, 1890, Chey-
enne Daily Sun. We ordered and have for distribution membership
or recognition pins which I am sure you will be proud to have and
wear.

We had only two Executive Committee meetings this year and
attempted to settle other matters by means of correspondence to
save both travel time and costs. I have visited two chapters and
had invitations to two others which unfortunately conflicted with
previous plans. I attended a museum discussion meeting in Lara-
mie to assist in planning for an Albany County Museum.

Thank you again for permitting me to serve as your Society
president for two most interesting and rewarding years.

REPORT OF FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

Mrs. Charles Hord

Reporting on the Projects Committee, of which the first vice
president is Chairman, two markers are in the process of being
finished and set up, one for the original Boysen Dam and the other
for the city of Casper. There are others which have also been fur-
nished by the Archives and Historical Department that did not go
through the Projects Committee.

Some method of raising money for projects will be discussed in
the coming year.

The committee is attempting to increase interest in the State
Archives and Historical Department and State Museum Building
needed in Cheyenne.

Encouraging young people to become members in a Junior
Society is always an aim of the Projects Committee.

REPORT OF SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

Glenn E. Sweem

The second vice president is chairman of the Historical Awards
Committee. I submit the following report and, in addition, several
recommendations for consideration at the next Executive meeting:

The Historical Awards Committee composed of Mrs. Howard
Bundy, of Gillette, John Banks, of Cody, Mrs. Elsa Spear Byron,
of Sheridan, and Glenn Sweem, Chairman, of Sheridan, met on
August 9, 1965, at Sheridan and selected eight awards winners and
one honorable mention from 19 nominations. Awards will be
presented at the annual banquet this evening and will be announced
at that time.

The Historical Awards Committee makes the following recom-

112 ANNALS OF WYOMING

mendations to be taken under consideration at the next Executive
Committee meeting:

Through Executive Committee action or through an appointed
committee that the following additions or changes be incorporated
into the rules of the Historical Awards Program:

CATEGORY:

Books - Page 15

Procedure: Under this subtitle it is thought that a book review,
book report, or book outline, would help the Awards Committee
to make a more intelligent award selection, as some of the nom-
inations for awards are on books that none of the committee had
read. Therefore, it is recommended that a book report or review
be submitted with the nomination.

Special Fields - Page 1 8

Archaeology: Under this category we believe some specific
rules should be made, so that not every one who is a collector of
artifacts, or the infamous "pothunter/1 can qualify under this cate-
gory. Therefore, we recommend that this subtitle rule read thus:
An individual or group making outstanding contributions in the
field of archaeology to Wyoming history, by preserving the arti-
facts, and/or presenting a completed scientific paper or report
acceptable to the Department of Anthropology, University of
Wyoming, or any other recognized authority in the science of
anthropology, to the Awards Committee. Judging will be contin-
gent upon the completed work, no matter how long the work was in
progress.

Paleontology: Rule same as written above, only substituting
the word paleontology for the word archaeology.

Photography: Substitute in place of last sentence: To be eli-
gible, copies of photographs should be made available for the files
of the Executive Headquarters by submitting copyable pictures if
they so desire and request same.

REPORT OF SECRETARY-TREASURER

Miss Maurine Carley

The duties of the Secretary-Treasurer of this organization are
varied. The minutes of each annual meeting are written, filed and
read at the following meeting. The minutes of the Executive
Committee meetings are mailed to the State Officers and to presi-
dents and secretaries of each of the 17 organized chapters of the
Society.

Each year income tax reports are filed with the Internal Revenue
Department and an incorporation annual report with one dollar is
sent to the Secretary of State. Monies for dues sent into the

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 113

Archives and Historical Department office are deposited in the
checking account or in the proper savings. Records of sale of
Hunton Diaries are kept, as well as payments made to people
taking advantage of our Scholarship and Grant-in-Aid programs.
This year a separate record was also kept of sales of the Cheyenne
Daily Sun newspaper reprints.

For several years I have been responsible for planning the trek
which is sponsored by the State Archives and Historical Depart-
ment and the State Historical Society. This year we successfully
completed the Cheyenne-Deadwood Trail with the fine cooperation
of the Weston County Chapter and South Dakota historical organ-
izations. This trek was especially a fun one because of the many
extras such as the "Meller Drammer" and stage holdup arranged by
the Lusk people, the coffee and cold drinks donated by Weston
County members, and exciting entertainment in Deadwood.

Questions arise constantly which require conferences at the
Archives and Historical Department which is Executive Headquar-
ters of the Society. An elaborate set of books is kept showing the
receipts and disbursements in their proper place. President Miller
set up these books and I invite you to look at them. Bills are paid
and letters written.

1964-65 Members Top Five Counties

37 Life Laramie 138

16 Joint Life Carbon 102

714 Annual Goshen 92

426 Joint Annual Sheridan 7 1

Sweetwater 59

1193

REPORT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Lola M. Homsher

Mention has already been made by other officers of activities in
which the office of the Executive Secretary and the Archives and
Historical Department also participated, such as the sponsoring of
the historic trek and the compilation, editing, organizing, printing
and mailing of the Handbook of the State Historical Society, a tool
which should become of great value to all officers on both the
state and county levels. Since the Handbooks were mailed, addi-
tions and corrections to the Handbook have also been mailed.

My office and staff have worked with the various committees of
the Society requesting aid; have edited, published and issued the
Annals of Wyoming and "History News" to all members; have
continued maintaining membership listings and issuing receipts for
memberships paid; have had an official stamp made of the newly-

114

ANNALS OF WYOMING

adopted state seal of the Society for use on documents, and have
had cuts of two sizes made of the seal for uses which may arise for
it, samples of which are found in the Chapter Handbook. These
latter items were paid for by the Society.

The Executive Secretary has called upon the chapters in counties
through which the Pony Express ran to work with the department
in placing some Pony Express plaques which can be obtained for
the State.

A conference was held with Dr. Cecil Shaw, State Superintendent
of Public Instruction, and members of his staff regarding coopera-
tion in the awards program, particularly in the junior historians
area and Teacher-of-the-Year Award. Dr. Paul Graves, newly-
appointed head of the Division of Social Studies of the Department
of Education, is attending the meeting today, and we welcome him
here. A conference was also held with Karl Winchell, editor of the
Wyoming Educational Association Journal, who will publicize the
program in that bulletin.

The price of the Annals of Wyoming is to be raised through
action of the State Library, Archives and Historical Board, under
which the Annals is published. To cover costs of printing and

Courtesy of John Banks

Members of the Albany County Junior Historical Society visiting with Dr.

Harold McCracken, Director of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and the

Whitney Museum of Western Art. Left to right are Sheila McCoy, Jim

Nottage, Dr. McCracken, Mike Corsberg and Bari Benson.

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 115

mailing, the price starting January 1, 1966, will be $1.25 to the
Society, raised from $1.00 each. The Board further ruled that
single copies of the Annals will be priced at $1.50 each, and that
subscriptions to the Annals of Wyoming will be discontinued. In
the future, memberships to the State Historical Society will replace
such subscriptions, which are, in general, used only by institutions
such as libraries throughout the country. This membership will
entitle them to the "History News" as well as the Annals of Wyo-
ming and simplify record-keeping in the Department.

In view of the present financial standing of the Society, no rec-
ommendation is made at this time regarding an increase in dues.
If, in the future, the Society finds this increase in the charge for the
magazine a drain on finances, a raise in dues can be considered.

The Archives and Historical Department aided the counties and
the state 75th Anniversary Commission in the celebration of 75
years of statehood in all ways possible and whenever called upon.

The Executive Secretary, as a member of the Grant-in-Aid and
Scholarship Awards Committees, assisted in these areas of activity
by accepting applications, circulating them to the membership of
the committees, and obtaining the approval of the committee of the
manuscript submitted by Gerald Nelson, and of the Executive
Committee of the State Historical Society for the final payment of
the Grant-in-Aid which he held for 1964-65. Two copies of this
work were received and properly placed, one in the permanent file
of the archives of the Wyoming State Historical Society and one in
the Historical Division of the Department.

In regard to the proposed building to house the State Archives
and Historical Department and State Museum, the Legislative
Committee of the Society worked with the members of the legis-
lature to secure their consideration of the proposal. The final plan,
copies of which were sent to all chapters, called for an expenditure
of $2 million dollars, which was introduced in the House of Repre-
sentatives but was never reported out of the Ways and Means Com-
mittee. A brief act, however, was passed which requires that the
Capitol Building Commission look into the needs of the Archives
and Historical Department and State Museum, as well as of other
departments of state, and report back with recommendations to the
legislature in 1967. Meanwhile, resolutions for the building, in
addition to that passed by this Society, have also been passed by the
Wyoming Press Association, the Wyoming Federation of Womens
Clubs and the Wyoming Motel Association.

Membership in the Society since its founding in 1953 has steadily
increased. I am happy to report that this year for the first time it
has exceeded 1200. This number slightly exceeds that given by
the Secretary-Treasurer since some memberships have been re-
ceived in the Department since the books were closed for this
annual meeting.

116 ANNALS OF WYOMING

REPORT OF SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE

Dr. T. A. Larson

William Barnhart is presently writing on Carbon County under
the 1964-65 Scholarship grant. To date he has received the initial
payment of $200. Several prospective applicants are considering
applying, one to write on the history of Platte County and one on
Natrona County.

Robert Murray, who is writing under the Society's Grant-in-Aid
program on a two-year basis, reported that he has about 80% of
his documented material now and hopes to complete his project by
the due date in March.

GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING

Rev. Frazier reported that the treasurer's books were found in
good order and correct.

A few small donations have been given to the Society as memor-
ials. Mr. Chadey moved that with such gifts the Society purchase
books or manuscripts to be placed in the Archives and Historical
Department's permanent historical library and that they be marked
by using special bookplates made for the purpose, selection of
books to be made by the Historical Division personnel. The
motion was seconded and carried.

Robert Murray suggested that the Legislative Committee should
keep alive the interest in legislation during non-legislative years.
Mr. Frost stated that $863,000 is now available for outdoor recrea-
tion work including historic sites in Wyoming. The state must
match this and use it in two years or it will be lost to Wyoming.

The postage on "History News" has been paid by the Archives
and Historical Department in the past. Since the Society now has
adequate funds it was proposed that the Society pay this postage.
Mr. Marchant moved that the Society pay the postage, roughly
$218, on the six yearly issues. The motion was seconded and
carried.

Mrs. Adolph Spohr of Cody suggested that several changes be
made on the registration forms for the Annual Meeting. These
suggestions will be sent to the Executive Headquarters office so
they can be considered for 1966.

Rev. Frazier moved that the following resolution be placed in
the minutes of the meeting:

WHEREAS the Park County Chapter has extended fine hos-
pitality to the Wyoming State Historical Society, in recognition of
their efforts,

BE IT THEN RESOLVED: that we give the members of said
chapter a standing vote of thanks.

William Dubois, president of Laramie County Chapter, invited

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 117

the Society to hold the 1967 state meeting in Cheyenne, the year in
which the city will be observing its centennial.

Mr. Sweem suggested that a committee be appointed to study
the advisability of collecting funds to match federal funds given to
the State.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p. m.

BANQUET

At seven o'clock on Saturday evening a banquet was enjoyed in
the Cody Auditorium. Gay 1890 costumes worn by many men
and women made the affair quite festive.

President Miller introduced the past presidents who were in
attendance, Mrs. Edness Kimball Wilkins and Dr. T. A. Larson.

AWARDS

Junior Historians. Mr. Miller presented checks to winners in the
Junior Historical Essay Contest, all of whom were present. They
were: Senior High School: First Award, $25, Billie Cooper,
Worland. Junior High School: First Award, $25, Sheila McCoy,
Laramie; Second Award, $10, Joann Hinkel, Worland, Third
Award, book, The Shoshonis: Sentinels of the Rockies, Mike Cors-
berg, Laramie. Their teachers, Gene Brown from Laramie and
Hattie Burnstad and Virginia D. Lovelady from Worland, were
introduced and thanked for their interest and cooperation.

General Awards. Mr. Sweem, Chairman of the Awards Com-
mittee presented the following awards:

Maurine Carley and Virginia Cole Trenholm. For The Sho-
shonis: Sentinels of the Rockies.

John G. Langen. For authoring outstanding historical articles
in Wyoming newspapers.

Mabel E. Brown. For historical magazine, "Bits and Pieces.'1

Robert Edgar. For discovery and preservation of Mummy
Cave.

Payroll Development Committee, Casper Chamber of Com-
merce. For television series called "Wyoming History Series" and
"See and Know Wyoming."

Elizabeth Thorpe and Mabel Brown. For historical production,
"Coals of Newcastle."

Nick Eggenhofer. For recording the historical West through
documentary painting.

Jack Richard. For recording the history of Wyoming in photo-
graphs.

Francis Crossfield. Honorable Mention. For historical ballet,
"Red Deer Ballet."

118

ANNALS OF WYOMING

J. K. Moore. Cumulative Awards (Posthumous) For his
continued effort to preserve the history of Wyoming. Received by
his daughter, Mrs. Ronald Bell.

Mr. Chadey, chairman of the Nominating Committee, an-
nounced that the following officers had been elected for the
coming year:

President Mrs. Charles Hord

First Vice President Glenn Sweem

Second Vice President John Banks

Secretary-Treasurer ..Miss Maurine Carley

Mr. Miller turned over the gavel to Mrs. Hord with wishes for a
successful year.

The speaker of the evening, Dr. William T. Alderson, Director of
the American Association for State and Local History, Nashville,
Tennessee, gave a most informative talk entitled, "Local History —
The Feeder Roots," in which he stressed the importance of the
individual and local historical organizations. There are now 3,000
historical societies in the United States - 200 more than two years
ago. He said that our responsibility is to take care of these roots,

Courtesy of John Banks

Officers of the Wyoming State Historical Society for 1965-1966. From left
to right they are Glenn Sweem, Sheridan, first vice president; John Banks,
Cody, second vice-president; Miss Lola M. Homsher, Cheyenne, former
executive secretary; Mrs. Charles Hord, Casper, president; Miss Maurine
Carley, Cheyenne, secretary-treasurer.

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 119

but we must have knowledge and methods for doing it the right
way.

He listed several factors which help make a successful historical
society. (1) Motivation. (2) Preservation of history by means
of tape, photos, films. (3) Active selling of history to "non-
believers." (4) Having fun through tours, treks, dressing in cos-
tume on occasion, social hours. (5) Persuading people to par-
ticipate through good leadership. (6) Planning a strong and var-
ied program. (7) Exchanging ideas with other societies and other
states. (8) Dedication to the importance of history. Take care
of it and pass it on to the next generation unchanged.

Rev. Stuart Frazier gave the benediction.

SUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 12

After a breakfast at the Canyon Cafeteria the members visited
the Whitney Gallery of Western Art and the Buffalo Bill Museum,
where time seemed all too short.

Everyone declared this was a fine annual meeting and they sin-
cerely thank the Park County Chapter for two interesting days.

Maurine Carley
Secretary-Treasurer

Book Kcviews

History of Wyoming. By T. A. Larson (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1965. Illus., Index. 619 pp. $6.95.)

Wyoming has lacked a good one-volume adult history of the
state, and Dr. Larson has ably filled this gap. For the first time
here is a comprehensive critical history of Wyoming written in a
professional manner. It is not a text book for school use but a
history for all interested in Wyoming.

Dr. Larson has brought into perspective Wyoming's origins and
growth, and into focus the forces which have formed the state into
its present political, economic and social structure. An analysis of
his presentation brings an understanding of the weaknesses and
strength of the state and its people and the possibilities of what can
lie ahead, provided the lessons of history are understood and
heeded.

Because Wyoming is one of the last "frontier states" and because
so much legend has grown up surrounding a few events — enlarged
upon by fiction and more recently by T. V. — too much attention
has been concentrated upon the lurid and spectacular. Dr. Larson
is not concerned with these elements but deals with the fundamen-
tals, and focus is on the men and women and events which shaped
the history of the state during the past century: from 1865 when
the name Wyoming was first proposed for a new territory then
under consideration (and which became an actuality by act of
Congress in 1868) through 1965, the state's 75th Anniversary of
Statehood.

Since much has been written on the period of the fur trade and
the Indians, the author deals with these only briefly in the first
two chapters. In the remaining sixteen chapters he concentrates
on the significant developments which occurred and shaped the
state's destiny.

The main thread of the history is carried by the actions and
messages of the governors and the various legislatures. Interwoven
with the progression of time through political action are the other
aspects of the history and events in the State, and touching on
national affairs when they had special impact on Wyoming. Al-
though packed with facts, the book is not dull reading, but is an
interesting, continually moving story interspersed with humor
through the use of quotations and by the author's own occasional
spicy comments.

Dr. Larson has researched extensively in newspapers of Wyo-
ming, in private papers, state and federal governmental publica-
tions, unpublished theses and, in addition to his searches in Wyo-

BOOK REVIEWS 121

ming, he has also used the resources of other libraries outside Wyo-
ming such as the Bancroft, Henry E. Huntington and New York
Public libraries, the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

Because Wyoming is a young state and has only in recent years
lost her earliest pioneers, and because daily problems occupied
first place in the minds of her citizens, Wyoming's history has been
too much a part of daily life and not viewed as real history. The
past decade and a half have changed this outlook. Dr. Larson's
book points further the way to numerous studies which need to be
made. To go into greater depth into some of the facets of Wyo-
ming's story, one will want to follow up with additional reading of
many of the books and sources noted in his source notes at the
end of the book.

For anyone interested in Wyoming history, this book should be
required reading. The serious writer needs it as a background,
and Wyoming citizens should peruse it for a better understanding
of the state, of its past and present economic, social and political
problems, and of its future prospects. It should be in the home as
well as in all libraries.

The book is especially recommended for all persons who are
planning for the future of the State. Whether working in the
political, economic or social fields, they cannot ignore it in good
conscience.

Cheyenne Lola M. Homsher

Old Jules Country, By Mari Sandoz. (New York: Hastings House,
Publishers, 1965. 316 pp. $4.95)

To commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the original publi-
cation of Old Jules, Hastings House honored Mari Sandoz by
issuing a volume of selections which represent the best of her non-
fiction writing to date.

If, like this reviewer, you have read everything available from
the pen of Miss Sandoz, yet found yourself returning, over and
over, to her biography of her father, your heart will leap when first
you see the dust jacket on this new book, Old Jules Country.

New, did we say? Actually, only two brief selections — "Snakes"
and "Coyotes and Eagles" — were hitherto unpublished. The back-
bone of the volume consists of samplings from all six books in-
cluded in the Sandoz Great Plains series — Old Jules (1935), Crazy
Horse (1942), Cheyenne Autumn (1953), The Buffalo Hunters
(1954), The Cattlemen (1958) and The Beaver Men (1964) —
plus excerpts from her incisive study entitled, These Were the
Sioux (1961).

But that is not all! Also included are two essays concerning

122 ANNALS OF WYOMING

"The Lost Sitting Bull" and "The Homestead in Perspective," as
well as one version of the poignant "Evening Song," chanted daily
by a Southern Cheyenne chief imprisoned at old Fort Marion,
Florida, during the winter of 1876-77. Each evening he faced
westward toward the setting sun as he stood in chains on the
highest wall.

For all newcomers to the Sandoz reading circle, this book will
provide, through a long-range lens, a broad panoramic view of life
on the Great Plains long before and immediately following the turn
of this century.

This is not a dull narration of familiar dramatic happenings in
the lives of the Indians, the mountain men, the hide hunters, the
cavalrymen, the cattlemen and the homesteaders. Instead, the
material here is new, as well as old. It could be written only by
an author who is acquainted with her subject at firsthand, as well
as vicariously; who is willing to spend long innumerable hours in
visiting specific locales and in doing supplemental research; who is
not averse to writing painstakingly, and re-writing, then writing
again.

Her imagery is superb. One experiences, with her, events and
scenes which remain etched on one's memory long after the book
has been laid aside. Sights — such as "the vapor rising from the
breath of the buffalo" in the morning sun; sounds — such as mocca-
sins which are just "a whisper on the buffalo grass" or the Indian
women's "keening for a strong man dying." The author speaks of
the wild young warriors who "went away like dogs caught at the
meat racks, some looking back;" of "the littls Frenchman" (Bor-
deaux ) , who shouted, "sputtering like wet buffalo fat thrown on the
fire;" of the interpreter (Wyuse), who "called out insulting words
as though they were green buffalo chips he was throwing at them."

The reader may feel not only acute discomfort, but even inward
grief and sheer pain, because of the broken promises the white men
made, "thin as the morning fog along the creek bottoms, gone with
one look from the sun."

Mari Sandoz always has championed the underdog, whether a
band of Northern Cheyennes, humiliated by being thrust upon the
bounty of their faraway, albeit gracious, southern relatives whose
own subsistence had dwindled, or a group of struggling home-
steaders in cattlemen's country.

Naturally, many of her books are controversial in nature and
they sometimes incite cries of "Prejudice! Narrow prejudice!"
One wonders, however, how many of her critics can look back on a
childhood as bleak as hers, or upon experiences involving gunfire
in the lives of immediate relatives.

Old Jules denied her many pleasures most children of every
generation take for granted and he never failed to spare the rod,
but he gave her a lasting heritage — an appreciation for nature's

BOOK REVIEWS 123

gifts and a philosophy which has served her well during long years
of adversity.

At a writers convention in Portland, Oregon two years ago, this
reviewer remarked to Miss Sandoz, "I've read Old Jules again and
again, trying to discover how any daughter could write about her
father as objectively as you did!" She answered simply, "It took
five years."

Invaluable to any reader of Old Jules Country, is the complete
bibliography of Miss Sandoz' writings to date, fiction and non-
fiction.

Sadly lacking is a map which could pinpoint for the reader, new
or old, the exact locales of many dramatic episodes, described in
detail, but scattered over a wide expanse of the Great Plains.
Ham's Fork, Wind River, Grattan Massacre, Beecher Island, Fort
Robinson, just to name a few!

Laramie Clarice Whittenburg

The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest. By
Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. (Yale University Press, 1965. Illus.
Index. 705 pp. $12.50)

Mr. Josephy opens this important and comprehensive historical
study of the Nez Perce tribe with a current description of the
"Inland Empire of the Northwest" and a commentary on how its
Indian inhabitants now live. The innocence, the fortitude, the
opposing forces influencing the tribe, and the ultimate tragedy of
this much-admired people are super-imposed on this magnificent
geographical setting.

The highly detailed narrative begins with the visit of the Lewis
and Clark expedition in 1805, recounts the many contacts of the
tribe with non-Indians, and ends with the war of 1877. A moving
epilogue on Chief Joseph closes the story.

In a footnote to the fur trade chapter, the author indicates that
additional research might prove rewarding on the travels of John
Colter, the implication being that he did not travel alone on his
journey through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.

The narrative contains sections of interest to Wyoming readers
relative to the fur trade, the passage through the state of mission-
aries, emigrants, and pathfinders but only as they relate ultimately
to the Nez Perce. The author disclaims that this work is an anthro-
pological study but the careful reader will learn much of the eth-
nology of the Nez Perce and related tribes.

Extensive chapter notes, an excellent bibliography, and eleven
sketch maps assist the reader immeasurably. This is Volume 10
in the Yale Western Americana Series.

Cheyenne Neal E. Miller

124 ANNALS OF WYOMING

The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone. By Charles W. Cook, David
E. Folsom, and William Peterson. Edited and with an intro-
duction by Aubrey L. Haines. (Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1965. Illus. Index. 70 pp. $3.75)

Aubrey Haines performs a real service to the Western History
student in bringing together this fine account of the first definitive
exploration of the Yellowstone Region. He has skilfully woven
the assortment of narratives, narrative fragments and reminiscences
of the 1 869 Cook, Folsom, Peterson party into a coherent chron-
ological account of the trip.

Charles W. Cook, David E. Folsom and William Peterson in
1869 were men skilled in assorted frontier occupations, through
experiences ranging from wagon trains and the high seas to the
mining camps of Montana. They were also literate men, with a
good general understanding of scientific phenomena for their day.
None of them took their surroundings for granted as did many
westerners of the period. Thus their accounts are focused on the
country, the natural phenomena and their reactions to these things,
rather than on the minor mishaps the more romantic might have
swelled into "adventure," as so frequently happened in western
writing of the period.

Throughout the narrative Haines preserves the identity of sourc-
es for each passage. His introduction sets the expedition in historic
context. An abundance of good explanatory footnotes identify
places and explain changes in phenomena occuring since the
expedition. Biographical sketches and a useful bibliography com-
plete this fine account.

Mr. Haines is well schooled for the work undertaken in preparing
the accounts for publication. A long-time resident of Yellowstone
National Park, a trained and experienced engineer and historian,
and an active associate of historians and historical groups in the
region, he understands the country and the source materials as well
as the general history of the period.

Students of Wyoming, Montana and the West will welcome this
useful addition to their libraries. Visitors to the park will find that
this book will sharpen their interest and perception, and markedly
enhance their appreciation of the geography, natural phenomena
and rich human history that are Yellowstone National Park.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site Robert A. Murray

Old Forts of the Far West. By Herbert M. Hart. (Seattle, Super-
ior Publishing Co., 1963. Index. Illus., 192 pp. $12.50)

Closely following the style of the preceding two volumes, Old
Forts of the Far West continues the series with pictures and com-

BOOK REVIEWS 125

ments of posts that developed as America pushed for final occu-
pancy and control of the west. Major Herbert M. Hart deals with
some sixty forts, cantonments, camps, and headquarters areas
ranging from the very primitive White River Cantonment in Colo-
rado to the sophisticated establishment at Presidio, San Francisco.
His book is organized into topics as: The Texas Line, the Civil
War in the West, California Trails, Defensive Establishment for
San Francisco, the Road Across the Mojave, The Mild Mister
Meeker, Pathfinders and Settlers of the Far West, and Campaign-
ing with Crook.

Everyone to whom the old west has an appeal will find them-
selves drawn by this work as the ghosts of old adventures, and the
symbols of old glories are revisited. Yet the author-photographer
manages to capture something of the nature of the forts, as well as
the remains of them, and one feels something of the dirt, isolation
and the hardships that was life at these posts. Like the captain of a
ship, local commanders at these military establishments stood as
the arbitrator of comfort or hardship, life or death, and the life of
the trooper was less than glamorous.

In this day of global strategy it is sometimes hard to realize that
posts of the American west, which seem to be haphazardly placed,
were located as part of a general plan of protection and occupancy,
or as the base for further penetration. The Texas line was devel-
oped for the protection of the American settlers from marauding
Mexicans and Indians that sought refuge across the border. But
these forts were later, perhaps not all by coincidence, to provide
protection and supplies for the movement of troops to the Mexican
War. The Civil War, fought in the east and middle west, is often
considered to have been little more than a political exercise in the
far west. But this is not true, for the preservation of the West for
the union was a matter of considerable concern and required the
creation and manning of numerous outposts. California figured
predominantly in this "cold war" effort and both the area itself and
the routes linking it with the states, needed to be guarded.

Major Hart has done a good job in providing an illustrative sur-
vey of the far west through his projection of the military, but he has
also provided an excellent guide book for those who would prefer
to do their reminiscing of an earlier day in person. In many areas
all that can be pictured is the ground that once housed the post,
for time and weather has not been kind and all that remains is the
memory that half-crumpled walls and crushed adobe once rose to
house and protect fighting men of an earlier era.

It would be most difficult to pick a particular set of photographs
and pronounce them as the best. However, Hart's photographic
treatment of Fort Point, California is very impressive. Fort Point,
built in 1878 to stand lookout over San Francisco Bay, rests on the
site of old Castlilo de San Joaquin which was built in 1794. Fort
Point was a massive structure considered impregnable in its time.

126 ANNALS OF WYOMING

The pictures indicate a feeling of power remaining, though it
would not stand momentarily against the weapons of today. Hart's
pictures give you a fascinating introduction to the area, and like all
his accounts, lure the reader from his chair to the open road that
he, too, might walk where once trod the soldier of the west.

Cheyenne Paul W. Edwards

Newspapering in the Old West — A Pictorial History of Journalism
and Printing on the Frontier. Robert F. Karolevitz. (Seattle:
Superior Publishing Co. Illus. Index. 191pp. $12.95)

The men with printer's ink in their veins, and a seeming com-
pulsion to publish newspapers, in spite of every kind of handicap,
were a significant part of America's western frontier population
of a century ago.

Their story is told in this account of early western journalism in
seventeen states from Kansas to the Pacific coast. While this pro-
fusely illustrated volume might have been only another album of
interesting pictures with good, descriptive cutlines, it actually is
considerably more. The author has interpreted the story of the
individual publishers and their journals in relation to each state's
history, and the unique circumstances in which these early news-
papers either flourished Or ceased to exist.

The impetus behind the publication of the papers varied as
greatly as the personalities of the editors and publishers themselves.
Some devoted their energies mostly to local or national political
issues, others chose to crusade for assorted favorite causes, while a
good many apparently edited newspapers for the sheer joy of
indulging in self expression. In an era when libel laws to inhibit
an editor were few, personal journalism was at an all-time high,
and many a paper was characterized by its colorful and vitriolic
attacks on rival editors, community leaders and politicians as well
as any other appealing target.

Wyoming is well represented, with good coverage of numerous
publications and their editors from Hiram Brundage, who brought
forth Wyoming's first newspaper at Fort Bridger; the famous Fron-
tier Index — the "press on wheels" published from the end-of-track
railroad towns across the present state, from Laramie to Bear River
City, where the plant was destroyed in a riot brought on by Free-
man's rousing editorials, through Nathan Baker; Bill Nye; Asa
Mercer; Bill Barlow; Grant Jones; George Caldwell, the "Lurid
Liar of Lander"; and E. A. Slack.

The illustrations are excellent, and depict every phase of the
profession. They include editors, their staffs or helpers, shops and
offices, sketches and photographs of early equipment, and repro-
ductions of dozens of early day newspaper front pages.

BOOK REVIEV/S 127

In addition the general index, an especially useful additional
index lists the papers published within each state covered in the
book.

Cheyenne Katherine Halverson

Photographer on an Army Mule. By Maurice Frink and Casey
Barthelmess. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,
1965. Illus., Index. 150 pp. $6.95.)

This volumn contains more than 100 photographs, part of the
life work of Christian Barthelmess, a naturalized German, who
experienced 30 years service, in the frontier army. Shortly after
immigrating to this country, he enlisted in the 6th U. S. Cavalry in
1876, and continued his service, reenlisting in the 13th, 22nd and
2nd regiments of infantry, even serving in Cuba (1898-99) and
the Philippines ( 1 900-03 ) .

While Christian Barthelmess was a fine soldier, an accomplished
musician and well read, his chief interest was devoted to photog-
raphy. He probably produced over a thousand pictures, some of
which would class him with the greatest of the famed photographers
of frontier days. The pictures in the book cover all phases of army
life, such as family pictures, officers' wives skating on the parade
ground at Fort Keogh, church services and social events, as well as
close-up pictures of famous Indians, mostly Cheyennes, who played
outstanding roles in the history of Wyoming and Montana. He
opened a studio at Fort Keogh, to augment his soldier pay, which
the beneficent government, at the time, set at thirteen dollars
monthly.

He was a great admirer of Lieutenant E. W. Casey, who organ-
ized and commanded the first Cheyenne Indian scouts at Fort
Keogh, Montana. He named his son, Casey, after this famed
officer, who was killed by a Sioux, Plenty Horses, during the ghost
dance troubles. The son, Casey, is one of the authors. Fort
Keogh, the birthplace of the son, where he spent his boyhood, was
established by General Nelson A. Miles, in 1877, and was named
after one of Custer's officers who was killed at the battle of the
Big Horn. Casey knew personally many of the enlisted men, offi-
cers and Indians who were frontier characters, and was able to
identify many of the likenesses pictured in the book.

The text was written by Maurice Frink, formerly director of the
Colorado Historical Society, and a newspaper man of long stand-
ing. It is well written and interesting. Both of the authors did an
outstanding bit of research, traveled many miles, and made great
efforts to authenticate all of the statements made. Documentation

128 ANNALS OF WYOMING

is ample. Practically all of the individuals pictured are now gone
to greener fields.

There is an error in the description accompanying an illustration
of four Cheyenne Indian women and their babies. While the pic-
ture itself is of no little interest, it is evident that the caption belongs
with some other photo.

The typography throughout is very well done and makes for easy
reading. History buffs will value the book as an adjunct to their
frontier libraries. The portrayal of costumes of the period, the
uniforms, and particularly the ladies' dresses is historic. There is
an extensive bibliography and the work is well indexed. It is un-
fortunate that the publisher could not use more of Christian Bar-
thelmess' photographs, as there were many more illustrations of
equal value and interest.

Sheridan F. H. Sinclair

Wild Bill and Deadwood. By Mildred Fielder. (Seattle: Super-
ior Publishing Company, 1965. Illus. Index. 190 pp.
$12.95)

Mildred Fielder took a pair of old topics and produced good
western literature.

Living in the Black Hills and researching the gulches in which
Dakota's history was cradled, the authoress spent dedicated years
gathering and verifying material on Wild Bill and Deadwood.

Her album, a hard-back book of conventional size, contains 160
pages of condensed reading matter elaborately illustrated by 31
pictures of Wild Bill (James Butler Hickok), 20 views of the
Hickok family and home scenes, 65 prints of frontier and military
characters linked with the Wild Bill career, and 87 assorted scenes
of life and activities in early day Deadwood Gulch. If the album
contained only the collection of pictures with their informative
captions, many of which are copies of rare originals, the book
would be worth the money. The Wild Bill and Deadwood story,
being added interest, makes the Fielder album a source of historic
reference.

She treated Wild Bill objectively. To most boys raised on the
Illinois frontier, as he was, the Indian-fighting and buffalo-hunting
West offered promise of adventure. Bill experienced slave-freeing
hazards before the issue came to war. The story is condensed but
well done in eight chapters titled as follows: "Young Wild Bill",
"The War Years", "Peace Officer and Showman", "Wild Bill's
Wedding", "Wild Bill in Deadwood", "The Trial of Jack McCall",
"They Buried Wild Bill", and "Wild Bill Turns to Stone".

BOOK REVIEWS 129

The pictorial pages give chapters provocative appeal. The cap-
tions, references, and documentations are commendable. Young
readers, the generation of fact-questioning urge, will compare
Fielder's book with other published matter being revived to exploit
Wild Bill. It invites questions : How many men did Wild Bill kill?
Was he a war spy? Did he shoot his deputy? What about Calam-
ity Jane?

Fielder gives accepted versions and supports them with referenc-
es, as well as versions to the contrary.

Wild Bill's clashes might be open to question but not his appear-
ance. He was a much photographed personality of the West. His
pictures fixed his appearance and established his identity.

The story elaborates on Bill's romantic moments. He wooed
and won the circus queen and of this marriage there is evidence.
No doubt there were other affairs. Bill was handsome, well
garbed, and could act the gentleman as well as the gunman and
gambler. Fielder discounts the charmless Jane as one of his
"amours."

The book's title is a natural. All the fame Wild Bill had when he
reached the Black Hills camp was superceded by his dastardly
assassination. Death wedded Wild Bill to Deadwood for all time
to come. Here he was killed, buried, and turned to stone.

Pictures tell the story of Deadwood's struggle from a lawless
camp in isolated Indian country to its peak as the largest city in
Dakota Territory. Like Wild Bill, the Trial of Jack McCall, that
defeated justice, has become a part of Deadwood's glamorous past.

Belle Fourche, South Dakota Joe Koller

Photographers of the Frontier West. By Ralph W. Andrews.
(Seattle: Superior Publishing Co. 1965. Illus. Index. 184
pp. $12.95")

This is the second volume by this author of the story of the lives
and work of the early-day photographers during the 1875 to 1910
era.

A brief biographical sketch of each photographer is given. Over
240 excellent photographs enhance the volume, depicting the fine
ability of ten different photographers.

For example, 28 pages are devoted to a pioneer Colorado pho-
tographer, Thomas M. McKee, and his very early pictures of his-
toric Mesa Verde, the San Juan region during the mining boom,
and Ute Indian scenes. Many photographs taken by Frank H.
Nowell in the Yukon country of Alaska present interesting views
of a land with which we are not so familiar.

Many other fine photographs are included in this book, from

130 ANNALS OF WYOMING

magnificent views of the early logging camps in the Pacific North-
west and California, glaciers in British Columbia, the Grand Can-
yon of Arizona, San Francisco during its tragic earthquake and
fire, the fabulous Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 to quaint old
Chinatown long before it became commercialized. Also in this
unique collection are scenes of sailing vessels, railroads, Indians
and desperados.

The book contains reproductions of high quality photographs,
and many of the originals are, no doubt, the only ones in existence.
The layout of the pages is good, no pictures appear to be cropped,
and the text is quite informative and interesting.

It is too bad that even more photographs could not have been
added to this book for the coverage of each photographer is brief
and I feel that more pictures, showing some of their other work,
would better have done justice to them. Also there were many
other photographers active during this same period of time who
merit coverage in a volume such as this.

Cheyenne James L. Ehernberger

Wyoming Wonderland. By Mae Urbanek. (Denver, Sage Books.
Illus. Index. 120 pp. $3.00)

This most recent publication of Wyoming writer Mae Urbanek
is a small historical handbook planned primarily as an inexpensive,
easily available guide to the state, and is one of a series of state
histories published by Sage Books, the others being on Colorado
and New Mexico. The numerous pictures are reduced to a mini-
mum size to be accommodated in the digest-size volume. It should
be especially useful to travelers in the state.

Contributors

John Dishon McDermott. See Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 34,
No. 2, October, 1962, pp. 261-262. Mr. McDermott is now
assigned to the Division of Historical Studies, National Park Serv-
ice, Washington, D. C.

Gordon Chappell. See Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 34, No. 2,
October, 1962, p. 261. Mr. Chappell is currently attending the
University of Colorado graduate school, at Boulder, Colorado.

Herbert R. Dieterich, Jr., professor of history and American
studies at the University of Wyoming since 1958, has previously
taught at Adams State College, Alamosa, Colorado. He earned
his B.A. and M.A. degrees at the University of Kansas, and his
Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico. His teaching and research
interests are in 19th century American history, particularly in the
areas of intellectual and cultural history. Dr. Dieterich and his
family live in Laramie.

Paul M. Edwards, Chief, Museum Division, Wyoming State
Archives and Historical Department, came to Wyoming last June
from Graceland College, Iowa, where he was assistant professor of
history and philosophy since 1960. He holds a bachelor's degree
from Washburn University and a master's degree from the Univer-
sity of South Dakota. He has served as museum assistant with the
Kansas Historical Society. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards and their two
children make their home in Cheyenne.

Robert A. Murray. See Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 36, No. 1,
April, 1964, p. 124.

William R. Bandy for many years was an engineer and sur-
veyor in Montana and Wyoming. Upon his retirement in 1954,
when he terminated nearly 44 years of continuous service with the
Department of the Interior, he was awarded a citation for distin-
guished service in recognition of his valuable contributions in the
field of cadastral survey for nearly a half century. He is now a
practicing consultant engineer in Helena. Mr. Bandy has written
many of his experiences as an engineer for publication in news-
papers in Montana and Wyoming.

L^LAK Tt€ o^Ol/y

■ L I n R fl g w

*0V 7 1966

""• nj-p

VVY'O

LARAMIE

W,1

'OtHMg

Courtesy of Frank Meyers Studio, Rawlins

FRANCE MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, RAWLINS
EARLY I920's

October J 966

WYOMING STATE LIBRARY, ARCHIVES AND
HISTORICAL BOARD

Judicial
District

Fred W. Marble, Chairman

Cheyenne

Mrs. Leonard Stensaas

Rock Springs

Mrs. R. Dwight Wallace

Evanston

Mrs. Cecil Lucas

Gillette

5
6

Richard I. Frost
Mrs. Virgil L. Thorpe

Cody

Newcastle

Mrs. Frank Mockler

Lander

Member at

Large

Mrs. Dudley Hayden

Jackson

Ex-Officio

Attorney General John F. Raper

Cheyenne

WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT

STAFF

Neal E. Miller Director

William R. Barnhart Administrative Assistant

Mrs. Katherine Halverson Chief, Historical Division

Mrs. Julia A. Yelvington Chief, Archives and Records Division

Kermit M. Edmonds Acting Chief, Museum Division

ANNALS OF WYOMING

The Annals of Wyoming is published semi-annually in April and October
and is received by all members of the Wyoming State Historical Society.
Copies of current issues may be purchased for $1.50 each. Available copies
of earlier issues are also for sale. A price list may be obtained by writing
to the Editor.

Communications should be addressed to the Editor. The Editor does
not assume responsibility for statements of fact or of opinion made by
contributors.

iAmmoIs of Wyoming

Volume 38

October, 1966

Number 2

Neal E. Miller
Editor

{Catherine Halverson
Associate Editor

Published biannually by the

WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT

Official Publication of the Wyoming State Historical Society

WYOMING STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OFFICERS 1966-1967

President, Glenn Sweem Sheridan

First Vice President, Adrian Reynolds Green River

Second Vice President, Curtiss Root Torrington

Secretary-Treasurer, Miss Maurine Carley Cheyenne

Executive Secretary, Neal E. Miller Cheyenne

Past Presidents

Frank L. Bowron, Casper 1953-1955

William L. Marion, Lander 1955-1956

Dr. DeWitt Dominick, Cody 1956-1957

Dr. T. A. Larson, Laramie 1957-1958

A. H. MacDougall, Rawlins 1958-1959

Mrs. Thelma G. Condit, Buffalo 1959-1960

E. A. Littleton, Gillette 1960-1961

Edness Kimball Wilkins, Casper 1961-1962

Charles Ritter, Cheyenne 1962-1963

Neal E. Miller, Rawlins 1963-1965

Mrs. Charles Hord 1965-1966

The Wyoming State Historical Society was organized in October, 1953.
Membership is open to anyone interested in history. County Historical
Society Chapters have been organized in Albany, Big Horn, Campbell,
Carbon, Fremont, Goshen, Johnson, Laramie, Natrona, Park, Platte, Sheri-
dan, Sweetwater, Teton, Washakie, Weston and Uinta Counties.

State Dues:

Life Membership $50.00

Joint Life Membership (Husband and wife) 75.00

Annual Membership 3.50

Joint Annual Membership (Two persons of same family at

same address) 5.00

County dues are in addition to state dues and are set by county organ-
izations.

Send State membership dues to:

Wyoming State Historical Society
Executive Headquarters
State Office Building
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001

Zable of Contents

THE LONG WALK OF SERGEANTS GRANT AND GRAHAM 137

Robert A. Murray

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL, HIS DIARY, 1908 143

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS,

WYOMING 173

Daniel Y. Meschter

FRONTIER POWDER RIVER MISSION 214

Burton S. Hill

THE GREATEST RIDE IN WYOMING HISTORY 223

Francis A. Barrett

BOOK REVIEWS

Gressley, Bankers and Cattlemen 229

Smith, The War on Powder River 230

Burns, The Jesuits and the Indian Wars of the Far Northwest 231

Hundley, Dividing the Waters 232

Jackson, Custer's Gold 233

Underhill, Red Man's Religion 235

Kratville, Golden Rails 236

Clark, Indian Legends of the Northern Rockies 237

Cushman, The Great North Trail 239

Kennedy, The Red Man's West 240

Settle, War Drums and Wagon Wheels 241

Ehernberger and Gschwind, Smoke Down the Canyons 242

CONTRIBUTORS 245

GENERAL INDEX 246

ILLUSTRATIONS

France Memorial Presbyterian Church Cover

Sheridan Inn, 1902 136

The Geodetic Survey Crew 142

Geodetic Survey Camp 142

Franklin Luther Arnold 196

James France 202

The First Christmas Tree in Wyoming 214

Mission Station at Deer Creek 217

Missionary Braeuninger 218

Reverend Krebs and the Indian Boys 220

"Portugee" Phillips at Horseshoe Station 224

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By
Robert A. Murray

Many problems faced veteran Lt. Col. Henry W. Wessells, 18th
U. S. Infantry, when he took command of Fort Philip Kearny, and
of the Mountain District, Department of the Platte at his brevet
rank (Brigadier General) on January 18, 1867. * Food supplies
were short, forage nearly exhausted, and morale low. He found
an unfinished post and a nearly untrained garrison. Among his
many immediate problems was the need to reopen communications
with Fort C. F. Smith, about ninety miles away.

No word had come from that post in over a month, nor had any
communications been sent there.-' The Montana Road (Bozeman
Trail) from Fort Philip Kearny to Fort C. F. Smith crossed the
principal streams of the region not far above favorite winter camp
sites of many hostile Sioux and Cheyenne bands, whose warriors
had recently wiped out the Fetterman command. To the east of
the Indian wintering country lay a land of few trails, and badly
drifted snow. To the west of the trail lay the forested foothills and
spurs of the Big Horns, difficult to traverse, and deep with snow.
Wessells sent out a total of five parties along the road in the next
three weeks. The largest ones were one led by Captain D. S.
Gordon, Company D, 2d U. S. Cavalry on January 23d; and the
one led by Major James Van Voast, 18th U. S. Infantry on January
29th. All turned back due to the weather, the presence of numer-
ous Indians, or both.3

Wessells then tried to recruit couriers from the many citizens
residing at Fort Philip Kearny, including such proven messengers
as Post Guide Robert Bailey, and mail carriers Montgomery Van
Valzah and John "Portugee" Phillips. These worthies, who regu-

1. General Order #4, Headquarters, Fort Philip Kearny, January 18.
1867.

2. Post Records, both posts for the period; also: letter, Wessells to
Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, February 14, 1867.

3. Special Order # 17, Headquarters, Fort Philip Kearny, January 22,
1867. Special Order # 22, Headquarters, Fort Philip Kearny, January 28,
1867. "Record of Events," Post Return, Fort Philip Kearny, February,
1867; letter, Wessells to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, Feb-
ruary 14, 1867.

138 ANNALS OF WYOMING

larly made the trip to Fort Reno, Bridger's Ferry, and Horseshoe
Station for $10 per day, wanted no part of the Fort C. F. Smith
trip, and refused to go for less than $1,000 each!4 At length, two
soldiers, Sergeant George Grant of Company E, 18th U. S. Infan-
try, and Sergeant Joseph Graham of Company G, 18th U. S.
Infantry, volunteered to make the trip.5

Grant and Graham set out about sunrise on the morning of
February 4, 1867.6 They rode on mules as far as the Pinery,
accompanied by two men who took the mules back to the post.7
From this point, they struck out along the foot of the Big Horns on
snowshoes.s By noon they reached the north end of what Sergeant
Grant called the "Burial Mountains," and he estimated that they
had traveled some 20 miles over deep snow since leaving the post.9

Here they came upon a stretch of country with little snow, so
they walked on all night, going due north until first light, thence
northeast to strike the "Government Road," (Bozeman Trail)
at sunrise. After a cold breakfast of hard bread and lard, they
traveled along the road all day, wading many creeks, and crossing
the Little Horn early in the afternoon. By 3:00 p.m. they again
found the road badly drifted, so they sought the shelter of a deep
ravine, and made a cold camp for their first night's rest.10

The sergeants took to the road again on the morning of the 6th,
and again traveled along it all day. Sleet and snow began to fall
heavily by 4:00 p.m. Grant and Graham pushed on through the
storm until they lost the road about 8:00 p.m. They camped that
night on the open prairie without a fire.11

Starting early the morning of the 7th, they stopped at 6:00 a.m.

4. Letter, Wessells to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, Feb-
ruary 14, 1867. Post Return, Fort Philip Kearny, for January, February
and March, 1867. Special Orders # 28, Headquarters, Fort Philip Kearny,
February 5, 1867.

5. Letter, Wessells to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, Feb-
ruary 14, 1867.

6. Letter, Sergeant George Grant to 1st Lieutenant Thomas L. Brent,
Commanding Company E, 18th U. S. Infantry (both at Fort Philip Kearny),
February 14, 1867.

7. F. M. Fessenden, "Personal Experiences in and Around Fort Philip
Kearny," The Bozeman Trail, Grace R. Hebard and E. A. Brininstool,
Arthur H. Clark Co., Vol. II, p. 106.

8. Letter, Wessells to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, Febru-
ary 14, 1867. William Murphy, "The Forgotten Battalion," Annals of Wyo-
ming, Volume 7, No. 2; letter of 1st Lt. Thomas L. Brent to unidentified
officer, February 16, 1867, printed anonymously in The History of the
United States Army, by William A. Ganoe, Appleton, N. Y., 1932, pp.
315-316.

9. Letter Sergeant Grant to Lt. Brent, February 14, 1867.

10. Ibid; also: their rations are identified in the Brent letter of February
16, 1867, reprinted in Ganoe.

11. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867.

THE LONG WALK OF SERGEANTS GRANT AND GRAHAM 139

and built a fire for the first time.12 This was probably near the
Big Horn River, some ten miles below Fort C. F. Smith.13 They
arrived at Fort C. F. Smith about 4:00 p.m. that same day, and
were "warmly welcomed . . ,"14 They brought the first official
news of the Fetterman Fight of December 21, 1866, though Crow
Indians visiting the post had been reporting the disaster in varying
tales for some time.15

Grant and Graham rested that night and on through the 8th
and 9th, of February, while the Post Headquarters prepared its
first outgoing official mail in nearly two months.16

For the return trip, they were given horses to ride, along with
two pack mules to carry mail and forage. The well-known half-
breed guide Mich Bouyer accompanied them, and the command-
ing officer of Fort C. F. Smith placed him in charge of the party.17
They left Fort C. F. Smith at tattoo (about 9:00 p.m.) on the 9th
of February, and traveled until 4:00 a.m. on the 10th. They rested
for about five hours. Traveling briskly from about 9:00 a.m.
until 1:00 p.m., they reached the Little Horn about four miles
North of its Bozeman Trail crossing, their horses quite tired.18

Here they found a fresh-killed buffalo, sure Indian sign.19 Grant
proposed that they make for the timber along the foothills of the
Big Horns. At this Bouyer stripped his own horse and the pack
mules of their saddles and loads, and rode up on a hill to scout the
country. There were Indians in view, pursuing the couriers. The
three struck out southwest directly for the mountains, and ran their
horses for fifteen miles without interruption.20

The fifteen pursuing Indians were closing the gap fast by 3:30
p.m. when Grant's horse gave out. He quickly fell behind and took
refuge on a ledge in a partially snow-covered ravine, while most of
the Indians continued on in pursuit of Graham and Bouyer. Soon
two of the Indians discovered Grant's hiding place. Grant quickly
killed one with his Spencer carbine, and retreived the Indian's
Henry rifle which fell near him. As the second Indian came in

12. Ibid.

13. E. S. Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, St. Paul, Minnesota.
1888, p. 56.

14. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867; also: "Record of
Events," Post Return, Fort C. F. Smith, February 1867.

15. Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, p. 56.

16. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867. "Record of Events," Post
Return, Fort C. F. Smith, February, 1867; letters sent and letters received.
Fort C. F. Smith, January and February, 1867.

17. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867. Brent letter of February
16, 1867, in Ganoe, History of the United States Army, pp. 315-316.

18. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867.

19. Brent letter of February 16, 1867, in Ganoe, pp. 315-316.

20. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867.

140 ANNALS OF WYOMING

view, Grant killed him also, and this Indian fell down the ravine,
landing in the branches of a pine tree.21

A fog soon settled over the area, and Grant slipped out under its
cover and traveled on all night. By morning on the 11th, his
moccasins gave out from wading icy creeks, and he threw them
away. He then found a dry brush patch, made a bed of bushes,
and slept until sundown.-- Then Grant replaced his moccasins
with strips torn from his overcoat-'' and traveled all night and all
day the 12th. At midnight on the 12th, he stopped and slept in a
snowdrift until morning.24

Sergeant Graham and Mich Bouyer in the meantime eluded their
Indian pursuers, abandoned their worn-out horses and trudged on
in to Fort Philip Kearny early on February 1 3th.25

Around mid-afternoon on the 1 3th, Sergeant Grant reached the
shore of Lake De Smet. Recognizing his surroundings, he made
straight for the Fort, arriving there about 8:30 p.m., still carrying
his own arms and his captured Henry rifle. 2fi He was at once
placed in the hospital, suffering from exposure, exhaustion and
pleuresy, but nonetheless wrote his report on the trip the next
day.27

Brevet Brigadier General Wessells wrote a strong commendation
of these men to the Adjutant General, Department of the Platte,
and they were cited for the feat in General Orders # 26, Head-
quarters, Department of the Platte on May 25, 1867. They did
not, however, receive the "liberal compensation in money," which
Wessells had suggested they be awarded.28

Sergeant Graham distinguished himself several times in combat
against hostile Indians around Fort Reno later that same year.29
Sergeant Grant remained in the service many years, serving in a
cavalry regiment in the 1870's. He tried to reopen the issue of a
monetary compensation for the Fort Philip Kearny-to-Fort C. F.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. Brent letter of February 16, 1867, in Ganoe, pp. 315-316.

24. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867.

25. Brent letter of February 16, 1867, in Ganoe, pp. 315-316; letter.
Wessells to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, February 14, 1867.

26. Brent letter of February 16, 1867, in Ganoe, pp. 315-316.

27. Letter, Grant to Brent, February 14, 1867; Brent letter of February
16, 1867, in Ganoe, pp. 315-316; letter, Wessells to Adjutant General, De-
partment of the Platte, February 14, 1867.

28. Letter, Wessells to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, Feb-
ruary 14, 1867; General Order #36, Headquarters, Fort Reno, December
25, 1867; General Order #26, Headquarters, Department of the Platte,
May 25, 1867.

29. General Order #36, Headquarters, Fort Reno, December 25, 1867;
also: other correspondence and orders at Fort Reno indicating the fre-
quency with which Graham was placed in charge of important parties, and
describing their skirmishes.

THE LONG WALK OF SERGEANTS GRANT AND GRAHAM 141

Smith walk in 1871, but instead of money, he was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor.30

Two good soldiers, then, certainly deserve remembrance in Wyo-
ming and the nation as the centennial of their long, cold, harrowing
walk draws near.

30. Medal of Honor File, 1871, Adjutant General's Office, Record Group
94; also: W. F. Beyer and O. F. Keydel, Deeds of Valor, Perrien-Keydel
Company, Detroit, 1905, Volume 2, p. 133.

Note on sources:

Books are fully cited above. Government documents cited will be found in
the post records of Fort C. F. Smith and Fort Philip Kearny, in Record
Group 98 National Archives, as will the records of the Department of the
Platte. The records of the Adjutant Generals office are in Record Group 94
of that office.

The photograph of the Sheridan Inn on page 136 of this issue of
the Annals of Wyoming under the heading "The Days That Are No
More . . ." is the first in a series. Each future issue of the Annals
will include an historic picture or other pictorial material from the
files of the Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department.

Our regular fall installments of terrific wind storms have begun
their arrival. Last night very high winds prevailed hereabouts to
the infinite discomfort of timid folk in frail tenements. We urge
upon our people attention to the oft repeated caution to look out
for fires. One commencing upon such a night as last night could
hardly fail to destroy a large portion of our town. Let all be on
the watch of the stoves, pipes, ashes &c, resolving ourselves into a
sort of general fire warden committee of the whole for mutual
safety.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, October 17, 1868.

142

ANNALS OF WYOMING

Courtesy of Mrs. Alcott Farrar Ehveh
THE GEODETIC SURVEY CREW
"Dad" Beekly, Alcott Elwell, Carroll Wegerman, Doane Gardiner,
Hoyt S. Gale

Courtesy of Mrs. Alcott Farrar Elwell
GEODETIC SURVEY CAMP ON CLEAR CREEK
JULY 8, 1908

A Icott Jarrar Slwell

HIS DIARY, WYOMING 1908, AS CAMP COOK,

UNITED STATES GEODETIC SURVEY

ROOSEVELT LIGNITE CONSERVATION

INTRODUCTION

Alcott Farrar Elwell, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1886, re-
ceived his early education in Cambridge, France and Germany, and entered
Harvard in 1906, class of 1910. Due to financial reversals, he left college
in 1907, and for the next eleven years he attended Harvard irregularly
because of periods of employment to provide funds for the continuation of
his college work.

In 1917 he received from Harvard the S.B. degree, cum laude, "as of the
class of 1910," and later completed work at Harvard for the M.E. degree
and doctor of education degree.

Colonel Elwell was commissioned captain of infantry, United States
Army, in 1917, resigned as a lieutenant colonel from the infantry reserve in
1928, returned to active service during World War II, was commissioned a
captain, A. U.S., and resigned from the army in 1948.

The great interest of Colonel Elwell's life was Mowglis, School-of-the-
Open, East Hebron, New Hampshire, a summer camp for boys. As a young
man he served as counsellor and assistant director of the camp, and was
owner and director from 1925 until 1953, when he sold Mowglis. Almost
immediately after his death in 1962, some of the Mowglis alumni, in seeking
to establish "a living memorial to the Colonel," formed the Holt-Elwell
Foundation, bought back the property and reactivated Mowglis in order that
it might continue to accomplish for other boys what it had done for them.

The Geodetic Survey crew for which Alcott Elwell was cook in 1908 was
headed by Hoyt S. Gale, chief. A Harvard graduate, Gale was with the
United States Geological Survey from 1902 to 1920, and later founded the
Western Gulf Oil Company in California. Other crew members included
Carrol Wegerman, Doane Gardiner and "Dad" Beekly, teamster.

Colonel Elwell's "Wyoming Diary" has been placed with the Wyoming
State Archives and Historical Department by Mrs. Elwell, and portions of it
are published here with her permission.

July 2: 9:45 a.m. left Weehawken with Dad on the front steps,
the Hudson dull blue in the heat haze beyond. Left Mother at 23rd
St. and now turn my face West, where what I go to meet - I face
alone. Parting can be made hard or easy without regard to time
and place by having the character to leave abruptly. Mother went
absolutely flat when leaving D.L. & W. Ferry at 23rd St. At Jersey
City failed to locate sleeping bag. Train ride hot, but very inter-
esting from New England with the country more and more rolling,
the farm houses large and comfortable, the trees individual and
round.

Gradually the country flattens as we enter N.Y. and then a
change occurs in the earth, which becomes the red of Virginia; in

144 ANNALS OF WYOMING

fact, N.J. and Virginia look much alike and there is the same feel-
ing to the country (except for the girls! )

Philadelphia and Baltimore dwarf after the sky-scrapers of N.Y.,
so that they look like [a] city of small mushroom houses. The
train pulled into Washington on time and stopped at the new
Station. This station is a huge affair and most successfully de-
signed. There are two floors, the lower one in which the cars
come, the other a station. Stopping at the Hamilton. Supper at
Portland. Raining. Had a gorgeous gorge! Saw Hoyt at 9 p.m.
Bed 11. Hot as Hell!

July 3: 7 a.m. Went to Union Station where I found my sleep-
ing bag. Checked both things to Sheridan, Wyo. Bought sleeper;
had a haircut, and got breakfast. On the breakfast I got stung.
Gee! Me money does flee!x!x!

Went to Congressional Library. Was especially interested in
the war bulletins, a Bible of George Washington's, and the exhibit
of illustrations. Went up to the Ontario and helped Hoyt pack.
Off at 5:45 sharp.

As we rolled through Maryland there had just been a shower.
The trees and the fields were very green, while the little white-
washed houses cuddled comfortably into the landscape. After
reaching Baltimore we turned west and are excitedly rushing to-
wards the West. Over. the fields I saw a great rainbow in the
evening twilight, its eastern end lost halfway down among the rain
clouds, but the western end reaching almost to the "pot of gold,"
and hidden only by the mist on the countryside. Hoyt had to wait
until 1 1 p.m. as a lady had the lower berth. He had an exciting
game of peekaboo as only one curtain twixt him and her!

July 4: Slept until 10 a.m. After dressing before the assembled
car and eating some sweet chocolate I went to the observation car
and wrote two letters. After becoming quite sick from trying to
write with the car at 60 per — I went in and spent the remaining
time until one, sleeping. During lunch rain through to storms.
The country of Ohio and Indiana are flat with little patches of
woodland surrounded with wheat and grass fields. The houses
are tall, wooden affairs with a forlorn look to them, and over all
there is a certain sameness. Along the railroads the depots need
paint. The track from Pittsburgh is very straight with so few
turns that it is quite remarkable. Reached Chicago on time,
having had my first glimpse of Lake Michigan just after the Chi-
cago Portland Cement Works. Chicago lake front, saw the Con-
gress Hotel, took supper there. Walked through lower Chicago.
For men only - boys under 21 not allowed .... Balloon race
over the lake. People look Western; women not as well dressed
as New York nor as smart-looking. Train West 1 1 p.m. Oppo-
site Union Station book and cigar store: "Three Weeks"; "$10

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 145

Worth" - rich, rare and racy; "Secrets of Matrimony," "The White
Woman Slave" etc. all displayed in the window.

July 5: After waking up watched the country. Iowa stretched
away in long rolling fields with clumps of trees and brooks cut
deep in the soil. The houses are very small, especially in com-
parison to the acreage. The barns are more in proportion. Long
fields of corn were broken by pasture land, where the cattle, horses
and black pigs were everywhere to be seen. The pigs dotting the
hillsides are in general tone complementary to the earth which is a
black, muddy consistency.

The brooks are deeply imbedded in the land, gulley and winding
among the hillocks.

The train is heavy loaded. One Western feature is the Chair car,
consisting of individual chairs placed four in a line across the car,
allowing an aisle in the middle. In this way everyone had a seat to
themselves. The car is a regular passenger. All is green grass and
trees with muddy-looking water in pools and bogs outside. No
stones seen to interrupt the even nature of the rolling fields.

Omaha, (the City of the No Head). Not a person knew any-
thing about our train. If you were not going to the Democratic
Convention at Denver you ought to be! Tourist sleeper with Har-
vard men.

Exceptionally heavy thunderstorm with hailing and brilliant
lightning, lasting from Lincoln, Neb. (5 p.m.) until 10 p.m. This
heavy rain at Lincoln carried a flood in which seven or eight people
were drowned and no trains entered Lincoln for two days.

July 6: Mountain time. So as I had bought my ticket to Edge-
mont I got up at 7:30 (in reality it was 6:30 a.m.) The night was
cool and the air outside clear and fresh. Beyond Alliance we
began to come into the long, rolling prairie, grass-covered, with
hills beyond scattered with some few evergreens. Great tall towers
and castle of hard rock jet out from these hills and often from the
low country itself. The streams are deeply channeled with brown
muddy water.

Out across the prairie are one or two small houses and black
cattle grazing. Along the track prairie dogs everywhere sit up like
drum majors. They sit so straight, and tucking their paws in front
of them they look as if presenting arms. By the excitement caused
from the train, it must be quite an event in the village!

Edgemont is a town in the very midst of the prairie. Coming
towards the town new houses are scattered. On the hill is a fine
school house. Around this is the station with a long street with
low buildings.

Saw three prairie chickens sitting on wire fence as train passed.
Have changed to regular chair car for Sheridan. Arrived Sheridan
3:10. As I was fixing my return ticket girl asked if I were Alcott
Elwell. The girl was at Roger Hall Camp. After train left . . .

146 ANNALS OF WYOMING

went uptown, bought a hat and shoes. The town faces N and S;
to the west 10 miles away are the Big Horns. The farthest peaks
snow-capped. To the south lies our route and Buffalo.

Sheridan is a town of 8000, sporting a whole line of stores,
hotels, etc. Met the outfit at supper. Bed 10:30.

July 7: Started from Sheridan 11:30 after packing the outfit.
After some six miles near Little Big Horn we stopped for lunch;
rode from lunch to Banner on horseback. Banner 6 p.m. Trouble
at starting with the lead horses. Supper at the ranch. The ranch
was a grove of cotton trees. Everyone helped themselves, and
the women did not eat until after the men had finished.

Slept in the field beyond barn. Expected a rough house by the
fellows, but nothing happened except the stock gathered by my
bedside. Half moon until 12 o'clock.

July 8: Up at 5. Found Hoyt and Wegerman had spent a most
uncomfortable night in the barn.

Hoyt found he had to sleep in a comforter into which someone
had left his lunch. This must have loosened the color for it all
came off on his hands and face. The house, the surroundings were
filthy, but typical.

(Massacre ground where nearly 200 soldiers were massacred by
Sioux Indians under Red Cloud, Dec. 21, 1866. No man survived.
It is said that 1 86 arrows were taken from the body of one soldier.
W. J. Fetterman, 4 civilians, 18th infantry (76-3) 2d Cavalry.
The Indians were armed only with arrows, but their number was so
overwhelming that resistance was impossible.)

(As I heard later, the party of soldiers that were massacred were
sent to escort home to the Fort a wood train. The lieutenant dis-
obeyed orders and followed a body of Sioux. At the Fort the
Commanding Officer heard the firing, pop pop, far across the hills.
He sent out another relief party and in 28 minutes, as he watched,
all firing ceased. Two days later the bodies were recovered
scalped, mutilated, and frozen.)

Lunch before Lake DeSmet beside an irrigation ditch. Three
autos (2 Buicks and a 2-cyl. Rambler) caused variation and
excitement. Lake DeSmet is said to be a bottomless lake and
whosoever rows or goes on the surface is always drowned.

It is a powerful alkali water, mixed with sulphur and the gaseous
vapor arising from it may cause the superstition. At any rate, it is
exceedingly effective — deep, deep blue among the red hills and
pillow country of green grass.

Struck some genuine alkali near Buffalo. Hills steep, and the
sun scorching hot. Reached Buffalo and camped on an island 1/4
from town on the Sweetwater. Opened the outfit and began work.
3 trees and the house corraled about us. Hoyt had a sore throat
and has escaped to the hotel. Had visitors and a letter from
Mother.

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 147

July 9: 4:30 a.m. cut wood, built fire, and got breakfast.
Pretty poor first attempt. Coffee bad, scrambled eggs and bacon.
Dinner at 1 p.m. Steak, peas, corn, and chocolate. Supper, soda
biscuit and grapenut — good. Made bread and cleaned stove.
Gardener came. Saw sand peep.

July 10: 5 : 30-Breakfast, 6: 30. Coffee too strong. Chopped
wood, cleaned camp. 1 1 soldiers came to the creek — "Clar
Crick;'

19th Infantry, K.L.M. Fort McKenzie to Cheyenne, fat head
officers. Cooked meals, etc.

Made 3 loaves of bread, but squashed one. Pretty good. Went
into town on "Kid". Cooked supper. Went to hotel and fixed up
Hoyt. Girls outside; marriage service, etc. Rain, thunder shower.

July 11: 5:30 breakfast. Corn bread, turned out well. Hoyt
not at camp. Soldiers all gone at 4 a.m.

My hands are blistered in contact with hot things; my face is too.
I wear a complexion like a pickled beet. Let me say honestly God
help the man who has to burn cotton wood in this country.

After lunch Hoyt did not come up so put the whisky barrels to
soak. Supper, and made bread. Went to see Hoyt at hotel. Only
one spoon was allowed at a meal; rotten food. 16 year old girl
married in opposite room.

July 12: Sunday, 4:45 a.m. Breakfast 7 a.m. Hoyt arrived,
seems better although not entirely over his sore throat. Dinner,
had roast veal, corn, potatoes, and tomatoes, with tomato soup.
Bread should have risen a bit more. Biscuit, fine. Took a short
lesson at the plane table. Signed Government accident policy; off
tomorrow . . .

July 13: Breakfast 6:30 a.m., after which I washed the dishes
while the rest "struck the tents," and got things in readiness for the
move.

At 10 we left camp, I standing on the team, holding on to whisky
barrels and my dress suitcase.

At Buffalo we stopped until 12:45 while "Dad" got supplies. I
sharpened two axes and then loafed with Gardiner. In a saloon
near the center of town I saw a stuffed calf with four pairs of legs,
two on top of its back, two to the side, and the rest normally placed;
also a lamb with two heads. The calf lived a half hour after it
was born, but the lamb was born dead.

After leaving town we followed the Clear Creek in its general
course, rising into the low hills, and having a grand view of the
"snow tops" with Buffalo hidden below us.

The hills are all covered with great coal clinks from the burning
of great coal beds in the hills. These clinks make the red effect
so picturesque in the landscape. Beside [this] the black jagged

148 ANNALS OF WYOMING

pieces of melted rock and iron with burnt coal, form fantastic
figures among the hills.

As we wind among the hills the fences grow less away from the
river and long valleys, and slide off into the hills. These valleys
are all green, and sink away, winding in behind the shoulders of
yet other rises. In these sometimes cattle or horses graze in herds,
while others are solitary except for the prairie dog, sitting erect on
his hole.

Among the thicker sage we saw several "sage hens". These
birds will often allow you to follow them, shooting them one by one
until all are dead, and will only walk and cluck and walk on.

Doves and little blackbirds were very numerous especially in the
new cut grass fields and tall sweet clover. The hay is being cut on
the river valleys and it is stacked in great mounds in the open fields.
Reaching Watts Ranch we looked about for camping ground. The
choice was to go through 4 gates and across a bridge to be near its
creek or the camp on the road. The road was decided upon
although all the water has to be carried from the pump at the
Ranch, 200 yards away.

Looked at a bluff opposite, the first camping idea, but we should
have had to go half a mile for water, and the creek was 30 ft.
straight down. Saw a cotton-tail rabbit. Arrived at camp 5:30.
Supper at 8:30 and bed 10:00. This morning especially the un-
packing and getting something to eat, beside the confusion other-
wise, is certainly Hell. A most wonderful full moon, pale, very
pale, and white, over the prairie and the river bottom. The tents
shone in it, and the wind seemed to be accompanying it through
the night for as the moon rose into the sky the wind became strong-
er and fresher.

Early next morning, at 4:30, it still hung on the edge of the
sagebrush over beyond the hills even while crimson was deep on
the east. I wondered whether Bruce and Mother had seen it pass-
ing them two hours before, but it kept on its way into the West
without answering.

July 14: 3:30 a.m. instead of 4:30 by mistake. Breakfast at
6. At 7:00 Wegerman and I went into pasture opposite (600
acres) while Hoyt went to "Piney" Creek. "Dad" and I were left
alone all day. After fixing the cook tent I slept, so did "Dad".
Read "De Profundis" and he "The Merry Men."
Got some soft coal from the Ranch and started using it. The
coal looks, is, part of ossified wood, cracks terribly, and will
powder if wet, and then dried. It burns pretty well, almost like
wood, it is so soft. It is better than having to chase through forlorn
country in search of a piece of wood to burn. At 6:00 p.m. the
"boys" all got back, and I had a full-course dinner, - 2 vegetables,
jelly omelet, etc. The French fried potatoes were very sad indeed.

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 149

During supper there was a muttering of thunder and the north-
east became a heavy yellow.

Just before the boys came in "Brownie", one horse we had
tethered, ran off down the road when "Dad" let him loose to get
some grass. He must have had a ticket straight through because
he didn't stop once when he had started, just whooped off to the
east.

After supper "Dad" said he would wipe my dishes if I would
chase up "Brownie." I took "Kid" and rode east until I reached
the range, unfenced, to the north. Up among the hills it started to
come in torrents with almost constant lightning and heavy thunder.
At times "Kid" would turn his tail to the rain, it came so strong.
By letting "Kid" take his course I located eight or ten horses, but
"Brownie" was not there. Passing over the ridges I struck the
road one mile before. By this time the whole hillside was awash,
and rivers pounding among the sage. Following the road until I
reached "Piney" I took the left bank and followed a gulley until I
reached a high stand. Beyond was a deep valley and other hills,
and back of me "Piney" rushing below. The smell of sage under-
foot, the spattering of the rain and a weird yellow glow just enough
to make the thing indistinct.

The clouds flying close overhead seemed to vibrate lightning for
it cracked in long fingers, spread out into sparks and flew farther
across the hills. It became so dark that I dared go no further, as
each hill looked alike in the dimness. Turning I climbed slowly
down the hillside, slipping and sliding in the mud. Reaching the
road, I found it a running river in places, at one point over my
boots when on the horse.

At camp matters were sad indeed. The spot we are on is a bit
low, but drained by a ditch. Such a flood descended that the ditch
overflowed and the tents swam.

Hoyt got the worst dose for it was a regular puddle underneath
his cot. All hands were digging ditches when I arrived. They
thought I had been lost in the hills. Oh! it is sweet to get into bed
with two inches of mud below! I piled all my belongings in a
pyramid on the grain sack and got into bed naked, as towel and
pyjamas were somewhere in the moisty pile.

July 15: But sweeter than going to bed wet is getting up and
stepping into the mire at 4:30 a.m. to hunt for a damp pair of
pants in a cool chill and yank on a pair of boots while mud jellies
about you. Again it is no dream to pull water 300 yards in pails
with the mud up to your ankles — but that's what I'm paid for.

Damn the house fly! When the Lord made these he certainly
slipped up, or more probably it was one of the best inventions of
the Devil.

All the men are off. Hoyt and Wegerman surveying. "Dad"
and Gardiner after "Brownie." I have to be in sight of the tents

150 ANNALS OF WYOMING

all the time, and the flies are thick as a man's sin on Judgment Day,
and quite as aggravating!

July 16: Broke camp at Watts at 9:30 a.m. after a scrabble.
The team went first, the horsemen staying to look after a fire we
had built to clean up the papers. From Watts to Piney Creek the
road was bad, and on the east slope of the hills it was hotter than
Hell. "Blaze" was pretty near out before we reached the river.
Lunch at Piney 12:30. Gardiner with "Brownie" caught up with
us on the second ford across Clear Creek. I rode "Brownie" ahead
into Clearmont. Fired unsuccessfully at prairie dogs all day. Saw
an owl. It is said the prairie dogs, ground owls and rattle snakes
live in the same holes. But I'm from Missouri!

At Clearmont, which consists of a couple of saloons, two stores
and a railroad station, we stopped while Gardiner hit a quart
bottle of Anhoyser Busch.

Dead sheep coming into Clearmont; dead horses all along the
line. Today they do not smell much. Heavy wind out of a clear
sky. Bunch of sheep. Went back to Clearmont for gloves.
Camped 5 miles below Clearmont in a water hole beside an irri-
gation ditch. The cook tent was all . . . Gale and Wegerman
arrived at 7:00, supper 7:30. Went up to a Ranch for water. A
great many use melted ice where there is no well. The irrigation
was filthy.

July 17: 4:30 a.m. Woke with the wide open prairie all about.
Washed dishes in the ditch, which was a slow and dirty operation.
Got mixed up at breakfast and did not get off until 8:00. Made a
mess of things, and was told so. Better next time; all right, I will
know better what is up.

Went into Ranch and down old road. Struck Arvada road, and
forded Clear Creek. Up river from the old ford. Road's bad, and
gullied terribly in places. Came to a round-up of cattle. From our
lunch place we watched them run them into the pens. A bunch
of stock are driven in before them as a decoy. Then come the
cattle with a great dust, the cowboys following close behind, and
heading off any stragglers. One steer got loose and broke into the
Range with a "boy" after him. We could watch them as they
galloped across the Range.

Hoyt and the others cut across lots for Powder River and Stone's
outfit. "Dad" and I had to keep the road. Near our camp ground
on Powder River is the largest prairie dog city that I ever saw.
"Dad" either. It certainly is New York a la Prairie Dog!

We camped about 1/2 m. from the road in a bend of the river.
Holmes, the other cook, an Iowa college fellow, and I are going to
cook together in combination for the outfit. We have to ford the
river for all our alkali drinking water.

Yesterday the water rose 6 inches. It is just a long ribbon of

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 151

mud so thick you can almost cut it. Stone's gang is all right. We
got a rattle snake after leaving the first Ranch today.
(Notes: Cattle milling — Cyclone; Mexican pony — Pinto, a calico
pony, or a "poker-dotted" horse.)

July 18: 4:45 a.m. Breakfast 6:00. Fired 4 barrels at a rabbit;
hit him behind, but he crawled into a hole. Railroad side tracks
and stations, 2/3 are rolling prairie or alfalfa fields. Joined cook-
ing combination. Put tents in line, and generally sweat for it.
Made cinnamon rolls, but bread was spoiled having to move the
tent. Fisher came.

July 19: Breakfast 6:30. Changed cook tent to my outfit, and
also mess wagons. Took a mud bath in the Powder River, nearly
clear mud. Smith (head of U.S.G.S. ) arrived at 6:00. Bread
and bed at 9:30. Worked hard all day. Had two hour nap be-
tween 2 and 4.

July 20: 4:30, breakfast 6:00. Taking down outfit for the
trip tomorrow. Nothing doing, the Secretary of the Interior is not
coming, so back we go. At 10:30 killed a big rattle snake with 8
rattles. Shot his head off with the 38.

(Note for July 19th: Mulpton shot 3 rabbits; Gardiner 1 rabbit,
2 prairie dogs. Stone killed sheep with 22 W. Special Repeater.
Stone's crowd: R. W. Stone, Mulpton, Fred Morrison, Charles
Holmes, Dr. Smith Fiske.)

Hell let loose. Everything wrong. Dinner poor. Meat, little
and scant. Holmes sick. Bed 10 p.m.

July 21: Left Powder River at 8:45; coming over the divide
between Powder and Clear Creek it was terribly hot. Took a swim
in Clear Creek. Got on the wrong trail before getting there.
Camped at Clearmont 5 : 30, putting up cook and office tents.

Woman barber.

Wegerman was rolled on by his horse.

July 22: Broke camp at 9:30. Wegerman and Gardiner left
before. Received letters from Dad and Gladys at Clearmont.
Left town at 12:00. Struck Clear Creek ford and camped. About
6 p.m., after an extremely hot, muggy day and mosquitoes began
work. Around the cook tent and the fly they gather in black
blotches and make dish-washing a torment. As the night grew
they became more ravenous, entering the tents and pervading the
darkness. Only too true, as the old Indian said, "De mosquito it is
not 'is bite but 'is sing!'

On going to bed I thoughtlessly sat on the ground, whereupon
my pyjama pants became coated with "stick tights." Between mos-
quitoes outside, burrs inside, and the heat, sleep was a matter of
small account. The next morning I found comfort in learning that
all the rest had suffered during the night.

152 ANNALS OF WYOMING

("Stuttering Dick": "Out here, do you fellows ever get broke?
W-w-well no, we never get broke; but we-we sometimes get pretty
badly b-b-bent.")

July 23: 4:30, breakfast 6:00. Hoyt starts for the Big Horn
Mts. Stage refused to take him, it was so full. "Dad" and he went
in big wagon leaving me alone with the outfit, all balled up. It
took until 2:00 to straighten up, then I baked bread. The boys
got back at 6:00. Shower at 7, with double rainbow. The creek
and the hills with the storm behind them and across the sky 2
rainbows, one perfect, the other lost in the middle, but clear at
both ends.

July 24: Breakfast 6:00. Wegerman and Gardiner are off,
and I am alone in camp. While writing to Dad the darned stock
forded the river and hobbled they fled away. 1 followed in chase
across the river, up to my waist in water. The water was that swift
it took uttermost precaution not to slide on a pebble and be carried
down stream.

Skirting a hill I followed upon the ridge over the ups and downs
to head off the stock. Then tried to ride "Tanglefoot" home bare-
back. After several unsuccessful attempts to get on his tall back,
I led him across the ford the same way I came and reached camp.
Was preparing to saddle up and follow "Kid" when he turned up.
Western horses are the biggest fools, they lack even horse sense!
The only senses they have are for getting into trouble.

It was 2:00 when I returned so I went over for some coal at the
Ranch (Whorton's Ranch). I have to collect the coal in bags, tie
them together, and then fling them over the horse. This is no
joke when the horse is shying sideways. When I reach the river
then I clamber on their back and cross the ford.

"Dad" returned from Buffalo with supplies. Boys got back at
6:30. They are working the N.E. corner of the township. Darn
the mosquitoes. When I am washing the dishes at night they eat
me alive.

July 25: Went to Clearmont bareback on "Brownie." Coming
back the fools at the store packed the butter in thin paper; it
speedily melted in the hot sun and ran out of the saddle bag. With
a saddle bag full of truck, four dozen eggs and myself, all on a
slippery back, as it dripped fast at 300 a pound, I descended and,
clothed in the saddle bag cover, took the saddle bags in hand, the
eggs, the reins, and dragged the accursed "Brownie" for several
miles.

What I forgot to say on the way in I hope may never be laid to
my credit in the big Black Book though I do have a satisfied feeling
that it must have come into Headquarters pretty steadily and kept
the Angels busy with their India ink.

Reaching the brook I put the butter in, and came to camp.

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 153

Went for vegetables at the Ranch. Henry and I dug them.
Gardiner in early, Wegerman late. Mosquitoes!!

July 26: (Sunday.) Breakfast / thank the Lord!

Went for coal; dinner at noon, - Campbell's Condensed ox-tail;
dried beef with gravy, small creamed onions, stewed potatoes, and
bread pudding with maple sauce.

Fixed up Wegerman, and slept from 4 to 6.

July 27 : Made bread, cleaned up camp, and at 11:15 started
for Clearmont on "Brownie." Returning at 1:15, it was most ter-
ribly hot; in fact, one of the hottest days we have had. While
baking bread "Dad" saw a flock of chickens. With Gardiner's
double I knocked a double and a single, a bird at every shot. The
long double bird we could not trace! These chickens rise very
much like pheasant. #3 1-1/8 b. DuPont Winchester.

Evening I steamed Wegerman's shoulder.

On my returning way from Clearmont, #41 passed me just as
my road led off into the hills at right angles to the track. I waved
my hat, and the people craned their necks out the window to see
"the cowboy"? What a bump they would have had if they had but
known! It is nevertheless an obvious fact that the sight of a train
loaded with people coming from the East gives me a strange plea-
sure just to watch it pass, and to wonder where the people are
going — it seems like a letter or anything else from home!

"Dad" and Wegerman came almost to blows on the question of
hobbling "Brownie." Wegerman said "Dad" was cruel and started
to take them off, and "Dad" shoved him aside. There were 5 or
10 minutes of fireworks!

Evening. There was a most splendid sun glow over the western
hills. The color was of a most intense, marvelous crimson, like
some gigantic fire beyond the prairie. The green of the near hills
and the faint illusive purples and greens of a few more distant
points seen between the others made the spectacle gorgeous beyond
all words; for color is so minute and syllables cannot but portray it
crudely — for they are but a crude instrument themselves.

As the night deepened the foot and shoulders of a rainbow shone
in the east for a few moments backed by the dark rain behind and
the colorless prairie from which the light had fled. During the
night the hills were very black, but to the east lightning winked
like some great eye, opening and shutting across the night. The
tents and the flats lay as silent as the darkness around about.
Packrats collect everything and carry it home.

July 28: Shot hawk and 5 turtle doves in the morning. Back
on the rising ground beyond the tents hawk and two doves were
flying. Dreamed: A man came into the tent and hung a live
rattler over "Dad" just enough so that when "Dad" rose the snake

154 ANNALS OF WYOMING

could bite. The man decided to kill me too so that the job would
be clean. But the 38 turned the trick!

July 29-30: Went out after doves but failed to connect with a
single one after 6 shots. "Old Bill" and "Tanglefoot" led the
horses into the range, and I chased them in the broiling sun.
Finally I headed them homeward and returned to camp.

Hoyt arrived from his visit to the Big Horns. My beans turned
out splendidly; besides this we had pigeon, new peas and little
onions, custard and cocoa.

Signed my first payroll for $50.00 - from the 6th to the 31st.

July 31: Man from Buffalo with cattle for Omaha - stayed
around all day.

The Old Stone Ranch just across the ford seems to have conflict-
ing stories. 1st, that the man who built it homesteaded there. The
"Big Red" above tried to get him out, then his wife died, and
finally in a freshet his twin girls fell into the creek and were
drowned. Finally, Big Red fixed up a deal and sent him to jail
for 2 years. 2d, that the world's rough rider lived there, but that
at what is now Whorton's Ranch the "Big Red" had trouble with a
man. The foreman offered $2000 to a man to fix up evidence of
cattle stealing on the other fellow. So after a time the accomplice
brought cattle from miles away and put them in the yards with the
man's own cattle, and he branded the bunch! By false oaths and
misstatements he got 2 years. The foreman became so ashamed
of his act that he took to drink, and went to the man's wife and
confessed. She made him write a letter to the Governor which
released her husband. The husband and wife moved to Colorado.
The foreman took to drink.

Interesting to see them corral the horses with ropes to the wagon.
"Tanglefoot" ran away with me twice. The bridle was broken and
I couldn't hold him. Of all the darned beasts in the bunch
"Tanglefoot" beats all. He came across the river on the run and
up into the fields [where] I put him. He stopped when he reached
the other horses.

It has been very hot.

Hoyt and "the boys" killed a rattler on the rise below camp.
Dug him up. Wegerman 3 rattlers.

August 1: The Devil died of sunstroke today! It was the hot-
test we've had, and that is saying something. Made bread in 3 hrs.
it was so warm. Boys were nearly dead. Hoyt got caught in
brook by bunch of "vimens" in a carriage.

August 2: (Sunday) Breakfast 7 a.m., dinner 1:30. Flies and
heat predominate in the tents. Fired Hoyt's 22, the 38 S&W and
the 32 Special at 600 and 1/2 mile.

Bunch went in swimming over by the cliff. First place I could

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 155

swim in I have struck since I left the East. The mosquitoes were
thick in the evening.

August 3: After breakfast I had to drive the old stray horse
away. In leaning to unhitch him the saddle slipped with Kid and
around it went. I got kicked in the stomach, and the horse ran
1/2 mile. The oil slicker is nowhere to be found. "Dad" said I
might consider myself resurrected the 3rd of August!

Made doughnuts. Fine!

August 4: Made bread. "Dad" at Clearmont.

August 5: Shot 9 doves, but lost 3 in the sagebrush. They set
in cotton woods. Deep gullies, water courses. Prepared for more.

August 6: Breakfast 6:00. Moved from Double Crossing
8:30. "Dad" and I did all the loading. I rode ahead to Piney
Ranch with Bob for oats. Ranch buildings of stone beside Piney
Creek, 1/2 mile from fork in the road. Rained part way to Watts.
Rode Bob the last part of the way as he broke the halter several
times. Arrived 1 p.m., put up tents. Like Eden. The camp
flowing with milk and honey - and flies!

August 7 : Hotter than Slept and cooked.

August 8: Baked beans. Made a lemon pie after instruction by
Mrs. Watts. The pie plate outgrew the crust, but otherwise it
was good. Wonderful Northern Lights over the northeast sky.
Pigs and black cats infest the tents at night.

August 9: (Sunday). Breakfast 7:00. Dinner, baked bean
soup, roast beef, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate ice cream, raisin
bread. Very hot in the middle of the day. The ice cream and the
iced water were civilized indeed. I got all the mail. Took a swim
in the creek with Hoyt, Wegerman and Gardiner.

August 10: Afternoon it rained. Did the washing, bringing
water from the irrigation ditch. Rained at night. Talked to Mr.
Watts about sheep-herding for Bruce and I. 3300 sheep went by
at noon. Raised tremendous dust. Wegerman killed 3 rattlers and
saw a coyote.

August 11: Morning overcast and cold. Made bread and put
it in what sun there was to rise. By noon it was growing cold and
I had to put it in my bed! The stage driver had a buggy top for
Elwell. Wanted to know whether I was the man. "Dad" replied,
"No, he can't be the man, he has a 'buggy top' already and a hat
to cover it." Stung!

Read "De Profundis."

Baked bread in a howling wind with rain. At 6:00 the men
were all in and it was nasty outside. As the night grew it got

156 ANNALS OF WYOMING

worse. When we crawled into bed the rain had stopped, but the
wind was rising and it was getting cold.

August 12: 4:45 seemed like Swedenborg's lowest Hell. All
day thick. The tent is closed and a fire going, but still it is dis-
consolate.

Behind Watts on the river bottom there was a most magnificent
set of two rainbows, — the smaller was perfect, the other a little
less distinct but unbroken. The small bow was wide and rich in
color, ending on one side in a field of yellow ripe wheat, and in the
other against the shattered framework of a hill whose bowels had
been burnt by fire. With the black-grey storm retreating over the
southeast line of hills the hills themselves were filled with clear
color unmixed with the dust that accumulated during the day. All
the intense wonder of faint color was present, completing the
blazing rainbow by its relief to eye and mind, and bringing into
complete harmony the shadow of the storm behind the darker hills.

The entire valley seemed breathing color — the deep green alfalfa
grass, the uncut oats yellow in the last sunlight, and the blue water
swinging gently from side to side on the bottom land. God must
have smiled when He made this picture out of such barren material.

The day was bitter cold, wet, overcast and windy. "Dad" and I
had the tent closed up, the fire going, but yet shivered. At 11:30
Mr. Gale came to camp on account of the rain and snow. He
brought with him a fish from the irrigation ditch. The ditch broke
down and all the water was run out. This left suckers in small
puddles. I went up to the ditch and succeeded in getting seven,
four from one puddle and three from along the ditch. It was a
slimy job as the fish went overland across the mud pretty fast. I
dammed up one pool and chased the four into shallow water. The
fish were about 1 0 inches to 1 2 inches, and were "suckers" whitish
grey with red on the tail. After dinner I went downstream, but
the blue heron had done the picking.

Mr. Gale shot a rabbit. We had doughnuts. Mr. Watts' son
was run over by a load of 5500' of lumber. Pa and Ma went down
to him at Buffalo. He is not hurt badly. The doctors around
Buffalo must be pretty poor. Postcard from Dotty Downer, friend
Pearl Burns, Sheridan, Wyo. Her father has a sheep and cattle
ranch.

August 13: Mist and rain. Cold, damp sogginess. Cleaned
guns; got vegetables, and packed for the move to Hamilton. Gar-
diner and Hoyt came in afternoon, and towards evening it settled
down to soggy mist, with occasional rain. A most miserable feel-
ing— damp clothes, chilly winds, slipping about the tent, and a
general stomach trouble from the change of temperature. "Dad"
arrived from Buffalo with supplies and the slicker lost the 3rd of
August in the Kid fracas.

Bread went on the Hell!

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 157

August 14: Drizzling at 4:45, raining at 6:00. After a period
of waiting order came to stay in camp until tomorrow. With
everything packed this makes it rotten.

Received letters from Mother and two corkers from Bruce. One
letter from Vida from Bozeman, Montana, where she is in the
hospital having been under an upturned coach coming out of the
Yellowstone. She was thrown 30 feet. Uncle Tom was cut. She
was taken to the Grand Basin Hotel, and from there to Bozeman
Hospital. There at Bozeman she underwent an electric storm of
some violence.

Toward evening it began to rain hard, and as we turned in the
water was running over the breastworks into the cook tent.

August 15: At 10 a.m. the sun began to break through the
clouds and life once again resumed its peaceful attitude. Prepared
for the coming move.

August 16: (Sunday) Left Watts Ranch at 9:15 a.m., Hoyt
and Wegerman having left beforehand. Gardiner stayed to help.
Met the outgoing stage at 11:30 where the Clearmont/Buffalo
road and Piney branch meet. Beyond here we found the Piney
road for several miles very hilly as it kept to the hills instead of the
valley. In places the cuts were badly gullied, while one had to be
repaired with rocks and gravel before the team could cross. Al-
most without exception the ditch bridges and culverts were broken
and useless. After passing William's Ranch the road was good.
The camp is 300 yds. from Hamilton's Ranch on a steep bank
above Piney. The tents face the running water, and the deep, rich
meadows with the hills beyond; up the valley the snow-capped Big
Horns.

It is called 10 miles from Hamilton to where Piney and Clear
join, therefore about 9lA to the road crossing. Gardiner and I
rode "Tanglefoot" and "Kid." G. showed me coal deposits at Box
Elder Creek.

Cooked heavy meal. Mr. Gale and Wegerman in on time.
Made bread and bed 9:30. All night when I half woke the noise
of the water came, while early in the morning the moon half shone.

August 17: 4 a.m., made bread and got breakfast. After
washing dishes I rode "Kid" to Wegel's Ranch, and met the incom-
ing mail from Clearmont 10:10 and the outgonig at 1 1 :20. Home
1 p.m. I took the 38.

Wrote to Bruce lying on the ground with my hat as a shield.
Made doughnuts and bread. Bed 9:30 p.m.

August 18: 5 a.m. After breakfast went with "Dad" for coal.
We climbed into the hills about 300 ft. above the creek. Loaded
"Kid" and made 2 trips, the last one I brought down about 1000i£.
When we came down it was about 45°. Started at 11 (directly

158 ANNALS OF WYOMING

after getting coal) for Wegel's Ranch for the mail. Arrived at the
post box 12:30; camp 2:45, allowing 30 mins. at the box. "Kid"
went slowly and the riding was hard, but the sky was overcast, while
coming home there was a breeze.

Had chicken for dinner. The damned fire would not get started,
and I had nothing ready at 6. Supper, however, was on time.
Bread and bed at 10, making 17 hrs. of work, including 18 miles of
it horseback.

I remember getting my boots off, then it was 5 a.m. this morn-
ing (August 19th). Old man Hamilton is a stinker - shooed me
from the coal pile and has a grouch 1/2 mile wide. You bump
against it when you pass him on the roadside.

August 19: 5 a.m. "Dad" 's gone for the mail. I bet he'll be
tired when he gets home and sore. "Kid" has a very hard trot, and
the saddle is ! Washing and baking for me.

A rancher came along today who asked me about coal land. In
talking said he had been a U.S. Marine, was in the San Francisco
quake; shot a policeman who was cutting a ring from a woman's
finger. He had five fingers in his pocket. The woman was not
dead, only speechless. Orders were that no one should touch their
hand to the ground without permission.

The Hamiltons had a party last night, and the countryside came
in farm wagons, dump carts, and hayricks.

"Dad" rode to Wegel's Ranch for mail 9 to 12. I did the wash-
ing and baked bread.

August 20: Mailman from Ulm came by. $30 per month, 3
days a week (6 to 10- 10 to 2).

Drew some postal cards for the men:

The Geologist

Brownie's Leading Features

Plain Table Talk

Wyoming Breakfast Call

Charmed, I Assure You

What We See of Doane Gardiner

The Cook's Busy Day

Try Angulation

Local Color

Our Beloved Cook
The boys were highly delighted. "The Geologist" was the winner.

August 21: Heavy, cool rain. Tent all closed up and the fire
going hard. Hoyt and Wegerman drew on their maps. I drew
postal cards. "Dad" sewed saddle bags.

About 12 it stopped raining, and Doane went out on "Kid."
Hoyt was sick with a headache and stomach upset.

On Thursday night, the 20th, "Dad" woke me because some
animal had scared "Brownie." We went down the road, but

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 159

caught only a glimpse of something white in the distant darkness.
We traced "Brownie" to the other horses, and then came home.
Every night "Dad" heard light foot beats on the road which stop
at the tents, and then go on.

Brownie was free from the rope and the hobbles when he was
found. The night before he was only tied, but returned to camp
hobbled.

August 22: "Dad" went to Kearny to get mail and look up next
camping place. I finished "Ebb Tide," and sat watching the rain
on the mountains, the variations of lighting with the many colors
between me and those hills.

"Dad" returned about 3 : 30. Letter from Mr. Butz.

August 23: (Sunday) From 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. I worked all
day. Breakfast first, then dinner (with roast ducks, green beans,
cabbage, and lemon pudding). I had to pack for the move, and
then supper. Went for eggs, and coming home saw a large owl on
a telegraph pole.

August 24: The team left Hamilton's at 8:45 a.m., and went up
Piney Creek to Kearny (a trip of 12 miles). The trip was the most
effective of any we shall have. The snowcaps of the Big Horns
just in front, their shoulders sloping off into the timbered tops, and
down nearer and nearer until the trees ceased and the sage began.
Every interval of change has its peculiar tone and shade, like dabs
on a great palette.

Everywhere we passed there were several pines standing on an
eminence to deepen the contrast between it and the sage.

We came upon the Sheridan-Buffalo road through a cut among
the narrow hills, where some stream had cut a way. Great piles of
black clinkers hung over us in places, while the hills showed deep
red wounds of old fires. Kearny was struck at 12.

We are on the south bank with the post office and store about
100 yds. on the opposite bank. The automobile route and mail
line make the road quite busy compared to any we have struck. It
was 1 1 o'clock before I got a chance to open a single letter.

August 25: The hell of a day! Only got 5 hours sleep. Cut
firewood, made bread, drew a map for Hoyt, cooked supper. Just
as supper was finished a heavy wind struck us. It was a good sand
and dust storm. The kitchen table was turned over, the dishes
floated away on the wind, tablecloth, etc. For about 2 hrs. it blew
as if it had plenty more from where that came. The tent was a
mess. Tables all over; food on the ground, stovepipe down, and
dirty 1/4" of everything.

It was surprising there was no rain; otherwise, it would have
been worse! As there was no knowing when it would stop blow-
ing, I cussed everything in general, and went to bed 8 : 30.

160 ANNALS OF WYOMING

August 26: 3:30 a.m. The freighters opposite us were up,
when I turned out. The tent was worse than ever, and the plates
all upside down in the dirt. After the sun came up I found my hat
and the tablecloth 25 yds. away. Washed all the dishes, and
cleaned the tent, then got breakfast. I say — rats!

At 1 p.m. I went to the store with William and the bait. We
went down Piney fishing. We used grasshoppers, and 1 had a
leader. William caught 3 between camp and 1 down. Finally I
caught 2. He broke the barb off and bent the hook, but I landed
him before he dropped off. It was a close call, however, until I
got my fingers into his gills. He was not 6" from the water!

Piney Creek here at Kearny is clear from fresh melted snows,
and runs joyously over boulders, whirling down rapids into sheets
of silver below. Its banks are hung with willow, cotton (and
"elder"? ) in such a thicket that it is quite impassable in places. In
fact, it seemed like getting home in New Hampshire.

The sound of running water over steep places or among the
rocks is the same in all places. It speaks the same language in one
as the other — and in it is the faint, far murmur of the sea. Uncon-
scious of distance it echoes the impulse of the waves, and when one
knows the rhythm of an ocean the beating of swift water is but a
different key with the same motif.

We had fresh trout, popovers, and honey for supper.

August 27: "Dad" went to Sheridan for the greys, starting at
6:30 with a rancher who was taking in a load of hogs.

Left to myself I started to write Bruce when there appeared a
"human being" who claimed to be a stone cutter. I know he was a
throat cutter when he got the chance. From 10 till 2 he talked -
sometimes I think he was "batty." He almost wept when he told
me I looked like a fellow from New York named Billy Barnum.
who got wild and ran West. He took to low life and women. I
wonder which particular reminded him of me. Finally, after tell-
ing me about rose agates and trying to sell me one, about rubies in
Montana, nearly shooting a man, the "stinkers" in this State, Jack
London - he came from Arizona and was going to Montana — he
wanted me to give him a bunch of Government supplies. I refused.
He departed.

August 28: After breakfast tried to wash dishes in a heavy
wind. Every time I put down a dish it would blow away. Then
ditched all three tents and cut firewood. Washed Hoyt's stockings.
Sally Lunn biscuits were a success, also French toast.

August 29: Everyone coming home from Sheridan Fair. "Dad"
arrived at 4:30 with the greys. Gardiner sick with a cold.

August 30: (Sunday) It turned cold with overcast sky. In the
afternoon it began to pour, with a bitter cold wind. I had to pack,
and the boys sat around and shivered.

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 161

August 31: Broke camp at 12:30, after getting the greys into
the four-horse outfit. The buggy and "Tanglefoot" came behind.
Met Hoyt en route. Received word from Bruce in Southwest
Harbor, Maine. Camped in the Ranch ground,-Barkey,3 p.m.
Had chicken and mince pie given by Mrs. Ned Sensel — Kearny,
Wyo.

The boys thought we were on Stony Creek and went almost to
Buffalo. Supper 7:30. Bread was spoiled. Bed 10:30 p.m.

September 1: Mrs. Barkey showed me about potato yeast. Cut
kindling with a small wood saw. Wrote Mother and Mr. Butz.
The water is from a 1/2 inch pipe behind the Ranch — it takes time
and patience, and there is Alcott.

September 2: 5 a.m. Drew map before I got any breakfast.
Washed dishes 11 a.m. Made bread 11:30 to 12:30. Packed
12:30 to 2:00. Fixed cake 2 to 3. Slept 4 to 4:30. Supper
7:00. Packed 8 to 9. Washed dishes 9:30 to 10:00.

September 3: Left Barkey 's Ranch 8:45. Killed small rattler.
Arrived at Camp Buffalo 11:30 after having buggy breakdown,
stovepipe dropoff and so forth. Water very low on this side.
School teachers' convention. I was sick - done out. Bed 8 p.m.

September 4: Cut wood, did the washing, drew out a map,
made doughnuts, and got supper. It was very hot.

September 5: Muggy and hot. Mr. Kennedy U.S. Land Office
came to lunch. Told me about Oregon, Bakers City - R.G.& N. to
Austin, by stage to Canyon City 36/m, look at Bear Valley 20/m
beyond, or Fox, Oregon . . . Beans for supper, and sweet potatoes.

September 6: (Sunday) Pot roast for dinner, ate under tree, it
was so hot in the camp. Went with Gardiner and Wegerman to
Clear Creek Canyon, Wegerman went to Horns. Doane and I
went past Forestry Camp 1 m. up canyon. Climbed needle, about
6000 ft. 100 foot drop off. Back 7:30 p.m.

September 7: Hoyt and Wegerman took the greys and buggy.
I made bread, and when "Dad" got back from town I went in with
Wegerman's things. As it was Labor Day I had trouble in getting
into the Land Office. Went up and sharpened the axes at the
blacksmith's shop. Had two sodas, and I tell you they were good
for it was terribly hot all day. Packed for the move tomorrow.

That evening the moon was three-quarters full, the night sultry,
warm, with perfect stillness. Across the mountains the sky died
away into a yellow-green, and then became that lightly "colored
blue," the effervescent blue which comes sometimes over the plains.
The sea's blue is rich in color, deep, forboding, or childlike, to
almost somber, even like the eyes of a thoughtful child or of a

162 ANNALS OF WYOMING

powerful man - the prairie has blue of its own, a light, fantastic
color, full of magic that hovers over the poison springs, surrounds
the blood-tipped, shattered hills, and the white still bones beside
them.

All night it remained warm, but toward morning a faint wind
began like the choke of a baby sleeping.

September 8: Just 2 months ago we staked here for the first
time on this trip.

Off the island 8:45 a.m., town 9:30 a.m.

Behind, the rain was coming so "Dad" hurried, cursing at the
delay he himself caused. About 6 miles from town we struck the
divide, and slid rattling into the Dry Creek Valley. We passed
several mines and two deserted cabins - murder! The camp is in
an open flat where Dry Creek comes to the surface - for before this
it flows in the sands. There is a corral where the sheep are penned.
Hoyt located a spring, and we are tented down close to the bank
of the creek.

It began to rain as we struck camp, but we had things under
cover before any great harm, except my sleeping bag, which rolled
down the bank into the muddy slime - thanks to "Dad"! We
arrived about 12 midday. Gardiner arrived almost when we did -
he had stayed at Buffalo to do some geodetic work. Wegerman
about 2 p.m. Camp at T.W. - 12/m Buffalo.

Cooking supper I used the new spring which Hoyt dug. The
cocoa curdled, and after standing the cocoa and milk went to the
bottom leaving a brownish water on top. Everything tasted vile
except the meat, so on the whole it was pretty rotten.

September 9: After breakfast, at which the same nasty taste
occurred except in the cocoa, which was boiled water. "Dad"
made a pole and flag at the quarter corner, Doane on one butte and
I on another.

Picturesque old hills, red with the blistered stone, and crowned
like castles with towers and portholes.

After putting up my flag of gunnysack I tied the Sign of the
Sagebrush on top. Among the sage I found a bird, gray back,
black head with red eyes, and 1/2 web feet. It "froze" while I
walked and pushed my hand within 3".

Came back to find that a rancher had just told Hoyt that his
water killed 50 horses. No danger if not hot, but when warm it
played the deuce. I got the greys for "Dad" and he left for town
at 10 a.m. Two men came by who were to meet a band of sheep.
It is said the water is so bad because it contains alum, also arsenic,
etc. The wind has been high all day, and the tents getting pegs
loose. I made a fence for our spring with boards and 2x4's from
the old house by the corral, labeled "U.S. Geodetic Water Works.
After using, remember 'A straight line is the shortest distance be-
tween two points.' "

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 163

September 10: Warm. Made bread. Washed clothes — lye,
Gold Dust soap and it burned my hands all up dry. This water is
Hell! It makes a greasy deposit over the plate, if any kind of soap
is used. Received a letter from Aunty Beth about "Cleanliness is
next to godliness"!

September 11: "Dad" went to Buffalo at 11. I made a map
and postal cards; everyone wants them.

September 12: 8:30 started on Brownie for Buffalo and the
Fair.

Met a N.J. man from Powder River (40 m. above Arvada) -
shepherding. Met Hoyt at blacksmith's shop. Sodas, apples;
washed our feet in Clear Creek. Started for the Fair at 2, price
500 in, 250 outer circle. Bananas 50 each. Fare each way to fair-
grounds 250; 1/2 m. race, walk, trot and run. Consolation race
and bucking.

A fellow in black chaps was thrown and his shoulder broken,
but got on and rode again.

Gardiner (at Buffalo Bill Show) did riding and rope exhibition.
He rode the only bad horse who "sun fished", and then bolted into
the other man's saddle and to the ground, smoking a cigar all the
while.

One horse turned a somersault and had to be blind-folded to get
the saddle on. Another kicked and reared upon the other horse
(Webber). Good band. The girl on a black pony; she had light
yellow hair, looked like Teddy. In the women's race a girl got
thrown and broke her collar bone.

Hoyt and I left at 5:30 and town at 6: 15. It began to rain, and
we cut through Foot's Ranch. On the main road we got off twice;
if "Dad" had not had the lanterns out we could not have found
camp.

Gardiner and Wegerman came in at 1 1 p.m.

September 13 : ( Sunday ) Sheep wagons by corral, and sheep all
about. Breakfast 7:30 a.m. Had our pictures taken by herder.
Dinner delayed for Hoyt and Wegerman to swim in puddle of the
creek (full of sheep, berries, etc.) Dust and windstorm just as we
were sitting down to dinner. Within five minutes everything was
black with dust. The cook tent was choking with the fly dust. A
canvas was thrown over the table, and after the wind went down
we ate outside in front of the tents.

At 3:30 Wegerman, Doane and I started for an Indian grave
from which Wegerman had taken a skull. We rode to the west
about 6 miles passing 5 herders with large flocks from the moun-
tains. High on a long hog-back ridge we could see the stones of
the grave a long way away. There was a heavy storm coming, and
that prairie was wild, desolate, but full of those mysterious colors.
Behind the grave in front of us the Big Horns with the lightning

164 ANNALS OF WYOMING

and clouds made a perfect frame for the grave before us. Reaching
the grave we soon dug up a skeleton's ribs, when suddenly the
storm was upon us. Just for the moment before I clambered down
the hill to get clear of the lightning I saw 75 miles away the Pump-
kin Buttes shine out like gold among the dark country of smaller
hills. These Pumpkin Buttes rise from the shaggy hill country
6-7000 ft. above the plain of limestone construction.

During the rain we squatted on the ground and let our raincoats
cover us. The wind here was like that in some parts of the country.
Very sticky so after a rain it is almost impossible to ride the range.
Below us to the northeast was a deserted ranch — one of the most
disconsolate, lonely, ghastly places I have ever seen. In some
ways the place haunts me! There, where no human sign can be
seen, sunk in the bottom land with flaming buttes and the grave
topped hill shadowing it always —

After the storm, in which we had the benefit of some exceedingly
loud thunder, we continued our digging. 3 skeletons were dug up,
all in a condition of much decay. Evidently the bodies had not
been buried until the decay had set in, because they were in
positions impossible under ordinary fleshly condiitons. In the
grave was nothing except ashes of a long-ago fire. Stones were
laid upon the shallow trough under which was but a scarce sheet of
earth. The Indians bury their dead in high places that "they may
see the good hunting." In Montana they are often buried under
some lime or sandstone ledge and pickets driven in front, thus
making an open tomb.

Wegerman saw one in the snow with one shriveled hand laid
bare upon the snow just within the fence of stakes.

After it became dark we gathered the bones in our saddlebags
and started home. The night was black, and the lightning, with
faint thunder seemed almost to breathe at our depravity, while the
Great Spirit must certainly have riven the hillsides in anger at our
breaking the rest of those who had slept so long.
Reached camp at 9 p.m. After that we had supper and I turned in
at 10.

September 14: "Dad" went to Buffalo with his and Hoyt's
washing. Had visitors to lunch — two ranchers from Crazy Wom-
an. Smith at Trabing. probably where we will stop when he gets
there. Also had a herder from Indiana, camp mover and sheep.

Made some genuine "sinkers" as testified by the whole outfit.
Darn that potato yeast, it spoiled my bread - 3 loaves! Gardiner
home late. 10:30 bed.

September 15: "Dad" went to Buffalo with the washing, and
was gone all day. Returned with some Dew Berries (blackber-
ries). Gardiner brought in two rattle snakes on a pole.

September 16: 5 a.m. Started on Kid for Buffalo and to do

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 165

some washing. Found our ranch and the irrigation ditch; 2d house
toward Buffalo (10 m.) Borrowed tub and washboard - hung
clothes on the line. Went to Buffalo, rode in with a shepherd's
camp mover — wolf and antelope. Buffalo 3:45 — the two girls in
khaki washing — 4:45; camp 5:45 p.m. My tail was sore and
bruised. Supper 6:30.

September 17: Gardiner left in the rain at 10 a.m.
Kennedy and teamster arrived, ate lunch, and waited for "the
boys." Supper at 6. Sat around in the cook tent until 9:30.

September 18: Breakfast 6:30 on account of cloudy weather
and Kennedy. About 7:30 the 41 and Pitcher "round up" turned
up with Mrs. Smith at Hazelton on the mountain beyond Klondike
and a girl in tow. Camped beyond us. 9 cowboys and the cook
and night ranger. Branded calves. Roping — dragging — bellow-
ing— round-up in the afternoon. Cutting the spring steers, brands,
ear marks - shoulder marks. Went down and had a chat with the
cook. New man — the "Kid" quit because the old man wouldn't
come to dinner after he had ordered it at 4 p.m. The old man
was up in beer, and flashed a gun,- the Kid came back that morning
with his and followed the old man into the range. Old man backed
down. Sheep-herders came through with 4 or 5 bunches. 2 girls
and a fellow called and spent 1 hr. Then Mrs. Smith and her
prodigy turned up. (Anderson girls and their brother quite well-
to-do — were running their cattle out of the bunch. ) Watched the
branding and cutting.

Cook and cowboy came up and sat with us at supper. Shooting
a man instead of the horse in a dragging - dragged across a river
and his head knocked in - buried right there.

September 19: Round-up pulled out 7 a.m. Gave us a big
hunk of meat. Changed cook tent and fixed it up nicely.

Went to Buffalo. Received letter from Dad. Rode Tanglefoot.

September 20: 7:30 breakfast. Went over to the petrified
tree. Took photos of "Dad" on top. Tree 13 ft. circumference,
about 15 to 20 ft. high. Rode "Kid" bareback. Had roast for
dinner. Wrote Mother, Aunt Suzie and Bruce. Then rode with
Hoyt into Buffalo for the mail. Lunch-supper at 7. Sheep-herders
at old corral.

September 21: "Dad" went to Buffalo for supplies. Made
stew — baked beans. Slept and packed. I was feeling dopey so
took alkali water. Took photo of camp, also a bath! As I was
splashing merrily in the open flatland a team drove round over
near the bench and I "never saw them" at all. It was close range
at 150 ft. and then "I came to." There was a girl in the buggy.

September 22: Started at 9:30 for Allaman's Ranch on Crazy

166 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Woman where Dry Creek joins. Led White Britches, and Brownie
followed. Bad gullies and holes with lots of dust. Reached Alla-
man's 12:10. Distance 11.07 and 75%. Camped under big
cottonwoods with tall grass. Burnt grass in cook tent. "Dad"
went for Wegerman's things at 3, returning at 5.

September 23: Cold at night. Hot in the afternoon. In the
morning, finished 2 townships - drew pictures for Gardiner and
made bread. Afternoon, wrote to Mother. Was introduced to the
Crazy Woman River. It runs close behind Allaman's Ranch with
deep thickets on each side and big cottonwood trees all about. The
water a dirty yellow. Some talk of changing camp to Babcock's or
Buffalo. Allaman's Ranch is a 2-room oblong house. Bunk
house and windmill in the enclosure. Stable beyond. Big dogs,
small dogs, sheep dogs, little cats, turkeys, and hens and ducks
made up the items. 80 ft. artesian well.

Looked like rain. "Dad" and Hoyt, then Wegerman and "Dad".
We are just 23 m. from Buffalo.

September 24: Cold as blazes. Did the washing at the Ranch
in tent there and with a big washboard. Talked with foreman, an
Eastern man from between Nova Scotia and Portland, Me.

Started to rain while I was still washing. Found Hoyt in the
cook tent - after ditching and collecting wood - read magazine.
Got colder and windy in the night. It stopped, but remained cold.

September 25: Breakfast 6:30 on account of bad weather.
6:20 it commenced to snow. Wegerman sick. Hoyt and "Dad"
started for Buffalo. Pink Eyes acted the fool. Cut some box elder
(called the ash leaved maple) for the wood as the wood was gone.
Made postal drawings Wegerman; Stuttering Ed's Stories, the
Wolves - outfit with two girls who did the cooking, etc.

Hoyt - Nigger South - Dutch oven.

Wegerman - baking in sun in the woods.

Miles City - horse rustling.

In the evening, we sat about the stove, the wind whining outside,
and Wegerman told me stories:

George's old camp at Taddiman
The Big Bear
The Moose Hunting
The fear of lightning
The moose cup

The Ill-omened White Birth, etc. . .
Cook tent exceedingly drafty.

September 26: 1/2 inch snow at 5 a.m. Very chilly. At 6:30
it commenced to snow intermittently. I cut box elder, and Weger-
man and I fed horses, etc. "Dad" arrived at 2:30. Odometer

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 167

read 20, correction .073 = 21.46 m from our camp to blacksmith
in Buffalo.

Mr. Gale is going to stay in Buffalo until next week Friday or
Saturday. Fisher comes Tuesday.

In the evening, it became raw and still, with the stars sparkling
distantly and without cheer. I pretty nearly froze all night long,
with underwear, 2 pr. socks and a sleeping bag.

September 27: (Sunday) Wegerman went to work as usual.
Breakfast 6 a.m. The water was frozen stiff on the water bags
and tank, while a deep frost covered the ground. It is ghastly to
crawl out into the damp cold, except in my case I was equally as
frigid in bed. Heard more of the Lulu Girl Song. "Dad" changed
our tent and put it against the front of the cook tent - things will be
more bearable now. Yesterday received word from Mr. Butz, and
also from Dad. Dad has recovered.

September 28: Snowed intermittently. Breakfast 6:15 - the
weather grew worse, and snow with rain began. Cold, rain and
nasty. At 12:15 lunch. The sun came out and the sky cleared
away. Wegerman went out to work. Supper 6:15. Lamb, fried
potatoes, fried onions, and beans boiled in ham; honey, apple
sauce, cocoa and bread. As "Dad" remarked "I'm going to tell
Gale that we are having a grand old cut-loose, eating onions, telling
smutty stories. Wegerman and "Dad" got pretty unwound about
9 p.m.

September 29: Breakfast 6 a.m. Wegerman went to work.
"Dad" started for Buffalo. at 9 a.m. with the sorrel team. He will
bring our week's mail.

Many a man has been "dry gulched" among these hills.

Fight at T. A. Ranch, about 100 on each side. Besieged the old
Ranch - shot red hot ingate rods into the house to fire it - but
could not light it off. This year a band of six men burned sheep
wagons when the herders were away from them.

September 30: About 12 p.m. started for Twaton Ranch -
"Dad" and the greys, I on Kid. Passed Babcock's and twisted
among a strange river bottom formation - the mud caked and
cracked like hieroglyhics. Took the wrong road on my suggestion.
Reached Twaton at 1:15. The Ranch consists of the houses, sev-
eral outhouses, cellars, and corrals in a wide flat. Along the river
were cotton- wood trees. We camped about 1/2 m. from the house
on the bank of Crazy Woman. Shot a prairie dog. "Dad" left after
putting up tent. I made camp fire and got wood. Wegerman
6:15- spoiled mutton, but he had 3 rabbits. Deer tracks - beaver
. . . Sat up before the fire until 10. Isle of Pine - the marble cake.
Camp on the Island above the Falls.

October 1 : Woke 5 a.m. Coyotes howling. Breakfast rabbit,

168 ANNALS OF WYOMING

potatoes and onions fried with sweet corn. Wegerman left 8:30
a.m. Packed. Struck the tent. Reached camp 10:30, just
5-3/4 m. from Allamann's to Twaton. Saw prairie chicken.
Packed up for move to Trabing.

October 2: Started 7:55. Ready except horse 7:10 a.m.
Cold, cloudy, and windy.

T.W. - 1 1 : 30 - 1 1 .8 m., crossed flats - lost trail. Took S.E. road
where sheep had obliterated track. Old corral. Meals $1.50.
From 8 to 12 - washout - lost hammer and flag - rode to sheep
herder. Making road house and then Smith's Ranch. Gale of
wind - put up cook tent and take supper at Ranch. Slept in cook
tent with all the things - rain, snow and wind all night.

October 3: 5:15 a.m. Breakfast at the Ranch, and in the rain
put up one tent, ending with our cook tent. Snow and ice - lost
stove door - cleaned up as I was soaked. Lunch 12:30. Afternoon,
dug garbage hole and so forth. Supper, rabbit fixed in onion, baked
potatoes, corn, "dough-gods, " honey, apple sauce, cocoa.

Talk with Weg about sheep business. Note: Red Angus was
Sheriff in 1891.

October 4: Cloudy with a little snow. About noon Wegerman
went out to work. "Dad" and I put up tents. I dug ditches around
both. "Dad" was going to leave W's. Bob going off.

Stationary trunk - "Dad" wanted it left outside in the rain and
sun. Weg wanted it inside. I got up and brought it in alone.

"Dad" moved the trunk from the cook tent into Mr. Gale's.
W. wanted it left and told me so before "Dad." About 4 p.m. W.
came in from work, and went with me and got the trunk. "Dad"
was out at the Ranch. When he came back, coming in he said to
W. "What's that trunk doing in here?" W. never answered but
kept on writing. Again "Dad" asked. W. turned and said, "None
of your business." "Dad": "I tell you to leave that trunk where I
put it." "We'll see," shouts W. "Dad": "We'll see about that.
I'm going to put that trunk where I've put it for 2 years." So "Dad"
grabs the trunk and starts for the door.

W. jumped up and a scuffle ensued in which "Dad" reached the
tent door with W. wrestling with him. Here the trunk emptied
itself on the floor in an attempt by both to get it. "Dad" hollers,
"I could take you and the trunk to the tent and I will. You just
wanted to show me what big authority you had. Well, you aren't
running this camp. You haven't anything to say about it. When
you get that trunk packed I'll take it to Gale's tent."

Wegerman was packing. When the trunk was packed and
locked W. stood up. "Now take it out."

"Dad": "Oh, I'm in no hurry, you try and move it here."
Wegerman started. "Dad" blocked the way and a scuffle ensued
in which both men rolled on to the stove, upsetting all the bread.

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 169

the cocoa, and tomatoes,- W. underneath and "Dad" clawing him
in the face, and punching him with the other hand. To prevent a
disaster from a red-hot stove upsetting, I drew the tangle of legs
and arms outside where I could part them. "If you want to fight,"
I said, "go outside the tent where no one can see you from the
house."

W. walked over then, but "Dad" said, "I'm not going to follow
you about," and went into the tent.

To prevent a continuance of the "brawl" I took the trunk into
my place, behind my cot. After "Dad" had done considerable
talking, he walked out. I went out also — then W. took the trunk
and put it back.

"Dad" went over and talked with the men who had just come in.

Wegerman borrowed the witch hazel and bathed his face, which
was bleeding freely, especially at the nose, and also cleaned the
bruise to his eye.

"Dad's" hands were cut where W. tried to break D's grip, and
blood was over his trousers.

The fight occurred 5:15 and 5 : 30 p.m.

Had visitors from the Ranch in the evening. Bed 9 p.m.

October 5: Breakfast 6:30. W. has not spoken to "Dad" and
he had no breakfast. "Dad" is beginning to see the folly of it all -
besides he remembers his rupture. God speed Hoyt Gale!

Did some washing at the Ranch.

Mail came. The blonde gave "Dad" some advice about the
Smith Bros.

Mrs. Palmer gave me pie and cake. Told me about Oklahoma
and the Panhandle country.

Ducks and geese; saw a flock within a hundred yards. Water a
soluble soda mixture.

October 6: After breakfast went out to Crazy Woman and
sheep pens. Shot a young rabbit under a pile of boards. Saw
bunk house at Range, rifles 30-40 Carbine, 40-82 carbine, 25-35
carbine, 45-70 carbine, split barrel. Took Kid and went back to
the Bidderbeck and sheep wagon hunting for flag. Came home
across country. Saw coyote and found stove door. Shot rabbit at
second gate. Hoyt back with Fisher's team.

Note: Bedding - tarp 12 oz. or 18 oz. - 7x14 seamless canvas —
Sugan or Parker, quilt $1.15 to $1.50. Blankets.

October 7: Baked bread with new yeast from Mrs. Palmer.
Apple sauce and raisins. Letters from Mother about the hell of a
mess!

October 8: Went with Hoyt to make monuments. Wonderful
day. Grease wood - poor land. Three stone stations. Ate before
Butterfly Slim's Cabin on the bank of Crazy Woman.

170 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Left Hoyt and took 14 ft. cottonwood pole back to hog-back
below deep-gullied draw where road is washed away. Went back
to first monument for gloves. Quicksand - covered with dry sand,
even with grass. Crazy Woman bad. Powder River terrible.
Came home across the hills. Saw big Jack [rabbit] - watched him
for 200 yds. Throws his body and legs - such springs.

Home 4:30. Supper 6. Evening Smith and friend with Hoosier
sheep-herder came down with guitar. Smith [talked about] the
Invasion. His father cut wires - governor in with big cattle men.
Niger went to Gillette with telegram to Governor. Two men in
first cabin. One that was not shot tried to escape through smoke
to a draw - wrote in his diary to the last.

Texans hired as surveyors. Carmin - ass't adjutant general dry
gulched man for big cattle firms - shot a man in N.W. - wrong man.
Several in Texas as U.S. Marshal. All carried two guns - now in
Oklahoma. Trouble started with the ranches throwing out cow-
boys in winter. Had allowed them to visit. Settlers, foremen stole
cattle, rawhiding at horse corrals.

The Niger's skull. "Dad" brought it down from tool house.
Bullet hole. He came from Buffalo to kill an Irishman who ran the
bar. Came in the door and fired 3 times. Irish crawled behind
the counter and got 2 guns. Niger's gun stuck and he ran out from
the house. Irish ran to the door and shot him. Dug a grave and
threw him in, boots and all. 23 yrs. after his boots still on.

Lots of men killed around Trabing.

Grave in yard here - river - pine board and chicken wire - died
of fever.

George away after horses.

October 9: 5:30 a.m. Woke Mr. G. late because Smith stayed
until 1 1 p.m. Up Crazy Woman. Shot rabbit at Butterfly Slim's
Cabin - 5 shots. Carried pole to 7 m. Put up old fur coat and soft
pole. Saw coyote. Ate lunch at Crazy Woman. 2 ranches. Low
colorless hills - strong wind. Lots of sheep, and some cattle.

October 10: Before I washed the dishes "Dad" and I went out
after the team. We started at 7 and did not get the sorrels at all,
but found the greys, Whistle Britches and Pink Eye at 10:15. The
pasture is 1000 acres.

"Dad" went in over his ankles crossing the river; bad holes in
the stream and quicksand. I started for Buffalo 10:30 with Babe.

I made bread. The Palmer boys were here, then Mr. and Mrs.
S. — Seventh Day Adventists.

Baked bread 1 1 :00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. "Dad" home 8 p.m.

J. J. Luning - man lost his arm in thresher.

October 11: (Sunday) Cut "Dad's" hair. Had venison, mush-
room sauce, apple sauce with raisins, beef soup, cinnamon rolls,

ALCOTT FARRAR ELWELL 171

mince pie, apples and grapes with chocolate to drink.

Went on "Gemy" with Luning to coal bank. "Dad" and West
went in the team. Coming home we rode the fence! Met Long.
Chased cattle. I almost got into quicksand, and the cows got
away. Chased a bunch out of the alfalfa. Evening Luning told
about breaking colts. Hog tied 2 hrs.; saddled and hog tied 2 hrs.;
saddles and stirrups tied 2 hrs. ridden - buck stop. Give them
the "black snake" until they quit. Many rear and go over. Sun-
fish bucking.

October 12: "Dad" and Hoyt going to camp at Butterfly Slim's
(Randlers) Young Palmer showed me how to rope (for diagram
see Diary October 12).

2:30 "Dad" went down Crazy Woman. I rode Kid and helped
to put up tent. Shot a rabbit with .38. 2nd shot. Started home
4:15 p.m. Supper 6: 15 p.m.

October 13: Breakfast 6:30 a.m. Started 8 a.m. on Kid with
Wegerman. Went to coal mine. Left W. and went west to the 3
black buttes. Chased a coyote. Saw 3. Met Tennessee herder.
He helped build sage monument in heavy wind - tied it down six
sides. He shot 38.

I went to the wagon and shot 25/35 W carbine. I hit 3 in. tin
can at 50 yds. first shot.

Saw Wegerman. Struck Smith's fences and made a monument
in MacLeish's pasture on knob.

Home 5:15.

Smith and friend home.

Wrote until 10:30. Supper.

October 14: Fed and watered horse. Got breakfast 6:45 a.m.
Washed all the clothes for the outfit.

"Dad" came from Crazy Woman. Mice and sheep-herders.
Dinner at Ranch. P.O. sheep dipping. Mrs. Palmer - mince pie,
bread and milk - recipes for cake.

Mr. Gale and "Dad" to stay a day or two more. Cats about
camp. Wegerman lost his 32.20. Saw a rabbit - ate dinner.
Went back for the gun; found it. Shot 7 times and finally hit him.
Sage hen also.

October 15: "Dad" arrived from Crazy Woman about 9:30
a.m. Cut wood, skinned animals, got coal, and drew section map
of Cross H.

About 2:30 "Dad" and I started after the horses. Went to W.
side of pasture, found blacks with stallion. Got gelding, but could
not reach mare. Found other horses at S.E. corner. Could not
get Bill or Tanglefoot. Had to round up a bunch of horses and
then run them into sheep pen. Cold, and looked stormier. Smith
took supper with us.

172 ANNALS OF WYOMING

October 16: "Dad" went to Buffalo with six horses to come
back with the sorrels. Mr. Gale arrived in the camp 12:30 m. -
too cold and windy.

I saw Mrs. Palmer make doughnuts. Drew a sketch of Smith's
Ranch which I colored for her. Luning asked me out to hunt
some geese. We went up the river but saw no geese. I made
Marlin shut pump. Later 30 U.S.G. carbine.

Wegerman in at 3:30 p.m.

October 17: Took breakfast at ranch. Washed dishes and
swept floor.

Escaped cutting Mr. Palmer's hair. Cleaned and listed cooking
outfit. Packed tent, etc. Had dinner at ranch. Left Trabing
12:15 p.m. Reached Cross H after cold ride, snow in places at
4:20. Unpacked in barn. Sat about bunk house and ate with
men. Slept in barn. Bunk house spit on floor, and 90° in shade.

October 18: (Sunday) Breakfast 8:30. Oiled harness and
about froze in the outhouse. Hoyt came. Went to Buffalo 1:30.
Hotel room #16. Wet night below stairs; several gentlemen taken
to bed with protestations. "Dad" said it sounded as if they were
taking the fire engine upstairs.

October 19: Wind among the telegraph wires on the way to
Eaton.

October 20: Left for Buffalo in auto, 7:15. Sheridan 11:45.
3 stops at Banner (batteries). Sheridan Inn, met Mr. Eaton.
Started for Ranch; met stranger with the Colt 32-20. 330 on
"Nellie". Snow, wind, and darkness. Arrived 8 p.m.

Rufus Cushman, fellow from Chicago.

October 21: Sheridan 11:15 a.m. Dinner; goodbye to Eaton.
Oklahoma marshall. Met "Dad" at Clearmont. 2 ft. snow on
stage road. Edgemont sleeper to Lincoln.
Diary Ends Here

That favorite resort, the Melodeon Theatre, is being thoroughly
remodeled and re-fitted. Mr. A. J. Britton and Co. are the new
proprietors. Mr. B. has gone east to Chicago and will return with
a first class troupe. We are glad to know that we are to have a
company of fine talent to amuse the lovers of fun these long
evenings.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, December 31, 1867.

Mis tor y of the Presbyterian Ckurck
in Rawlins, Wyoming

By
Daniel Y. Meschter

PREFACE

My interest in the history of the Presbyterians in Rawlins began
more than five years ago while browsing through the old records
of the France Memorial Church. Curiosity was only part of the
reason for digging out these old books. The other part was the
realization that the church's anniversary of 100 years of service to
the community was within the forseeable future. In this way I
discovered that this particular church is the first permanently
organized church in the town and one of the oldest in the whole of
Wyoming. Inspiration to write of this history came not alone
from the existence of a small pile of dusty and somewhat shabby
books; it came also from a taste of its tradition, sensed rather than
grasped, gained by five years of membership including a year as
chairman of the Board of Trustees — an experience not easily for-
gotten. There was, too, the inspiration of Sheldon Jackson's
magical presence both real and ethereal in that history.

However, a detailed reading of the records suggests that the his-
tory of this church is largely the sum of its people. I have chosen,
therefore, to look at it in terms of the people who gave it life and
of the dedicated men who served it as ministers and lay leaders.
Inquiries were directed to such questions as who these people were,
where they came from and why, what they did in Rawlins, and
what happened to them later. Many of them turned out to be
community leaders and builders of society. Thus, a history of the
church becomes a vehicle for a kind of history of the region.

It is my sincere belief that everything contained herein is his-
torically accurate although I may be guilty of taking some of my
sources too much at face value. At least it can be said that there
were independent identifiable sources for nearly everything stated
as fact even though some of the sources may not be entirely accu-
rate. On the other hand I would be the last to deny the possibility
of error in the interpretation of documentary materials.

One of my purposes, which is to offer a documented history, led
to the extensive use of footnotes. These are designed to identify
documentary sources, to give specific acknowledgements to the
many individuals and organizations whose help was indispensable,

174 ANNALS OF WYOMING

and to add extraneous information and elaboration on matters
brought up in the text. No separate bibliography was prepared
since all of the sources are identified in the footnotes.

The appendices, of course, were taken from the various registers
contained in the church records. However, these registers have
been modified to more-or-less extent by the addition of more infor-
mation gleaned chiefly from the minutes of various meetings.

So far as completeness is concerned, only the researcher himself
is fully aware of all of the loose ends, which, had it been possible to
do so, traced out to the bitter end would have added much inval-
uable information. A good example of incompleteness is the life
of William Hamilton about whom only a few bare facts are known
prior to his advent on the western scene in 1869 at the age of 47.
It would be valuable to know something about his youth and the
influences which led him first to the ministry, then to service in the
deep south for more than 15 years, and then to dedicated service
for another 17 or 18 years in some of the wildest mining and
railroading towns of the really wild west.

This work presented here covers the 16 years from 1869 to
1885. The title designates this as "Part I" implying that there
are other parts to come. This is the intention, but there is no real
assurance at this moment that these later parts will ever be com-
pleted. For one thing, the later years do not seem to have the same
historical appeal as "The First Years'1 although several very inter-
esting sources covering the period prior to World War J have
recently come to light indicating that this period has a definite
appeal all its own. Deterring further work are a number of items
which can best be described as delicate. Some incidents, a part
of the church history, have been almost forgotten and possibly
should remain forgotten. Other incidents involve living people
making their treatment extremely difficult. Another deterrent is
distraction with other subjects in Rawlins history not directly
connected with church history.

Although recognition of sources of information has been given
in the footnotes and other places, I want to offer special thanks to
the Presbyterian Historical Society of Philadelphia for answering
questions, providing copies of correspondence contained in the
Sheldon Jackson Collection, and authorizing quotations from these
documents; to Mrs. Marian Geddes of Rawlins and the Carbon
County Chapter of the Wyoming State Historical Society for the
opportunity to examine early files of Rawlins newspaper, scrap-
books, and other material preserved by that Chapter; to Mrs.
Gymaina Whigam for personal insights into the James France fam-
ily; to Mrs. Glen Terry of Evanston, Wyoming, for her long letter
detailing the life and genealogy of Franklin Luther Arnold; to Mrs.
Louise Shaffer of Apollo, Pennsylvania, for information on the
history of the France family; to Miss Flavia Converse of Harrison-
burg, Virginia, for data on Charles Converse; to Rev. Gene H.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 175

Upton, present pastor of the Rawlins Presbyterian Church for his
unfailingly cheerful cooperation in making the church records
available for examination, arranging interviews, and many other
little ways; and to the officers and members of the church for mak-
ing the whole project possible in the first place. Space just doesn't
permit naming the Stated Clerks of Presbyteries, ministers of many
individual churches, librarians, and many other individuals who
wrote such courteous letters in response to inquiries. I do want
to make special mention of the Rev. Joseph M. Ewing of the Pres-
byterian Board of Pensions who not only went out of his way to
search out materials for me and who also offered several useful
suggestions for obtaining other materials, but was a source of
encouragement at a time when his interest and sympathy did more
to assure completion of this work than almost anytniig else could.
Now that this part of the work is completed, I can state the
realization that my real reason for doing the research and writing
is the personal enjoyment and satisfaction in perpetuating this
little bit of history. It was fun. I hope to have offended no one
and I hope that this will bring pride to the people of Rawlins in
the precious possession this little church is.

INTRODUCTION

Rawlins, Wyoming is a pleasant town of about 9,000 people
nestled in among low hills in the midst of a vast prairie. It is a
dry land. Water is scarce and the procession of blue skies is only
occasionally broken by rain. The wind blows incessantly; so
steady is its blast that the quiet of a rare calm day clamors in the
ear. It is not a land that readily appeals to the casual visitor. If
nothing else, the newcomer often finds the elevation of 6,785 feet
above sea level depressing.

Despite these shortcomings, the location of the town at this place
was no accident of history. The birth of Rawlins took place here
in 1868 out of the happy coincidence of a practical route for the
first Pacific railway with springs of fresh clear water. It is hard to
imagine a more logical place for a new town on the American
frontier of the 1870s. Before long roads would be pushsd through
to the south into the mountains of northwestern Colorado where
there were lush pastures for stockraising and the promise (largely
unfulfilled) of precious metal mines. The backbone of the Colo-
rado Rockies to the east prevented easy access to this country
from any other direction except the west and the frontier was
moving to the west, not from it. Other roads would lead in short
time to the north and northwest to the Sweetwater and beyond.

In the course of time it was found that the sage and shortgrass
forage of the dry prairie itself would support fine herds of beef
cattle and bands of sheep. It was simply a matter of spreading the
livestock thinly enough. However, land was abundant and cheap

176 ANNALS OF WYOMING

and the cattleman and the sheepman prospered. Because of this,
the town and the railroad prospered too.

Whether the original settlers of 1 868 intended it to be so or not,
the availability of water in a dry land combined with transportation,
the stockraising industry, and easy access to the back country both
to the north and south, assured that Rawlins would become a per-
manent settlement and a center of thriving commerce.

The first to arrive at the site of the new town, actually before it
came into being, were the railroad surveyors. Then followed the
construction gangs and a few of the fortune seekers who as vultures
are attracted to carrion, were attracted to the money the workers
had with no place to spend it. Rail-laying did not pause here, or
anywhere else short of Promontory, Utah, but moved steadily
westward. The fortune seekers did not follow along like the tail
of a dog; they continually leapfrogged ahead to set up shop at some
convenient place and reap their harvest as the railhead approached
them and then, shortly, passed them by before they leaped ahead
again.

Then others came, numbering among them the railroad em-
ployees who would run the trains and repair the engines and begin
the never-ending task of repairing and improving the tracks. For a
time a troop of the U. S. Cavalry under the command of Captain
Thomas B. Dewes and Lieutenants Bob Young and Ed O'Brien
was posted in Rawlins to protect the railroad and the early settlers
from the ever-present danger of hostile Indians in the region.
Finally, there were the settlers themselves. These numbered among
them merchants, bakers, boot makers, hotel keepers, cooks, wait-
ers, butchers, teamsters, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, wheel-
wrights, a cigar maker — in fact, all of the trades vital to the needs
of a growing community. Prospectors made Rawlins their head-
quarters in their search for gold and silver in the Seminoe Moun-
tains far off to the northeast and in the Park Range of Mountains
to the south. The Census of 1870 listed a couple of physicians,
who, no doubt, did double duty as undertakers, and a brewer. To
all of these fell the task of building the town. In 1869 the town
was a motley collection of frame buildings, shacks, and tents mostly
on the south side of the tracks.

The early settlers came mainly from the midwest and east
Pennsylvania, as one of the most populous states in the Union,
contributed a fair share of them. Not surprisingly, many were
foreign born. Not a few, no doubt, were seeking solace in a new
and peaceful land after the upset of the great war between the
States concluded only a few years before. Manv had suffered in
the economic depression that followed that conflict and probably
many of these finally realized that things would never be quite the
same after the war as they were before. This land, this vast
Territory of Wyoming, for some at least, would be their land of
golden opportunity.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 177

Whatever their motives, they had come west to stay. Some
would move on from Rawlins in time, but only to be replaced by
others moving on from some other place they had tried and found
lacking. Little by little, Rawlins changed from a "for men only"
construction camp to a family town. In 1870 there were no less
than 28 families in town, most with one or more small children.
Even Captain Dewes saw fit to bring along his Virginia-born wife
and three-year-old daughter.

As a town, the people were young and energetic. They could
do great things once they set their minds to it. One of their needs
was for a church if for no other reason than that in those days no
respectable town could be without one. However, most of them
had a Christian heritage which some of them, at least, consciously
or otherwise, wanted to preserve for their children. Besides, in
those days, church going was a way of life not easily cast off. In
the first 15 years they would build not one but three, and possibly
four, churches.

The first church organized was by the Presbyterians. With help
from the east, they built the first church building in Rawlins and
one of the first two or three in the Territory. For the first 12 or 13
years of its existence, it was a truly community church since it was
the only one serving Protestants. Its doors were open to all
regardless of their faith or denomination or lack of either. Even
after the other denominations built their own churches, it contin-
ued to serve the community as God gave it the grace to serve, even
unto this day.

This is the story of the Presbyterians and their church in Rawlins
for the first 1 5 years.

SHELDON JACKSON, AUGUST 1869

The Reverend Sheldon Jackson, Presbyterian minister and mis-
sionary, stood dictating to a woman seated at a rough table. This
meeting had begun an hour ago in the early afternoon.1 He had
offered prayer. Then, looking out of a window at this vast and
empty land, he had preached:

"And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and
his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his
land." (Deut. 2:21)2

That text had seemed particularly appropriate for this group
seated casually around the sides of the room and at the tables. A
few of the men affected full beards. Nearly all of them cultivated
sideburns, moustaches, or both. Their suits of black broadcloth

1. Rawlins Journal, June 4, 1887: ". . . at 2 P.M. a little band of wor-
shippers assembled in the dining room of the Railroad Hotel. . . ."

2. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881.

178 ANNALS OF WYOMING

were their best; some, no doubt, were without either collars or neck
cloths in the sometime fashion of this crude western country. A
few casual onlookers, attracted by the prospect of entertainment,
may not even have had go-to-meeting suits, but wore loose jackets
of coarse cloth or buckskin — not only their best, but their only suit.
The women wore long gowns of cotton or worsted; silk and satin
were rare among these inheritors.

He began: "Rawlins Springs, Wyoming Territory."3

Eliza Kenyon wrote carefully,4 perhaps aware that her script
lacked the regularity and beauty achieved by long hours of practice.
But after all, Rawlins Springs was a long way from New Bruns-
wick, New Jersey, where she had come from,"' and no one in town
had been here much more than a year. A year and a half ago
there had been no town here at all. Everyone in this room had
come from somewhere else, and being able to write as well as she
did was sufficient accomplishment.

Her pen scratched. She deprived General Rawlins of his final
"s" and shortened Wyoming Territory to "Wy Ter" to make it fit
the narrow sheet of note paper. ,:

She looked up at the narrow angular face of this man with its
high angular forehead, small sensitive mouth, and prominent nose.
A full beard hid his jaw. His eyes, close set and piercing, gleamed,
not unkindly, but with bright determination, through steel-rimmed
spectacles. He had been of slight build as a lad and was still small
enough that he could sleep in reasonable comfort on the 4 ^-foot-
wide seat of a Rocky Mountain stage coach." Despite his physical
weakness, he would prove to be a giant among men in the future
if he hadn't done so already as a missionary on the western frontier.

"August 8, 1869," he went on. A Sunday. When had he
arrived here? Thursday? Friday? It had been a tiring trip down
from Montana;8 but there was work to be done here, too. He had

3. Presbyterian Historical Society, Sheldon Jackson Collection, petition
dated August 8, 1869.

4. Ibid. The conclusion that this manuscript was written by Eliza Ken-
yon is based upon similarity of the script in the text to her signature at the
bottom. There is also a strong similarity to the handwriting of Sheldon
Jackson in other documents; it is possible that he composed and wrote this
petition. If this is the case, literary license is claimed.

5. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881.

6. PHS, SJC, petition dated August 8, 1869.

7. Stewart, Robert Laird, "Sheldon Jackson," Fleming H. Revell Com-
pany, London, 1908. This fine biography of Sheldon Jackson was written
by a Presbyterian minister who was also a contemporary of Jackson.

8. Fulton, Hugh K., "Historical Address Delivered at the Twenty-Fifth
Anniversary of the Synod of Wyoming," Casper, Wyoming, October 5,
1939. Sheldon Jackson organized a church in Helena, Montana, on August
1, 1869, and another in Laramie, Wyoming on August 10, 1869. Hugh K.
Fulton was the pastor of the France Presbyterian Church, 1932 - 1944 and
was Synod Historian.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 179

been here long enough this past week to have met most of these
people, to see that they were well enough educated, decent, and
full of pride in their new town. Some were solid churchmen.
Whether the rest had come to this meeting through civic spirit,
sincere godliness, or for sheer entertainment did not seem too
important. They were here. The town was big enough to need a
church. It was big enough to support a church if the people
wanted to.

He had been in town long enough for the landscape to bscome
familiar to him. A long hill on the south stretched to the east.
Rocky crags on the west and north formed the end of a larger
mountain which stretched northerly 15 miles, ending in a wide
expanse of flat land where the water was bitter and where the
ground around the water holes, dried up in August, was stained
white with salt. It hardly ever rained this time of year and the sky
was a dome of crystal blue. The wind was a dry blast that sucked
the moisture out of the grass and dried the few shallow waterways
into flats of cracked mud. Now the hills and prairie were seared
brown and the sage was dull and gray. Only along the gulches, in
the shade of a few scattered cottonwood trees, did the grass remain
green where its roots could reach to the moist soil below.

He could well be grateful for the springs of clear cold water
bubbling out of the ground at the foot of ths mountain. These
springs in a dry land was one reason for this settlement of poor
frame buildings and tents.

To the east, the prairie stretched vastly, a blanket of yellow-
brown over distant low hills and ridges out of which, dimly at first
and then more clearly, snaked two thin ribbons of steel, side-by-
side, 4 feet %x/i inches apart, almost insecurely bound to the earth
by cross pieces of rough hewn logs laid upon a hastily thrown-up
mound of earth borrowed from the thin soil alongside. This was
the Pacific Railway. This was the main reason for this town —
fresh water, the other reason.

Only a little more than seven years ago, on July 1, 1862, Presi-
dent Abraham Lincoln had signed the Pacific Railway Bill into law
making all this legally possible.9 It remained to be seen if it was
physically possible to build a railroad through unpopulated lands
across wide prairies, over towering mountains, penetrating salt
deserts where no blade of grass grew, 2,000 miles to the Pacific
shore.

Not as long ago as two years and a few months, the first survey-
ors had passed this way choosing a route. With them had come a

9. U. S. Statutes-at-large, Chapter CXX, 37th Congress, First Session.
The guage of the railroad was also established by Congressional action.

180 ANNALS OF WYOMING

dying John Aaron Rawlins seeking relief from tuberculosis.10 An
Illinois lawyer become soldier, Brigadier General Rawlins had been
an aide to General Grant at Vicksburg and on through the events
leading to Appomattox Courthouse.11 Honors had come his way
as Chief of Staff of the Army and Secretary of War under President
Grant; but on his visit here, he learned that a spring of cool water
in a dry land was a worthy memorial. One month and a day after
Sheldon Jackson's first sermon in Rawlins Springs, John Aaron
Rawlins would be dead at 38. The name of this town honors his
memory; so does a pleasant park a mere two blocks from the
White House in Washington, D. C. where his statue serenely con-
templates a lily pond.

Not as long ago as a year and a half, small armies of men with
horse scoops, hand tools, brawn, sweat, and even their life blood
had come out of those distant hills to the east, throwing up this dirt
mound and bridging rivers and conquering mountains on their way
to the Pacific. When the rock in the everlasting hills resisted drills
and blasting powder, they went over or around.

Just 13 months ago, in July, 1868, the steel had come, length
by length, one piece after another, joined together with fish plates
and bolts into one piece squirming its way over mountain, through
gorge, and across the boundless prairie to this place. This was
merely one of any number of little settlements set aside to supply
the needs of the people who were building and who would serve the
Pacific Railway. Then the ribbons of steel curled their way around
the rocky crags and faded dimly into the west.

Now, three months ago on May 10, 1869, it was finished. On a
barren desert flat not far from the northwest lobe of the Great Salt
Lake where Promontory Point looms up out of the lake to the
south, a golden spike was driven into the final tie of finely polished
California laurel 1,085 miles west of Omaha and 690 miles east of
Sacramento. Western Union Telegraph receivers all along the line
ticked out the message: "Ready, hats off, prayer is being offered."
Central Pacific engine, Jupiter, and Union Pacific Engine No. 119
touched, symbolizing the completion of the greatest engineering
feat of the age.11' The Union Pacific Railroad and its western twin,
the Central Pacific Railroad, stretched unbroken almost 2,000
miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to the shore of the Pacific. And
Rawlins was a part of it!

10. Dodge, Major General Grenville M., How We Built the Union Pacific
Railway, reprinted by Sage Books, Denver, Colorado, 1965, pp. 23-24.

1 1. Sandburg, Carl, Abraham Lincoln: the War Years.

12. Dodge, op. cit., pp. 29-30. The description used here is adapted
from a pamphlet by Henry W. Bainton, "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the
France Memorial Church of Rawlins, Wyo." October 4, 1932. Rev. Bain-
ton, 1863-1936 was historian of the Casper Presbytery at this time.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 181

Along with the road gangs had come and gone others the land
would not miss. Gamblers, thieves, murderers, camp followers of
every description sought ways both fair and foul to separate the
rough men who built this railroad from the little gold that was
their due. Fortunately for Rawlins Springs, these human vultures
had stopped to practice their trade at a place called Benton some
10 or 12 miles to the east, a few miles from where the railroad
crosses the North Platte River.

At its peak, Benton featured 23 saloons and five dance halls,
one of which was a 40-foot-wide by 1 00-foot-long frame structure
covered with canvas and floored for dancing. Known as "The
Big Tent," it had served duty at Julesburg, Cheyenne, and Laramie
on its way west. It served equally as well for drinking and gam-
bling as for dancing. Contemporary photographs show that Ben-
ton was a collection of tents and frame buildings in ths midst of a
broad plain without trees or water. Water had to be hauled from
the Platte River and sold in Benton for ten cents a bucket or a
dollar a barrel. Tanglefoot whiskey was considered cheaper and
longer lasting. Although the town is said to have had a mayor and
a newspaper, law enforcement was nonexistent. Violent death was
a daily occurrence.13

Benton thrived briefly in a glorious orgy of debauchery. It was
said that a man's life was cheap in Benton, but that that was the
only thing that was cheap. But in the presence of Fort Steele at
the railroad bridge across the North Platte with the constituted
authority of the Army and the need to hastily leap ahead of the
tracks in the few months of railroad building left, Benton's flame
was already flickering and dying. Almost literally, it "grew in a
day and vanished in a night."14 The worst Benton had to offer
quickly moved on towards historical oblivion. Some of the best
moved to Rawlins. Soon it was all but forgotten.

Here in Rawlins Springs in August, 1 869, was the beginning of a
permanent town. There were women and children here, few
enough to be sure, but they were here and some were certain to
stay. There were merchants and craftsmen, husbandmen and
tradesmen. There was hope, youth, courage, and energy. There
were men willing to invest their lives in this place. Sheldon Jack-
son could see that they were a hardy breed. He could be sure
they would indeed inherit this land. If God's house was the only
thing lacking, he could do something about it.

13. Miller, Nina Hull, Shutters West, Sage Books, Denver, Colorado,
1962, pp. 97-102. Much of this paragraph is derived from this interesting
little book based upon the life and work of Mrs. Miller's father, A. C. Hull,
pioneer photographer. She reproduces rare photographs of scenes in Colo-
rado and along the Union Pacific taken by A. C. Hull between 1866 and
1869.

14. Ibid., p. 98.

182 ANNALS OF WYOMING

"We the undersigned," he went on to the accompaniment of the
scratch of Eliza Kenyon's pen, carefully pacing himself to her
speed, "being members of the Church of Christ in other portions of
the land & desirious of obtaining church privilages in this place, do
hereby request Rev. Sheldon Jackson to organize us into a Presby-
terian Church & send us at his earliest convenience a Minister.,,lr>

A formality, perhaps, this written request; but Sheldon Jackson
could have had no illusions as to the rocky road ahead in making
the ideal of a church into a practical reality. He would have had
no desire to have it thrown up to him during the rough going in the
days to come that no one really asked him to start a church here.
He would have known, too, that a church is a living thing, created
through the efforts of leadership and the desire of the people; but
born, too, like the germination of a seed planted in a fertile bed
and tended to maturity by loving hands that really care whether it
lives or dies. He could organize, he could send a minister, he
could even erect a building; but if this church was to survive, it
would have to have the nourishment of love and devotion to its
cause. Perhaps these people weren't ready yet to accept the re-
sponsibility even if a few of them might think it a good idea.

Eliza Kenyon signed her name down near the bottom of the
page leaving space above for all those in the room to sign too.16
Then she yielded her place as one-by-one five other people came to
the table.

First came William C. Wilson. A man of 35, he had brought his
wife and four children from Summit Hill in the coal regions of
eastern Pennsylvania.17 Now he was a bookkeeper for the rail-
road,1S and while this may have been a land of opportunity for
many, he would be hard pressed for money as long as he would
stay in Rawlins. Others had done better. The man in charge of
the railroad shops to whom he was responsible, Robert Galbraith,
barely 25 years old, had for three years past held responsible
positions with the railroad. He had supervised as many as 700
men in the shops at Omaha when he had been but 22.1!l However,

15. PHS, SJC, petition. August 8, 1869.

16. Ibid.

17. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881. shows
Wilson from Summit Hill, Pennsylvania. The 1870 Census lists four chil-
dren: Wm. C. Jr., 11; Emily B., 9; Mattie, 7; and Marion, 4. The 1880
Census (Albany County) lists seven children: Wm. C, Jr., 20 (druggist);
Emma B., 18; Martha M., 16; Marion, 14; Maude, 11; Lizzie C, 5; and
Edward, 3. The apparent discrepancies in ages over 10 years is due to the
fact that the two Census takings were at different times of year.

18. Owen, William, "Jo Rankin's Great Ride, the Ute Uprising of 1879,
the Thornburgh Massacre," manuscript. Carbon County, Wyoming Public
Library.

19. Bancroft, H. H., Bancroft's Works. History of Nevada. Colorado
and Wyoming, Vol. XXV, pp. 788-9.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 183

Wilson took his churchmanship seriously and he was eager to lend
his support to this project.

Then came Harry Hall. Here was the outstanding man of the
lot. He inscribed his name with a flourish probably painfully
learned from bruised knuckles inflicted by a schoolmaster's ruler.
At 28 he was the support of his sister in school.20 Moreover, he
was a successful businessman and as well off as any in town. A
year or two before, he and his partner, James France, had started a
store at Wyoming Station.21 Then France had come here to open a
branch when the town was brand new. Now, the business pros-
pects of Rawlins Springs looked so good that Hall had come to join
him as a merchant in dry goods and general merchandise. The
small frame building of H. C. Hall & Co. was one of the first to
disturb the sage brush north of the railroad tracks.22 The men,
both bachelors, lived together in the store building with Hall's
relative, William F. Hall, as their clerk.28

20. PHS, SJC, Letter from Harry C. Hall to Sheldon Jackson dated
May 17, 1871: "My little sister whom I had at school was taken with the
measles & died on the 4th. inst. Sad news to me. All my interest, happiness
and care centered in her. She had been a member of the Presbyterian since
1/66 & died shouting the praises of a saviours love."

21. Bancroft, op. cit., pp. 788-9. This reference is somewhat ambiguous.
It reads in part: "James France .... came to Wyoming in 1868 and opened
a store under the firm name of H. C. Hall & Co. A branch store was estab-
lished at Rawlins in 1869, of which France took charge." "Wyoming"
normally would be construed as meaning Wyoming Territory. However,
there was a temporary town similar to Benton called Wyoming or Wyoming
Station about 20 miles north of Laramie along the railroad. The opening
of a branch store in Rawlins would suggest that "Wyoming" should be read
in this context. Another interesting reference to Wyoming Station is in a
letter by the Rev. John Cornell, early day Eoiscopal priest in Laramie,
quoted in Cook, Rev. Joseph W., Diary and Letters of Rev. Joseph W
Cook, Missionary to Cheyenne, The Laramie Republican Company, Lara-
mie, Wyoming, 1919, 137 pp. Referring to Bishop Randall's Reports, he
wrote: "When we bought a saloon at Wyoming Station and turned it into
a chapel, he (Bishop Randall) made quite a flaming report of it and said
for once 'the Progressive Saloon' had progressed in the right direction and
turned into a church." This letter was dated February 14, 1912. Wyoming,
like Benton, was short lived. At present, all that remains are the founda-
tions of the old section houses.

22. Rawlins, Journal, February 4, 1882. Rawlins was originally estab-
lished on the south side of the railroad tracks where the depot was then
located. The business district and main part of the town now is largely
north of the tracks.

23. Harry C. Hall and William F. Hall were probably brothers, but this
cannot be established beyond a shadow of doubt at the present. The France
Presbyterian Church Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881 shows that Harry Hall
came from Tennessee and was dismissed to Oswego, Kansas on April 23,
1871. William F. Hall became a member on September 25, 1870 by cer-
tificate from "Union Church," Tennessee and a letter was later issued (no
date available) recommending him to "Pres. Ch. in Oregon." The 1860
Census for Marshall County, Tennessee lists Esther Hall, 47 (Farmer); Mar-

184 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Eliza Kenyon added, "Bethel, N. S.," behind Harry Hall's name.
Bethel was his home church in Tennessee. "N.S." probably stood
for "New School," suggesting that his home church was affiliated
with the New School Assembly of the Presbyterian Church rather
than the "old." Prior to 1869, this made some difference. There
were, up to that time, two General Assemblies of the Presbyterian
Church, one styled the "New School" and the other the "Old
School." They were the product of a schism in the Presbyterian
Church which took place in 1837, the culmination of deep theo-
logical arguments and bitter debates on the activities of church
government.24 In general, the New School was liberal in outlook,
anti-slavery, and often abolishionist in its sympathies in antebellum
days, although these elements played no part in the schism itself.
Nor would it be proper to say that either school was strictly char-
acteristic of any section of the country. The Old School was con-
servative and Southern in its sympathies, tolerating and apologizing
for the institution of slavery if not actually pro-slavery. For a
Tennesseean like Harry Hall to have held to the anti-slavery senti-
ments so widely espoused by the New School Assembly may have
taken considerable personal courage in a border state during the
Civil War. The schism was finally healed with a general realign-
ment of the Presbyterian Church in 1869, but only at the cost of
the permanent separation of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
in the South.

garet Hall. 24; Franklin Hall, 21; Constantine. 18; Mary, 16; William, 10;
Monroe, 8; and Hazeltine, 6, as a family unit. All are shown as born in
Tennessee. The 1870 Census for Carbon County, Wyoming lists Harry C.
Hall, 29, and William F. Hall, 21, both born in Tennessee. The same cen-
sus for Labetto County, Kansas, Oswego Township, taken some months
later, lists Esther Hall, 57; Henry Hall, 25; James Hall, 18; and William, 21,
as a family unit all born in Tennessee. The 1880 Census for Oswego Town-
shin, Kansas lists J. M. Hall, 28; Lulu Hall (wife), 22; Nita Hall. 4; Lena
Hall, 8 mos.; and Esther Hall (mother), 68, as a family unit with all born in
Tennessee except wife Lulu and the children. Also listed for this year and
place is H. C. Hall, 39, born in Tennessee, and a growing family. If it can
be assumed that Constantine was a middle name used for Harry C. Hall in
1860 and Monroe a middle name used for James or J. M. Hall, then the
Census record shows a good family continuity from Tennessee to Kansas.
Harry C. and William F. would then have been brothers and the little sister
Harry Hall referred to in his letter of May 17, 1871 (footnote 20 above)
would probably have been Hazletine. Further, the records of the First
Presbyterian Church of Oswego, Kansas show that Mrs. E. Hall, W. F.
Hall, J. M. Hall, Miss W. (or M?) T. Hall, and Mrs. L. E. Hall became
members of that church on February 5, 1870. W. F. Hall was dismissed
"to Oregon" (Letter, Rev. Boyd D. Ash, Pastor, June 4, 1965).

24. This discussion ignores a number of local and "splinter" assemblies
such as the Cumberland which enjoyed separate existences. The present
Presbyterian Church in the U. S., formed in 1861, is the product of Civil
War schism. See Thompson, Ernest Trice. Presbyterians in the South, John
Knox Press, Richmond, Virginia, Vol I, 1963, for a scholarly dissertation on
the epochal events leading up to the Civil War.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 185

Then L. R. Woods and Mrs. B. F. W. Dey came forward.
Original entries in the records of the new church would show that
Woods had come from St. Louis and Mrs. Dey from Council
Bluffs.25 History is silent as to what happened to them or where
they went later.

Next was Mrs. Saul K. Swain. Annie Swain and her husband, a
tailor turned hotel keeper, were the proprietors of the Railroad
Hotel in which this Sunday afternoon meeting was taking place.26
This room was the dining room. He, at 42 was 1 1 years his wife's
senior; he was from Pennsylvania, she from Ohio.27 Their hotel
venture would prove a failure and after another year or two, they
too, would pass from the scene progressing onward toward an
unknown fate.

Thus, with the enrollment of six organizing members, the first
step was completed.

A FIRST CHURCH— AUGUST 1869 TO MARCH 1870

Actually, the job was only just started. There was much to
be done and the Reverend Sheldon Jackson alone could imagine
how much would fall on his own thin shoulders. Right now there
was a myriad of details to be attended to in order to complete the
organization of this church.

First and most important, under the Presbyterian system of
church government, it would be necessary to have a Session. The
Session is composed of one or more members of the church elected
by the members and ordained to the off be of ruling elder and
installed by the minister. The minister is the Moderator of the
Session. Together they assume the spiritual government of the
church. Now, using the democratic methods dictated by the Con-
stitution of the General Assembly, the members elected William
C. Wilson to this honorable position, but he would not be ordained
and installed until later when a church could be built and dedicated.

Land for a church could be obtained from the Union Pacific
Railroad. All of the towns along the railroad, like Rawlins, were
laid off by the railroad company from lands granted to it in the
Pacific Railway Act. In order to populate the land it was built
to serve, the railroad would sell land cheaply, lay out towns, and
make land available for the establishment of churches and schools
in order to make the towns desirable places to live. It would take
the railroad company 15 years to get around to issuing a deed; but

25. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881.

26. That the Swains were the proprietors of this hotel is inferred from
Harry Hall's letter of May 17, 1871 (op. cit.) which indicates that Swain
had been a failure in keeping hotel. It seems hardly likely that there would
have been more than one hotel in Rawlins at that time.

27. 1870 Census.

186 ANNALS OF WYOMING

when it finally did, it conveyed Lots 1 and 2 of Block 22, at the
corner of 3rd and Cedar Street, to the Morris Presbyterian Church
of Rawlins for $62.50: "said premises are hereby conveyed for
church purposes exclusively. "28 More importantly for a town of a
few hundred persons251 and six members, Sheldon Jackson could
promise material aid for the building of a church if the members
would pledge part of the money.30

Trustees would be needed to assume legal possession of the real
estate and take on the business of raising money and building the
church. Hall and Wilson were elected to be two of these almost
as a matter of course. Three others were added from among those
eager to have a church established, but not so eager as to enroll
themselves as members; perhaps because they belonged to some
other denomination or perhaps because they belonged to no church
at all. The support of the Rawlins Presbyterian Church by non-
members began early in its history and the value of their support
over the past 90 years would be difficult to exaggerate. John Ken-
dall, Saul K. Swain, and Perry L. Smith agreed to serve as the
other three trustees.

Sheldon Jackson might well have speculated on the chances of
this organization succeeding. In Harry Hall he had a man of
whom he could be sure. Hall already was a solid Presbyterian
from a section of the country with a rich Scotch Presbyterian tra-
dition. He had the makings of a community leader and had al-
ready shown his interest in the future of the area by accepting
appointment as County Assessor.

Carbon County was organized originally by the legislature of
Dakotah Territory in early 1868. After Wyoming Territory was
appointed out of Dakotah Territory in 1868, Governor Campbell
appointed new county officials for Carbon County to serve in pub-

28. Carbon County Clerk and Recorder, Rawlins, Wyoming, Book "B,"
p. 34.

29. Initial population was 2,000 according to several writers, but this
figure can only be speculative in view of the highly mobile early population
and lack of good statistics. A special census reported in July, 1869, shows
that the population for Carbon County in early 1869 was only 460 and the
county then comprised about 1 /5th. of the territory (See Larson, T. A.,
History of Wyoming, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska,
1965, 619 pp.) The 1870 Census shows a population of 612 of which 86
were military personnel. Ten years later in 1880 the population was up to
1,451 and it has increased gradually since then with every census showing
an increase except in 1920.

30. PHS, SPC, rough draft letter from Sheldon Jackson to William C.
Wilson, probably the summer of 1870: "Dear Bro. Wilson, I have been
looking over my papers with reference to Rawlins Ch. & find the case stand-
ing as I anticipated. I first promised the people there that a friend enabled
me to offer thousand $ if they (citizens of Rawlins) would raise 500$."

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 187

lie offices until general elections could be held in the fall of 1870.
Harry Hall, accordingly, was appointed assessor.31

Two of the first trustees, Saul Swain and Perry Smith, were also
county officials having been appointed to serve along with John C.
Dyer as County Commissioners.82 Perhaps their interest was more
in the welfare and development of a new community rather than in
church membership, recognizing that a church would be a good
thing for the town. There may have been, too, an element of
entertainment in this meeting for the organization of a church.
Amusements were infrequent in 1869 in this remote place and an
itinerant preacher was always sure of a warm welcome.

It takes only two words to describe Perry Smith adequately —
colorful adventurer. In 1869 he was the epitome of the hardy
breed who were the really authentic pioneers of the age. He was
born in Vermillion County, Illinois, in 1836 and in later years liked
to recall the happenings around Nauvoo, Illinois, before the Mor-
mons there emigrated to Utah. As a young man rumors of gold
to be discovered in Colorado called him to the Pike's Peak region.
With a bull team and two comrades of his own age, he crossed the
prairie and spent a short time at the foot of the Rockies before
returning to Illinois. The West had won his heart, however, and a
few years later he settled in Central City, Colorado, during the days
when it was a booming metropolis and the outstanding city in the
Rocky Mountain region. In 1867 he took advantage of an oppor-
tunity to contract to supply fresh wild meat to the construction
gangs building the Union Pacific Railroad. In this he was able to
turn his love of the outdoors and unusual marksmanship into a
profitable enterprise. For a time he made his headquarters at
Benton, near which place game was plentiful. He came to know
the future site of Rawlins before the first building was put up.
Upon completion of the railroad he returned to Rawlins to settle
there, taking up butchering as his trade. He brought his wife,
Elizabeth, and two young daughters, Laura (she was always
known as Lodie) and Jennie, up from Colorado with him. He
could have contributed much to Sheldon Jackson's cause, but his
interest in the Presbyterian Church soon waned and he had nothing
more to do with it.33

31. Rawlins Journal, February 4, 1882. County and territorial history
can be found in standard references on the history of Wyoming. A recent
comprehensive work is Larson's History of Wyoming, op. cit. Personal rec
ollections of local politics attending early day elections is Judge W. L.
Kuykendall's fascinating little autobiography. Frontier Days.

32. Ibid.

33. Rawlins Republican, obituary, October 2, 1928. Smith turned his
talents to politics. He was chairman of the Board of County Commission-
ers for several terms. He was elected to the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Leg-
islative Assemblies (1879, 1882 and 1888) and was appointed State Auditor
during the period between the Seventh and Tenth Assemblies. He was

188 ANNALS OF WYOMING

It would not have mattered to Sheldon Jackson, had he known
it, but his was not the first attempt to organize a church in Rawlins.
The Reverend John Cornell, first rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal
Church in Laramie, writing in February, 1912, recalled what was
probably the first effort to bring religion to the town:

"While at Laramie, started missionary work at Rawlins, April 8, 1869.
I baptised some children there. The people seemed much interested,
so I organized a Parish and was elected Rector and I think took some
means to build a chapel. For this I received a very severe letter from
Mr. Cook. He considered it was in his parish (though he had to pass
mine to get to it) and he had started services there. I asked him if
he considered himself responsible for it, why he did not hold service
there, and he said, 'Don't you know I haven't the time?'. I said I did
(not) suppose he wanted to be 'the dog in the manger', still I could
discontinue services there if he would go. So I abandoned it. I don't
think he found time to go and the work came to an end, though sub-
sequently revived."34

Rev. Cornell also recalled the advent of the Presbyterians in
Rawlins in a still later letter:

"The first note I have of Rawlins is April 8. 1869. The prospects
seemed so good, I organized a vestry. Mr. Cook thought the place
belonged to him, so I agreed not to go there if he would look after it.
But I don't think he found time, and the Presbyterians came in and
built a church which I found there January 23, 1871, in which I
officiated that Sunday after holding service in Ft. Steele the day
before, many of the people of Ft. Steele coming to the service at
Rawlins. There was then a Methodist chaplain (named Regan) at Ft.
Steele."-™

Rev. Cornell also conducted religious services during those
eventful years of 1869 and 1870 at Carbon, Bryan, Fort Steele,
Evanston, Medicine Bow, and Wyoming Station. Although nei-
ther Cornell nor Jackson mention a meeting in the documents at
hand, it is almost unbelievable that they could have failed to meet
somewhere in their respective travels.

Sheldon Jackson had been appointed Superintendent of the
Presbyterian Mission for Central and Western Iowa, Nebraska,
Dakotah, Utah, and Wyoming by the Presbytery of Missouri River
in session at Sioux City, Iowa, on May 1, 1869.™ There was

elected at different times both as a Democrat and a Republican (See also
Wyoming Historical Bluebook, Bradford - Robinson Company, Denver,
Colorado, 1946 (?), p. 177.

34. Rev. John Cornell, letter dated February 14, 1912 quoted in Cook,
op. cit.

35. Rev. John Cornell, letter dated March 27. 1912 quoted in Cook
op. cit.

36. The following paragraphs on the activities of Sheldon Jackson during
1868 and 1869 draw heavily from Hugh K. Fulton op. cit. Robert Laird
Stewart op. cit. an article by Robert Laird Stewart published in the Presby-
terian Banner, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1877 and reprinted in Hugh K. Fulton {op.
cit.. pp. 4-6).

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 189

nothing unusual about such an appointment. Presbyteries and
Synods of the Presbyterian Church frequently appointed and sent
out missionaries on their own account in those days. It was
singular and significant that no salary or traveling expenses were
attached to the appointment. Jackson was strictly on his own.
However, he more than measured up to the occasion. He imme-
diately began a survey of his field of 571,000 square miles to
determine its needs. The needs, obviously, were not only for
church organizations to serve the widely scattered few thousands
of persons in this vast pastorate, but for ministers to live among
the people and for buildings to house the church organizations.
Most towns in the mountain west at that time had no vacant
buildings of any size, let alone one large enough to be used for a
church.

From Cheyenne, in early June, 1 869, he returned to the East to
solicit funds for church erection. In theory, the maintenance of
ministers would be left to the local churches. Meanwhile, Jackson
was able to recruit three able men whom he sent out on his own
responsibility, pledging them material support. These three were
Rev. J. N. Hutchinson to Blair, Fremont, and Grand Island, Ne-
braska; Rev. John L. Gage to Cheyenne and Laramie; and Rev.
Melancthon Hughes to Bryan, the Sweetwater Mines, Wahsatch,
and Utah. On his eastern trip he secured four more seminarians
to go west for the summer of 1869. As indications of the practical
problems these men faced in the field, Bryan, located where the
railroad crossed the Green River a few miles west of the present
City of Green River, was closely similar to Benton and suffered a
similar fate. The Sweetwater Mines apparently included South
Pass City and Atlantic City and the promising gold mines near the
headwaters of the Sweetwater River of Oregon Trail fame. Prob-
lems with hostile Indians prevented continuance of the work.

Jackson was able to return to Cheyenne in early July and organ-
ize a church there on July 18, 1869, bringing to fruition two
months of missionary work by Rev. Gage. According to Robert
Laird Stewart, this church was organized with only three mem-
bers;37 but Rev. Kephart says that nine persons signed the peti-
tion.38 The Cheyenne Church was the first Presbyterian organized
in Wyoming and Rev. Jackson was not only able to assure the
services of ministers (John L. Gage from May to July 1869; H. P.
Peck in October 1869; and William G. Kephart for several years
beginning on February 1, 1870) but a church building as well.

Two weeks later Jackson was in Helena, Montana, on August 1,

37. Robert Laird Stewart, op. cit.

38. Rev. Wm. G. Kephart, Stated Clerk, "A Historical Narrative of the
Presbytery of Wyoming," probably 1872, reprinted from the Rocky Moun-
tain Presbyterian by Hugh K. Fulton, op. cit., p. 6.

190 ANNALS OF WYOMING

1869, to organize a church there in the Academy with 13 members.
Rawlins on August 8, 1869, was the second Presbyterian Church
organized in Wyoming. Two days later, on August 10, 1869, the
third was organized in Laramie with five members.39

Although the embryonic Rawlins Church would have to get
along without a minister for the time being, the wheels were turning
to provide a church building. Rev. Jackson agreed to arrange for
the erection of a church building if the citizens would contribute
$500 to the cause.4" Land was obtained in the townsite of Rawlins
in the fall of 1 869 from the railroad company, and in early Novem-
ber, William Wilson could write to Lyman Bridges of Chicago,
dealing in building materials and ready-made houses, that the
trustees were ready for him to begin the erection of a church in
accordance with arrangements already made by Rev. Jackson.41

The building materials were supplied by Lyman Bridges at a cost
of $950, and two men, John Brannan and William W. Adams,
were sent out from Chicago in early December to put the building
up. Erection took 43 days and the two workers boarded with
Wilson during this time. By January 27, 1870 the building was
completed and Wilson could begin to worry about collecting the
$94 board bill for two men for 47 days each. Evidentally Wilson
gave his boarders a bill to hand to their employers for payment out
of their wages.4-

On February 14, 1870, Sheldon Jackson figured the cost of the
"Rawlings" church at $2,581.89 including such items as $247 for
seats, $35 for a pulpit, $150 for the travel expenses of the workmen
from Chicago, $10 for a cupola, and $582 for rail freight.

DEDICATION DAY, MARCH 13, 1870

March 13, 1870, was a cold stormy day with the ceaseless winds
of the Wyoming prairie drifting snow against the windward side of
the building and swirling it away where the gusts curled around the
corners. The new church building was filled with townspeople and

39. The membership rolls of the Union Presbyterian Church of Laramie
lists six members as of August 10, 1869: Robert W. Baxter, Ellen Baxter
(wife of R. W.), George Lancaster, Euphomia Naismith (Mrs. William
Naismith), Eliza Stewart, and Miss S. V. Vaughn.

40. PHS, SJC. rough draft of letter from Sheldon Jackson to William C.
Wilson, probably summer of 1870.

41. PHS, SJC, letter from Lyman Bridges to Sheldon Jackson, November
16, 1869.

42. Contract prices and work days required for erecting from Sheldon
Jackson memorandum of February 4, 1870; date of dispatch of workmen as
early December shown in letter of December 16, 1869 from John McEwen
for Lyman Bridges to Sheldon Jackson; identity of workmen, details of
board bill, and completion date shown in letter from William C. Wilson to
Sheldon Jackson dated January 27, 1870; all in Presbyterian Historical
Society, Sheldon Jackson Collection.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 191

soldiers from Fort Steele undaunted by the weather, for the dedi-
cation of the first Presbyterian Church building erected in Wyo-
ming Territory.48 A neat frame building 20 by 36 feet in dimen-
sions, it had a four-foot vestibule at the entrance and was sur-
mounted by the ten dollar cupola. History doesn't record that the
cupola ever contained a bell. The church could seat 110 people
although we doubt that it could seat 1 1 0 people with the comfort a
contemporary writer ascribed to it. It had three large windows on
each side to provide light and air when the weather was fit to
have them open.44

Again Sheldon Jackson stood to preach to these people, to dedi-
cate this building to the service of God; only this time he could
preach from a proper pulpit. He could see the fulfillment of the
ideal conceived seven months before. Again he could see the vast
emptiness of the land and take as his text: "But will God in very
deed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of
heavens cannot contain thee: how much less this house which I
have built." (2 Chron. 6:18) recalling Solomon's prayer in dedi-
cation of his temple.45

Two other items of business were taken care of during this
service of dedication. First, William C. Wilson was ordained and
installed as ruling elder. Then the congregation, member and
non-member alike, solemnly resolved:46

"Upon this day of gladness, when the Presbyterian Church of Raw-
lings are permitted to enter in and occupy their new house of worship,
they would not forget that they are largely indebted for their com-
fortable building to the generous gift ($1,000) of Mrs. Wm. E. Morris
and Family of Philadelphia.

"Therefore resolved that we do hereby express to them our thanks
and as a further expression of our appreciation of their gift do name
the building The Morris Presbyterian Chapel of Rowlings."

The closing prayer at this service of dedication was offered by
the Rev. Z. Regan, Methodist-Episcopal chaplain of the Army at
Fort Steele. He would preach to this church several times in the
months to come symbolizing, since there was now only one church
in Rawlins and no other within a hundred miles in any direction
and no full time minister anywhere within that area, that this
church would henceforth be open to all ministers and all congre-
gations, not excepting the Episcopal and Methodist congregations
in Rawlins before they erected their own churches a decade later.

43. Robert Laird Stewart, op. cit.

44. Description of this first church is derived from a typescript copy of
an application for aid addressed to the Presbyterian Board of Church Exten-
sion, 1870, in PHS, SJC; another description is contained in the Rawlins
Journal, June 4, 1887 including a line drawing.

45. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881

46. Ibid.

192 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Community service was its first heritage and so remains. This is
only right because, as has been stated and will be emphasized again,
this church has benefited immeasurably over the years from the
support of non-members.

GROWING PAINS. MARCH 1870 TO AUGUST 1871

The Morris gift did much to raise the indebtedness on the
church, but it did not accomplish this fully. And in fact, the
church would never be financially comfortable even on those one
or two occasions when large gifts would raise the substantial part
of indebtedness on this Morris Chapel and the stone church built a
decade later. Of the $2,581.89 total cost of the Morris Chapel
figured by Sheldon Jackson, $1,000 was contributed by the Morris
Family and $688.60 was contributed by the railroad mostly in the
form of freight charges.47 Just after the dedication on March 13,
1870, Harry Hall, William Wilson, and John Kendall, the remain-
ing active trustees, applied for and apparently received $400 from
the Presbyterian Board of Church Extension leaving a balance of
$493.29. The pledge of $500 from the members would have
covered this nicely, but the whole was never paid. In April 1870,
Hall, Wilson, and Kendall wrote to Rev. Jackson:

"We have paid in cash $200 which includes labor in painting of
church, freight, and other incidental expenses and now labor under
the impression that $200 will fulfill our part of the contract".48

Rev. Jackson agreed to accept the $200 paid for labor as a
credit against the $500 pledge. He also agreed that $200 in cash
reimbursed to him would satisfy him if the other $100 of the $500
pledge would be made up by the settlement of other bills outstand-
ing against the church including the $94 board bill still claimed by
Wilson. In the final analysis, it is clear that Sheldon Jackson made
up a deficit approaching $300 out of his own funds or funds con-
tributed to him for other purposes.

It is equally clear from the correspondance on the subject that
Wilson was in difficult financial straits and that $94 was a con-
siderable sum to him.41' During the summer of 1870 he wrote

47. PHS, SJC, Sheldon Jackson personal memorandum, February 4,
1870.

48. PHS. SJC, letter to Sheldon Jackson of April 16, 1870, quoted in
undated rough draft letter from Sheldon Jackson to Wm. C. Wilson, prob-
ably summer of 1870: "Afterwards (after the letter of April 16, 1870) Mr.
Hall sent me the 200 $. I answered that the 200$ would satisfy me, if with
the other hundred they were to raise - the balance of the 500 $ - they would
satisfy the claims among themselves including your claim. The failure was
at Rawlings & not on my part as I paid out more for the church than I
received from all quarters."

49. PHS, SJC, letter from Harry C. Hall to Sheldon Jackson dated May
17. 1870.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 193

two letters to Rev. Jackson seeking his aid in the matter.50 Wilson
even suggested that if Jackson would remit the amount due, he
(Wilson) could and would raise the amount in Rawlins as a sub-
scription to raise the debt. To compound the increasingly ill
feelings, Wilson indicated that he had learned that Lyman Bridges
had indeed paid the $94 due to Jackson as a part of the final settle-
ment. Although we will probably never know how the matter was
finally resolved, late in the fall of 1870, Jackson agreed to reim-
burse $35 to Wilson as his share of the matter.31 In any event,
Sheldon Jackson not only organized and delivered the Rawlins
Church, he was an important contributor of sorts.

Even the $200 cash remittance represented the generosity of one
man to a large extent — Harry C. Hall. Hall bemoaned the fact
that he had been able to raise only $62 of which $40 was contrib-
uted by John Kendall and nothing from Smith or Wilson since
March.52

All of this already was or shortly was to become an old story to
Sheldon Jackson. Robert Laird Stewart, in his biography of
Sheldon Jackson, describes a similar case involving the Cheyenne
church. This was completed and dedicated in July, 1870, and
like the Rawlins church, it had been purchased from Lyman
Bridges of Chicago. In the course of construction the mem-
bers had the ceiling plastered at their own expense for which
they claimed a credit against Bridges. Bridges' reaction was to
have Sheldon Jackson arrested in Chicago in 1871 for default of
contract and to bring a suit for $500. By a strange coincidence
the papers in the lawsuit were destroyed in the great Chicago fire of
1871 so that, on advice of his attorney, Jackson compromised the
case for $300 which he had to borrow on his own credit.53 This
money was later refunded to him, but building a church was more
than preaching the Gospel and inspiring local God-fearing citizens
to action.

Despite whatever high hopes there might have been in the Morris
Presbyterian Chapel, things moved slowly. Of the six charter
members listed in the petition of August 8, 1869, Hall, Wilson, and
Kendall, in their application for church aid in the Spring of 1870,
could claim only four, but could state that the attendance at serv-
ices every other Sunday ran between 25 and 30. 54 The month of

50. PHS, SJC, letters from William C. Hall to Sheldon Jackson, July 6,
1870 and August 9, 1870.

51. PHS, SJC, undated rough draft letter from Sheldon Jackson to Wil-
liam C. Wilson, probably summer of 1870.

52. PHS, SJC, letter from Harry C. Hall to Sheldon Jackson, May 17,
1870.

53. Robert Laird Stewart, op. cit.

54. PHS, SJC, typescript copy of application for aid to the Presbyterian
Board of Church Extension, probably 1870.

194 ANNALS OF WYOMING

June saw services every Sunday with Rev. Cornell from Laramie
preaching on the 5th;M Rev. William G. Kephart (Presbyterian)
from Laramie on the 12th; Rev. Ruben Gaylord, a Congregational
Missionary from Omaha, on the 19th; and a Rev. Thompson, a
Presbyterian minister enroute from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Wash-
ington, on the 26th. •'"

The simple fact of the matter was that Rawlins, even in the
days when a minister could be employed for as little as $30 to $50
per month, was unable to support a minister on its own account.
If a regular minister was to serve in Rawlins, aid would need come
from some outside source.

Again it was the influence of Sheldon Jackson that made a pulpit
supply possible in bringing the interest and support of established
eastern Presbyterian churches to bear on the problems of the
newly formed western churches. A correspondent for the Phila-
delphia Presbyterian reported the event in this way:

"J usi at the time when these pleasant things were transpiring in this
far Western town, a member of an I astern church had his thoughts
largely directed to the subject of church extension, as possibly affecting
himself. Consulting with his pastor and the members of the session,
they too were imbued with his spirit. The result was the voting by
the church of $1,000 yearly for the support of a missionary on the
frontier. Bui the interest did not end here! It continued to grow,
and ere long an additional subscription amounting to $800 was devoted
to the same purpose with a view to adding another worker to the posts
on the frontier. To give direction to those generous gifts, Sheldon
Jackson was sent for and he laid — as he only could — the field and the
work to be done before them. Ere the evening was over, they unan-
imously voted to send a man to occupy the new church at Rawlins,
with the understanding that Laramie, twenty (sic) miles farther east
was to be included in his pastorate.""'7

According to Stewart: "this generous provision was made by
the Brainard Church of Easton, Pennsylvania, ,,;,s and the man on
whom the choice fell to undertake the work was Franklin Luther
Arnold. Actually, Rev. Arnold elected to serve the Laramie
Church, succeeding Rev. Kephart in this post, at first dividing his
time between Laramie and Rawlins, commuting the 1 10 miles by
rail. Later, it appears that he managed to serve the Rawlins
church only about once a month, but in mitigation of this seeming
negligence, it should be noted that during 1871 until July 1872, he
also managed to supply the new church at Evanston — another 200
miles beyond Rawlins from Laramie. This church was the fourth
and last organized in Wyoming by Sheldon Jackson in July 1871
in a hall over a saloon. In all probability Rev. Arnold did much

55. Compare with page 19.

56. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881.

57. Robert Laird Stewart. "Sheldon Jackson," op. cit., p. 173.

58. Ibid.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 195

of the missionary work leading up to the formal organization. It,
like the others, was provided with a church building the same fall.55'
All four of the churches organized in Wyoming by Sheldon Jackson
at Cheyenne, Rawlins, Laramie, and Evanston are still actively
fulfilling the purpose Sheldon Jackson envisioned for them.

FRANKLIN LUTHER ARNOLD, AUGUST— SEPTEMBER 1870
JAMES FRANCE

Franklin Luther Arnold was the first regular pastor of the
Morris Chapel,"" and to him belongs the credit of consolidating the
uncertain organization feebly clinging to its existence at the end of
its first year. Much could be written about this man in view of his
long career as a missionary, minister, and educator. It would be
fascinating to have known him personally as a man; to explore his
mind and know the intimate details of his relationships with his
contemporaries. However, at present only the rough fabric of his
life can be described.

He was born on September 8, 1825, on a farm at Parma, New
York, near Rochester in the western part of the state. He was the
fourth of seven children born to John Arnold, Jr. and Sophia Lord
Arnold.01 His parents were both natives of Middlesex County,
Connecticut,0- who settled at Parma sometime before 1817. John
Arnold was a farmer; however, he had an interest, and was a lead-
er, in both education and religion. He was elected Commissioner
of Schools at Parma in 1817 and was one of the first deacons
appointed in the First Congregational Church organized at Parma
on December 2, 1 8 1 9. A sister of John Arnold, Theodocia Arnold
Green, was a missionary to Hawaii arriving there on the Parthian

59. Rev. William G. Kephart, op. cit., p. 7; Stone, Elizabeth Arnold,
Uinta County — Its Place in History, Laramie Printing Co., Laramie, Wyo-
ming, 1924, p. 141. Both of these sources agree that Jackson canvassed
Evanston in the spring of 1871 and held a service there on April 24, 1871.
Both sources are vague as to whether he actually accomplished the organ-
ization of July. The credit for this may actually be due to Rev. Arnold.

60. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1881

61. The chief source for the following biography of F. L. Arnold is a
long letter from his grand-daughter, Mrs. Florence A. (Glenn) Terry of
Evanson, Wyoming. Many additional details have been drawn from the
following:

Oberlin College Alumni records, Oberlin, Ohio

Thompson, George, "Thompson in Africa", D. M. Ide, Cleveland, Ohio,

1851; privately reprinted New York, 1854; Dayton, Ohio, 1859; quoted

in letters from Oberlin College.
Memorial Minute, Presbytery of Utah, August 26, 1905, original in Library,

San Anselmo Seminary, California.
Stone, Elizabeth Arnold, op. cit.

62. Mrs. Terry: John Arnold, Jr. was born about 1789 at East Haddom,
Conn., and Sophia Lord was born about 1783 at Millington, Conn. Both
had brothers and sisters. They were married in the Millington Congrega-
tional Church on May 17, 1810.

196

ANNALS OF WYOMING

out of Boston in 1828 indicating that the Arnolds were not only
believers, but doers.

When young Franklin was eight years old, the family moved
westward again to settle on the Western Reserve in Ohio. In 1 846
he enrolled in the Preparatory Department of Oberlin College,
Oberlin, Ohio. During his four years at Oberlin, he listed his
home address as Gustavus, a village in northeastern Ohio near the
Pennsylvania state line. Data in Oberlin College alumni records
suggest that he started school with savings of only $55; but on the
other hand, tuition was only $9 a year and he was able to work his
way through by teaching, doing farm work, and working as a
janitor. Although his scholastic record has been lost — presumably
in a fire which destroyed the administrative records of the college
in 1903 — it is known that the
curriculum in the Preparatory
Department included English
grammar; modern and ancient
geography; arithmetic, algebra,
and geometry; Latin through
Cicero; Greek; history of Greece
and Rome; New Testament; and
composition and elocution. The
alumni records contain no indi-
cation that he was ever enrolled
in the college proper. However,
a memorial minute prepared by
the Presbytery of Utah after his
death states that he graduated
from the Oberlin College Theo-
logical Seminary in 1850. The
Preparatory Department was
equivalent to a modern high
school, although somewhat more
advanced by modern standards,
and was designed to train teach-
ers. From this it can be sup-
posed that Arnold was qualified
as a teacher by his studies. He
was also ordained as a mission-
ary in 1848 and prepared him-
self for a foreign assignment. In this way he carried on his father's
heritage in both education and religion.

Rev. Arnold was married to Minerva Penfield Dayton, another
Oberlin College student, at Piqua, Ohio, on September 2, 1850.'53

Courtesy of Daniel Y. Meschter
FRANKLIN LUTHER ARNOLD

63. Oberlin College alumni records show September 23, 1850.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 197

They sailed together on December 10, 1850, as members of a party
of eight bound for the Mendi Mission Station, Sierra Leone, West
Africa under the American Missionary Association. This exper-
ience took the lives of three of the women in this little group within
six months. Minerva Penfield Dayton Arnold died on June 5,
1851, of African or malarial fever and was buried with the others
in the station cemetery. Mrs. Arnold "felt thankful for the priv-
ilege of coming to Africa to labor for this degraded people" and
often said "I have already been richly paid for coming to Africa."64

Left a young widower in Africa with his own health suffering,
Rev. Arnold married Marie Ramsauer6"' on May 1, 1852, at Free-
town, Sierra Leone.

Marie Ramsauer was born on June 12, 1830, at Oldenburg, Ger-
many. She was the ninth of fourteen children of Johannes and
Wilhelmine Schulthess Ramsauer, who were natives of Switzer-
land.66 Johannes Ramsauer was a student and biographer of
Henry Pestalezze, a distinguished educator, and was himself a
noted educator. Marie, like Arnold, was a teacher. She had
taught as a private governess for a family near Bath, England, be-
fore coming to Africa as a teacher at the mission station. Later,
she wrote for religious journals.

Shortly after their marriage, the two missionaries returned to the
United States on account of Rev. Arnold's health. It has been said
(possibly a bit of latter day apocrypha) that he returned with a
life expectancy of only a few months. He was not yet 30. It was
characteristic of his strong will and determination that he would
live until nearly 80.

The Arnolds located first at Windsor, Ohio, in late 1852 or
early 1853 where he became pastor of the Congregational Church
there. Their first child, Carl Franklin, was born in Windsor.67
Later that same year, Marie Arnold returned to Germany on the
first of at least two trips which she made during her years in
America. Rev. Arnold followed her to Europe later to join her
for the return trip. Their second child, Gottfried Herman, was
born in Germany in 1854.

After two years in Windsor, Rev. Arnold became pastor of the

64. Thompson, op. cit., p. 330.

65. Mrs. Terry: Emilie Franziska Johanna Marie Ramsauer.

66. Mrs. Terry: Johannes Ramsauer was born at Herisau, Appenzell,
Switzerland on May 28, 1790; Wilhelmine Schulthess was born at Zurich,
Switzerland on July 4, 1795.

67. Mrs. Terry lists seven children: Carl Franklin, b. March 10, 1853,
Windsor, Ohio; Gottfried Herman, b. July 5, 1854, Barderwisch, Germany;
Wilhelmina Marie, May 2, 1856, Rome, Ohio; Johannes Ramsauer, March
29, 1858, Rome, Ohio; Constantine Peter, February 7, 1860, Rome, Ohio;
Martha Elizabeth, July 8, 1862, Johnston, Ohio; August Otto, March 3,
1865, Rome, Ohio.

198 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Congregational Church at Rome, Ohio, where he remained for
about 10 years until 1865. Five more children were born here.
Apparently the two oldest boys were reared in Germany; at least
both had notable careers there.

The comparison between John Arnold, the Commissioner of
Schools, and Johannes Ramsauer, the educator and. biographer,
and between Franklin Arnold, teacher, missionary, and minister,
and Marie Ramsauer, teacher and religious author, suggests that
much could be expected from their children if the laws of inher-
itance have any validity. Certainly educated people could be
expected to see to the education of their own children, and this
proved to be the case. The oldest son, Carl, became Professor of
Ecclesiastical History first at Koenigsberg and later at Breslau.
Gottfried became a Judge of the Court of Appeals in Germany
living in Hamburg. Johannes, or John, Arnold also followed law.
He was Judge of the Third Judicial District Court for Wyoming
succeeding David H. Craig of Rawlins, and prominent member of
the Rawlins Presbyterian Church from 1885 to 1915, on this
bench. 68 A third son who followed the law was C. P. Arnold.
This Arnold was an attorney and virtually life-long resident of
Laramie. He first became a member of the Union Presbyterian
Church of Laramie on June 22, 1873 and was dismissed on Sep-
tember 3, 1872 [sic] only to be readmitted on October 20, 1882.
He served numerous terms as a trustee of that church and aggre-
gated about 25 years service as an elder between 1890 and 1923.
It is possible that he served again in this capacity before his death
on October 2, 1943. He was a true son of an energetic and dedi-
cated father. ,!!l Martha, better known as Elizabeth Arnold Stone
was a writer and historian. Her book "Uinta County — Its Place in
History" remains the definitive work on this subject and is a fine
example of the historian's art in dealing with a local subject.

In 1865, Rev. Arnold accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church
of Marengo, Iowa, a small town near Cedar Rapids, where he
remained about five years. It was at this time that he gave up his
Congregational heritage to associate himself with the Presbyterian
cause for the rest of his life. At the end of this pastorate in 1869,
the Arnolds made another trip to Germany, and on their return
moved to Laramie to take up his work there beginning on July 29,
1870.

In physique F. L. Arnold was a giant of a man compared to the
slight frame of Sheldon Jackson. He was something more than six
feet tall and robust in build. Photographs show that his head was
large and massive with a heavy forehead over deep sunk eyes.

68. Bartlett, I. S., History of Wyoming, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1918.

69. Union Presbyterian Church, Laramie, Wyoming, membership rolls.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 199

The nose was prominent and broad. His hair was thick and dark
during his younger years; a photograph taken on his seventy-second
birthday shows no sign of thinning of the now whitened hair, eye-
brows, and beard. The head was connected to heavy shoulders by
a short thick neck so that the overall effect was not unlike a modern
day football player in full uniform. He was emotional by nature,
frequently brilliant but as often sinking into fits of deep depression.
He was prone to give way to the deep emotions called forth by his
sometimes impassioned style of preaching.

Rev. Henry Bainton, writing in 1932, states that Arnold was a
relative of Mrs. W. E. Morris, the benefactress and name sake of
the Rawlins Church.7" Rev. Bainton's source is unknown, but
there is no other evidence at hand either to dispute or confirm this
assertion.

Rev. Arnold began his service at the Laramie church on July 29,
1870, and began his labors at Rawlins on August 7, 1870 almost a
year to the day after the church was first organized. His first duty
was to bring the congregation together and finish the uncompleted
details of organization. Although the six organizing petitioners
are generally respected as the charter members of the church, they
never truly became members either by profession of faith or by
deposition of a letter or certificate of transfer from other churches.
Thus, technically speaking, they never really were members of the
Rawlins Presbyterian Church.

On September 25, 1870, William Wilson, as ruling elder, and
Rev. Arnold, as moderator, acting together as the Session of the
Morris Presbyterian Chapel, received five members on presentation
of certificates. These five were Robert and Ellen Baxter from the
Presbyterian Church of Laramie; William C. Wilson from the First
Presbyterian Church of Summit Hill, Pennsylvania; William F.
Hall from "Union Church," Tennessee; and Harry C. Hall from
"Bethel Church," Tennessee. Only two of these, Harry Hall and
William Wilson, were left from the original six.71

The Baxters were typical of the early settlers of the place. They
were young and had come from elsewhere like everyone else.
Robert was 32 and his wife 31 in 1870.72 Both were natives of
Scotland where the oldest of their four children, a son Robert, was
born. The second son, John, 10, had been born in England, evi-
dently while enroute to North America, and the two younger chil-
dren, Alice, 7, and William, 4, in Pennsylvania. Another son,
David Kennedy Baxter was born in Rawlins in 1870 and was the
first child baptised in the church by Rev. Arnold at this same
membership service. Immediately before coming to Rawlins, the

70. Henry W. Bainlon, op. cit.

71. France Presbyterian Church, Session Record, Vol. 1869-1)

72. 1870 Census

200 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Baxters lived briefly in Laramie where they were charter members
of the Presbyterian Church organized there on August 10. 1869
by Sheldon Jackson.73

Baxter listed himself in the 1870 census as Section Foreman for
the railroad. Son Robert found employment as a boy as a tele-
graph messenger boy. 15 years later in 1886 he became Train
Master at Omaha before being transferred to Cheyenne in 1 888.74
This was also the year that the Baxter Family removed to Alameda,
California.

The arrangement with Rev. Arnold, as understood by the Raw-
lins people, called for him to divide his time equally between
Laramie and Rawlins. From the beginning of missionary work in
Evanston in the spring of 1871, he managed to spend part of his
time there until he was relieved by Frederick B. Welty, a young
divine from Pennsylvania, in July 1872. It appears that he was
able to serve Rawlins only about once a month until the middle of
1 874, when he accepted a call to Sidney, Iowa, in the hope that the
change of climate and altitude would improve Marie's declining
health. But it was already too late; she died at Omaha on August
20, 1874 on her way to Iowa.

Arnold was succeeded as pastor of the Laramie Church by Rev.
William E. Hamilton who did not attempt to serve Rawlins on the
same basis as Rev. Arnold. However, Hamilton was not long to
avoid the problems of the Rawlins church although he was to make
one spirited attempt.

Sidney apparently lost its appeal for Rev. Arnold because 1875
found him back in Evanston as the pastor of the church he had
helped to organize. A third marriage to Eva White Brown, a
widow with a small son of her own, ended tragically after only six
weeks in Evanston where she died on July 1, 1875 at 35.

In addition to serving as a minister, Rev. Arnold's talents as a
teacher found good use as Superintendent of Schools for Uinta
County. Thus he was able to fulfill his two great interests in life -
the mission ministry and education. His decision to take on the
additional labor of this position may well have been motivated
also by economic considerations since a home mission minister was
poorly paid at best and the small income from a non-controversial
county office must have been welcome.

Rev. Arnold spent 13 years in Evanston and several of his
children elected to make it their permanent home. He was mar-
ried for the fourth time to Hannah Ramsey in 1877, at Fairfield.
Iowa. In October 1888 he accepted a call to the Westminster
Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, from which he retired

73. Union Presbyterian Church, Laramie, Wyoming, membership rolls.

74. Rawlins Journal, September 1, 1888.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 201

in October 1898 rounding out ten years in his last pastorate and 48
years in the ministry. However, his indominable spirit would not
let him quit completely. He spent his last years filling and preach-
ing from the pulpits of various denominations. In fact, he was
active up until three days before his death from pneumonia on May
18, 1905, a few months short of his eightieth birthday.

His funeral on Monday, May 22, 1905, in the First Presbyterian
Church of Salt Lake City, of which he was a member at trie time
of his death, is an indication of the esteem in which he was held.
No less than eight ministers representing five different denomina-
tions took part in the service. He was buried in Mount Olivet
Cemetery as was his widow, Hannah Ramsey Arnold, who survived
until 1922.

One name in the Register of Communicants of the Morris Chap-
el at the time that Rev. Arnold received the first five members on
September 25, 1870, is conspicuous by its absence. Harry Hall in
his letter of May 17, 1870, to Sheldon Jackson, discussing the
finances of the church goes on to record: "My partner, James
France, is South at present — will be married on the 19th. inst. and
will reach home about the 1st. prox."75 By "South" Hall meant
Farmington, Tennessee, at or near his own boyhood home. The
wedding referred to did take place and the bride and groom did
arrive in Rawlins about June 1, 1870. In this way, history intro-
duces two people well known in Rawlins history — James France
from Pennsylvania and his bride, Margaret Elizabeth Ramsey
of Tennessee.

JAMES FRANCE

James France has already been referred to as the business part-
ner of Harry Hall; but whereas Hall was to move on shortly, James
France was to remain in Rawlins nearly all of the rest of his life.
He became a distinguished citizen of Wyoming, widely known
throughout the territory for honesty and enterprise. He bought
out Hall's interest in their mercantile business in 1871 and ex-
panded it into one of the leading if not the leading business house
in the Territory of Wyoming. On at least one occasion his activ-
ities involved him in one of the best known events in western his-
tory. This is not surprising in view of the pioneering spirit and
enterprise of his forebears.

The genealogy of James France can be traced back to one
Abraham Frantz.76 The Anglization, or perhaps it would be better
to say the Americanization, of Frantz to France appears to have

75. PHS, SJC, letter from Harry Hall to Sheldon Jackson, May 17, 1870.

76. The details of the genealogy of James France was provided by Louise
Henderson Shaffer of Apollo, Pennsylvania, a great-neice of James France.
Mrs. Shaffer also provided much information on the France or Frantz

202

ANNALS OF WYOMING

been adopted by James France's father prior to his death in 1855.

Most, if not all, of his children subsequently adopted this form of

the name.77

It is believed that Abraham
Frantz was born in 1739, pos-
sibly in Pennsylvania. The rec-
ord appears to be somewhat
contradictory in this respect
since it also is believed that the
father of Abraham Frantz was
yet another Abraham Frantz
who immigrated to the North
American continent in 1848.
However speculative this infor-
mation is, it is known that Abra-
ham Frantz settled in North-
ampton County, Pennsylvania,
which includes the present day
cities of Bethlehem and Easton.
He married Catherine Dorfis in
1762 and began to raise a fam-
ily. Eight children were born to
them over a period of 15 years
during which Abraham became
both soldier and frontiersman.
The oldest child was Jacob, who
was born in Northampton Coun-
ty in June 1763. Little is known
at present about the next six
except their names which were

Barbara, Abram, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine and Sarah.

In 17 78 Abraham Frantz enrolled as a private in the 3rd Vacant

Company of the Volunteer German Regiment formed in the spring

Courtesy of Daniel Y. Meschter
JAMES FRANCE

connection with St. Jacob's Evangelical Church. Personal experience was
gained by a visit to South Bend, Shelocta, and Elderton on June 27, 1965,
at which time the writer visited St. Jacob's Church and the cemetery at
South Bend, the Presbyterian Church and cemetery at Shelocta, and the
two Presbyterian Churches and the three cemeteries at Elderton. The
names found in those cemeteries recall many early day Rawlins names,
most notably France or Frantz, Armstrong, and Rankin. By a strange co-
incidence the day of my visit, a Sunday, was the day of the 75th Anniversary
of the present St. Jacob's Church. Some details here are from a booklet
containing the "History of St. Jacob's Church, 1822-1965" by Mrs. Neal
Espy. The writer is indebted to Mrs. Harold Uptegraph of South Bend tor
her warm courtesy.

77. The tombstone of Samuel France (died January 25, 1855) in the
South Bend Cemetery uses "France" instead of "Frantz." This is the earliest
indisputable use of the form found to date.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 203

of that year at Valley Forge under the command of Lieut. Colonel
Lewis (or Ludwig) Weltner.78 His military experience could not
have been long because his youngest son Issac was born in October
1778 and within a year or two he was located in Westmoreland
County in western Pennsylvania. Abraham Frantz and his wife
were killed in 1872 in an Indian raid at Hannahstown, (now
Greensburg) less than 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. In 1782 west-
ern Pennsylvania was close to the American frontier and was far
more remote in its way than Rawlins was in 1869. The circum-
stances by which Jacob at 19 and Issac, barely four, survived
this massacre no doubt would make a tale by itself. Whether the
other six children survived or perished would seem to be more part
of that story than this one.

The family, or what was left of it, seems to have remained in
Hannahstown for the time being. Jacob married Elizabeth
Otterman, the duaghter of another Revolutionary War veteran, in
June 1786. They had 13 children of which at least nine lived to
maturity. The 12th in this large family was Samuel Frantz who
was born in June 1808.79

About five years later in 1813 or 1814, Jacob and his brother
Issac moved northerly 30 miles or so into an area near the line
between Armstrong and Indiana Counties. Jacob in particular
became a substantial land owner along Crooked Creek at a place
which came to be known as Frantz Mills.80 Present day maps show
the place as South Bend. Presumably, Samuel Frantz acceded to
some part of the land because he spent the rest of his life in the area
of South Bend.

Samuel Frantz, or France, married Catherine Smith, the daugh-
ter of German immigrants, in May 1832.81 Between 1834 and his

78. Richards, H. M. M., "The Pennsylvania-German in the Revolution-
ary War, 1775-1873", Pennsylvania-German Society, Lancaster, Penna.,
1908. pp. 220, 228. Page 332 lists a Private Daniel France from Northamp-
ton County in the muster roll of Captain Van Etten's Volunteer Company.

79. Mrs. Shaffer; the children of Jacob Frantz were: Elizabeth, b. April
15, 1788, m. Henry Allshouse; Abram or Abraham, b. July 20, 1789, m.
Susannah Davis, d. 1846; John, b. April 10, 1790, m. Mary Klingensmith
1811, d. June 5, 1854; Franzina (Fanny), b. July 4, 1793, m. Jacob Alls-
house; Esther, b. April 4, 1795, m. John Stitt; Jacob, b. April 20, 1797;
Sarah, b. December 24, 1798, m. Jacob Shoop or Shoupe; Maria, b. July 20,
1800; Hannah, b. March 3, 1802, m. Jacob George; Ludwig, b. March 19,
1804; Lewis; Samuel, b. June 25, 1808, m. Catherine Smith, d. January 25,
1855; Polly, b. , m. Jacob Thomas.

80. Jacob Frantz died April 18, 1832, and was buried at South Bend,
according to Mrs. Shaffer. Elizabeth Otterman Frantz was born on April
15, 1766, died October 12, 1852, and was buried at South Bend.

81. Mrs. Shaffer; Samuel France died January 25, 1855 and was buried
at South Bend. Catherine Smith France was born on November 16, 1812.
She later remarried, to a Dr. Crum. She died January 8, 1887, and is
buried at South Bend with her first husband.

204 ANNALS OF WYOMING

death in 1855 he had at least 1 1 children of which it is certain that
the first eight lived to maturity.*2 Six of the eight were sons and all
of these six found occasion to seek their fortunes elsewhere to the
west. The two oldest boys, Redding and Sanford, both settled in
Homer, Illinois, where they engaged in the mercantile business.

Cyrus served in the Civil War and was wounded in heavy action
during the Battle of the Wilderness — one of the bloodiest of the
many bloody battles of that conflict. Later, he studied medicine at
the University of Michigan (1868-69) and graduated with an
M. D. from the University of Philadelphia in 1871. He took
another M. D. from the Rush Medical College of Chicago in 1876.
He practiced medicine in Pennsylvania until May 1882 when he
located in Pueblo, Colorado. In 1883 he moved again, to La
Junta, Colorado. He died there on November 17, 1890, of
pneumonia.83

The next son was James France born on December 25, 1838.

J. Smith France became a dentist who practiced in Danville,
Illinois. Smith was followed in age by two girls, Sarah and Phoebe,
both of whom remained in Pennsylvania. Sarah lived past her
ninety-first birthday; Phoebe lived to be 86. Longevity was a
family trait.

The youngest of the eight was Walker France who was born on
December 24, 1846. Walker France moved to Rawlins about
1 872 and his wife, Susan Armstrong France, to whom he was mar-
ried in Elderton, Pennsylvania, on October 6, 1869, followed in
1874 with their oldest son, Homer. In all the years he was to live
in Rawlins he was known as D. W. (Dwight Walker), or more
rarely, W. D.; but family records in Pennsylvania show only the

82. Mrs. Shaffer; the children of Samuel France were: Redding, b.
January 28, 1834, m. Elizabeth Heffelfinger on May 18, 1855; Sanford,
b. May 4, 1835, m. Miss Labourne (the identity of this first wife is open to
question), m. Candace Gerald; Cyrus, b. January 15, 1837, m. Jennie Coul-
ter on July 9, 1868, d. at LaJunta, Colorado, November 17, 1890: James,
b. December 25, 1838, m. Margaret Elizabeth Ramsey at Farmington, Ten-
nessee, May 19, 1870, d. at Salt Lake City, Utah, August 21, 1888, buried in
Riverside Cemetery, Denver, Colorado; J. Smith, b. November 8, 1840, m.
Belle Babcock on May 11, 1867; Sarah Elizabeth, b. January 8, 1843, m.
Thomas Elias Henderson, March 1, 1864, d. August 13, 1934 and interred
at South Bend, Penna.; Phoebe, b. November 27, 1844, m. Daniel Knappen-
berger, d. July 15, 1931, interred Knox, Penna.; Walker, b. December 24,
1846, m. Susan Armstrong at Elderton, Penna., October 6, 1869, m. Rose

, 1906 (?), d. Long Beach, California, April 18, 1928; Ambrose.

b. August 2, 1851, d. November 1, 1851; Catherine Anna, b. February 27,
1854; Noah, b. June 19, 1849, d. November 17, 1859 and interred at South
Bend, Penna.

83. Rawlins Journal, November 29, 1890; also undated clipping in Car-
bon County, Wyoming, Historical Museum, possibly from the Christian
Advocate.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 205

name Walker. However, a more detailed search might shed more
light on this point.

This recital of the children of Samuel France seems to reveal
something about them personally. One thing is that in the troubled
times following the Civil War, they were posessed of the fortitude
and vision to seek and find new lives for themselves in other places.
We have no record of their educational advantages although there
is some indication that Walker might have attended an academy at
Elderton near South Bend. Certainly Cyrus and Smith had formal
educations preparatory to professional careers and there is no
doubt that all had considerable basic education. In any event, they
and their progeny proved to be substantial, useful, and productive.

Walker was followed by three more children — Noah, Ambrose,
and Catherine Anna — none of whom seems to have lived to ma-
turity.

South Bend, Elderton, and Shelocta, Pennsylvania, are arranged
in a triangle with sides of about five miles. They are small com-
munities with about 50 people in South Bend, a hundred or so in
Shelocta, and a couple of hundred in Elderton. Scattered around
the triangle are a number of even smaller hamlets such as Idaho,
Girty and Brick Church. Each has its own identity, character,
and, usually, a church. Unlike the empty vastness of the western
prairie, roads go everywhere, homes are seldom more than a mile
apart in any direction, the bottom of nearly every hill has a rivulet
or stream between wooded banks, and churches abound every-
where.

The land is rolling hills between the many streams which drain
into the Allegheny River to the west. In June the air is clean and
soft; green, rolling fields of grain, and thickets of hardwoods and
brush mantle the hills. In October one can easily imagine the
gathered abundance of the harvest, the woods berobed in color,
hedgerows carpeted with dried leaves, and a tang in the air to bring
joy to the hunter's heart. But the lushness of the land is deceptive.
The soil has lost its fertility in a century of cropping. Merchant-
able timber is sparse. There is little employment short of the steel
mills at Apollo and Vandergrift and the industrial cities along the
Allegheny leading down toward Pittsburgh 40 miles away.

It is a land with a rich history recalling Washington and Brad-
dock and the French and Indian Wars. Near here Captain John
Armstrong led his Scotch-Irish irregulars against an Indian en-
campment on the Allegheny in the 1750's. In those times Pitts-
burgh was the gateway to the west down the Ohio River from the
confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. This was
both the west and the way west.

South Bend was virgin land when Jacob Frantz and his family
settled here in 1813. The land was rich; the soil was fertile. The
forests yielded timber needed for the sawmills to make into lumber
to build the growing cities. Salt brine was found in wells at Salts-

206 ANNALS OF WYOMING

burg and coal was abundant in the hills. A little later oil would be
discovered in the counties to the north. The prospects must have
been pleasant for Jacob. His fields stretched up the hill from
Crooked Creek and he could account himself a man of substance
in the world. There were other families in the vicinity, too, and
there was much intermarriage between his children and his neigh-
bor's children down to the second generation. When life's toils
were over, many would continue to be neighbors in the little South
Bend graveyard up that hill.

The Frantz family heritage is loosely identified with the so-called
Pennsylvania Dutch, probably because of Abraham Frantz's pre-
sumed immigration from Germany and his residence in Northamp-
ton, Pennsylvania; but not so far as is known with the strongly
conservative and religiously strict groups such as the Moravians,
Amish, Menonites, Bretheran, or Dunkards who are popularly
regarded as the true Pennsylvania Dutch. They tended, rather,
to be adherents to the Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed move-
ments. All of Jacob Frantz's 13 children save one, for example,
were baptized in the First Reformed Church at Greensburg. In
South Bend as in Rawlins in 1869, a church was not long in fol-
lowing the early settlers. In the words of Mrs. Neal Espy:

"St. Jacob's Congregation was organized in the early eighteen twenties
by the Rev. William Weinel. The earliest extant is that of baptisms,
July 18, 1822, and the first Communion was held May, 1823, at which
24 persons were confirmed and 40 members communed.
The first church was a very primitive one, a plain log building or
meeting house as it was called, with rude benches for pews. There
were no stoves or heaters, not even a chimney, and in cold weather
services were discontinued. It was common saying among the people
that when the first cold wind blew from the north. Rev. Weinel would
not be seen any more until the south wind returned.
About the year 1840, the Reformed people together with the Lutherans
erected a plain building, the material being taken from the woods
near by. It was weathered boarded and painted white, and for some
years went by the name, White Church.

The first Lutheran and Reformed Church stood where the South Bend
Cemetery is now located. They had separate times for their services.
The relationship between the Lutherans and the Reformeds were ex-
ceedingly cordial. The rights of each party were respected by the
other, and they lived and labored as bretheran."84

This "White Church" stood on the top of a hill less than a mile
north of South Bend. The land for the church and the adjacent
cemetery was given by Jacob Frantz, but he died before the deed
conveying the land could be signed. However, his son John hon-
ored his wish and intent and deeded the land.85 The White Church

84. Espy, Mrs. Neal, "History of St. Jacob's Church, 1822-1965,
phamphlet. South Bend, Pennsylvania, June 27, 1965.

85. Mrs. Shaffer.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 207

continued in use until it was sold and the present church on the
north bank of Crooked Creek completed in 1891. An abandoned
church across the road from the South Bend Cemetery apparently
was built by the Lutheran congregation in 1872.

The Frances, like many of the Pennsylvania Germans, readily
adapted to new communities wherever they went and accepted what
ever denomination might have been available there. The records
of St. Jacob's Reformed Church show that both Phoebe Frantz and
James Frantz were early members. Cyrus France at the time of
his death was a Methodist. In view of the fact that Pittsburgh
is probably the strongest of Presbyterian strongholds in North
America and was so at the time of the Civil War with the possible
exception of Philadelphia, it would not have been at all surprising
to find that one or another of the Frances had been exposed to it.
Indeed, both Walker France and his wife, nee Susan Armstrong,
were members of the Presbyterian Church at Elderton where they
were married before migrating west. Sarah France, who married
Thomas Henderson in 1864, was a member of the Elderton church
also and was noted throughout her long life for her Biblical
knowledge.

It is difficult at this distance and late date to evaluate the impact
of the Civil War on this western Pennsylvania community. Suffice
it to observe that South Bend, Shelocta and Elderton contributed
heavily to Company "H" of the 54th Regiment, Pennsylvania
Volunteers and Company "A" of the 135th Pennsylvania Infantry
if G.A.R. markers in the several cemeteries are any indication.
Such markers can be found in abundance and accompany almost
every family name. Several did not survive the war, including
Robert Armstrong, buried near Susan Armstrong's parents in the
cemetery at Shelocta. The patriotism of the community is beyond
question.

James France does not appear to have played a direct role in the
Civil War, very possibly because his diminutive stature made him
unfit for service.86 There were employment opportunities in west-
ern Pennsylvania at the end of the War in the forests and oil fields;
mule skinners and bullwhackers were in demand to supply the
Indian agencies in the Dakotas and the growing towns beyond the
railroads in all of the western territories; a man could always pros-
pect for gold in the Black Hills or the Front Range of Colorado or
work in other men's mines. This is the route that Jim and Joe
Rankin, James France's colorful Shelocta neighbors, took on their
way to Rawlins.87 but they were cut from different cloth. They
were robust men capable of action — whenever the situation called

86. Much of the information in the following paragraphs was obtained
in interviews with Mrs. Gymaina Whigam of Denver, a granddaughter of
James France.

208 ANNALS OF WYOMING

for action — well suited to the life of the typical thick-skinned, hard-
fighting, hard-working, brawling frontiersmen of legend. It is not
surprising that if James France should elect to try the wild west
that he would appear there in the form of a merchant. When and
where he established his partnership with Harry Hall is an unim-
portant mystery. Such partnerships could be and were formed and
broken on short noitce. About all that was really required to
establish a mercantile business was a supply of saleable goods, a
tent to store them in and, incidentally, to serve as a shelter for the
merchant, and a head for figures. Perhaps the last was the most
difficult come by. Partners were often kindred souls who enjoyed
each other's company as well as mutual protection. In other cases,
partnerships were formed with one complementing the other; one
having the goods and the other the head for business.

James France was always proud that he had helped officiate at
the birth of Rawlins in 1868 when he was canvassing the territory
for business opportunities. It was a measure of his business
acumen that he could visualize early day Rawlins as a life-long
opportunity. While the original population may have been in
the thousands during railroad construction, the special census of
1869 showed only 460 in the whole of Carbon County, which at
that time encompassed close to one-fifth of the vast territory which
was to become the State of Wyoming.88 By 1870, Rawlins could
boast 612 people of which 86 were militarv personnel. Even by
1880 the city had little more than doubled in a decade. Business
success, therefore, was not to be measured by population statistics.
Whatever the source of business was, he and Hall had sufficient
confidence to erect a store building. Their business included not
only groceries and dry goods, but some informal banking on the
side. Credit was an essential element in doing business after the
boom days of railroad construction had passed. The newly settled
ranchers could not be expected to come up with hard cash before
marketing their increase, and building large herds was slow busi-
ness. Fortunately for these new businessmen, ranchers as far away
as th? Bear River (now the Yampa River) in Colorado trailed their
herds to Rawlins for shipment and could use the opportunity to
order supplies for the year ahead. In addition, they supplied con-
signment goods to traders along the Little Snake and Bear Rivers
far to the south. There were Fort Steele and White River Ute
Indian Agency vouchers to cash and supplies to ship. In another

87. Rankin, M. Wilson, "Reminiscenses of Frontier Days, including an
authentic account of the Thornburgh and Meeker Massacres," photolitho-
graphed by Smith-Brooks, Denver, copyright 1935, 140 pp. Wilson Rankin
was a cousin of the Rankins of Rawlins. His limited edition book deals
exclusively with events with which he had personal knowledge.

88. T. A. Larson, History of Wyoming, op. cit.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 209

year James France bought out Hall's interest in the business and
Hall moved on to Kansas where his family had located.

In 1871 James France was the almost obvious choice for post-
master, a position he held for 14 years. He dabbled in cattle
and invested heavily in the Seminoe Mines. He was a substantial
owner of the Wyoming Tribune, a newspaper which was published
in Rawlins for a few years. He engaged in a building program and
erected a large stone building to house James France and Com-
pany. In 1880 he divided his business, taking D. C. Adams of
Chicago into partnership in the wholesale and retail grocery part
of the business, while retaining the dry goods and contract business
under his own name.

James France has had his name written into the history books for
several reasons including his leadership in business affairs. How-
ever, it was the contract business that wrote his name into history
by reason of his small role in the affairs of the White River Ute
Indian Agency.

In 1869 the Federal Government built an agency for the White
River band of Ute Indians in the valley of the White River in Colo-
rado, about 150 airline miles south of the railroad. The agency
was established chiefly for the purpose of distributing rations and
goods to these Indians in fulfillment of treaties by which the Utes
ceded lands to the United States and agreed to retire to a huge
reservation in Western Colorado. The Utes were wild, free, and
horse-oriented. Reservation boundaries meant little to them and
their alleged depredations throughout the Territory of Colorado
created an issue of considerable use to the politicians of the day.
Throughout the decade of the 1870's the attitude of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs toward the Utes was an enlightened one, only
slightly shattered by Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn by the
Sioux.

In the summer of 1879, James France held Interior Department
contracts to haul the food and supplies from the railroad at Rawlins
to the Agency on White River at $3.50 per hundredweight.

Things were especially difficult that summer. The Utes were
restive. Large volumes of flour, oats, and supplies were delinquent
in delivery due to the dishonest practices of some of the earlier
contractors so that the Indians, now partly dependent on these
goods, knew hunger.89 More repugnant from the Ute viewpoint

89. Although there is an enormous number of books, articles, pamph-
lets, speeches, oral legends, etc., ranging in quality from the scholarly to
the inane; the subject of Indian affairs during the opening of the west has
never been treated in its entirety in an objective manner. There are many
reasons for this neglect including the focusing of attention on single report-
able episodes such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn; the lack of real objec-
tivity on the part of contemporary reporters who were either pro-Indian or
violently anti-Indian, most of whom had little real experience with the

210 ANNALS OF WYOMING

were the increasingly repressive measures being taken by the
agents in attempting to make them over into the white man's
image.

James France knew all of this only too well. He was in close
touch with the situation through his men who freighted to the
Agency, through his contacts with the Interior Department in ful-
filling his contracts, and through considerable personal knowledge
of the Utes gained during their frequent forays into Wyoming. He
had delivered 1 3 tons of flour, a ton of seed wheat for planting in
cultivated horse pasture in the White River Valley, and miscella-
neous supplies during August, but his freighters were getting edgy
in view of the prospect of having to make additional heavy deliv-
eries before the onset of winter. On September 14 he sent out two
four-mule wagons with two tons of flour in charge of inexperienced
teamsters — the mysterious old peddler, Carl Goldstein, and a mere
boy, Julius Moore. This was sufficient cause for worry in itself.
Two days later he dispatched John Gordon's bull train of ten
wagons in tandem, and thirty-three oxen with three bullwhackers
to help John, carrying five tons of flour and a miscellany of goods
ranging from washtubs to red flannel shirts. The next day, John
Gordon's brother George and two drivers set out with three four-
horse wagons carrying, among other things, a threshing machine for
the agency together with its steam engine. Still another wagon set
out on the eighteenth in charge of Al McCarger and his son with
a virtual hardware store aboard, including a liberal supply of
barbed wire which was about the last thing calculated to bring joy
to a horse-loving Ute's heart.

During this same summer, Nathan C. Meeker, the present agent,
was embarked upon a determined course to bring agrarian reform
and the joys of honest labor to the Utes by force if persuasion
failed. All summer he had been faced with one disagreeable inci-

problem while the few men who really knew the Indians best generally had
serious intellectual limitations; wide dispersion of pertinent data; and prob-
ably most importantly, the lack of expression by the Indian himself of his
side of the matter.

For the following paragraphs I have drawn upon accumulated reading on
the subject including specifically M. Wilson Rankin, op. cit., William Owen,
op. cit., and personal visits to Meeker and Milk Creek. Specific details have
been derived from Marshall Sprague's book, "Massacre, the Tragedy at
White River," Little, Brown and Company, 1957, 364 pp. Sprague's anal-
ysis of the background of the Ute Indian problem is historically satisfactory
and the whole book is entertaining reading. Another source I have used
is a little book by Thomas F. Dawson and F. J. V. Skiff entitled "The Ute
War." This book is interesting because it was written within weeks after
the events described. It was originally published by The Tribune Publishing
House, Denver, Colorado in an edition of 1,000 copies. A facsimile edition
was prepared by Nolie Mumey, M.D. and published in 1964 by Johnson
Publishing Company, Boulder, Colorado. The facsimile edition was limited
to 300 copies.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RAWLINS 211

dent after another arising out of misunderstanding and Ute resent-
ment, which was beyond his limited comprehension of the Ute
character. Whether in apprehension for the safety of his employees
or whether to back up his proposed plans of action, he asked for
the presence of the military so that on the twenty-second of Sep-
tember the road to White River became even more heavily travelled
with the departure from Rawlins of elements of the 3rd, and 5th.
U. S. Cavalry and the 4th Infantry under the command of Thomas
T. Thornburgh, Commanding Officer of Fort Steele.

The entry of troops into their reservation could mean only one
thing to the Utes and they reacted, violently, on September 29,
1879. Nathan Meeker and all of the white men at the Agency
were slain in the well-known Meeker Massacre. Not so well
known is that on that same day Thornburgh's troops were attacked
and pinned down in Milk Creek about 25 miles northeast of the
agency where the agency road passed through the mountains.
Thornburgh himself was killed in the first skirmish and all of his
officers except one were wounded. Coincidentally, the troops had
just passed John Gordon's bull train when the attack started, and
although Gordon lost his wagons, his oxen, and his cargo under
fire, this fact saved his life as he and his helpers found safety in the
rifle pits hastily dug by the troops. The other freighters were not
so fortunate. Carl Goldstein and his youthful companion were
killed just five miles short of the agency. John later found his
brother George and his two helpers hideously butchered a few
miles back up the road and his wagons and that of Al McCarger
destroyed. Battles are not discriminating of identities. James
France lost five employees, their wagons and cargos in his attempt
to fulfill his contracts.

The practical effect of the Meeker Massacre was the removal of
the Utes out of their beautiful valley onto a much less desirable
reservation in Utah. The land was thrown open for settlement.
Whatever business Rawlins lost with the termination of the Agency
was made up for by the growth of a white population in the region
which continued to be supplied from Rawlins.

France's last important business venture was to mature his
informal banking business into a full fledged bank. The Banking
House of James France opened for business in December 1881 and
gave promise of serving an important need.

By all accounts, James France was a gentle, sensitive, and gen-
erous man. He could not easily have fit our modern concepts of
the western frontier prototype. His features were finely molded
almost to the point of being delicate. In later years a receding
hairline gave the false impression of a high forehead. In stature
he was short and slight of build. Possibly in compensation for this
he affected a full length beard reaching nearly to the waist. Nor-
mally, for work, the beard was tucked neatly inside his shirt; but
on ceremonial occasions, it flew at full mast. His typical generosity

212 ANNALS OF WYOMING

extended not only to frequent gifts to his family, contributions to
various causes, but also in affording opportunity to friends and
relatives. The early records of the Morris Presbyterian Chapel
give ample proof that such early day family names in Rawlins as
Hefflefinger, Kelley, McMillen, Rankin, and others had their
origins in the immediate vicinity of South Bend and Elderton
where James France himself had been reared. Jennie McCul-
lough came from there to find employment in his household.90
There is little doubt that these, along with his own brother Walker,
came to Wyoming at the behest, and likely the assistance, of James
France. Both Walker France and D. C. Kelley were employees of
his. James Hefflefinger probably was an employee also and may
have been related by marriage. After a banking business was
established in 1881, he arranged for his nephew, Harry B.
Henderson, (son of his sister Sarah), to join him in this business.

All of his business enterprises except the last can be considered
in retrospect as reasonable successes.91 He was a wise business-
man giving his best efforts to every project he undertook. Above
all, his honesty was unquestioned and in later years his personal
integrity stood up in the courts on the occasions when his reputa-
tion, laboriously built up in almost 20 years of business, hung in
the balance. While he was always reasonably successful in busi-
ness and achieved a good measure of wealth for the community of
which he was so much a part, he probably never was half as
wealthy as popular opinion held. Even so, he had his share of
disappointments and losses. Perhaps his generosity and almost
childlike trust in his employees and associates were his worst faults.
He was noted for liberality of credit in his business dealing. Mod-
erate prosperity and a reputation above reproach appear to have
been his goals in life, and in this respect he was eminently
successful.

Unlike many businessmen then and now, his was a retiring
personality. He mingled but little in public affairs although he
accepted public office and positions of trust from time to time
because, it seems, of a sense of duty in the interests of the com-
munity. Perhaps the highest office he attained was the Territorial
Council of the Legislature to which he was elected as a Republican.
He served only one term, that being in the Fourth Legislative
Assembly, which met in November, 1875.92

(To be continued)

90. 1880 Census.

91. The story of James France in later years is beyond the time scope of
this part of this history.

92. Wyoming Historical Bluebook, op. cit.

Mot Weather Kules

1 . Load lightly, and drive slowly

2. Stop in the shade if possible

3. Water your horse as often as possible. So long as a horse is
working, water in moderate quantities will not hurt him. But
let him drink only a few swallows if he is going to stand still.
Do not fail to water him at night after he has eaten his hay.

4. When he comes in after work, sponge off the harness marks
and sweat, his eyes, his nose and mouth, and the dock. Wash
his feet but not his legs.

5. If the thermometer is 75 degrees or higher, wipe him all over
with a wet sponge. Use vinegar water if possible. Do not
turn the hose on him.

6. Saturday night, give a bran mash, cold; and add a tablespoon-
ful of saltpetre.

7. Do not use a horse-hat, unless it is a canopy-top hat. The
ordinary bell-shaped hat does more harm than good.

8. A sponge on top of the head, or even a cloth, is good if kept
wet. If dry it is worse than nothing.

9. If the horse is overcome by heat, get him into the shade, re-
move harness and bridle, wash out his mouth, sponge him all
over, shower his legs, and give him four ounces of aromatic
spirits of ammonia, or two ounces of sweet spirits of nitre, in a
pint of water; or give him a pint of coffee warm. Cool his
head at once, useing cold water, or, if necessary, chopped ice,
wrapped in a cloth.

10. If the horse is off his feed, try him with two quarts of oats
mixed with bran, and a little water; and add a little salt or
sugar. Or give him oatmeal gruel or barley water to drink.

1 1 . Watch your horse. If he stops sweating suddenly, or if he
breathes short and quick, or if his ears droop, or if he stands
with his legs braced sideways, he is in danger of a heat or sun
stroke and needs attention at once.

12. If it is so hot that the horse sweats in the stable at night, tie
him outside. Unless he cools off during the night, he cannot
well stand the next day's heat.

These Rules are prepared by the Boston Work-Horse Parade
Association, whose office is at 15 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
Copies of the Rules will be sent free on application. Our Office
open throughout the year.

Henry C. Merwin, President
Lewis A. Armistead, Secretary

From a poster circulated in the early 1900 's.

214

ANNALS OF WYOMING

frontier Powder River Mission

By
Burton S. Hill

Captain W. F. Raynolds, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army,
assigned the duty as topographical engineer to explore the Yellow-
stone Country, went into winter quarters at the Deer Creek Indian
Agency in October of 1859. He was there cordially greeted by
Major Thomas S. Twiss, the Indian Agent, and assigned some of
the unused Mormon houses abandoned by them at the outbreak
of the Mormon War in 1857. Not only was Captain Raynolds
comfortably housed, but conveniently so. Only three miles down
Deer Creek, on the Oregon Trail adjacent to the Platte, was a Pony
Express stop and the Deer Creek stage station. And, while the
Captain was a guest at Deer Creek, a post office was established
at the station. Also, in the close vicinity was the trading house of
Joseph Bissonette and Company, doing a thriving business with
the emigrants passing along the Oregon Trail. It will be of interest
to mention that the Deer Creek Station was just east of Glenrock,
Wyoming, in what is sometimes known as the Glenrock Park.

Soon after his arrival at the Deer Creek Agency, Captain Ray-
nolds became acquainted with German Missionary Moritz Braeun-
inger, and his missionary companions, Schmidt and Dosderlein,
with Seyler as helper, and two colonists, Beck and Bunge. They
were on their way to establish a mission among the Crows in
Absaraka, but had also taken up winter quarters at Deer Creek.
Like Captain Raynolds and his forces, they were guests of Agent
Twiss, and quartered in one of the Mormon houses. Sent out by
the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa, they were de-
voted and dedicated men, but with little knowledge of the ruthless
and vengeful Indian country. And, able to speak only German
with facility, they were particularly handicapped. But. with winter
closing in, they were exalted at the proposal of Agent Twiss to
remain at Deer Creek during the cold months. He assured them
that with the coming of spring they would have a much better
opportunity of reaching Absaraka, which they would have to
reach by traversing the territory of the hostile Sioux and Chey-
ennes.

In visiting with Braeuninger, Captain Raynolds learned that the
supplies and provisions of the missionaries were all but exhausted,
and that their situation was really serious. He realized that as
conditions were, they would not be able to proceed in the spring.
This he communicated to the guileless Braeuninger, who up until
then did not appear to have been concerned. However, when it

216 ANNALS OF WYOMING

became evident that the missionaries were determined to work it
out, Captain Raynolds offered the necessary assistance, which was
accepted. When this was reported to the Iowa Synod, the Captain
was repaid in full, with the sincere thanks and appreciation of the
governing body at home.

As weeks passed the Christmas season was approaching and the
missionaries were preparing for it. At the appropriate time
Braeuninger communicated his plans to Captain Raynolds. He
and his staff were invited to a service to be held Christmas Eve
at the quarters of the host. Agent Twiss and his family were also
invited, but it does not appear they attended; although there was
quite a number of Indians who did. They had been hand picked
by the Major. For that era, the most unusual thing about this
celebration was the presence of a Christmas tree glowingly lighted
with an array of candles which had been affixed to the branches.
Prior to Christmas Eve some of the missionaries had sought out a
suitable spruce tree, which they had chopped down and brought to
their quarters. Nothing had been said about a Christmas tree, so
it was a pleasant surprise for everybody. Even the Indians showed
their good will and gratitude. During the evening Braeuninger
read from the scriptures, and the group sang the well known Christ-
mas songs accompanied by Braeuninger on the violin. Unfortu-
nately, Captain Raynolds and his staff could not always join in the
singing since most of it was done in German. Whether refresh-
ments were served or gifts exchanged has not been recorded, but
probably not. At Deer Creek living was simple, and presents hard
to come by. Yet, it is certain that the occasion was enjoyed, even
by the Indians. As far as it can be determined, this was the first
Christmas celebration is what in now Wyoming.

Since it had now become evident to Braeuninger that additional
funds and equipment were going to be needed to set up a mission
in Absaraka, after Christmas new plans were formulated. The
mission in Bavaria had sent funds for the project in the Crow
Country, but that clearly was not sufficient. Accordingly, it was
decided that Schmidt and Doederlein should return to Iowa to
equip a second train and return to Deer Creek in the Spring. But,
finally home, Schmidt became ill and could not return, and Doeder-
lein joined the Missouri Synod.

In spite of all their disappointments and setbacks, in the spring
of 1 860 the group remaining started their lonely northward trek.
It is not exactly known just what route they took or the course of
their wanderings, but after traveling what they considered to be
about a hundred miles they approached the banks of Powder River.
Jubilant in the belief that they had reached Absaraka, the home of
the Crows, they little knew that in reality they had only gained the
heart of the hostile Sioux country. At all events, they crossed the
river and selected a site for the mission, where the ground was level
on the river bottom, and the grass was thick and luxuriant. Here

FRONTIER POWDER RIVER MISSION

217

they erected a house and sank a well for drinking water, and later
plowed a plot of the rich soil to plant seed for the fall harvest.
Some thirty years later this well was discovered by ranchers in the
vicinity, as were the charred remains of the mission house. There
was also evidence of the plowed area on the west bank of Powder
River opposite the confluence of Dry Fork and that stream. In
1863 this point was selected by John M. Bozeman for his crossing
of the Bozeman Trail, and nearby, in 1876, General George
Crook's Indian expeditionary forces laid out Cantonment Reno,
famed in the annals of the West. Of late years much search has
been made for the mission location, but after a century no traces
can be found.

When the missionary group was finally located, Braeuninger
wrote a full report to the Mission Board, and made a pencil sketch
of the mission house and nearby scene. In his report, two addi-
tional missionaries were requested, since Bunge wanted to resign.
With reluctance he was taken to Deer Creek. After Braeuninger's
report reached the Board, much satisfaction was expressed at the
accomplishments on Powder River, and a call went out for the two
recruits. Highly dedicated men, whose names were Flachenecker
and Krebs, readily accepted the call, and immediately completed
preparations for their long journey. At Scotts Bluff, now a Nation-
al Monument near Scottsbluff, Nebraska, a man addressed the two
missionaries by name and invited them in as his guests for a free
meal.

Inside, the man said he realized that the two did not recognize

Courtesy of Burton S. Hill
MISSION STATION AT DEER CREEK

218

ANNALS OF WYOMING

him, but that he was Bunge. He was not readily recognized be-
cause of the beard he was wearing. His friends had never seen
him with one. He told of his experiences on Powder River, and
how he had resigned as colonist. He explained how he reached
Scotts Bluff, and had remained as cook at the stage station.

In the meantime, on Powder, the Sioux frequently visited the
mission, and at first seemed quite friendly. But, as time went on
they became more independent and arrogant. One day when the
missionary group did not immediately comply with their desires,
they threatened to shoot. Nothing came of this threat, but a few
days later a large war party did arrive, bristling with hostility.

One of their number carried an
old blanket which he wanted to
trade for a new one. When
Braeuninger attempted to re-
monstrate, the Indian snatched
up a new blanket, tore it in two,
and threw his old one on the
ground. He then hotly an-
nounced that he considered it
to be a fair trade. Braeuninger
did not immediately reply, but
placed his hand over his mouth,
meaning in sign language thai
he had nothing to say. How-
ever, realizing his people were
outnumbered, and that resist-
ance would be futile, he reluc-
tantly told the Indian to keep
the blanket. Soon afterwards
the chief of the band and his
party, showing signs of friend-
liness, approached the mission
with the blanket. The chief said
he had come to return it and
that he wanted his people to act
decently toward the whites,
which he knew they had not
done. A very agreeable visit
followed, but this party had
scarcely moved away when another group of six approached on
foot.

The six visitors were taken to be Sioux, but not warlike. The
missionary group served them three meals before they departed
upstream to be with the Snake Indians. As soon as they were out
of sight, which was toward evening, Beck and Braeuninger went
out to bring in the cattle. After a time, Beck returned with the
stock, but without his missionary companion who had become

Courtesy of Burton S. Hill

MISSIONARY BRAEUNINGER

(Picture taken in Germany)

FRONTIER POWDER RIVER MISSION 219

separated from him. When Beck asked the whereabouts of
Braeuninger, Seyler said he was not there, and did not know where
he was. But, he was convinced that the six visitors, who had
departed just before the search for the cattle, had come to the
mission with an evil intent.

When Braeuninger did not return that night, his two companions
spent the following two days in a futile search for him, or his
remains. When no trace could be found, it was concluded that
the Indians had murdered him and concealed his body. Since only
Ssyler and Beck were left of the original six, they became assured
that other plans would be requisite. They recalled several days
earlier when Braeuninger had said they would be unable to remain
unless their number could be brought up to 15 or 20 men who
could throw up embankments and defend themselves.

Since it was evident that Braeuninger had been right, and that to
remain on Powder would only mean their destruction, they decided
to leave for Deer Creek without delay. There they could obtain
further instructions from the Mission Board. While Missionaries
Flachenecker and Krebs were still at Scotts Bluff enjoying the
hospitality of their former companion Bunge, the stage driver
coming from the west brought the news of Braeuninger's death on
Powder River. In attempting to decide their next move, Bunge
suggested that at the next station, 1 50 miles further on, they would
find an Alsatian named Henry who could speak German as well as
French, and who might be able to give them full particulars. On
the chance that Henry would have helpful information, Flache-
necker and Krebs climbed aboard the stage going west. Without
serious incident they finally reached their designated station and
there met the Alsatian whose name was Henry. They also met a
number of Frenchmen playing cards, and one who had just arrived
from Deer Creek. In French, Henry interviewed these gentlemen
concerning the murder of Braeuninger, and the whereabouts of
Seyler and Beck. He learned that the leader had lost his life on
July 23, 1860, and that the other two had reached Deer Creek
unharmed. All this Henry relayed to Flachenecker and Krebs in
German. With this first-hand information the two missionaries
agreed that they should reach Deer Creek as soon as possible, and
were again boarded on the stage headed in that direction. When
there, they went at once to the headquarters of Agent Twiss, and
learned that their companions were housed in the same dwelling
they had occupied the year before, and until their departure in the
spring.

At a meeting with Flachenecker and Krebs, Seyler and Beck who
had been awaiting recall, now believed that with four missionaries
in the field other arrangements could be made. This turned out
to be the case. When the Mission Board members learned of
Braeuinger's death they were, of course, much disturbed, since he
had been a worthy, dedicated and trustworthy leader. But they

220

ANNALS OF WYOMING

concluded this should not be the end. After intensive deliberation
the Synod directed the four workers to stay on at Deer Creek and
there erect and maintain a Mission. They were instructed to be on
the alert for the friendly Crows, should they appear, but to con-
tinue the missionary work with any of the Indian tribes who would
receive it.

Courtesy of Burton S. Hill
REVEREND KREBS AND THE INDIAN BOYS

FRONTIER POWDER RIVER MISSION 221

Actually, the German Lutherans were not altogether new in
the field. Organized at St. Sebald, Iowa, on August 24, 1854, by
members from Bavaria, thought was then given to missionary work
among the Indians. With the possible teachings of Father P. J.
DeSmet just prior to 1851 and afterwards, little effort of the kind
had ever been attempted among the tribes of North America.
After their organization at St. Sebald, the German Lutherans had
failed in two attempts to establish missions among the Canadian
Indians, but Pastor Schmidt was not yet ready to give up. While
in Detroit in 1858 he became acquainted with a man named Red-
field who was then Indian Agent for the Crow Tribe along the
Yellowstone and Big Horn rivers. After some negotiations Agent
Redfield consented that Moritz Braeuninger and Pastor Schmidt
should accompany him upon his next trip among the Crows. It is
evident that the Synod had explicit faith in these two very dedi-
cated men, and particularly in Braeuninger, an acknowledged
leader, who was later to give his life to the cause he believed in so
thoroughly. The two thus chosen by the Synod lived with the
Crows all during the summer of 1858, but returned to St. Sebald in
November bringing a favorable report. It was then decided that
the Lutheran Mission Board should found a colony in Absaraka,
the land of the Crows. Just why Deer Creek was selected as a
starting point has never been satisfactorily explained, but in the fall
of 1859 Braeuninger, and his five followers there became acquaint-
ed with Captain W. F. Raynolds of the U. S. Topographical Engi-
neers, who gave them help and advice. It is obvious that a starting
point some place in the Yellowstone Country would have been
more advantageous and less precarious, but the Synod may have
had its reasons. At all events, in the fall of 1860, Flachenecker,
Krebs, Seyler and Beck were at Deer Creek ready to launch a fifth
attempt at missionary work among the Indians. It appears that
later they were joined by Pastor Matter. This time, however,
their headquarters mission remained at Deer Creek, from whence
they visited all the tribes, including the Crows.

This fifth attempt turned out to be quite a success. However,
the accomplishments of the missionaries were the greatest among
the Cheyennes, whose language they learned and whose ways of
life they came to well understand. These devoted and dedicated
men traveled at will among the different Cheyenne tribes and were
always welcome. They were not only able to converse with these
Indians in their own language, but they were able to teach many of
them the Word of God. One of their trips in the Indian Country
was of particular interest since it brought them in the neighborhood
of the earlier mission station erected on Powder River. But, at
the time there was little left. One of the accomplishments of these
five missionaries was the education and training of three Indian
boys they called Paul, or Paulus, Gottfried and Fred. Gottfried
and Paulus died in 1865 at St. Sebald, where they were buried in a

222 ANNALS OF WYOMING

small country cemetery. Later a monument was erected to their
memory, as well as to Moritz Braeuninger, and all the Deer Creek
missionaries.

Just how long the German Lutherans did missionery work in the
Powder River Country has never been exactly fixed. But, from
the record of events it appears they were there as late as 1865,
irrespective of the many depredations being committed by the
Indians along the Oregon Trail and open warfare in most of the
area. During those years history does not record much missionary
work in that untamed territory.

Acknowledgement: The source of this article from the copious notes
and writings of the late Howard B. Lott, a well known historian of Buffalo.
Wyoming. Some thirty years ago he was in correspondence with Professor
George J. Kritschel, of Dubuque, Iowa, at one time Curator of the German
Lutheran Church Records of the Iowa Synod. The account of the Powder
River Indian Mission, and allied Indian Mission efforts, had appeared in the
Kirchenblatt, a church publication, but had never before appeared outside
of the Church publications. For Mr. Lott, Professor Kritschel translated
the appropriate records from the German text of the Kirchenblatt, contain-
ing a full account of the German Lutheran Mission among the Crows and
Cheyennes. The accompanying pictures were also furnished by Professor
Kritschel. Upon the death of Mr. Lott, his widow, Emily B. Lott, gener-
ously provided the writer with this material. The official report of Captain
W. F. Raynolds was also used.

$15,000 Reward. On the night of 25th August, Wells Fargo
and Co.'s Overland Mail Coach was stopped and robbed on Bitter
Creek at a point about seven miles west of Laclede of a large
amount of bullion. By four men, partially described as follows:
One, quite a young man of thin visage. Two men with small feet
wearing boots with very small pointed heels. The other had on
boots with large heels, run down on one side. To any party or
parties procuring the arrest of the perpetrators of this robbery and
recovery of the bullion a reward of Fifteen Thousand Dollars !
will be paid or a fair proportion thereof for any one of the robbers
or any portion of the treasure. Wells Fargo and Co., Cheyenne,
Wyoming, August 27, 1868.

Advertisement in the Cheyenne Daily Leader, October 17, 1868

Zke greatest Kide
in Wyoming Mist or y

By
Francis A. Barrett

The winter of 1866 was full of bitter days for the garrison at
Fort Phil Kearny.1 This outpost on the Little Piney in northern
Wyoming was isolated by blizzards and embattled by the Sioux
nation.

The department commander in Omaha, Gen. Phillip St. George
Cooke, advocated an open battle with the Indians during the win-
ter. Although the Commander at Phil Kearny, Col. Henry B.
Carrington, was a cautious man, he nonetheless intended to employ
this strategy of "surprise and extermination" as soon as reinforce-
ments arrived.2

Among the newly arrived officers at Kearny was young Capt.
William J. Fetterman. He, along with many of the other less
experienced officers and enlisted men, was full of recklessness and
bravado. Although the Sioux were fighting with their lives to
preserve their hunting grounds, Fetterman was known for his confi-
dent assertion that "with 80 men, I could ride through the Sioux
nation."3

Thus, on a cold, clear day, December 21, 1866, a detachment of
81 men under Fetterman's command left Fort Kearny with clear
orders to "give support" to a wood train under Indian attack and
to return to the fort. There was an additional order from Col.
Carrington: "Under no circumstances must you cross Lodge
Trail Ridge."4 For there, the colonel was certain, Indians had
been gathering for attack or ambush.

Two Moons, a Cheyenne at the scene, described the Indian
strategy: "The Indians attacked the wood train and then, when
Fetterman's command came out, they sent a few Indians, mounted

1. Named after Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, killed 1 Sept. 1862 at the
battle of Chantilly, Va. (Heitman, Francis B., Historical Register and
Dictionary of the U. S. Army, 1789-1903, Vol. I, 1903)

2. Hebard, G. R., and Brininstool, E. A., The Bozeman Trail, The Arthur
H. Clark Co., Cleveland, Ohio, 1922. Glendale, Calif., 1960.

3. Brown, Dee, Fort Phil Kearny: An American Saga, G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York, 1962.

4. Ibid.

224

ANNALS OF WYOMING

on their best ponies, to decoy them into the hills."5 Among the
individual Sioux and Cheyenne warriors who risked their lives to
lure the soldiers into the trap were several who, during the next
decade, would become famous chiefs: Crazy Horse, Dull Knife,
Black Shield, Big Nose, White Bull.,! Fetterman followed up the
crest of Lodge Trail Ridge and nearly 2,000 Indians swarmed in
from all sides," including Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Sioux, Ogalalas.
Under Red Cloud, they attacked with ferocity. s

In thirty minutes, the firing was over, the battlefield indescrib-
able with not a living man or animal. Most of the men were taken
alive and tortured to death - only six killed by bullet. At the end,
the Fetterman Disaster stood as one of three battles in American
history from which came no survivors. (The others: Custer on
the Little Big Horn 1876; Crocket at the Alamo 1836)1'

For those left at Fort Kearny, the outlook was bleak. Indian

Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department
M. D. Houghton sketch

"PORTUGEE" PHILLIPS AT HORSESHOE STATION

5. Hebard and Brininstool.

6. Brown.

7. Appleman, Roy E., Great Western Indian Fights. Members of the
Potomac Corral of the Westerners, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln,
1960. Chapter 10, "The Fetterman Fight."

8. Red Cioud claimed to have directed the fighting but several Indians
indicated that he was not present. But the ambush, which incidentally, was
carefully rehearsed, was the fruition of Red Cloud's long summer campaign
of harassment.^

9. Hebard and Brininstool.

THE GREATEST RIDE IN WYOMING HISTORY 225

attack in overwhelming numbers was likely; the remaining de-
fenders were reduced to 20 rounds of ammunition per man; a
blizzard was storming in from the Big Horns; the nearest help was
Fort Laramie, 236 miles away.

Col. Carrington made known the desperate problem at hand and
the necessity of some one riding to Fort Laramie for help. John
"Portugee" Phillips volunteered. As a matter of fact, he was re-
ported to be the only volunteer.10

John Phillips, born on the isle of Fayal in the Azores, of Portu-
gese parentage, landed on the Pacific Coast as an immigrant and
worked his way east as a prospector. He with several others had
come to Fort Phil Kearney as employees of contractors and the
Post Quartermaster. On the morning of the disaster, he had been
operating a water wagon.

As later related by Col. Carrington,11 "John Phillips, used to
frontier life, the wiles of the Indians and convinced that utter
destruction awaited the command unless relief were promptly
obtained, volunteered his services as "despatch bearer" to Ft.
Laramie".12 The "despatch" from Col. Carrington was as follows:

FORT PHIL KEARNEY,^ D.T., Dec. 21, 1866 - (By courier to
Fort Laramie) - Do send me reinforcements forthwith. Expedition
now with my force is impossible. I risk everything but the post and
its store. I venture as much as anyone can, but I have had a fight
today unexampled in Indian warfare. My loss is ninety-four, 81 killed.
I have recovered forty-nine bodies and thirty-two more are to be
brought in in the morning that have been found. Among the killed
are Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Fetterman, Captain F. H. Brown and
Lieutenant Grummond.

The Indians engaged were nearly three thousand, being apparently
the force reported as on Tongue River in my dispatches of the 5th of
November and subsequent thereto. This line, so important, can and
must be held. It will take four times the force in the spring to reopen
if it be broken up this winter. I hear nothing of my arms that left
Fort Leavenworth September 15; additional cavalry ordered to join
have not reported their arrival; would have saved as much loss today;
the Indians lost beyond all precedent; I need prompt reinforcements
and repeating arms. I am sure to have, as before reported, an active
winter, and must have men and arms; every officer of this battalion
should join it today. I have every teamster on duty, and, at best, one
hundred and nineteen left at the post. I hardly need urge this matter;
it speaks for itself. Give me two companies of cavalry, at least, forth-
with, well armed, or four companies of infantry, exclusive of what I
need at Reno and Fort Smith. I did not overestimate my early appli-
cation; a single company, promptly, will save the line; but our killed

10. Russell Thorp, Letter of February 27, 1956, to Wyoming State Ar-
chives and Historical Department.

11. Affidavit of Henry B. Carrington, U. S. Army.

12. It must be realized that this statement was made in behalf of a
special bill to give relief to Hattie Phillips, widow of John Phillips.

13. A common misspelling that persisted for many years. See foot-
note 1.

226 ANNALS OF WYOMING

show that any remissness will result in mutilation and butchery beyond
precedent. No such mutilation as that today on record. Depend on
it that this post will be held so long as a round or a man is left,
promptness is the vital thing. Give me officers and men. Only the
new Spencer arms should be sent. The Indians desperate and they
spare none.

HENRY B. CARRINGTON,
Colonel Eighteenth Infantry, commanding.

Before agreeing to the ride, John Phillips made one condition;
that he be allowed the pick of any horse at the fort. He chose a
thoroughbred belonging to the commanding officer, Col. Carring-
ton. Accounts differ as to how the colonel took this selection.
Some reports indicated that Col. Carrington was bitter over the
selection of his favorite animal.14 George Lathrop, a government
teamster at the post said "the old man got pretty sore when Phillips
insisted on taking his horse."1"' However, another eyewitness
recorded that the colonel "quickly complied" with Phillips' wish.16

Frances Grummond17 was also at the Fort. She, the bereaved
widow of Lt. George Grummond, killed that very day in the Fetter-
man Disaster, had an interesting visit from John Philiips before his
departure on the "ride."18 He brought her his wolf skin robe, paid
his respects and although he had never met her before, said, "For
your sake I am going to attempt to bring relief from Laramie. I
may not get through the Indian lines, but in case I fail, I want you
to keep this robe as a slight remembrance of me." Perhaps he felt
it his duty to protect Mrs. Grummond and her unborn baby.

So John (Portugee) Phillips made his preparations; biscuits for
himself, a quarter sack of oats for the horse. John C. Brough, an
enlisted man in the Second U. S. Cavalry, was walking the beat:19
"Pretty soon we saw two men walking toward us, their heads close
together, seemingly in earnest conversation and one of them leading
a horse. When they got within twenty or twenty-five feet, I put
myself in position and prepared to challenge, when the Sergeant
said 'Attention! It's the Commanding Officer!' General Car-
rington2" interrupted and said, 'Never mind, Sergeant, open the
gate!' " According to Brough's account, following the conversa-

14. The Colonel's horse "Grey Eagle" was probably not the horse chosen
by Phillips since reference is made to his using this horse the following day.

15. Russell Thorp. Letter.

16. Carrington, Frances C, Army Life On The Plains, J. B. Lippincott
Co., Philadelphia, 1910.

17. After the death of Lt. Grummond, Frances lived with Col. and Mrs.
Carrington. Following the death of Mrs. Carrington, Frances married the
colonel.

18. Carrington, Frances.

19. Ostrander, A. B., "John Phillip's Ride," Wyoming State Archives and
Historical Department.

20. Reference is to a later promotion.

THE GREATEST RIDE IN WYOMING HISTORY 227

tion, one man mounted the horse and the other, General Carring-
ton, took his hand and said "May God help you."

It was near midnight with a blizzard bearing down from the Big
Horn Mountains, the temperature 30 to 40 degrees below zero,
the ground covered with snow, drifting up to four and five feet.

As John (Portugee) Phillips and his horse left Fort Phil Kearny,
those at the post listened to the quickly disappearing hoofbeats.
Colonel Carrington remarked, "Good! He has taken softer ground
at the side of the trail." Thus began the greatest ride in Wyoming
history.

It was a ride of 236 miles, through snow and bitter cold,21 over
territory endangered with Indians.22 How did he do it? It was,
according to Frances Grummond Carrington,23 "intensely simple"
as was later related to her and others by John Phillips. He rode
parallel to the Bozeman Trail. Later, when asked if he stuck close
to the trail, John replied: "Hell no! More'n once I was more'n
ten miles off the trail." In a talk with Capt. Proctor at Fort Reno,
he said he left the trail at Buffalo Wallows and "came around"
five miles south of the "Forks" (Crazy Woman's) and then to
Fort Reno.24

He usually traveled at night and hid with his horse in the thickets
from dawn to dusk in order to escape the notice of the Indians. He
fed his horse oats and tree bark and ate biscuits himself. He
passed through Fort Reno alone, stopping to rest himself and his
horse. His immediate destination was Horseshoe Telegraph Sta-
tion some 190 miles south of Fort Kearny. Just before arriving,
he was pursued by Indians but with his strong horse, he rode a
"high hill" where he stayed all night. At dawn he "made a run
for it" and arrived at Horseshoe Christmas morning.25

At the Horseshoe Station, where he reputedly arrived with
George Dillon and William Bailey,26 he gave the operator, John C.
Friend, two despatches, one to the department commander in
Omaha, the second to the post commander at Fort Laramie. Be-
cause there was no assurance that these messages would "get
through" and because he had promised Col. Carrington that he

21. It is quite likely that the weather was a greater enemy than the
Indians!

22. Coutant, C. G., The History of Wyoming, Chaplin, Spafford and
Mathison, Laramie, 1899.

23. Carrington, Frances.

24. Ostrander, A. B.

25. Cook, Captain James, Agate, Sioux County, Nebraska, personal letter
to the authors of The Bozeman Trail.

26. Carrington later stated that "citizen couriers" had been sent on this
mission. It is likely that Bailey was sent as a separate rider and that Bailey
and Phillips had met George Dillon on the way.

228 ANNALS OF WYOMING

would deliver his message to the commander at Fort Laramie, John
Phillips continued his ride to his final destination, Laramie.

The final 40 miles to Fort Laramie were ridden over blinding
white snow during the day and falling, freezing snow at night. He
arrived near midnight of Christmas Day at Fort Laramie and
stopped in front of Old Bedlam, the post headquarters and ball-
room. Here a full-dress garrison ball was in progress.

Lieutenant Herman Haas, the Officer of the Guard, asked the
rider his name — but he was too weak to answer.-7 He was taken
inside, where "a huge form dressed in buffalo overcoat, pants,
gauntlets, and a cap, accompanied by an orderly, desired to see
the commanding officer." The message from Col. Carrington28
was the first word to reach the world outside the Dakota Territory
of the Fetterman Disaster.29

Phillips collapsed from exhaustion and frostbite. His horse
dropped to the ground in front of "Old Bedlam," and later was
moved to the stables where he soon died despite the efforts of the
post veterinarians.30

And so ended a four-day, 236-mile ride through deep snow and
bitter cold, accompanied by danger at every turn, with most of the
riding under cover of night with the barest of supplies — Wyoming's
greatest ride.

27. A Tribute to John Phillips, Warren Richardson; On the Occasion of
the Erection of Monument to John Phillips by the Wyoming Landmark
Commission, August 15, 1940.

28. Robert Murray states that the telegraph message was not "garbled"
and was received at Fort Laramie and that preparations were underway to
send relief. Personal communication.

29. Brown.

30. This is the popular story. There is no direct evidence that the horse
ever died.1:{ Also, it is quite likely that John Phillips had the opportunity
to change horses at Reno and Horseshoe.

This story is of special interest in this 100th anniversary year of the
Fetterman Massacre and the resulting ride of John Phillips. Ed.

For the benefit of mechanics comtemplating removal to this
place we will say that any man that can drive a nail intelligently
can get all the work he can do, and at high rates, until winter's
storms shall prevent prosecution of outdoor work.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, September 26, 1867 .

ttook Keviews

Bankers and Cattlemen. By Gene M. Gressley. (New York,
Alfred A. Knopf, 1966. Illus. Index. 320 pp. $6.95)

Professor Gressley has written the best single book on the west-
ern range cattle industry since the publication of E. S. Osgood's
The Day of the Cattleman in 1929. In an area where historical
writing has too often been based on the records of one company or
on the unreliable memoirs of aged participants, the author has gone
directly to a staggering number of fresh manuscript sources. This
diligent research enables the author to reach persuasive conclusions
about the nature of the western cattle business as a whole. The
result is a book which can be heartily recommended to every
student of the American West.

In Professor Gressley's capable hands, the story of the cattle
business loses its parochial character and becomes part of the
general history of American economic development in the late 1 9th
century. Responsive to the fluctuations in the business cycle,
influenced by conditions in the world economy, the range cattle
industry was much more than a romantic saga of cowboy and gun-
fighter, rancher and homesteader, or cowman and sheepman. In-
stead, it reflected a complex relationship between eastern investors
and western ranchers, both interested in making stockgrowing pay,
but often for mutually antagonistic reasons.

Professor Gressley, then, has used the cattle industry as a case
study of the frequently-cited but seldom described colonial position
of the west in relation to the east. The record in this one area
indicates that the affair brought unmixed blessings to neither side.
Few eastern investors in cattle emerged with profits, or even their
original stake, while western ranchers found themselves saddled
with nagging overseers who did not understand their problems or
sympathize with their plight.

The cattle business has had more than its share of romance, and
the great merit of Professor Gressley's book is that it penetrates
beneath this appealing facade to reveal the intricate, time-consum-
ing and frustrating difficulties which confronted men who, for
whatever reason, had decided to link their fortunes with the steer.
Incompetent managers, rebellious cowboys, declining prices, and
tightening credit combined to make the task of eking out a profit
from a ranch, at least in the 1880's, an awesome responsibility.

Featuring as it does such men as Francis E. Warren, John Clay,
Owen Wister, and Thomas Sturgis, to mention only Wyoming fig-
ures, this book could hardly be dull, but the author is more than
equal to his subject and writes with such verve and dry humor that
his style is continually delightful. To those who believe that aca-

230 ANNALS OF WYOMING

demic history of superior quality must therefore be boring, Pro-
fessor Gressley's book will be a pleasant surprise. In his lively
pages, students of the West will find innumerable provocative
insights to aid them in their work. On every count, Bankers and
Cattlemen deserves to be placed among that small group of books
about the west which can be described as definitive.

Yale University Lewis L. Gould

The War on Powder River, The History of an Insurrection. By
Helena Huntington Smith. (New York. McGraw-Hill Book
Company. Illus. Index. 320 pp. $7.95)

This is Mrs. Smith's account of the Johnson County War, which
took place principally in Johnson County, Wyoming, during the
months of April and May of 1 892. Her narrative also includes a
record of the state-wide events and happenings leading up to it,
and afterwards.

Mrs. Smith is a talented writer, and usually carries her theme
along in a leisurely, unhurried journalistic fashion which is both
pleasing and readable. In this book, however, to keep her por-
trayal tense and exciting, she has indulged in considerable specu-
lation, and the over-use of certain stylistic and rhetorical gimmicks,
which are of dubious value. Also, she has overworded some of her
descriptions to the point of causing them to be a bit tedious.

In a book of this kind the reader might justly presume that the
subject matter will be kept impersonal; but, all too early the
author's bias and prejudice commence to show through. Finally,
by her scorching indictment of some of the prominent members of
the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, and her efforts to build
to hero status several of the notorious rustlers, her position becomes
patently clear.

The best part of Mrs. Smith's book is her treatment of the events
surrounding the murder of George Wellman. In this part there is
exhibited more of her authorial skill, and less anxiety to keep the
context thrilling and taut. Of course, in this situation she did not
have the Wyoming Stock Growers Association to flay, and none of
its members to chastise. Yet, she places the blame where it
belongs, and deals justly with the outlaw element involved.

It will bscome evident at once that the author has done much
research, and has afforded painstaking effort in putting her book
together. The arrangement is good, and her chapter titles are
alluring and ingenious. However, many of her references to news-
paper articles and similiar writings, are scarcely dependable since
they were written by persons highly biased, or emotionally wrought

BOOK REVIEWS 231

for one reason or another. These references are so numerous that
small space is left for additional facts, of which there are very few.

To the reader who has no ancestral involvement, and no par-
ticular knowledge of early Wyoming history, Mrs. Smith's book
should prove entertaining. It will be accepted by those readers
whose progenitors espoused the rustler cause, either as ancestors or
friends. And, the term "rustler" appears to include almost every-
body not on the other side, from the preying culprit with a long
lariat and straight branding iron, to the honest cowboy, the early-
day Powder River homesteader, small rancher, or settler and their
associates.

The Smith commentary will anger the descendants and admirers
of the one-time big cattlemen, and members of the Wyoming Stock
Growers Association, all of whom were sometimes known as
"white caps." This was a derisive title used in ridicule and mock
purity. It covered virtually everybody not fixed to the rustler side.

For the historian the Smith Johnson County War treatise will be
a disappointment. It was hoped that her account would be un-
biased, more factual, and written in modest candor; but, unfor-
tunately, most of these elements are lacking. The author was too
bent on writing a good story. To satisfy the reader of history she
should have been a bit less breath-taking, more veritable, and much
less fictitious.

Buffalo Burton S. Hill

The Jesuits and the Indian Wars of the Far Northwest. By Robert
Ignatius Burns, S. J. (New Haven and London, Yale Uni-
versity Press, 1966. Illus. Index. 512 pp. $10.00)

This is a scholarly production, twenty years in the making,
according to the author's preface, and the result of painstaking
research in fifty manuscript repositories around the world. Much
of the theme of the volume is an evaluation of the influence of the
Jesuits in civilizing the tribes of the inland northwest; present
Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana.

The Protestant influence is briefly touched upon and dealt with
sympathetically, although their forces had been withdrawn from
much of the terrain with which the author treats in the bulk of the
book. The author presents candidly both the successes and failures
of Protestant and Jesuit efforts in peacekeeping, mission establish-
ment and neutrality (or involvement) in civil affairs.

The Jesuit role was to join the primitive tribe, adapt to their ways
and customs, including language, and proceed to introduce hand-
crafts, farming, morality, monogamy and a Catholic religious

232 ANNALS OF WYOMING

pattern. As the author points out: "The motive for this danger-
ous work was not pacifism . . . When the Jesuit Indians were un-
justly attacked, it was assumed that they would defend themselves
... In the American Civil War numbers of Jesuit Osages were to
fight fo rthe Union forces when they could not remain neutral.''

The result was suspicion on the part of non-Indian settlers,
miners, and military forces of Jesuit intent. The author goes to
some length to clarify the Jesuit position, to delineate the Jesuit
peace-keeping activities and their disinterest in civil matters.

Of interest is the origin of the Jesuits: Dutch, Swiss, Irish, Ger-
man, Italian and Belgian were some of the nationalities represented
in the Oregon country. All were well educated in European insti-
tutions and dedicated to the precarious life among the primitive
peoples they served.

The volume covers in minute detail the negotiations for peace
and land treaties in 1855, the military engagements of 1858-1859.
and the Nez Perce war of 1877.

The text is well supported with footnotes, nine maps, 36 illus-
trations and an exhaustive bibliography. The rather choppy style
and infinite detail may deter the casual reader but the scholar will
find this book much to his liking.

Cheyenne Neal E. Miller

Dividing the Waters: A Century of Controversy Between the
United States and Mexico. By Norris Hundley, Jr. (Berke-
ley and Los Angeles, University of California Press. 1966.
Illus. Index. 266 pp. $6.95 )

Essentially, this is a doctoral dissertation as completed a few
years ago at the University of California at Los Angeles. It is a
good one. Dr. Hundley, who now teaches at UCLA, has done a
remarkable job of compressing the story of a century-long, amaz-
ingly complicated struggle into 186 pages. The small volume,
besides the text, includes 35 pages of notes and 33 pages of bib-
liography. It isn't often even in a doctoral dissertation that notes
and bibliography approach one half the bulk of the text itself.

The long controversy concerns mainly the waters of two inter-
national river systems, the Colorado and the Rio Grande. A third
international river, the Tijuana, only 17 miles long, plays a minor
role. Hundley takes the controversy from crisis to crisis, and there
have been many of them, especially in the last 60 years.

International negotiations have been complicated by conflicting
water laws, changing administrations in the United States and
Mexico, erratic estimates of stream flow and return flow, treaty
ambiguities, and lack of unity among states of the United States.

BOOK REVIEWS 233

In particular, representatives of the seven states of the Colorado
River Basin, who have disagreed over the distribution of the United
States' share of Colorado River waters, have likewise differed about
the amount that should be allowed to Mexico. More often than
not, it has been California against the other six states. This is not
to say that California has been more selfish than the others, for in
fact all have placed their own interests first pretty consistently.

A most significant treaty was worked out by negotiators in 1944,
and it received the approval of the United States and Mexican
Senates in 1945, with most of the opposition coming from Cali-
fornia. The treaty divided the waters of the Rio Grande and the
Colorado Rivers, but not of the little Tijuana. The details of the
division are too involved for repetition here. Since that time,
controversy has been renewed over the salinity of the Colorado
River water sent down to Mexico — the 1944 treaty settled the
question of quantity but not of quality.

Besides illuminating the international problems, Dr. Hundley has
cast a bright light on interstate water problems as well. He has
done so with admirable objectivity. In sum, it is an excellent study,
one which should stand as a reliable reference volume for a long
time.

University of Wyoming T. A. Larson

Custer's Gold The United States Cavalry Expedition of 1874. By
Donald Jackson. (New Haven and London: Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1966. Illus. Index. 152 pp. $5.00)

The phenomenal interest, often undeserved, in George Arm-
strong Custer continues with Donald Jackson's detailed and read-
able account of Custer's 1874 expedition into the Black Hills.
Ostensibly a military expedition, the resulting verification of gold
in the Sioux-held area opened the flood gates to another white
advance into Indian-held lands.

History is full of irony. The last two years of Custer's life are
but another example of this axiom. Custer's 1874 expedition only
verified what had been long suspected, the existence of gold in the
Black Hills. Peaceful attempts to relieve the Sioux of the Black
Hills failed; thus, in 1876, the government ordered a three-pronged
military attack to drive the remaining hostiles of the northern high
plains on to reservations in western Nebraska. It was during this
campaign that Custer met his demise at the hands of the Sioux in
the valley of the Little Big Horn.

The author has made profitable use of official records and cor-
respondence; the book is well documented. He shows a refreshing

234 ANNALS OF WYOMING

understanding of Indian concepts and the problems the United
States government had in negotiating with them. The language,
terms, and provisions presented to the Indian were those of the
white man — many of which were totally confusing, if not meaning-
less, to the Indian.

There were two avowed purposes for writing this book: to
examine that characteristic of the American people as reflected in
taking the Black Hills and to portray an Army expedition in detail.
The account of the miseries of a military expedition during the
1870s is one of the more interesting facets of Jackson's book.
Much of this information was taken from the ournal of a soldier
who was on the expedition, Private Theodore Ewert. Company H,
Seventh Cavalry.

Even the novice reader of western Americana will recognize
some of the names of the scientific corps that accompanied this
expedition. Names such as George Bird Grinnell, Luther North,
and the photographer on the expedition, William H. Illingworth.
The author included a fairly detailed account of the "wet plate"
process, basis for most photography of that period. Geologist on
the expedition, Newton H. Winchell, is not as well known. Much
to Custer's chagrin, Winchell was more interested in the geograph-
ical structure of the Black Hills than in looking for gold. However,
the report of gold was sent back and as the author so aptly con-
cluded Custer's return: "He could not know that within two years
men would be repeating a sad little platitude, saying that the miners
who had shoveled the gold out of the ground, back there in the
evergreen valley, had dug the grave of George Armstrong Custer."

Appendixes include a Summary of Locations and Distances, the
Treaty of 1868, the Agreement of 1876, and a Roster of Custer's
Staff. There is a series of excellent illustrations, a complete index,
geographical descriptions of the route taken, Custer's official report
regarding gold in the area, public reaction the news had back East
as well as in the Plains area. Also included are divergent news-
paper accounts, the official government stand, the Jenny Expedi-
tion, the treaty commission of 1875, and the final settlement are
all included. The admirable thing about this book is the simplicity
in which the author has presented the intricate complexities of the
white man's encroachment of Indian lands.

Jackson does not treat Custer too kindly; he doesn't glorify the
westward movement or the discovery of the new El Dorado in the
Black Hills. He has taken a relatively insignificant topic and writ-
ten an enjoyable book for those interested in western Americana.
Custer buffs will particularly enjoy it. This is Volume 14 in the
Yale Western Americana Series.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site R. James Axt

BOOK REVIEWS 235

Red Man's Religion. Ruth M. Underhill. (University of Chicago
Press, 1965. Illus. Index. 301 pp. $7.95)

It is time that a serious scholar made the effort to look carefully
at the metaphysical aspects of Indian culture. When it is accom-
plished, much of what are now considered to be characteristics of
the Indian way of life will change; and much of what is now consid-
ered to be strange and backward will be seen in a new light. The
lack of any basic connection between ethical behavioir and religious
activity has long led the layman to consiider that the Indian's "bar-
baric" behavior resulted from his lack of religious orientation. The
failure of the Indian to "worship" in the sense that the western
Christian worships, has led many to suspect that the Indian never
considered the concept of diety as a reflection of value. Both of
these viewpoints are wrong, however — as wrong as it would be for
the Indian to interpret Christian ideals by watching Christians
behave.

Just how wrong most of our concepts of the Red Man's Religion
are will not be understood until we are somehow able to circumvent
the term, and the concept, "religion," and realize that the Indian's
relation with divinity can not be understood in our terms, and that
while it is neither ethical nor worshipful, it was nevertheless vital
and directive.

Under the general heading of religion are discussed such areas as
world creation, delayed burial, visions, planting ceremonies, and
modern religion. Without trying to pick at words with Dr. Under-
hill, most of these areas, when discussed at the level of "why they
believe" rather than "how they believe," are areas of philosophical
investigations. Creation, for example, is strictly a cosmological
study and is not a concern of religion until the assumption is made
that creation was the result of some planned or personalized be-
havior. Only when the Red Man began to pay tribute, expect
justice or mercy, or to worship the sunburnt rabbit (in the case of
the Arapaho) did creation become an aspect of religion. The same
is true of eschatology. This is a distinction that Dr. Underhill
would have been wise not to ignore for as it is, she is straddling
a metaphysical fence without tasting the real grass in either pasture.

Dr. Underhill sees a common supernatural arising from what
appears to her to be some metaphysical concerns which, much like
the clovis point, were common knowledge throughout the tribes.
These fears are: fear of the menstrual blood; fear as an avoidance
of death; and individual failure to meet one's one fear and crisis
situations, thus the medicine man or priest. From these three she
sees the rise of rites, symbols, ceremonials and to whatever extent
possible, a consistant relationship to fear. She is operating through-
out, however, with the assumption that fear is the basis of religious
development — an assumption that is open to considerable question.

Dr. Underhill's work, Red Man's Religion, is an interesting, and

236 ANNALS OF WYOMING

in some areas, informative book. While most certainly neither a
difinitive or well-balanced investigation, it is a beginning. It is,
however, more an account of religious practices, with editorial com-
ment, than it is an attempt to discuss the metaphysical and cosmo-
logical substantiation for such practices.

Dr. Underbill's book includes some fine illustrations and a very
good bibliography.

Graceland College Paul M. Edwards

Golden Rails, 100 Years of Opertaion of the Union Pacific Rail-
road. By William Kratville. (Omaha, Kratville Publications,
1966. Illus. Index. 314 pp. $17.50)

"Evening on the Wahsatch," from the spirited original oil by
Otto Kuhler on the dust cover of William W. Kratville's Golden
Rails, sets the exciting pace of this book covering 100 years of
operation of the Union Pacific Railroad. One can almost hear the
tearing exhausts of the Vauclain freight compound helping the new
Harriman Pacific pull the great limited westward with the magic
power of steam.

It is a big book, 314 pages 8Vi x 11 inches, bound with a rich
golden cover. The several hundred photographs, gathered from
wide and varied sources, sweep one from Council Bluffs to Los
Angeles and northwestward to Portland and Seattle, with all the
fascinating branches in between.

There is a good, brief history of the Union Pacific; an interesting
succession of shields of the U. P., one page of portraits of the pres-
idents— rugged men for rugged days.

Special attention is given to E. H. Harriman, who bid in the
road November 1, 1897, at the world's largest public auction. He
immediately began rebuilding it into a great and valuable system.
"Harriman Standards" became famous: the world's finest road-
bed, the world's largest steam locomotives, super diesels, gas
turbines, etc.

Dramatic is the chapter, "Along the Platte" to Cheyenne; infi-
nitely more so is "Across the Great Divide." Kratville sums it up
well: "The Wyoming Division — hotspot of the mighty Union
Pacific! From the banks of Crow Creek to the confines of Weber
Canyon, the tracks of this Division carry the brunt of overland
traffic."

This was the initial home of great steam power — the Twelve
Wheelers, compound Mallets, Overlands, Union Pacifies, the Chal-
lengers, and the Big Boys. Cheyenne — windy, smoky, noisy —
never closing, trains arriving and departing at all hours. Here

BOOK REVIEWS 237

crews and locomotives girded their loins for the battle up Sherman
Hill.

There are unforgettable pictures: Dale Creek Trestle at Mile-
post 36.7 on the original Sherman line. Sherman, highest point
(8,235 feet) with its great windmill to pump water into a big
wooden tank, diamond-stack engine waiting, frame station and two
hotels; a mighty 3,600 class compound Mallet leaving Laramie for
Cheyenne under threatening skies; Laramie roundhouse, a sym-
phony of smoke and steam and mighty power; the blizzard-harried
Laramie Plains — bleak, dangerous, yet grand; a Vauclain road
engine being "changed over to compound running with a loud roar
and bilious escape of steam!" the South Park (Colorado) narrow
gauge and the almost never ending war with snow.

There are great trains to remember: The Pacific Limited, Over-
land Limited, China and Japan Fast Mail, Eastern Express, Gold
Coast Limited, Pony Express, Portland Rose, Columbine, and the
Challengers.

I enjoyed reading William W. Kratville's Golden Rails and shall
enjoy reading it again.

Boulder, Colorado Forest Crossen

Indian Legends of the Northern Rockies. By Ella E. Clark. (Nor-
man: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966. Illus. 324 pp.
$6.95)

Ella E. Clark has produced three anthologies based on "myths,
legends, personal narratives and historical traditions" from the oral
literature of the North American Indian.

The first book, Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest, was
published in 1953 and the second, Indian Legends of Canada,
appeared seven years later. Now in 1966, comes Indian Legends
of the Northern Rockies, which treats with tribes historically asso-
ciated with the present states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Any author has the right to delimit the scope of his writing con-
tent and this right Clark has exercised quite well. Her third book
comprises six major linguistic headings: I. A Sahaptian Tribe:
The Nez Perces; II. Salishan Tribes: The Flatheads, Kalispels and
Coeur D'Alenes; III. The Kutenais; IV. Shoshonean Tribes: The
Shoshonis and Bannocks; V. Algonquian Tribes: The Arapahos,
Gros Ventres and Blackfeet; VI. Siouan Tribes: The Crows, Sioux
and Assiniboines.

Some legends and narratives used by the author are easily traced
to ethnologists of the 19th century; a few — unfortunately, too few
— are attributed to scattered Indian "laymen" who recorded tales
they had heard their elder kinsmen tell again and again and again.
Some myths and legends were obtained orally through the medium

238 ANNALS OF WYOMING

of an interpreter; others, directly from English-speaking tribesmen.
The community school on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming
supplied a number of Shoshoni stories contributed, back in the
1930"s, by school children who had probed the memories of their
elders.

Indian Legends of the Northern Rockies is replete with myths
explaining the origin of sacred objects and tribal ceremonies, the
history of ancient customs, traditions and beliefs.

Surely no serious reader can come away without a deeper knowl-
edge of a people who have emerged bent, but not cowed, by dec-
ades of tragedy and misery; of a people whose sense of humor is
beyond the comprehension of many white men. One feels a keen
sense of poignancy in knowing that, were it not for a few writers
who care as Clark does, this vast storehouse of Indian folklore
would fade away as swiftly as Indian crafts are disappearing from
the modern scene. Too often the Indian youth of today, through
fear of ridicule or sheer indifference, chooses to ignore the rich
literary heritage which is his.

Selectivity is always a problem for any author when choosing
writing content. It must have been especially hard for this anthol-
ogist to limit to 1 30 the number of myths and legends she has
recounted here.

Rarely, in ancient days, was a tale told and retold around the
firesides of a single tribe, which did not have its counterpart inside
the tepees of many other plains and plateau people. Animals such
as Old Man Coyote had a predominant role in the myths of every
tribe. The pranks they played and the aplomb with which they
emerged triumphant from every situation must have tickled the
fancy and excited the admiration of each breathless listener long
ago.

You may experience disappointment (as this reviewer occasion-
ally did ) when the version quoted by the anthologist differed, even
slightly, from the one most familiar to you. It is easy to forget it
was her privilege to be arbitrarily selective.

Not only has the author supplied an adequate list of selected
references; she also has pinpointed for us, by means of "Source
Notes,"1 the exact origin of the many myths, legends and personal
narratives she has used.

Have you ever groped for the correct pronunciation of tribal
names, such as Coeur D'Alene or Gros Ventres? Then you will
find Clark's pronunciation list (xvii) extremely helpful. Some
two dozen photographs, scattered throughout the book, add value
but most of them are familiar to many readers.

Clark claims that "approximately half of these narratives have
never before appeared in print."

She names the goals she seeks in writing style to be "simplicity,
sincerity, a conversational or oral quality, and the variety of
rhythms in everyday speech."

BOOK REVIEWS 239

With the first two of these goals, this writer would raise no ques-
tion. But, when it comes to the third and the fourth, I must
confess keen disappointment. It seems to me the myths and
legends related here suffer in comparison with the charm and subtle
humor of Alice Marriott's Kiowa winter-telling tales or the imagery
and musical prose found in Mari Sandoz1 tales of the Cheyennes.

Laramie Clarice Whittenburg

The Great North Trail. By Dan Cushman. (New York, McGraw-
Hill Book Company, 1 966. Index. 383 pp. $7.95)

Historic epics are strung like glittering beads on The Great North
Trail. Into this detailed account of North American peoples and
their continuous traveling, both north and south, along a route
from present Alaska to Mexico, east of the Rocky Mountains,
Cushman weaves colorful incidents to lighten and quicken histor-
ical data.

Starting with mysteries of a vast geological past, the author pic-
tures the earth as still changing, and North Americans still roaming
up the Alaskan Highway which follows the Great North Trail.

Artifacts found in caves with bones, dated by Carbon 14 read-
ings, place the earliest men in North America at last 12,000 years
ago. They wandered over from Asia which was then connected
with Alaska, and followed the Great North Trail southward along
the eastern side of the mountains.

In 1540 Spaniards wandered north along the trail hunting the
mystic land of Cibola and following Coronado. Horses, which
they brought and lost, roamed the plains once filled with small
native three-toed horses which mysteriously disappeared. Spanish
horses captured and trained by Indians changed their way of life,
making it easier for them to kill buffalo which furnished them all
necessities of life.

Then came white men exploring westward: trappers, fur trad-
ers, and gold seekers. Unethical, most of these adventurers tricked
and stole from the Indians, bartering with cheap alcohol and bring-
ing in smallpox, both deadly to Indians.

When gold was discovered in Montana, the Bozeman Trail again
followed the ancient pathway east of the mountains. Complete
familiarity with the history of the west allows Cushman to write
detailed descriptions of this period. Next he brings in the long
history of paleontology with the discovery of dinosaur bones, espe-
cially in what is now Wyoming. The ancient land passage proved
to be a supreme burying ground for gigantic reptiles as the inland
sea lapped against the rising Rockies. Fascinating is the detailed
story of two paleontologists: Cope, charming and witty; March,
dour and dedicated; as they struggled to outwit each other in their

240 ANNALS OF WYOMING

frantic search for and recovery of the bones of these ancient
animals.

Following the Civil War, vast herds of cattle were driven north-
ward along the Great North Trail to fill the land where millions of
buffalo had been slaughtered for their hides. Homesteaders, too,
were pouring in to take their share of land, resulting in the clash of
big cattle barons and small sod-breakers. The often-told stories of
Cattle Kate and the Johnson County War in Wyoming are given a
fresh touch by Cushman.

Switching to Montana history and the "Whoop-up Road," a
whiskey-smuggling route from Montana into Canada, the author
again follows the Great North Trail. He started writing as a
reporter in Big Sandy, Montana, at the age of fifteen, and has
worked in that state as a miner, prospector, and geologist.

The heart-breaking struggles of men up the Great North Trail
during the Alaska gold rush, and the final building of the Alaskan
Highway in 1942 to protect Alaska from possible Japanese inva-
sion, bring the history of this great land route up to date.

Lusk Mae Urbanek

The Red Man's West: True Stories of the Frontier Indians from
MONTANA, The Magazine of Western History. Selected
and edited by Michael S. Kennedy. (New York, Hastings
House, 1965. Illus. Index. 342 pp. $10)

From the past issues of Montana: The Magazine of Western
History its editor, Michael S. Kennedy, selected twenty-eight arti-
cles on the Indian: his early history; his early contacts with whites
on fur trading or exploring expeditions; his religious beliefs; his
battles with the whites: and "Characters, White and Red." These
are gathered under the title Red Man's West, a most appropriate
companion volume to an earlier, similar compilation by Kennedy,
Cowboys and Cattlemen.

While selections treat various Indian tribes, the understandable
emphasis on "Red Man" is to those associated with the region of
the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountains. Individual articles are
presented on the Blackfeet, the Flatheads, the Assiniboins (by
Kennedy), the Nez Perces, and the Metis.

In a potpourri, diversity is the theme in lieu of a stand on an
historical controversy. This is obvious when readers encounter
such variety as Bernard De Voto's very short and interesting piece
on that most fascinating American woman, "Sacajawea;" Robert
G. Athearn's lively treatment of the Plains Army, "War Paint
Against Brass;" and John E. Parson's edited version of a contem-
porary account by Col. George A. Woodward, "The Northern

BOOK REVIEWS 241

Cheyennes at Fort Fetterman." Those whose interests are more
limited to just Wyoming will still find a considerable amount of
reading material that will be of interest to them.

The article of least importance also happens to be the most enter-
taining. Edgar I. Stewart's "Which Indian Killed Custer?" pre-
sents White Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, Flat Hip, Two Moon, Red
Horse, and Brave Bear as the claimants, while not forgetting Custer
as a possible suicide. Recently another contender has been heard
from, that of a Sioux squaw as related by Harry E. Chrisman in
the March, 1966 Golden West.

With the over-emphasis in popular literature on Indian vs. sol-
dier, it is gratifying to see a superior treatment of an important and
often neglected subject, as in the case of Everett W. Stirling's "The
Indian Reservation System of the Northern Plains." The same is
true of the several pieces devoted to Indian religious beliefs.

An unfortunate feature — discounting the several typographical
errors, such as Paul "J." Wellman (p. 332) instead of Paul I.
Wellman — is that variety should have also affected the system of
documentation as well as the topics of articles. The editor, of
course, is not responsible for the latter.

But the point is minor, for it does not affect the reading of selec-
tions. Kennedy indicates that his purpose was to "select a well-
rounded, interesting and entertaining group of authoritative narra-
tives which together would make a broad panorama," (p. viii) and
this he certainly has done.

Red Man's West is abundantly illustrated (although dates on
some photos would be helpful ) , is presented in clear type on good
quality paper, and includes a thorough index. It is indeed a "rich
feast," as Kennedy had hoped.

Wisconsin State University Jack D. Filipiak

War Drums and Wagon Wheels. By Raymond W. and Mary Lund
Settle. (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1966. Illus.
Index. 152 pp. $5.00)

Russell, Majors and Waddell! The mention of this well-known
trio immediately brings to mind the exciting adventures of the Pony
Express. It is indeed a strange paradox that they are best remem-
bered for one of their last and most ruinous undertakings. War
Drums and Wagon Wheels attempts to go beyond such a single-
minded approach to trace the evolution of the partnership through
its growth prior to its ultimate failure. To the authors "the rise
and fall of the great freighting firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell,
1855 to 1861, is one of the most fascinating and significant epi-
sodes in the history of the American West." An additional objec-
tive of the book is to make available much of the original manu-

242 ANNALS OF WYOMING

script material in the private collection of the authors. About one-
third of the book is material in appendix form that the authors
were not able to incorporate into the text. Herein lies one of the
book's greatest assets, for it gives the reader a firsthand insight into
some of the lesser-known details of the freighting business.

The text begins as a general treatise on transportation in the
west. Background is given on the Santa Fe trade and the problem
of military supply during the Mexican War. As a result of the
latter circumstance the army began freighting military supplies
through the use of civilian contractors, many of whom had gained
their experience along the Santa Fe Trail. This proposition set the
stage for the formation of the partnership of William H. Russell,
William B. Waddell and Alexander Majors in 1 854. From this
point the narration is able to gain momentum in dealing with the
role of the company in the "Mormon War,'1 the Leavenworth and
Pike's Peak Express, the Flour Contract and the Pony Express.
With these events the firm's fortunes has eclipsed and so has the
book's. The remainder deals with the dissolution of one of the
largest and most influential business ventures of that era.

This volume is not one for casual reading. Too much ground is
covered for so few pages and fact upon figure has resulted in much
of the human interest being lost. One will be left with considerable
knowledge but very little feeling of the "dust, sweat and fear" of
freighting on the early frontier. However, in keeping with the
writers' expressed purposes, the presentation of new source mate-
rial should make the book a very worthwhile reference on the
subject.

Cheyenne William R. Barnhart

Smoke Down the Canyons. By James L. Ehernberger and Francis
G. Gschwind. Callaway, Nebraska., E and G Publications,
1966. Illus. 64 pp. $3.50)

The Idaho Division of the Union Pacific Railroad, its steam
locomotives and trains, are subjects of Ehernberger and Gschwind's
latest book. This operating division of the Union Pacific Railroad
includes all parts of the old Oregon Short Line Railroad not
assigned to the Utah Division of the same company.

The main line of the Oregon Short Line Railway was completed
from Granger, Wyoming, to Huntington, Oregon, in 1884, as a link
in the first transcontinental railroad line to the Pacific Northwest.
The village of Granger still forms the junction with the main line
of the Union Pacific and was also formerly the eastern terminal of
the "Short Line." Today, however, the Idaho Division trains are

BOOK REVIEWS 243

handled by their own crews through to Green River, about 30 miles
to the east.

Although the Oregon Short Line was constructed as a subsidiary
of the Union Pacific it was merged during its early years with a
group of Utah and Idaho railroads that were either built or con-
trolled for a time by the Mormon Church. This, however, is an-
other story, and a possible subject for a future volume.

Besides telling considerable history of the various lines of the
Idaho Division, Smoke Down the Canyons features a goodly num-
ber of excellent steam train and engine photographs taken in the
area. There are views of the "Portland Rose" and the "Yellow-
stone Special," big freight engines and snowplowing. In general,
the illustrations are of better quality than the average in the three
other books by the same authors. Two large maps show just
where the Idaho Division runs.

This volume should be of interest to Wyoming historians since
the Oregon Short Line played an important role in the development
of the coal fields around Kemmerer, and for years has provided rail
transportation for livestock raised in the Cokeville area of the Bear
River Valley.

Green River R. E. Prince

Gold in the Sun. The History of San Diego. By Richard F. Pou-
rade. Commissioned by James S. Copley. (San Diego,
Union Tribune Publishing Company, 1965. Illus. Index.
282 pp. $9.50)

This is the most recent book in an historical series on San Diego,
"the birthplace of civilization on the Pacific Coast." It is a close
look at San Diego from 1900 to the 1920's, and how the town met
the challenge of change and growth.

Previous volumes in the series have been The Explorers, on the
period of settlement; Time of the Bells, the story of mission and
presidio life; The Silver Dons, the era of the great ranchos; The
Glory Years, the booms and busts of the first wave of immigration
and speculation.

The Rummy Kid Goes Home and Other Stories of the Southwest.
By Ross Santee, with illustrations by the author. (New York,
Hastings House, 1965. 160 pp. $5.95)

A new collection of short stories, written with honesty and real-
ism, reflecting the poignancy, vitality and drama in the lives of
Southwestern people.

244 ANNALS OF WYOMING

Recent Western Americana Paperbounds, (reprints), Yale Univer-
sity Press, New Haven and London.

Dakota Territory, A Study of Frontier Politics, by Howard
Roberts Lamar

Wagon Roads West, A study of Federal Road Surveys and
Construction in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1846-1869.
By W. Turrentine Jackson, with a foreword by William H.
Goetzmann

The Last Days of the Sioux Nation, by Robert M. Utley

The Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859, by Norman F. Furniss
Army Exploration in the American West, 1803-1863, William
H. Goetzmann

Recent Bison Books, paperback reprints, Lincoln, University of
Nebraska Press

Great Western Indian Fights, by Members of the Potomac
Corral of the Westerners

A Nation Moving West, Readings in the History of the Amer-
ican Frontier, edited by Robert W. Richmond and Rob-
ert W. Mardock

My Life on the Plains, by General George A. Custer, edited
with an introduction by Milo Milton Quaife

War Path and Bivouac, The Big Horn and Yellowstone Ex-
pedition, by John F. Finerty, edited with an introduction
by Milo Milton Quaife

The Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace, by John C. Duval,
edited by Mabel Major and Rebecca W. Smith

A Texas Cowboy, or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of
a Spanish Pony, taken from real life by Charles A.
Siringo, with an introduction and bibliography by J.
Frank Dobie

Desert Challenge, An Interpretation of Nevada, by Richard G.
Lillard

Kit Carson's Autobiography, edited with an introduction by
Milo Milton Quaife

Contributors

Robert A. Murray. See Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 36, No. 1,
April, 1964, p. 124. Mr. Murray is now Chief Historian at Fort
Laramie National Historic Site.

Daniel Y. Meschter. A native Pennsylvanian, Mr. Meschter
lived in Rawlins from 1957 to 1962. He and his wife and their
11 -year-old daughter now live in Denver. A geologist, he is a
graduate of Dartmouth College and did a year's graduate work at
Washington University in St. Louis. His hobbies include stamp
collecting and, according to him, "... dabbling in oil painting and
pastels when the mood strikes, which is rarely.1'

Burton S. Hill. See Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 34, No. 1,
April, 1962, pp. 131-132.

Francis A. Barrett. A Cheyenne surgeon, Dr. Barrett is the
son of the late Frank A. Barrett, Governor of Wyoming from 1951
to 1953, and later U. S. Senator from Wyoming. Dr. Barrett is a
member of numerous professional organizations, and is a past pres-
ident of the Wyoming State Medical Society. His story of John
"Portugee" Phillips' ride was first published in the Rocky Mountain
Medical Journal, July, 1966.

. . . Wall paper and window shades, great variety, elegant
patterns, and moderate prices at the news depot, Sixteenth Street,
west of Eddy.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, January 2, 1868.

A poor, unfortunate individual died this morning at the City
Hospital. Cause, too much fried lightning. Tipplers take warning.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, January 29, 1868.

The trains east and west for the last few days have been most
admirably irregular in their arrivals here. Last evening the eastern
express was three hours behind time. Today the western is as bad.
The reason for all this is not known.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, October 16, 1868.

Qeneral fadex

Absaraka, 38:2:215-216, 221
Adams, D. C, 38:2:209
Adams Museum, 38:1:102
Adams, William W., 38:2:190
Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace,

The, by John C. Duval, ed. by

Mabel Major and Rebecca W.

Smith, 28:2:244
Alcott Farrar Elwell, His Diary,

Wyoming 1908, 38:2:143-172
Alderson, Dr. William T., 38:1:118
Alexander, Col. Edmund Brooke,

38:1:14-15, 42, 47
Alkali Stage Station, 38:1:91
Allaman's Ranch, 38:2:165, 168
Allen, Capt. Asaph, 38:1:15, 42
Allen, R. M., 38:1:67
Allerton, Lake & Spencer (LAK

Co.), 38:1:95
Ames, Frederick Lothrop, 38:1:52
Ames Monument, 38:1:49-53; pho-
to, 38:2:cover
Ames, Oakes, 38:1:49-53
Ames, Oliver, Jr., 38:1 :49-53
Anderson, Harry, 38:1:103
Andrews, Ralph W., Photographers

of the Frontier West, review, 38:

1:129-130
Andrews, Wayne, 38:1:50
Angus, Sheriff W. G. (Red), 38:1:

62, 64, 66; 38:2:168
"Architecture of H. H. Richardson

in Wyoming, The," by H. R. Die-

terich, Jr., 38:1:49-53
Armstrong Family, 38:2:202
Army Exploration in the American

West, 1803-1863, by William H.

Goetzmann, review, 38:2:244
Arnold, Carl Franklin, 38:2:197
Arnold, C. P.. 38:2:198
Arnold, Franklin Luther, 38:2:174,

194 196
Arnold. Gottfried Herman, 38:2:

197
Arnold, John, 38:2:198
Atlantic City, 38:2:189
Axt, R. James, review of Custer's

Gold, The United States Cavalry

Expedition of 1874, 38:2:233-234
Aztec Hill, 38:1:100

Babcock's Ranch. 38:2:167
Baber, Daisy F., 38:1:61

Bacon, Maj. Jno. M., 38:1:74
Bailey, Robert, 38:2:137
Bailey, William, 38:2:227
Bainbridge, Capt. Augustus Hudson,

38:1:24, 42
Bainton, Rev. Henry W., 38:2:180,

199
Baker, Maj. Eugene Mortimer, 38:

1:25, 42, 46-47
Baker, Nathan, 38:1:126
Bandy, W. R„ "Ghosts Took Over

the Tunnel," 38:1:76-83; biog.,

131
Bankers and Cattlemen, by Gene M.

Gressley, review, 38:2:229-230
Banks, John, 38:1:111, photo, 118
Banner, 38:2:146
Barber, Acting Governor Amos, 38:

1:63
Barkey, Mrs. — , 38:2:161
Barlow, Bill, 38:1:126
Barnett, Gene, 38:1:97
Barnhart, William R., 38:1:116; re-
view of War Drums and Wagon

Wheels, 38:2:241-242
Barrett, Francis A., "The Greatest

Ride In Wyoming History," 38:2:

223-228, biog., 245
Barthelmess, Casey. Photographer

On An Army Mule, review, 38:

1:127-128
Bastian, Mrs. T. Wesley, 38:1:102
Baxter, David Kennedy, 38:2:199
Baxter, Ellen, 38:2:190, 199
Baxter, John, 38:2:199
Baxter, Robert W., 38:2:190, 199
Baxter, William, 38:2:199
Bealey, Rosalind, 38:1:102
Beaver Station Stockade, 38:1:84,

95
Beck, — , 38:2:215, 219, 221
Bee, Capt. Barnard Elliott, 38:1:7,

14, 42, 47; photo, 8
Beekly. "Dad," 38:2:143, 148, 149,

152, 153, 155, 156, 160, 166, 167,

168; photo, 142
Bell, Mrs. Ronald, 38:1:118
Benham, Capt. Daniel Webster, 38:

1:6, 35-38, 40, 42, 46
Benson, Bari, 38:1:114
Benton, 38:2:181
Bergren, Winifred. S., 38:1:102
Beryl. — , 38:1:76
Bidderbeck Ranch, 38:2:169

GENERAL INDEX

247

Big Horn Basin Development Co.,

38:1:77

Big Horn School, 38: 1 : 108
"Big Tent, The," 38:2:181
Bissonette, Joseph and Co., 38:2:

215
Blackburn, Dune, 38:1:91
Blair, Henry A., 38:1:68
Blunt, Maj. Matthew Marsh. 38:1:

22, 24, 42, 46, 47
Boan, Fran, 38:1:85
Boan, Mr. & Mrs. James & Kelley,

38:1:102
Bordeaux (The Little Frenchman).

38:1:122
Borach, Fred, 38:1:100, 103
Bouyer, Mich, 38:2:139-140
Box Elder Creek, 38:2:157
Boysen Dam Marker, 38:1:111
Bozeman, John M., 38:2:217
Bozeman Trail, 38:2:137-139
Brackett, Col. Albert Gallatin, 38:

1:6, 7, 29, 30, 31, 42
Bradley, Lt. Col. Luther Prentice.

38:1:25, 42, 44; photo, 48
Braeuninger, Moritz, 38:2:215-222:

photo, 218
Brannan, John, 38:2:190
Brent, 1st Lt. Thomas L., 38:2:138
Brewster, Stanford, 38:1:85
Bridger's Ferry, 38:2:138
Bridges, Lyman, 38:2:190, 193
Brigham, Mr. & Mrs. H. N., 38:1:

103
Britton, A. J. & Co., 38:2:172
Brooke, Brig. Gen. John R., 38:1:

63, 66
Brough, Sgt. John C, 38:2:226-227
Brown, C. H., 38:1:90
Brown, Charles, 38:1:91
Brown, Eva White, 38:2:200
Brown, Capt. F. H., 38:2:225
Brown, Gene, 38:1:107
Brown, Jesse, 38:1:95
Brown, Mabel E., 38:1:103, 117,

"Canyon Springs," 96-97
Brundage, Hiram, 38:1:126
Bubb, Capt. John Wilson, 38:1:31,

42
Buffalo Gap, 38:1:101
Buffalo Wallows, 38:2:227
Buffalo, 38:1:62; 38:2:146-147, 156
Buffalo Bill Show, 38:2:163
Bundy, Mrs. Howard, 38:1:111
Bunge, — , 38:2:215, 218-219
Burial Mountains, 38:2:138
Burnett, Capt. Levi Frank, 38:1:41-

Burns, Robert Ignatius, S. J., The
Jesuits and the Indian Wars of the
Far Northwest, review, 38:2:231-
232

Burnt Station, 38:1:93

Burritt, Mayor (Charles), 38:1:71

Burrougs, Flarida and Spencer, see
Flarida

Burrows, Capt. Thomas Bredin, 38:
1:25, 42, 46

Burt, Lt. Col. Andrew Sheridan, 38:
1 :40, 42; photo, 48

Butterfly Slim, see Randier

Byron, Mrs. E!sa Spear, 38: 1 : 1 1 1

Cain, Capt. Avery Billings, 38:1:7,
19-21, 28-29, 42, 46

Calamity Jane, 38:1:102

Caldwell, George, 38:1:126

Camp Jenney, 38:1:94, 95

Campbell, Hugh, 38:1:97

Canton, Frank M., 38:1:61, 63

"Canyon Springs," Mabel Brown,
38:1:96-98

Carey, L. E., 38:1:103

Carey, Sergeant (Wyo. Highway Pa-
trol), 38:1:85, 102

Carley, Maurine, 38:1:85, 102, 112,
117; photo, 118

Carlile, Mr. & Mrs. Douglas, 38:1:
102

Carlisle, Virginia, 38:1:102

Carmin, —,38:2:170

Carrington, Frances Grummond, 38
2:226-227

Carrington, Col. Henry B., 38:2
223, 225, 226, 228

Carson, Mr. and Mrs. Harold, 38:1
102

Carter Mountain, 38:1:77

Casey, Lt. E. W., 38:1:127

Casper Marker, 38:1:111

Cavalry, U. S., 3rd & 5th, 38:2:211

"C" Company, W. N. G., 38:1:63

Chadey, Henry, 38:1:109, 118

Champ, Pvt. 38:1:73

Champion, Nathan D., 38:1:62

Chappell, Gordon, 38:1:5, 7; biog.,
131

Cheyenne Daily Sun, 38:1:111

"Cheyenne Crossing Station," by
Cushman Clark, 38:1:100-101

Cheyenne River Station (Crossing),
38:1:84, 93, 100

Christian, Mrs. George, "Old Wom-
an Creek Station," 38:1:89-90

Clark, Charlotte, 38:1:101

248

ANNALS OF WYOMING

Clark, Cushman, "Cheyenne Cross-
ing Station," 38:1:100-101
Clark, Mr. & Mrs. Cushman, 38: 1 •

100, 103
Clark, Ella E., Indian Legends of the

Northern Rockies, review, 38:2:

237-239
Clark, Horace, 38:1:101
Clark. Julie, 38:1:103
Clarke, Capt. Francis Newman, 38"

1:13. 42, 47
Clay & Forrest, 38:1:68
Clear Creek, 38:2:147, 150, 161
Clearmont, 38:2:150-153
"Coals of Newcastle," 38:1:117
Cody Trading Company, 38:1:82
"Cold Springs Station," by Joe Rol-
ler, 38:1:98-100
Cole, Lt. J. A.. 38:1:64
Collier, Capt. William S., 38:1:29.

30 31, 42, 46
Collins, Lt. Col. Edward, 38:1:39,

42
Collins, Lt. Col. William Oliver, 38:

1:15-16, 42
Comba, Capt. Richard, 38:1:35, 37-

39, 42, 46
Commanders at Fort Laramie,

chronological list, 38:1:11-41
Converse, Charles, 38:2:174
Converse Cattle Co., 38:1 :68
Converse, Miss Flavia, 38:2:174
Cook, Charles W., The Valley of

the Upper Yellowstone, review

38:1:124
Cook, Edmund, Mr. & Mrs., 38:1:

85, 93, 103
Cook, Capt. James, 38:2:227
Cook, Rev. Joseph W., 38:2:183,

188
Cooke, Gen. Phillip St. George, 38:

2:223
Cooksey, C. R. (Mose) & Mrs.,

"Robber's Roost Stage Station,"

38:1:93-94, 103
Cooper, Billie. 38:1:117
Corbett Tunnel, 38:1:82
Cornell, Rev. John. 38:2:183, 188,

194
Corsberg, Mike, 38:1:114, 117
Crazy Horse Statue, 38:1:102
"Crazy Woman Creek." 38:1:62:

38:2:169
Crittenden, Eugene Wilkinson, 38: 1 :

6, 22, 42
Crocket, (Davy), 38:2:224
Crook's Indian Expeditionary Force,

38:2:217
Cross H Ranch, 38:2:171-172
Cross. Jack. 38:1:95

Crossen, Forest, review of Golden
Rails, 100 Years of Operation of
the Union Pacific Railroad, 38:2:
236-237
Crossfield, Francis, 38:1:117
Crossthwaite, F. B., 38:1:62
Crow Indian Band, photo, 38:2:136
Cushman, Dan, The Great North

Trail, review, 38:2:239-240
Custer, George A., 38:2:224; My
Life on the Plains, ed. with an
introduction by Milo Milton
Quaife, review; 244; Custer's
Gold, by Donald Jackson, review,
38:2:233-234

Dakota Territory, by Howard Rob-
erts Lamar, review, 38:2:244
Daniels, Walter, 38:1:100
Darrow, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, 38:

1:85, 93, 103
David, Robert B., 38:1:61
Davis, Scott, 38:1:90-91, 95, 97
Davis, Col. W. R., 38:1:17, 42
Dawson, Thomas F., 38:2:210
Day, Maj. Hannibal, 38:1:14, 42,

47
"Days That Are No More .... The,"

38:2:136, 141
Dayton, Minerva Penfield, 38:2:196
Deer Creek Indian Agency, 38:2:

215
Deer Creek Stage Station, 38:2:215,

217, 219, 220, 221; photo, 217
Deerfield, 38:1:99
de Laubenfels, John Laube, 38:1:9.

24, 25, 42, 46
De Gering, Mr. and Mrs. Albert,

"Old Woman Creek Station," 38:

1:89-90, 103
Dc Gering, Leonard, 38:1:103
Department of the Platte, Mountain

District, 38:2:137
Desert Challenge, An Interpretation

of Nevada, by Richard G. Lillard,

review, 38:2:244
DeSmet, Father P. J., 38:2:221
DeSmet, Lake, 38:2:146
Devin, Col. Thomas Casimer, 38:1:

27, 42, 44
Dewes. Thomas B., 38:2:176-177
Dey, Mrs. B. F. W., 38:2:185
Dieterich. Herbert R., Jr., "The

Architecture of H. H. Richardson

in Wyoming," 38:1:49-53; biog.,

131
Dillon, George, 38:2:227

GENERAL INDEX

249

Dividing the Waters: A Century of
Controversy Between the United
States and Mexico, by Norris
Hundley, Jr., review, 38:2:232-
233

Doane, — , 38:2:158

Dobie, J. Frank, introduction and
bibliography to A Texas Cowboy,
38:2:244

Dodd, H. H., 38:1:103

Dodge, Lt. Col. Richard Irving, 38:
1:94

Doederlein, — , 38:2:215-216

Draper, George, 38:1:91

Drew, Maj. George Augustus, 38:1:
9, 17, 42, 46

Dry Creek Valley, 38:1:77; 38:2:
162

Dry Fork, 38:2:217

Dubois, Bill, 38:1:85, 102, 108, 116

Du Fran, Philip, 38:1:72

Dumbrill, Debbie, 38:1:103

Dunovant, Capt. John, 38:1:7, 14.
42; photo, 8

Duval, John C, The Adventures of
Big-Foot Wallace, ed. by Mabel
Major and Rebecca W. Smith, re-
view, 38:2:244

Dye, Maj. William McEntire, 38:1:
19-20, 42, 44, 46-47

Dyer, John C, 38:2:187

Eager Ranch, 38:1:95

Eaton, 38:2:172

Edgar, Robert, 38:1:117

Edwards, Paul M., 38:1:54, 102,
107; biog., 131; review of Old
Forts of the Far West, 131; re-
view of Red Man's Religion, 38:
2:235-236

Edwards, William B. & Alice, 38:1:
78, 82

Egan, Capt. — , 38:1:88

Egbert, Maj. H. C, 38:1:61, 67

Eggenhofer, Nick, 38:1:106, 117

Ehernberger, James L., review of
Photographers of the Frontier
West, 38:1:129-130

Ehernberger, James L. and Francis
G. Gschwind, Smoke Down the
Canyons, review, 38:2:242-243

Eklund, Mr. & Mrs. Albert, 38:1:
103

Eklund, Dick, 38:1:85, 102

Elliott, 1st Lt. Washington Lafay-
ette, 38:1:5, 11, 42

Ellis, Mr. & Mrs. George, 38:1:103

Elwell, Alcott Farrar, 38:2:143;

photo, 142
Dwell, Mrs. Alcott Farrar, 38:2:

143
Engebretson, Earl, 38:1:100
Enlow, Mr. & Mrs. Sterling, 38:1:

103
Espy, Mrs. Neal, 38:2:202
Evans, Maj. Andrew Wallace, 38:

1:26-27, 29, 42, 46, 47
Evans, Robert, 38:1:108
Evans, Maj. William H., 38:1:18,

42
Ewing, Rev. Joseph M., 38:2:175

Falconer, Andrew, 38:1:89

Fann, Mildred W., 38:1:103

Fanny's Peak, 38:1:96

Fechet, Maj. E. G., 38:1:64, 67

Feelev, Etta, 38:1:82

Ferris & Pratt Cattle Co., 38:1:68

Fessenden, F. M., 38:2:138

Fetterman Massacre, 38:2:137, 139,

223-228
Fetterman, Capt. William J., 38:2:

146, 223-224
Fielder, Mildred, Wild Bill and

Deadwood, review, 38:1:128-129
Fields, Katherine, 38:1:89
Fields, Rosalie, 38:1:89
Filipiak, Jack D., review of The

Red Man's West, 38:2:240-241
Finerty, John F., War Path and

Bivouac, ed. with introduction by

Milo Milton Quaife, review, 38:

2:244
First Christmas Tree in Wyoming,

38:2:216; photo, 214
Fisher, —,38:2:169
Fitz, Charles, 38:1:51
Fitzwilliams, W. A. F., 38:1:96
Flachenecker, — , 38:2:217, 219
Flagg's Peoples Voice, 38:1:71
Flannery, Mike, 38:1:79
Flannery, Pat, 38:1:106
Flarida, Burrougs (Burrows) and

Spencer, 38:1:95
Fleming, 2nd Lt. Hugh Brady, 38:

1:9, 12, 42, 47
Fletcher, Mr. & Mrs. James, 38:1:

103
Flint, Col. Franklin Foster, 38:1:

20-21, 42, 47
Flying V Ranch, 38:1:95
Folsom, David E., The Valley of the

Upper Yellowstone, review, 38:

1:124
Forrest & Clay, 38:1:68

250

ANNALS OF WYOMING

FORTS AND CAMPS:

Bettens (P. A.), 38:1:72, 74

Elkins, 38:1:74

Fetterman, 38:1:67

John, photo, 38:1:4

Kearny (Phil), 38:2:137, 223,

225-227
Laramie, 38:1:5-48; photo, 1858,
4; 38:2:225, 227
Commanders:

Chronological list, 38:1:11-

41
Alphabetical list, 38:1:42-43
Brevet Rank, 38:1:46
West Point Graduates, 38:1:

47
Those Addressed as General,
38:1:44-45
Regiments at: 38:1:11-41
McKinney, 38:1:59, 61, 70
Reno, 38:2:138, 140-141, 225,

227
Russell (D. A.), 38:1:61
Smith (C. F.), 38:2:137, 139-

141, 225
Steele, 38:2:181, 188, 191, 208,
211
Forty-One Ranch, 38:2:165
Four Corners, 38:1:84, 96
Fouts, Capt. William D., 38:1:16,

42
France, Homer, 38:2:204
France, James, 38:2:174, 183, 201,

202
France Memorial Church, 38:2:

173; photo, cover
France, Walker, 38:2:204, 212
Frank's Peak, 38:1:83
Frantz, Abraham, 38:2:201
Frazier, Rev. Stuart, 38:1:107-108,

116, 119
French, G. W., 38:1:91
Friend, John C, 38:2:227
Frink, Maurice, Photographer on
An Army Mule, review, 38:1:
127-128
'Frontier Powder River Mission,"

by Burton S. Hill, 38:2:215-222
Fulton, Hugh K., 38:2:178, 188
Furniss, Norman F., The Mormon
Conflict, 1850-1859, review, 38:
2:244
Furois, Mrs. Margaret, 38:1:100,
103

Gage, Rev. John L., 38:2:189
Galbraith, Robert, 38:2:182

Gale. Hoyt S., 38:2:143-144, 146,
148-149, 150, 152, 154-158, 160,
162, 167, 169, 172; photo, 142

Gardiner, Doane, 38:2:143, 148-
151. 153, 155-156, 160, 161-162,
166: photo. 142

Garnett, 1st Lt. Richard Brooke,
38:1:7, 12, 42, 47; photo, 8

Gamier, Baptiste "Little Bat," 38:1:
75

Gatewood, Lt. C. B., 38:1:64

Gaylord, Rev. Ruben, 38:2:194

"G" Company, W.N.G., 38:1:63

Geddes. David, 38:1:103

Geddes, Mrs. Marian, 38:2:174

Geodetic Survey Camp on Clear
Creek, photo, 38:2:142

Geodetic Survey Crew, photo, 38:
2:142

German Evangelical Lutheran Syn-
od, 38:2:215-222

Ghost Dance, 38:1:61

'Ghosts Took Over the Tunnel," by
W. R. Bandy, 38:1:77-83

Gibbon, Col. John, 38:1:6, 9, 34-37,
42, 44, 47

Glenrock Park, 38:2:215

Goetzmann, William H., The Mor-
mon Conflict, 1850-1859, review,
38:2:244

Gold in the Sun by Richard F.
Pourade, review, 38:2:243

Golden Rails, 100 Years of Opera-
tion of the Union Pacific Rail-
road, by William Kratville, re-
view, 38:2:236-237

Goldstein, Carl, 38:2:210-211

Goldworthy, — , 38:1:90

Gordon, Capt. D. S., 38:2:137

Gordon, George, 38:2:210

Gordon, John, 38:2:210-211

Gore, Sir George, 38:1:96

Gould, Lewis L., review of Bankers
and Cattlemen, 38:2:230-231

Government Road (Bozeman Trail).
38:2:138

Graham, Sgt. Joseph, 38:2:137-140

Graham, Marie (Mrs. Hugh), "Jen-
ney Stockade," 38:1:94, 96

Grant, Sgt. George, 38:1:109: 38:
2:137-140

Graves, Dr. Paul, 38:1:114

Gray, Alonzo, 38:1:64

Gieat North Trail, The, by Dan
Cushman. review, 38:2:239-240

Great Western Indian Fights, by
Members of the Potomac Corral
of the Westerners, review, 38:2:
244

GENERAL INDEX

251

"Greatest Ride in Wyoming History,

The," by Francis A. Barrett, 38"

2:223-228
Gressley, Gene M., Bankers and

Cattlemen, review, 38:2:229-230
Grey Eagle (horse), 38:2:226
Grieve, Leeland U., 38:1:103
Griffith, Mr. & Mrs. Jim, 38:1:85,

103
Grouard, Frank, 38:1:62, 75
Grover, Lt. Col. Cuvier, 38:1:23.

42, 44, 47; photo, 10
Grummond, Frances, 38:2:226
Grummond, Lt. George, 38:2:225,

226
Gschwind, Francis G., and James L.

Ehernberger, Smoke Down the

Canyons, review, 38:2:242-243
Guilfoyle, Capt. Jonathan, 38:1:73
Guthrie, Judge & Mrs. Rodney, 38:

1:103

Haas, Lt. Herman, 38:2:228

Haines, Aubrey L., ed. and intro-
duction, The Valley of the Upper
Yellowstone, review, 38:1:124

Hall, Harry, 38:2:183, 186-187,
192, 199, 208

H. C. Hall & Co., 38:2:183

Hall, William F., 38:2:183, 199

Hamilton's Ranch, 38:2:157, 158

Halverson, Katherine, 38:1:107; re-
view of Newspapering in the Old
West, 127-128

Hamilton, William, 38:2:174, 200

Hamm, Florence J., 38 : 1 : 109

Hansen, Cliff, 38:1:102

Harrington, Capt. Nicholas, 38:1:
15, 42

Hart, Herbert M., Old Forts of the
Far West, review, 38:1:124-125

Hart Mountain, 38:1:83

Hart, Maj. Verling Kersey, 38:1:32-
33, 42, 46

Haseas, Marian, 38:1:102

"Hat Creek Stage Station," 38:1:88-
89

Hat Rock, 38:1:87, 88

Hayes, Capt. Edward Mortimer, 38:
1:31, 42

Heady, Mr. & Mrs. Franklin, 38:1:
103

Hefflefinger, James, 38:2:212

Hellervell, Louis, 38:1:102

Henderson, Harry B., 38:2:212

Henderson, Paul & Helen, 38:1:85,
103

Henlein, Paul C. 38:1:60

Henry, — , 38:2:219

Hertzler, Mr. & Mrs. Glenn, 38:1:
103

Hesse, Fred, 38:1:63

Hickok, (Wild Bill) James Butler,
38:1:102, 128

Hildebrand, Lyle, 38:1:85, 102

Hill, Burton S., 38:2:215, 245; re-
view of The War on Powder Riv-
er, The History of an Insurrec-
tion, 230-231

Hill City, S. D., 38:1:99

Hill, Galen, 38:1:97

Hilton, Ben, 38:1:95

Hilton, Frank, 38:1:95

Hinkel, Joann, 38:1:117

"History of the Presbyterian Church
in Rawlins, Wyoming," by Dan-
iel Y. Meschter, 38:2:173-212

History of the United States Caval-
ry, 38:1:9

History of Wyoming, by T. A. Lar
son, review, 38:1:120

Hitchcock, Henry Russell, 38:1:50-
52

Hoe Ranch, 38:1:70

Hoffman, Maj. William, 38:1:13,
42, 46-47

Hogg, John T., 38:1:92; Will, 92

Holly, Chris, 38:1:93

Holm, Tex, 38:1:83

Holtz, Mr. & Mrs. Durl, 38:1:89

Homsher, Lola M., 38:1:113; re-
view of History of Wyoming, 120-
121; photo, 118

Hooks, Sam, 38:1:98

Hord, Violet (Mrs. Charles), 38:1:
105, 108, 111; photo 118

Horse Head Creek, 38:1:87

Horseshoe Station, 38:2:138

Horseshoe Telegraph Station, 38:2:
227; photo, 224

Hot Weather Rules, 38:2:213

Hotchkiss Gun, 38:1:67

Houston, Jane, 38:1:85, 102

Howland, Maj. George Washington,
38:1:18, 42, 47

Hughes, Maj. A. J., 38:1:17, 42

Hughes, Melancthon, 38:2:189

Hull, A. C, 38:2:181

Humfreville, Capt. Jacob Lee, 38:
1:18, 42

Hundley, Norris, Jr., Dividing The
Waters: A Century of Contro-
versy Between the United States
and Mexico, review, 38:2:232-233

Hunter, George, 38:1:101

Hutchinson, Rev. J. N., 38:2:189

Hutchinson, Mary, 38:1:102

252

ANNALS OF WYOMING

Ice Box Canyon, 38:1:100

Ilges, Capt. Guido, 38:1:23, 43, 46

Usley, Maj. C. S., 38:1:72

Indian Creek Route, 38:1:84

Indian Legends of the Northern
Rockies, by Ella E. Clark, review.
38:2:237-239

INDIANS:

CHIEFS - INDIVIDUALS:
Big Nose, 38:2:224
Black Shield, 38:2:224
Crazy Horse, 38:2:224
Dull Knife, 38:2:224
Fred, 38:2:221
Gottfried, 38:2:221
Joseph, 38:1:123
Paul (Paulus), 38:2:221
Plenty Horse, 38:1:127
Red Cloud, 38:2:146, 224
Two Moons, 38:2:223
White Bull, 38:2:224

INDIANS:
TRIBES:

Arapahoe, 38:2:224
Cheyenne, 38:2:137, 224
Crow, 38:2:221

Sioux, 38:2:137, 218, 223, 224
Snake, 38:2:218

Infantry, 4th, 38:2:211

Inyan Kara, 38:1:87

Irma Flat, 38:1:77

lion Brigade, 38:1:9

Jackson, Donald, Custer's Gold, The

United States Cavalry Expedition

of 1874, review, 38:2:233-234
Jackson, Sheldon, 38:2:173, 177,

181, 182, 185
Jackson, W. Turrentine, Wagon

Roads West, review, 38:2:244
James, Frank, 38:1:90
Jenney, Prof. Walter P., 38:1:94
Jenney Stockade, by Marie Graham,

38:1:84, 94
Jesuits and the Indian Wars of the

Far Northwest, The, by Robert

Ignatius Burns, S. J., review, 38:

2:23 1-232
Johnson County Invasion, 38:1:59
Johnson, 1st Lt. John Burgess, 38:

1:28, 43
Johnson, William Wallace (Lengthy).

38:1:92
Johnston, Pvt. Willis, 38:1:73
Jones. Mr. & Mrs. Bert, 38:1:102
Jones, Dave, 38:1:82
Jones, Grant. 38:1:126
Jones, Henry, 38:1:108

Josephy, Alvin M. Jr., The Nez
Perce Indians and the Opening of
the Northwest, review, 38:1:123

Kaan, M. C, 38:1:103

Kaan, Nick, 38:1:103

Karolevitz, Robert F., Newspapering

In the Old West, review, 38:1:126
KC Ranch, 38:1:62
Kearny, (Fort), 38:2:159-161
Kearny, Maj. Gen. Philip, 38:2:223
Keets, Henry, 38:1:94
Keise, — , 38:1:94
Kelley, D. C, 38:2:212
Kellogg, Capt. Sanford Cobb, 38:1:

32-33, 43, 46
Kendall, John, 38:2:186, 192
Kennedy, Michael S., ed., The Red

Man's West, review, 38:2:240-241
Kennedy, — , (U. S. Land Office).

38:2:161, 165
Kenyon, Eliza, 38:2:178, 182
Kephart, Rev. William G., 38:2:

189, 194
Ketchum, Capt. William Scott, 38:

1:11-12, 43, 47
Ki-Ann Indian Dancers, 38:1:105
King, Col. John Haskell. 38:1:24,

25, 43, 45; photo, 8.
Kirtland, Capt. Thaddeus Sandford,
38:1:40, 43

Kirwin Miners, 38:1:83
Kit Carson's Autobiography, ed.

with an introduction by Mi'lo Mil-
ton Quaife, review, 38:2:244
Koller, Joe, "Cold Springs Station,"

38:1:98; review of Wild Bill and

Deadwood, 38:1:128-129
Kratville, William, Golden Rails,

100 Years of Operation of the

Union Pacific Railroad, review,

38:2:236-237
Krebs, Rev., 38:2:217, 219, 221;

photo, Rev. Krebs and the Indian

boys, 220
Kritschel, George J., 38:2:222
Kuhn, Mr. & Mrs. Joe, 38:1:103
Kundz, Mr. & Mrs. Phil, 38:1:103
Kuykendall, Judge W. L., 38:2:187

La Bonte. Pierre (Pete), 38:1:85,

103
LAK Ranch, 38:1:94
Lake, Allerton & Spencer, 38:1:95

GENERAL INDEX

253

Lamar, Howard Roberts, Dakota

Territory, 38:2:244
Lancaster, George, 38:1:190
"Lance Creek Stage Station." 38:1:

89-93
Lane, Lydia Spencer, 38:1:7
Langen, John G., 38:1:117
Larome, Larry, 38:1:105
Larson, Robert, 38:1:102, 107
Larson, Dr. T. A., 38:1:116-117,
120; History of Wyoming, review,
38:1:120-121; review of Dividing
the Waters, 38:2:232-233
Last Days of the Sioux Nation, The,
by Robert M. Utley, review, 38:
2:244
Lathrop, George, 38:2:226
Lathrop Monument, 38:1:84
Lee Street Bridge, 38:1:100
Lc-May, Mr. & Mrs. J. A., 38:1:103
Lenley, Mr. & Mrs. William, 38:1:

103
Lillard, Richard G., Desert Chal-
lenge, An Interpretation of Ne-
vada, review, 38:2:244
Lindsley. Lt. Elmer, 38:1:64
Lodge Trail Ridge, 38:2:223-224
Long, — , 38:2:171
"Long Walk of Sergeants Grant and
Graham, The," by Robert A.
Murray, 38:2:137-141
Lott, Emily B., 38:2:222
Lott, Howard B., 38:2:222
Louther, Alexander, 38:1:65
Lovell, Capt. Christopher S., 38:1:

13, 43
Luning, J. J., 38:2:170, 172
"Lurid Liar of Lander," 38:1:126
Lusk Opery House, 38:1:87
Lusk to Deadwood, map, 38:1:84
Lynde, Maj. Isaac, 38:1:7, 13, 43,
47

MacDougall, A. H., 38:1:105
MacLeish Ranch, 38:2:171
McAuslan, Edward, 38:1:106
McCall, Jack, 38:1:102, 129
McCarger, Al, 38:2:210-211
McCoy, Sarah Thomson, 38:1:96
McCoy, Sheila, 38:1:117; photo,

114
McCracken, Dr. Harold, 38:1:106-

107; photo, 114
McCullock Peaks, 38:1:83
McCullough, Jennie, 38:2:212
McDermott, John Dishon, 38:1:5;

biog., 131

McEwen, John, 38:2:190
McGinley. Hazel M., 38:1:102
Mclver, 1st. Lt. George Wilcox, 38:

1:41, 43, 47
McKibben, Capt. Robert Pebbles,

38:1:19, 43, 46
McMillen, — , 38:2:212
McNab, 1st Lt. John, 38:1:15, 43
McShane, John A., 38:1:68
Mackey, Maj. Thomas L., 38:1:15-

17, 43
Mador, John, 38:1:103
Major, Mabel and Rebecca W.

Smith, ed.. The Adventures of

Big-Foot Wallace, by John C.

Duval, review 38:2:244
Majors, Capt. Thomas J., 38:1:17,

43
Mallo Camp Ground, 38:1:96
Manderson, Sen. C. F., 38:1:68, 70
Manville, H. S., 38:1:68
Marchant, Pauline. "May's Ranch

or Lance Creek Stage Station,"

38:1:90-93, 103
Mardock, Robert W. and Robert W.

Richmond, ed., A Nation Moving

West, Readings in the History of

the American Frontier, review,

38:2:244
Marlin, — , 38:2:172
Marshall, Capt. Louis Henry, 38:1:

15, 43, 47
Marston, B. W., 38:1:108
Martin, Mrs. Emma, 38:1:108
Martin, Marguerite, 38:1:85, 102
Mason, Maj. Julius Wilmot, 38:1:

26-28, 42, 46
Matter, Pastor, 38:2:221
May, D. Boone, 38:1:90, 95
May, Jim, 38:1:90
Maynadier, Col. Henry Eveleth, 38:

1:6, 17, 43, 45, 47
"May's Ranch or Lance Creek Stage

Station," 38:1:84, 89, 90-93
Meeker, Nathan C, 38:2:210, 211
Melodeon Theatre, 38:2:172
Mercer, Asa S.5 38:1:61, 126
Merriam, Col. Henry Clay, 38:1:

37-41, 43
Merritt, Col. Wesley, 38:1:32-34,

43, 45, 47; photo, 10
Meschter, Daniel Y., "History of the

Presbyterian Church in Rawlins,

Wyoming," 38:2:173-212; biog.,

245
Middleton, Doc, 38:1:93
Mikesell, Mr. & Mrs. W. A., 38:1:

103
Miles, Gen. Nelson A., 38:1:127

254

ANNALS OF WYOMING

"Military Command at Fort Lara-
mie," by John Dishon McDermott
and Gordon Chappell, 38:1:5-48

Miller, Neal E.. 38:1:106, 109-110.
review of The Nez Perce Indians
and the Opening of The North-
west, 123; review of The Jesuits
and the Indian Wars of the Far
Northwest, 38:2:231-232

Miller, Sidney, 38:1:103

Miner, Bill, 38:1:97

Mokler, Mr. & Mrs. Verne. 38:1:
102

Monitor Stage Coach, 38:1:97

Montana Road (Bozeman Trail)
38:2:137

Moody, John, 38:1:100

Moore, Capt. Alexander, 38:1:26.
43, 46

Moore, J. K., 38:1:118

Moore, Julius, 38:2:210

Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859, The.
by Norman F. Furniss, review
38:2:244

Morris Chapel, 38:2:192

Morris Presbyterian Church, 38:2:
186, 191

Morris, Mrs. William E., 38:2:191

Mountain City, S.D., 38:1:99

Mule Creek Junction, 38:1:84, 89

Mummy Cave, 38:1: 107

Mummy Joe, 38:1:107

Munkres, — , (Merchant), 38:1:71

Munroe, Lt. Col. John, 38:1:13, 43,
46-47

Munson, Capt. Samuel, 38:1:26, 43

Murray, Robert A., "The United
States Army in the Aftermath of
the Johnson County Invasion,"
38:1:59-75, 116; review of The
Valley of the Upper Yellowstone,
124; "The Long Walk of Ser-
geants Grant and Graham," 38:2:
137-141, biog., 245

My Life on the Plains, by Gen.
George A. Custer, ed. with an in-
troduction by Milo Milton Quaife,
review, 38:2:244

Nation Moving West, A, Readings
in the History of the American
Frontier, ed. by Robert W. Rich-
mond and Robert W. Mardock,
review, 38:2:244

Nelson, Gerald, 38:1:115

Nelson, Vance. 38:1:103

Newspapering in the Old West, by
Robert F. Karolevitz, review, 38:
1:126-127

Nez Perce Indians and the Opening
of the Northwest, The, by Alvin
M. Josephy, Jr., review, 38:1:123

Norcross Brothers, 38:1:51

Nottage, Jim, photo, 38:1:114

Nye, Bill, 38:1:126

O'Brien, Ed, 38:2:176

O'Brien, Maj. George Morgan, 38:
1:18, 43, 45

Oglalla Land & Cattle Co., 38:1:68

Old Forts of the Far West, by Her-
bert M. Hart, review, 38:1:124-
126

Old Jules Country, by Mari Sandoz,
review, 38:1:121-123

"Old Woman Creek Station," by
Mrs. George Christian, Albert
DeGering, 38:1:89-90

Olmstead, Frederick Law, 38:1:53

Oneill Pass, 38:1:100

Oregon Basin, 38:1:77

Organ, Perry, 38:1:71

Ostrander, A. B., 38:2:226-227

Owen, William, 38:2:182

Owen, W. O., 38:1:50

Paddock, Lt. R. B., 38:1:64
Palmer, Lt. Col. Innis Newton, 38:

1:18-19. 43, 45, 47
Palmer Ranch, 38:2:169, 171-172
Parmelee, Capt. C. H., 38:1:64
Parrot, Big Nose George, 38:1:93
Partridge, Mrs. Charles, 38:1:92
Patrick Bros., 38:1:68
Patrick, Mrs. Lucille, 38:1:108
Patterson, Mrs. Irene, 38:1:102
Paxton. M. A., 38:1:68
Payroll Development Committee,

Casper, 38:1:117
Peck, H. P., 38:2:189
Pelton, B. H., 38:1:129
Perrigoue, Nell, 38:1:85, 101
Peters, Richard, 38:1:103
Peterson, Mr. & Mrs. H. M., 38:1:

103
Peterson, William, The Valley of the

Upper Yellowstone, review, 38:1:

124
Petty, Ruth, 38:1:103
Phillips, A. L., 38:1:78
Phillips, Hattie, 38:2:225

GENERAL INDEX

255

Phillips, "Portugee," 38:2:137, 223-

228
Photographer on an Army Mule, by

Maurice Frink and Casey Barthel-

mess, review, 38:1:127-128
Photographers of the Frontier West,

by Ralph W. Andrews, review,

38:1:129-130
Pickett, Rev. J. W., 38:1:91
Piney Creek, 38:2:149-150, 158.

160
Pitcher Ranch, 38:2:165
'Philosophy of History for the

Small Museum, A," by Paul M.

Edwards, 38:1:54-58
Pluma, S. D., 38:1:100
Point of Rocks Stage Station, 38:1:

109
"Pony Express," poem, 38:1:104
"Portugee" Phillips at Horseshoe

Station, photo, 38:2:224
Pourade, Richard F., Gold in the

Sun, review, 38:2:243
Powder River, 38:2:150-151
Pratt & Ferris Cattle Co., 38:1:68
Pratt, Orman, 38:1:109
Prince, R. E., review of Smoke

Down the Canyons, 38:2:242-243
Proctor, Capt., 38:2:227
Pumpkin Buttes, 38:2:164

Quaife, Milo Milton, ed., My Life
on the Plains, by Gen. George A.
Custer, 38:2:244; ed., War Path
and Bivouac, 38:2:244, ed., Kit
Carson's Autobiography, 38:2:
244

Red Butte, 38:1:98

"Red Deer Ballet," 38:1:117

Redfield, — , (Indian Agent for the

Crow Tribe), 38:2:221
Red Man's Religion, by Ruth M.

Underhill, review, 38:2:235-236
Red Man's West, The, ed., Michael

S. Kennedy, review, 38:2:240-241
Reed, Tom, 38:1:90
Regan, Rev. Z., 38:2:191
Regiments at Fort Laramie, 38:1:

11-41
Richard, Jack, 38:1:117
Richardson, Henry Hodson, 38:1:

49-53
Richmond, Robert W., and Robert

W. Mardock, ed., A Nation Mov-
ing West, Readings in the History

of the American Frontier, review,

38:2:244
Richtofen, Walter von, 38:1:59
Riley, James, 38:1:94
Ritter, Vera, 38:1:102
"Robber's Roost Stage Station," by

C. R. (Mose) Cooksey, 38:1:93-

94
Robinson, Capt. Daniel, 38:1:41, 43
Robinson, Will, 38:1:98, 103
Rochford Mines, 38:1:99
Rummy Kid Goes Home and Other

Stories of the Southwest, The, by

Ross Santee, review, 38:2:243-

244
Russell, Capt. Gerald, 38:1:28, 31,

43
Russell, Mr. & Mrs. Warren, 38:1:

103
Rziha, Capt. John, 38:1:9, 21, 43

Ramsauer, Marie, 38:2:197
Ramsey, Hannah, 38:2:200
Randall, Bishop, 38:2:183
Randier, Butterfly Slim. 38:2:169-

171
Rankin, Jim, 38:2:207
Rankin, Joe, 38:2:182, 202, 207
Rankin, M. Wilson, 38:2:208
Rankin, U. S. Marshall, 38:1:74
Rawlins, John Aaron, 38:2:180
Rawlins, 38:2:173
Rawn, Capt. Charles Cotesworth,

38:1:34-36, 43
Ray, Nick, 38:1:62
Raynolds, Capt. W. R., 38:2:215-

222

Sage Creek, 38:1:77, 88

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 38:1:50,
53

Saint Sebald, Iowa, 38:2:221

Sample, Billy, 38:1:95

Sander, Dorris, 38:1:102

Sanderson, Maj. Winslow F., 38:1:
5-11, 43

Sandoz, Mari, Old Jules Country,
review, 38:1:121

Sanno, Capt. James Madison John-
son, 38:1:37, 43

Santee, Ross, The Rummy Kid Goes
Home and Other Stories of the
Southwest, review, 38:2:243-244

Schacher, Mrs. Esther, 38:1:103

Schenk, Marilyn, 38:1:103

Schmidt, Pastor, 38:2:215-216

256

ANNALS OF WYOMING

Schofield, Maj. Gen., 38:1:63, 66

Schwoob, Jake, 38:1:82

Scott, Capt. G. L., 38:1:64

Scotts Bluff, Nebr., 38:2:217-219

Seminoe Mines, 38:2:208

Scminoe Mountains, 38:2:176

Sensel. Mrs. Ned, 38:2:161

Settle, Mary Lund and Raymond
W., War Drums and Wagon
Wheels, review, 38:2:241-242

Settle, Raymond W. and Mary
Lund, War Drums and Wagon
Wheels, review, 38:2:241-242

Seyler, — , 38:2:215, 219, 221

Shaffer, Mrs. Louise, 38:2:174

Shaw, Dr. Cecil, 38:1:114

Sheep Creek, 38:1:93

Sheridan, 38:2:146

Sheridan Inn, Inc.. 38:1:109

Sheridan Inn, photo, 38:2:136

Sheridan Stage Station, 38:1:102

Sherman, 38:1:49-50, 52

Shoshone Dam, 38:1:82

Shoshonis: Sentinels of the Rockies,
The, 38:1:117

Sinclair, F. H., review of Photog-
rapher on an Army Mule, 38:1:
127-128

Siringo, Charles A., A Texas Cow-
hoy, with introduction and bib-
liography by J. Frank Dobie, 38:
2:244

Skiff, F. J. V., 38:2:210

Slack, E. A.. 38:1:126

Slemmer, Lt. Col. Adam Jacobv.
38:1:7, 19, 43, 45, 47

Smith, Cap, 38:1:97

Smith, Helena Huntington. The War
on Powder River, review, 38:2:
230-231

Smith, Col. John Eugene, 38:1:22-
24, 43, 45

Smith, Perry L.. 38:2:186-187

Smith, Pvt., 38:1:73

Smith. Rebecca W. and Mabel Ma-
jor, ed., The Adventures of Big-
Foot Wallace, by John C. Duval,
review, 38:2:244

Smith's Ranch, 38:2:168, 171-172

Smoke Down the Canyons, by
James L. Ehernberger and Fran-
cis G. Gschwind, review, 38:2:
242-243

Snow, Charley W., 38:1:99

Snowden, Joseph P., 38:1:102

Society of Black Hill's Pioneers, 38:
1:100

Songs of the Sage, excerpt, 38:1:89

Sourdough Dick. 38:1:90

South Pass City, 38:2:189

Spearfish Canyon, 38:1:99
Spencer, Flarida & Burrows, 38:1:

95
Spencer, Mr. & Mrs. W. L., 38:1:

103
Spohr, Mrs. Adolph, 38:1:116
Stanton, Capt. William, 38:1:64, 90
Starr, Capt. Samuel Henry, 38:1:5,

14, 43
Stevens, Mr. & Mrs. J. M., 38:1:102
Stewart, Eliza, 38:2:190
Stewart, Robert Laird, 38:2:178,

188
Stone, Elizabeth Arnold (Martha),

38:2:198
Stone Ranch, 38:2:154
Stonewall City, S. D., 38:1:95
Storrie, John, 38:1:89
Stout, Mr. & Mrs. Ernest, 38:1:102
Strande, Loretta, 38:1:102
Suggs, 38:1:72
Sullivan, Fred, 38:1:93
Sullivan, Louis, 38:1:50
Swain, Saul K., 38:2:186-187; Mrs..

185
Swan, Tom, 38:1:89
Sweem, Glenn E., 38:1:111; photo,

118
Sweet, Fred, 38:1:85
Sweet, Thomas P., 38:1:96
Sweetwater Mines, 38:2:189

T A Ranch, 38:1:62, 64; 38:2:167
Taylor, 1st Lt. Charles William, 38:

1:41, 43, 47
Telegraph Road, 38:1:99
TE Ranch, 38:1:83
Terry, Mrs. Glen, 38:2:174
Texas Cowboy, A., by Charles A.

Siringo, with introduction and

bibliography by J. Frank Dobie,

review, 38:2:244
Thorn, — (banker), 38:1:71
Thompkins, Pvt., 38:1:73
Thompson, Henry, 38:1:92
Thompson, Capt. John A., 38:1:15,

43
Thompson, Rev., 38:2:194
Thomson, Edward, 38:1:96
Thornburgh, Thomas T., 38:2:211
Thorp. Russell, 38:2:225-226
Thorpe, Elizabeth & Stacey, 38:1:

103, 117
Tigerville, S. D., 38:1:99
Tinton District, 38:1:99
Towle (Toll), Frank, 38:1:90
Towns, Mr. & Mrs. H. C, 38:1:102

GENERAL INDEX

257

Townsend, Maj. Edwin Franklin,

38:1:25-26, 43, 46-47
Townsend, H. M. "Doc", 38:1:85,

103
Trabing, 38:2:164, 172
Trenholm, Virginia Cole, 38:1:117
Trinity Church of Boston, 38:1:51-

52
Twaton Ranch, 38:2:167
Twentieth Century Club, Newcastle,

38:1:95
Twiggs, Gen., 38:1:7
Twiss, Maj. Thomas S., 38:2:215-

216, 219

Ulm, 38:2:158

Union Pacific Railroad, 38:1:49

Underhill, Ruth M., Red Man's Re-
ligion, review, 38:2:235-236

"United States Army in the After-
math of the Johnson County In-
vasion, The," by Robert A. Mur-
ray, 38:1:59

Upton, Rev. Gene H., 38:2:175

Urbanek, Mae, 38:1:88; Wyoming
Wonderland, review, 130; review
of The Great North Trail, 38:2:

239-240; Jerry, 38:1:88

Utley, Robert M., The Last Days of
the Sioux Nation , 38:1:61; 38:2:
244

Valley of the Upper Yellowstone,
The, by Charles W. Cook, David
E. Folsom and William Peterson,
review, 38:1:124

Vandel, Grace, 38:1:103

Van Horn, Col. J. J., 38:1:62-63, 65

Van Rensselaer, Marianna Guilder,
38:1:50-53

Van Voast, Maj. James, 38:1:18,
43, 47; 38:2:137

Van Valzah, Montgomery, 38:2:137

Vaughn, Miss S. V., 38:2:190

Wagon Roads West, by W. Turren-
tine Jackson, review, 38:2:244

Waitman, Mr. & Mrs. John, 38:1:
103

Walker, Meda, 38:1:85, 102

Wall, James, 38:1:91

Wallace, Capt. W. M., 38:1:64

War Drums and Wagon Wheels, by
Raymond W. and Mary Lund
Settle, review, 38:2:241-242

War on Powder River, The, by Hel-
ena Huntington Smith, review,
38:2:230-231

War Path and Bivouac, by John
Finerty, ed. with an introduction
by Milo Milton Quaife, 38:2:244

Ward, W. H., 38:1:97, 99

Warren, Lt. G. K., 38:1:94

Watson, Mr. & Mrs. J. P., 38:1:103

Watts, Howard S., 38:1:102

Watts Ranch, 38:2:148, 150, 155-
157

Wegel's Ranch, 38:2:158

Wegerman, Carroll, 38:2:143, 146-
147, 149, 151, 153, 155, 157-158.
161-162, 166-168; photo, 142

Wellman, U. S. Marshal George,
38:1:70

Welty, Frederick W., 38:2:200

Wessells, Capt. Henry Walton Jr.,
38:1:31, 43; 38:2:137-140

Westerners, Members of the Poto-
mac Corral, Great Western Indian
Fights, review, 38:2:224

Whigam, Mrs. Gymaina, 38:2:174

Whitewood Gulch, S.D., 38:1:99

Whittenburg, Clarice, review of Old
Jules Country, 38:1:121-123; re-
view of Indian Legends of the
Northern Rockies, 38:2:237-239

Whorton's Ranch, 38:2:152, 154

W ild Bill and Deadwood, by Mil-
dred Fielder, review, 38:1:128

Wiley Project, 38:1:77

Wiley, S. L., 38:1:77

Wilkins, Edness Kimball, 38:1:102.
117

Williams, Christine, 38:1:103

Williams, Capt. Constant, 38:1:39,
43

Williams Ranch, 38:2:157

Willson, Mr. & Mrs. Grant, 38:1:
102-103

Wilson, Lt. R. H., 38:1:64

Wilson, William C, 38:2:182, 185,

190-192, 199

Winchell, Karl, 38:1:114

Wind River Mountain Men, 38:1:
108

Windom, Dale, 38:1:103

Windsor, Henry J., 38:1:68

Winterling, — , 38:1:71

Wolcott, Maj. Frank, 38:1:63, 65,
70

Wood, John S., 38:1:16, 43

Woods, L. R., 38:2:185

258

ANNALS OF WYOMING

Woodson, Capt. Albert Emmett, 38:

1:33, 34, 43
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 38:1:50
Wyoming Station, 38:2:183
Wyoming Wonderland, by Mae Ur-

banek, review, 38:1:130
Wyuse, — , 38:1:122

Young, Lt. Bob, 38:2:176

Youtz, Mr. & Mrs. H. Fletcher, 38:

1:102
Yuill, Cawille, 38:1:103

Zimmerman, John, 38:1:90
Zorn, George W., 38:1:77

WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT

The Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department has as its func-
tion the collection and preservation of the record of the people of Wyo-
ming. It maintains a historical library, a museum and the state archives.

The aid of the citizens of Wyoming is solicited in the carrying out of its
function. The Department is anxious to secure and preserve records and
materials now in private hands where they cannot be long preserved. Such
records and materials include:

Biographical materials of pioneers: diaries, letters, account books, auto-
biographical accounts.

Business records of industries of the State: livestock, mining, agriculture,
railroads, manufacturers, merchants, small business establishments, and of
professional men as bankers, lawyers, physicians, dentists, ministers, and
educators.

Private records of individual citizens, such as correspondence, manuscript
materials and scrapbooks.

Records of organizations active in the religious, educational, social,
economic and political life of the State, including their publications such
as yearbooks and reports.

Manuscript and printed articles on towns, counties, and any significant
topic dealing with the history of the State.

Early newspapers, maps, pictures, pamphlets, and books on western
subjects.

Current publications by individuals or organizations throughout the
State.

Museum materials with historical significance: early equipment, Indian
artifacts, relics dealing with the activities of persons in Wyoming and with
special events in the State's history.

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DATE DUE

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Cat No 23-221

PFRIODICAC

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING

UlfllOD Mbfl 230 c,

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