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NNALS  of 
WYOMING 

Volume  61,  No.  1        Spring,  1989 


THE  WYOMING  STATE  ARCHIVES,  MUSEUMS  AND  HISTORICAL  DEPARTMENT 

The  function  of  the  Wyoming  State  Archives,  Museums  and  Historical  Department  is 
to  collect  and  preserve  materials  which  tell  the  story  of  Wyoming.  It  maintains  the  state's 
historical  library  and  research  center,  the  Wyoming  State  Museum  and  branch  museums, 
the  State  Art  Gallery  and  the  State  Archives.  The  Department  solicits  original  records  such 
as  diaries,  letters,  books,  early  newspapers,  maps,  photographs  and  art  and  records  of  early 
businesses  and  organizations  as  well  as  artifacts  for  museum  display.  The  Department  asks 
for  the  assistance  of  all  Wyoming  citizens  to  secure  these  documents  and  artifacts.  Depart- 
ment facilities  are  designed  to  preserve  these  materials  from  loss  and  deterioration.  The  State 
Historic  Preservation  Office  is  also  located  in  the  Department. 


WYOMING  STATE  LIBRARY,  ARCHIVES,  MUSEUMS  AND  HISTORICAL  BOARD 

Frank  Bowron,  Casper,  Chairman 

Lucille  Clarke  Dumbrill,  Newcastle 

George  Zebre,  Kemmerer 

Tom  Mangan,  Laramie 

Bill  Bruce  Hines,  Gillette 

Gladys  Hill,  Douglas 

Gretel  Ehrlich,  Shell 

George  Zeimans,  Lingle 

Mary  Guthrie,  Attorney  General's  Office,  Ex-officio 

EDITORIAL  ADVISORY  BOARD 

Lawrence  A.  Cardoso 

David  Kathka 

William  H.  Moore 

Robert  L.  Munkres 


ABOUT  THE  COVER— A  sketch  ofWyoming's  Historic  Governors'  Mansion  by  Elizabeth  L.  Rosenberg.  The  Wyo- 
ming State  Museum  Volunteers  commissioned  the  drawing  in  1984  as  a  fund  raising  project.  Ms.  Rosenberg  is 
a  free  lance  artist  specializing  in  pen  and  ink  draxvings  of  historic  architecture.  For  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  history 
of  the  Mansion,  see  "Wyoming's  Historic  Governors'  Mansion, "  by  Timothy  White  in  this  issue  of  Annals. 


oA 


NNALS  of  WYOMING 


Volume  61,  No.  1 
Spring,  1989 


GOVERNOR  OF  WYOMING 

Mike  Sullivan 

DIRECTOR 

David  Kathka 

EDITOR 

Rick  Ewig 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 

Jean  Brainerd 
Roger  Joyce 
Ann  Nelson 

EDITORIAL  ASSISTANTS 

Kathy  Rores 
Judy  West 

PHOTOGRAPHIC 
ASSISTANTS 

Paula  West-Chavoya 
Carroll  Jones 
Ed  Fowler 


WYOMING  STATE  PRESS 
MANAGING  EDITOR 
Rick  Ewig 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


WYOMING'S  HISTORIC  GOVERNORS' 

MANSION 2 

by  Timothy  White 

JEWS  IN  WYOMING 10 

by  Carl  V.  Hallberg 

THE  WIND  AT  WORK  IN  WYOMING 32 

by  Robert  W.  Righter 

DR.  WILLIAM  SABIN  BENNETT:  The  Rise 

and  Fall  of  a  Pioneer  Doctor 39 

by  Ester  Johansson  Murray 

INSIDE  WYOMING 47 

ANNALS'  REVIEWS 55 

BOOK  NOTES 61 

INDEX 63 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING  is  published  biannually  in  the  Spring  and  Fall  by  the  Wyoming 
State  Press.  It  is  received  by  all  members  of  the  Wyoming  State  Historical  Society  as  the  of- 
ficial publication  of  that  organization.  Copies  of  previous  and  current  issues  may  be  purchased 
from  the  Editor.  Correspondence  should  be  addressed  to  the  Editor.  Published  articles  repre- 
sent the  views  of  the  author  and  are  not  necessarily  those  of  the  Wyoming  State  Archives, 
Museums  and  Historical  Department  or  the  Wyoming  State  Historical  Society.  ANNALS  OF 
WYOMING  articles  are  abstracted  in  Historical  Abstracts.  America:  History  and  Life. 
©  Copyright  1989  by  the  Wyoming  State  Press 


WYOMING'S  HISTORIC  GOVERNORS'  MANSION 


by  Timothy  White 


Construction  of  the  Governors'  Mansion  began  during  the  spring  of  1904  and  was  completed  the  folloioing  fall. 


Introduction  by  the  author 


A  few  years  ago,  a  Cheyenne  resident  dropped  into  the  Man- 
sion to  show  me  a  photograph  she  thought  might  he  of  interest. 
The  1945  photo  shows  Elise  Nila  Hunt,  daughter  of  Governor 
Lester  C.  Hunt,  on  her  wedding  day,  standing  in  the  Mansion 
living  room  with  her  bridegroom  who  zvas  dressed  in  his  officer's 
uniform.  I  was  struck  by  the  importance  this  bit  of  personal 
history  had  both  for  interpretation  and  research  of  the  Mansion. 
This  photo  gave  me  the  idea  to  begin  a  collection  of  photographs 
showing  family  life  in  the  Mansion.  When  I  contacted  members 
of  former  first  families  for  photos,  they  not  only  responded  by 
donating  excellent  photographs,  they  also  related  many  stories 
surrounding  the  photos  themselves.  Thus  began  my  oral  history 
research  of  the  Mansion  and  Wyoming's  First  Families. 

When  1  began  the  collection  and  research  as  the  Mansion 's 
Curator  eight  years  ago,  I  realized  that  a  complete  history  of  the 
building  and  the  families  who  occupied  it  had  never  been  re- 
searched or  written.  I  did  not  realize  this  history  would  be  dif- 
ficult because  each  first  family  created  its  own  history,  although 
when  the  families  left  office,  they  took  their  stories  with  them. 
Thus  the  Mansion  history  was  not  preserved  here.  Not  even  a 
Mansion  scrapbook  had  been  established  and  passed  on  from  fam- 
ily to  family.  Researching  and  writing  this  history  was  also  dif- 
ficult because  of  the  large  number  of  residents  and  staff  who  lived 
in  the  Mansion. 

As  I  continued  my  research  and  oral  interviews,  I  noted  how 
fragile  and  fleeting  history  can  be;  how  family  histories  are  easily 
lost  and  not  easily,  if  ever,  recovered.  Three  of  the  Mansion 's 
residents,  a  first  lady,  a  governor's  daughter  and  a  cook,  have 
died  since  I  interviewed  them.  I  also  discovered  that  the  inter- 
views of  the  Mansion 's  staff  and  neighbors  offered  a  wealth  of 
information.  Although  my  research  has  helped  to  recapture  some 
of  the  Mansion's  history,  many  gaps  remain.  This  article  only 
scratches  the  surface  compared  to  the  depth  of  information  that 
could  be  mined.  I  hope  this  article  will  provide  a  framework  for 
other  research  and  articles  about  the  Historic  Governors'  Man- 
sion, and  will  show  the  value  of  photographs  and  oral  history 
in  preserving  the  past. 

Wyoming  entered  the  Union  as  the  44th  state  on 
Jiily  10,  1890,  but  the  state  legislature  did  not  appropriate 
funds  to  build  a  Governor's  Mansion  until  eleven  years 
later.  The  reason  for  this  delay  is  not  known.  The  leg- 
islature authorized  $37,000  to  build  the  Mansion  and 
selected  Charles  W.  Murdock  of  Omaha,  Nebraska,  as  the 
architect  and  James  R.  Grimes  as  the  contractor.  Construc- 
tion began  in  the  spring,  1904,  and  was  completed  that  fall. 
The  final  cost  of  the  two  and  one-half  story,  red  brick  Col- 
onial Revival  Mansion,  with  separate  carriage  house,  was 
$33,253.29.  This  figure  included  the  purchase  of  the  cor- 
ner lot  at  East  21st  Street  and  House  Avenue  for  $3,000, 
the  landscaping,  $2,036,  and  all  of  the  original  furnishings 
$4,500.1 


From  1905  to  1976,  the  Mansion  was  the  residence  of 
nineteen  Wyoming  first  families.  Governor  Bryant  B. 
Brooks  and  his  family  were  the  first  to  occupy  the  newly- 
built  Governor's  Mansion  in  1905.  Brooks,  a  Natrona 
County  rancher,  and  his  wife,  Mary  Naomi  Brooks,  had 
five  children— four  daughters,  Jean,  Lena,  Abby  and 
Melissa,  and  a  son,  Silas,  the  youngest  child.  The  children 
brought  their  pet  pony  from  the  V-V  Ranch  with  them.  The 
pony  was  quartered  in  the  carriage  house  and  tended  by 
the  resident  horse  groom,  Charlie  Anderson.  Melissa 
Brooks  Spurlock  recalled  that  she  and  Lena  chose  the 
northeast  bedroom  so  that  they  could  be  close  to  the  car- 
riage house  to  hear  their  pet  pony  .^  The  Brooks  family  was 
the  largest  and  youngest  ever  to  occupy  the  Mansion. 

Charlotte  Chaplin  Smith  was  one  of  five  Chaplin 
children  who  grew  up  in  a  house  three  doors  west  of  the 
Mansion.  The  Brooks  household  made  an  indelible  impres- 
sion on  young  Charlotte,  who  recalls  to  this  day  the  names 
of  the  Brooks'  cook,  Annie  Duffy,  and  the  parlor  maid, 
Fanny  Brooks  (no  relation  to  the  Brooks  family).  Charlotte 
and  her  sister  Ruth  watched  the  Mansion  being  built  and 
remember  the  stone  workers  carving  the  Corinthian  capi- 
tals which  grace  the  Mansion  portico.  Mrs.  Smith  fondly 
recalls  the  plays  which  the  Brooks  and  neighborhood 
children  presented  under  the  eaves  of  the  third  floor.  The 
"stage"  was  the  ceiling  of  the  portico,  which  was  three 
feet  above  the  floor  level.  The  primary  source  of  light  came 
from  the  round,  paned  window  in  the  center  of  the  por- 
tico's pediment.  After  rehearsing,  the  Brooks  children  in- 
sisted that  their  mother  and  father  attend  the  performance. 
Charlotte  Smith  also  remembered  the  Mansion's  spacious 
basement  provided  an  ideal  locale  for  indoor  winter 
track  meets. 3 

In  February,  1907,  the  family  of  Peter  S.  Cook,  a 
pioneer  plumbing  contractor,  state  legislator  and  Cheyerme 
mayor,  moved  into  the  beautiful  Queen  Anne  house 
located  immediately  east  of  the  Mansion.  The  Cooks  had 
five  children.  Their  youngest  child,  David,  became  a  close 
friend  of  SUas  Brooks.  Dave  Cook  recalls  how,  in  1910, 
Governor  and  Mrs.  Brooks,  the  five  children,  the  two  live- 
in  maids,  and  he  watched  HaUey's  Comet  from  the  dormer 
window  of  the  maid's  east  bedroom  on  the  third  floor.* 

Dave  Cook  also  tells  how  he  and  SUas  or  "Si"  loved 
to  fish  and  would  walk  down  to  the  train  yard  in  the  early 
morning  and  catch  the  north-bound  Cheyenne  Northern 
Railroad  (later  the  Colorado  &  Southern),  to  Isley  station 
to  go  fishing  on  the  Russell  Van  Tassell  Ranch.  Later  in 
the  day,  the  train  would  stop  on  its  way  back  and  pick  up 
the  boys.  Governor  Brooks  personally  had  made  the  ar- 
rangements with  Van  Tassell  for  his  son  and  Cook's  son 
to  fish  on  the  ranch.  The  boys  used  to  go  fishing  so  often 
that  Governor  Brooks  became  weary  of  Dave  Cook  ring- 
ing the  front  door  beU  so  early  in  the  morning,  waking  the 
entire  household.  Dave  and  Si  devised  a  plan  to  avoid  this 
problem.  They  tied  a  long  string  to  one  of  Si's  big  toes  and 
strung  it  from  SUas'  bed,  through  his  second  floor  bedroom 

3 


Melissa,  Silas,  Abhy  and  Lena  Brooks  enjoyed  a  tea  party  at  their  V-V  ranch  house  near  Casper,  circa  1906.  The  eldest  Brooks'  daughter,  Jean, 
was  attending  school  in  the  East. 


window,  down  to  the  front  portico  steps.  From  then  on, 
Dave  simply  pulled  the  string  to  awaken  only  Silas. ' 

Joseph  M.  Carey  succeeded  Brooks  in  the  governor- 
ship. Governor  Carey,  who  had  served  the  Territory  of 
Wyoming  as  Territorial  Delegate  to  the  United  States  Con- 
gress and  as  a  U.S.  Senator  from  1891  to  1895,  took  office 
in  1911.  He  and  his  family  never  lived  in  the  Mansion, 
however,  because  he  chose  to  continue  living  in  his  own 
mansion  located  on  Carey  Avenue  and  22nd  Street. 

In  1914,  Governor  John  B.  Kendrick  was  elected  to  suc- 
ceed Carey.  Kendrick,  a  Sheridan  County  rancher,  and  his 
family  did  move  into  the  Mansion  and  began  to  change 
the  interior  of  it  as  early  as  1915.  He  replaced  the  drawing 
room  fireplace  mantel  with  the  oak-paneled  mantel  and 
over-chimney  piece  which  remain  today.  At  this  time,  Ken- 
drick replaced  all  of  the  original,  brass  combination  lighting 
fixtures  with  aU-electric  fixtures.  These  combination  fixtures 
were  two-armed,  one  arm  used  electricity,  the  other  gas. 
When  frequent  brown-outs  and  electrical  failures  occurred, 
the  gas  arm  could  then  be  lit  as  a  back-up  system. 

While  Kendrick's  daughter  Rosa-Maye  was  visiting  the 
East,  she  saw  a  painting  by  Joseph  Henry  Sharp  hanging 
in  a  New  York  art  gallery.  The  painting,  titled  "Along  the 
4 


Little  Big  Horn,"  depicts  a  Crow  Indian  winter  encamp- 
ment. Rosa-Maye  convinced  her  father  to  purchase  the 
painting.  The  painting  hung  prominently  in  the  living 
room  of  the  mansion  during  the  Kendrick  residency.  Thefi 
Rosa-Maye  donated  the  painting  to  the  State  of  Wyoming. 
It  now  hangs  in  the  Wyoming  Senate  chamber  of  the  State 
Capitol.* 

After  serving  two  years  as  governor,  the  Democratic 
Party  urged  Kendrick  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  United 
States  Senate.  Manville  Kendrick,  the  Governor's  son, 
recalls  that  his  father  declined  the  offer,  claiming  that  the 
people  of  Wyoming  had  elected  him  to  a  four-year  term 
which  he  intended  to  complete.  Despite  Kendrick's  wishes, 
a  write-in  campaign  was  conducted,  and  Kendrick  was 
nominated  by  write-in  votes  in  the  primary  and  then 
elected  to  the  U.S.  Senate  in  the  general  election  in  1916.^ 

Then  Secretary  of  State,  Frank  Houx,  became  the 
acting  governor  in  1917.  Houx,  the  first  Mayor  of  Cody, 
Wyoming,  moved  into  the  Mansion  with  his  wife,  Ida,  and 
their  four  children.  Mercedes  Houx  Wallace,  a  daughter, 
still  remembers  the  visit  of  William  Jennings  Bryan  to  the 
Mansion.  Mrs.  Wallace  also  recalled  that  her  father  took 
office  during  World  War  I  and  that  he  was  called  the  "War 


Governor."  She  also  remembered  that  her  mother,  Ida 
Mason  Christy  Houx,  gave  up  the  Mansion's  domestic  help 
and  used  that  money  to  buy  war  bonds.* 

Floyd  Artist,  a  life-long  neighbor  of  the  Mansion,  was 
born  in  1904,  the  year  the  Mansion  was  under  construc- 
tion. Artist  recalls  that  the  Houx  daughters.  Vera,  Mercedes 
and  Thora,  held  circuses  for  the  neighborhood  children  in 
the  carriage  house  and  they  referred  to  Charlie  Anderson, 
the  horse  groom,  as  "Charlie  Governor."' 

Houx  unsuccessfully  ran  against  Robert  D.  Carey  in 
1918.  Governor  Robert  Carey,  the  eldest  of  two  sons  of 
Governor  Joseph  M.  Carey,  was  bom  in  Cheyenne  in  1878. 
He  was  the  first  Wyoming-born  governor  (and  also,  later, 
the  first  Wyoming-born  U.S.  Senator)  to  serve  his  state. 
Carey  graduated  from  Yale  University  and  was  the  Direc- 
tor of  the  Wyoniing  Development  Company,  Wyoming's 
first  major  irrigation  enterprise.  He  lived  at  Careyhurst, 
the  beautiful  residence  in  Converse  County  which  his  wife, 
Julia,  the  daughter  of  Brigadier  General  H.  B.  Freeman, 
had  created  from  the  original  three-room  ranch  house.  Julia 
Carey  loved  to  fish  and  hike  in  the  beautiful  lulls  of  Con- 
verse County,  and  much  preferred  living  at  Careyhurst  to 
living  at  the  Governors'  Mansion.  She  candidly  admitted 
that  of  the  four  years  she  was  Wyoniing's  First  Lady,  she 
only  lived  in  the  Governors'  Mansion  about  nine  months. i" 

Cheyenne  attorney  William  B.  Ross  was  elected  Gover- 
nor in  1922.  On  June  24,  1923,  Governor  Ross  greeted 
President  and  Mrs.  Warren  G.  Harding  when  the  Presi- 
dent's train  arrived  at  the  Union  Pacific  Depot  in 
Cheyenne.  Harding's  trip  to  the  West  would  be  his  last; 
he  died  in  San  Francisco  on  August  2nd,  1923.  Following 
the  appendicitis-related  death  of  Ross  in  1924,  Secretary 
of  State  Frank  Lucas  became  acting  governor.  Frank  Lucas 
had  earlier  served  in  the  Wyoming  legislature  preceding 
his  election  as  Secretary  of  State.  For  25  years,  he  was  the 
owner,  publisher,  and  in  the  beginning,  the  typesetter  for 
the  Buffalo  Bulletin. ^^ 

State  law  required  a  special  election  to  fill  the  gover- 
norship. It  was  generally  known,  early  on,  that  the 
Democratic  candidate  would  be  William  Ross'  widow, 
NeUie  Tayloe  Ross,  a  former  school  teacher.  When  Frank 
Lucas  had  been  elected  Secretary  of  State,  he  and  his  wife 
Ina  gave  up  their  newspaper  business  in  Buffalo  and  moved 
to  an  apartment  in  the  Plains  Hotel  in  Cheyenne.  Though 
he  was  acting  governor,  Lucas  and  his  wife  graciously 
continued  living  in  their  apartment  until  the  special  elec- 
tion was  held  and  a  new  governor  elected. ^^  Thus,  Nellie 
Tayloe  Ross  did  not  have  to  move  out  of  the  Mansion  and 
then  back  in  when  she  defeated  Casper  attorney  E.  J. 
Sullivan,  the  Republican  candidate,  in  the  special  election. 
Nellie  Ross  was  the  first  woman  to  serve  as  a  state's  gover- 
nor in  United  States  history. 

Two  years  later,  however.  State  Engineer  Frank  C. 
Emerson  defeated  Mrs.  Ross  in  her  bid  for  re-election. 
Governor  Emerson  took  office  in  1927  and  won  re-election 
in  1931.  Less  than  eight  weeks  into  his  second  term,  Emer- 
son, at  the  age  of  48,  died  of  influenza.  Mrs.  Emerson  and 


her  three  sons,  David,  Eugene  and  Frank,  also  seriously 
HI,  were  unable  to  attend  the  public  memorial  service  that 
took  place  in  the  Capitol  rotunda.  A  private  service  was 
arranged  for  the  family  in  the  drawing  room  of  the  Man- 
sion, but  even  then,  only  the  youngest  son,  Eugene,  was 
well  enough  to  attend.  The  other  family  members  listened 
to  the  service  from  their  second  floor  bedrooms. 

Secretary  of  State  Alonzo  M.  Clark,  who  had  taught 
school  for  21  years  in  Campbell  County  before  being 
elected  Secretary  of  State,  became  acting  governor  and 
served  for  almost  two  years,  1931  to  1933,  before  a  special 
election  was  held  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Clark  served  during 
the  darkest  hours  of  the  Great  Depression.  As  a  tax-saving 
measure,  Clark  and  his  wife  continued  living  in  their  home 
just  behind  the  Capitol  Building  at  108  West  25th  Street. 
During  his  campaign  for  election  to  a  full  term,  Clark  said, 
"by  not  using  the  Governors'  Mansion,  1  am  able  to  report 
a  saving  to  the  State  of  better  than  four  thousand  dollars 
per  year.'i'  Clark  lost  the  special  election  to  Leslie  A. 
Miller,  who  was  sworn  in  as  governor  on  January  2,  1933, 
and  then  elected  to  a  full  term  in  1934. 

Following  Alonzo  Qark's  lead.  Miller  and  his  wife, 
Margaret,  continued  living  in  their  home  on  West  27th  in 
order  to  save  money  and  to  allow  the  Mansion  to  become 
an  office  building  to  house  the  state  headquarters  of  the 
Emergency  Relief  Administration  (ERA),  and  later  the 
Works  Progress  Administration  (WPA),  both  New  Deal  pro- 
grams, i*  At  that  time,  the  original  Mansion  furniture  was 
stored  at  Ware  Furniture  Storage  in  Cheyenne."  In  1937, 


Governor  and  Mrs.  Frank  Emerson  and  sons  posed  for  a  photograph 
on  the  steps  of  the  Mansion  portico.  From  the  top,  Frank  Jr.,  Governor 
Emerson,  David,  Mrs.  Emerson  and  Eugene. 


the  WPA  disbanded  and  the  Mansion  reverted  back  to  the 
governor's  residence.  When  the  storage  bill  for  the  fur- 
niture was  presented  to  the  state  legislators  for  payment, 
they  decided  that  all  of  the  furniture  should  be  sold  at 
public  auction  to  defray  the  storage  costs.  The  lawmakers 
then  appropriated  $12,000  to  refurbish  and  refurnish  the 
Mansion,  which  was  necessary  after  32  years  of  active 
use.i^ 

The  Millers  played  an  important  role  in  the  redecora- 
tion  and  the  money  was  well-spent.  They  completely  re- 
modeled the  kitchen  and  pantry  and  added  a  breakfast 
room  off  the  dining  room  on  the  east  side  of  the  house. 
The  Millers  eliminated  two  bedrooms  and  one  of  the 
original  two  bathrooms  on  the  second  floor  and  replaced 
them  with  three  new  bathrooms  and  five  large  closets. 
Since  1937,  the  second  floor  has  had  four  bedrooms,  each 
with  a  full  bath.  To  complete  the  refurbishing.  Governor 
Miller  and  his  wife,  Margaret,  traveled  to  Chicago  with  a 
Casper  interior  decorator  to  purchase  new  furniture  at  the 
Chicago  Furniture  Mart.  The  Millers  moved  into  the 
Mansion  for  the  remaining  two  years  of  his  six-year 
administration.!'' 

Nels  Smith  followed  Miller  into  the  governor's  chair. 
Smith  had  established  and  operated  ranches  in  Crook  and 
Weston  counties  before  being  elected  governor.  The 
Smiths  found  the  newly-redecorated  Mansion  conducive 
to  entertaining.  One  of  their  many  house  guests  was 
internationally-known  opera  singer,  Jessica  Draggonetta, 
who  performed  in  Cheyenne  and  established  a  lifelong 
friendship  with  Marie  Smith,  Wyoming's  first  Wyoming- 
born  First  Lady."  Governor  and  Mrs.  Smith  hired 
Johneana  Scribner  as  housekeeper  and  cook.  She  and  her 
husband,  Charles,  a  conductor  on  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad,  created  living  quarters  in  the  basement.  The 
Scribners  had  to  use  the  bathroom  on  the  third  floor  to 
bathe,  however,  according  to  Evelyn  Grant,  the  upstairs 
maid  who  had  her  quarters  on  the  third  floor. ^^  Johneana 
(nicknamed  Janeen)  Scribner  worked  at  the  Mansion  for 
16  years,  serving  through  five  administrations. 

Lester  C.  Hunt  succeeded  Nels  Smith  in  1943.  Gover- 
nor Hunt,  a  dentist  from  Lander,  and  his  wife,  Nathelle, 
continued  the  Mansion's  tradition  as  a  social  and  cultural 
center  of  Cheyenne  and  Wyoming.  In  1946,  the  Hunts 
hosted  a  two-day  public  viewing  of  the  sterling  silver  ser- 
vice from  the  battleship,  the  U.S.S.  Wyoming,  when  it  was 
decommissioned.  In  1948,  President  and  Mrs.  Harry 
Truman  and  their  daughter  Margaret  made  a  whistle-stop 
campaign  appearance  in  Cheyenne.  FoUovdng  a  parade 
from  the  depot  to  the  Capitol  where  the  President  spoke, 
the  Hunts  entertained  the  Trumans  at  the  Mansion. 2° 

Evelyn  Grant  recalls  that  the  Hunts  brought  their  baby 
grand  piano  with  them  when  they  moved  into  the  Man- 
sion. The  Hunts  placed  their  piano  in  the  middle  of  the 
living  room  facing  the  Mansion's  baby  grand.  Daughter 
Elise  Hunt  and  son.  Buddy,  often  performed  piano  duets. 
Mrs.  Grant  also  remembers  the  champagne  wedding 
reception  held  in  the  Mansion  for  Elise  Nila  Hunt  and  her 
6 


groom,  1st  Lieutenant  H.  W.  Chadwick,  following  their 
wedding  at  St.  Mark's  Church. ^^ 

Governor  Hunt  established  the  collection  of  photo- 
graphs of  Wyoming's  First  Ladies  which  is  a  permanent 
exhibit  at  the  Mansion  today.  Nathelle  Hunt,  the  eldest 
living  former  First  Lady,  now  resides  in  Spokane,  Wash- 
ington. Two  years  into  his  second  term  as  Governor,  Hunt 
ran  for  the  U.S.  Senate  and  was  elected.  His  unexpired 
term  as  governor  was  filled  by  Arthur  G.  Crane  who  was 
acting  governor  from  1949  to  1951.  Crane  had  been  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  of  Wyoming  from  1922  to  1941.  Dur- 
ing his  tenure,  the  University's  enrollment  nearly  tripled 
which  necessitated  the  construction  of  fifteen  new  build- 
ings. He  thus  became  known  as  "Crane  the  Builder. "^^ 

Frank  Barrett,  an  attorney  from  Lusk,  was  serving  his 
fourth  term  in  the  U.S.  House  of  Representatives  when 
he  successfully  ran  for  governor  in  1950.  By  this  time,  the 
Mansion  needed  a  sprucing-up,  and  Mrs.  Barrett  en- 
thusiastically took  on  the  project.  She  selected  new  paint 
colors  and  wallpaper  for  several  rooms. ^'  Governor  Bar- 
rett served  two  years  before  he  won  election  to  the  U.S. 
Senate.  Then  Secretary  of  State,  C.  J.  "Doc"  Rogers,  a 
Cheyenne  businessman  and  owner  of  the  Top  Rail  Motel 
on  East  Lincolnway,  served  as  acting  governor  until 
Milward  L.  Simpson  took  office  as  governor  in  1955. 

Simpson  graduated  from  the  University  of  Wyoming 
and  Harvard  Law  School.  He  was  the  first  University  of 
Wyoming  graduate  to  serve  as  governor.  Simpson  wanted 
to  have  one  room  in  the  Mansion  reflect  Wyoming's  land 
and  people,  so  he  commissioned  Tom  Molesworth  of 
Cody,  owner  of  the  Shoshone  Furniture  Company,  to  build 
a  set  of  furniture  for  the  governor's  den.  Molesworth,  who 
had  attended  the  Art  Institute  of  Chicago,  constructed  the 
furniture  from  native  pine  and  cedar.  The  upholstered 
pieces  feature  embroidered  pine  tree  boughs  and  the  In- 
dian Paintbrush,  Wyoming's  state  flower.  The  den,  now 
renamed  the  "Wyoming  Room,"  remains  unchanged. ^^ 
Simpson  and  his  wife,  Loma,  also  created  an  open-air  sun 
porch  off  the  second  floor. 

J.  J.  "Joe"  Hickey  became  governor  in  1959.  He  and 
his  wife,  Winifred,  both  natives  of  Rawlins,  lived  with  their 
two  sons,  John  and  Paul,  in  the  Mansion  for  two  years. 
During  that  time,  they  enclosed  the  sun  porch  so  that  it 
could  be  used  year-round  as  a  family  room.  Following  the 
death  of  U.S.  Senator-elect  Keith  Thomson,  Hickey  re- 
signed as  governor.  Secretary  of  State  Jack  R.  Gage 
became  acting  governor  and  appointed  Hickey  to  the 
senate  vacancy. ^^ 

Prior  to  his  election  as  Secretary  of  State,  Jack  Gage 
had  served  as  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
from  1935  to  1939.  Gage  was  the  first  University  of  Wyo- 
ming graduate  to  hold  one  of  the  top  five  elected  positions 
of  the  state.  Governor  Gage,  an  author  and  humorist,  and 
First  Lady  Leona  Gage,  also  a  U.W.  graduate,  had  both 
been  teachers  in  Wyoming  before  they  entered  politics. 

Clifford  P.  Hansen,  a  Jackson  rancher,  defeated  Gage 
in  the  gubernatorial  election  and  was  sworn  in  as  gover- 


Governor  and  Mrs.  Lester  C.  Hunt  hosted  their  daughter's  wedding  reception  at  the  Mansion  on  January  18,  1945.  Elise  Nila  Hunt  married  1st 
Lt.  Russell  H  W.  Chadwick.  The  baby  grand  piano  behind  the  couple  and  the  comer  cabinet  with  glass  doors  were  among  the  furnishings  taken 
to  the  new  Mansion  in  October,  1976. 


nor  in  1963.  Hansen  and  his  wife,  Martha,  redecorated  the 
drawing  room.  The  First  Lady  installed  silk  curtains  and 
handscreened,  damask-patterned  wallpaper  which  remain 
today. 2*  During  their  tenure,  Montana  Governor  Tim  M. 
Babcock  (1%2-1969)  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  Mansion. 
Rorence  Conroy,  Hansens'  cook,  recalled  that  during  one 
Christmas  season.  Governor  and  Mrs.  Hansen  cooked  and 
served  dinner  to  Florence's  family  and  the  family  of  Mary 
Stephen,  the  maid.  Following  dinner,  the  children  played 
bingo,  and  Martha  Hansen  distributed  the  prizes. ^^  Hansen 
served  one  term  as  governor  before  he  successfully  ran  for 
the  U.S.  Senate. 

Stanley  K.  Hathaway  succeeded  Hansen  in  1967.  Hath- 
away, an  attorney  from  Torrington,  Wyoming,  also  was 
elected  to  a  second  term  in  1970.  He  was  the  first  gover- 
nor to  complete  a  second  term,  thus  the  Hathaway  family 
lived  in  the  Mansion  longer  than  any  other  First  Family. 
First  Lady  Bobby  Hathaway,  an  artist,  took  an  active  in- 
terest in  the  history  and  interior  design  of  the  Mansion. 
She  sought  to  impart  a  museum  character  to  the  state 
rooms.  Under  her  direction,  the  third  floor  rooms,  origin- 
ally used  as  maids'  quarters,  were  refurbished  for  the  two 
Hathaway  daughters,  Susan  and  Sandra.  Mrs.  Hathaway 
established  the  first  Governors'  Mansion  Library  with  the 
nucleus  of  60  books  by  Wyoming  authors  donated  to  the 
Mansion  by  the  Wyoming  Press  Women's  Association. ^^ 


The  library  has  grown  and  is  now  located  at  the  new 
Governors'  Mansion. 

During  their  administration,  the  Hathaways  enter- 
tained many  prominent  guests,  including  New  York 
Governor  Nelson  Rockefeller  (1959-1973),  who  was  treated 
to  a  wild  venison  dinner  prepared  by  Mansion  cook 
Horence  Conroy.  Presidential  candidate  Richard  Nixon 
was  a  house  guest  at  the  Mansion  on  April  21,  1968.  May 
Eastgate,  who  succeeded  Horence  Conroy  as  the  Mansion 
cook,  recalls  that  she  and  Mrs.  Hathaway  planned  an 
elaborate  menu  which  featured  roast  beef  with  Yorkshire 
pudding.^'  The  Hathaways'  daughter,  Sandra  Hathaway 
D'Amico,  was  impressed  with  the  presence  of  the  Secret 
Service  assigned  to  the  future  president. ^^  The  Hathaways 
also  entertained  author  James  Michener  who  was  in 
Wyoming  doing  research  for  his  novel.  Centennial. ^^ 

Governor  and  Mrs.  Ed  Herschler  began  serving  Wyo- 
ming in  1975.  Before  he  became  governor,  Herschler  prac- 
ticed law  in  Kemmerer  and  operated  the  Herschler  ranch 
in  Lincoln  County.  When  the  new  governor  and  his  wife 
Casey  moved  into  the  Mansion,  the  new  Governors'  Man- 
sion was  already  being  built .  The  Herschlers  have  the 
distinction  of  being  the  last  First  Family  to  live  in  the  old 
Governors'  Mansion.  They  lived  in  it  for  almost  two  years 
before  moving  to  the  new  Mansion,  located  in  Frontier 
Park,  in  October,  1976.  First  Lady  Casey  Herschler  easily 


Ed  and  Casey  Herschler  posed  with  the  Governor's  mother,  the  late  Mrs.  Ned  Herschler,  in  a  photograph  used  to  publicize  the  1975  Symphony 
Ball.  They  are  standing  in  front  of  the  fireplace  mantle  installed  during  the  Kendrick  administration. 


transferred  the  warmth  and  open  hospitality  of  the  old 
Mansion  to  the  new  Mansion  and  took  an  active  interest 
in  the  preservation  and  interpretation  of  the  old  Mansion 
as  a  historic  house  museum.  Because  Herschler  was  elected 
to  and  served  an  unprecedented  third  term,  the  Herschlers 
lived  at  the  new  Mansion  for  more  than  ten  years. ^^ 

Today,  Wyoming's  29th  Governor,  Mike  Sullivan,  and 
First  Lady  Jane  Sullivan  reside  at  the  new  Mansion  with 
their  daughters,  Michelle  and  Theresa,  and  son  Patrick. 
Mrs.  Sullivan  continues  a  tradition  among  Wyoming  first 
families  to  enhance  and  preserve  the  governors'  home. 

After  the  new  Governors'  Mansion  was  buQt,  the  old 
Mansion  became  the  Historic  Governors'  Mansion,  a  state 
site  museum  administered  by  the  Archives,  Museums  and 
Historical  Department.  The  Mansion  opened  to  the  public 
in  July,  1977.  As  a  museum,  the  Historic  Governors'  Man- 
sion continues  to  be  the  center  of  many  cultural  and  social 
activities  as  it  was  when  Wyoming's  First  Families  resided 
there.  During  the  Simpson  tenure,  the  Sioux  Indians,  in- 
cluding the  late  Princess  Bluewater,  danced  on  the  front 
lawn  of  the  Mansion  during  Cheyenne  Frontier  Days.  From 
1906  to  1958,  the  Mansion's  carriage  house  served  as  a 
neighborhood  voting  precinct.  In  1969,  the  Mansion  was 
enrolled  on  the  National  Register  of  Historic  Places.  In 
December,  1976,  the  Mansion  was  the  Women's  Civic 
League  Christmas  House.  The  annual  Christmas  Candle- 
light Tours  and  Concerts,  begun  in  1981,  continue  to  be 
a  popular  event.  In  addition  to  special  events,  the  Man- 
sion is  open  for  touring  five  days  per  week.  Tourists  from 
all  over  the  world  have  visited  the  Mansion. 

Restoration  of  the  Mansion  has  been  a  major  focus 
since  it  became  a  state  site  museum.  Three  bedrooms  have 
been  restored.  Some  of  the  original  furnishings  from  1905 
have  been  repurchased  and  placed  in  the  Mansion.  In 
1986-1987,  the  entrance  hall  was  restored  to  its  1905  decor, 
including  the  re-installation  of  a  pair  of  brass,  combination- 
style  ceiling  fixtures.  The  Cheyenne  Historic  Preservation 
Board  recognized  the  restoration  work  when  the  Mansion 
received  the  William  R.  Dubois  Award  for  historic  preser- 
vation in  1988.  A  permanent  exhibit  of  photographs 
donated  by  Wyoming's  First  Families  has  been  established, 
and  these  photographs  illustrate,  in  a  graphic  and  personal 
way,  the  many  chapters  of  the  building's  history. 

Although  the  Historic  Governors'  Mansion  was 
modest  in  size  and  decor  compared  to  many  other  ex- 
ecutive mansions,  Wyoming  people  have  always  been 
proud  of  this  dignified  and  gracious  home  they  provided 
their  governors.  The  Historic  Governors'  Mansion  con- 
tinues to  be  a  beautiful  and  lasting  tribute  to  Wyoming's 
rich  and  colorful  people  and  heritage. 


1.  Minutes,  Wyoming  State  Capitol  Building  Commission,  1901-1905, 
Archives  and  Records  Management  Division,  Wyoming  State  Ar- 
chives, Museums  and  Historical  Department,  Cheyenne. 

2.  Telephone  interviews  with  Melissa  Brooks  Spurlock,  Casper,  Wyo- 
ming, 1983,  1984. 

3.  Interviews  with  Charlotte  Chaplin  Smith,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
November  16,  1982,  October  19,  1984. 

4.  Interviews  with  Dave  Cook,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  October  21, 
November  2,  1984. 

5.  Ibid. 

6.  Telephone  interviews  with  Manville  Kendrick,  Sheridan,  Wyoming, 
January  30,  April  16,  November  18,  1986. 

7.  Cheyenne  State  Leader,  August  23,  1916. 

8.  Telephone  interviews  with  Mercedes  Houx  Wallace,  Hobbs,  New 
Mexico,  November  14,  1986,  March  19,  1987. 

9.  Interview  with  Floyd  Artist,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  April,  1987. 

10.  Interview  with  Mrs.  Joseph  M.  Carey  III,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
July  29,  1987. 

11.  Telephone  interview  with  Clariece  Lucas  Carrel,  Pensacola,  Florida, 
December  7,  1988. 

12.  Ibid. 

13.  Wyoming  Eagle,  August  5,  1932. 

14.  Wyoming  Eagle,  February  23,  1937. 

15.  Interview  with  Margaret  Laybourn,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  July  23, 
1985. 

16.  Session  Laws  of  Wyoming,  1937,  Chapter  2,  p.  3. 

17.  Interview  with  Katherine  Miller  Mabee,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
January  15,  1989. 

18.  Interview  with  Christy  K.  Smith,  Cheyeime,  Wyoming,  July  26,  1986. 

19.  Telephone  interview  with  Evelyn  Grant,  Meridan,  Idaho,  January  12, 
1989. 

20.  Interview  with  Robert  R.  Larson,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  June,  1987. 

21.  Interview  with  Evelyn  Grant. 

22.  Telephone  interview  with  Paul  Crane,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
December,  1985. 

23.  Interview  with  Mrs.  Frank  A.  Barrett,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  January, 
1986. 

24.  Interview  with  Sue  Breisch  Buchanan,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
November  19,  1986. 

25.  Interview  with  John  Hickey,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  July  26,  1985. 

26.  Interview  with  Clifford  and  Martha  Hansen,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
May  22,  1986. 

27.  Interview  with  Florence  Conroy,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  October  11, 
1986. 

28.  Mrs.  Stanley  K.  Hathaway,  "Wyoming:  The  Executive  Mansion," 
Executive  Mansions  and  Capitols  of  America,  Eds.  Jean  H.  Daniel  and 
Price  Daniel  (New  York:  Putnam  Publishers,  1969),  p.  120. 

29.  Telephone  interview  with  May  Eastgate,  Saratoga,  Wyoming, 
January  13,  1989. 

30.  Interview  with  Sandra  Hathaway  D'Amico,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
June  18,  1987. 

31.  Interview  with  Susan  Hathaway  Garrett,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, 
January  13,  1989. 

32.  Interviews  with  Casey  Herschler,  August  2,  1984,  April  19,  1985. 


TIMOTHY  WHITE,  a  Cheyenne  native,  graduated  from  the  University  of  Wyo- 
ming. He  did  graduate  work  in  painting  and  interior  design  at  Pratt  Institute 
of  Art  and  Design  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  for  several  years  pursued  a  paint- 
ing career  in  New  York.  He  has  been  Curator  of  the  Historic  Governors'  Man- 
sion since  February,  1981. 


JEWS 

IN 

WYOMING 

by  Carl  V.  Hallberg 


The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  research 
funding  for  this  project  from  the  Wyoming 
Council  for  the  Humanities. 


T^e  Pittsburgh  Press  printed  this  picture  in  its  October  24,  1911,  issue,  to  accompany  an  article  on  a  plan  to  place  Jews  on  homesteads  in  Wyoming. 
The  caption  to  the  piece  read:  "No  more  bondage  in  Industrial  Egypt;  jews  Swarm  to  New  Promised  Land  in  the  West;  Onto  Soil  for  Hundreds 
From  the  Ghetto." 
10 


In  western  Jewish  studies,  the  subject  of  Jewish  life  in 
the  Rocky  Mountain  states  has  generally  not  received 
careful  attention.  With  few  exceptions,  Jewish  themes  have 
long  appeared  to  be  irrelevant  for  a  region  where  the 
Jewish  population  has  been  viewed  as  very  small,  insulated 
from  national  issues  or  non-existent.^  This  had  been 
especially  true  of  Wyoming,  where  only  recently  have  there 
been  some  efforts  to  explore  the  state's  ethnic  heritage  in 
which  Jews  too  have  had  a  part.^  A  closer  examination  of 
the  Jewish  experience  in  Wyoming  will  provide  new  in- 
sights about  Jews  in  Wyoming  and  in  the  West. 

Jewish  immigration  and  social  life  in  Wyoming  have 
always  been  connected  with  economic  developments  in 
transportation,  mining  and  agriculture,  from  the  first  set- 
tlement of  the  state  in  1867  to  the  energy  boom  of  the  1970s. 
For  the  first  pioneer  Jews,  opportunity  on  the  western  fron- 
tier appeared  through  the  efforts  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  in  building  a  transcontinental  line  across  the  then 
Wyoming  Territory.  From  the  founding  of  Cheyenne  in 
1867  to  the  completion  of  the  railroad  across  Wyoming  in 
1868,  construction  crews  and  boom  camps  attracted 
itinerant  frontier  merchants,  some  of  whom  had  been 
following  the  progress  of  the  railroad  across  the  plains.  In- 
cluded in  this  westward  stream  of  emigrants  were  Jews. 
In  the  cosmopolitan  atmosphere  of  the  camps  and  new 
towns,  the  profile  of  these  Jewish  pioneers  became  but  one 
part  of  the  heterogeneous  population.  Like  other  business- 
men, they  were  independent  men  bent  on  economic  gain 
rather  than  establishing  roots  in  the  new  territory.  Many 
came  with  a  colorful  background  of  transient  existence, 
during  which  time  they  had  acquired  their  experience  in 
the  field  of  merchandising  and  had  become  somewhat  ac- 
culturated  to  life  in  the  West.  What  made  them  different 
from  their  neighbors  were  personal  qualities  and  man- 
nerisms that  were  their  Jewish  heritage. 

While  Jewish  merchants  were  not  singled  out  publicly 
as  Jews,  their  identity  was  sometimes  known  in  private 
circles.  Such  an  observation  was  made  in  Cheyenne  in  the 
winter  of  1868  by  James  Chisholm.  Chishobn  was  on  his 
way  to  the  gold  fields  around  South  Pass  City  when  a 
snowstorm  forced  him  to  remain  in  Cheyenne.  Due  to  the 
storm's  severity  and  probably  his  own  unpreparedness, 
he  found  himself  without  proper  means  of  shelter  and 
became  gravely  ill.  He  wrote  in  his  diary: 

I  was  rescued  by  a  Jew  who  drew  me  into  his  clothing  store. 
.  .  .  My  Hebrew  friend  was  very  kind,  and  I  felt  like  the 
wounded  knight  of  Ivanhoe,  only  it  was  Isaac,  and  not  the  gen- 
tle Rebecca,  who  tended  me.' 

His  "Hebrew  friend"  may  have  been  Ben  Hellman,  a 
pioneer  clothier,  but  how  Chisholm  recognized  his  rescuer 
as  a  Jew  was  not  recorded. 

Chisholm's  remark  was  to  become  typical  of  local  and 
regional  knowledge  about  Jews  as  personal  identification 
became  a  common  means  of  measuring  the  Jewish 
presence  in  Wyoming.  Even  in  larger  Jewish  circles  and 
in  some  early  historical  studies,  individuality  was  evidence 


of  Jews  in  a  state  where  the  Jewish  population  was  often 
known  only  by  individuals  rather  than  by  a  reference  to  a 
common  cause  or  a  religious  community.  This  would  be 
true  not  only  for  Wyoming,  but  for  the  Jewish  populations 
in  other  western  states,  leading  to  the  impression  that  the 
character  of  western  Jews  was  markedly  different  from 
eastern  Jews  by  the  time  and  place  of  their  newly  chosen 
home  and  by  the  absence  of  anything  remotely  Jewish  by 
eastern  standards.  Distance  may  have  physically  isolated 
western  Jews  from  the  main  currents  of  Jewish  culture,  but 
many  responded  to  the  lack  of  cultural  amenities  by  bring- 
ing their  Jewish  background  to  their  respective  areas. 

This  fact  was  probably  known  best  to  the  newspaper, 
the  American  Israelite.  The  Israelite's  principal  task  was  to 
foster  the  spirit  of  Judaism,  particularly  Reform  Judaism 
under  its  editor  and  publisher.  Rabbi  Isaac  Meyer  Wise, 
through  the  printed  word.  As  a  voice  of  American  Judaism 
reaching  out  to  pioneers  and  formative  religious  commu- 
nities, the  paper  claimed  a  national  circulation  by  the  1870s. 
Indeed,  to  many  small  communities  and  insulated  in- 
dividuals, the  Israelite  did  serve  as  a  primary  tool  of  ad- 
vancing the  cause  of  Reform  Judaism.  That  the  paper  had 
a  wide  circulation  was  evident  from  brief  notices  about  local 
synagogues,  donations  to  Jewish  relief  and  welfare  or- 
ganizations and  personal  travels.  Each  short  feature  may 
have  consisted  of  one  sentence,  a  couple  lines  or  a  list  of 
names,  but  when  viewed  collectively,  these  notices  docu- 
mented the  geography  of  Jews  in  the  American  West. 

While  the  Israelite  willingly  printed  local  notices,  the 
paper  was  devoted  primarily  to  publishing  news  on  na- 
tional and  regional  events  directly  relevant  to  the  shaping 
of  American  Reform  Judaism.  One  city  that  did  merit 
special  attention  was  Cincinnati,  only  because  it  was  the 
home  of  the  Israelite  and  the  focus  of  the  Reform  move- 
ment in  America.  It  then  fell  to  local  correspondents 
elsewhere  to  report  about  their  community  in  greater  detail 
in  order  to  show  the  paper's  midwestem  readers  that  one's 
Jewish  identity  had  not  been  lost  and  that  the  spirit  of 
reform  had  staunch  adherents  elsewhere. 

Though  the  Israelite  was  cognizant  of  its  western  sup- 
porters in  Wyoming  in  the  1870s,  the  state's  Jews  did  not 
receive  substantial  public  attention  through  the  pages  of 
the  paper  until  the  1880s  and  the  1890s.  How  the  Israelite 
obtained  information  about  Wyoming  is  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. In  any  case,  news  from  the  state,  which  was  either 
about  individual  travels  or  donations  to  Jewish  charities, 
was  infrequent,  brief  and  often  lost  among  the  many  lines 
in  the  Israelite.  The  reasons  for  this  kind  of  reporting  prob- 
ably rested  somewhere  between  the  nature  of  the  source 
and  the  editorial  policies  of  the  paper.  The  overall  result 
was  hardly  informative  for  it  revealed  very  little  about  the 
character  and  composition  of  the  Jewish  population  in  the 
state.  In  November,  1888,  in  marked  contrast  to  previous 
presentations  of  Wyoming,  Maier  Marks,  a  dry  goods  mer- 
chant in  Cheyenne,  decided  to  bring  Cheyenne  and 
Wyoming  to  the  attention  of  the  Israelite. 

11 


It  may,  perhaps,  surprise  many  of  your  readers  to  learn  that 
out  here  on  the  frontier,  and,  as  many  term  it,  "the  other  side 
of  civilization,"  there  is  an  intelligent  and  prosperous  Jewish 
population  ....■* 

Marks  was  an  appropriate  spokesman  for  Wyonung. 
He  and  his  business  partner,  William  Meyers,  came  to 
South  Pass  City  from  Salt  Lake  City  about  1869.  Their  dry 
goods  store  profited,  but  only  a  short  time  due  to  a  decline 
in  gold  production  in  the  area.  The  two  men  soon  closed 
their  store  and  began  anew  in  Cheyenne  in  the  summer 
of  1870.5  From  1870  to  1888,  Marks  and  Meyers  witnessed 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  Jewish  community  of 
Cheyenne  and  would  be  part  of  the  core  of  the  Cheyenne 
Jewish  community  until  the  turn  of  the  century.  At  the  time 
of  Marks'  letter  to  the  Israelite,  the  first  Jewish  congrega- 
tion in  Wyoming  had  been  organized  in  March,  1888,  with 
Marks  as  one  of  its  directors.*  In  his  closing  remarks  to  the 
Israelite,  Marks  promised  to  write  future  articles  about 
Cheyenne  for  the  pleasure  of  the  paper's  subscribers. 
Although  no  personal  letters  followed,  Marks,  at  least,  had 
brought  Cheyenne  and  Wyoming  to  national  attention. 

Marks'  letter,  like  many  others  in  religious  and  ethnic 
newspapers,  was  intended  primarily  to  make  his  co- 
religionists rediscover  their  western  brethren.  Due  to 
limited  transportation  and  communication  lines  in  the 
West,  most  eastern  Jews  were  not  totally  aware  of  the  scale 
of  Jewish  settlement  or  of  the  extent  to  which  Judaism  had 
been  carried  across  the  country.  Western  Jews,  however, 
were  not  forgotten  among  individuals  concerned  with  the 
welfare  of  Jews  and  the  future  of  Judaism  in  the  region. 
Social  and  rabbinical  leaders  in  the  East  realized  that  the 
Jewish  population  was  becoming  widely  dispersed  and  that 
many  western  Jews  lived  in  sparsely  populated  areas 
without  any  religious  direction  or  giiidance.  To  bring  these 
Jews  within  the  framework  of  the  American  Jewish  com- 
munity would  be  difficult.  Central  to  the  problem  was  not 
when,  but  how.  Western  migration  was  independent  of 
any  central  or  gxiiding  forces,  and  the  Jewish  presence  was 
more  often  than  not  suspected,  or  known  generally  but 
not  specifically.  What  was  first  needed  before  religion  could 
be  brought  to  the  frontier  was  information  about  the  set- 
tlement of  Jews. 

The  first  group  to  define  the  geography  of  Jews  was 
the  Board  of  Delegates  of  American  Israelites.  Formed  in 
1869,  it  was  the  first  national  Jewish  organization  in  the 
United  States  dedicated  to  the  preservation  of  the  civil 
rights  of  Jews.  Initially  the  scope  of  its  activities  were  con- 
fined to  the  eastern  coast  until  the  mid-1870s,  when  the 
board  decided  to  broaden  its  influence  nationwide.  Before 
it  could  do  so,  however,  the  board  needed  exact  informa- 
tion on  the  location  of  Jews  and  Jewish  institutions  in  the 
country.  Lacking  such,  the  board  decided  in  1876  to  con- 
duct a  national  census  of  the  Jewish  population  in  America. 

Because  the  board  had  very  little  material  with  which 
to  begin  its  project,  the  enormity  of  the  task  quickly  became 
apparent.  At  first,  it  relied  upon  a  national  networking 
system  based  solely  on  correspondence  with  known  in- 
12 


dividuals  and  institutions.  While  this  was  a  good  starting 
point,  it  later  proved  inadequate  when  inquiries  were  made 
about  other  areas.  To  expand  the  network  only  created  more 
administrative  and  financial  problems  for  the  board.  As  the 
census  became  increasingly  expensive  to  conduct  and  the 
acquisition  of  precise  figures  became  more  difficult,  the 
board  began  to  look  for  outside  help  and  turned  to  the 
Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations.  Founded  in 
1873  by  Rabbi  Isaac  Meyer  Wise,  the  objective  of  the 
organization  was  to  create  a  center  for  American  Judaism. 
When  approached  by  the  board  of  delegates  with  the  topic 
of  a  national  Jewish  census,  the  Union  of  American 
Hebrew  Congregations  readily  consented,  not  only 
because  it  involved  contact  with  Jews  across  the  country, 
but  also  because  the  project  could  have  long-term  rewards 
for  the  union.  No  sooner  had  the  board  of  delegates  made 
its  proposal  to  the  union  than  an  agreement  of  coopera- 
tion was  quickly  approved  by  both  organizations.  Together 
they  would  embark  on  an  ambitious  task  of  conducting  a 
complete  and  thorough  census  of  the  Jewish  population 
in  the  United  States. 

The  census  took  two  years  to  complete.  After  the  first 
year,  the  initial  difficulties  experienced  by  the  board  of 
delegates  still  hampered  the  progress  of  the  census.  When 
preliminary  findings  were  published  in  1877,  the  organizers 
admitted  that  the  results  were  considered  unsatisfactory 
and  not  reflective  of  the  true  population.  Although  there 
were  Jews  in  Wyoming  at  this  time,  the  census  missed 
them  entirely.  Other  procedural  errors  and  difficulties  in 
gathering  accurate  data  awakened  organizers  to  the  fact 
that  their  task  was  not  as  simple  as  it  first  seemed.  Deter- 
mined nonetheless  to  meet  the  challenge,  the  two  groups 
agreed  to  commit  more  money  to  their  project.  At  the  same 
time,  they  also  decided  to  modify  their  goal.  They 
acknowledged  that  their  original  aim  of  conducting  a 
thorough  and  complete  census  was  unrealistic  because  not 
every  community  or  individual  could  be  counted.  Thus  the 
work  was  prefaced  on  the  fact  that  all  figures  would  only 
be  close  approximahons  of  the  total  populahon.''  When  the 
census  was  finally  completed  in  1878,  more  than  200,000 
Jews  in  the  country  had  been  counted. 

Of  the  states  and  territories,  Wyoming  ranked  at  the 
bottom  of  the  list  with  40  Jewish  residents.*  This  figure  was 
only  for  Cheyenne.  The  absence  of  other  dties  suggests 
that  the  only  contact  between  the  census  takers  and  Wyo- 
ming was  with  a  person  or  people  of  the  capital  city.  It  is 
also  evidence  of  the  lack  of  communication  with  fellow 
Jews  in  the  territory,  for  there  were  Jews  living  in  Wyo- 
ming cities  along  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad. 

Despite  problems  in  its  methodology,  the  census  of 
1878  was  a  major  achievement  in  enumerating  the  Jewish 
population.  Unfortunately,  the  census  takers  did  not 
publish  any  information  on  the  character  of  the  people  or 
the  environment  in  which  they  lived.  Whether  this  was 
intentional  or  not  is  hard  to  say,  since  the  original  census 
records  no  longer  exist  to  allow  the  modern  researcher  the 
privilege   of  re-evaluating   the   information.   A   similar 


predicament  also  faced  the  inquiring  reader  of  the  late  19th 
century.  A  person  interested  in  supplementary  data  had 
only  a  limited  number  of  other  sources  available  to  him. 
There  were  many  books,  pamphlets  and  articles  on  the 
western  states,  but  few  of  these  were  by  Jewish  writers  and 
fewer  still  were  the  number  of  Jewish  writers  describing 
Wyoming. 

The  first  critical  accounts  about  Wyoming  to  appear  in 
the  Jewish  press  came  from  the  hand  of  Dr.  Max  Lilien- 
thal.  A  noted  author  and  reform  rabbi,  Lilienthal  presented 
mixed  reviews  about  the  Wyoming  Territory.  While  travel- 
ing to  California  in  1874  and  1879,  he  recorded  his  obser- 
vations about  Wyoming  for  the  young  readers  of  Sabbath- 
School  Visitor.  As  the  train  made  its  way  from  Cheyenne 
to  Evanston,  he  toured  the  major  cities  along  the  route  and 
reported  in  a  positive,  educational  and  colorful  manner  on 
the  general  character  of  the  urban  and  natural  environ- 
ment. In  the  end,  he  left  his  readers  with  the  impression 
that  Wyoming  was  worthy  of  exploration  by  young  minds. ^ 
To  his  adult  readers,  however,  Lilienthal  conveyed  a  very 
different  impression.  On  a  trip  to  California  in  1876,  he  por- 
trayed the  state  as  a  desert  wilderness  covered  only  by  sand 
and  sage.  Traveling  through  the  territory  seemed  to  him 
like  a  rite  of  passage  to  San  Francisco. 

It  is  a  tedious  ride,  the  ride  through  Wyoming  territory. 
.  .  .  It  is  an  awful  monotony  relieved  at  last  by  the  sight  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  Black  Hills  [foothills  between  Cheyenne 
and  Laramie]  ...."' 

His  harsh  commentary  on  the  entire  state  contradicted  the 
statements  he  had  made  in  Hebrew  Sabbath-School  Visitor. 
While  these  later  remarks  may  have  appeared  authori- 
tative to  LUienthal's  uninformed  adult  readers,  they  were 
probably  born  out  of  an  important  desire  to  reach  a  final 
destination. 

Within  a  year  after  LUienthal's  journey  in  1876,  Rabbi 
Isaac  Meyer  Wise  toured  the  West  as  a  representative  of 
the  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations  to  enlist  the 
support  of  Jewish  communities  for  Hebrew  Union  College. 
Obviously  aware  that  there  were  Jews  in  Wyoming,  his 
transcontinental  railroad  crusade  took  him  to  Cheyenne 
in  the  summer  of  1877.  He  found  his  trip  somewhat  tire- 
some, for  he,  like  Lilienthal,  was  bored  by  the  seemingly 
uncompromising  expanse  of  the  plains  from  Nebraska  to 
eastern  Wyoming.  The  appearance  of  the  Rocky  Movmtains 
on  the  horizon  was  a  pleasant  and  welcomed  sight.  As  to 
Cheyenne,  he  found  "a  new  city  of  some  substantial 
buildings  and  a  large  number  of  shanties.""  His  brief  por- 
trait probably  stirred  little  interest  nationwide  about  the 
city,  but  this  was  not  important  to  him.  What  was  impor- 
tant was  that  he  found  a  Jewish  community  here  sym- 
pathetic to  his  cause. 

Wyoming's  image  fared  no  better  in  the  eyes  of  a 
foreign  correspondent.  In  1876,  Henry  Sienkiewicz,  a 
reporter  for  the  Gazeta  Polska  of  Warsaw,  made  a  tour  of 
the  United  States.  His  purposes  were  to  satisfy  his  curiosity 
about  the  country  and  to  corifirm  the  colorful  and  roman- 
tic images  in  newspapers  and  books  about  the  American 


West.  To  Sienkiewicz 's  dismay,  he  found  the  seemingly 
wild  stories  and  reports  about  inherent  natural  disasters  and 
Indian  troubles  to  be  unfounded.  Most  disappointing  to 
him  was  the  blandness  of  the  prairie  landscape.  From  Iowa 
to  Nevada,  he  wrote,  it  was  "one  tremendous  treeless 
prairie,  covered  only  with  grass  and  sweetbroom,  and  here 
and  there  with  scrawny  willow  bushes  along  river  beds."^^ 
As  Sienkiewicz  traveled  from  Wyoming  through  Nevada, 
the  landscape  seemed  even  more  emotionally  unsettling. 
It  would  be  a  futile  attempt  to  depict  for  the  reader  what  a  dread- 
ful, oppressive  effect  Wyoming,  Utah  and  Nevada  had  upon 
me  as  I  traveled  through  them  on  the  transcontinental  railroad. 
There  the  eye  has  nothing  to  rest  upon  other  than  endless 
desert,  jagged  Dantesque  rocks,  or  precipices  whose  satanical 
names  makes  one  shudder.  An  occasional  salt  lake  reflects  a 
leaden,  sullen  sky.  In  areas  as  extensive  as  some  European 
states,  I  did  not  see  even  a  single  tree.  From  time  to  time  small 
herds  of  antelope  or  deer  flitted  between  the  rocks,  but  what 
these  animals  eat  and  drink  still  remains  a  mystery  to  me  ..." 

At  Sherman,  the  highest  point  along  the  railroad,  he  com- 
mented, "nothing  is  more  desolate  than  the  view  from 
here."" 

Although  the  purpose  of  the  western  travels  of  Sien- 
kiewicz, Lilienthal  and  Wise  differed,  there  was  some 
similarity  in  their  descriptions  of  the  plains  frontier  for  their 
readers.  Because  other  matters  merited  more  attention, 
their  views  of  the  environment  were  of  secondary  and 
passing  concern  and  their  overall  method  of  reporting  was 
narrow  and  reflective  of  eastern  attitudes  about  urban  Ufe. 
Like  most  observers  unacquainted  with,  if  not  uninterested 
in,  the  nature  of  the  land,  they  were  quick  to  make 
generalizations  about  the  terrain  within  one  or  several 
states,  to  focus  on  the  vastness  and  melancholy  of  the  ter- 
rain, and  to  note  the  incongruity  between  the  breadth  of 
the  landscape  and  the  diminutive  scale  of  human  activities 
upon  it.^^  By  focusing  on  the  broad  natural  vistas,  the 
observers  considered  man-made  features  as  separate,  in- 
dependent features  rather  than  as  extensions  of  settlement 
on  the  plains.  By  emphasizing  the  singtilarity  of  things, 
they  inferred  the  isolation  of  its  inhabitants. 

Except  for  LUienthal's  report  in  the  Sabbath-School 
Visitor,  the  writers  gave  little  evidence  that  they  took  time 
to  discover  the  character  of  the  place  or  community.  Most 
of  their  viewpoints  were  of  a  Ansual  criteria  and  were  made 
from  the  comfort  of  their  railroad  car.  Of  the  writers,  only 
Rabbi  Wise  had  sought  out  and  recorded  the  presence  of 
Jews.  Had  it  not  been  for  him,  a  serious  reader  might  have 
assvuned  that  there  were  no  Jews  out  here.  But  Wise  was 
also,  in  a  small  way,  like  the  other  writers  by  conveying 
Wyoming  in  terms  deemed  culttirally  unsuitable  for  Jews. 
The  impact  of  these  statements  on  eastern  attitudes  with 
regard  to  the  West  and  western  immigration  cannot  be 
measured,  although  given  the  small  amount  of  space  allot- 
ted to  these  topics,  the  effect  is  probably  insignificant. 

One  important  theme  that  escaped  the  writer's  atten- 
tion were  the  forces  behind  western  settlement.  What 
means  of  making  a  living  that  went  unnoticed  by  Lilien- 
thal, Wise  and  Sienkiewicz  were  known  to  Jews  in  the 

13 


immediate  region.  Indeed,  most  Jews  who  settled  in  Wyo- 
ming had  been  residing  in  the  neighboring  states  of  Col- 
orado, Utah,  Montana,  South  Dakota  and  Nebraska,  and  had 
first-hand  knowledge  of  the  opportunities  available  to  them. 

From  1867  to  1910,  Wyoming  Jews  were  a  mixed  and 
varied  lot.  Guarding  the  frontier  were  Jewish  soldiers  sta- 
tioned at  Fort  D.A.  Russell  in  Cheyenne  to  Fort  McKin- 
ney  in  Buffalo.  After  the  closure  of  most  military  outposts, 
there  still  remained  a  Jewish  element  among  military  per- 
sonnel in  the  state.  Mining  camps  attracted  Jewish  mer- 
chants eager  to  outfit  and  supply  avaricious  gold  miners. 
Jewish  participation  in  the  actual  extraction  of  ores  was 
largely  confined  to  areas  of  management  or  investment. 
However,  there  were  two  exceptions.  In  Fremont  County, 
one  mine  was  called  the  Irish  Jew,  even  though  it  appears 
that  its  owners  were  not  Jewish.  Even  more  notable  is  the 
existence  of  a  Jewish  miner,  Moritz  Aronstein.  Aronstein 
operated  a  rooming  house  in  Colorado  Springs  before  he 
purchased  a  mining  claim  south  of  Lusk,  Wyoming.  As 
the  story  goes,  he  was  tricked  into  buying  land  seeded  with 
gold  nuggets.^*  In  agriculture,  Jewish  homesteaders  in 
Laramie,  Platte  and  Goshen  counties  struggled  to  become 
successful  farmers,  while  Isadore  Bolton  of  Carbon  County 
managed  a  sheep  ranching  empire  stretching  from  Hay- 
den,  Colorado,  to  Rawlins,  Wyoming. ^^ 

The  majority  of  early  Jews  were  frontier  merchants.  By 
the  time  of  their  arrival  in  Wyoming,  they  were  knowl- 
edgeable in  the  merchandising  of  clothes,  liquor,  cigars  and 


Max  Idelman  of  Cheyenne. 
14 


various  sundry  goods,  were  often  quite  enterprising  and 
mobUe  when  new  opportunities  became  available  else- 
where, and  had  established  varying  degrees  of  credit  with 
wholesalers  in  New  York  and  Chicago.  Success  in  their 
endeavors  depended  upon  their  personality,  business  ex- 
perience and  corrmiunity  involvement.  If  a  merchant  man- 
aged to  attain  some  social  prominence,  he  often  became 
recognized  as  one  of  the  economic  builders  of  his  com- 
munity and  a  symbol  of  respectable  merchandising." 

Several  men  who  prospered  in  one  town  went  on  to 
expand  their  business  operations  into  neighboring  boom 
towns.  Ben  Hellman  and  the  firm  of  Marks  and  Meyers 
opened  branch  stores  in  Laramie  by  1870."  The  liquor 
wholesale  dealers  of  Brown  and  Gottstein  began  in 
Evanston  about  1873.  Brown  left  for  Nevada  in  1875,  but 
his  post  was  filled  by  Max  Idelman,  an  astute  Russian- 
Polish  immigrant  from  St.  Joseph,  Missouri.  By  1878,  Gott- 
stein and  Idelman  had  stores  in  Laramie,  Cheyenne  and 
Deadwood.  After  the  firm  of  Gottstein  and  Idelman 
dissolved  in  1878,  the  two  men  opened  competing  liquor 
businesses  in  the  new  town  of  Fort  Fetterman  in  1886. 2" 
In  northeast  Wyoming,  Abe  and  Meyer  Frank  opened  a 
general  store  in  Sundance  in  1884  and  five  years  later 
opened  a  second  store  in  Newcastle. ^^ 

Jewish  immigration  to  Wyoming  was  influenced  by 
personal  initiative,  perceptions  and  information  networks. 
If  a  business  grew  or  expanded,  Jewdsh  merchants  some- 
times brought  unemployed  family  members  into  the 
business.  The  newcomer  provided  the  extra  clerical  help 
until  such  time,  if  ever,  he  could  become  independent.  In 
some  cases,  the  newcomer  would  operate  the  branch  store. 
The  Idelman  Brothers  of  Cheyenne  was  headed  by  Max 
followed  by  his  brothers  Abe  and  Philip  and  Max'  son 
Samuel,  with  Philip  in  charge  of  the  Fort  Fetterman  store. 
In  Sundance,  Maier  Marks  brought  in  his  brother  Abe  from 
Minneapolis  to  help  run  his  store.  When  a  second  store 
was  built  in  Newcastle  in  1889,  the  Frank  brothers  sent  for 
their  brother-in-law,  Isaac,  to  manage  it.  Such  actions 
within  a  family  were  done  primarily  for  managerial 
reasons,  since  family  members  were  well  acquainted  with 
the  business  and  were  more  responsive  to  the  concerns 
of  the  business  than  were  non-fanruly  help.  In  addition, 
the  entrance  of  a  family  member  increased  the  local  Jewish 
population.  Even  if  the  Jewish  population  consisted  of 
family  members,  a  family  unit  brought  and  insured  the 
preservation  of  Judaism  in  the  small  town. 

The  skill  of  the  merchant  was  tested  by  his  ability  to 
conduct  business  under  various  conditions.  Depressions, 
bank  failures  and  fires  could  wipe  out  a  merchant  who  did 
not  have  financial  reserves  to  begin  anew.  A  common  and 
persistent  problem  was  obtairiing  payment  on  outstanding 
debts  from  his  customers.  If  necessary,  the  merchant 
resulted  to  legal  action  to  make  his  customer  assume  some 
responsibility  for  his  commitments.  Legal  action  was  im- 
portant, not  only  for  the  maintenance  of  the  agreement  be- 
tween the  two  parties,  but  in  order  that  the  merchant  might 
meet  his  obligations  with  his  creditors.  Lastly,  in  the  course 


of  the  business,  Jewish  merchants,  like  their  Gentile 
counterparts,  sometimes  ran  up  against  the  legal  codes. 
Minor  infractions  resiilted  from  the  lack  of  emotional 
restraint  in  interpersonal  dealings,  failure  to  obtain  the 
proper  license  or  an  ignorance  of  local  ordinances. 

A  pioneer  merchant's  future  relied  not  only  on  his 
ability  to  conduct  business,  but  on  his  ability  to  attain  and 
maintain  good  credit  with  his  wholesalers. ^^  As  the  Jewish 
merchants  of  Cheyenne  and  Laramie  were  well  aware, 
however,  getting  a  good  credit  rating  was  not  easy  for 
Jews.  Nineteenth  century  reports  by  R.  G.  Dim  &  Com- 
pany, the  nation's  credit  reporting  agency,  were  biased 
against  Jews,  reflective  of  a  period  when  eastern  banking 
and  business  firms  charged  Jews  with  dishonesty  in  their 
business  affairs  and  lacking  the  character  to  do  otherwise. 
It  was  along  this  kind  of  thinking  that  the  identification 
of  Jewish  merchants  were  made  in  R.  G.  Dun  &  Company 
reports  for  the  benefit  and  careful  consideration  of 
wholesalers  and  distributors.^'  It  remained  to  be  seen  in 
subsequent  accounts  if  the  individual  or  individuals  then 
matched  common  stereotypes. 

Conflicting  and  vague  images  more  often  than  not 
were  the  norm.  For  example,  on  Ben  and  Isaac  HeUman, 
a  R.  G.  Dun  &  Company  agent  reported  that 

they  are  Jews  +  so  quiet  +  unassuming  that  but  little  is  said 
abt  [about]  them.  I  have  no  means  of  knowing  their  means  or 
worth  [.]  they  [sic]  .  .  .  [are]  consid[ered]  perfectly  reliable  + 
stand  high  in  this  community  as  bus[iness]  men  .  .  .^* 

Henry  Altman,  a  man  who  would  make  a  name  for  himself 
in  Cheyenne  business  and  social  circles,  was  considered 
"scaley"  because  he  bought  his  own  business  paper  at  a 
discount  of  50  percent.  Consequently,  agents  for  R.  G.  Dun 
&  Company  urged  future  creditors  to  be  cautious  in  their 
dealings  with  him.^^  Herman  Rothschild,  a  dry  goods 
dealer  in  Cheyenne  in  1869,  also  did  a  good  business,  but 
it  was  difficult  to  determine  his  means  because  "they  are 
Jews. "2*  A  year  later,  when  the  business  changed  its  name 
to  Israel  Herman  &  Company,  it  was  reported  that  "as 
bus[iness]  men  they  stand  ab[ou]t  as  f[ai]r  with  the  rest 
of  the  Jews  here."^'' 

Overall,  the  reports  of  R.  G.  Dim  &  Company  agents 
showed  that  Jewish  merchants  varied  in  ability  and  talent. 
Ben  Hellman,  Gottstein  &  Idelman  and  Marks  &  Meyers 
were  able  to  make  a  profit  and  satisfy  the  daims  of  their 
creditors,  traits  very  commendable  in  the  eyes  of  R.  G.  Dun 
&  Company  and  eastern  and  midwestern  wholesalers. 
Other  businessmen  were  not  so  fortunate,  and  it  was  not 
too  difficult  to  figure  out  why.  Poor  business  practices  and 
an  inability  to  pay  back  creditors  on  a  timely  basis  resulted 
in  lower  credit  ratings  and  subtle  warnings  to  future 
creditors. 2*  Lacking  financial  reserves  and  insurance,  a  few 
Cheyenne  businesses  were  wiped  out  by  a  city  fire  in  1870. 

A  number  of  Jewish  businessmen  linked  their  survival 
to  those  forces  which  brought  on  an  economic  boom  or  cer- 
tain profit,  rather  than  on  the  future  of  a  community.  The 
best  example  of  this  fact  is  illustrated  in  terms  of  the 
building  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  in  Wyoming.  Mer- 


chants eagerly  followed  the  railroad's  progress  in  order  to 
profit  from  the  construction  camps  and  new  railroad 
towns.  Even  though  the  railroad  line  was  45  rmles  to  the 
east,  the  city  of  Cheyenne  already  was  taking  shape. ^^  The 
construction  of  permanent  structures  gave  shape  and 
character  to  the  urban  environment.  As  buildings  arose, 
their  size  and  dimensions  were  topics  of  the  Cheyenne 
Leader  as  a  signal  of  the  permanence  of  this  new  city,  op- 
timism in  the  economic  future  and  the  civic  character  of 
its  owners.  By  the  winter  of  1867,  Cheyenne  counted 
among  its  businesses  the  clothing  store  of  Ben  and  Isaac 
Hellman,  a  confectionary  of  Louis  Altheimer  and  a  general 
store  of  Henry  Altman.  As  the  rail  lines  moved  west  of 
Cheyenne,  several  Jews,  such  as  Simon  Durlacher  and 
Henry  Altman,  closed  their  stores  and  began  anew  in 
Laramie.  In  Laramie  it  was  reported  that  "Jew  peddlers" 
were  among  the  city's  first  arrivals.'"  Why  the  author  chose 
this  terminology  is  unknown.  One  can  only  suspect  that 
the  reference  may  not  have  been  a  reflection  of  the  ethnic 
character  of  the  emigrants,  but  the  writer's  critical,  albeit 
scathing,  perception  of  business  practices. 

While  Durlacher  and  Altman  would  make  Laramie 
their  home,  others  continued  to  tag  along  with  the  railroad. 
Simon  Bamberger,  future  Utah  governor,  came  to  Chey- 
enne to  collect  on  a  debt  for  a  St.  Louis  creditor.  By  the 
time  of  his  arrival,  he  learned  that  his  debtor  had  left  the 
city  and  his  old  office  had  been  closed.  Bamberger  then 
moved  west,  caught  up  with  the  railroad  crews  at  Pied- 
mont in  southwest  Wyoming,  and  opened  a  general  store 


Meyer  Frank,  businessman  in  Sundance  and  Newcastle. 


15 


there.  A  short  time  later  he  moved  to  Utah  and  made  his 
permanent  home  in  Ogden.^i  Louis  and  Gerson  Altheimer, 
two  pioneers  of  Cheyenne,  left  the  city  in  1868  for  more 
auspicious  offerings  elsewhere.  They  made  their  respec- 
tive fortunes  in  Arkansas  and  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico. ^^ 

Other  economic  developments,  most  noticeably  in  the 
area  of  mining,  had  a  similar  influence  on  migration  pat- 
terns. In  the  mid-1870s,  the  Black  Hills  gold  rush  attracted 
Cheyenne  Jews  to  the  gold  camps  even  though  Cheyenne 
was  becoming  a  major  outfitting  and  transportation  center 
to  the  Black  HiUs.  Railroad  construction  and  coal  and 
mineral  mining  across  Wyoming  attracted  numerous 
Jewish  merchants  back  into  the  state  at  the  same  time  that 
gold  and  sUver  rushes  in  Colorado,  Utah,  Montana  and 
Idaho  were  making  Wyoming  a  crossroads  for  travel  within 
the  Rocky  Mountain  states.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
Jewish  immigration  in  Wyoming,  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  the  Great  Plains  was  being  reviewed  in  larger  circles. 

In  the  1890s,  national  Jewish  organizations,  concerned 
about  the  future  of  the  Jewish  immigration  from  Europe 
and  the  sodal  welfare  of  Jews  in  the  urban  ghettos,  con- 
sidered the  role  the  West  should  play  to  benefit  such  pro- 
grams. The  resettlement  of  urban  Jews,  the  redistribution 
of  urban  labor  and  the  procurement  of  homes  for  new  im- 
migrants had  long  been  social  programs  confined  to  and 
resolved  in  the  East.  But  as  the  scale  and  difficulty  of 
welfare  issues  increased  as  a  result  of  Jewish  immigration 
from  Europe,  social  leaders  looked  to  their  western 
brethren  for  assistance.  Some  not  only  sought  economic 
aid,  but  also  a  geographical  solution  involving  the  reloca- 
tion of  urban  Jews.  These  men  recognized  that  any  efforts 
at  resettlement  and  distribution  required  knowledge  about 
the  geography  of  Jewish  settlements  in  the  country.  The 
key  points  to  insure  the  success  of  such  a  program  were 
contact  and  cooperation  with  communities  and  individuals 
sympathetic  to  their  causes,  a  process  that  might  require 
a  close  look  at  areas  not  normally  considered  culturally  ac- 
ceptable for  Jewish  immigrants  due  to  limited  organized 
Jewish  life.  In  some  cases,  the  size  of  the  local  Jewish 
population,  although  an  important  consideration,  would 
be  waived  on  account  of  the  expressed  commitment  of 
western  participants,  so  that  states  like  Wyoming  would 
be  deemed  acceptable  places  for  Jewish  settlement. 

When  resettlement  and  distribution  programs  were  in- 
stituted, the  westward  migration  of  Jews  then  assumed  a 
new  perspective.  Whereas  prior  activities  had  rested  en- 
tirely upon  the  motives  of  the  emigrant,  a  part  of  the 
westward  movement  was  now  carried  out  under  the 
names  of  charity  and  philanthropy.  The  role  of  personal 
motivation  was  not  diminished  in  any  way,  but  remained 
a  prime  prerequisite  in  a  resettlement  program,  since  the 
directing  organization  worked  with  individuals  willing  to 
relocate. 

One  of  the  more  popular  programs  involved  the  place- 
ment of  Jews  on  farms.  In  the  1880s,  agriculture  as  a  voca- 
tion fit  for  Jews  had  a  wide  acceptance  among  Jewish 
leaders,  charities  and  benevolent  organizations.  Their  prin- 
16 


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Rahhi  Leonard  Levy  of  Pittsburgh  convinced  the  Jeiuish  Agricultural 
Society  to  sponsor  the  first  Jewish  farmers  in  Wyoming. 

ciple  argument  to  their  skeptics  was  that  Jews  had  the 
ability  to  be  good  farmers  as  they  did  tradesmen.  Only 
historical  circumstances  restricting  vocational  opportunities 
imposed  since  medieval  times  and  the  perpetuation  of 
urban  retail  trades  kept  Jews  from  working  the  soU. 

Farming  programs  of  the  1880s  were  mainly  attempts 
at  establishing  an  agricultural  Utopia.  Jews  established  col- 
onies across  the  Great  Plains  with  the  hope  they  would 
be  self-sufficient  agrarian  communities  and  thus  dispel  the 
commercial  stereotypes  of  Jews.  While  the  organizers  had 
good  intentions,  they  had  little  or  no  planned  programs 
or  method  of  assimilating  the  Jewish  farmers  into  the 
American  agricultural  scene.  A  combination  of  19th  cen- 
tury romanticism,  spiritual  idealism  associated  with  a  life 
on  the  soil,  and  charity  clouded  their  minds  as  well  as  that 
of  their  supporters  and  many  participants.  The  unpre- 
paredness  of  Jewish  farmers  for  a  life  on  the  soil,  the  poor 
choice  of  lands  and  the  lack  of  supervision  and  guidance 
made  for  a  bad  start  and  gave  poor  publicity  to  the  idea 
of  farming  as  a  Jewish  vocation. ^^ 

Nonetheless,  ardent  advocates  remained  committed  to 
the  prospect  that  Jews  could  be  farmers.  If  properly  ad- 
ministered, sodal  reformers  believed  that  agriculture  could 
be  a  way  of  life  for  the  unemployed  and  immigrants  and 
a  means  of  relieving  urban  congestion.  In  Philadelphia,  the 
National  Farm  School,  under  the  able  directorship  of  Rabbi 
Joseph  Krauskopf,  showed  that  young  men  could  be  ade- 


quately  trained  to  assume  careers  in  agriculture.  But  it  was 
through  a  combination  of  charity  and  financial  assistance 
that  the  Jewish  farming  program  got  off  the  ground.  In- 
strumental in  this  regard  was  philanthropist  Baron  De 
Hirsch,  who  donated  millions  of  dollars  to  agricultural  col- 
onization programs  in  North  and  South  America.  In 
America,  his  efforts  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the 
principal  agricultural  credit  agency  for  the  Jewish  farming 
movement,  the  Jewish  Agricultural  Industrial  Aid  Society, 
later  called  the  Jewish  Agricultural  Society  (JAS). 

Organized  in  1900,  the  JAS  operated  from  a  generous 
trust  fund  of  $2.5  million  from  De  Hirsch.  While  it  also  con- 
cerned itself  with  the  redistribution  of  Jewish  labor  as  part 
of  its  industrial  aid  program,  it  concentrated  its  efforts  at 
the  outset  to  funding  as  many  agricultural  applications  as 
possible.  In  the  process,  the  JAS  confronted  many  of  the 
problems  of  earlier  agricultural  ventures,  but  resolved  them 
to  some  extent  by  offering  educational  assistance,  super- 
vising the  choice  of  lands  and  applicants  and  funding  only 
cooperatives.  Its  first  endeavors  in  New  York  and  New 
Jersey  proved  very  successful  and  sufficiently  demon- 
strated to  the  JAS  and  agricultural  supporters  the  Jews' 
ability  to  become  farmers.  With  these  accomplishments, 
the  society  expanded  its  activities  westward. 

The  JAS  found  no  shortage  of  applicants  anxious  to 
acquire  their  own  land,  even  on  the  plains.  Across  the 
Great  Plains  there  was  still  plenty  of  land  available  for 
homesteading.  Federal  laws  prohibited  the  communal 


ownership  of  land,  but  rural  communities  comprised  of  in- 
dependent, ethnic  farmers  would  constitute  a  close 
similarity  to  previous  cooperative  ventures.  The  JAS  began 
its  western  venture  with  a  loan  to  Jewish  farmers  in  North 
Dakota  in  1906.  Less  than  a  year  later,  it  provided  finan- 
cial assistance  to  Jewish  farmers  in  Wyoming. 

Proposing  a  Wyoming  settlement  to  the  JAS  was  Rabbi 
Leonard  Levy  of  Pittsburgh.  Levy  was  one  of  the  foremost 
Jewish  leaders  who  reflected  the  progressive  thinking  of 
his  time,  stirring  his  congregation  and  community  to  deal 
with  social  problems  of  the  day.  Among  other  things,  he 
sympathized  with  the  social  plight  of  Russian  and  Eastern 
European  Jews  and  was  very  active  in  promoting  Jewish 
immigration  to  the  United  States.  He  also  realized  that  as 
long  as  these  immigrants  continued  to  leave  in  increasing 
numbers  and  congregate  in  eastern  cities,  conservative 
cries  in  Congress  for  immigration  restriction  for  Eastern 
and  Southern  Europeans  would  continue.  By  providing  for 
the  employment  and  resettlement  of  Jews  Levy  believed 
he  could  resolve  both  problems.  'Tt  is  not  restriction  that  we 
need,"  he  wrote,  "but  proper  distribution  we  require."'^ 
The  two  promising  areas  for  future  Jewish  settlement  in 
his  view  were  the  South  and  the  West,  where  the  popula- 
tion and  industrial  activities  were  growing.^^  His  call  for 
redistribution  began  in  his  own  city,  when  he  convinced 
the  JAS  to  sponsor  fourteen  Pittsburgh  families  to 
homestead,  fifteen  miles  south  of  Torrington  at  Huntley, 
which  was  also  known  as  Allen. 


Girls  of  the  Jewish  School  near  Huntley  posed  in  1918  with  items  made  for  the  Red  Cross. 


17 


Any  hope  that  the  Wyoming  colony  would  mirror  the 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  experiences  was  quickly  dis- 
missed, for  the  society  immediately  reported  that  the  set- 
tlers "could  not  possibly  have  made  a  more  injudicious 
selection."^*  The  land  was  arid  and  irrigation  was  only 
a  distant  possibility  because  the  government's  reclamation 
efforts  on  the  North  Platte  River  around  Casper  were  pro- 
gressing slowly  eastward.  The  JAS  figured  it  would  be  five 
years  before  any  irrigation  benefits  would  be  realized.  In 
the  meantime,  loans  were  sent  to  the  colonists  for  tem- 
porary relief.  In  1908,  continued  cries  from  Torrington  and 
from  friends  in  Pittsburgh  reminded  the  JAS  of  how  it  had 
entered  "what  seemed  to  us  a  doubtful  venture  .  .  .  ."■'^ 
Additional  loans  totalling  more  than  $4,000  were  sent,  but 
it  was  soon  learned  that  the  settlers  in  conjunction  with 
local  dealers  had  misappropriated  the  money.  Adding  to 
the  difficulties,  the  JAS  found  homesteaders  reluctant  to 
take  out  mortgages  on  their  real  property  as  collateral  for 
financial  assistance.  The  JAS  had  to  settle  instead  for  cattle 
mortgages  in  seven  cases.'* 

Troubled  by  financial  problems  of  its  settlers,  the  JAS 
turned  to  an  independent  observer  to  comment  on  the  Tor- 
rington situation.  The  man  they  picked  was  Rabbi 
Abraham  R.  Levy,  secretary  of  the  Jewish  Agriculturists' 
Aid  Society  of  America  (J  A  AS),  a  Chicago  organization. 

Levy  was  one  of  the  guiding  forces  behind  the  JAAS 
and  one  of  the  strongest  advocates  of  farming  as  a 
livelihood  for  Jews.  The  JAAS,  like  the  JAS,  believed  the 
Jew  could  become  a  good  farmer  and  perceived  agriculture 
as  a  preventive,  rather  than  curative,  charity  for  needy 
Jews.  The  JAAS  was  primarily  concerned  with  arresting 
the  plight  of  the  Russian  Jew,  getting  him  out  of  the  con- 
gested urban  environment  and  placing  him  into  a  more 
wholesome  atmosphere.  To  Levy,  the  Jew's  pension  for 
independence,  economy,  industry,  love  of  family  and  love 
of  home  life  were  urban  characteristics  that  could  be  car- 
ried out  in  a  rural  atmosphere  and  accordingly  would  make 
an  agriculture  enterprise  successful. ''  Levy's  idealism  was 
aptly  reflected  in  the  gratuitous  assistance  and  generosity 
of  the  JAAS,  for  every  effort  was  made  to  accommodate 
all  applicants.  There  was  no  selection  process  for  applicants 
and  no  supervision  in  the  choice  of  lands.  Instead  the  JAAS 
trusted  in  the  individual's  abilities  and  sincere  desire  to 
be  a  farmer.  Though  it  operated  only  on  donations  from 
Chicago's  Jewish  community,  the  JAAS  could  afford  to  be 
liberal  in  its  philanthropy,  for  among  its  directors  were 
some  of  Chicago's  leading  social  and  business  leaders,  in- 
cluding Rabbi  Emil  G.  Hirsch,  Julius  Rosenwald,  Adolph 
Loeb  and  Hugo  Pam. 

Before  he  left  for  Wyoming,  Levy  read  the  reports  of 
the  JAS  and  after  making  his  inspection,  found  the  situa- 
tion to  be  portrayed  accurately.  Traditional  farming  prac- 
tices would  be  difficult  for  a  time,  but  he  suggested  that 
the  farmers  should  be  supported  financially  until  the 
government  reclamation  project  was  completed.  In  the 
meantime.  Levy  figured  that  a  loan  of  $250  per  person, 
gardening  and  work  on  area  farms  would  help  sustain  the 
18 


colonists.  Future  monetary  allotments  may  be  substantial, 
but  he  believed  this  was  necessary  if  any  Jewish  farming 
program  was  to  succeed.*" 

Levy  tried  to  be  objective  in  his  report  to  the  JAS, 
though  he  could  not  help  but  add  his  approval  to  the 
Wyoming  experiment.  For  the  JAAS,  he  had  no  doubts  that 
Wyoming  offered  excellent  opportunities  so  that  the  JAAS 
could  take  an  active  part  in  the  Jewish  agricultural 
movement. 

As  for  our  Organization,  I  was  of  the  opinion  that  we  should 
assist  as  large  a  number  of  people  as  possible  to  settle  in  the 
territory,  believing  that  valuable  and  permanent  homes  would 
thus  be  secured  for  many  of  our  Jewish  poor  in  a  country  where, 
climatically  as  well  as  economically,  conditions  are  most 
favorable.'" 

Before  the  JAS  published  its  report,  the  JAAS  had  plans 
to  transplant  a  sizeable  Chicago  colony  on  the  Wyoming 
plains.  The  urban  Jews  of  Chicago  were  as  much  attracted 
to  the  benefits  of  homesteading  as  their  counterparts  in 
Pittsburgh.  But  the  JAS'  depressing  statements  on  Wyo- 
ming in  1907  and  1908  caused  the  JAAS  to  reconsider  the 
scope  of  their  own  program.  Because  "those  that  expressed 
the  opinion  spoke  as  with  authority,"  the  society  nearly 
discarded  its  plans.  Upon  further  reflection,  and  consider- 
ing the  earnestness  of  the  applicants  and  the  intention  of 
the  society,  the  society  did  send  ten  families  to  Wyoming.*^ 

The  society  did  not  regret  this  action.  In  fact,  it  believed 
the  new  colonists  would  not  encoimter  quite  the  hardships 
and  difficulties  of  their  predecessors,  for  the  government's 
reclamation  work  on  the  North  Platte  seemed  near  at  hand. 
In  1909,  in  accordance  with  federal  law,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  withdrew  lands  in  the  immediate  area  from 
settlement.  Levy  took  this  to  be  a  sure  sign  that  an  irriga- 
tion system  would  be  built  within  two  or  three  years.  He 
also  reported  that  the  company  working  for  the  govern- 
ment might  offer  employment  to  economically  troubled 
farmers.  He  estimated  a  man  could  earn  between  $40  and 
$50  per  month  while  a  man  with  a  team  of  horses  could 
earn  between  $100  and  $200  per  month.  Certain  of  these 
facts.  Levy  Was  convinced  in  the  soundness  of  the  JAAS 
in  sponsoring  homesteaders  in  Wyoming.  It  was  disap- 
pointing to  him  that  by  heeding  the  reports  of  the  JAS, 
the  JAAS  would  not  play  a  major  role  in  Wyoming.  Levy 
sadly  noted:  "We  have  lost  a  great  opportunity  in  having 
disregarded  the  proposition  of  settling  several  hundred 
families  in  that  territory."*' 

Sympathizing  with  the  desires  of  the  farmers  and 
wrestling  with  its  own  decisions,  the  JAS  continued 
nonetheless  to  support  the  efforts  of  Jewish  farmers  in 
Wyoming  from  1907  to  1912.  Besides  the  Torrington- 
Huntley- Allen  area,  a  second  Jewish  farming  community 
was  established  at  Iowa  Center  east  of  Chugwater,  the  core 
group  of  which  consisted  of  family  members  headed  by 
Abe  Blatt,  a  fruit  peddler  from  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 
Elsewhere  there  were  numerous  individuals  who  filed  for 
homesteads  around  Guernsey,  Granite  Canyon  and  outly- 
ing areas  of  Torrington  and  Iowa  Center.**  While  com- 


munal  ownership  was  not  allowed  under  the  federal 
homestead  laws,  a  rural  Jewish  community  did  arise  com- 
prised of  the  neighboring  farming  families  whose  religious 
lifestyles  brought  Judaism  to  the  plains  of  Wyoming.  With 
a  majority  of  students  being  Jewish,  the  schools  at  Iowa 
Center  and  AUen  were  nicknamed  "Jewish  School"  by 
county  residents. ^5 

The  JAS  and  its  Chicago  counterpart,  the  JAAS,  had 
good  reasons  to  believe  the  Torrington-Huntley- Allen  area 
settlers  would  succeed.  Agricultural  opportunities  in 
eastern  Wyoming  had  long  been  lauded  by  the  railroads 
and  the  state  as  potentially  productive.  The  federal  govern- 
ment's reclamation  efforts  were  near  at  hand,  and  even 
without  irrigation  the  outlook  for  some  farming  families 
was  promising.  In  1913,  Abe  Shapiro  of  Iowa  Center  had 
a  reported  indebtedness  of  ordy  $200,  most  of  it  incurred 
due  to  the  illness  of  his  wife.  His  assets  included  320  acres 
of  land,  two  horses,  a  cow  and  a  calf,  a  barn,  a  house,  a 
granary,  vsdre  fencing,  chickens  and  $300  in  crops.  After 
assessing  Shapiro's  situation,  S.  S.  Pearlstine,  a  Cheyenne 
attorney,  commented  that  "[i]f  he  [Shapiro]  had  the 
resources  and  stock  to  sufficiently  cultivate  the  whole 
acreage,  his  crop  today  would  be  worth  at  least  $3,000."'** 
This  figure,  probably  inserted  to  impress  readers  on 
Shapiro's  productivity  and  prosperity,  was  actually  the 
medium  received  by  farmers  nationally  and  did  not  take 
into  account  other  obligations  a  farmer  might  have  had.*^ 
If  Shapiro's  outlook  appeared  fortuitous,  Pearlstine 
foresaw  an  even  better  future  for  a  neighbor,  Nathan 
Cohen.  Formerly  a  junk  dealer,  Cohen  had  assets  totaling 
more  than  $2,600.  His  situation  was  not  only  productive 
and  apparently  profitable,  but  reflected  the  purposes 
underlining  the  Jewish  farming  movement. 

When  he  came  to  Wyoming  he  was  not  in  the  best  of  health, 
but  now  is  as  rugged  as  [he  is]  adamant.  He  expects  to  put  twice 
as  much  in  cultivation  next  year,  and  stated  that  he  would  feel 
most  grateful,  indeed,  unless  he  could  do  somebody  a  service 
by  telling  them  of  his  happiness  and  prosperity.'" 

Cohen  and  Shapiro  were  but  a  small  group  of  farmers  who 
appeared  somewhat  successful,  at  least  in  their  first  year. 
On  the  other  hand,  others  had  to  turn,  often  repeatedly, 
to  the  JAS  for  assistance,  a  sign  of  major  underlying  prob- 
lems which  would  result  in  the  eventual  failure  of  the 
Jewish  farming  experiment  in  Wyoming. 

In  spite  of  past  experiences  and  preparation,  the  Jewish 
farnung  movement  still  contained  some  romantic  images 
of  life  on  the  soil.  By  supporting  Wyonung's  Jewish 
farmers,  the  actions  of  the  JAS  appeared  somewhat  naive 
and  Hi-conceived  when  compared  with  the  society's 
eastern  endeavors.  Most  striking  of  all  was  the  apparent 
laxity  it  initially  took  in  handling  loan  applications.  The 
close  supervision  and  guidance  which  contributed  largely 
to  the  success  in  the  East  were  missing  and  were  replaced 
by  trusting  in  the  sincerity  of  applicants  to  be  good  farmers. 
Secondly,  the  society  could  not  take  a  hard  hand  at  deter- 
mining the  location  of  farms  as  it  had  in  the  East. 

Of  equal  if  not  greater  influence  on  JAS  was  the  deter- 


Rabbi  Abraham  R.  Levy  of  the  Jewish  Agriculturists'  Aid  Society  strongly 
supported  the  settlement  of  Chicago  Jews  on  farms  in  Wyoming. 

mination  of  Jewish  homesteaders.  There  is  no  doubt  the 
concept  of  free  land  was  both  an  attractive  and  desirable 
objective.  Positive  images  associated  with  working  and 
owning  land  meant  the  possible  realization  of  the  yeoman 
heritage  idealized  in  popular  and  classical  literature.  For 
immigrants,  land  ownership  was  a  symbol  of  wealth  here- 
tofore denied  them.  A  national  study  conducted  in  1910 
found  that  while  Jewish  farmers  struggled  to  eke  out  a 
living,  "the  desire  of  having  a  piece  of  land  all  their  own 
is  very  strong  in  those  men."'*' 

Such  idyllic  prospects  soon  gave  way  to  the  sudden 
realization  that  free  land  did  not  come  cheap,  but  came  at 
a  great  price,  financially  and  emotionally.  At  the  outset, 
homesteaders  were  faced  with  developing  farming  stra- 
tegies and  trying  to  build  a  new  life  on  an  unf anvQiar  land- 
scape.^" Most  homesteaders,  Jewish  and  Gentile,  did  not 
have  the  benefits  of  dry  farming  techniques  or  ready  ac- 
cess to  irrigation.  Moreover,  Jewish  farmers  came  with  little 
or  no  knowledge  of  farming.  Subsequently,  a  farmer  found 
his  labors  on  the  land  often  proved  far  greater  than 
expected.  His  largest  investment  was  in  land  and  in  crops, 
usually  com,  with  the  hope  a  good  price  could  be  obtained 
at  harvest  time.  The  remaining  portion  of  his  property 
usually  consisted  of  a  house,  barn,  maybe  fencing  and,  to 
supply  some  basic  needs  of  the  family,  a  couple  horses, 
cattle  and  some  chickens.  For  the  farm  to  succeed,  strong 

19 


reliance  was  placed  on  individual  determination  and  com- 
munal assistance,  including  that  from  Gentile  farmers 
(goyitn).^'^ 

Though  homesteading  entailed  inherent  hardships  and 
personal  sacrifices,  any  reservations  on  the  part  of  Jewish 
farmers  probably  were  dismissed  by  reminders  of  past  ur- 
ban occupations  in  retail  and  building  trades.  That  many 
came  from  non-agrarian  backgrounds  may  suggest  their 
former  vocations  were  unsuccessful  or  marginal.  That  there 
were  no  regrets  is  also  evident  from  the  initial  number  of 
applicants  and  later,  from  those  who  took  out  additional 
loans  and  mortgages  to  make  their  agricultural  life  suc- 
cessful. Personal  motives  could  rtm  much  deeper  emo- 
tionally. For  Morris  Sincher,  agricultural  problems  were 
forgotten  with  vivid  reminders  of  social  injustices  and  pro- 
grams in  Russia.  Having  left  his  wife  behind,  he  hoped 
through  his  labors  he  would  soon  be  able  to  bring  her  to 
America.  Just  when  this  seemed  possible,  his  sister-in-law, 
Mindel,  informed  him  his  wife  had  been  killed  the  previous 
year.  Mindel  then  reminded  him  his  wife's  fate  was  the 
fate  of  many  as  "tausends  [sic]  of  young  men  and  women 
loosen  [sic]  ther  [sic]  lives  everyday  in  Russia,  and  1  think 
that  they  are  better  of[f]  because  we  are  sufferi[n]g  too 
much."" 

Except  for  the  JAS  and  the  Jewish  rural  schools,  there 
was  not  much  novelty  placed  on  the  presence  of  Jewish 
farmers  in  Wyoming  by  the  press,  regionally  or  locally. 
Their  rural  isolation  sheltered  them  from  the  focus  of  local 
publicity.  From  a  national  viewpoint,  experiments  in 
Jewish  farming  already  were  widespread.  In  1911,  the 
Jewish  farming  experience  took  on  a  different  perspective 
among  Wyoming  and  national  officials. 

That  year  the  National  Association  of  State  Immigra- 
tion Officials  embarked  on  a  campaign  to  encourage  im- 
migration in  the  Great  Plains  states.  The  idea  itself  was  not 
new  other  than  regional  states  apparently  agreed  to  work 
together  rather  than,  as  in  the  past,  against  one  another. 
Among  the  western  immigration  officials  who  supported 
such  a  program  was  Wyoming's  Commissioner  of  Im- 
migration, Roy  W.  Schenck. 

Schenck  had  only  been  Commissioner  of  Immigration 
a  short  time  when  news  of  a  western  immigration  program 
reached  him.  In  fact,  his  department  had  just  been  created 
by  the  state.  Wyoming's  governors,  who  saw  immigration 
as  an  essential  part  in  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
state,  long  desired  an  immigration  department.  State  leg- 
islators, however,  with  their  ties  to  the  cattle  industry,  con- 
tinued to  block  such  efforts.  Finally,  under  Governor 
Joseph  Carey,  the  state  created  the  Department  of  Immigra- 
tion in  1911  with  Schenck  as  its  director.  From  the  start, 
Schenck  worked  hard  to  promote  Wyoming,  particularly 
its  agricultural  opportunities,  by  distributing  pamphlets, 
answering  inquiries  and  publicizing  the  state  through  a 
traveling  exhibit  and  with  exhibits  and  his  attendance  at 
land  conventions.  After  his  first  year,  he  reported  there 
was  a  wide  interest  in  Wyoming  from  people  of  all  back- 
grounds, including  "Hebrews. "'^ 
20 


In  October,  1911,  Schenck  went  to  Chicago  to  meet 
with  other  immigration  officers  regarding  a  new  western 
immigration  program.  During  his  stay,  he  met  a  group  of 
people  interested  in  settling  Jews  in  Wyoming.  Numerous 
private  discussions  soon  led  to  a  tentative  deal.  Reporting 
back  to  Governor  Carey,  Schenck  felt  very  confident  a 
Hebrew  agricultural  colony  would  be  planted  in  Wyoming. 
He  believed  100  emigrants  might  be  encouraged  to  settle 
on  8,000  acres  of  land,  "if  the  terms  are  satisfactory. "5* 
After  reading  these  notices,  Carey  was  greatly  pleased  with 
the  prospects.  A  man  who  supported  efforts  in  the  areas 
of  agricultural  development  and  immigration,  Carey  noti- 
fied Schenck,  "I  hope  we  may  be  able  to  'land'  some 
of  them.  "55  Shortly  after  he  informed  Carey  of  these 
events,  Schenck  left  Chicago  for  a  land  convention  in  Pitts- 
burgh. It  was  here,  where  a  national  land  convention  and 
a  national  convention  of  Jewish  charities  were  held 
simultaneously,  that  the  Chicago  discussions  received  na- 
tional publicity. 

The  "deal"  was  sensational  even  by  the  standards  of 
the  JAS.  Under  the  proposed  plan,  450  Chicago  Jewish 
families  would  move  into  the  Wheatland  district  in  the 
spring  of  1912.  The  site  seemed  ideal,  for  it  was  still  open 
to  homesteaders  and  was  considered  one  of  the  more 
promising  dry  farming  regions  by  the  U.S.  Reclamation 
Service.  Each  family  would  be  supplied  with  80  acres  of 
land  and  $1,000.  In  return,  the  state  of  Wyoming  prom- 
ised to  give  the  colonists  agricultural  advice  and 
assistance. 5*  On  paper,  the  plan  was  the  largest  and  most 
expensive  colonization  scheme  ever  attempted  in  the  state. 
If  it  succeeded,  it  would  be  a  big  boost  to  the  state's  im- 
migration program  and  a  major  achievement  for  Schenck. 
It  was  also  seen  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  western 
immigration.  A.  M.  Liebling,  editor  of  the  Daily  Jewish 
Press,  said  confidently,  "we  expect  the  movement  to  be 
national  in  scope,"  even  though  the  Jewish  farming  move- 
ment had  long  been  in  existence. ^^ 

In  social  circles,  the  exciting,  but  unsubstantiated 
news,  was  that  the  colony's  sponsor  was  Julius  Rosenwald, 
Chicago  philanthropist  and  founder  of  Sears,  Roebuck  and 
Company.  His  rumored  association  gave  a  sense  of  prestige 
and  credibility  to  the  project,  and  with  his  support,  the 
Wyoming  colony  could  expect  close  supervision,  but  also 
generous  aid.  However,  no  one  was  quite  sure  if  Rosen- 
wald was  bankrolling  the  entire  project.  The  vra-e  service, 
nonetheless,  hinted  at  the  speculative  nature  of  this  elusive 
backer,  stating  that  while  Rosenwald  had  not  yet  made  any 
definite  commitments,  he  was  interested  and  "his  in- 
terests generally  develop  into  something  substantial.  "^^ 

Contrary  to  rumors  and  speculations,  Rosenwald's  in- 
volvement remained  fictional.  He  was  aware  of  a  Wyoming 
colonization  scheme,  but  denied  any  association  with  it. 
To  what  degree  he  was  familiar  with  the  plan  cannot  be 
determined.  His  records  at  the  University  of  Chicago 
Library  make  reference  to  a  fUe  on  the  Wyoming  project, 
but  unfortunately,  this  has  been  lost.  Still,  it  is  very  likely 
that  any  resettlement  of  Chicago  Jews  in  the  name  of  char- 


ity  wotild  have  been  reviewed  carefully  by  one  of  the  city's 
prominent  philanthropists.  Since  he  had  watched  the 
Jewish  farming  movement  from  the  start,  he  was  in  a  posi- 
tion to  evaluate  the  merit  and  feasibility  of  an  agricultural 
colony  in  Wyoming. 

While  his  immediate  reaction  to  the  project  is  difficult 
to  measure,  his  correspondence  in  the  following  year 
shows  that  he  apparently  was  becoming  doubtful  about 
the  Jewish  farming  movement  in  general.  On  the  JAAS, 
of  which  he  was  a  board  member,  he  said  it  "has  had  a 
very  unfortunate  experience  in  placing  farmers. "^^  He  also 
believed  forced  colonization  schemes  by  charity  organiza- 
tions "were  far  from  desireable."*"  His  own  experience 
with  the  troubled  Clarion  Colony  in  Utah  made  him  ap- 
prehensive of  any  endeavor  undertaken  on  a  large  scale 
or  blindly  by  persons  not  acquainted  with  the  fundamen- 
tals of  agriculture. 

For  all  its  sensationalism,  the  Wyoming  colony  failed 
to  materialize.  After  his  attendance  at  the  land  convention 
in  Pittsburgh,  Schenck  did  not  make  any  further  mention 
to  Carey  of  a  Jewish  settlement.  Neither  did  the  J  AS  or  the 
JAAS  make  any  reference  to  it,  and  school  census,  mort- 
gage records  and  local  newspapers  fail  to  show  any  large 
influx  of  Jewish  farmers  into  the  state.  While  Jewish 
farmers  continued  to  file  for  homesteads  in  Wyoming,  they 
did  not  do  so  on  the  scale  anticipated  by  Schenck. 

In  his  correspondence  to  Carey,  Schenck  never  revealed 
the  names  of  his  contacts  in  Chicago,  nor  did  he  follow- 
up  on  this  lead.*i  As  stated,  any  resettlement  of  Chicago 
Jews  in  the  name  of  charity  would  probably  have  been 
reviewed  by  Julius  Rosenwald.  If  there  was  such  a  con- 
nection, it  would  follow  that  Rosenwald  acted  in  behalf 
of  the  JAAS.  It  now  seemed  the  earlier  excitement  ex- 
pressed by  Levy  about  Wyoming  was  being  reawakened 
and  was  about  to  be  realized. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  appears  very  unlikely  the  JAAS 
would  have  committed  itself  to  such  a  grand  program. 
Financially,  the  society  did  not  have  the  means  to  be  as 
generous  as  it  had  been  in  the  past.  Poor  loans  in  the  past 
soon  put  the  society  in  a  dire  economic  condition,  so  that 
by  1911  it  already  was  financially  overextended  and  barely 
able  to  assist  those  under  its  care.^^  Rosenwald's  comment 
on  the  society's  "unfortunate  experience"  reflected  how 
the  society's  benevolence  had  gotten  the  better  of  itself. 
As  its  financial  obligations  continued  to  burden  the  JAAS, 
the  JAAS  looked  more  and  more  to  the  JAS  for  assistance. 
It  became  the  western  office  of  the  JAS  in  1912. 

The  acquisition  of  the  JAAS  by  the  JAS  was  done  out 
of  consideration  for  Jewish  farmers.  As  a  branch  of  the  JAS, 
the  Chicago  office  found  there  was  a  great  demand  among 
Jews  to  settle  in  the  West.  The  JAS  was  sympathetic,  but 
unable  to  accommodate  all  the  requests.  Earlier  in  1909, 
it  had  made  significant  policy  changes  concerning  Jewish 
agricultural  settlements.  Rather  than  continue  to  risk 
countless  failures  to  individuals  and  to  the  organization's 
name,  it  would  only  encourage  and  assist  those  fit  for  a 
life  on  the  soU.  The  JAS  had  no  intentions  of  abandoning 


settlers  sponsored  by  itself  and  the  JAAS,  but  the  JAS 
realized  the  troubled  conditions  of  western  farmers  were 
not  likely  to  improve.  All  that  could  be  done  was  to  con- 
tinue to  offer  as  much  assistance  and  cooperation  as  possi- 
ble.*^ Technical  aid  also  was  provided  through  the  Federa- 
tion of  Jewish  Farmers.  Its  publication,  the  Jewish  Farmer, 
gave  advice  on  agricultural  topics  and  concerns.  More  im- 
portantly, most  of  the  articles  were  written  almost  entirely 
in  Yiddish,  the  language  of  the  Eastern  European  farmer. 
In  addition,  the  Federation  provided  marketing  and  pur- 
chasing aid  in  the  form  of  cooperatives.  A  local  branch  of 
the  Federation  organized  in  Goshen  County  in  1914,  but 
lasted  only  one  year.** 

By  1912,  the  JAS  lamented  that  the  Wyoming  farmers 
seemed  no  better  off  than  they  were  five  years  ago.  A  ma- 
jor problem  since  the  beginning  was  the  delay  in  the 
government's  reclamation  project.  The  possibility  of  irriga- 
tion systems  still  seemed  years  away.  For  its  part,  the  JAS 
tried  to  keep  abreast  of  the  government's  work  in  Wyo- 
ming, or  at  least  get  some  kind  of  encouraging  word.  Past 
inquiries  to  the  Department  of  Interior  on  projected  sched- 
ules of  completion  were  of  little  help.  Five  years  after  spon- 
soring the  first  Jewish  homesteaders  to  Wyoming,  the  JAS 
was  notified  that  reclamation  work  was  anticipated  for  the 
immediate  area.  Progress  hinged  upon  the  department's 
ability  to  get  95  percent  of  the  deeded  land  owners  to  sign 
contracts  for  the  construction  of  canals.  While  a  long- 
sought  irrigation  program  seemed  near,  the  JAS  was  told 
not  to  expect  too  much  too  soon. 

...  it  is  noted  that  you  are  interested  in  a  settlement  of  Jewish 
farmers  within  this  area.  It,  therefore,  may  be  appropriate  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that  extreme  care  should  be  used  in 
encouraging  any  developments  which  are  dependent  upon  the 
building  of  this  [Fort  Laramie  Canal]  or  any  other  canal  until 
the  work  is  actually  constructed.  There  are  too  many  contingen- 
cies, legal,  financial,  and  other  wise,  to  justify  embarking  in  any 
enterprise,  especially  where  considerable  number  of  poor  peo- 
ple are  concerned,  until  the  irrigation  works  are  actually  com- 
pleted and  in  use.  I  am  writing  this,  as  the  Department  cannot 
afford  to  be  put  in  the  position  of  in  any  way  encouraging  risks 
of  this  kind.  In  all  past  history,  both  of  private  and  public  enter- 
prises, it  has  been  shown  that  they  are  inseparably  connected 
with  disappointment  as  to  the  time  of  completion.'^ 

The  advice  was  realistic,  but  for  the  JAS,  untimely,  because 
there  were  Jewish  settlers  already  in  the  area.  Unfortu- 
nately for  the  JAS,  it  would  be  several  more  years  until 
the  Fort  Laramie  Canal  was  constructed  and  ten  years 
before  the  government  completed  its  reclamation  work  on 
the  North  Platte  River.** 

In  the  following  years,  the  agricultural  climate  in 
Goshen  and  Platte  counties  worsened.  Low  agricultural 
prices  and  limited  marketing  methods  plagued  county 
farmers.  Aid  from  the  county  extension  service  was  limited 
as  the  state  extension  service  was  still  in  a  formative  period 
and  county  agents  varied  in  ability,  knowledge  and  public 
relations.  From  1922  to  1928,  Platte  County  was  without 
a  county  agent  to  assist  area  farmers.  New  programs  in 
planting  cash  crops,  rotation  crop  farming  and  soil  fertility 

21 


were  in  their  infancy.  While  these  programs  seemed  prom- 
ising, they  required  an  initial  investment  that  many 
farmers  could  not  afford  to  make.  As  it  was,  many  farmers 
already  were  going  to  the  banks  for  loans,  only  to  be  re- 
fused. ^^  Some  Jewish  farmers  supplemented  their  farm  in- 
comes by  working  on  neighboring  irrigated  farms  and  in 
the  sugar  beet  factories,  engaging  in  some  form  of  truck 
farming  or  doing  odd  jobs.*^  At  the  outset,  farmers  counted 
on  the  JAS  for  loans  to  help  through  the  difficult  financial 
periods,  but  even  aid  from  the  JAS  soon  became  difficult 
to  attain  as  the  number  of  loans  being  denied  quickly 
equalled  and  surpassed  the  number  of  loans  being  granted. 
This  development  resulted  from  new  loan  policies  initiated 
by  the  board  for  the  JAS  to  be  less  charitable  and  more 
fiscally  responsible  in  its  dealings.  As  personal  debts 
mounted,  most  farmers  were  forced  to  make  the  hard  deci- 
sion of  abandoning  their  agricultural  dream.  After  selling 
or  losing  their  farms,  some  resumed  their  former  urban 
trades  in  Cheyenne,  Wheatland,  Torrington  or  Denver. 
Most  of  Wyoming's  Jewish  farmers  moved  to  California 
where  new  opportunities  were  most  plentiful  and  where 
large  Jewish  communities  offered  some  semblance  of 
cultural  continuity  and  stability. 

The  Wyoming  experience  was  no  doubt  a  great  disap- 
pointment to  the  JAS,  given  the  years  it  watched  farmers 


struggle  to  make  the  land  fruitful  without  the  benefit  of 
irrigation.  Between  1907  and  1933,  the  organization  granted 
121  loan  applications  totalling  more  than  $95,000  and  closed 
on  104  loans  amounting  to  more  than  $70,000.*'  The 
western  farming  experience  in  general  was  a  financial 
failure  for  the  JAS  and  prompted  a  review  of  goals  and  ob- 
jectives. Among  other  things,  agricultural  sponsors  agreed 
that  in  the  future,  closer  attention  would  be  paid  to  the 
character  of  the  land  and  the  cultural  needs  of  Jewish 
farmers.  Dtiring  the  depression  era,  some  deemed  it  essen- 
tial that  farmers  be  located  in  close  proximity  to  large 
Jewish  communities  and  be  engaged  in  a  manufacturing- 
agricultural  cooperative.'''' 

The  early  agricultural  activities  of  the  JAS  were  but  part 
of  a  larger  plan  of  social  reform  within  the  larger  organiza- 
tion of  the  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Society. 
As  a  sister  organization  of  the  JAS,  the  Industrial  Aid 
Society,  later  the  Industrial  Removal  Office  (IRO),  worked 
to  redistribute  Jewish  labor  across  the  country.  The  pro- 
gram was  created  in  order  to  relieve  urban  congestion  in 
the  eastern  cities,  to  improve  the  living  conditions  of  Jewdsh 
immigrants  by  transplanting  them  into  the  interior  portions 
of  the  country,  and  indirectly,  to  keep  the  immigration 
doors  open.  In  some  respect,  the  activities  of  the  IRO 
proved  much  more  successful  than  those  of  the  JAS, 


Children  celebrated  July  4th  at  the  Jewish  School  near  Iowa  Center  in  1915  or  1916. 


because  they  could  be  readily  and  widely  implemented 
without  much  personal  adjustment  on  the  part  of  the  ap- 
plicant and  without  expense  to  the  IRO. 

In  order  for  its  program  to  succeed,  the  IRO  established 
a  network  of  contacts  with  Jewish  communities  across  the 
country.  Agents  were  sent  abroad  to  measure  the  prospects 
of  relocating  Jewish  emigrants  in  the  interior  portions  of 
the  country.  Priority  was  given  to  large  and  established 
Jewish  communities,  although  larger  towns  might  serve 
as  distribution  centers  to  smaller  towns,  particularly  in  the 
mercantile  fields. ^^  Once  a  suitable  city  was  found,  a  local 
committee  was  orgaruzed  consisting  of  prorrunent  people 
familiar  with  the  econoiruc  and  cultural  atmosphere.  The 
committee  then  kept  the  IRO  abreast  of  job  vacancies,  ar- 
ranged for  housing  and  employment,  saw  to  the  general 
comfort  of  the  immigrant  in  his  new  surroundings  and 
reported  any  problems  to  the  IRO.  For  its  part,  the  IRO 
examined  the  quality  of  applicants  and  selected  com- 
munities that  could  accommodate  the  transplants. 

Basically,  every  city,  regardless  of  the  size  of  its  Jewish 
community,  was  given  due  consideration  by  the  IRO.  It 
could  not  afford  to  be  particular  or  choosy  if  its  program 
was  to  succeed.  This  was  especially  true  in  evaluating  states 
like  Wyoming,  where  the  only  Jewish  commxmity  of  any 
.  size  and  organization  was  in  Cheyenne.  Subsequently,  the 
IRO  reviewed  applications  from  individuals  in  small  towns 
across  the  state.  Familial  surroundings  also  were  con- 
sidered the  proper  cultural  milieu  for  the  applicant.  For 
example,  a  Torrington  resident  offered  to  take  in  his 
brother's  fanuly  and  provide  hkn  with  employment  in 
order  to  prevent  him  from  deserting  his  wife  and 
children.  ^^ 

Careful  planning  and  study  were  important  in  the 
relocation  of  individuals,  but  problems  arose  nevertheless. 
Some  immigrants  found  their  new  surroundings  alien  and 
did  not  want  to  remain  in  their  chosen  home.  Those  who 
failed  to  keep  their  jobs  could  become  a  public  burden.  A 
larger  problem  for  organizers  was  trying  to  make  the  West 
cognizant  and  sympathetic  to  the  problems  of  over- 
crowding and  unemployment  among  Jews  in  the  East. 
Westerners,  in  turn,  protested  the  character  of  the  im- 
migrants, arguing  mainly  that  they  could  not  be  assimilated 
into  their  social  environment. ^^ 

The  difficvilties  in  placing  men  in  Wyoming  arose  two 
years  after  IRO  work  began  in  the  state.  In  1904,  Cheyenne 
requested  four  men  to  work  in  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
shops.  To  IRO  organizers,  this  was  a  good  sign  from 
Cheyenne.  However,  this  order  proved  to  be  a  bad  ex- 
perience for  both  sides  with  many  problems  surfacing  at 
once.  Within  a  month,  three  of  the  four  men  had  lost  their 
railroad  and  subsequent  jobs.  Samuel  Idehnan,  spokesman 
for  the  Cheyenne  committee,  stressed  that  the  community 
had  done  everything  possible  for  them.  He  blamed  the  IRO 
for  sending  men  not  fit  for  a  life  in  a  western  city  and 
threatened  to  withdraw  Cheyenne  from  the  list  of  IRO 
cities. 


Don't  send  me  any  more  men.  The  last  three  you  sent  me 
have  proven  to  be  absolutely  worthless.  After  securing  work 
for  them  in  a  half  dozen  different  places[,]  all  of  them  were  fired 
on  account  of  their  inability  to  comprehend  any  thing  [sic]  [and] 
they  decided  to  travel  to  some  larger  city  where  there  are  many 
people  of  their  own  kind  and  where  they  [can]  make  themselves 
understood  and  feel  at  home.  This  is  no  place  for  Greenhorns. 
People  like  these  ought  to  be  given  some  kind  of  work  where 
they  can  work  in  bunches.  It  won't  do  to  put  them  out  singly 
among  people  that  don't  understand  them  and  don't  have  any 
sympathy  for  them.'* 

The  IRO  apologized  for  these  inconveniences  and  was 
willing  to  make  amends  so  that  the  Cheyenne  community 
would  be  cooperative  in  the  future.  David  Bressler,  man- 
ager of  the  IRO,  responded  that  the  relocation  of  people 
was  not  an  exact  process,  but  promised  to  try  to  send  peo- 
ple who  were  somewhat  familiar  with  the  land.^^  Despite 
Idelman's  defiant  stance,  he  was  willing  to  try  to  support 
a  worthy  program. 

Cheyenne's  initial  experience  was  shared  by  Charles 
Benjamin  in  Cody.  A  German  immigrant,  Benjamin  was 
a  tailor  who  came  to  Cody  around  1910.  His  business 
quickly  prospered  and  he  soon  sent  a  request  to  the  IRO 
for  an  assistant  in  1910.  The  new  man's  stay  was  short, 
because  his  wife  did  not  like  the  country.  The  following 
year,  Benjamin  put  in  another  request  with  a  preference 
for  a  bachelor.  Although  Benjamin  was  the  only  Jewish 
family  in  town,  he  informed  the  IRO  that  he  could  make 
a  man's  stay  comfortable,  and  if  a  man  could  adjust  to  liv- 
ing alone,  he  would  find  Cody  a  nice  place  to  live.''* 

Benjamin,  however,  needed  a  man  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble. Delays  in  processing  and  sending  a  suitable  person 
in  1911  prompted  Benjamin  to  withdraw  his  offer,  for  it 
was  too  late  in  the  season  to  give  a  man  steady  employ- 
ment. The  following  year  saw  more  delays  on  account  of 
a  sickness  in  the  applicant's  family.  Meanwhile,  work  was 
piling  up  as  Benjamin  had  counted  on  an  assistant  by  this 
time.  Three  months  later,  in  August,  1912,  the  IRO  can- 
didate, Harry  Reidinger,  and  his  family  of  three  arrived 
in  Cody.'''' 

Reidinger  apparently  chose  not  to  remain  a  permanent 
resident  of  Cody  nor  a  permanent  employee  of  Benjamin, 
for  two  years  later,  in  1914,  Benjamin  once  again  made 
another  application  for  an  assistant.  Past  IRO  applicants 
had  come  with  their  families  and  chose  not  to  remain  long 
in  his  employment.  He  emphasized  he  wanted  a  good 
tailor,  fairly  Americanized,  and  "one  hew  [who]  is  willing 
to  stay  here,  not  to  make  a  few  dollars  and  gon[e]  back 
to  new  york  [sic]."^*  TTie  IRO  agreed  to  find  a  suitable  man, 
but  there  is  no  record  of  the  IRO's  efforts. 

Acting  in  concert  with  the  IRO  were  organizers  de- 
sirous of  rerouting  immigration  through  Galveston, 
Texas.'''  Its  chief  sponsor  was  Jacob  Schiff,  a  prominent 
New  York  philanthropist.  Schiff  was  convinced  that  by  of- 
fering an  alternative  immigration  port  of  entry,  Jewish  im- 
migrants would  not  congregate  in  New  York  City.  Such 
a  site  would  not  be  easily  found,  because  New  York  of- 
fered a  full  spectrum  of  Jewish  life  and  the  only  western 

23 


city  which  could  make  a  similar  claim  was  Chicago.  Schiff 
realized  that  if  any  immigration  program  was  to  succeed, 
the  immigrant  also  would  have  to  make  some  effort  to  ad- 
just to  unfamiliar  surroimdings  rather  than  be  part  of  the 
mainstream  funneling  into  the  country  through  the  eastern 
corridors.  Addressing  the  problem  in  1904,  Schiff  stated 
that  it  was  all  too  easy  for  communities  to  ship  immigrants 
to  New  York  rather  than  make  "even  partial  provision  for 
their  sustenance  and  employment."*" 

Here  was  the  basis  for  a  new  program.  If  a  new  im- 
migration port  could  be  found,  which  would  be  Galveston, 
and  if  commimities  would  make  some  effort  to  provide  jobs 
and  shelter,  then  Jewish  emigration  would  have  conquered 
two  hurdles.  Moreover,  by  settling  and  acculturating  Jewish 
immigrants  in  the  interior  portions  of  the  country,  conser- 
vative cries  for  immigration  restriction  would  be  calmed. 
Like  the  IRO,  the  Galveston  Plan  focused  its  resettlement 
activities  initially  in  the  states  west  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
because  Schiff  and  others  viewed  the  interior  as  a  kind  of 
safety  valve  for  the  benefit  of  Jewish  immigration.  Because 
limited  job  opportunities  in  western  states  restricted  the 
ability  of  those  states  to  handle  large  numbers  of  im- 
migrants, Galveston  Plan  organizers  broadened  the  scope 
of  their  activities  area  to  include  the  Old  Northwest  and 
eventually  the  entire  country. 

On  the  surface,  the  idea  did  seem  to  have  some  valid- 
ity. The  West  lacked  laborers  to  meet  the  growing  demands 
in  agriculture  and  industry.  For  a  Jewish  resettlement  pro- 
gram, all  that  was  now  needed  was  to  settle  a  few  im- 
migrants to  establish  the  nucleus  to  attract  others.  As  Schiff 
wrote, 

.  .  .  with  the  successful  settlement  of  such  a  number,  others 
would  readily  follow  under  their  own  accord,  and  that  then 
a  steady  stream  of  immigration  would  flow  through  New 
Orleans  and  Galveston  into  the  territory  between  the  Missis- 
sippi River  on  the  East,  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  west,  the  Gulf 
on  the  south  and  the  Canadian  Dominion  on  the  north. '^ 

To  popularize  the  Galveston  Plan,  Schiff  enlisted  the  ser- 
vices of  the  U.S.  Commissioner  of  Immigration,  the  Jewish 
Territorial  Organization  and  Morris  Waldman  and  David 
Bressler,  two  IRO  men  very  familiar  with  removal  work. 

Schiff 's  plan  rested  largely  on  the  work  of  Bressler  and 
Waldman.  Operating  in  much  the  same  manner  as  the 
IRO,  Waldman  toured  the  West  and  established  a  network 
of  local  committees  to  work  with  Galveston  leaders.  At  the 
outset,  it  was  readily  agreed  that  resettlement  throughout 
the  trans-Mississippi  West  was  unrealistic.  Only  those 
states  with  industry  and  large  Jewish  communities  could 
make  the  plan  work.  Gties  like  Cheyenne,  Boise,  Salt  Lake 
and  Helena  and  the  states  of  California  and  Washington 
"all,  more  or  less,  offer  opportunity  for  effective 
cooperation.  "*2  Sparsely  settled  areas  and  small  towns 
with  limited  or  no  industry  could  not  be  counted  on, 
because  they  could  not  provide  the  atmosphere  necessary 
for  the  immigrant's  cultural  adjustment. 

In  his  first  tour  of  the  West  in  1907,  Waldman  com- 
24 


mented  that  there  may  be  more  limitations  than  organizers 
previously  realized. 

We  cannot  expect  a  large  volume  of  co-operation  from  the  towns 
in  the  far  Southwest  and  Northwest,  because  they  are  very  small 
and  they  have  practically  no  industries,  still,  they  should  be 
included  in  order  that  the  distribution  may  be  as  wide  as 
possible.'^ 

After  several  months  of  touring  the  West,  Waldman 
became  more  skeptical  about  the  project. 

You  must  understand,  though  the  opportunities  in  the  area  are 
fine  for  good  mechanics  and  strong  laborers,  they  are  very 
discouraging  for  some  of  the  people  who  are  being  sent  over 
there.  There  is  more  opportunity  for  our  people  in  the  one  State 
of  Ohio  than  there  is  in  all  of  the  states  of  the  hinterland.*'' 

In  looking  at  the  northern  Rocky  Mountain  states,  he 
reassessed  the  occupational  situation  and  concluded  that 
there  were  no  offerings  in  Montana,  while  Boise  and 
Cheyenne  might  be  counted  upon  occasionally  to  take  a 
man.*5 

Waldman' s  attitude  was  not  unfounded  but  neither 
was  it  to  be  completely  true.  A  depression  at  the  outset 
of  the  program  made  jobs  scarce  and  hindered  the  initial 
efforts  of  the  IRO.  But  by  1910,  the  IRO  happily  reported 
that  in  nine  years,  the  program  had  contacts  with  nearly 
every  state  in  the  country.  Ironically,  the  IRO  found  that 
in  northern  Rocky  Mountain  states  there  were  more  place- 
ments in  Montana  than  in  Idaho  and  Wyoming  combined. 
The  Big  Sky  State  outdid  both  Idaho  and  Wyoming  in  the 
number  of  cities  to  which  immigrants  were  sent  (7  in  Mon- 
tana to  1  in  Idaho  and  3  in  Wyoming),  and  in  the  total 
number  of  emigrants  sent  to  a  state  (61  in  Montana  to  9 
in  Idaho  and  15  in  Wyoming).** 

Nationally,  the  IRO  relocated  nearly  80,000  people 
across  the  country.  Montana,  Idaho  and  Wyoming  did  not 
play  significant  roles  in  the  relocation  programs  of  the  ERO 
and  the  Galveston  Movement,  because  small  Jewish  com- 
munities and  linuted  employment  opportunities  in  these 
states  restricted  the  degree  of  participation.  It  is  also  ap- 
parent that  the  IRO's  experience  in  Wyoming  fluctuated 
greatly  due  to  need  and  demand.  Between  1902  and  1917, 
46  applicants  were  placed  in  9  Wyoming  cities.  Among  the 
24  states  working  with  the  IRO,  Wyoming  ranked  22,  being 
above  New  Hampshire  and  Nevada.*'' 

It  is  very  difficult  to  assess  in  detail  the  efforts  of  the 
IRO,  the  Galveston  Plan  and  the  Jewish  Agricultural  So- 
ciety in  Wyoming.  In  comparison  to  other  states,  there  are 
few  records  on  their  activities  detailing  the  names  and 
places  of  contacts,  names  of  participants  and  performance 
ratings.  It  is  nevertheless  obvious  from  annual  reports  and 
statistics  that  Wyoming  was  a  full  participant.  If  nothing 
else,  all  of  these  national  programs  resulted  in  a  renewed 
look  at  the  Jews  in  the  western  states.  While  small  in 
number  and  widely  dispersed,  western  Jews  were  in- 
tegrated into  national  networks  and  were  able  to  participate 
in  national  issues. 

Though  there  were  avenues  of  communication,  it  was 


quite  a  different  and  difficult  matter  to  bring  Judaism  to 
western  Jews.  Of  the  national  Jewish  organizations  of  the 
period,  none  were  more  concerned  than  the  Union  of 
American  Hebrew  Congregations,  which  recognized  that 
its  future  lay  in  its  ability  to  cultivate  those  interested 
people,  not  only  in  the  Midwest,  but  also  the  West.  What 
resources  the  Union  had  in  the  way  of  men  and  material 
were  not  adequate  to  meet  the  challenges  of  catering  di- 
rectly to  the  needs  of  pious  individuals.  A  program  of 
itinerant  rabbis  in  the  South  and  the  Midwest  failed  to  be 
implemented  in  the  West  due  to  the  size  of  the  areas  to 
be  covered  and  a  lack  of  commitment  from  rabbis 
themselves.** 

Reform  Judaism  still  managed  its  way  westward  through 
its  followers.  Travel  to  friends  and  family  helped  reaffirm 
personal  values.  Before  the  automobile,  railroads  served 
to  link  the  frontier  Jew  with  cultural  centers  in  the  East. 
It  was  by  the  railroad  that  Rabbi  Isaac  Meyer  Wise  had  con- 
tacted western  Jewish  communities  in  1876.  Since  the 
railroad  was  the  lifeline  to  many  frontier  communities,  the 
Khela  Bnai  Israel  Congregation  of  Council  Bluffs  sent  in- 
vitations to  cities  along  the  Union  Pacific  for  Jewish  peo- 
ple to  come  to  Council  Bluffs  for  Yom  Kippur  in  1868.*' 
Another  instrument  of  western  Judaism  was  the  American 
Israelite.  From  its  pages  readers  were  kept  abreast  of 
religious  issues.  In  November,  1888,  Maier  Marks  reported 
that  the  newspaper  was  widely  read  in  Cheyenne.^"  In- 
terest in  Jewish  activities  in  the  nation  and  abroad  was  ap- 
parent from  lists  of  Cheyenne  contributors  to  social  and 
benevolent  organizations.'^  Through  the  circulation  of  the 
Israelite  and  personal  values,  Jewish  identity  was  not  lost 
within  the  mainstream  of  frontier  society. 

The  perpetuation  of  Reform  Judaism  in  Wyoming  was 
later  advanced  by  the  Department  of  Synagogue  and  Ex- 
tension Work  of  the  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congrega- 
tions. It  provided  outreach  programs  in  the  form  of 
literature,  correspondence  courses  and  instructional  and 
inspirational  mailings.  While  not  as  effective  or  desirous 
as  an  itinerant  rabbi,  these  materials  did  meet  part  of  the 
spiritual  needs  in  Wyoming.  Designed  primarily  to  ease 
the  cultural  isolation  of  Jewish  farmers,  the  program  found 
interested  participants  not  only  in  Iowa  Center,  Guernsey 
and  Allen,  but  also  Cheyenne  and  Gillette. '^ 

On  the  local  level,  personal  and  collective  efforts  deter- 
mined the  character  and  future  of  Judaism  in  a  commu- 
nity. In  respect  to  organized  religious  life,  Jews  often  found 
themselves  too  small  in  number  to  establish  a  religious 
community,  support  a  rabbi  or  even  hold  a  minyan.  (To 
hold  a  service  requires  at  least  10  adult  males.)  Yet,  the 
initial  efforts  in  fostering  Judaism  began  on  the  grass  roots 
level.  The  most  noticeable  time  was  usually  around  the 
High  Holidays  of  Yom  Kippur  and  Rosh  Hashana,  the 
Jewish  New  Year.  The  occasion  was  often  recorded  in  the 
local  press  by  the  closing  of  a  Jewish-owned  business  and 
was  probably  followed  by  private  observances  in  the  home 
or  among  several  families. '^  Future  events  might  see  the 
foundations  of  Jewish  life  being  planted  in  a  dty  as  the  local 


Jewish  population  grew  and  assumed  a  more  visible  pro- 
file. In  turn,  as  a  religious  community  took  shape,  Jewish 
life  acquired  a  formal  appearance. 

The  first  congregation  was  organized  in  Cheyenne.'* 
As  a  center  of  government  and  transportation,  Cheyenne 
attracted  the  largest  Jewish  population  in  the  state.  Jewish 
life  was  readily  apparent  by  early  notices  in  the  1870s  of 
Jewish  businesses  closing  for  Yom  Kippur.  As  the  com- 
munity continued  to  grow,  Jewish  life  became  organized 
and  assumed  a  formal  appearance.  Bertha  Myers,  wife  of 
pioneer  William  Myers,  organized  a  Sunday  School  in 
1875,  a  Reform  congregation.  Congregation  Emanuel,  in- 
corporated in  1888  and  a  Jewish  cemetery  was  plotted  that 
same  year.  There  were  tentative  plans  for  the  construction 
of  a  temple,  and  to  help,  a  Ladies  Jewish  Sewing  Circle, 
organized  in  the  1890s  by  Bertha  Myers,  sold  knitted  goods 
to  raise  funds  for  a  temple  and  to  support  programs  in  the 
East.  However,  a  temple  for  Congregation  Emanuel  never 
materialized  because  there  were  never  enough  members 
to  finance  its  construction.  Nonetheless,  Congregation 
Emanuel  remained  a  strong  symbol  of  Reform  Judaism  in 
Wyoming.  By  the  turn  of  the  century,  Cheyenne  became 
a  serru-regular  training  ground  for  student  rabbis  during 
the  High  Holidays.  The  chance  for  practical  experience 
coupled  with  cross-country  travel  made  the  Cheyenne  post 
a  very  attractive  assignment. 

In  the  following  years,  membership  in  Congregational 
Emanuel  began  to  dwindle.  German  Reform  Jews  were  not 
entering  the  state  in  large  numbers  because  the  Jewish 
emigration  from  Europe  was  dominated  by  Orthodox  Jews 
from  Eastern  Europe.  Congregation  Emanuel's  declining 
membership  became  more  and  more  apparent  as  its  found- 
ing members  grew  old  or  died  and  few  children  remained 
in  the  area  to  be  members.  Religiosity  was  not  in  trouble, 
but,  as  Mrs.  Allenstein  commented  to  directors  of  Hebrew 
Union  College  in  1917,  there  were  "only  a  few  who  wish 
these  services. "''  The  last  student  rabbi  to  Cheyenne  came 
in  1918.  For  the  capital  city,  Jewish  life  was  not  in  danger 
of  decline  but  was  showing  signs  of  change. 

Before  World  War  I,  the  Jewish  population  in  Wyo- 
ming was  increasing.  Developments  in  agriculture,  min- 
ing, oil,  transportation  and  tourism  and  the  growth  of  small 
towns  in  the  state  attracted  new  waves  of  settlers.  In  some 
respects,  the  new  emigrants  were  no  different  than  their 
territorial  predecessors  in  that  they  exhibited  indepen- 
dence, mobility  and  creativity  in  their  economic  endeavors. 
They  differed  in  that  they  were  more  diversified  in  their 
backgrounds  and  attitudes.  They  were  retailers,  peddlers, 
junk  and  hide  dealers,  hotel  operators,  blue  collar  workers, 
professionals,  Orthodox  and  Reform.  Geographically, 
there  was  a  wider  distribution  of  Jews  than  in  territorial 
years  as  a  result  of  personal  perceptions  and  information 
networks  within  families  or  national  movements,  like  the 
Galveston  Plan.  Unfortunately,  population  figures  are  not 
totally  reliable.  Unlike  the  census  of  1878,  more  organiza- 
tion and  effort  went  into  enumerating  the  Jewish  popula- 
tion in  the  1920s  and  1930s,  although  some  reliance  was 

25 


placed  on  estimates  and  on  the  estimates  of  individuals 
unacquainted  with  a  particular  area. 

Nonetheless,  it  was  undeniable  that  the  Jewish  popula- 
tion was  growing,  and  as  a  result,  Jewish  life  became  more 
apparent.  In  Casper,  Cheyenne,  Laramie  and  Rock 
Springs,  there  was  often  a  person  knowledgeable  in  the 
Jewish  liturgy  to  be  appointed  as  a  lay  leader  until  such 
time  a  student  or  resident  rabbi  could  be  called  or  a  visiting 
rabbi  made  a  stop  in  the  area.  In  Rock  Springs,  a  Jewish 
community  was  centered  around  the  family  of  Wolf  Cohen, 
a  Denver  shoemaker  turned  dry  goods  dealer  and  the 
founder  of  Congregation  Beth  Israel  in  the  mid-1920s. 
While  religious  observances  of  Yom  Kippur  in  Laramie 
were  recorded  in  the  1890s,  the  first  minyan  was  held  in 
1926.'*  The  oil  boom  in  Casper  attracted  numerous  Jewish 
families  from  Denver.  In  1923,  a  B'nai  B'rith  lodge  was 
formed,  a  sign  to  Denver's  Jeivish  News  of  a  formative  com- 
munity in  the  making. '^  Later,  in  1928,  a  representative 
of  the  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations  con- 
vinced the  small,  but  devout,  community  to  organize 
themselves.  Shortly  afterward,  the  Casper  Jewish  Com- 
munity Association  was  formed,  comprised  of  the  city's 
prominent  professionals  and  businessmen. '^  Arthur  Le- 
bowitz,  a  student  rabbi  at  Hebrew  Union  College,  con- 
ducted the  first  High  Holiday  services  in  1929  and  1930.'" 
Student  rabbis  served  the  Casper  community  intermit- 
tently during  the  High  Holidays  from  1930  to  1946  and  con- 
tinuously since  1947. 

Changes  in  the  Jewish  population  were  most  noticeable 
in  Cheyenne,  where  an  Orthodox  community  arose  on  the 
east  side  of  town.  The  population  of  Orthodox  Jews  grew 
rapidly  and  in  1910  formed  Mt.  Sinai  Congregation.  Dif- 
ferences between  Emanuel  and  Mt.  Sinai  were  very  evi- 
dent in  two  ways.  Whereas  Emanuel  relied  upon  a  pool 
of  educated  lay  leaders,  Mt.  Sinai  was  always  served  by 
trained  rabbis.  Whereas  Congregational  Emanuel  long 
dreamed  of  a  temple,  Mt.  Sinai  soon  completed  plans  for 
one.  In  1915,  construction  commenced  on  the  first  syna- 
gogue in  Wyoming  in  a  public  ceremony  that  included  the 
attendance  of  former  Governor  Joseph  M.  Carey  and 
Mayor  R.  N.  La  Fontaine.  Further  sign  of  the  community's 
growth  was  evident  in  1923  when  the  building  was  en- 
larged to  include  five  classrooms,  a  large  hall,  a  gymnasiim:\ 
and  a  swimming  pool.i"" 

Meanwhile,  the  only  organization  of  Reform  Judaism 
in  the  city  was  the  Ladies  Circle.  It  operated  as  a  sewing 
and  social  function  in  the  mid-1930s  long  after  Congrega- 
tion Emanuel  disappeared,  knitting  and  selling  for  the  day 
when  a  reform  temple  would  be  built .  Despite  their  strong 
interests,  the  city's  declining  number  of  Reform  Jews  real- 
ized that  no  temple  was  forthcoming  and  that  their  finan- 
cial activities  merely  served  to  divide  rather  than  unite  the 
Jewish  community.  After  the  death  of  Bertha  Myers,  the 
principle  force  behind  the  Ladies  Circle,  these  funds  were 
donated  to  Mt.  Sinai  Congregation. 

Because  of  its  size,  Cheyenne's  Orthodox  community 
orgaruzed  numerous  organizations  to  meet  the  cultural  and 
26 


-mk^ 


The  original  design  of  Mt.  Sinai  Synagogue  in  Cheyenne. 


spiritual  needs  in  the  locality  and  the  region.  By  1930,  there 
were  a  men's  and  ladies'  B'nai  B'rith,  a  branch  of  the 
Jewish  Welfare  Board,  the  Workmen's  Circle  and  a  news- 
paper, the  Wyoming  Jewish  Press.  The  Cheyenne  Relief 
Society  was  organized  in  1925  to  provide  assistance  and 
aid  to  Jewish  travelers  and  transients.  Jewish  military  per- 
sonnel from  Fort  F.  E.  Warren  were  regularly  invited  to 
services  and  activities. ^^^  A  Service  Men's  Hebrew  Pro- 
gressive Association  organized  in  1930. ^"^  At  the  present 
time,  Jewish  services  are  still  held  at  the  post  by  lay  officers. 

During  the  1920s  and  1930s,  the  automobile  emerged 
as  the  medium  for  Judaism.  Better  roads  and  increased  per- 
sonal mobility  resulted  in  increased  contact  between  Wyo- 
ming Jews  and  western  regional  centers,  greater  coordina- 
tion between  local  communities  and  the  development  of 
an  ad  hoc  networking  system  across  the  state.  With  greater 
personal  mobility,  services  in  one  city  could  be  attended 
by  Jewish  residents  from  outlying  towns.  It  was  reported 
that  the  first  High  Holiday  services  in  Casper  drew  Jews 
from  all  parts  of  the  state. "^  Residents  of  Kemmerer, 
Rawlins  and  Evanston  traveled  to  Rock  Springs.^"*  Laramie 
residents  went  to  Cheyenne,  while  Sheridan,  Gillette  and 
northern  Wyoming  residents  went  to  Sheridan  or  Billings, 
Montana.  Religious  lines  were  not  restricted  to  neighbor- 
ing counties.  In  order  to  get  a  minyan,  the  Rock  Springs 
community,  for  example,  used  to  send  for  Jewish  soldiers 
at  Fort  F.  E.  Warren  in  Cheyenne  for  the  High  Holidays. ^^^ 

The  automobile  also  increased  the  influence  of  major 
regional  centers  on  Wyoming.  Salt  Lake  City,  Denver  and 
Billings  became  more  conveniently  accessible  for  Jews 
desiring  some  form  of  organized  religious  life.  Family  ties 
to  former  religious  associations  were  more  convenient  and 
more  accessible.  For  example,  trips  to  Denver  became  com- 
monplace for  former  residents  who  lived  in  Rock  Springs, 


Laramie  and  Cheyenne.  Northern  Wyoming's  services 
were  almost  entirely  one-directional  with  the  Billings 
Jewish  community,  until  1924,  when  the  rabbi  of  Billings 
traveled  to  Sheridan  to  celebrate  Yom  Kippur  in  Wyo- 
ming, i"* 

Another  feature  contributing  to  the  extension  of 
regional  influences  during  this  same  period  was  the 
development  of  a  Jewish  press  in  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
The  Denver  Jewish  Press,  later  renamed  the  Intermountain 
Jewish  News,  found  eager  subscribers  across  Wyoming 
desirous  of  some  reading  material  with  religious  news  per- 
tinent to  their  area.  In  turn,  the  paper  relied  mostly  on 
anonymous  correspondents  in  Casper,  Rock  Springs  and 
Laramie  to  keep  the  region  abreast  of  their  activities  as  well 
as  their  presence.  In  Cheyenne,  the  correspondent  of  the 
News  was  Abraham  Goldstein.  A  man  of  many  talents  and 
varied  experiences,  he  was  a  homesteader,  pawnbroker 
and  foremost  a  newspaperman  who  had  worked  in 
Chicago  and  Omaha.  In  addition  to  providing  the  News 
with  information  about  the  Jewish  community  in  Chey- 
enne, he  established  the  Wyoming  Jewish  Press  in  1930  as 
a  state  Jewish  newspaper.  His  endeavor  served  as  a  tem- 
porary medium  in  addressing  general  items  of  interest  and 
in  providing  a  guide  to  the  Jewish  population  of  the  state. 
The  paper  was  discontinued  shortly  after  Goldstein's  death 
in  1943. 


Rabbi  Arthur  Lebowitz,  who,  while  a  student  at  Hebreiv  Union  College 
in  Cincinnati,  conducted  the  first  Jewish  services  in  Casper  in  1929. 


World  War  II  and  booms  in  the  mining  industry 
brought  renewed  life  into  existing  Jewish  communities. 
The  Casper  Jewish  Community  Association  of  1929  ap- 
parently dissolved  in  the  wake  of  the  depression,  but  the 
Casper  community  received  Jewish  servicemen  stationed 
at  the  Casper  air  base  during  World  War  11.  In  the  post- 
war era.  Temple  Beth  Israel  organized  and  functioned  from 
1958  to  1981  and  in  1959  constructed  the  second  Jewish 
house  of  worship  in  the  state. i"''  Today,  Temple  Beth-El 
stands  as  another  symbol  of  organized  Jewish  life  in  one 
of  the  state's  largest  cities.  In  Rock  Springs,  the  Beth  Israel 
Congregation  of  the  1920s  and  1930s  was  revived  in  the 
1980s.  1"*  A  Laramie  Jewish  Community  Association  was 
organized  by  a  handful  of  individuals  in  1980.  Retired  rab- 
bis or  student  rabbis  from  Hebrew  Union  College  in  New 
York  come  once  a  year  to  conduct  High  Holiday  services."' 
Undergoing  a  different  transition  from  other  cities  dur- 
ing the  same  period  was  Cheyenne.  As  a  center  of  govern- 
ment, transportation  and  home  to  a  military  base,  the 
Jewish  population  remained  larger  here  than  anywhere 
else  in  the  state.  In  the  post-war  years,  the  Jewish  popula- 
tion and  membership  at  Mt.  Sinai  grew  to  its  highest  levels. 
To  meet  the  needs  of  a  growing  congregation,  a  new  syna- 
gogue was  built  in  1951.  Congregation  president  Sol  Bern- 
stein observed  that  the  new  building  was  a  symbol  and 
a  catalyst  for  worship. 

This  building  is  dedicated  to  the  glory  of  G-d  and  to  the  ser- 
vice of  all  people.  This  is  the  second  Synagogue  that  this  con- 
gregation has  been  privileged  to  erect[.]  How  much  nobler  in 
concept  and  in  construction  is  this  one  compared  with  the  first 
[.]  How  more  richly  fashioned  to  nourish  in  us  a  reverence  for 
G-d,  a  love  for  our  heritage,  a  respect  for  each  soul  fashioned 
in  G-d's  image!"" 
But  the  life  source  of  the  synagogue  was  predicated  on  the 
continued  commitment  of  the  community.   As  Rabbi 
Herbert  Friedman  of  Denver  wrote,  "[T]he  structure  is 
valuable  only  if  the  very  walls  breathe  the  love  of  Judaism 
for  which  it  was  erected,  "i" 

One  of  the  more  troubling  problems  for  the  Cheyenne 
community  was  not  so  much  the  sustaining  of  a  synagogue 
by  the  community,  as  it  was  the  procurement  of  a  resident 
rabbi.  Rabbinical  commitments  were  usually  of  a  short  term 
and  ended  when  opportunities  with  larger  congregations 
appeared  more  enticing.  To  the  ambitious  Orthodox  rabbi, 
there  was  little  need  in  Cheyerme  for  a  full-time  rabbi. 
Moreover,  Jewish  atmosphere  was  not  as  developed  as  in 
the  East,  making  it  difficult  for  young  orthodox  rabbis  to 
maintain  a  strict  kosher  lifestyle  and  thus  want  to  stay  in 
Cheyenne.  Nor  was  the  formative  congregation  able  to 
support  adequately  a  resident  rabbi.  Rabbi  Lehrer  (1912-1915) 
took  in  boarders,  while  Rabbi  Abraham  Hoffman  (1917-1938) 
opened  a  kosher  meat  market,  the  Hoffman  Livestock 
Company,  in  order  to  support  his  family. ^^^  While  many 
rabbis  served  Cheyenne  but  a  couple  years,  there  were 
several  leaders  whose  length  of  service  were  reflective  of 
the  faith  and  strength  they  saw  in  the  community,  the  most 
notable  being  Rabbi  Abraham  Hoffman  and  Rabbi  S.  Mor- 
ris Susman  (1963-1978). 

27 


1 

fjaf'S^'''         .^Bk 

^^^    ..^    ii^ 

p^ 

SSP^B 

'^^sm 

IP 

^'   am 

^^^88 

mmi^^^^^^^m^^Mi^d^ML 

Mt.  Sinai  Synagogue  in 
Cheyenne  today. 


■m 


Change  and  continuity  has  marked  the  Jewish  experi- 
ence in  Wyoming.  Jewish  life  has  been  comprised  of  a  mix- 
ture of  people-mobile,  intransient,  Orthodox,  Reform  and 
independent.  Seriously  affecting  the  course  and  character 
of  Jewish  life  are  changing  economic  conditions  in  Wyo- 
ming's mineral  industry  that  has  resulted  in  rapid  varia- 
tions in  the  size  and  character  of  the  Jewish  population  in 
a  community.  The  emigration  of  local  Jews  has  been  detri- 
mental to  the  future  of  any  formative  community  and  any 
hope  for  a  synagogue  or  a  resident  rabbi  among  formative 
congregations  is  impossible  under  these  circumstances. 

Meeting  the  needs  of  the  Jewish  population  in  smaller 
towns  has  never  been  easy.  In  the  past,  mailings  and 
itinerant  rabbis  provided  the  only  means  of  reaffirming 
one's  religious  beliefs  outside  of  the  home.  Other,  more  per- 
sonal outreach  programs  have  arisen  with  the  development 
of  Jewish  communities  in  Wyoming  and  neighboring 
states.  Cheyenne's  rabbi,  the  only  resident  rabbi  in  the  en- 
tire state,  has  been  called  upon  to  attend  to  Jewish  needs 
across  Wyoming.  Casper's  High  Holiday  services  have 
met,  to  some  extent,  needs  in  the  central  part  of  the  state. 
Jews  in  northern  Wyoming  have  also  looked  to  Billings. 
As  Rabbi  Samuel  Horowitz  of  Billings  critically  noted, 
there  is  but  one  rabbi  for  Montana,  Idaho  and  northern 
Wyoming.  While  he  felt  somewhat  privileged  in  this 
regard,  he  realized  that  the  territory  was  too  much  for  one 
man.  At  the  same  time,  he  felt  his  work  could  be  made 
more  effective.  Among  other  things  he  called  for  a  place 
of  worship  at  Yellowstone  National  Park  for  Jewish 
visitors. "3 
28 


While  there  are  efforts  to  bring  organized  Jewish  life 
to  a  community,  there  is  also  concern  on  how  the  emigra- 
tion of  family  members  and  neighbors  affects  community 
life.  For  younger  Jews,  especially  those  in  professional, 
managerial  and  administrative  fields,  occupational  oppor- 
tunities are  greatest  outside  of  the  state.  As  future  genera- 
tions continue  to  exhibit  greater  occupational  and  social 
mobility,  the  attraction  to  regional  commercial  centers  such 
as  Denver,  Los  Angeles  and  San  Francisco,  becomes 
greater  at  the  expense  of  the  local  community  and  the  fam- 
ily unit.  Even  the  familial  and  spiritual  ties  that  at  one  time 
attracted  Jews  to  Denver,  Billings  and  Salt  Lake  City  has 
greatly  diminished  and  eventually  disappeared  with  the 
diffusion  of  family  members.  In  turn,  issues  of  family  life 
are  more  acute  as  families  try  to  balance  social  activities 
and  still  maintain  one's  Jewish  identity  in  a  small  town.  One 
of  the  results  has  been  intermarriage  of  Jews  and  Gentiles 
and,  unless  some  arrangements  or  considerations  are 
mutually  agreed  upon,  the  dissolution  of  Jewish  life  in  the 
home.  Families  concerned  with  their  children's  religious 
future  have  considered  moving  to  another  city,  indirectly 
arranging  marriages,  or  even  sending  children  to  a  large 
university  in  order  to  meet  other  Jewish  youth. 

Although  the  Jewish  population  in  Wyoming  is  the 
smallest  in  the  United  States,  its  size  does  not  make  it  any 
less  important  in  a  larger  context,  nor  is  it  totally  removed 
from  involvement  with  Jewish  issues.  Instead,  Jewish  life 
in  Wyoming  has  been  shaped  by  the  character  of  Jewish 
settlers,  the  economics  of  the  state  and  the  activities  of 
regional  and  national  Jewish  organizations.  Ehiring  the 


dedication  ceremonies  of  the  new  synagogue  in  1951,  Sol 
Bernstein  commented  that  there  were  members  who  wit- 
nessed the  construction  of  the  former  and  present  build- 
ings. He  concluded  that  the  contrast  in  styles  was  not  as 
important  as  the  evidence  of  the  continuity  of  their  faith."* 
The  history  of  Jews  and  Judaism  outside  of  Cheyenne  is 
often  not  accompanied  by  such  visual  and  physical 
changes.  Yet,  whether  an  established  community  or  one 
person,  there  remains  a  Jewish  element  in  the  history  of 
Wyoming. 


CARL  V.  HALLBERG  is  Archivist/Historian  for  the  Archives  and  Records 
Management  Division,  Wyoming  State  Archives,  Museums  and  Historical  Depart- 
ment. He  received  his  M.A.  in  History  from  Colorado  State  University,  Fort 
Collins,  and  B.A.  from  Augustana  College,  Rock  Island,  Illirwis. 


1.  For  general  studies,  see  Hynda  Rudd,  "The  Mountain  West  As  A 
Jewish  Frontier,"  Western  States  Jewish  Historical  Quarterly,  13  (AprU 
1981):  241-256;  Robert  E.  Levinson,  "Jews  and  Jewish  Communities 
on  the  Great  Plains,"  Red  River  Historical  Review,  V  (Fall  1980):  55-70; 
and  ibid.,  "American  Jews  in  the  West,"  Western  Historical  Quar- 
terly, V  Quly  1974):  285-294. 

In  May,  1986,  the  American  Jewish  Historical  Society,  the  Rocky 
Mountain  Jewish  Historical  Society  and  the  Center  for  Judaic  Studies 
at  the  University  of  Denver  hosted  a  convention  on  the  theme  of 
"The  Jewish  Experience  in  America:  A  View  From  the  West."  On 
the  local  level,  in  June,  1986,  the  congregation  of  Mt.  Sinai  in 
Cheyenne  celebrated  its  75th  anniversary.  The  occasion  not  only 
recognized  an  institution,  but  Jews  in  the  capital  city  and  Wyoming 
as  well. 

2.  See,  for  example,  Gordon  Olaf  Hendrickson,  ed..  Peopling  the  High 
Plains:  Wyoming's  European  Heritage  (Cheyenne:  Wyoming  State  Ar- 
chives and  Historical  Department,  1977);  Lawrence  D.  Cardoso, 
"Nativism  in  Wyoming,  1868  to  1930:  Changing  Perceptions  of 
Foreign  Immigrants,"  Annals  of  Wyoming,  58  (Spring  1986):  20-38; 
'  'Biographical  Sketches  of  Jewish  Citizens  of  Cheyenne,  Wyoming, ' ' 
MSS  229 A,  Historical  Research  and  Publications  Division,  Wyoming 
State  Archives,  Museums  &  Historical  Department  (AMH). 

3.  Lola  Homsher,  ed..  South  Pass,  1868:  James  Chisholm's  Journal  of  the 
Wyoming  Gold  Rush  (Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1960), 
p.  28. 

4.  American  Israelite,  November  16,  1888,  p.  6. 

5.  Western  Territories,  Vol.  2,  p.  4,  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.  Collection,  Baker 
Library,  Harvard  University  Graduate  School  of  Business 
Administration. 

6.  Corporation  Record,  Laramie  County,  Vol.  42,  p.  99. 

7.  Proceedings  of  the  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations,  Vol.  I  (New 
York:  Bloch  and  Company,  n.d.),  pp.  352-357,  508-516;  Address  to 
the  President  and  Representatives  of  the  Board  of  Delegates  of 
American  Israelites,  May  28,  1877,  Annual  Reports,  Union  of 
American  Hebrew  Congregations  Records,  American  Jewish  Ar- 
chives, Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Statistics  of  the  Jews  of  the  United  States  .  .  . 
(Philadelphia;  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations,  1880), 
n.p.;  Proceedings  at  the  Session  For  5367,  Held  at  the  City  of  New  York 
[Board  of  Delegates  of  American  Israelites]  (New  York:  Davis  Print- 
ing Office,  1877),  pp.  10-15. 

8.  Statistics  of  the  Jews  of  the  United  States,  pp.  54-55. 

9.  Hebrew  Sabbath-School  Visitor,  October  1874,  No.  38,  pp.  150-151;  No. 
39,  pp.  154-155;  No.  40,  pp.  158-159;  No.  41,  pp.  162-163;  September 
26,  1879,  pp.  308-309. 


10.  American  Israelite,  June  2,  1876,  p.  5. 

11.  William  K.  Kramer,  ed..  The  Western  Journal  of  Isaac  Meyer  Wise,  1877 
(Berkeley:  Manges  Museum,  1974),  p.  7. 

12.  Charles  Morley,  ed.,  Portrait  of  America:  Letters  of  Henry  Sienkiewicz 
(New  York:  Columbia  University  Press,  1959),  pp.  68-69. 

13.  Ibid.,  pp.  198-199. 

14.  Ibid.,  p.  80. 

15.  David  Lowenthal,  "The  American  Scene,"  in  Geographic  Perspec- 
tives on  America's  Past:  Readings  on  the  Historical  Geography  of  the  United 
States,  ed.  David  Ward  (New  York:  Oxford  University  Press,  1979), 
p.  18. 

16.  Lusk  Herald,  March  3,  1932,  p.  1. 

17.  Max  P.  Cowan,  "Memoirs  of  the  Jewish  Farmers  and  Ranchers  of 
Colorado,"  Western  States  Jewish  Historical  Quarterly,  9  (AprU  1977): 
224;  Wyoming  Jewish  Press,  September  22,  1930,  p.  15. 

18.  For  an  overview  of  the  frontier  merchant,  see  Lewis  E.  Atherton, 
The  Frontier  Merchant  in  Mid-America  (Columbia:  University  of 
Missouri  Press,  1971)  and  Fred  Mitchell  Jones,  Middlemen  in  the 
Domestic  Trade  of  the  United  States,  1800-1860  (Urbana:  University  of 
Illinois,  1937).  On  the  background  of  merchandising  by  Jews,  see 
Rudolph  Glanz,  "Notes  on  Early  Jewish  Peddling  in  America," 
Jewish  Social  Studies,  VII  (April  1945):  119-136. 

19.  Western  Territories,  Vol.  2,  p.  66;  Laramie  Daily  Sentinel,  September 

24,  1870,  p.  3. 

20.  Western  Territories,  Vol.  3,  pp.  300,  434;  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader, 
March  1, 1877,  p.  4;  May  1,  1878,  p.  4;  Bill  Barlow's  Budget,  June  30, 
1886,  p.  6;  July  21,  1886,  p.  4;  Laramie  Daily  Sentinel,  April  2,  1878, 
p.  4;  April  15,  1878,  p.  4. 

21.  Elizabeth  J.  Thorpe,  "Meyer  Frank  and  His  Family,"  Bits  and  Pieces, 
9  Oanuary-February  1973):  8. 

22.  Atherton,  pp.  59-98;  Jones,  pp.  18,  65-66. 

23.  Moses  Risdilin,  "Introduction,"  American  Jewish  Historical  Quarterly, 
68  (December  1978):  392;  Peter  R.  Decker,  "Jewish  Merchants  in  San 
Francisco:  Social  Mobility  on  the  Urban  Frontier,"  American  Jewish 
Historical  Quarterly,  68  (December  1968):  398-399. 

24.  Western  Territories,  Vol.  2,  p.  66. 

25.  Ibid.,  pp.  78,  114. 

26.  Ibid,,  p.  144. 

27.  Ibid. 

28.  See,  for  example,  ibid.,  p.  100. 

29.  Cheyenne  Leader,  September  19,  1867,  p.  4. 

30.  J.  H.  Triggs,  History  and  Directory  of  Laramie  City,  Wyoming  Territory 
.  .  .  (Laramie:  Powder  River  Publications  and  Booksellers,  1955),  p. 
5.  The  book  was  originally  published  in  1875. 

31.  Utah  Since  Statehood,  Vol.  Ill  (Chicago:  The  S.  J.  Clarke  Publishing 
Company,  1919),  p.  317. 

32.  Arkansas  Gazette,  November  20,  1919,  p.  150;  American  Israelite,  June 

25,  1908,  p.  6. 

33.  Among  the  many  works  on  the  Jewish  farming  movement  in 
America,  see  Leo  Shpall,  "Jewish  Agricultural  Colonies  in  the  United 
States,"  Agricultural  History,  24  Ouly  1950):  120-146;  Uri  D.  Herscher, 
Jewish  Agricultural  Utopias  in  America,  1880-1910  (Detroit:  Wayne  State 
University  Press,  1981);  Gabriel  Davidson,  "The  Jew  in  Agriculture 
in  the  Uruted  States,"  American  Jewish  Year  Book,  37  (5696/1935): 
99-134;  Samuel  Joseph,  History  of  the  Baron  De  Hirsch  Fund:  The 
Americanization  of  the  Jewish  Immigrant  (New  York:  The  Jewish  Publica- 
tion Society,  1935);  Leonard  C.  Robinson,  "Agricultural  Activities 
of  the  Jews  in  America,"  American  Jewish  Year  Book,  14 
(5673/1912-1913):  21-115. 

34.  Jerrold  Goldstein,  "Reform  Rabbis  and  the  Progressive  Movement" 
(Master's  Thesis,  University  of  Minnesota,  1967),  pp.  46-47. 

35.  Ibid. 

36.  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Society,  Annual  Report  for  the 
Year  1907  (New  York:  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Socie- 
ty, 1908),  p.  15. 

37.  Ibid.,  Annual  Report  for  the  Year  1908  (New  York:  Jewish  Agricultural 
and  Industrial  Aid  Society,  1909),  p.  25. 

29 


38.  Ibid. 

39.  "Jews  as  Farmers,"  American  Israelite,  June  24, 1909,  p.  3;  A.  R.  Levy, 
"Farming  and  the  Jews, "  Amencfln  Israelite,  December  26,  1906,  p.  5. 

40.  Jewish  Agriculturists'  Aid  Society  of  America,  Report  for  the  Year  1908 
(Chicago:  Jewish  Agriculturists'  Aid  Society  of  America,  1909),  pp. 
22,  24. 

41.  Ibid.,  p.  24. 

42.  Ibid. 

43.  Ibid. 

44.  Homesteading  by  Jews  was  not  limited  to  southeastern  Wyoming. 
The  interests  of  the  J  AS  were  mainly  in  Goshen  and  Platte  counties. 

45.  Dorothy  Keenan,  "The  Jewish  Settlement  at  Huntley, "  Bits  &  Pieces, 
4  (March  1968):  12-14;  ibid.,  "The  Huntley  Homesteaders,"  Bits  & 
Pieces,  4  (October  1968):  1-6;  "Cowboys  &  Kneidelach,"  Jerusalem 
Post,  September  8,  1978,  article  in  possession  of  the  author;  "The 
Jewish  Community,"  in  Mary  Elizabeth  Cotton  Anders,  ed.,  Iowa 
Center  Journal:  A  History  of  a  Community  in  Goshen  Couyity,  Wyoming 
(Scottsbluff,  Nebraska:  Brenizer  Historical  &  Genealogical  Publica- 
tions, 1983),  pp.  6-8;  Frank  M.  Fieldman,  "The  Jewish  Settlement 
of  Huntley,  Wyoming,"  in  "Biographical  Sketches  of  Jewish  Citizens 
of  Cheyenne,  Wyoming";  Amelia  Massion  Green  to  author, 
December  11,  1987. 

46.  S.  S.  Pearlsdne,  "Jewish  Homesteaders  in  Wyoming-1913, "  Westeni 
States  Jewish  Historical  Quarterly,  XII  (October  1979):  31. 

47.  U.S.  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Historical  Statistics  of  the  United  States, 
Coloftiat  Times  to  1970,  Bicentennial  Edition,  Part  1  (Washington: 
Government  Printing  Office,  1975),  p.  483. 

48.  Pearlstine,  pp.  31-32. 

49.  "Jewish  Farming  in  the  Midwest,"  article  in  Jewish  Agricultural 
Society  Collection,  American  Jewish  Historical  Society. 

50.  John  G.  Rice,  "The  Role  of  Community  in  Frontier  Prairie  Farm- 
ing," in  Ward,  p.  188. 

51.  Interview  with  Arnold  Sky,  Denver,  Colorado,  June  13,  1987. 

52.  Mindel  Sincher  to  Mejlack  Sincher,  no  date.  Letters  and  Petitions, 
Vol.  I,  p.  80,  Clerk  of  Dish-ict  Court,  Platte  County,  Wheatland, 
Wyoming. 

53.  Wyoming  State  Board  of  Immigration,  Biennial  Report,  1911-1912 
(Cheyenne:  S.  A.  Bristol  Company,  1912),  p.  46. 

54.  Roy  W.  Schenck  to  Governor  Joseph  M.  Carey,  October  12,  1911, 
File  3387,  Governor  Joseph  M.  Carey  Records,  Archives  and  Records 
Management  Division,  AMH. 

55.  Governor  Joseph  M.  Carey  to  Roy  W.  Schenck,  October  13,  1911, 
and  October  24,  1911,  Governor  Joseph  M.  Carey  Records. 

56.  American  Israelite,  October  12,  1912,  p.  3;  Pittsburgh  Press,  October 
24,  1911,  p.  14;  Torrington  Telegram,  October  12,  1911,  p.  1. 

57.  Pittsburgh  Press,  October  24,  1911,  p.  14. 

58.  Ibid.;  Covington  [Kentucky]  Post,  October  21,  1911,  Folder  2,  Bob  LO, 
Julius  Rosen wald  Papers,  University  of  Chicago  Library. 

59.  Julius  Rosenwald  to  M.  F.  Westheimer,  March  16,  1912,  Folder  12, 
Box  XXn,  Julius  Rosenwald  Papers. 

60.  Julius  Rosenwald  to  Charles  Freund,  August  1,  1913,  Folder  11,  Box 
XXII,  Julius  Rosenwald  Papers. 

61.  By  1912,  Schenck  managed  to  spend  all  of  the  money  appropriated 
to  his  department  and  was  ordered  by  Carey  to  stop  altogether. 
Schenck  has  been  viewed  as  impulsive  and  wasteful  by  one  historian, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  Schenck  was  in  competition  with 
many  older,  more  experienced  state  immigration  boards.  While 
Schenck's  administrative  style  did  not  endear  him  to  political  op- 
ponents, feelings  which  were  felt  by  the  Carey  administration,  Carey 
did  applaud  the  board  for  its  work  "of  great  magnitude"  and  urged 
the  legislature  to  continue  to  fund  it.  The  appropriation  bill  m  1913 
failed  to  pass.  Betsy  Ross  Peters,  "Joseph  M.  Carey  and  the  Pro- 
gressive Movement  in  Wyoming"  (Ph.d.  dissertation.  University 
of  Wyoming,  1971),  pp.  104-105,  167,  191;  Message  of  Joseph  M.  Carey, 
Governor  of  Wyoming,  to  the  Twelfth  State  Legislature,  1913  (n.p.,  n.d.), 
pp.  9-10,  in  Joseph  M.  Carey  Collection,  American  Heritage  Center, 
University  of  Wyoming,  Laramie,  Wyoming. 

30 


Accompanying  Schenck  in  Chicago  was  Carey's  son,  Robert. 
Carey's  papers  at  the  Wyoming  State  Archives,  Museums,  and  His- 
torical Department  suggest  that  Robert  also  played  a  role  in  the 
resettlement  of  Chicago  Jews  to  Wyoming.  Unfortunately,  his  let- 
ters to  Carey  on  this  matter  are  not  in  the  governor's  official  records 
and  Robert's  personal  records  at  the  American  Heritage  Center  fail 
to  shed  any  light  on  this  period  of  his  life. 

62.  Robinson,  pp.  74-76. 

63.  Ibid.,  p.  55. 

64.  American  Jeimsh  Year  Book  16  (5675/1914-1915):  283. 

65.  Samuel  Adams  to  Gabriel  Davidson,  n.d..  Reclamation  Service,  Of- 
fice of  the  Secretary,  RG  48,  Records  of  the  Department  of  the  In- 
terior, National  Archives. 

66.  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Reclamation  Service,  1915-1916 
(Washington:  Government  Printing  Office,  1916),  p.  256;  Twenty- 
first  Annual  Report  of  the  Reclamation  Service  (Washington:  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office,  1922),  p.  79. 

67.  Goshen  County  Extension  Service,  Annual  Narrative  Report,  1923 
(n.p.),  p.  4;  ibid..  Annual  Narrative  Report,  1924,  n.p. 

68.  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Society,  Annual  Report  for  the 
Year  1911  (New  York:  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Socie- 
ty, 1912),  p.  34;  ibid..  Annual  Report  for  the  Year  1916  (New  York: 
Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Society,  1917),  p.  11. 

69.  Joseph,  p.  288. 

70.  Ibid.,  p.  126;  The  Provisbnal  Commission  for  the  Establishment  of  Jewish 
Farm  Settlements  in  the  United  States,  n.p.,  in  The  Organization  for 
Jewish  Colonies  in  America  Records,  American  Jewish  Historical 
Society. 

71.  Assistant  manager  to  David  Bressler,  October  15,  1906,  Follow-up 
Correspondence,  IRO  Records,  American  Jewish  Historical  Society. 

72.  Harry  Coleman  to  IRO,  June  27,  1912,  Job  Offers  Accepted,  IRO 
Records. 

73.  Joseph,  p.  186. 

74.  Samuel  Idelman  to  IRO,  September  24,  1904,  Local  Agent's  Cor- 
respondence, IRO  Records. 

75.  David  Bressler  to  Samuel  Idelman,  September  30,  1904,  IRO  Records. 

76.  Charles  Benjamin  to  IRO,  November  7, 1911,  and  November  21,  1911, 
IRO  Records. 

77.  Ibid.,  August  12, 1912,  and  August  22, 1912;  Assistant  Manager,  IRO, 
to  Charles  Benjamin,  August  23,  1912,  and  August  26,  1912. 

78.  Charles  Benjamin  to  IRO,  June  25,  1914,  IRO  Records. 

79.  See  Bernard  Marinbach,  Galveston:  Ellis  Island  of  the  West  (Albany: 
State  University  of  New  York  Press,  1983). 

80.  Cyrus  Adler,  Jacob  H.  Schiff:  His  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  11  (Garden  Ci- 
ty: Doubleday,  Doran  and  Company,  Inc.,  1929),  p.  95. 

81.  Ibid.,  p.  99. 

82.  IRO  Secretary  to  Morris  Waldman,  November  4,  1907,  Galveston 
Immigration  Plan  Records,  American  Jewish  Historical  Society. 

83.  Morris  D.  Waldman  to  David  M.  Bressler,  February  21,  1907, 
Waldman-Bressler  Correspondence,  Galveston  Immigration  Plan 
Records. 

84.  Morris  D.  Waldman  to  David  M.  Bressler,  July  19,  1907,  Waldman- 
Bressler  Correspondence. 

85.  Ibid. 

86.  David  M.  Bressler,  The  Removal  Work,  Including  Galveston  (n.p.:  1910), 
p.  21. 

.  Joseph,  p.  290. 

.  Thirty-seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congrega- 
tions (n.p.,  1911),  pp.  6512-6513. 

.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  14,  1868,  p.  1. 

.  American  Israelite,  November  16,  1888,  p.  6. 

.  Ibid.,  April  17,  1874,  p.  7;  December  22, 1892,  p.  9;  January  30, 1896, 
p.  1;  February  4,  1897,  p.  7;  Jeanette  Meisell  Baron,  ed..  Steeled  by 
Adversity:  Essays  and  Addresses  on  American  Jewish  Life  by  Salo  Witt- 
mayor  Ba  ron  (Philadelphia :  The  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America, 
1971),  pp.  235,  266. 

It  was  reported  that  a  Jewish  Mutual  Benevolent  Society  met 


87 


in  the  Sternberger  House.  No  further  information  was  given  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  society  or  its  activities.  Cheyenne  leader,  January 
14,  1868,  p.  1. 

92.  Forty-third  Annual  Report  of  the  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congrega- 
tions (Cincinnati:  May  and  Kreidler,  1917),  p.  8032. 

93.  The  Cheyenne  Leader  noted  the  coming  of  the  Jewish  New  Year  in 
1868  to  1870,  but  did  not  reveal  if  it  was  being  observed  in  the  city. 
Probably  the  earliest  recorded  observation  was  held  by  George  Frank 
and  Brothers  in  South  Pass  Qty.  George  and  J.  H.  Frank  operated 
a  clothing  store,  and  George  was  also  the  only  licensed  auctioneer 
in  Sweetwater  County  at  the  time.  South  Pass  News,  September  27, 
1870,  p.  3;  Michael  Massie,  Curator  of  South  Pass  City  Historic  Site, 
to  author,  July  15,  1988. 

94.  For  more  information  on  the  early  Jewish  community  in  Cheyenne, 
see  Carl  V.  Hallberg,  "Early  Jews  in  Cheyenne,"  Rocky  Mowitain 
Jewish  Historical  Notes,  8  (5747/Winter-Spring  1987);  3-7. 

95.  Mrs.  Julius  AUenstein  to  Rev.  Louis  Grossman,  June  5,  1915,  Holi- 
day Positions,  Hebrew  Uruon  College  Records,  American  Jewish  Ar- 
chives, Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

96.  Intermountain  Jewish  News,  October  23,  1926,  p.  2. 

97.  Denver  Jewish  News,  May  23,  1923,  p.  3. 

98.  Wyoming  Jewish  Press,  September  22,  1930,  p.  13. 

99.  Casper  Herald,  October  2,  1929,  p.  2;  Casper  Daily  Tribune,  October 
1,  1929,  p.  8;  ibid.,  September  22,  1930,  p.  8. 

100.  Denver  Jewish  News,  January  24,  1923,  p.  5. 

101.  Wyoming  Jewish  Press,  October  2,  1940,  p.  4. 

102.  Ibid.,  September  22,  1930,  p.  6. 


103.  Casper  Herald,  October  2,  1929,  p.  2;  Casper  Daily  Tribune,  October 
1,  1929,  p.  8. 

104.  Rock  Springs  Rocket,  September  26,  1924,  p.  1;  September  16,  1926, 
p.  1. 

105.  Interview  with  Phyllis  Silverman,  Lakewood,  Colorado,  March  14, 
1987. 

106.  Sheridan  Post-Enterprise,  September  28,  1924,  p.  5. 

107.  Corporation  76057,  Defunct  Corporations,  Secretary  of  State  Records, 
Archives  and  Records  Management  Division,  Wyoming  State  Ar- 
chives, Museums  &  Historical  Department;  Amy  Shapiro,  A  Guide 
to  the  Jewish  Rockies:  Colorado,  Montana,  Wyoming  (Denver;  Rocky 
Mountain  Jewish  Historical  Society,  Center  for  Judaic  Studies, 
University  of  Denver,  1979),  p.  34. 

108.  Interview  with  Edward  Shineberg,  Rock  Springs,  Wyoming,  May 
16,  1987;  interview  with  Jonathan  Shineberg,  Rock  Springs,  Wyo- 
ming, May  16,  1987. 

109.  Interview  with  Edward  Jackson,  Laramie,  Wyoming,  September  17, 
1987. 

110.  "Cheyenne  Synagogue  Dedication,"  1951,  Sol  Bernstein  Papers, 
private  collection. 

111.  Rabbi  Herbert  A.  Friedman  to  Mt.  Sinai  Congregation,  June  14,  1951, 
Sol  Bernstein  Papers. 

112.  Arme  Schorer  to  author,  December  26, 1985;  "Biographical  Sketches 
of  Jewish  Citizens  of  Cheyenne,  Wyoming." 

113.  Billings  Gazette,  April,  1960,  article  in  Samuel  Horowitz  Papers, 
American  Jewish  Archives,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

114.  "Cheyenne  Synagogue  Dedication." 


31 


THE  WIND  AT  WORK 
IN  WYOMING 

by  Robert  W.  Righter 


The  author  would  like  to  thank  the  Wyoming 
Council  for  the  Humanities  for  a  generous 
research  grant  which  made  this  article  possible. 


Laramie  school  children  demonstrate  some  positive  and  exciting  possibilities  with  the  Wyoming  wind. 
32 


Almost  everyone  reacts  to  the  Wyoming  wind.  Take, 
as  examples,  two  famous  19th  century  visitors.  The  first 
was  John  C.  Fremont.  In  1842,  he  and  his  men  camped 
on  the  North  Platte  River.  It  was  a  normal  July  day:  warm 
and  sunny,  with  clear  to  partly  cloudy  skies.  Most  men 
were  relaxing.  However,  Charles  Pruess,  the  caustic  Ger- 
man scientist,  was  busy.  He  had  built  a  small  fire  in  his 
tent-lodge  and  was  measuring  the  temperature  of  boiling 
water.  In  an  attempt  at  some  ventilation,  Pruess  raised 
the  ground  pins  of  his  tent.  He  got  more  than  he  bargained 
for.  Fremont  explains:  "At  this  instant,  and  without  warn- 
ing until  it  was  within  fifty  yards,  a  violent  gust  of  wind 
dashed  down  the  lodge,  burying  under  it  Mr.  Pruess  and 
about  a  dozen  men,  who  had  attempted  to  keep  it  from 
being  carried  away.  I  succeeded  in  saving  the  barometer, 
which  the  lodge  was  carrying  off  with  itself,  but  the  ther- 
mometer was  broken."^ 

Novelist  Owen  Wister  offers  another  example.  The 
famous  author  of  The  Virginian  loved  Wyoming.  He  con- 
tinually praised  the  contours  of  the  country  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  people.  The  wind,  however,  was  another  mat- 
ter. Writing  to  his  mother  in  1885,  Wister  explained  that 
there  was  only  "one  thing  about  this  country  I  don't  like— 
and  only  one.  The  wind.  Never  did  breeze  fulfil  [sic]  the 
Scripture  so  completely.  We'll  be  in  the  nuddle  of  a 
cloudless  and  calm,  sunlight  or  moonlight.  Without  any 
premonition  there'll  come  a  rush  from  some  where  that 
blows  the  things  off  the  table— slams  the  doors— tears  up 
our  tent  pins— and  has  once  taken  the  whole  tent  down. 
This  wiE  last  about  fifteen  mintes  [sic],  and  then  everything 
will  be  as  still  and  silent  as  before.  "^ 

Pruess'  and  Wister's  experiences  were  certainly  not 
unique.  Almost  any  Wyomingite  can  conjure  up  a  story 
about  the  wind,  and  many  of  them  are  true.  The  wind  has 
swayed  Wyoming  lives,  and  influenced  the  state's  folklore. 
In  Rawlins  a  restaurant  waitress  was  asked  if  the  wind  ever 
stopped  blowing.  Her  smug  reply  was:  "Only  when  it 
stops  to  blow  the  other  way."^  Thurman  Arnold,  perhaps 
Wyoming's  most  illustrious  native  son,  told  an  oft-repeated 
story  of  Rawlins  which  is  applicable  to  a  host  of  Wyoming 
towns:  "The  wind  stopped  blowing  for  a  moment,  and 
everyone  in  town  fell  down."^  Ted  Olson,  reflecting  on 
his  boyhood  days  living  on  the  Laramie  River,  recalled  that 
sometimes  the  winter  wind  gusts  "were  so  savage  that  we 
had  to  turn  and  wait  until  they  worked  their  tantrums 
out.  "5  Geologist  David  Love  also  talks  of  the  wind  and  how 
its  ageless  work  has  eroded  and  shaped  the  Wyoming  land- 
scape. Mixing  folklore  with  history,  and  perhaps  with  a 
knowing  twinkle  in  his  eye,  he  divulged  to  author  John 
McPhee  that:  "Old-timers  used  to  say  that  a  Wyoming 
wind  gauge  was  an  anvil  on  a  length  of  chain.  When  the 
land  was  surveyed,  the  surveyors  couldn't  keep  their 
tripods  steady.  They  had  to  work  by  night  or  near  sunrise. 
People  went  insane  because  of  the  wind."* 

The  wind  has  always  been  a  topic  of  conversation,  and 
often  it  is  more.  It  has  turned  a  gentle  rain  into  a  tornado. 
In  the  winter  time  the  "wind  chill  factor"  has  been  the 


causal  agent  which  turns  a  pleasant  snowfall  into  a  dan- 
gerous blizzard.  In  the  milder  months,  like  Fremont  and 
Wister,  Wyomingites  have  been  haunted  by  abrupt  winds 
which  have  knocked  down  trees,  flattened  gardens,  blown 
off  roofs  and  carried  off  most  everything  that  was  not  bat- 
tened down.  Aeolus,  the  Greek  god  who  controlled  the 
wind,  was  a  fickle  fellow,  and  no  where  was  he  more 
capricious  than  in  Wyorrving  and  the  arid  West.  Psy- 
chologically, the  winds  presence  or  absence  has  been  said 
to  determine  moods  of  depression  or  skittishness.  Some 
might  argue  that  the  wind  has  been  a  final  catalyst  for 
suicide,  although  such  claims  have  no  scientific  basis.'' 

Science  aside,  the  Wyoming  wind  is  usually  thought 
to  be  a  negative  force.  One  rarely  hears  a  good  word  for 
the  wind,  except  its  ability  to  clear  the  air  dtiring  the  mos- 
quito season.  The  purpose  of  this  essay  is  to  put  in  a  good 
word  for  the  Wyoming  wind,  this  unappreciated  primal 
force.  Although  it  is  unquestionably  a  nuisance,  in  some 
respects  the  wind  has  served  us  well.  Undeniably,  it  has 
been  a  significant  factor  in  the  settlement  of  the  state. 

When  we  think  of  the  wind  at  work  in  Wyoming,  we 
must  first  consider  the  windmill.  Developed  by  the  Per- 
sians in  the  7th  century  A.D.,  these  earliest  windmills  were 
employed  to  grind  grain  in  more  arid  regions  where  water 
power  was  unavailable.*  By  the  12th  century  millers  and 
farmers  used  them  widely  in  England  and  northern 
Europe.  In  a  world  of  intermediate  technology  and  re- 
newable energy  resources  the  windmill  and  the  water- 
wheel  provided  power  for  numerous  tasks.' 

However,  these  old  world  windmills  were  not  trans- 
ferred successfully  to  the  new  world.  A  few  English  post 
type  nulls  were  constructed  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  but 
waterwheels  were  more  popular.  The  drier  climate  of  the 
American  West  provided  a  more  suitable  environment. 
Westerners  needed  an  apparatus  that  could  pump  water. 
But  it  could  not  be  the  European  style,  for  to  be  successful 
this  windmill  had  to  be  inexpensive,  portable,  self- 
regulating  and  require  little  maintenance.  The  inventive 
American-mind  was  equal  to  the  task.  Daniel  Halladay,  a 
Connecticut  mechanic  born  in  Vermont,  developed  just 
such  a  machine  in  the  mid-1850s.  By  1857,  he  and  others 
had  formed  the  Halladay  Wind  Mill  Company.  Two  west- 
erly moves  later,  Halladay  and  his  partners  settled  in 
Batavia,  Illinois,  under  the  corporate  banner  of  the  U.S. 
Wind  Engine  and  Power  Company.  The  company  strug- 
gled in  the  1860s,  but  by  the  mid-1870s  it  was  on  a  firm 
financial  footing. i" 

The  "Halladay"  windmill  was  the  first  to  be  used  in 
Wyoming.  The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  brought  the  first 
sizable  White  settlement  to  the  region.  Hand-in-hand  with 
the  railroad  was  the  windmill,  providing  water  to  the 
thirsty  steam  locomotives  of  the  Union  Pacific.  Various  size 
windmills  were  installed  at  convenient  watering  places 
along  the  line.  The  largest  boasted  a  wheel  that  had  a  cir- 
cumference of  39  feet.  Such  a  windmill  was  installed  in 
Laramie,  and  became  a  landmark  for  many  years.  These 
Halladay  windmills  were  buUt  to  withstand  the  punish- 

33 


ment  of  the  occasional  gale-force  winds  that  swept  across 
the  southern  Wyoming  plains.  Protection  was  accom- 
plished by  sections  of  wooden  blades,  each  attached  to  the 
larger  wheel.  When  the  wind  became  severe  each  section 
would  furl  inward,  allowing  the  wind  to  pass  with  little 
resistance. 

We  also  know  that  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  made 
cattle  raising  feasible  by  providing  transportation  to  eastern 
markets.  However,  the  windmill  was  equally  important. 
Pioneer  ranchers  settled  along  reliable  streams  and  rivers, 
and  ran  their  cattle  in  a  close  vicinity.  This  system  was  suc- 
cessful enough,  but  millions  of  acres  of  grassland  proved 
unusable,  simply  because  water  was  not  available.  It  was 
impossible  to  utilize  rangelands  more  than  fifteen  miles 
from  a  surface  water  source.  The  windmill  resolved  the 
problem,  expanding  the  cattle  range  by  thousands  of  acres, 
particularly  in  eastern  Wyoming." 

State  statistics  on  the  use  of  windmills  are  non-existent. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  some  6.5  million  windmills  were 
sold  in  the  United  States  between  1880  and  1935.12  We  do 
know  that  only  a  few  Wyoming  farmers  used  windmills 
for  irrigation  purposes.  Generally,  in  the  eastern  corridor 
of  the  state  they  preferred  to  rely  on  dry  land  farming 
techniques  for  wheat  and  grain  crops.  But  thousands  of 
windmills  were  used  to  pump  water  for  stock  ponds.  Just 
how  many  functioned  in  Wyoming  at  the  turn-of-the- 
century  is  impossible  to  determine.  Even  today  accurate 
statistics  on  the  number  of  stock  wells  is  unavailable. 
Pressed  to  give  a  number  in  1985,  Dick  Stockdale,  of  the 
Wyoming  State  Engineers  Office,  estimated  that  some 
20,000  stock  wells  are  in  use,  7,000  of  them  powered  by 
windmills." 

Perhaps  the  numbers  are  not  important.  We  do  know 
that  the  windmill  became  an  accepted  part  of  the  Wyoming 
countryside.  It  offered  a  colorful  vertical  relief  on  the 
horizontal  landscape.  It  demanded  another  skUl  from  the 
Wyoming  cowboy,  who  might  often  be  expected  to  climb 
the  tower  to  oil  the  machine  or  make  repairs.  Often  the 
windmill  was  the  only  landmark  for  many  miles.  Also,  it 
provided  the  only  water.  Therefore,  both  cows  and  cow- 
boys congregated  nearby.  During  harsh  weather  it  could 
be  a  point  of  reference  on  an  indistinguishable  landscape. 
The  windmill  has  been  an  enduring  presence  on  the  North- 
ern Plains,  past,  present  and  sirrely  in  the  future.  In  many 
respects  it  is  a  highly  practical  technology.  An  abundance 
of  wind  is  employed  to  alleviate  a  shortage  of  water.  The 
windmill  exploits  a  free,  renewable  and  abtmdant  source 
of  energy  to  increase  the  supply  of  a  scarce  necessity  of 
life.  What  more  could  one  ask? 

While  windmills  were  changing  the  use  and  appear- 
ance of  the  grasslands,  in  Wyoming  towns  another  tech- 
nological wonder  came  into  common  use.  By  the  early 
1890s,  such  towns  as  Cheyenne  and  Laramie  boasted  elec- 
tricity, produced  by  small  steam-driven  generating  systenis. 
The  advantages  of  electricity  were  apparent,  particularly 
in  lighting  and  power  needs  which  involved  turning  or 
spinning.  Ranchers  were  curious,  and  perhaps  a  few 
34 


longed  to  have  this  new  labor-saving  luxury.  If  so,  it  was 
possible,  for  in  the  1890s,  the  Fairbanks,  Morse  Company 
made  available  an  electric  version  of  its  popular  Elipse 
windmill. i*  It  was  the  first  wind  unit  available  to  the  public. 
This  variation  on  a  water-pumping  windmill  was  not  suc- 
cessful. The  multi-bladed  wheel  turned  too  slowly  to 
generate  efficiently.  Nor  was  the  machine  reliable  for 
customers  unfamiliar  with  this  new  force  called  electricity. 

It  was  not  until  after  World  War  I  that  "wind  chargers" 
made  their  appearance  in  Wyoming  and  the  Northern 
Plains.  When  they  did,  they  looked  altogether  different 
from  the  water-pumping  windmills.  They  used  two  and 
three-bladed  propellers  which  had  been  developed  by 
aeronautical  engineers  for  airplanes  during  World  War  I. 
These  propellers  turned  many  more  revolutions  per 
minute,  making  an  elaborate  gearing  system  unnecessary. 
Thus  in  the  1920s,  this  new  technology  combined  with  a 
more  receptive  market  to  encourage  a  number  of  com- 
panies, both  new  and  old,  to  begin  production  of  small 
wind  generators  for  rural  use. 

For  Wyoming  ranchers  the  attraction  was  free  fuel. 
Once  the  unit  was  paid  for,  theoretically  the  purchaser 
could  have  the  advantages  of  electricity  without  cost.  This 
was  the  "selling  point"  in  competing  with  the  gasoline- 
powered  generators,  popularly  known  as  "Delco  units." 
The  HEBCO  Wind  Electric  Company  advertising  leaflet 
was  typical  in  its  promise  that  the  owner  of  their  machine 
would  have  "electric  power,  running  water  under  pres- 
sure—all Without  Fuel  Cosf— without  the  noise  and  bother 
of  a  gas  engine  ..."  Among  the  testimonials  of  satisfied  cus- 
tomers was  that  of  a  farmer  from  Wheatland,  Wyoming.i^ 

Such  machines  as  the  HEBCO,  the  Aerolectric  and  the 
Jacobs  were  expensive  systems,  designed  to  provide  for 
the  electrical  needs  of  a  ranch  or  farm.  Farm  machinery 
such  as  a  milker,  separator,  grinder  and  circular  saw  could 
be  operated  by  a  wind  generator  with  an  adequate  storage 
battery  system.  Furthermore,  home  appliances  could  be 
used,  easing  the  drudgery  of  household  work.  The  Perkins 
Corporation  claimed  that  their  Aerolectric  wind  turbine 
"will  furnish  you  with  an  automatic  FARM  HAND  ..." 
It  will  do  the  washing,  "make  ironing  a  pleasure,  make 
cleaning  a  joy"  and  will  run  such  appliances  as  a  toaster, 
a  coffee  percolator,  curling  iron  and  many  others. *' 

As  with  the  water-pumpers,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate 
how  many  wind  chargers  operated  in  Wyoming.  Company 
records  are  virtually  non-existent.  Neither  federal,  state  nor 
county  records  give  us  any  clues.  One  must  be  content 
with  oral  history.  In  conversing  with  a  number  of  old-time 
Wyoming  ranchers,  one  has  little  difficulty  triggering  a 
dialogue  about  wind  chargers.  Many  used  wind  generators 
during  the  Depression  era.  World  War  II  and  the  post-war 
years.  If  they  did  not  have  one,  they  usually  recalled  a 
neighbor  that  did.  They  were  a  common  sight,  particularly 
in  the  eastern  counties  of  the  state. 

Of  course  many  of  the  uruts  were  not  powerful  or  ex- 
pensive. Numerous  ranchers  simply  desired  to  have 
enough  electricity  to  operate  a  few  40-watt  lights  and  a 


This  photograph  taken  at 
Sherman  Station  in 
1869,  is  of  a  smaller  ver- 
sion of  the  Halladay 
windmill  (U.S.  Wind- 
power)  which  was 
employed  along  the  Union 
Pacific  line.  The 
photograph  looks  like  the 
windmill  is  destroyed,  but 
that  is  not  the  case.  Most 
of  the  sections  are  simply 
furled  inward,  which 
meant  it  was  a  normal  day 
on  the  pass— windy' 


Giant  Laramie  Windmill.  This  is,  of  course,  a  well  known  photograph  of  the  largest  of  the  Halladay  windmills— 39  feet  in  circumference.  Notice 
how  it  dwarfs  the  Union  Pacific  engine. 


radio.  Such  units  as  the  Miller  Airlite,  the  Universal  Aerol- 
Electric,  Paris-Dunn,  Zenith,  Airline,  Wind  King  and 
Windpower  could  do  the  job  with  a  nominal  cost  of  $10 
to  $100.1^ 

Though  the  proliferation  of  wind  chargers  and  gasoline 
generators  ("Delco  units")  was  considerable,  ranchers  did 
not  consider  them  the  final  answer.  In  towns  and  cities 
utility  companies  were  stringing  electrical  wire,  providing 
residents  with  unlimited  centralized  power.  Ranchers 
wanted  the  same.  However,  because  of  the  great  distance 
involved,  companies  could  not  be  persuaded  to  run  lines 
to  rural  regions. 

Federal  intervention  provided  central  power  for  much 
of  Wyoming's  ranching  community.  In  1935,  Congress 
passed  the  Rural  Electrification  Act,  establishing  the  Rural 
Electrification  Administration.  This  agency  encouraged  and 
subsidized  the  formation  of  cooperatives.  Their  purpose 
was  to  provide  electricity  to  rural  people.  Between  the  late 
1930s  and  the  1950s,  "hi-lines"  were  stretched  throughout 
the  state,  bringing  unlimited  electrical  energy  to  the 
countryside. 

Of  course  for  every  gain  there  is  a  compensatory  loss. 
While  few  would  question  the  benefits  of  REA  power,  the 
"hi-line"  did  still  the  wind  chargers  of  Wyoming.  Typically, 
they  rusted  on  the  tower,  lofty  monuments  to  a  doomed 
technology.  Sometimes  they  were  discarded  to  the  ranch 
yard  scrap  heap.  They  could  not  be  sold,  for  no  demand 
existed.  They  remained  valueless  until  the  rebirth  of  in- 
terest in  the  1970s.  The  tower,  however,  advised  Successful 
Farming  magazine,  could  be  put  to  good  use  as  a  televi- 
sion antenna!^* 

To  some  degree  television  added  to  the  final  demise 
of  wind  chargers  in  Wyoming,  simply  because  it  rep- 
resented the  growing  desire  for  electrical  luxuries 
unavailable  with  the  32-volt  wind  charger  system.  Ida 
Chambers  and  her  son  Roy  supplied  the  electrical  needs 
of  their  Jackson  Hole  ranch  between  1946  and  1954  with 
the  "Windcharger"  machine.  However,  they  wanted  to 
have  television  and  a  freezer,  luxuries  unavailable  with  the 
32-volt  system.  They  hooked  up  to  REA  power.  Just  how 
successful  their  Windcharger  system  was  is  subject  to 
dissimilar  memories.  Ida  Chambers  fondly  recalled  no 
repairs  were  necessary,  and  that  it  was  a  "very,  very  good 
investment"  and  "the  greatest  thing  that  ever  was.""  Her 
daughter-in-law  Becky,  however,  remembered  differently, 
recalling  that  when  Ida  hooked  up  to  REA  she  "gathered 
all  her  32-volt  appliances,  marched  out  to  the  yard,  dug 
a  hole,  and  threw  them  in— glad  to  be  rid  of  them."^'' 

Across  the  state  in  Laramie,  Joe  Orr  remembered  his 
"Wind  King"  machine  with  fondness.  He  used  it  in  his 
Centennial,  Wyoming,  cabin  from  1947  to  the  mid-1950s. 
His  primary  difficulty  was  the  batteries  would  freeze  in  the 
winter.  Furthermore,  it  became  more  and  more  difficult 
to  obtain  Direct  Current  (DC)  appliances,  and  parts  became 
non-existent.  When  REA  came  along  and  offered  to  hook 
him  up  for  only  $10,  and  a  minimum  of  $3.60  a  month, 
he  could  not  resist. ^^ 
36 


The  Chambers  place  on  Mormon  Roiv,  Jackson  Hole.  Ida  and  her 
daughter-in-law  are  mentioned  in  the  manuscript.  This  is  a  "Wind- 
charger" unit  which  gave  good  service  in  the  late  1940s  and  1950s. 


Such  stories  abound  in  Wyoming.  In  truth,  most  peo- 
ple would  agree  with  Clara  Jensen,  who  lived  in  the  tiny 
town  of  Lysite.  She  and  her  husband  were  mighty  happy 
to  get  rid  of  their  windcharger  because  it  was  constantly 
breaking  down.^^  Geologist  David  Love,  raised  on  an 
isolated  Wyoming  ranch,  also  recalled  that  his  parents  were 
constantly  "fussing"  with  the  wind  machine."  Thus, 
unless  a  rancher  was  particularly  knowledgeable  regarding 
electricity,  a  central  power  system  was  most  welcome.  Not 
only  would  it  provide  unlimited,  reliable  power,  but  no 
longer  would  you  have  to  climb  that  tower  and  endanger 
your  life  fooling  with  the  confounded  wind  machine!  The 
fact  that  the  rancher  would  no  longer  be  "power-inde- 
pendent," and  that  more  centralization  might  intrude  on 
his  individualism  seemed  a  small  price  to  pay. 

Today  only  a  few  small  wind  generators  operate  in  the 
state.  More  familiar  to  most  residents  are  the  huge  wind 
generators  located  near  the  town  of  Medicine  Bow.  Here 
the  wind  speeds  average  more  than  twenty  miles  per  hour. 
With  such  potential,  in  1977,  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation 
initiated  an  experimental  project,  with  the  thought  that 
eventually  a  wind  power  plant  featuring  some  40  or  more 
units  and  producing  100-megawatts  of  power  would  be 
developed.  The  bureau  sponsored  the  construction  of  two 


units:  the  Boeing  MOD-2  and  the  Hamilton-Standard 
WTS-4.  The  dimensions  of  these  machines  were  quite  stag- 
gering. The  height  with  blades  in  vertical  position  of  the 
Boeing  MOD-2  was  350  feet,  and  for  the  Hamilton  Stan- 
dard, almost  400  feet  (391).  The  total  weight  of  the  Boeing 
was  580,000  pounds,  and  the  Hamilton-Standard,  791,000 
pounds.  Perhaps  more  significant,  when  generating 
properly,  together  the  units  would  provide  energy  to  meet 
the  needs  of  some  3,000  homes. ^* 

The  Medicine  Bow  units  were  part  of  a  national  re- 
search and  development  project.  In  the  early  1970s,  as  a 
result  of  gasoline  shortages  and  an  awareness  of  the 
nation's  energy  dependence,  the  Department  of  Energy 
sponsored  a  MOD  series  of  large  wind  generators  in  San- 
dusky (Ohio),  Block  Island  (Rhode  Island),  Boone  (North 
Carolina),  Clayton  (New  Mexico),  eastern  Washington, 
northern  California,  and  most  recently,  Hawaii.  The  ob- 
jective was  to  test  the  feasibility  of  large  units,  which  might 
in  the  21st  century  provide  as  much  as  ten  percent  of  the 
nation's  energy  needs. ^ 

The  success  of  this  effort  is  open  to  differing  interpreta- 
tions. On  the  positive  side,  much  has  been  learned,  and 
engineering  knowledge  has  been  expanded.  On  the  nega- 
tive side,  the  machines  broke  down  with  disappointing 
regularity.  The  experimental  unit  at  Sandusky,  Ohio  (Plum 
Brook  Station),  failed  in  less  than  two  days,  prompting  the 
New  York  Times  to  headline  its  story,  "$1  Million  for  orJy 
30  Hours  of  Work.''^^ 

At  Medidne  Bow,  the  Boeing  and  Hamilton-Standard 
were  no  exception.  They  were  shut  down  frequently.  Com- 
pounding the  problem  was  the  cost  of  repair.  When  the 
main  bearing  of  the  Boeing  failed,  the  repair  bill  was 
estimated  at  $1.5  million.  The  Bureau  of  Reclamation  put 
the  unit  up  for  sale,  but  there  were  no  takers.  In  1987,  a 
scrap  metal  company  dynamited  the  tower  and  hauled  it 
all  away.  The  Hamilton-Standard  may  suffer  an  identical 
fate.  It  is  no  longer  operating.  The  Bureau  of  Reclamation 
has  ended  its  experiment  with  the  Wyoming  wind,  and 
even  if  the  Hainilton-Standard  escapes  the  wrecking  ball 
and  survives  as  a  tourist  attraction,  its  functional  use  is 
probably  at  an  end. 

Is  the  functional  use  of  Wyoming's  wind  also  at  an 
end?  Has  the  failure  at  Medicine  Bow  drained  forever  the 
state's  enthusiasm  for  wind  energy?  Not  necessarily.  The 
wind  is  still  available,  and  elsewhere  in  the  nation  there 
have  been  notable  successes.  In  California,  tax  incentives 
and  the  cooperation  of  utility  companies  has  led  to  the 
development  of  wind  power  plants  at  Altamont,  Pacheco, 
Tehachipi  and  San  Gorgonio  passes.  There  are  well  over 
15,000  units  in  California. 2''  They  generate  electricity  for 
the  average  needs  of  more  than  300,000  homes. ^^  Of 
course,  these  machines  are  not  without  problems.  In 
engineering,  blade  fatigue  has  proved  costly.  Noise  pollu- 
tion has  become  an  issue.  Many  people  find  the  wind 
power  plants  visually  imattractive.  These  problems,  com- 
bined with  other  obstacles,  have  caused  some  companies 
to  file  for  bankruptcy. 2' 


In  conclusion,  during  the  past  100  years  the  wind  has 
occasionally  been  bent  to  the  wUl— rather  than  the  con- 
sternation—of "Homo  Wyomo,"  as  T.  A.  Larson  liked  to 
call  Wyoming  people.  Whether  the  Aeolian  science  can 
be  used  to  further  the  prosperity  and  growth  of  the  state 
remains  to  be  seen.  At  present,  wind  energy  is  in— pardon 
the  expression— the  doldrums.  The  destruction  of  the  Boe- 
ing MOD-2  and  the  shut  down  of  the  Hamilton-Standard, 
combined  with  small  machine  failures,  is  not  encouraging. 
Elsewhere  the  wind  energy  business  has  been  plagued 
with  technical,  environmental  and  economic  crisis.  Further- 
more, private  and  public  utility  companies  have  a  surplus 
of  electrical  energy.  Presently,  they  are  actively  opposing 
the  cogeneration  of  energy  from  alternative  sources. 

Yet,  times  change.  Few  can  realistically  believe  that  the 
energy  crisis  of  the  1970s  will  not  return  in  the  new  cen- 
tury. It  would  be  folly  to  assume  that  energy  abundance 
will  permanently  prevail  over  scarcity.  Perhaps  it  is  fair  to 
prophesy  that  when  Wyoming  oil  shale  becomes  valuable, 
so  will  its  wind.  One  fact  is  evident:  when  the  oil,  the  coal 
and  even  the  oil  shale  are  gone,  the  wind  will  remain.  It 
will  sweep  across  the  corridor  of  the  southern  Wyoming 
plains  as  long  as  human  beings  scratch  out  a  living. 
Perhaps  one  day  it  will  be  welcomed  as  a  benefactor,  pro- 
viding energy  in  a  post-petroleum  world  when  non- 
renewable sources  are  all  but  gone.  Perhaps  in  a  new  cen- 
tury, Wyoming  people  will  take  to  heart  Professor  of 
Engineering  Emeritus  John  Hill's  challenge:  "People  are 
always  cussing  and  damning  Wyoming's  winds.  Some  say 
they're  the  cause  of  suicide.  I  say  let's  make  winds  our 
friends,  not  our  enemies. "3" 


ROBERT  W.  RIGHTER  is  Associate  Professor  of  History,  at  the  University  of 
Texas  at  El  Paso.  He  is  the  author  of  two  books,  Crucible  for  Conservation: 
The  Creation  of  Grand  Teton  National  Park  and  The  Making  of  a  Town: 
Wright,  Wyoming. 


1.  Donald  Jackson,  Mary  Lee  Spence.  The  Expedition  of  John  Charles 
Fremont,  3  Vols.  (Urbana:  University  of  Illinois  Press,  1970),  pp.  I,  242. 

2.  Owen  Wister  to  his  mother,  July  28,  1885,  in  Francis  K.  W.  Stokes, 
My  Father,  Owen  Wister  (Laramie,  Wyoming:  1952),  p.  40. 

3.  Related  to  the  author  on  a  windy  day  in  Rawlins. 

4.  Thurman  Arnold,  Fair  Fights  and  Foul  (New  York:  Harcourt,  Brace 
&  World,  1965),  pp.  9-10. 

5.  Ted  Olson,  Ranch  on  the  Laramie  (Boston:  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1973), 
p.  43. 

6.  John  McPhee,  "Annals  of  the  Former  World,"  The  New  Yorker 
(February  26,  1986):  65. 

7.  The  most  famous  statement  about  the  psychological  effects  of  the  wind 
was  the  novel.  The  Wind,  published  in  1926  by  Dorothy  Scarborough. 
The  plot  centers  around  Letty,  a  southern-born  woman,  who  mar- 
ries a  west  Texan  in  the  1880s.  Slowly  the  west  Texas  environment, 
and  particularly  the  wind,  bring  Letty  to  a  point  of  insanity.  The  novel 
was  denounced  in  Texas. 

8.  See  E.  W.  Golding,  The  Generation  of  Electricity  by  Wind  Power  (Lon- 
don: E.  &  F.  N.  Sons,  Ltd.,  1976,  2nd  Ed.),  p.  6;  also  see  Suzanne 
Beedell,  Windmills  (New  York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1975),  p.  13. 

37 


10 


11 


See  Edward  J.  Kealey,  Harvesting  the  Air:  Windmill  Pioneers  in  Twelfth- 
Century  England  (Berkeley:  University  of  California  Press,  1987). 
T.  Lindsay  Baker,  "Turbine-Type  Windmills  of  the  Great  Plains  and 
Midwest,"  Agricultural  History,  LIV  (January,  1980),  p.  39.  For  a 
definitive  work  on  American-style  windmills  see  T.  Lindsay  Baker, 
A  Field  Guide  To  American  Windmills  (Norman:  University  of  Oklahoma 
Press,  1985). 

In  Walter  Prescott  Webb's  The  Great  Plains  (New  York:  Grosset  & 
Dunlap,  1931),  pp.  333-348,  we  find  one  of  the  first  enlightening  ex- 
planations of  the  importance  of  the  windnuU  in  the  settlement  of  the 
Great  Plains  region. 

12.  Landt  Dennis,  Catch  the  Wind:  A  Book  of  Windmills  and  Windpower  (New 
York:  Four  Winds  Press,  1976),  p.  61;  Kansas  Wind  Energy  Handbook 
(Kansas  Energy  Office,  1981),  p.  2. 

13.  Interview  with  Dick  Stockdale,  Wyoming  State  Engineers  Office,  by 
author,  August  13,  1985. 

14.  Baker,  Field  Guide  to  American  Windmills,  p.  45. 

15.  Herbert  E.  Bucklen  Corp.  (HEBCO)  folder.  Windmill  Literature  Col- 
lection, Pan  Handle  Plains  Museum,  Canyon,  Texas. 

16.  Perkins  Corporation,  folder  4,  Windmill  Lit.  Collection,  Pan  Handle 
Plains  Museum. 

17.  Michael  A.  Hackleman,  The  Homebuilt,  Wind-Generated  Electricity  Hand- 
book (Mariposa,  California:  Earth  Mined,  1975),  passim.  Hackleman 
made  no  effort  to  identify  all  the  manufacturers,  but  simply  noted 
the  brands  that  he  had  located  and  often  restored  to  use.  Also,  of 
particular  note:  Hackleman  stated  that  eastern  Wyoming  was  a  par- 
ticularly fruitful  hunting  region  for  old  wind  chargers,  simply  because 
REA  was  late  in  arrival,  and  the  arid  climate  guaranteed  that  the 
discarded  apparatus  would  not  be  badly  rusted. 


18.  R.  Fincham,  "Use  Your  Windmill  For  Television,"  Successftil  Farm- 
ing 48  (AprU  1950);  111. 

19.  Interview  with  Ida  Chambers  by  author,  August  4,  1986.  Ida 
Chambers  was  in  her  90s  at  the  time  of  the  interview.  She  has  since 
passed  away. 

20.  Interview  with  Becky  Chambers  by  author,  June  30,  1986. 

21.  Telephone  interview  with  Joe  Orr  by  author,  August  12,  1985. 

22.  Clara  Jensen,  a  leader  in  the  Wyoming  Historical  Society,  has  since 
died.  She  told  the  author  about  her  dissatisfaction  with  the  wind 
generator  informally  in  1982. 

23.  As  with  Qara  Jensen,  this  information  was  recalled  by  David  Love 
in  an  informal  conversation  with  the  author. 

24.  Information  from  a  Bureau  of  Reclamation  pamphlet  titled,  "Wind 
Power  from  Medicine  Bow"  (n.  p.,  n.  d.),  pp.  8-11. 

25.  British  Wind  Energy  Association,  Wind  Energy  for  the  Eighties 
(Stevenage,  UK:  Peter  Peregrinus  Ltd.,  1982),  p.  172:  also  see  "Wind 
Power  From  Medicine  Bow,"  p.  11. 

26.  New  York  Times,  Sunday,  June  27,  1976. 

27.  Donald  Marier,  Paul  Gipe,  "Bridging  the  Gap,"  Alternative  Sources 
of  Energy  87  (January  1987):  6-9. 

28.  See  "Windletter,"  Number  4,  1988,  publication  of  the  American  Wind 
Energy  Association. 

29.  "Windletter,"  Number  4,  1988,  p.  4.  There  are  two  monthly 
magazines  which  regularly  report  on  the  successes  and  failures  of 
the  wind  energy  business.  They  are  Alternative  Sources  of  Energy,  and 
Windpower  Monthly. 

30.  Laramie  Boomerang,  March  20,  1977. 


38 


DR  WILLIAM  SABIN  BENNETT: 

The  Rise  and  Fall  of 
a  Pioneer  Doctor 


by  Ester  Johansson  Murray 


39 


"I  was  born  in  Lawrence,  Kansas,  a  few  days  after  the 
bloody  raid  on  the  town  by  Quantrill,"  said  Dr.  William 
S.  Bennett,  when  interviewed  for  the  Northern  Wyoming 
Herald,  May  16,  1913,  at  the  peak  of  his  prominence  and 
career.'  Although  Dr.  Bennett  sometimes  stated  his  age  as 
figured  from  1863,  the  Quantrill  attack  date,  his  death  cer- 
tificate revealed  his  birth  day  was  July  1,  1870.  Perhaps  to 
give  himself  more  credibility  as  an  experienced  doctor,  he 
added  seven  years  to  his  actual  age.  This  alteration  of  truth 
is  minor  compared  to  later  actions  of  this  upwardly  mobUe, 
respected  physician,  who  reached  great  success,  only  to 
fall  into  disgrace,  to  be  tried  in  a  court  of  law  for  immoral 
behavior  and  eventually  to  die  from  alcoholism.  His  trial 
was  a  result  of  breaking  a  law  which  is  practically  unknown 
today,  the  1910  Mann  Act,  also  known  as  the  Federal  White 
Slave  Act,  a  law  to  prohibit  interstate  transportation  of 
women  for  immoral  purposes  and  directed  at  prostitution. 

Bennett  grew  up  in  Chicago  and  claimed  it  as  his  home 
town.  He  graduated  from  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of 
Chicago  with  honors  in  March,  1891.  Later  he  took  courses 
at  Chicago  Post  Graduate  College  and  at  the  Ophthalmic 
College  of  Chicago  so  he  could  fit  glasses.  While  "filling 
in"  for  six  weeks  for  Dr.  McGown  in  Friendship,  Wiscon- 
sin, he  met  and  married  Clara  Elizabeth  Holm  on 
September  23,  1891.  Clara  was  born  in  Friendship  on 
February  23,  1868,  the  daughter  of  Andrew  and  Rebecca 
Barnson  Holm. 

Bennett  established  a  practice  in  Meeteetse,  Wyoming, 
in  1899,  after  the  state  issued  him  a  license  to  practice 
medicine,  surgery  and  obstetrics  on  February  14  of  that 


year. 2  All  together  the  Bennetts  had  four  sons  and  one 
daughter.  Bertram  was  the  first  born,  Frank,  born  May  13, 
1894,  Clara,  who  died  in  infancy  in  1896,^  William  Sabin, 
"Bill,"  or  "Willy,"  was  born  in  Meeteetse  on  February  28, 
1899,  and  Joseph  Dexter,  "Jo,"  often  spelled  Joe  in  the 
newspapers,  was  also  born  in  Meeteetse,  June  12,  1900. 

In  connection  with  his  medical  practice,  Bennett 
established  the  first  drug  store  in  Meeteetse,  Bennett's 
Drug,  with  himself  as  manager.  It  was  located  on  the 
northeast  corner  of  the  block  between  Park  and  State 
streets,  across  from  the  Mercantile.  It  later  became  the 
Pioneer  Pharmacy.* 

Bennett  advertised  his  business  in  several  ways.  He 
purchased  ads  in  the  Meeteetse  and  Cody  newspapers.  He 
also  had  at  least  one  outdoor  advertising  sign  painted  by 
his  friend,  Italian  Count  Valentin  deColonna,  aka  Bill 
MOler,  a  remittance  man  who  was  decorated  with  the  Croix 
de  Guerre  during  World  War  1.  The  sign  is  near  Highway 
120,  one  mile  north  of  the  historical  Halfway  Station  sign 
and  is  300  feet  west  of  the  old  road  between  Cody  and 
Meeteetse.  Faintly  discernible  in  1987,  it  must  have  been 
painted  before  1909,  when  the  doctor  moved  to  Cody.  It 
is  on  an  east  facing  rock,  painted  white  with  a  black  border 
and  black  letters.  It  is  approximately  eight  feet  by  four  feet 
on  the  fairly  even  surface  of  coarse,  beige  colored  sand- 
stone. It  consists  of  three  lines,  the  top  says  "BEN- 
NETT'S," the  middle  "DRUG  STORE,"  and  the  bottom 
"phone  58."  On  the  top  of  the  sign  is  a  small,  round  white 
circle  with  a  red  cross,  Bennett's  logo. 

During  their  tenure  in  Meeteetse,  the  Bennetts  lived 


The  Bennetts'  home  in 
Meeteetse,  Wyoming. 


40 


Dr.  Bennett's  advertisement  between  Cody  and  Meeteetse. 


in  a  house  diagonally  across  the  intersection  from  the  bank. 
The  present  address  of  that  house  is  2006  Warren  Street 
and  is  a  two  story  house  painted  yellow  with  white  trim. 
Jeanette  Cheeseman  Miller  lived  near  the  Bennetts  and 
recalled  Mrs.  Bennett  dressed  the  boys  nicely  and  kept  up 
a  fashionable  home.  She  also  said,  "Dr.  Bennett  was  a  nice 
looking  man,  he  and  Mrs.  Bennett  were  'dressy  people.' 
He  was  one  of  the  best  doctors  in  the  country. "^ 

When  the  Cheesemans  lived  at  their  ranch  near  the 
Upper  Sunshine  School,  Bert  Cheeseman  broke  his  leg. 
He  was  outdoors  during  recess,  running  and  playing  in 
the  school  yard  and  stepped  in  a  prairie  dog  hole.  He  was 
taken  to  the  ranch  house  and  his  folks  sent  a  rider  off  on 
the  twenty  mile  trip  to  Meeteetse  to  get  the  doctor.  Ben- 
nett arrived  late  that  night  in  his  horse  and  buggy.  "1  was 
just  a  little  kid,"  said  Jeanette,  "and  I  was  so  scared  1  hid 
under  the  bed."* 

Another  long  time  resident  of  Meeteetse,  Georgia 
Schulties,  said  her  mother,  Mrs.  Avery,  was  at  times  a  mid- 
wife in  the  town.  She  remembered  that  Dr.  Bennett  did 
not  want  to  take  care  of  patients  who  could  not  pay.'' 

Bennett  served  the  community  in  other  ways  than  just 
his  medical  practice.  In  1901,  the  townspeople  elected  him 
councilman.*  He  also  served  "several  times"  as  mayor.' 

Bennett  served  as  a  member  of  the  Wyoming  House 
of  Representatives  when  the  residents  of  Big  Horn  County 
elected  him  to  that  body  in  1908,  on  the  Republican  ticket 
with  2,682  votes.  During  his  term  he  authored  a  bill  that 
took  saloons  out  of  drug  stores  and  restricted  the  sale  of 
poisons  and  harmful  drugs.  He  initiated  the  law  for  the 
State  Board  of  Health  to  collect  vital  statistics  and  worked 
to  have  Park  County  become  a  separate  county.'" 


In  1904,  Bennett  opened  an  office  in  Cody.  He  still  had 
a  thriving  business  in  Meeteetse  so  he  divided  his  time.'' 
By  1909,  however,  the  Bennetts  moved  to  Cody.  They  sold 
their  home  and  many  of  their  furnishings  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Frank  Blackburn  and  family. '^  In  Cody  they  bought  a  two 
story  house  next  to  the  big,  boxy,  Sant  Watkin's  house 
which  was  on  the  comer  of  "First"  Street  and  Bleistein. 
The  present  address  is  1032  Bleistein  Avenue.  Neither  the 
outside  of  the  Meeteetse  house  nor  the  Cody  house  has 
been  greatly  altered  and  the  exteriors  of  these  homes  re- 
tain their  historical  integrity.  The  local  newspaper  greeted 
their  move  by  stating  that  Dr.  Bennett  was  an  "active, 
public  spirited  gentleman,  as  well  as  a  pushing  business 
man."  He  also  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  organization. 

Following  the  move  to  Cody,  Bennett  went  to  Chicago 
where  he  took  a  seven  week  post-graduate  course  in 
surgery  at  the  Chicago  Post-graduate  Hospital.  It  was 
noted  that  while  there  he  bought  an  x-ray  machine  and 
up-to-date  appliances.'^ 

In  Cody,  he  established  his  office,  his  drug  store  and 
a  jewelry  store  in  the  gray,  native  stone  building  east  of 
the  Irma  Hotel.  It  was  known  as  the  Cody  Drug  and 
Jewelry  Store.  It  is  today  1202  Sheridan  Avenue.  His  slogan 
was  "Bennett  Handles  the  Goods,"  and  his  logo  was  the 
small  red  cross.  Jay  Powers,  Mrs.  Bennett's  brother-in-law, 
was  in  charge  of  the  merchandise. 

Bennett  was  well  received  in  Cody.  He  was  a  slim, 
handsome  man  with  dark  hair  and  mustache,  energetic, 
amiable  and  had  all  the  social  graces  of  a  polished 
gentleman.  He  was  closely  connected  with  every  major 
event  in  Cody  in  one  way  or  another,  medical,  social  or 
civic.  In  1912,  he  was  elected  to  the  school  board  in  Cody. 

In  1913,  at  the  height  of  his  popularity,  Bennett  ran 
on  the  Peoples  Ticket  for  mayor  and  was  elected  for  one 
term.  As  one  of  Cody's  leading  citizens  and  mayor  he  had 
many  official  and  unofficial  duties  as  town  booster.  Ac- 
cording to  Ray  Prante,  "Bennett  was  a  great  promoter  of 
Cody."'-*  When  the  Secretary  of  Interior  came  through  in 
1913  to  tour  the  North  Fork,  Bennett  entertained  them. 
When  the  Prince  of  Monaco  came  out  to  hunt  with  Buf- 
falo Bill  at  Pahaska,  Bennett  welcomed  the  prince  on  the 
veranda  of  the  Irma  Hotel  and  later  had  a  "long  chat  with 
the  Prince,"  according  to  the  newspaper. 

After  " Spend- A-Million"  Gates  returned  from  his 
famous  25-day  hunt  in  the  Thorofare  in  1913,  he  became 
Ul  and  Bennett  was  called  to  his  private  Pullman  car  to  con- 
sult with  Gates'  personal  physician.  Following  Gates' 
death  from  apoplexy,  Bennett  accompanied  the  body  to 
New  York,  and  later  took  advantage  of  being  in  the  East 
to  meet  with  Wyoming  legislators  in  Washington,  D.C.  He 
also  purchased  a  supply  of  Christmas  merchandise  for  his 
drug  and  jewelry  store.  Only  one  reference  mentioned  he 
was  paid  $10,000  and  all  expenses  for  his  services  to  the 
Gates  family.!' 

About  this  time  was  noted  the  first  hint  of  the  begin- 
ning of  changes  in  the  personality  and  actions  of  Bennett. 
Prante  stated  it  this  way:  "After  he  came  back  from  his 

41 


The  Bennetts'  home  in  Cody, 

Wyoming. 


trip  with  the  body  of  Spend-A-Million  Gates  is  when  he 
went  bad.  Something  happened  about  that  time.  Mrs.  Ben- 
nett stayed  by  him  all  the  time  through  all  the  troubles."^* 

Despite  financial  troubles  and  extra-marital  in- 
volvements, Bennett  continued  his  active  life  and  career, 
all  done  at  a  fast  pace.  He  was  one  of  the  first  men  to  buy 
an  automobile  in  Cody  and  drove  as  fast  and  sometimes 
faster  than  road  conditions  would  allow.  He  had  a  48  hp 
Oakland  and  in  1913  bought  a  new  54  hp,  6  cylinder  Hud- 
son with  electric  lights  and  an  electric  starter.  On  April  24, 
1914,  as  goodwill  ambassadors,  Bennett  and  "Billy" 
Deegan,  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank,  met  the 
MacAlleenan  hunting  party  at  the  Burlington  depot  and 
drove  them  to  the  Majo  Ranch  at  the  head  of  the  South 
Fork,  where  they  were  booked  for  a  spring  bear  hunt.  Joe 
MacAlleenan  later  wrote  in  his  book,  Dian/  of  a  Wyoming 
Bear  Hunt,  about  the  exciting  ride  from  the  depot  to  Cody. 
"We  proceeded  at  high  speed  and  skidded  three  times  hit- 
ting the  guard  rail."  That  was  on  the  rain-slippery  clay 
roads  from  the  depot,  down  over  the  Shoshone  River 
bridge  and  up  the  Mill  Hill  road  onto  2nd  Street  (now  12th 
Street),  into  town.  Even  with  the  harrowing  ride,  the  hunt 
was  a  successful  one."' 

A  sampling  of  Bennett's  medical  calls  will  be  listed  as 
they  were  reported  in  the  local  newspapers  or  from  recent 
interviews  with  people  who  have  a  direct  memory  of 
him.  Gladys  Jordan  Allen  remembered  Bennett  treated  her 
sister,  Edith,  who  contracted  polio  about  1910.  He  was 
called  and  confirmed  a  diagnosis  of  polio,  or  infantile 
paralysis  as  it  was  known  then.  He  was  not  able  to  pro- 
vide any  curative  treatment.  Allen  said:  "He  prescribed 
42 


some  medicine  that  came  in  a  glass  bottle.  My  mother  put 
the  bottle  on  her  dresser  and  when  the  sun  shone  on  it 
the  bottle  blew  up."^* 

A  1913  issue  of  the  Northern  Wyoming  Herald  reported 
he  left  early  one  morning  for  the  YU  Ranch  near  Meeteetse 
where  Joe  Isham  was  "dangerously  ill"  with  an  attack  of 
appendicitis.  Apparently  he  drove  his  Oakland  at  full 
speed.  It  did  not  state,  however,  whether  he  had  to  operate 
on  the  kitchen  table. 

In  December,  1914,  Bennett  had  to  make  an  urgent 
business  trip  to  Burlington,  Wyoming.  Three  Cody  boys 
hitched  a  ride  to  see  a  basketball  game  there.  Bennett,  rac- 
ing along  in  his  Hudson,  turned  a  corner  at  too  high  a 
speed  and  the  car  flipped  over.  It  pinned  Bennett  under 
the  steering  wheel  and  scattered  the  boys.  The  boys  freed 
him  and  all  walked  into  Burlington,  got  help  and  the  next 
morning  returned  to  Cody  under  their  own  power. 

In  January,  1915,  when  Pat  Kelly  had  an  accident  at 
the  Red  Hill  tunnel,  Bennett  made  it  to  the  scene  of  the 
accident  in  fifteen  minutes,  the  newspaper  boasted.  Surely 
he  was  at  that  time  "the  fastest  doc  in  the  West." 

During  May,  1915,  Bennett,  as  official  greeter,  was  on 
his  way  to  meet  the  mayor  of  New  York  City  to  escort  his 
group  into  Cody.  He  stripped  the  gears  on  his  car  at  Sage 
Creek,  a  few  miles  east  of  Cody,  and  his  good  friend,  J.M. 
"Jakie"  Schwoob,  another  auto  owner,  had  to  send  his 
car  out  as  a  replacement. 

Thus  Bennett  rushed  about  the  Big  Horn  Basin, 
treating  patients  and  greeting  notables.  One  would  think 
he  was  the  only  doctor  available,  but  during  the  years  he 
practiced,  there  were  from  time  to  time  in  Cody,  Drs. 


Howe,  Waples,  Lane,  Bradbury,  Ainsworth,  Trueblood 
and  Kinney.  Occasionally  there  was  cooperation,  but 
mostly  each  one  took  care  of  his  own  patients. 

Bennett  accompanied  his  son,  William,  to  New  York 
where  he  had  enrolled  at  Cornell  University.  The  oldest 
son,  Bert,  had  worked  as  a  cashier  at  the  First  National 
Bank  for  several  years.  He  resigned  and  went  into  selling 
insurance,  moved  to  Casper  and  later  to  Cheyenne.  In 
1916,  there  was  the  first  publicized  hint  of  financial  prob- 
lems when  the  First  National  Bank  brought  suit  against  Dr. 
Bennett  for  default. 

For  a  number  of  years,  while  Bennett  was  carrying  on 
his  duties  as  a  doctor  and  promoter  of  Cody,  he  also  was 
carrying  on  in  a  highly  improper  manner  by  having  an  af- 
fair with  Cassie,  a  madam  from  one  of  Cody's  brothels. 
According  to  Prante:  "He  was  quite  a  nice  man,  he  just 
got  off  on  the  wrong  foot.  He  was  very  handsome.  He  just 
seemed  to  go  to  pieces  overnight.  When  he  came  back  from 
that  trip  east  with  the  body  of  Spend-A-MilUon  Gates,  he 
wasn't  Dr.  Bennett  anymore.""  That  was  in  1913,  how- 
ever, and  it  was  in  1919  that  he  became  financially 
strapped,  and  in  1921  that  his  business  and  extra-marital 
affairs  became  intolerable  to  the  civic  leaders  of  Cody. 

In  talking  with  early  residents  of  Cody,  one  finds  a 
number  of  tales  of  the  affair  between  Bennett  and  Cassie. 
Huldah  Hoglund  Borron  said  the  stress  of  the  overwork 
from  the  1918  flu  epidemic  got  to  him.  He  openly  began 
seeing  and  supporting  his  mistress.  "He  bought  his  wife 
and  Cassie  each  a  dress  exactly  alike,  said  Borron,  and 
when  Mrs.  Bennett  was  at  the  post  office  getting  her  mail, 
Cassie  also  was  there,  leaning  over  to  get  her  mail  from 
her  box.  When  she  straightened  up  they  confronted  each 
other  in  the  identical  dress."  Borronfelt  "this  was  the  final 
straw  for  Mrs.  Bennett.  She  stayed  on  awhile  and  then 
moved  to  Cheyenne  to  be  near  her  son,  Bert."^" 

Myrtle  Tennyson  recalled  when  Dr.  Bennett  and  Cassie 
wanted  to  get  away  from  it  all  and  have  some  privacy  they 
drove  out  in  the  hills  and  pitched  a  tepee.  Lloyd  Tennyson 
said  one  time  his  family,  the  Einar  Tennysons,  were  com- 
ing in  from  their  home  up  Cottonwood  Creek  near  Marlow 
Basin,  and  when  they  got  down  past  Dan  Marlow's  place 
and  were  on  the  old  Convict  Road,  they  saw  Bennett's  car 
and  the  tepee  he  and  Cassie  had  pitched  in  that  remote 
spot.  2^ 

Prante  said  one  time  Bennett  and  Cassie  drove  out  on 
a  dark  night  to  a  local  trysting  place  called  Red  Lake,  south 
of  Cody  on  the  old  Southfork  road.  Red  Lake  is  a  dry  lake 
bed,  but  that  night  it  was  gumbo  mud  and  the  pair  had 
to  slog  out  through  it.  The  car  was  left  stuck  in  the  mud.^^ 

By  1918,  Bennett's  interests  in  financial  matters  were 
taking  precedence  over  his  interest  in  his  medical  practice. 
In  June  of  that  year,  the  local  newspaper  reported  he  had 
returned  from  a  "trip  to  Nevada  where  he  closed  one  of 
the  biggest  deals  of  recent  date  in  mining  circles  by  pur- 
chasing the  old  Silver  Eagle  property  near  Ely,  Nevada, 
also  the  Taylor  mine."  This  was  the  Taylor  mining  district 
of  the  1893  era,  sixteen  miles  south  of  Ely.  His  plans  were 


for  a  big  campaign  of  development  to  clean  out  and  build 
a  big  concentrating  mill.  Bennett  said  there  was  $1,000,000 
worth  of  ore  in  sight  of  the  mines.-' 

He  had  been  struck  with  mining  fever  and  was  pour- 
ing his  efforts  and  money,  and  other  people's  money,  into 
this  old  mine.  According  to  Lloyd  Tennyson,  Bennett  had 
talked  several  Meeteetse  men  into  sinking  money  into  his 
investment.  These  men  were  D.H.  "Whoopie  Dan" 
Wilson,  E.P.  Bowman,  who  built  a  hardware  store  in 
Meeteetse  in  1902  and  who  served  as  postmaster  for  fif- 
teen years,  Fred  A.  Whitney  and  Martin  L.  Pratt.  These 
men  formed  the  Wyoming  Mining  and  Milling  Company. 
Apparently  each  one  put  in  $25,000  at  first,  then  another 
$25,000.  After  investing  so  much  they  hated  to  quit  and 
kept  going  deeper  and  deeper  until  they  had  sunk  from 
$100,000  to  $125,000  each.  According  to  Tennyson,  "Charlie 
Webster  was  at  the  time  miffed  because  he  wasn't  asked 
to  join  the  company,  but  the  investment  broke  the  Mee- 
teetse men.  Mrs.  Whitney  hawked  her  diamonds  and  Mrs. 
Bowman  was  reduced  to  eating  out  of  garbage  barrels."^* 

Bennett  was  convinced  that  by  using  modern  methods 
the  mine  could  be  operated  profitably.  He  believed  they 
could  cull  the  mine  dump  of  20,000  tons  of  silver  ore. 
However,  first  they  had  to  build  a  six  mile  long  water  line 
and  buy  and  install  a  compressor  hoist  and  other  equip- 
ment. The  bullion  was  to  be  shipped  to  the  California 
United  States  Mint.  Silver  was  at  that  time  up  in  value. 
The  venture  never  did  succeed. 

Even  with  his  personal  and  business  difficulties,  Ben- 
nett's personal  popularity  was  slow  to  decline.  The  State 
Board  of  Health  appointed  him  health  officer  for  Park 
County  in  April,  1919.  He  continued  to  travel  frequently 
and  in  the  same  month  of  his  appointment,  he  made  a  trip 
to  Salt  Lake  City.  He  was  in  need  of  a  new  car  and  bought 
a  second  hand  super  six  speedster. 

Apparently  strapped  for  money,  he  sold  his  Cody 
Drug  Store  to  Drs.  Trueblood  and  Lambert,  but  he  kept 
his  medical  practice.  He  sold  his  jewelry  stock  to  a  buyer 
in  Riverton  and  sold  his  real  estate  in  Meeteetse. 

Bennett  did  attend  to  his  medical  practice  when  he  was 
in  town.  On  May  15,  1919,  he  was  in  attendance  and 
delivered  this  writer.  Apparently,  his  mind  was  not  com- 
pletely on  his  work  because  he  left  a  surgical  needle  in  the 
patient's  bed.  This  was  soon  noticed. 

When  Bennett  stayed  in  Cody  and  practiced  medicine 
he  was  a  competent  physician.  Frances  Jones  Purvis  (Mrs. 
Henry)  in  a  1987  interview  said,  "Dr.  Bennett  was  a 
brilliant  man,  ahead  of  his  time.  He  saved  my  life  in 
1919. "25 

Frances  Purvis,  aged  86  in  1987,  has  lived  a  vigorous 
outdoor  life  since  Dr.  Bennett  amputated  her  right  leg 
because  of  impaired  circulation  in  1919.  She  first  sought 
treatment  from  Drs.  Lane  of  Cody  and  Whitlock  of  Powell 
for  an  undiagnosed  illness.  She  had  spent  eight  weeks  in 
Whitlock' s  Powell  hospital,  returned  to  Cody  and  was  stay- 
ing with  the  Walter  Kepfords.  She  was  constantly  feverish 
and  losing  weight.  It  was  Stampede  time,  1919,  and  her 


left  leg  felt  "like  it  was  going  to  sleep  all  the  time."  It  was 
decided  to  call  her  doctor  to  come  and  check  her.  Lane 
was  so  delayed  in  coming  that  after  a  long  wait  Bennett 
was  called. 

Purvis  had  been  running  a  temperature  since  March, 
so  upon  examination  Bennett  decided  she  had  an  infec- 
tion causing  pus  in  her  pleural  cavity.  He  made  two  holes, 
one  in  her  side  and  one  in  her  back  and  cleaned  out  the 
pus.  She  was  "put  under"  with  ether. ^^  This  operation 
cleared  up  the  chest  problem  and  she  responded  well.  Her 
temperature  went  down  right  away,  but  there  was  a  clot 
under  her  knee  and  after  a  month  the  clot  still  had  not 
dissolved  and  her  "toes  were  drying  up  and  turning  black." 
Bennett  called  in  another  doctor  for  consultation  and  they 
decided  the  leg  had  to  be  removed.  Bennett  performed  the 
surgery  and  left  a  \Vi  inch  stump  below  the  knee.  He  had 
wanted  to  leave  a  longer  stump,  but  wanted  to  get  well 
above  the  trouble  spot  and  get  "good  sound  flesh,"  so  fur- 
ther amputations  would  not  be  necessary.  Purvis  weighed 
70  pounds  after  her  illness  and  she  was  very  weak.  By 
September  her  leg  and  back  had  healed  and  she  began  to 
regain  her  health.  She  had  kind  feelings  toward  Bennett, 
as  she  said,  "He  saved  my  life."^^ 

In  March,  1920,  the  ?ark  County  Enterprise  noted  Ben- 
nett returned  from  a  four  month  trip  in  the  Seven  Lakes 
District  in  New  Mexico.  "He  acquired  quite  a  lot  of  acreage 
and  got  some  producing  oil  wells."  He  had  added  oO  to 
his  other  mining  interests.  The  other  Cody  newspaper,  the 
Northern  Wyoming  Herald,  a  more  straight-laced  paper  and 
not  friendly  with  Bennett,  published  on  March  10,  1920, 
"Dr.  W.S.  Bennett  accompanied  by  E.L.  Bridgford  of 
Denver  and  Miss  Ruth  T.  Steigerwald  of  New  York  City 
arrived  in  Cody  overland.  These  two  people  represent 
capital.  Bennett  is  engaged  in  the  oil  game  in  southern 
states  and  has  bought  a  home  in  Denver  but  expects  to  live 
here  and  resume  his  practice  of  medicine  in  Park  County." 
The  April  28,  1920,  issue  of  the  Park  County  Enterprise,  put 
it  this  way:  "Dr.  Bennett  returned  to  Cody  and  expects 
to  remain  in  Cody  and  devote  his  time  entirely  to  his  pro- 
fession and  practice." 

Bennett  found  another  investment  closer  to  home.  In 
May,  1920,  a  group  of  investors  made  up  of  Bennett,  Larry 
Larom,  Caroline  Lockhart,  S.A.  Hired  and  CM.  Conger 
purchased  the  Park  County  Enterprise.  Two  months  later, 
despite  his  promise  to  remain  in  town  and  continue  his 
practice,  Bennett  traveled  to  Ely,  Nevada,  on  a  business 
trip  regarding  his  silver  mine. 

About  this  time  Bennett  began  a  series  of  moves.  He 
moved  his  office  from  the  Cody  Drug  to  space  in  the  Irma 
Hotel  and  hung  an  electric  sign  on  the  porch  over  the  en- 
trance. His  office  probably  was  the  last  room  on  the 
southeast  corner,  later  used  as  an  office  by  the  Valley 
Ranch  Company.  Perhaps  as  an  economy  effort,  the  Ben- 
netts moved  out  of  their  home  on  Bleistein  and  into  the 
Christ  Church  rectory  in  November,  1920.  After  a  brief  time 
there  they  moved  into  a  residence  at  the  comer  of  Beck  and 
First  Street.28 

AA 


In  December,  1920,  the  Bennetts  again  moved,  this 
time  from  the  house  at  the  corner  of  Beck  and  First  Street 
to  an  apartment  in  the  Irma  Hotel.  While  things  were  go- 
ing from  bad  to  worse,  the  worst  was  yet  to  come  for  Ben- 
nett, although  it  must  have  been  some  consolation  that  his 
three  sons  were  rising  to  prominence.  The  Park  County 
Enterprise  reported  that  W.S.  Bennett,  Jr.,  was  appointed 
Assistant  District  Attorney  for  the  city  and  county  of 
Denver.  "The  twenty-two  year  old  man  was  born  in  Park 
County,  Wyoming,  and  a  graduate  of  Cornell  University. 
He  is  the  younger  brother  of  Major  Bennett,  Secretary  to 
Governor  Carey  of  Wyoming.  "^^ 

All  through  his  adventures,  Bennett  continued  as 
health  officer,  but  by  the  summer  of  1921  there  was 
outright  pubUc  disapproval  of  his  conduct.  How  long  this 
feeling  had  been  latent  is  difficult  to  tell.  The  people  did 
not  approve  of  his  affairs  with  Cassie  and  other  women. 
There  was  much  disapproval  of  his  bilking  the  Meeteetse 
investors.  His  in  and  out  of  town  ramblings  were  not 
looked  upon  favorably.  The  slowness  of  action  by  the 
townspeople  partly  could  be  because  he  was  a  doctor,  his 
wife  was  above  reproach  and  his  sons  were  achievers. 
However,  from  June,  1921,  until  his  death  in  March,  1924, 
it  was  all  downhill  for  him. 

The  Northern  Wyoming  Herald  reported  in  its  June  22, 
1921,  issue,  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  Cody  Club,  Cody's 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  town's  ruling  hand. 

Inasmuch  as  the  conduct  of  the  present  incumbent  of  the 
county  health  office,  W.S.  Bennett,  has  been  decidecily  of  a 
disgraceful  nature,  the  club  endorsed  the  following  resolution 
to  be  sent  to  the  governor  of  the  state  and  the  secretary  of  the 
public  health  department  at  Cheyenne: 

"To  the  Honorable  Governor  and  the  State  Board  of  Health 
of  Wyoming: 

"At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Cody  Club  held  Monday  noon, 
June  20,  1921  the  following  resolution  was  introduced  and 
unanimously  adopted: 

"Resolved,  That  the  Cody  Club  is  shocked  and  outraged 
by  the  reported  ungentlemanly  and  dishonorable  behavior  of 
the  present  County  Health  Officer,  and  hereby  asks  the  Gover- 
nor and  State  Board  of  Health  for  his  immediate  removal  and 
the  appointment  of  some  one  in  his  place  whose  conduct  is  more 
nearly  in  accord  wdth  the  ideals  of  honor  and  decency  held  by 
this  community.  Several  times  in  the  past  few  years  this  town 
has  been  agog  over  some  scandal  in  which  this  individual  was 
reported  as  the  chief  actor,  and  this  club  voices  the  enlightened 
sentiment  of  this  community,  in  requesting  that  he  be  per- 
manently retired  from  any  office  of  honor  and  responsibility 
in  this  county,  from  this  time  forth. 

(Signed)  The  Cody  Qub"'" 

This  resolution  must  have  been  another  embarrassment  to 
the  family,  especially  to  Bert  Bennett,  who  worked  in 
Governor  Carey's  office. 

Newspaper  items  of  Bennett  became  very  short  al- 
though his  family's  activities  still  were  covered.  In  July, 
1921,  it  was  reported  that  Jo  Bennett,  "an  honor  man  at 
Yale"  and  a  junior  was  a  friend  of  the  J.  Pierpont  Morgan 
family  and  accompanied  them  on  their  yacht  on  a  cruise 
to  Bermuda.  And  in  September,  "Cody  loses  a  bridge 


player  when  Joe  [sic]  Bennett  returns  to  school."  Two  years 
later  after  his  father's  scandals  had  surfaced,  young  Jo  was 
following  an  active  social  life,  the  newspapers  stated  he 
was  making  a  trip  around  the  world  with  the  Colgate  fam- 
ily.^^  Returning  to  the  business  of  the  elder  Bennett,  the 
Park  County  Enterprise  reported  on  December  7,  1921,  that 
"Dr.  Bennett  is  moving  to  GreybuU  where  he  will  set  up 
an  office." 

News  stories  from  1922  reveal  what  was  going  on  in 
Bennett's  private  life.  What  happened  to  his  affair  with 
Cassie  is  not  certain,  but  in  November,  1922,  a  newspaper 
had  a  headline  which  read:  "Greybull  Pair  Is  Nabbed  By 
Police." 

Dr.  W.S.  Bennett,  52  year  old  physician,  and  Mrs.  W.E.  St. 
Clare  [sic]  31  and  pretty,  both  of  Greybull,  were  fined  $50.00 
and  costs  each  in  police  court  yesterday  afternoon  as  the  result 
of  their  arrest  early  yesterday  in  one  of  Sheridan's  leading 
hotels. 

A  raid  on  the  room  occupied  by  the  pair  at  3;45  o'clock 
yesterday  morning  brought  sensational  developments.  Mrs.  St. 
Clare  [sic]  is  said  by  the  officers  to  have  attempted  to  escape 
by  crawling  out  the  window.  The  attempt  was  foiled  however, 
by  the  appearance  of  two  officers  below  the  window.  The  light 
had  been  turned  out  and  door  locked,  the  officers  said. 

The  two  had  arrived  in  Sheridan  on  the  late  night  train  and 
had  registered  at  the  hotel  under  the  names  of  J.D.  Ashley  and 
Mrs.  Jennie  D.  Shirley,  and  had  been  assigned  to  rooms  on  dif- 
ferent floors.  The  arrests  were  made  by  Officers  Staggs,  Rogers 
and  Fowler  of  the  dty  police  force  and  Todd  of  the  Burlington 
special  agency,  who  first  gave  warning  to  the  city  officials. 

Mrs.  St.  Clare  [sic]  is  being  held  on  word  from  Greybull 
officers  that  she  is  wanted  there.  Her  husband  is  said  to  have 
filed  suit  for  divorce  against  her  asking  custody  of  their  small 
daughter.  She  and  the  physician  are  said  to  have  fled  from  her 
husband,  who  telegraphed  Thursday  to  local  police  to  be  on 
the  lookout  for  his  wife.'' 

By  way  of  explanation  for  this  compromising  situation,  the 
Rustler  said  Bennett  had  discontinued  his  practice  in 
Greybull  and  was  on  his  way  to  Lodge  Grass,  IVIontana, 
to  open  a  new  practice.  He  posted  the  appropriate  money 
for  himself  and  Mrs.  St.  Clair  and  he  was  freed,  with  a 
trial  pending  in  1923. 

As  is  sometimes  the  case  in  these  affairs,  the  more  that 
comes  to  light  the  more  confusing  and  improbable  it  be- 
comes. The  Rustler  added  further  information.  The  doctor 
returned  to  Greybull,  but  St.  Clair  was  held  at  Sheridan 
on  a  charge  of  kidnapping  her  little  daughter.  In  the 
pending  divorce  case.  Court  Commissioner  Bonwell  had 
given  the  mother  custody  of  the  child.  Later,  an  order  had 
been  issued  giving  the  father  the  right  to  see  the  child  a 
part  of  each  week.  In  taking  the  child  to  Sheridan  she  had 
violated  the  court's  order.  A  few  days  later  the  court 
ordered  the  father  be  given  custody  of  the  child,  the 
charges  of  kidnapping  were  withdrawn  and  St.  Clair  left 
for  Cheyenne. 

The  trial  in  the  case  of  the  United  States  against  Dr. 
W.S.  Bennett  for  violation  of  the  Mann  Act  took  place  in 
Cheyenne  five  months  later,  beginning  on  April  19,  1923, 
and  ending  April  21.^3  The  Mann  Act  also  was  known  as 
the  White  Slave  Traffic  Act.  It  was  a  criminal  offense  to 


transport  any  woman  or  girl  in  interstate  or  foreign  com- 
merce for  the  purposes  of  prostitution,  debauchery  or  other 
immoral  purposes.  Congress  had  passed  this  act  on  June 
25,  1910. 

The  Wyoming  State  Tribune  and  Cheyenne  State  Leader  for 
April  21,  had  the  headline,  "Hung  Jury  Result  of  Bennett 
Trial  Mann  Act  Charge."  Some  of  the  testimony  was  in- 
credible. St.  Clair  stated  at  the  trial  that  her  husband  had 
been  abusive  toward  her  and  she  had  fled  with  the  doctor 
as  a  result.  Then  the  doctor  declared  there  had  been  no 
immorality,  that  he  had  taken  ill  in  his  room  and  St.  Clair 
had  come  to  nurse  him.  The  officers  testified  that  "she  was 
in  negligee  attire  when  arrested." 

The  Tribune  reported  St.  Clair  was  the  star  witness  and 
gave  several  pieces  of  conflicting  testimony.  After  objec- 
tions from  the  prosecuting  attorneys,  the  defense  attorneys 
insisted  it  is  a  woman's  privilege  to  change  her  mind. 
Testimony  from  young  lawyer,  W.S.  "Bill"  Bennett, 
brought  out  the  fact  that  he  had  been  trying  to  get  his  father 
relocated  in  Lodge  Grass  from  Greybull  and  St.  Clair  was 
to  be  his  office  girl  and  nurse.  Also  mentioned  was  that 
Mrs.  Bennett  had  departed  to  visit  relatives  in  the  East  in 
May,  1922.  The  defense  declared  it  was  not  a  separation. 

R.L.  Wilson  took  the  stand  and  testified  Bennett  had 
rented  rooms  from  a  bank  in  Lodge  Grass  for  setting  up 
an  office,  but  had  changed  his  mind  after  the  notoriety  he 
and  Mrs.  St.  Clair  had  gained  after  being  found  together 
at  the  Sheridan  Inn.  When  St.  Clair  took  the  stand  in  rebut- 
tal, testimony  revealed  she  had  bought  clothes  at  the 
Denver  Dry  Goods  Company  in  the  amount  of  $165.25  in 
November,  1922,  and  at  Daniels  and  Fisher  for  $200.00. 
Bennett  had  paid  both  bills. 

Legal  facts  on  the  Bennett  trial  show  there  were  two 
dockets,  numbers  1958  and  1959.34  Docket  1958  is  the 
U.S.A.  vs.  W.S.  Bennett— violation  of  the  Act  of  Congress 
known  as  the  White  Slave  Traffic  Act.  Docket  1959  was 
essentially  the  same  except  Jennie  St.  Clair  was  added  as 
codefendant. 

Both  pled  not  guilty  to  the  charge.  Bennett's  bond  was 
$2,000,  later  reduced  to  $1,000,  the  same  as  St.  Clair's.  The 
jury  could  not  agree  on  a  verdict  in  the  case  and  was 
discharged.  In  November,  a  new  trial  date  was  set  for 
December  10,  1923.  On  December  4,  Bennett's  attorney 
filed  a  motion  for  continuance  which  was  granted.  The  sec- 
ond trial  was  then  scheduled  for  May,  1924. 

There  Was  to  be  no  new  trial,  however,  as  Bennett  died 
March  30,  1924.  The  Nevada  Death  Certificate  stated  Ben- 
nett, age  53  years,  7  months,  29  days,  died  of  "Alcoholism 
(chronic)."  Contributory  cause  was  "Moonshine."  Ben- 
nett, Jr.,  who  gave  his  address  as  Rawlins,  Wyoming, 
signed  for  the  body,  which  was  buried  in  Ely,  Nevada. 

Bennett's  obituary  in  the  local  newspapers  was  short. 
The  Park  County  Herald  for  April  2,  1924,  stated  he  had  been 
practicing  in  Ely  for  several  months.  The  Cody  Enterprise 
and  the  Meeteetse  News  had  equally  brief  statements. 

Mrs.  Bennett  moved  back  to  Friendship,  Wisconsin, 
where  she  taught  grade  school  for  many  years.  She  died 

45 


February  6,   1954,   having  outlived  all  but  one  of  her 
children. 

Most  of  the  memories  of  Bennett  have  faded  away  in 
Park  County.  All  that  remain  are  the  houses  and  buildings 
occupied  by  him  and  his  family,  bits  of  advertising  signs 
painted  on  sandstone  rocks,  newspaper  stories  and  folk 
tales,  and  some  antique  furniture  representing  more  stories 
than  will  ever  be  known  about  the  life  of  a  once  promi- 
nent physician,  whose  life  followed  a  path  of  self  destruc- 
tion and  ended  ignominiously. 


ESTER  JOHANSSON  MURRAY  (Mrs.  John  A.)  is  a  Cody  native.  Her  father 
came  to  Cody  in  1902,  and  was  an  old-time  guide.  Her  mother  arrived  in  1910. 
Murray  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Wyoming  and  has  had  articles  published 
in  Annals  of  Wyoming,  True  West  and  In  Wyoming.  She  is  a  member  of 
the  Park  County  and  Wyoming  State  Historical  societies  and  lives  in  Billings, 
Montana. 


1.  On  August  21,  1863,  William  Clarke  Quantrill  led  a  band  of  450 
Confederates  and  guerillas  who  sacked  and  burned  Lawrence,  Kan- 
sas, and  murdered  150  men  and  boys.  E.B.  Long,  The  Civil  War  Day 
by  Day:  An  Almanac  (Garden  City,  New  York:  Doubleday  and  Com- 
pany, Inc.,  1971),  p.  399. 

2.  Archives  and  Records  Management  Division,  Wyoming  State  Ar- 
chives, Museums  and  Historical  Department  (AMH  Dept.),  Cheyenne. 

3.  Letter  from  Edith  Holm  Dittburner,  ruece  of  Clara  Holm  Bennett, 
Friendship,  Wisconsin,  to  author,  June  25,  1988.  Edith  believed  one 
child  was  buried  in  Meeteetse,  and  possibly  the  other  also.  She  did 
not  know  the  cause  of  death.  This  writer  examined  all  the  Meeteetse 
gravestones  August  21,  1988.  There  were  none  for  Frank  or  Clara 
Bennett. 

4.  Interview  with  Bob  Adams,  March,  1987,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

5.  Interview  with  Jeanette  Cheeseman  Miller,  September,  1986,  Cody, 
Wyoming. 

6.  Ibid. 

7.  Interview  with  Georgia  Avery  Schulties,  October  26,  1986,  Meeteetse, 
Wyoming. 

8.  Cody  Enterprise,  February  25,  1987. 

9.  Northern  Wyoming  Herald,  May  16,  1913. 

10.  Ibid. 

11 .  Lucille  Nichols  Patrick,  The  Best  Little  Town  by  a  Dam  Site  (Cheyenne, 
Wyoming:  Flintlock  Publishing  Co.,  1968),  p.  77. 


12.  Interview  with  Margaret  Blackburn  Hughes,  October  26,  1986, 
Meeteetse,  Wyoming. 

13.  Wyoming  Stockman  and  Farmer,  September  17,  1909. 

14.  Interview  with  Ray  Prante,  September  7,  1986,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

15.  Billings  Gazette,  January  9,  1966.  Feature  interview  with  90  year  old 
Dick  Nelson  of  San  Diego,  California,  former  Wyoming  railroad  man. 
Nelson  said,  "A  Cody  doctor,  who  by  the  request  of  his  (Gates)  family 
in  New  York,  accompanied  the  remains  on  the  special  train,  and  was 
paid  $10,000  and  all  expenses."  According  to  Edith  Dittburner,  "Uncle 
Will  (Dr.  Bennett)  was  a  very  kind  man  and  wonderful  doctor.  After 
his  contact  with  the  hunter  who  died  in  Cody  (Spend-A-Million  Gates) 
he  stopped  in  Friendship  and  took  his  wife's  cousin,  Clara  Smith, 
who  had  been  paralyzed  early  in  life,  to  Chicago  to  consult  specialists. 
Unfortunately,  she  was  not  helped."  Telephone  conversation  with 
Edith  Dittburner,  August  10,  1988.  Qara  Smith  "was  Register  of  Deeds 
in  Friendship  for  years  and  years.  Court  house  employees  remember 
Bert  Bennett,  always  dressed  in  western  clothes,  pushing  his  aunt 
Clara  Smith's  wheelchair  up  the  ramp  almost  on  a  daily  basis."  Let- 
ter to  author  from  Alma  Thurber,  Register  of  Deeds,  Adams  County, 
Wisconsin,  May  3,  1988. 

16.  Interview  with  Ray  Prante,  September  7,  1986,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

17.  Joseph  MacAUeenan,  Diary  of  the  Wyoming  Bear  Hunt  (Brooklyn,  New 
York:  P.J.  Collison  &  Co.,  n.d.),  pp.  7,  35. 

18.  Interview  with  Gladys  Jordan  Allen,  September  4,  1987,  Cody, 
Wyoming. 

19.  Interview  with  Ray  Prante,  September  7,  1986,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

20.  Interview  with  Huldah  Hoglund  Borron  and  Francis  Hayden,  March, 
1986,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

21.  Interviews  with  Lloyd  and  Myrtle  Freeborg  Tennyson,  1986  and  1987, 
Cody,  Wyoming. 

22.  Interview  with  Ray  Prante,  September  7,  1986,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

23.  Northern  Wyoming  Herald,  June  12,  1918. 

24.  Interviews  with  Lloyd  and  Myrtle  Freeborg  Tennyson,  1986,  and  1987, 
Cody,  Wyoming. 

25.  Interview  with  Frances  Purvis,  March  7,  1987,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

26.  Myrtle  Freeborg  Tennyson  recalled  being  Frances'  roommate  at  Kep- 
fords.  She  said  she  was  enlisted  to  help  with  the  draining  process. 

27.  Interview  with  Frances  Purvis,  March  7,  1987,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

28.  In  renumbering  the  Cody  streets.  First  Street  became  11th  Street.  Park 
County  Archives,  Cody,  Wyoming. 

29.  Park  County  Enterprise,  September  15,  1920. 

30.  Northern  Wyoming  Herald,  June  22,  1921,  p.  1.  The  last  time  Bennett 
was  paid  for  serving  in  this  position  was  June,  1921.  Archives  and 
Records  Management  Division,  AMH  Dept. 

31.  G.  Colgate  roomed  with  Jo  Bennett  during  his  sophomore  year. 
History,  Qass  of  1922,  Yale  Uruversity. 

32.  Big  Horn  County  Rustler,  November  17,  1922. 

33.  The  Bennett  court  records  are  at  the  Denver  Federal  Center.  Agency 
Group  #21  Accession  #57-A-48,  Agency  Box  26  of  37.  Old  location 
#469899.  New  location  Denver  Federal  Center,  Building  48,  Denver, 
Colorado. 

Federal    Qerk   of   Courts   Office,    Joseph   O'Mahoney   Building, 
Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 


34 


46 


INSIDE  WYOMING 


One  of  the  darker  chapters  m  our  nation's  history  was 
the  interning  of  the  110,000  Japanese-Americans  and 
Japanese  alien  residents  living  on  the  West  Coast  during 
World  War  II.  After  the  Japanese  attack  on  Pearl  Harbor, 
fears  that  these  two  groups  posed  a  threat  to  the  security 
of  the  United  States  led  to  an  intense  campaign  by  West 
Coast  public  officials  to  deal  with  the  Japanese- American 
community.  Their  efforts  resulted  in  President  Franklin  D. 
Roosevelt  signing  Executive  Order  #9066  on  February  19, 
1942,  which  allowed  for  the  evacuation  of  the  West  Coast 
Japanese  and  their  placement  into  restricted  areas.  Eventu- 
ally, the  government  constructed  ten  relocation  centers  in 
various  parts  of  the  country  to  house  the  uprooted 
Japanese  residents  of  the  West  Coast. 

Wyoming  played  an  important  role  in  the  relocation 
because  of  the  Heart  Mountain  Relocation  Center,  active 
from  1942  until  November,  1945,  between  Cody  and 
Powell.  This  camp  housed  more  than  10,000  Japanese  and 
in  size  was  the  third  largest  city  in  Wyoming  at  the  time. 

The  federal  government  formed  a  new  agency,  the  War 


Relocation  Authority  (WRA),  to  oversee  the  evacuation  and 
manage  the  camps.  The  various  names  of  the  camps,  as 
in  the  case  of  Heart  Mountain,  were  derived  from  local 
geographic  features  or  nearby  settlements.  Titles  included 
Manzanar,  Gila  River,  Tule  Lake  and  Jerome  among 
others.  Called  concentration  camps  by  many,  including  the 
internees,  the  WRA  euphemistically  used  such  terms  as 
"colony,"  "relocation  center,"  "resettlement  center,"  and 
"evacuation  center."  This  was  done  because  WRA  officials 
"felt  it  was  easier  to  win  public  acceptance  and  find  jobs 
and  homes  for  'relocatees'  from  'relocation  centers'  than 
'prisoners'  from  'concentration  camps.'  "^ 

The  WRA  portrayed  these  camps  as  typical  American 
communities,  even  though  they  were  surrounded  by 
barbed  wire  and  watched  by  armed  soldiers  in  guard 
towers.  Guy  Robertson,  Project  Director  for  Heart  Moun- 
tain, stated  in  1943  that  the  Wyoming  community  of 
Japanese  was  just  like  "any  normal  community  in  interests 
and  activities."^ 

These  claims  of  normality  for  the  concentration  camps. 


"Evening  falls  over  the  Heart  Mountain  Relocation  Center  where  nearly  11,000  persons  of  Japanese  ancestry  reside.  One  by  one, 
lights  dim  out  in  the  barracks  and  Wyoming's  third  largest  city  dozes  off  to  sleep."  (September  19,  1942) 


47 


however,  according  to  one  historian,  were  "simply  untrue. 
Whatever  appearances  there  were  of  a  healthy,  full  com- 
munity life  were  just  that— appearances.  At  most  they  pro- 
vided a  thin  veneer  over  a  life  filled  with  petty  conflict, 
artificiality,  and  pain."  Work  in  the  camps  "was  either  a 
combination  of  drudgery  and  'make-work'  or  else  public 
improvement  projects  deliberately  designed  to  benefit  the 
non-Japanese  who  would  remain  in  the  area  after  the  war 
was  over."  Wages  were  very  low,  $12  a  month  for  un- 
skilled labor,  $16  for  semi-skilled  and  $19  for  professional 
or  highly  skilled.  The  WRA  espoused  the  principles  of  free 
speech  and  self-government,  but  in  reality  these  were  cur- 
tailed or  non-existent. 3 

"Heart  Mountain,  in  conception,  design,  and  opera- 
tion, was  a  concentration  camp.  To  those  imprisoned  there, 
the  realities  of  existence  were  not  community  involvement 
or  meaningful  work  or  self-government,  but  rather  con- 
finement, dependency  and  powerlessness."''  According  to 
the  editor  of  the  Heart  Mountain  Sentinel:  "...  there  is 
something  lacking.  Perhaps  it  is  because  no  American  ever 


can  be  satisfied  with  existence  behind  barbed  wire  under 
the  eyes  of  armed  sentries.  Perhaps  the  lack  can  be  ex- 
pressed in  the  one  word,  freedom,  without  which  life  loses 
zest  and  living  becomes  an  empty  pantomime."' 

Recently,  the  Photographic  Section  of  the  Wyoming 
State  Archives,  Museums  and  Historical  Department  re- 
ceived a  collection  of  WRA  photographs,  complete  with 
original  captions,  of  Heart  Mountain.  These  photographs 
present  an  idyllic  view  of  the  work,  educational  and  recrea- 
tional activities  of  the  internees.  No  barbed  wire  or  armed 
guards  are  seen,  only  the  edited  excerpts  of  daily  life. 

1.  Bill  Hosokawa,  Nisei;  The  Quiet  Americans  (New  York:  William  Mor- 
row and  Company,  Inc.,  1969),  p.  348. 

2.  Douglas  W.  Nelson,  Heart  Mountain:  The  History  of  an  American  Con- 
centration Camp  (Madison:  The  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin, 
1976),  p.  31. 

3.  Nelson,  Heart  Mountain,  pp.  31-34. 

4.  Ibid.,  p.  34. 

5.  Heart  Mountain  Sentinel,  January  1,  1943,  p.  4,  c.  2. 


"A  nursery  school  group  at  the  Heart  Mountain  Relocation  Center  where  persons  of  fapxinese  parentage,  evacuated  from  west  coast  defense  areas 
are  now  residing."  (January  4,  1943) 


"Furniture  for  the  schools,  public  buildings  and  administrative  offices  is  being  made  in  the  wood  working  shop  at  the  Heart  Mountain  Relocation 
Center  by  these  evacuee  residents."  (September  22,  1942) 

49 


'  'A  shoemaker  busy  in  the  shoe 
repair  shop  at  the  center.  With 
every  available  shoemaker  at  work, 
the  flood  of  shoe  repair  is  so  great 
that  completed  work  is  promised 
in  three  months.  The  rough  coun- 
tryside and  a  town  without 
sideivalks  and  pavement  areas 
makes  short  work  of  foot  gear. " 
(January  U,  1943) 


"For  this  young  former 
Califomian  of  Japanese 
ancestry,  learning  to  ice  skate 
is  a  challenge.  By  this,  his 
third  time  out,  he  has  learned 
a  healthy  respect  for  the 
vagaries  of  ice  and  is  intent  in 
learning  to  avoid  a  third  layer 
of  bruises.  Centerites  en- 
thusiastically took  up  ice 
skating  at  the  first  Wyoming 
winter  freeze."  (January  10, 
1943) 


50 


"Young  Mike  Hosokawa's  chief  interests  are  mechanical.  In  the  tradition  of  American  boyhood,  his  toys  were 
soon  in  pieces  to  see  what  makes  them  go.  His  father,  Bill  Hosokaiva,  Nisei  leader  and  editor  of  the  Sentinel, 
Heart  Mountain  Relocation  Center  newspaper,  is  a  graduate  of  Washington  U,  a  former  West  Coast  neivspaper 
men  [sic]  and  foreign  correspondent  in  the  Orient."  (January  8,  1943) 


R1 


"Ruby  Hifumi,  16  year  old 
high  school  student  with  a 
special  Neiv  Year's  flower  ar- 
rangement. The  material  is  a 
piece  of  pine,  a  sprig  of  sage 
with  paper  flowers  indicating 
a  plum  tree  and  a  paper  bam- 
boo. The  flower  arrangement 
of  the  three  materials  sym- 
bolizes in  order,  hardiness, 
courage  and  strength. " 
(January  9,  1943) 


"Minnie  Hegoro,  an  art  student  at  the 
University  of  California  in  Los  Angeles  before 
the  evacuation  of  persons  of  Japanese  ancestry 
from  west  coast  defense  areas,  is  taking  up 
the  art  of  the  potters  wheel  at  the  Heart 
Mountain  Relocation  Center  Ceramics  Plant, 
where  dishes  and  other  pottery  products  for 
this  and  other  relocation  centers  will  be 
made."  (January  12,  1943) 


52 


"Tloo  small  girls,  whose  grand- 
parents came  to  the  United 
States  from  Japan,  play  with 
clay  toys  in  the  nursery  school 
at  the  Heart  Mountain  Reloca- 
tion Center."  (January  4,  1943) 


"A  group  of  centerites  gather 
around  two  of  the  center's  ex- 
pert Go  players.  The  game, 
popularly  conceived  as  a  game 
of  military  strategy,  it  is 
more  nearly  a  battle  of  keen 
wits,  tho  even  this  has  been 
frustrated  by  a  six  year  old 
boy  who  recently  defeated  IS 
players  in  simultaneous 
games  at  this  center. " 
(January  4,  1943) 


53 


"Visiting  soldiers  from  the  Army  of  the  United  States  are  entertained  in  the  Heart  Mountain  Rebcation  Center  where  persons 
of  Japanese  ancestry,  evacuated  from  west  coast  defense  areas,  now  reside;  by  girls  of  the  Heart  Mountain  USO,  the  only  nationally 
recognized  USO  chapter  operating  within  a  relocation  center."  (June  4,  1943) 


54 


ANNALS'  REVIEWS 


Vie  Sword  of  the  Republic:  The  United  States  Army  on  the  Frontier,  1783-1846. 
By  Francis  Paul  Prucha.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1986. 
Originally  published:  New  York:  Macmillan  Publishing  Co.  Inc.,  1969. 
Illustrated.  Maps.  Index.  Notes.  Bibhography.  xvii  and  442  pp.  Cloth 
$29.95.  Paper  $12.95. 

Francis  Paul  Prucha  is  one  of  our  most  respected  west- 
ern historians.  Beginning  with  the  publication  of  his  Har- 
vard doctoral  dissertation  in  1953  {Broadax  and  Bayonet:  The 
Role  of  the  United  States  Army  in  the  Development  of  the  North- 
west, 1815-1860),  Prucha  launched  a  writing  career  that  has 
spanned  a  quarter-century  and  includes  22  volumes  of 
history  and  40  monographs  and  miscellaneous  pieces. 
While  his  early  writings  dealt  with  antebellum  military 
history,  his  later  work  has  centered  on  American  Indian 
policy,  and  his  recent  two-volume  study.  The  Great  Father: 
The  United  States  Government  and  the  American  Indians, 
published  by  the  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1984,  is 
recognized  as  the  definitive  work  on  the  subject.  For  his 
remarkable  record,  his  peers  honored  him  in  1987  with  the 
Western  History  Association  Prize  for  distinguished 
studies. 

Originally  published  in  1969,  Sword  of  the  Republic  is 
the  culmination  of  Prucha's  early  interest  in  military 
history.  His  book  is  the  first  chronological  volume  in  The 
Macmillan  War  of  the  United  States  Series  (17  volumes), 
produced  in  the  1960s  and  1970s  under  the  general  editor- 
ship of  Louis  Morton.  Generally,  Prucha  tells  the  story  of 
the  beginnings  of  the  regular  army  and  its  role  in  establish- 
ing American  sovereignty  on  a  frontier  rapidly  expanding 
from  the  Appalachians  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  during  the  period 
between  the  American  Revolution  and  the  Mexican  War. 

On  June  2,  1874,  the  last  Revolutionary  soldiers  left 
federal  service,  except  for  25  men  at  Fort  Pitt  and  55  at  West 
Point,  specifically  retained  to  guard  military  stores.  The 
following  day.  Congress  asked  the  states  for  700  men  for 
one  year  to  garrison  former  British  posts  in  the  West  that 
were  now  under  U.S.  control.  The  need  to  protect  settlers 
on  the  northwestern  frontier  from  Indian  warfare  con- 
vinced members  of  Congress  to  provide  for  the  same 
number  of  troops  in  1785,  this  time  providing  a  three-year 
authorization  and  dropping  the  description  of  the  force  as 
"militia."  This  was  the  inauspicious  beginning  of  a  regular 
army,  which  by  1845  would  number  8,509  officers  and  men. 

Slow  growth  in  numbers  during  the  1785-1845  period 
reflected  the  belief  of  the  Founding  Fathers  that  a  standing 
army  in  peace  time  was  inconsistent  with  the  principles 
of  republican  government  and  dangerous  to  the  liberties 
of  a  free  people.  But  the  frontier  grew  rapidly— tre- 
mendously with  the  Louisiana  Purchase  in  1803— and 
Indian  tribes  presented  a  continuing  problem,  requiring 


protection  for  and  from  the  rush  of  exploiters  and  settlers 
that  filled  the  Old  Northwest  and  spilled  over  into  the 
trans-Mississippi  West  in  a  few  decades.  Besides  its  role 
as  the  agent  of  empire,  the  army  physically  attacked  the 
wilderness,  building  forts,  roads  and  bridges,  and  at  times 
conducting  extensive  farming  operations  and  gathering 
some  of  the  first  scientific  data  on  the  great  hinterland. 
Among  the  major  campaigns  of  the  period  were  Indian  ac- 
tivities surrounding  the  War  of  1812,  the  Black  Hawk  War 
of  1832  and  the  Second  Seminole  War  of  1835-1842.  The 
volume  ends  with  a  description  of  the  army's  early  ac- 
tivities on  the  Great  Plains  and  the  founding  of  Fort  Kearny 
and  Fort  Laramie  to  protect  westward  migration.  While 
Prucha  notes  that  American  ideals  inhibited  development 
of  the  strength  needed  to  carefully  control  westward  ex- 
pansion and  avoid  several  lamentable  conflicts,  the  army 
was  able  to  uphold  American  dominion  within  the  terri- 
torial limits  of  the  United  States  from  foreign  encroach- 
ments and  against  Indian  nations  and  thereby  successfully 
performed  its  mission. 

One  will  find  very  little  social  history  in  this  volume. 
While  problems  of  desertion  and  drinking  are  mentioned, 
there  is  nothing,  for  example,  on  the  army  ration,  what 
soldiers  did  for  entertainment  or  what  they  suffered  from. 
Nor  does  the  author  treat  weaponry  or  other  equipment. 
Developments  in  the  staff  branches  of  the  service— quar- 
termaster, subsistence  and  medical,  to  name  three— are  not 
covered.  Occasionally,  the  necessity  for  treating  subjects 
topically  within  an  overall  chronological  context  creates 
problems.  We  find,  for  example,  onpage  391,  that  in  1845 
Stephen  Watts  Kearny  recommended  against  the  purchase 
of  Fort  Laramie  for  a  military  post  and,  on  page  393,  that 
in  1842  John  C.  Fremont  recommended  in  favor  of  it. 

When  this  volume  appeared  in  1969,  it  received  rave 
reviews.  Robert  Athearn  called  it  "a  tremendous  piece  of 
research,"  and  Richard  Knopf  declared  that  "it  should  re- 
main the  standard  work  on  the  army  before  1846  for  many 
years  to  come."  Nearly  20  years  later,  those  judgments 
stand. 

JOHN  D.  McDERMOTT 
The  reviewer  is  a  freelance  historian,  Sheridan,  Wyoming. 


Entrepreneurs  of  the  Old  West.  By  David  Dary.  Lincoln:  University  of  Ne- 
braska Press,  1987.  Originally  published:  New  York:  Knopf,  1986. 
Illustrated.  Index.  Bibliography.  Notes.  325  pp.  Paper  $11.95. 

David  Dary  has  given  us  another  book  on  the  "Winning 
of  the  West."  Dary's  focus  is  on  what  he  calls  "a  silent 

55 


army; ' '  businessmen,  town-builders  and  speculators  fixed 
their  gaze  on  profit  and  self-advancement,  and  with  luck 
and  guile  "in  time,  tradebecame  thecivilizerof  the  West." 

Dary  provides  factual  information  on  particular  inci- 
dents of  western  history.  His  book  is  a  chronicling  of  the 
rise  and/or  fall  of  selected  individuals  who  are  examples 
of  the  market-place  ethic.  The  stories  of  Wells,  Fargo  and 
Company,  Russell,  Majors  and  Waddell,  the  Goldwaters 
in  Arizona,  all  the  names,  dates  and  anecdotes  are  the 
substance  and  the  theme  of  this  book. 

By  far  the  brightest  parts  of  the  book  are  the  snatches 
of  original  documents,  the  personal  diaries  and  letters,  the 
company  inventories  and  price  lists  and  the  physical  descrip- 
tions of  trading  posts,  bank  buildings  and  "boom"  towns. 
The  glimpse  of  John  HubbeU's  trading  post  empire  or  John 
Chisum's  cattle  kingdom,  or  Granville  Stuart's  1862  diary 
description  of  mining  in  Montana  are  worth  reading. 

Dary's  illustration  of  the  prime  importance  of  the 
railroad  in  promoting  and  building  the  West  is  an  exam- 
ple of  the  continuous  and  essential  involvement  if  not  the 
actual  underwriting  of  commercial  ventures  by  the  federal 
government.  Dary  does  not  confront  this  complex  relation- 
ship directly  and  there  are  other  points  raised  in  the  book 
which  could  well  have  been  enlarged  upon.  The  federal 
government's  "hands  off"  policy  toward  the  West  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War  is  another  inviting  story.  President  Lin- 
coln was  so  anxious  to  have  a  pro-Union  West  that 
Nevada's  1864  constitution  was  telegraphed  to  him,  word 
by  word.  Dary  finds  the  important  point  earlier  established 
by  Gene  Gressley  that  much  of  western  enterprise  was 
built  on  eastern  money.  It  was  easy  to  start  a  bank  in  the 
West,  but  the  interest  rates  were  too  high  for  most  "profit 
seekers"  so  they  borrowed  eastern  capital.  Dary  also 
reiterates  the  fact  that  ranching,  for  instance,  was  a  risky 
business,  and  many  investors  lost  money. 

Saying  all  this,  we  need  to  recognize  that  Entrepreneurs 
of  the  Old  West  is  "old-fashioned"  western  history  that  ac- 
cepts without  blinking  the  injury  done  to  minorities, 
Indians  and  the  land  itself  in  the  name  of  progress  and 
"potential  profits."  Dary  makes  it  appear  as  though  fron- 
tier "fleecing,"  robbery  and  pettiness  were  all  an  expected 
part  of  what  was  an  economically-directed  westward 
movement.  Dary's  strongest  intellectual  outrage  goes  only 
to  the  point  of  saying,  "the  country  merchant .  .  .  did  not 
conduct  business  with  a  great  deal  of  alertness  to  customer 
interest." 

Dary's  attitude  toward  Indians  is  short-sighted— they 
simply  stood  in  the  way  of  expansion  and  economic  op- 
portunity. In  1880s  Oklahoma,  Indian  leaders  "fought 
every  move  to  organize  the  territory  for  statehood."  By 
1875,  "the  Indians  were  gone  from  Texas,  and  the  region 
.  .  .  was  safe  for  White  settlement." 

Finally,  there  was  no  compelling  reason  to  have  writ- 
ten this  book.  Apart  from  the  interesting  details  and  anec- 
dotes, this  is  a  book  which  requires  no  mental  investment 
by  the  reader.  And,  as  well-meaning  as  it  is,  the  book 
perpetuates  a  misplaced  conclusion. 
56 


Dary  has  it  that  this  "silent  army"  of  entrepreneurs 
were  transformed  by  the  West,  "as  they  crossed  the  un- 
settled prairies  and  plains  ...  a  unique  spirit  that  was  less 
trammeled  by  tradition  began  to  emerge;"  they  began  to 
believe  in  self-reliance,  independence  and  dream  of 
freedom;  they  helped  to  create  a  West  which  valued  per- 
sonal initiative. 

Not  quite.  The  West  may  have  provided  a  wider  op- 
portunity for  self-advancement,  but  it  did  not  create  the 
principle.  The  pioneers,  merchants,  land  speculators,  cat- 
tlemen and  town  builders  were  already  committed  to  the 
values  of  the  enterprise  system.  "Seeking  opportunity  and 
profit"  is,  for  better  or  worse,  what  America  is  all  about. 
That  is  the  very  basis  which  has  laid  out  the  contours  of 
our  society.  Ours  has  always  been  a  nation  whose  sense 
of  identity  is  connected  to  its  commerce. 

We  need  to  place  the  West  within  the  mainstream  of 
American  history  and  to  recognize  its  continuity  as  well 
as  its  uniqueness. 

ROY  JORDAN 
The  revieuier  is  Associate  Professor  of  History,  Northwest  Community  College, 
Powell,  Wyoming. 


The  Bozeman  Trail:  Highway  of  History.  By  Robert  A.  Murray.  Boulder, 
Colorado:  Pruett  Publishing  Company,  1988.  Illustrated.  Map.  Index. 
85  pp.  Cloth  $24.95.  Paper  $11.95. 

During  the  middle  of  the  19th  century,  American  ex- 
plorers found  another  of  the  continent's  natural  "high- 
ways," this  one  lying  north  of  Fort  Laramie,  Wyoming. 
Soon  called  the  Bozeman  Trail,  the  400  plus  mile  "high- 
way" extended  north  by  northwest  along  the  Big  Horn 
Mountains  and  across  the  border,  then  west  by  northwest 
to  the  mining  camps  and  valleys  of  southern  Montana.  For 
the  five  years  of  1864-1868,  the  Bozeman  Trail  played  a  cen- 
tral role  in  the  drama  of  United  States-Indian  relations  and 
a  somewhat  more  ambiguous  role  in  the  history  of  west- 
ward migration.  Robert  Murray  has  penned  a  series  of 
brief,  encyclopedia-styled  sketches  of  the  prominent 
pioneers,  soldiers,  stations,  forts,  Indian  battles  and 
historic  incidents  whose  names  have  become  associated 
with  this  trail.  His  purpose  is  to  provide  "tourists,  students 
and  armchair  history  buffs"  with  a  "capsule"  of  "the 
colorful  events  of  the  early  days  along  a  whole  trail  system 
in  readable  form  within  a  single  volume"  (Introduction). 

Murray's  book  begins  with  a  first  chapter  on  the  origins 
of  the  trail  and  its  earliest  Indian  and  American  users.  The 
story  of  the  traO  itself  is  then  told  in  40  encyclopedic  en- 
tries found  within  the  next  four  chapters,  chapters  which 
focus  upon  specific  segments  of  the  trail  as  it  was  traveled 
from  north  to  south  (e.g.  "Bridger's  Ferry  to  Fort  Reno"). 
Most  of  these  entries  relate  to  the  earliest  efforts  to  main- 
tain the  Bozeman  Trail  during  the  1860s,  with  additional 
entries  on  the  pioneering  and  military  efforts  of  the  1870s. 
The  40  entries  are  of  three  lengths:  50-100  words  to  cover 
such  topics  as  "Montgomery  Van  Valzah's  Mail  Party 


Massacre,"  250-300  words  to  cover  such  topics  as  "The 
German  Lutheran  Mission  On  The  Powder  River,"  and 
800-900  words  to  cover  such  topics  as  "The  Wagon  Box 
Fight."  The  book  concludes  with  a  fine  essay,  "The  Boze- 
man  Trail  Today,"  which  provides  useful  information  on 
the  physical  remains,  museums,  highways,  and  so  forth, 
appropriate  for  the  modern  road  explorer. 

Murray  writes  in  a  straightforward,  sometimes  folksy, 
style.  Unfortunately,  his  generally  informative,  readable 
entries  are  disrupted  with  occasional  "gee  whiz"  facts  and 
observations  of  little  relevance  to  the  story  line  and  with 
an  annoyingly  chronic  use  of  the  exclamation  point  to  ar- 
tificially punch  up  the  narrative.  The  strong  suit  of  the 
book,  however,  is  the  visual  presentation  of  the  story  of 
the  Bozeman Trail.  Murray  or  the  editors  of  Pruett  should 
be  commended  for  the  knowledgeable  selection  of  the  70 
paintings,  drawings  and  photos,  and  the  more  than  40  por- 
traits, which  strikingly  document  the  history  of  the  trail. 
Well-designed  maps  could  have  enhanced  both  the  writ- 
ten and  pictorial  components  of  the  book,  but  the  editors 
instead  chose  to  insert  four  times  the  very  same  map 
already  printed  twice  as  the  inside  front  and  back  covers 
of  the  book.  These  inserted  maps,  slightly  larger  in  scale, 
contain  no  new  cartographic  information. 

Books  of  this  nature  must  be  judged,  finally,  on  how 
well  they  meet  the  needs  of  their  intended  audience.  In 
this  regard,  Murray's  book  may  be  of  use  for  those  who 
want  brief  factual  information  on  the  people  and  events 
associated  with  the  early  history  of  the  Bozeman  Trail. 
However,  students  and  buffs  should  be  aware  that  even 
modest-sized  libraries  wiU  likely  contain  virtually  all  of  the 
ready-reference  information  provided  by  Murray.  Students, 
buffs  and  librarians  will  more  likely  want  to  consider  pur- 
chase of  this  book  on  the  merits  of  its  pictorial  presenta- 
tion. As  for  motoring  tourists,  the  book  could  provide  some 
pleasurable,  irvformative  motel  reading,  but  the  always 
sound  tourist  advice,  caveat  emptor,  suggests  a  perusal  of 
the  book  before  parting  with  one's  money. 

DAVID  L.  FERCH 
The  reviewer  is  Associate  Professor  of  History,  Mount  Mercy  College. 


Battle  of  the  Rosebud:  Prelude  to  the  Little  Bighorn.  By  Neil  C.  Mangum. 
El  Segundo,  CA.:  Upton  and  Sons,  1987.  Illustrated.  Index.  Notes. 
Appendices.  Bibliography.  180  pp.  Cloth  $35. 

The  Custer  Tragedy:  Events  Leading  up  to  and  Following  the  Little  Big  Horn 
Campaign  of  1876.  By  Fred  Dustin.  Introduction  by  Frank  Mercatante. 
El  Segundo,  CA.:  Upton  and  Sons,  1987.  Reprint  of  1939  edition 
by  Edwards  Brothers,  Inc.  Illustrated.  Notes.  Appendices.  Bibliography. 
275  pp.  Cloth  $45. 

Custer  saw.  Custer  rode.  Custer  died,  along  with  more 
than  200  men  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry.  This  relatively  in- 
significant military  engagement  on  the  Little  Bighorn  River 
in  Montana  has  spawned  more  research  and  publications 
than  any  other  single  event  in  American  history.  Upton 
and  Sons  Publishers  has  recently  released  a  series  of  books 
related  to  the  Battle  of  the  Little  Bighorn,  including  Neil 
C.  Mangum's  Battle  of  the  Rosebud:  Prelude  to  the  Little 


Bighorn  and  a  reprint  of  Fred  Dustin' s  1939  study.  The 
Custer  Tragedy. 

Little  had  been  written  concerning  the  conflict  on 
Rosebud  Creek,  even  though  it  occurred  just  eight  days 
before  and  a  few  mUes  east  of  the  Little  Bighorn  engage- 
ment. Using  primary  and  secondary  sources,  Mangum  cor- 
rects this  omission  by  providing  a  detailed  and  interesting 
account  of  General  Crook,  his  role  in  the  1876  military  cam- 
paign, and  the  battle  just  inside  the  Montana  border  from 
Wyoming.  As  part  of  a  three-pronged  military  offensive 
which  included  General  Terry's  and  Colonel  Gibbon's  col- 
umns in  Montana,  Crook's  army  of  1,325  soldiers  and  260 
Crow  and  Shoshone  scouts  invaded  Indian  country  from 
Wyoming  in  June,  1876,  hoping  to  force  some  Sioux  and 
Cheyenne  onto  reservations  in  Dakota  Territory.  Fearing 
that  the  soldiers  would  attack  their  camps,  several  hun- 
dred Indians  charged  Crook's  column  on  Rosebud  Creek. 

With  the  help  of  maps  and  photographs,  Mangum  de- 
scribes the  details  of  the  ensuing  six  hour  struggle,  in- 
cluding the  key  role  the  Indian  scouts  played  in  keeping 
Crook's  casualties  to  a  minimum.  Nevertheless,  the  Sioux 
and  Cheyenne  accomplished  their  objective  when  Crook 
retreated  to  Goose  Creek  in  Wyoming,  eliminating  the 
threat  to  their  villages. 

As  a  conclusion  to  this  primarily  military  account, 
Mangum  compares  and  contrasts  Crook's  and  Custer's 
styles  of  command  and  the  resulting  differences  in  the  out- 
comes of  the  Rosebud  and  Little  Bighorn  engagements. 
Noting  that  the  three  columns  were  operating  indepen- 
dently of  each  other  and  that  immediate  communication 
of  the  results  of  the  battle  was  impossible,  the  author 
makes  a  good  case  for  absolving  Crook  of  any  blame  for 
Custer's  subsequent  downfall  on  the  Little  Bighorn 
battlefield. 

While  Battle  of  the  Rosebud  offers  new  information  and 
interpretation,  the  scope  of  the  book  is  limited  primarily 
to  military  maneuvers,  which  is  characteristic  of  most 
studies  of  the  1876  campaign.  As  a  result,  several  impor- 
tant points  are  neglected,  such  as  what  the  Sioux  and 
Cheyenne  hoped  to  accomplish  by  staying  in  such  large 
camps,  why  the  Crow  and  Shoshone  were  leading  White 
soldiers  into  battle  against  other  Indians,  why  the  military 
was  attacking  people  who  were  rightfully  occupying  their 
land,  and  what  significance,  if  any,  did  the  Indians  attach 
to  the  fight.  Addressing  these  issues  would  have  identified 
the  cultural  and  economic  conflicts  which  precipitated  the 
battle,  thereby  providing  a  meaningful  context  for  the 
events  detailed  in  the  book. 

Just  a  few  days  after  the  Rosebud  engagement,  Custer 
and  a  couple  hundred  soldiers  rode  down  Medicine  Tail 
Coulee  and  never  returned.  Fred  Dustin 's  1939  study.  The 
Custer  Tragedy,  provided  the  most  comprehensive  examina- 
tion of  the  battle  of  the  Little  Bighorn  and  the  most  com- 
plete bibliography  of  Custer  literature  up  to  that  time.  His 
detailed  account  of  the  battle  and  the  events  surrounding 
it  have  been  repeated,  revised  and  supplemented  by  count- 
less writers  over  the  past  50  years.  Yet,  his  portrayals  of 

57 


Colonel  Custer  and  Major  Reno  are  the  more  interesting 
and  controversial  legacies  of  the  book. 

Disputing  previous  publications  by  Edward  Godfrey, 
a  survivor  of  the  battle,  and  Elizabeth  Custer,  the  colonel's 
widow,  DustLn  believes  Custer  to  be  ".  .  .  one  of  the  most 
overrated  men  on  the  stage  of  American  life"  and  describes 
him  as  power  hungry,  pretentious,  egotistical,  immature  and 
arrogant.  In  contrast,  the  author  defends  the  actions  of  Reno, 
who  often  was  blamed  for  Custer's  disaster.  Using  primary 
sources  and  reconstructing  the  battle  at  the  scene  62  years 
later,  Dustin  contends  that  Reno's  retreat  saved  his  men 
from  the  same  annihilation  that  Custer  failed  to  prevent. 

Even  though  many  of  Dustin's  conclusions  about  the 
battle,  Custer  and  Reno's  decisions  would  be  disputed  by 
later  researchers.  The  Custer  Tragedy  elevated  the  study  of 
this  conflict  from  eulogies  of  Custer  to  a  more  thorough 
and  comprehensive  scholarship.  As  a  result,  his  work  re- 
mains important,  although  students  of  the  battle  would 
need  to  wait  eighteen  years  for  most  of  the  Indian  par- 
ticipants' views  of  the  fight,  initially  contained  in  David 
Humphreys  Miller's  Custer's  Fall. 

Dustin's  and  Mangum's  books  offer  new  insights  into 
the  1876  military  campaign,  furthering  our  understanding 
of  these  two  battles.  Mangum's  work  will  be  particularly 
valuable  to  the  State  of  Montana  in  its  efforts  to  preserve 
and  interpret  the  Rosebud  battlefield.  However,  one  con- 
tinues to  hope  for  another  "Fred  Dustin"  to  arrive  on  the 
scene  in  order  to  advance  the  scholarship  again,  beyond 
detailed  accounts  of  military  engagements  and  colorful  per- 
sonalities to  research  on  the  more  important  historical 
forces  which  precipitated  these  battles  and  continue  to  af- 
fect Indian-White  relations  today. 

MICHAEL  A.  MASSIE 
The  reviewer  is  the  curator/historian  of  the  South  Pass  City  State  Historic  Site, 
Wyoming. 


distinguished  directors  of  Westerns,  Tuska  points  out,  in 
first-person  sentences,  what  he  likes  or  dislikes  about  their 
work.  Sometimes  the  criticism  seems  influenced  by  friend- 
ship. For  instance,  after  providing  the  narration  of  a  some- 
times disgusting  interview  with  director  Sam  Peckinpah, 
Tuska  writes:  "With  the  affection  I  have  come  to  feel  for 
this  man  over  the  years,  it  is  not  the  easiest  thing  to  write 
critically  of  his  Western  films,  yet  it  must  be  done"  (p. 
119).  The  reader  is  left  wondering  if  Tuska  provided  such 
an  apology  just  to  suggest  his  criticism  has  the  validity  of 
an  insider  "who  knows."  Whatever  the  reason,  it  un- 
necessarily seems  to  call  the  author's  impartiality  into 
question. 

More  interesting  than  Tuska 's  discourses  on  the  works 
of  directors  is  his  section  on  frontier  legends.  There,  he 
traces  the  lives  of  such  luminaries  as  Jesse  James,  Billy  the 
Kid,  Wild  Bill  Hickok  and  Wyatt  Earp  and  how  they  have 
been  portrayed  on  fOm.  He  concludes  that  each  has  been 
variously  shown  as  "all  bad,  all  good,  or  as  good  becom- 
ing bad"  (p.  218).  Tuska  takes  issue  with  film  critics  who 
claim  that  the  decade  during  which  the  film  was  made 
largely  determines  how  they  will  be  portrayed  in  it.  In- 
stead, Tuska  reiterates  the  point  from  his  chapters  on  par- 
ticular directors:  the  interpretation  is  a  personal  one  made 
by  the  individual  director.  In  a  sense,  he  reasserts  the 
"great  man  theory"  and  applies  it  to  filmmaking. 

The  book,  despite  occasional  irritating  digressions, 
should  be  of  interest  to  any  Western  movie-goer.  Whether 
or  not  one  agrees  with  Tuska 's  point  of  view,  his  argu- 
ments may  cause  one  to  reevaluate  how  and  why  particular 
Westerns  have  become  movie  classics. 

PHIL  ROBERTS 
The  reviewer  is  a  doctoral  student  in  history  at  the  University  of  Washington, 
Seattle. 


The  American  West  in  Film:  Critical  Approaches  to  the  Western.  By  Jon  Tuska. 
Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1988.  Originally  published: 
Westport,  Connecticut:  Greenwood  Press,  1985.  Illustrated.  Index. 
Notes.  Bibliography,  xix  and  264  pp.  Paper  $10.95. 


Nezv  Views  of  Monnon  History:  A  Collection  of  Essays  in  Hotwr  of  Leonard  ]. 
Arrington.  Edited  by  Davis  Bitton  and  Maureen  Ursenbach  Beecher. 
Salt  Lake  City:  University  of  Utah  Press,  1987.  Index.  Notes.  Bibliog- 
raphy, xvii  and  438  pp.  Qoth  $19.95. 


Jon  Tuska  is  no  stranger  to  film  criticism  or  the  Western 
genre.  In  fact.  The  American  West  in  Film  is  the  second  book 
Tuska  has  written  about  the  making  of  Western  movies. 
His  first,  a  popular  history  of  Western  film  production,  met 
with  mixed  reviews  following  its  publication  by  Double- 
day  in  1976. 

Tuska  admits  in  the  preface  to  this  volume  that  it  was 
not  possible  to  combine  film  history  and  film  criticism  into 
one  book  about  Westerns.  Therefore,  the  casual  reader  ex- 
pecting a  flashy  tale  of  Western  movie-making  may  be 
disappointed  with  The  American  West  in  Film  even  though 
Tuska  does  serve  up  bits  of  movie  set  gossip  and  plot  lines 
of  films  in  between  his  very  personal  criticisms  and 
elaborate  arguments  of  film  theory. 

For  what  the  book  may  lack  in  flash,  however,  it  amply 
supplies  in  controversy.  In  analyzing  the  films  of  six 
58 


Editors  Bitton  and  Beecher  state  in  the  introduction  of 
Neiv  Vieivs  of  Mormon  History  that  "...  the  work  of  a 
historian  has  to  be  almost  one  of  celebration.  It  is  an  ac- 
tivity of  exploration  and  discovery,  it  is  interesting,  it 
makes  a  difference."  As  a  tribute  to  the  Mormon  historian 
and  scholar,  Leonard  Arrington,  the  editors  invited  those 
who  had  a  close  relationship  with  Arrington  and  who  were 
themselves  working  in  the  field  of  Mormon  history  to  par- 
ticipate in  this  collection  of  essays.  This  is  their  celebra- 
tion of  the  life  of  Arrington. 

The  Noah  Arrington  family,  a  Mormon  family  origin- 
ally from  Tennessee,  settled  early  in  the  century  in  the 
Magic  Valley  area  of  Idaho.  Growing  up  on  the  family  farm 
during  the  Depression,  Arrington  continued  in  this  field 
when  he  declared  his  major,  agricultural  economics,  at  the 
University  of  Idaho.  He  completed  his  Ph.D.  in  economics 


at  the  University  of  North  Carolina  in  1946.  His  disserta- 
tion on  the  economic  history  of  the  Mormons  was  pub- 
lished in  1958  under  the  title  Great  Basin  Kingdom.  Thus  he 
was  established  as  a  leader  among  those  professionally 
studying  the  Mormon  past.  Arrington  founded  the  Mor- 
mon History  Association  in  1965,  and  was  called  by  the 
church  in  1972  to  be  their  church  historian,  a  position 
formerly  only  held  by  an  apostle  of  the  church.  In  1982, 
he  and  his  staff  were  transferred  to  Brigham  Young  Univer- 
sity, establishing  the  Joseph  Fielding  Smith  Institute  for 
church  history.  Arrington  continues  to  encourage  all 
historians  to  pursue  scholarly  study  of  the  Mormon 
culture,  and  many  of  the  historians  included  in  this  col- 
lection have  been  greatly  influenced  by  his  example. 

Neiv  Views  of  Mormon  History  is  divided  into  four  parts: 
Part  One,  "Early  Mormonism,  Aspects  of  History  and 
Theology";  Part  Two,  "The  Church  and  the  People,  in 
Utah  and  Abroad";  Part  Three,  "Mormon-Gentile  Rela- 
tions"; and  Part  Four,  "Mormonism  in  the  Large  Perspec- 
tive." Parts  One  and  Two  are  written  by  Mormon  scholars 
who  explore  the  myths  of  Mormon  History.  The  twelve 
essays  lay  the  foundation  for  the  non-Mormon  reader  and 
broadens  the  reader's  view  of  Mormon  history. 

Known  for  adhering  to  the  ancient  scholarly  tradition 
of  precise  recordkeeping,  the  Mormons  have  been  called 
into  question  on  the  historical  documentation  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon.  However,  Richard  Bushman,  Professor  of 
History  at  the  University  of  Delaware,  does  not  address 
this  controversy  in  his  essay,  "The  Book  of  Mormon  in 
Early  Mormon  History."  Instead,  he  advises  us  to  not  use 
the  proof  text  method  in  our  analyses,  but  to  bear  in  mind 
the  "genius  of  the  Book  of  Mormon"  which  "is  that  it 
brings  an  entire  society  and  culture  into  existence,  with 
a  religion,  an  economy,  a  technology,  a  government,  a 
geography,  a  sociology,  all  combined  into  a  complete 
world."  He  states:  "Nothing  less  than  the  restoration  of 
world  history  was  the  charge  given  to  Joseph  Smith  when 
he  accepted  the  responsibilities  of  seer  and  translator  pro- 
phesied of  him  in  the  Book  of  Mormon." 

Thomas  G.  Alexander,  Director  of  Brigham  Young 
University's  Charles  Redd  Center  for  Western  Studies, 
continues  Bushman's  line  of  thinking  in  "  'A  New  and 
Everlasting  Covenant':  An  Approach  to  the  Theology  of 
Joseph  Smith."  Since  the  idea  of  a  covenant  between  God 
and  man  are  both  present  in  Judeo-Christian  tradition  and 
biblical  accounts,  Joseph  believed  that  the  restoration  of 
the  gospel  could  only  be  accomplished  if  mankind  would 
realize  the  old  covenant  had  been  broken  and  a  new  cov- 
enant adopted.  The  term  covenant  is  used  so  many  dif- 
ferent ways  in  early  Mormon  history  that  it  can  be  seen 
as  "the  central  organizing  principle  of  the  faith  of  early 
Latter-day  Saint  theology."  Joseph  Smith  used  this  con- 
cept of  a  new  covenant  to  bring  an  entire  new  society  and 
culture  into  existence  as  he  played  the  role  that  we  today 
associate  with  biblical  prophets.  His  continuous  revelations 
from  God  on  the  original  intent  of  the  biblical  texts  became 
the  foundational  doctrines  of  the  church.  Alexander  pur- 


sues the  early  understanding  of  these  doctrines  in  the  Mor- 
mon society,  and  concludes  with  the  observation  that 
people  were  attracted  to  Mormonism  because  they  were 
searching  for  the  message  of  the  primitive  church,  the  im- 
minence of  the  second  coming  of  Christ  and  the  certainty 
that  those  who  preached  the  gospel  had  authority. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  church  the  number  of  followers 
was  limited.  However,  after  the  Saints  reached  Utah,  the 
church  had  to  address  the  need  for  admirustration  and  cen- 
tralized dedsion-making.  The  collection  of  tithes,  the  crea- 
tion of  the  United  Order  of  Enoch  for  communitarian 
reform,  the  industrialization  and  urbanization  of  a  tradi- 
tionally rural  society,  the  development  of  missions  abroad, 
the  impact  of  suffrage  on  Mormon  women  and  the  infusion 
of  other  cultures  into  Utah  were  some  of  the  issues  ad- 
dressed in  this  phase  of  development.  The  historians  in 
Part  Two  reflect  this  social  history  by  exploring  these 
various  facets  of  Mormon  life. 

Part  Three  and  Part  Four  provided  a  point  of  reference 
to  identify  intellectually  with  their  culture  and  faith.  The 
scholars'  comparative  analysis  of  Mormon  thought  as  it 
relates  to  traditional  Christian  theology  seemed  to  indicate 
a  movement  by  Mormon  historians  to  bring  the  Mormon 
church  into  the  mainstream  of  today's  American  religious 
movement.  Jan  Shipps,  Director  of  the  Center  for  American 
Studies  at  Indiana  University-Purdue  University,  addresses 
the  stereotypes  of  Mormon  and  non-Mormon  communities 
in  the  20th  century.  Her  model  categories  of  people,  which 
she  locates  along  a  belief-behavior  continuum,  was  quite 
helpful  in  delineating  the  current  thought  on  Mormonism. 
The  comparative  essay  on  the  "Socioreligious  Radicalism 
of  the  Mormon  Church:  A  Parallel  to  the  Anabaptist,"  and 
the  philosophical  essay  on  "Time  in  Mormon  History," 
were  especially  stimulating  for  those  of  us  who  are  in- 
terested in  biblical  history  and  thought.  James  Allen's 
discussion  of  the  historiography  of  Mormonism  since  1950 
in  "Creators  and  Creations  of  Mormon  History"  empha- 
sized that  Mormon  historians  are  no  longer  having  to  ap- 
proach their  task  from  a  defensive  position;  they  are  now 
able  to  re-examine  old  assumptions  and  seek  new  perspec- 
tives on  their  own  history. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  we  as  historians  can  be  more 
objective  as  we  are  removed  from  situations  or  events  by 
time.  Possibly  this  is  true.  However,  as  the  Mormon  his- 
torians perform  more  research  and  re-interpret  their  past 
history,  I  hope  they  do  not  re-interpret  the  motives,  con- 
victions and  passions  that  were  such  a  vital  part  of  that 
history.  The  evolution  of  each  religious  movement  contains 
these  so-called  irrational  elements  and  they  are  usually  the 
driving  force  in  the  early  development  and  fulfillment  of 
each  member's  own  unspoken  ideals.  This  collection  of 
essays  is  another  step  in  the  development  of  the  Mormon 
movement  and  is  a  worthy  accomplishment  by  these 
scholars. 

RHEBA  MASSEY 
The  reviewer  is  the  Review  and  Compliance  Historian,  Wyoming  State  Historic 
Preservation  Office,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 

59 


No  Stqt  Backward:  Women  and  Family  on  the  Rocky  Mountain  Mining  Frontier, 
Helena,  Montana,  1865-1900.  By  Paula  Petrik.  Helena:  Montana  Historical 
Society  Press,  1987.  Index.  Bibliography.  Notes.  Appendices,  xix  and 
141  pp.  Cloth  $19.95. 

Central  to  Paula  Petrik's  No  Step  Backward  is  her  belief 
that  "The  urban  mining  frontier  transformed  its  in- 
habitants, particularly  its  women,  and  promoted  increased 
economic  opportunity  and  social  equality  for  its  oftentimes 
unwilling  changelings"  (xiii).  To  test  this  thesis  Petrik 
chooses  as  her  venue  Helena,  Montana,  a  rough  mining 
camp  that  evolved  into  a  regional  economic  and  political 
center  in  the  northern  Rockies. 

Petrik  begins  with  a  survey  of  Helena's  early  economic 
evolution.  Its  demographic  composition  during  its  forma- 
tive years  was  decidedly  male— typical  of  nearly  all  early 
frontier  urban  areas.  Yet  the  male  domination  of  the 
business  climate  provided  economic  opportunity  for  many 
of  the  women  who  slowly  trickled  in  from  the  East  (and 
from  other  western  mining  camps)  especially  in  the  ser- 
vice sector,  including  prostitution.  The  profession  soon 
became  "the  largest  single  female  employment  outside  the 
home  until  1900"  in  Helena  (p.  25).  Indeed,  during  the 
1870s  and  1880s  Petrik  contends  that  Helena's  prostitutes 
"created  an  economic  empire  within  the  city"  (p.  24).  The 
author's  chapter  on  Helena's  prostitution,  "Capitalists 
with  Rooms,"  is  a  lively  and  original  contribution  to  the 
scholarship  on  the  subject  and  grounded  in  first  rate 
statistical  research.  Petrik  analyzes  court  records,  deeds, 
mortgages,  tax  assessments  and  census  returns  to  paint 
an  engrossing  social  and  economic  portrait  of  these  "fancy 
ladies"  and  "soiled  doves."  By  the  mid  1880s,  as  a  group 
they  were  a  potent  force  within  Helena's  growing  econ- 
omy, outgaining  many  male  wage-earners;  several  madams 
even  enjoyed  enough  success  to  become  substantial 
property-holders  and  moved  into  legitimate  business  con- 
cerns. Many  of  these  women  also  learned  how  to  use  the 
court  system  to  their  benefit— in  short,  they  adapted  to  the 
conditions  of  the  frontier  and  learned  to  compete  in  a 
hitherto  male  dominated  arena. 

Despite  the  engaging  observations  on  Helena's  demi- 
monde, the  heart  and  soul  of  No  Step  Backward  lies  in 
Petrik's  discussion  of  Helena's  middling  women  via  her 
exploration  of  several  of  Helena's  more  prominent  early 
pioneers  and  their  progeny.  By  use  of  their  letters,  diaries 
and  even  divorce  records,  Petrik  is  able  to  breathe  life  into 
Helena's  middling  women— life  that  usually  escapes  the 
social  and  economic  historian  enslaved  by  statistics— and 
as  a  result  concludes  that  "Frontier  women  .  .  .  redefined 
womanhood"  (p.  96).  Petrik  closes  the  work  with  a 
chapter,  a  postscript  really,  on  the  women's  suffrage 
crusade  in  Montana,  again  focusing  on  Helena,  while 
detailing  how  the  movement  grew  and  developed  through 
succeeding  generations  of  pioneer  daughters. 

No  Step  Backward  is  a  meticulously  researched  work  in 
which  its  author  employs  the  latest  methodological  tech- 
niques used  by  current  social  historians.  Thankfully, 
60 


Petrik's  22  statistical  tables— the  vogue  fashion  of  contem- 
porary social  and  economic  historians— are  confined  to  ap- 
pendices and  not  forced  upon  the  reader  within  the  text. 
Furthermore,  though  this  is  a  work  mainly  on  women's 
history  and  provides  a  glimpse  at  how  frontier  women 
coped  and  ultimately  politicized  themselves  in  a  decidedly 
male  chauvinistic  world,  Petrik  has  refrained  from  stri- 
dency in  coming  to  her  conclusions  and  presents  a  carefully 
balanced,  objective  history.  No  Step  Backward  is  an 
outstanding  achievement  in  the  social  and  economic 
history  of  women  on  the  Rocky  Mountain  mining  frontier 
and  sets  a  new  standard  by  which  to  measure  future 
studies  of  the  genre. 

KEITH  EDGERTON 
The  reviewer  is  an  Instructor  in  the  Department  of  Humanities/Philosophy, 
University  of  Montana. 


Life  in  Alaska:  The  Reminiscences  of  a  Kansas  Woman,  1916-1919.  By  May 
Wynne  Lamb.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1988.  Illustrated. 
Map.  Notes.  166  pp.  Cloth  $19.95.  Paper  $8.95. 

This  is  the  story  of  May  Wynne  Lamb's  experiences 
as  a  teacher  in  the  remote  Yupik  Eskimo  village  of  Akiak 
on  the  Kuskokwim  River.  Dorothy  Wynne  Zimmerman, 
Lamb's  niece  and  a  professor  of  English  at  the  University 
of  Nebraska,  Lincoln,  edited  and  introduced  the  volume. 

The  story  itself  is  a  simple  one.  May  Wynne  Lamb 
signed  a  contract  to  teach  in  a  United  States  government 
Native  school  in  Akiak.  The  village  was  difficult  to  reach 
in  pre-aviation  days,  so  the  author  went  by  ocean  steamer 
from  Seattle  to  St.  Michael  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon 
River.  She  continued  her  journey  on  one  of  the  numerous 
river  sternwheelers  up  the  Yukon.  At  Russian  Mission  she 
and  several  others  got  off  to  travel  the  Yukon-Kuskokwim 
Portage  and  reached  Akiak  in  nine,  rather  than  the  pro- 
jected five,  days  because  of  weather  problems.  The  trip  had 
taken  nearly  six  weeks  from  point  of  origin  to  destination. 
She  settled  in  and  taught  school.  During  her  second  year 
she  met,  fell  in  love  and  married  Frank  Lamb,  a  young 
physician  who  had  come  to  take  charge  of  the  new  hospital 
at  Akiak.  The  lovers  married  in  October,  1917.  In  1918,  May 
Wynne  gave  birth  to  a  baby  boy,  and  Dr.  Lamb  died  on 
December  23, 1918,  on  the  Yukon  at  Old  Hamilton,  Alaska, 
a  victim  of  the  great  influenza  epidemic  of  that  year. 

Unfortunately,  the  author's  impressions  of  Alaska  are 
superficial  and  add  no  insights  about  the  territory  nor  its 
people  to  the  existing  literature.  Her  narrative  is  peopled 
by  stereotypes. 

For  example,  John  Kilbuck,  a  full-blooded  Delaware  In- 
dian, and  a  graduate  of  the  Moravian  school  in  Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania,  she  describes  as  "very  quiet  and  reserved 
with  an  air  of  dignity,  possessing  many  of  the  attributes 
of  his  race  ...  If  he  was  your  friend,  he  was  loyal  to  the 
last"  (p.  33).  That  description,  of  course,  fits  the  noble 
savage  perfectly. 

Ole  Andersen  is  the  stereotypical  Norwegian,  "with 
all  the  earmarks  of  his  country  in  looks  and  speech:  sun- 


bleached  hair,  blue  stem,  piercing  eyes,  and  a  bright,  hand- 
some face"  (p.  33).  Her  Scandinavians  are  all  broad- 
shouldered  and  tall.  The  one  Englishman,  Percy  Goodair, 
as  expected,  was  cultured  and  "came  with  all  the  dignity 
of  an  English  lord,  for  he  had  a  title"  (p.  65). 

The  Natives  do  not  fare  too  well  at  the  author's  hands. 
She  made  no  efforts  to  understand  another  culture.  All 
Natives  speak  pidgin  English.  For  example,  the  Eskimo 
guide  who  took  the  party  across  the  Yukon-Kuskokwim 
Portage,  is  typical.  At  the  end  of  the  journey  he  states 
proudly:  "Me  takum  pay.  Me  no  gettum  lost"  (p.  34).  Her 
children  enjoyed  school  "for  there  was  little  of  interest  in 
that  country  to  divert  their  attention,  or  to  play  hooky" 
(p.  59).  Natives,  of  course,  had  an  entirely  different  view 
of  their  country.  The  author  describes  the  steam  bath  as 
"a  unique  way  of  bathing"  which  "answered  in  a  primitive 
way  the  same  purpose  as  our  hot  and  cold  shower"  (p. 
87).  On  Yupik  dancing,  a  most  important  facet  of  that 
culture,  she  observes  that  "it  was,  indeed,  a  simple,  artless 
dance"  (p.  88). 

In  short,  the  author  spent  three  years  in  Alaska  and 
yet  learned  little,  if  anything,  about  the  people  she  was 
to  serve.  Perhaps  it  is  unrealistic  to  expect  a  teacher  to  have 
the  powers  of  observations  of  the  Russian  explorer.  Lieu- 


tenant L.  A.  Zagoskin,  who  traveled  in  that  region  between 
1842  to  1844  and  left  a  splendid  account  of  his  experiences. 
This  reviewer  is  of  the  firm  opinion  that  most  of  the  jour- 
nals left  by  government  officials,  teachers  or  missionaries 
do  not  merit  publication.  The  few  meritorious  manuscripts 
should  be  published  because  they  enrich  our  understand- 
ing of  life  in  the  north  and  Alaska's  Native  cultures.  May 
Wynne  Lamb's  Life  in  Alaska  does  not  belong  in  the  latter 
category.  Her  book,  however,  tells  us  much  about  her  char- 
acter and  attitudes,  and  those  of  the  society  she  lived  in. 
There  are  a  few  mistakes.  There  was  no  such  office  as 
a  territorial  marshal  (p.  51).  Alaska  had  a  federal  judiciary, 
and  by  Mrs.  Lamb's  time,  the  territory  had  been  divided 
into  four  judicial  divisions,  each  with  a  U.S.  Marshal  who 
appointed  his  deputy  U.S.  Marshals.  Ducks  did  not  live 
on  fish  (p.  55),  so  what  the  author  cooked  could  not  have 
been  ducks.  The  parka  covers  are  called  kuspuks,  not 
cushbrooks  (p.  91).  The  Kuskokwim  River  certainly  does 
not  translate  into  Cough  river.  Kuskokwim  is  the  genitive 
of  Kuskowik.  The  last  syllable  means  river,  and  the  rest 
of  the  name  is  of  unknown  meaning. 

CLAUS-M.  NASKE 
The  reviewer  is  a  Professor  in  the  Department  of  History,  University  of  Alaska 
Fairbanks. 


BOOK  NOTES 


The  Exploring  Expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  By  John  C.  Fremont. 
Washington,  D.C.:  Smithsonian  Institution  Press,  1988.  Illustrated. 
XV  and  319  pp.  Paper  $14.95. 


Exploration  of  the  Valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  By  Howard  Stansbury. 
Washington,  D.C.:  Smithsonian  Institution  Press,  1988.  Illustrated. 
Index,  xiii  and  421  pp.  Paper  $24.95. 

In  its  Exploring  the  American  West  series,  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  Press  is  reprinting  rare  and  out-of-print 
reports  origjnaUy  prepared  by  the  nation's  first  government 
and  military  explorers.  Included  in  the  John  C.  Fremont 
work  are  his  expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  1842 
and  his  explorations  of  Oregon  and  California  in  1843  and 
1844.  These  reports  were  first  published  in  1845.  In  1849 
and  1850,  Howard  Stansbury  explored  and  surveyed  the 
valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Both  Fremont  and  Stansbury 
were  part  of  the  U.S.  Army  Corps  of  Topographical  Engi- 
neers. These  and  other  reports  provided  the  first  glimpses 
of  the  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi  River. 


Historic  Sites  and  Markers  along  the  Mormon  and  Other  Great  Western  Trails. 
By  Stanley  B.  Kimball.  Urbana  and  Chicago:  University  of  Illinois 
Press,  1988.  Illustrated.  Index.  Maps.  Appendix.  Bibliography,  xviii 
and  299  pp.  Cloth  $37.50.  Paper  $15.95. 

In  this  book,  the  author  traces  the  routes  of  the  Mor- 
mon, Oregon-California,  Overland,  Santa  Fe  and  other 
trails  followed  by  westward  pioneers  during  the  19th  cen- 
tury. The  author  also  describes  important  points  of  interest, 
including  forts,  trail  centers  and  museums.  The  many  maps 
and  photographs  are  great  additions  to  the  book. 


With  Crook  at  the  Rosebud.  By  J.W.  Vaughn.  Lincoln:  University  of 
Nebraska  Press,i^988.  Originally  published:  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania: 
Stackpole  Co.,  1956.  Illustrated.  Map.  Index.  Notes.  Bibliography. 
Appendices.  171  pp.  Paper  $8.95. 

A  week  before  General  George  Custer's  defeat  at  the 
Little  Big  Horn,  a  U.S.  Cavalry  and  Infantry  column  led 
by  General  George  Crook  fought  a  party  of  Cheyenne  and 
Sioux  led  by  Crazy  Horse  at  the  bend  of  the  Rosebud  River. 

61 


J.  W.  Vaughn  carefully  examined  this  battle  which  he  con- 
sidered to  be  of  greater  historical  significance  than  the  one 
Custer  lost. 


The  Bullwhacker:  Adventures  of  a  Frontier  Freighter.  By  William  Francis 
Hooker.  Edited  by  Howard  R.  EMggs.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska 
Press,  1988.  Originally  published:  Yonkers-on-Hudson:  World  Bk. 
Co.,  1924.  lUustrated.  xxi  and  167  pp.  Paper  $5.95. 

William  Hooker  left  Wisconsin  bound  for  Wyoming 
Territory  in  the  early  1870s.  Soon  afterward  he  found 
himself  driving  a  team  of  oxen  hauling  supplies  to  such 
places  as  Fort  Fetterman  and  Red  Cloud  Agency.  He 
chronicled  his  adventures  in  this  book  which  was  first 
published  in  1924. 


Tim  McCoy  Remembers  the  West.  By  Tim  McCoy  with  Ronald  McCoy. 
Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1988.  Originally  published: 
Garden  City,  New  York:  Doubleday,  1977.  Index.  Illustrated,  xxii  and 
267  pp.  Paper  $8.95. 

Tim  McCoy,  known  and  remembered  as  a  star  of 
Western  films  in  the  1920s  and  1930s,  also  was  a  working 
cowboy  and  rancher,  a  performer  in  the  Ringling  Brothers 
and  Barnum  and  Bailey  Circus  and  head  of  a  Wild  West 
show.  In  his  autobiography  McCoy  relates  episodes  of  his 
long  life  in  the  American  West. 


Cheyenne:  City  of  Blue  Sky.  By  Judith  Adams.  Northridge,  California: 
Windsor  Publications,  Inc.,  1988.  Illustrated.  Index.  Bibliography.  123 
pp.  Cloth  $27.95. 

This  is  a  promotional  book  about  Wyoming's  capital 
city.  Produced  in  cooperation  with  the  Cheyenne  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Cheyenne:  City  of  Blue  Sky  contains  many 
historical  photographs  along  with  a  brief  history  of  the  city. 


Buckskins,  Bullets,  and  Business:  A  History  of  Buffalo  Bill's  Wild  West.  By 
Sarah  J.  Blackstone.  Westport,  Connecticut:  Greenwood  Press,  Inc., 
1986.  Illustrated.  Index.  Notes.  Bibliographical  Essay,  xi  and  134  pp. 
Cloth  $27.95. 

This  study  looks  at  the  career  of  Buffalo  Bill  Cody  dur- 
ing the  years  he  organized,  promoted  and  starred  in  his 
Wild  West  show.  The  author  included  such  topics  as  the 


logistics  of  touring  such  a  show,  the  treatment  of  Indians 
and  other  minorities,  as  well  as  the  way  the  show 
presented  a  mythic  image  of  the  American  West  which  is 
still  with  us  today. 


The  Galvanized  Yankees.  By  Dee  Brown.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska 
Press,  1986.  Illustrated.  Index.  Map.  Notes.  Bibliography.  216  pp. 
Paper  $7.95. 

This  book  tells  the  story  of  the  Galvanized  Yankees, 
those  capttired  Corifederate  soldiers  who  agreed  to  switch 
uniforms  in  order  to  serve  in  the  West  and  provide  a 
valuable  service  at  a  time  of  great  need.  From  1864  to  1866 
these  soldiers  fought  Indians,  escorted  supply  trains  along 
the  Oregon  and  Santa  Fe  Trails,  guarded  surveying  par- 
ties for  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  and  manned  lonely  out- 
posts on  the  frontier. 


Molders  and  Simpers:  Montana  Women  as  Community  Builders,  An  Oral 
History  Sampler  and  Guide.  By  Laurie  Mercier,  Mary  Murphy,  Linda 
Peavy,  Diane  Sands,  Ursula  Smith.  Molders  and  Shapers  Collective 
of  Montana,  1987.  Illustrated.  Bibliography.  Appendices.  33  pp.  Paper 

$8.00. 

The  authors  of  this  study  saw  a  need  to  reevaluate  the 
role  women  and  women's  organizations  have  played  in 
shaping  Montana  communities.  Not  only  does  the  study 
accomplish  that  purpose,  but  much  more.  It  also  serves 
as  a  guide  to  the  planning  and  producing  of  oral  history 
projects.  The  book  describes  the  steps  necessary  for  a  suc- 
cessful oral  history  project:  collecting  records;  examining 
records;  outlining  topics;  conducting  the  interview;  pro- 
cessing the  interview;  and  turning  out  a  final  product.  In- 
cluded are  sample  forms  needed  for  any  successful  project. 


To  No  Privileged  Class:  The  Rationalization  of  Homesteading  and  Rural  Life 
in  the  Early  Twentieth-Century  American  West.  By  Stanford  J.  Layton. 
Brigham  Young  University,  Charles  Redd  Center  for  Western  Studies, 
1988.  Index.  Notes.  Tables.  90  pp.  Paper  $6.95. 

This  monograph,  seventeenth  in  the  Charles  Redd 
Monograph  Series,  examines  the  origin  of  the  enlarged 
homestead  acts  of  the  20th  century  American  West,  their 
lack  of  success  and  eventually  their  supersession  by  the 
1934  Taylor  Grazing  Act. 


Corrections  to  Fall,  1988,  Annals  of  Wyoming  ...  In  the 
review  of  Calamity  Jane  and  the  Lady  Wildcats,  Wild  BUI 
Hickok's  correct  name  should  have  been  James  Butler 
Hickok  instead  of  William  Butler  Hickok  ...  In  the  arti- 
cle, "The  Mummy  Cave,"  all  photographs  were  taken  by 
Jack  Richards. 
62 


INDEX 


Altman,  Henry,  15 

American  Israelite  11-12,  25 

The  American  West  in  Film:  Critical  Approaches  to  the  Western,  by  Jon  Tuska, 

review,  58 
Anderson,  Charlie,  3,  5 
Arnold,  Thurman,  33 
Aronstein,  Moritz,  14 
Artist,  Floyd,  5 

6 

Bamberger,  Simon,  15 

Barrett,  Gov.  Frank,  6 

Battle  of  the  Rosebud:  Prelude  to  the  Little  Big  Horn,  by  Neil  C.  Mangum, 
review,  57-58 

Beecher,  Maureen  Ursenbach,  editor,  Nezv  Views  of  Mormon  History:  A  Col- 
lection of  Essays  in  Honor  of  Leonard  /.  Arrington,  review,  58-59 

Benjamin,  Charles,  23 

Bennett,  Clara,  40,  43,  45-46 

Bennett,  Dr.  William  Sabin,  40-46;  photo,  39 

Bitton,  Davis,  editor,  Neiv  Views  of  Mormon  History:  A  Collection  of  Essays 
in  Honor  of  Leonard  ].  Arrington,  review,  58-59 

Bolton,  Isodore,  14 

The  Bozeman  Trail:  Highway  of  History,  by  Robert  A.  Murray,  review,  56-57 

Brooks,  Fanny,  3 

Brooks,  Gov.  Bryant  B.,  3 


Carey,  Gov.  Joseph  M.,  4,  20-21,  26 
Carey,  Juha,  5 
Carey,  Gov.  Robert  D.,  5 
Chadwick,  H.  W.,  6;  photo,  7 
Chambers,  Ida,  36 
Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  11-16,  22-28 
Chisholm,  James,  11 
Clark,  Gov.  Alonzo  M.,  5 
Cody,  Wyoming,  23,  41-44 
Cohen,  Nathan,  19 
Conroy,  Florence,  8 
Cook,  Dave,  3-4 
Cook,  Peter  S.,  3 
Crane,  Gov.  Arthur  G.,  6 

The  Custer  Tragedy:  Events  Leading  up  to  and  Following  the  Little  Big  Horn 
Campaign  of  1876,  by  Fred  Dustin,  review,  57-58 

D 

Dary,  David,  Entrepreneurs  of  the  Old  West,  review,  55-56 

Dettirsch,  Baron,  17 

"Dr.  WiUiam  Sabin  Bennett:  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  a  Pioneer  Doctor,"  Ester 

Johansson  Murray,  39-46 
Duffy,  Annie,  3 
Durlacher,  Simon,  15 
Dustin,  Fred,  The  Custer  Tragedy:  Events  Leading  up  to  and  Following  the 

Little  Big  Horn  Campaign  of  1876,  review,  57-58 


Edgerton,  Keith,  review  of  No  Step  Backivard:  Women  and  Family  on  the  Roch/ 

Mountain  Mining  Frontier,  Helena,  Montana,  1865-1900,  60 
Emerson,  Gov.  Frank  C,  5;  photo,  5 
Entrepreneurs  of  the  Old  West,  by  David  Dary,  review,  55-56 


Ferch,  David  L.,  review  of  The  Bozeman  Trail:  Highway  of  History,  56-57 
Frank,  Meyer,  14;  photo,  15 
Fremont,  John  C,  33 


Gage,  Gov.  Jack  R.,  6 
Galveston  Plan,  23-24 
Goldstein,  Abraham,  27 
Grant,  Evelyn,  6 
Grimes,  James  R.,  3 


H 


Halladay  Wind  Mill  Company,  33 

Hallberg,  Carl  V.,  "Jews  in  Wyoming,' 

Hansen,  Gov.  Clifford  P.,  6,  8 

Hansen,  Martha,  8 

Harding,  President  Warren  G.,  5 

Hathaway,  Bobby,  8 

Hathaway,  Gov.  Stanley,  8 

Heart  Mountain  Relocation  Center,  47- 

HEBCO  Wind  Electric  Company,  34 

Hellman,  Ben,  11,  14 

HeUman,  Isaac,  15 

Herschler,  Casey,  8-9;  photo,  8 

Herschler,  Gov.  Ed,  8-9;  photo,  8 

Hickey,  Gov.  J.  J.,  6 

Hoffman,  Rabbi  Abraham,  27 

Houx,  Gov.  Frank,  4-5 

Houx,  Ida,  4-5 

Hunt,  Ehse  Nila,  6;  photo,  7 

Hunt,  Gov.  Lester  C,  6 

Hunt,  Nathelle,  6 

Huntley,  Wyoming,  17-19 


photos,  47-54 


I 


Idelman,  Max,  14-15;  photo,  14 
Idelman,  Samuel,  23 
Industrial  Recovery  Office,  22-24 
Iowa  Center,  Wyoming,  18-19 

J 

Jensen,  Clara,  36 

Jewish  Agricultural  Society,  17-22,  24 

Jewish  Agriculturists'  Aid  Society  of  America,  18-19,  21 

"Jews  in  Wyoming,"  Carl  V.  Hallberg,  10-31 

Jordan,  Roy,  review  of  Entrepreneurs  of  the  Old  West,  55-56 


K 


Kendrick,  Gov.  John  B.,  4 
Kendrick,  Manville,  4 
Kendrick,  Rosa-Maye,  4 


Lamb,  May  Wynne,  Life  in  Alaska:  The  Reminiscences  of  a  Kansas  Woman, 

1916-1919,  review,  60-61 
Laramie,  Wyoming,  14-15,  26-27 
Lebowitz,  Rabbi  Arthur;  photo,  27 
Levy,  Rabbi  Abraham  R.,  18;  photo,  19 
Levy,  Rabbi  Leonard,  17-18;  photo,  16 
Life  in  Alaska:  The  Reminiscences  of  a  Kansas  Woman,  1916-1919,  by  May 

Wynne  Lamb,  review,  60-61 
Lilienthal,  Dr.  Max,  13 
Love,  David,  33 
Lucas,  Gov.  Frank,  5 

M 
McDermott,  John  D.,  review  of  The  Sword  of  the  Republic:  The  United  States 

Army  on  the  Frontier,  1743-1846,  55 
Mangum,  NeilC,  Battle  of  the  Rosebud:  Prelude  to  the  Little  Bighorn,  review, 

57-58 

63 


Mann  Act,  40,  45 

Marks,  Maier,  11-12,  14-15 

Massey,  Rheba,  review  of  New  Views  of  Mormon  History:  A  Collection  of 

Essays  in  Honor  of  Leonard  ].  Arrington,  58-59 
Massie,  Michael  A.,  review  of  Battle  of  the  Rosebud:  Prelude  to  the  Little 

Bighorn,  57-58 
Massie,  Michael  A.,  review  of  The  Custer  Tragedy:  Events  Leading  up  to  and 

Following  the  Little  Big  Horn  Campaign  of  1876,  57-58 
Medicine  Bow,  Wyoming,  36-37 
Meeteetse,  Wyoming,  40-41 
Meyers,  William,  12,  14-15 
Miller,  Jeanette  Cheeseman,  41 
Miller,  Gov.  Leslie  A.,  5-6 
Molesworth,  Tom,  6 

Mt.  Sinai  Synagogue,  26-27;  photos,  26,  28 
Murdock,  Charles  W.,  3 
Murray,  Ester  Johansson,  "Dr.  William  Sabin  Bennett:  The  Rise  and  Fall 

of  a  Pioneer  Doctor,"  39-46 
Murray,  Robert  A.,  The  Bozeman  Trail:  Highway  of  History,  review,  56-57 

N 

Naske,  Claus-M.,  review  of  Life  in  Alaska:  The  Reminiscences  of  a  Kansas 
Woman,  1916-1919,  60-61 

New  Views  of  Mormon  History:  A  Collection  of  Essays  in  Ho}tor  of  Leonard  J. 
Arrington,  edited  by  Davis  Bitton  and  Maureen  Ursenbach  Beecher, 
review  58-59 

Nixon,  Richard,  8 

No  Step  Backward:  Women  and  Family  on  the  Rocky  Mountain  Mining  Fron- 
tier, Heletw,  Montana,  1865-1900,  by  Paula  Petrik,  review,  60 


o 


Olson,  Ted,  33 


Pearlstine,  S.  S.,  19 

Petrik,  Paula,  No  Step  Backward.  Women  and  Family  on  the  Rocky  Mountain 

Mining  Frontier,  Helena,  Montana,  1865-1900,  review,  60 
Prante,  Ray,  41,  43 
Prucha,  Francis  Paul,  The  Sword  of  the  Republic:  The  United  States  Army 

on  the  Frontier,  1743-1846,  review,  55 
Pruess,  Charles,  33 
Purvis,  Frances,  43-44 

R 

R.  G.  Dun  and  Company,  15 

Righter,  Robert  W.,  "The  Wind  at  Work  in  Wyoming,"  32-38 

Roberts,  PhU,  review  of  The  American  West  in  Film:  Critical  Approaches  to 

the  West,  58 
Rockefeller,  Gov.  Nelson,  8 


Rogers,  Gov.  C.  J.  "Doc,"  6 

Rosenwald,  Julius,  18,  20-21 

Ross,  Gov.  Nellie  Tayloe,  5 

Ross,  Gov.  William  B.,  5 

Rothschild,  Herman,  15 

Rural  Electrification  Administration,  36 


Schenck,  Roy,  20-21 
Schiff,  Jacob,  23-24 
Scribner,  Charles,  6 
Scribner,  Johneana,  6 
Shapiro,  Abe,  19 
Sienkiewicz,  Henry,  13 
Simpson,  Gov,  Milward,  6 
Sincher,  Morris,  20 
Smith,  Charlotte  Chaplin,  3 
Smith,  Marie,  6 
Smith,  Gov.  Nels,  6 
Spurlock,  Melissa  Brooks,  3;  photo,  4 
Stephen,  Mary,  8 
St.  Clair,  Mrs.  W.  E.,  45 
Sullivan,  Jane,  9 
Sullivan,  Gov.  Mike,  9 
Susman,  Rabbi  S.  Morris,  27 

The  Sword  of  the  Republic:  The  United  States  Army  on  the  Frontier,  1783-1846, 
by  Francis  Paul  Prucha,  review,  55 


Tennyson,  Lloyd,  43 
Torrington,  Wyoming,  17-19,  22 
Truman,  President  Harry,  6 

Tuska,  Jon,  The  American  West  in  Film:  Critical  Approaches  to  the  Western, 
review,  58 

u 

Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations,  12-13,  25 

w 

Waldman,  Morris,  24 

Wallace,  Mercedes  Houx,  4-5 

War  Relocation  Authority,  47-48 

White,  Timothy,  "Wyoming's  Historic  Governors'  Mansion,"  2-9 

"The  Wind  at  Work  in  Wyoming,"  Robert  W.  Righter,  32-38 

Wise,  Rabbi  Isaac  Meyer,  11-13,  25 

Wister,  Owen,  33 

Wyoming  Jewish  Press,  26-27 

"Wyoming's  Historic  Governors'  Mansion,"  Timothy  White,  2-9 


64 


WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

The  Wyoming  State  Historical  Society  was  organized  in  October,  1953. 
Membership  is  open  to  anyone  interested  in  history.  County  chapters  of  the  society 
have  been  chartered  in  most  of  the  twenty- three  counties  of  Wyoming.  Past 
presidents  of  the  society  include;  Frank  Bowron,  Casper,  1953-55;  William  L. 
Marion,  Lander,  1955-56;  Dr.  DeWitt  Dominick,  Cody,  1956-57;  Dr.  T.  A.  Lar- 
son, Laramie,  1957-58;  A.  H.  MacDougall,  Rawlins,  1958-59;  Mrs.  Thelma  G.  Con- 
dit,  Buffalo,  1959-60;  E.  A.  Littleton,  Gillette,  1960-61;  Edness  Kimball  WUkins, 
Casper,  1961-62;  Charles  Ritter,  Cheyenne,  1962-63;  Neal  E.  Miller,  Rawlins, 
1963-65;  Mrs.  Charles  Hord,  Casper,  1965-66;  Glenn  Sweem,  Sheridan,  1966-67; 
Adrian  Reynolds,  Green  River,  1967-68;  Curtiss  Root,  Torrington,  1968-69;  Mrs. 
Hattie  Bumstad,  Worland,  1969-70;  J.  Reuel  Armstrong,  Rawlins,  1970-71;  William 
R.  Dubois,  Cheyenne,  1971-72;  Henry  F.  Chadey,  Rock  Springs,  1972-73;  Richard 
S.  Dumbrill,  Newcastle,  1973-74;  Henry  Jensen,  Casper,  1974-75;  Jay  Brazelton, 
Jackson,  1975-76;  Ray  Pendergraft,  Worland,  1976-77;  David  J.  Wasden,  Cody, 
1977-78;  Mabel  Brown,  Newcastle,  1978-79;  James  June,  Green  River,  1979-80; 
William  F.  Bragg,  Jr.,  Casper,  1980-81;  Don  Hodgson,  Torrington,  1981-82,  Clara 
Jensen,  Lysite-Casper,  1982-83;  Fern  Gaensslen,  Green  River,  1983-84;  Dave 
Kathka,  Rock  Springs,  1984-85;  Mary  Garman,  Sundance,  1985-86;  Ellen  Mueller, 
Cheyenne,  1986-87;  Mary  Nielsen,  Cody,  1987-1988. 


Membership  information  may  be  obtained  from  the  Executive  Headquarters, 
Wyoming  State  Historical  Society,  Barrett  Building,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming  82002. 
Dues  in  the  state  society  are: 

Life  Membership  $100 

Joint  Life  Membership  (husband  and  wife) $150 

Annual  Membership $5 

Joint  Annual  Membership  (two  persons  of  same  family 

at  same  address) $7 

Institutional  Membership $10 


President,  Loren  Jost,  Riverton 

First  Vice  President,  Lucille  Clarke  Dumbrill,  Newcastle 
1988-89     Second  Vice-President,  Danny  Smith,  Cody 
Officers    Secretary-Treasurer,  Gladys  Hill,  Douglas 

Executive-Secretary,  David  Kathka 

Coordinator,  Judy  West 


HI 


A 


NNALS  of  WYOMING 


Volume  61,  No.  2 
Fall,  1989 


GOVERNOR  OF  WYOMING 

Mike  Sullivan 

:)IRECTOR 

David  Kathka 

•DITOR 

Rick  Ewig 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 

Jean  Brainerd 
Roger  Joyce 
Ann  Nelson 

■DITORIAL  ASSISTANTS 

Kathy  Flores 
Judy  West 

•HOTOGRAPHIC 
ASSISTANTS 

Paula  West-Chavoya 
Carroll  Jones 
Ed  Fowler 


ATi^OMING  STATE  PRESS 
MANAGING  EDITOR 
Rick  Ewig 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

A  TERRITORY  IS  FOUNDED:  Political,  Social, 
Econonuc  and  Educational  Conditions 

in  Wyoming  1850-1890  2 

by  Johanna  Nel 

THE  OVERLAND  MAIL  IN  WYOMING  13 

by  Patricia  Ann  Owens 

"Y'ALL  CALL  ME  NIGGER  JIM  NOW, 
BUT  SOMEDAY  YOU'LL  CALL  ME 
MR.  JAMES  EDWARDS": 
Black  Success  on  the  Plains  of 

the  Equality  State 20 

by  Todd  R.  Guenther 

ISAAC  C.  MILLER:  Events  in 

The  Life  of  a  "High-Toned"  Dane 41 

by  Mark  E.  Miller 

INSIDE  WYOMING 51 

ANNALS'  REVIEWS 53 

BOOK  NOTES 57 

INDEX 59 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING  is  published  biannually  in  the  Spring  and  Fall  by  the  Wyoming 
State  Press.  It  is  received  by  all  members  of  the  Wyoming  State  Historical  Society  as  the  of- 
ficial publication  of  that  orgatuzation.  Copies  of  previous  and  current  issues  may  be  purchased 
from  the  Editor.  Correspondence  should  be  addressed  to  the  Editor.  Published  articles  repre- 
sent the  views  of  the  author  and  are  not  necessarily  those  of  the  Wyoming  State  Archives, 
Museums  and  Historical  Department  or  the  Wyoming  State  Historical  Society.  ANNALS  OF 
WYOMING  articles  are  abstracted  in  Historical  Abstracts.  America:  History  and  Life. 
©  Copyright  1989  by  the  Wyoming  State  Press 


A  TERRITORY  IS  FOUNDED: 

POLITICAL,  SOCIAL,  ECONOMIC  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
CONDITIONS  IN  WYOMING  1850-1890 


By  Johanna  Nel 


The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  played  a  very  important  role  in  the  founding  and  settling  of  Wyoming.  This  photograph  icas  taken  in  1870. 


Last  year,  1988,  marked  the  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  first  official  step  taken  towards  the  establishment  of 
the  State  of  Wyoming.  On  February  7,  1888,  the  Tenth 
Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Territory  of  Wyoming  formally 
requested  permission  from  Congress  to  write  a  constitu- 
tion and  to  form  a  government  of  their  own.  At  this  his- 
toric time  many  Wyomingites  and  others  interested  in 
the  history  of  the  West  are  turning  their  attention  to  earlier 
days  when  this  vast  land  was  being  tamed.  Why  did  peo- 
ple come  to  Wyoming?  What  factors  led  to  statehood? 
What  were  the  political,  social,  economic  and  educational 
conditions  prior  to,  and  during,  territorial  days?  With 
this  essay  an  attempt  is  made  to  answer  some  of  these 
questions. 

At  the  dose  of  the  18th  century,  Wyoming  still  lay 
virtually  undiscovered  by  White  Americans.  The  land 
beyond  the  Mississippi  River  was  believed  to  be  an  area 
unfit  for  White  men,  a  vast,  inhospitable  stretch  of  desert 
sands  beyond  which  the  mountains  lay  as  an  insurmount- 
able barrier.  During  the  first  half  of  the  19th  century,  the 
only  White  inhabitants  of  the  entire  Rocky  Mountain  area 
were  the  trappers  and  traders  who  were  migrating  from 
place  to  place.  Even  though  official  reports  of  government 
explorers,  such  as  Lewis  and  Clark,  called  attention  to  the 
possibilities  of  settlement  in  the  northwest  portion  of  the 
country,  almost  half  a  century  elapsed  before  the  first  ac- 
tual settlements  came  into  being.  In  fact,  it  was  not  until 
1842,  when  Captain  John  C.  Fremont  did  a  comprehen- 
sive geographical  survey  of  the  area  lying  between  the 
Missouri  River  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  that  the  extent  of 
ignorance  about  the  western  regions  was  discovered.  Fre- 
mont saw  the  possibility  of  establishing  an  overland 
communication  system  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific 
oceans.  1 

As  a  result  of  the  great  depression  of  1837  and  the 
build-up  of  population  along  the  Mississippi  River  Valley, 
many  people  in  the  United  States  looked  towards  the  West 
as  the  land  of  opportunity.  When  gold  was  discovered  in 
1848  in  California,  thousands  of  people  set  out  to  find  their 
fortunes.  Some  went  via  Cape  Horn  while  others  crossed 
the  mountains  and  plains  on  their  way  to,  what  proved 
to  be  at  that  time,  the  richest  gold  mines  in  the  world. 
Remarkable,  however,  is  the  fact  that  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try, more  traveled  over  than  any  other  area  between  the 
Pacific  Ocean  and  the  Great  Plains,  remained  unsettled  for 
an  unbelievable  long  period.^ 

The  first  people  to  come  to  Wyoming  with  the  inten- 
tion of  settling  down  were  a  group  of  55  Mormons  who 
arrived  in  November,  1853.'  Hoping  that  they  would  be  able 
to  make  a  living  by  providing  supplies  to  travelers  on  their 
way  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  they  settled  in  what  is  now 
known  as  Uinta  County.*  At  this  time  the  Indians  still  had 
full  control  over  the  northern  portion  of  the  territory— a 
situation  that  was  to  last  until  1876. 

One  of  the  most  potent  factors  in  bringing  settlers  into 
Wyoming  and  transforming  American  life  on  the  plains. 


i^L^uwu 


[on  jPaeifi^  ]^ai^ge|d.5 1^ 


etermmed  the  locatio: 
i|dV:ivisinn  points.^  Th 


transpc  rtation  for  people,  products 


-  /ay  terminals  along 

ills,  freight  depots, 

'a|d  not  only  provided 

and  manufactured 


necessities,  oui  its  owners  also  sold  the  land  which  they 
had  received  from  the  government  as  compensation  for 
building  the  railroad,  at  reasonable  prices  to  settlers.^  Ac- 
cording to  the  contract  with  the  government,  the  railroad 
companies  received,  for  each  mile  of  track  laid,  twenty  sec- 
tions of  public  land— every  odd  numbered  section  in  a  strip 
twenty  miles  on  each  side  of  the  track.*  The  availability  of 
relatively  inexpensive  land  served  as  a  tremendous  booster 
to  the  immigration  movement  to  the  West.  According  to 
Ichabod  S.  Bartlett,  the  population  of  Wyoming  increased 
from  400  people  in  1860,  to  9,118  in  1870.'  This  was  only 
an  estimate,  however,  since  no  official  census  was  taken 
before  1869.1" 

On  July  4,  1867,  the  railroad  company  established  an 
office  on  Crow  Creek  and  named  it  Cheyenne  after  an 
Indian  tribe  in  the  vicinity."  The  Union  Pacific  Land  Com- 
pany started  the  sale  of  lots  immediately.  With  a  start- 
ing price  of  $150,  a  third  of  which  had  to  be  cash,  the  same 
lots  sold  for  $1,000  one  month  later. ^^  According  to  Hubert 
H.  Bancroft,  prices  increased  at  the  rate  of  approximately 
$1,000  per  month  during  the  first  summer."  When  the 
railroad  tracks  finally  reached  Cheyenne  four  months  later, 
the  town  already  had  4,000  people,  a  city  government,  a 
brass  band  and  two  newspapers."  Within  a  few  weeks 
after  the  arrival  of  the  railroad  the  population  had  increased 
to  6,000.  Learning  that  Cheyenne  would  be  the  terminus 
for  the  winter,  "all  the  scum  of  society  which  had  drifted 
along  with  the  pay  car  of  the  railroad  company"  decided 
to  take  up  residence  in  the  town.^^  While  tents,  sodhouses 
and  "dug-outs""  provided  for  the  necessary  shelter, 
drinking,  gambling,  robberies  and  assaults  became  a  daily 
occurrence.  During  the  winter  of  1867-1868,  Cheyerme  was 
considered  by  a  number  of  authorities  as  the  worst  town 
on  the  frontier.  1^  Some  even  called  it  the  Sodom  of  the 
West!!*  When  authorities  proved  to  be  powerless  to  con- 
trol crime  and  the  patience  of  the  law  abiding  citizens  ran 
out,  a  vigilante  committee  came  into  being  to  help  keep 
the  order.  1'  The  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader  of  January  13,  1868, 
mentioned  a  vigilante  committee  of  200  strong.  Luckily, 
when  spring  came  the  majority  of  transients  moved  on 
with  the  railroad,  leaving  Cheyenne  much  more  peaceful, 
with  a  more  or  less  permanent  population  of  1,500.  In  spite 
of  the  loss  in  population  the  town  of  Cheyenne  survived 
and  continued  to  grow  at  a  steady  pace.^"  Railroad  in- 
dustries were  developed  and  stock  raising  became  the 
major  industry  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town. 

When  Laramie  City  was  laid  out  by  the  railroad  com- 
pany in  April,  1868,  the  history  of  Cheyenne  was  repeated.^! 
The  population  expanded  at  a  tremendous  rate  and  for  a 
time  this  town  too  was  overrun  by  "desperadoes  and  lewd 
women. "^  As  the  railroad  pushed  westward,  however, 
much  of  the  immoral  element  passed  along  with  it.^' 

3 


Territorial  organization  for  the  expanding  population 
along  the  railroad  became  a  political  necessity,  and  on  July 
25,  1868,  the  Organic  Act  was  passed,  which  created  Wyo- 
ming Territory  and  defined  the  present  boundaries. 2'*  It  was 
carved  out  of  the  territories  of  Dakota,  Utah  and  Idaho,  and 
was  365  miles  in  length  and  276  miles  in  width.  According 
to  a  geographical  description  that  appeared  in  the  Cheyenne 
Leader  in  1871  under  the  heading,  "Wyoming  As  It  Is,"  the 
southern  half  of  the  territory  consisted  of  an  elevated  and 
broken  plain  with  an  average  elevation  of  5-6,000  feet  above 
sea  level.  The  northern  half  of  the  territory,  with  an  average 
elevation  of  3,000  feet,  was  considered  to  be  the  best  for 
agricultural  purposes.  Regarding  the  climate,  the  author 
declared  it  to  be  "one  of  the  finest  and  most  salubrious  in 
the  world,"  one  which  exerts  a  "bracing  and  energizing  ef- 
fect on  the  human  system.  "^^ 

On  April  17,  1869,  Wyoming  territorial  government 
began  with  the  arrival  of  the  first  governor.^*  A  unique 
aspect  of  the  Wyoming  situation  was  brought  to  the  set- 
tlers' attention  when  Governor  John  A.  Campbell,  in  his 
inaugural  address  to  the  First  Legislative  Assembly,  ex- 
plained to  his  audience  that  it  was  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  the  country  that  "the  organization  of  a  territorial 
government  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  building  of  a 
railroad."  Up  until  that  time,  "the  railroad  had  been  the 
follower  instead  of  the  pioneer  of  civilization.^''  The  railroad 
and  the  telegraph  were  no  novelty  to  the  early  pioneers  of 
Wyoming,  and  "modem"  methods  of  tiavel  and  communi- 
cation constituted  a  part  of  the  very  basis  of  the  develop- 
ment in  Wyoming.^* 

As  the  building  of  the  Union  Pacific  progressed,  towns 
such  as  Benton,  Rawlins,  Green  River  City,  Bryan,  Bear  River 
City  and  Evanston  came  into  being.  ^^  Some  of  these  sur- 
vived for  only  a  short  time  while  others  became  permanent 
settlements. 

The  departure  of  the  Union  Pacific  construction  workers 
during  the  winter  of  1868-1869  brought  a  severe  decline  in 
the  population,  as  well  as  an  economic  depression.^"  The 
census,  taken  in  1869,  showed  a  population  of  only  8,014— a 
half  of  what  it  had  been  the  previous  year.^^  According  to 
Marshall  Howe's  report,  Laramie  County  had  2,165  peo- 
ple and  Albany  Covmty  2,127.^^  Resulting  from  this  massive 
departure,  public  improvements  came  to  an  almost  stand- 
still. Business  was  bad,  capital  weak,  and  opportunities  for 
laborers,  clerks  and  mechanics  almost  non-existent. ''  Illus- 
trating some  of  the  difficulties  experienced,  editor  Nathan 
A.  Baker  of  the  Cheyenne  Leader  wrote: 

The  natural  resources  of  the  mining  districts  contain  the  elements 
of  inexhaustable  wealth,  but  then  they  must  have  steady,  per- 
sistent, patient  workers.  They  must  have  costly  machinery  which 
has  to  be  freighted  up  mountains,  and  through  valleys,  and 
over  extensive  plains,  to  places  distant  from  the  great  thorough 
fares,  and  in  many  cases  almost  inaccessible.''' 

Times  remained  hard,  but  conditions  did  improve 
somewhat  during  1871  and  1872.^^  Community  leaders  such 
as  Joseph  M.  Carey  encouraged  their  fellow  citizens  by 
reminding  them  of  the  fact  that  "labor,  toU,  and  privation 
4 


John  A.  Campbell  served  as  Wyoming's  first  territorial  governor  from 
1869  until  1875. 


must  be  endured  to  make  a  new  and  unpopidated  countryi 
wealthy  and  populous."^* 

Efforts  to  attract  immigrants  were  made  by  both  gover- 
nors and  secretaries,  who  made  numerous  speeches  in  the^ 
East  praising  the  advantages  of  living  in  Wyoming. 3''  The 
Union  Pacific  also  did  their  share  of  promotion  by  appoint- 
ing Dr.  Hiram  Latham,  a  well-spoken  railroad  surgeon,  as- 
advocate  for  immigration.  They  not  only  paid  him  to  "ex- 
plore and  investigate  the  country,"  but  also  provided  him 
with  an  irrigated  experimental  farm  to  promote  f arming. ^ 
In  the  January,  1870,  edition  of  the  Wyoming  Tribune,  a  plan 
was  mentioned  to  collect  and  exhibit  specimens  of  all 
Wyoming's  minerals  under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Latham. 
This  was  considered  good  advertising  and  of  "utmost  im- 
portance to  the  future  of  Wyoming. "'^ 

Newspapermen  such  as  James  H.  Hayford  of  Laramie, 
and  Baker  and  Herman  Glafcke  of  Cheyenne,  also  did  a 
great  deal  to  promote  immigration.  Although  encouraging 
immigrants  to  come  to  Wyoming,  Baker  did  not  neglect  to. 
warn  of  the  conditions  that  might  have  to  be  faced: 
Men  who  come  here  from  the  East  will  soon  learn  that  things 
don't  run  in  grooves.  A  man  should  make  up  his  mind  to  rough 
it.  He  must  bid  adieu  to  all  the  delights  of  cultivated  society— 
strictly  speaking.  The  great  finishing  touches  of  civilization  which 
make  large  cities  so  attractive,  will  all  be  wanting  in  the  moun- 
tain settlements,  and  even  in  the  larger  towns  of  the  West.  A 
man  who  can't  sleep  outside  of  a  feather  bed  need  not  come. 


A  man  who  can't  be  happy  without  the  New  York  Times  or  Sun 
or  some  other  great  journal  to  read  before  breakfast,  had  better 
stay  in  New  York  .  .  .  Whoever  comes  here  without  means  (no 
matter  what  his  previous  condition)  and  is  above  sawing  wood 
or  driving  team,  if  occasion  requires,  had  better  turn  back  im- 
mediately, and  make  the  best  of  his  way  home  before  he  gets 
broke'  or  degenerates  into  a  gambler  or  a  horse  thief  and  gets 
his  neck  'broke.'* 

Glafcke  wTote  promotional  articles  about  Wyoming,  *^  while 
Baker,  concerned  with  the  immorality  of  Cheyenne,  urged 
citizens  to  help  banish  prostitution  and  gambling  from  the 
city.  Only  then  he  maintained,  "will  immigrants  seek  this 
place,  instead  of  avoiding  it  for  its  wickedness,  as  it  does 
now.*2  "If  we  want  to  invite  irrmnigration  from  the  intelligent 
and  industrious  of  the  East,"  he  said,  "we  must  first  show 
them  that  we  have  schools  ....  a  liberal  and  enlightened 
common  school  system  was  needed."  He  also  urged  readers 
to  "encourage  newspapers,  sustain  churches,  and  found 
libraries.  "*3 

In  their  reflection  on  community  life,  and  their  writings 
about  the  ideals  and  needs  of  the  territory,  newspapers 
played  an  important  part  in  the  building  of  frontier  towns. 
In  proportion  to  the  population,  the  number  of  newspapers 
in  Wyoming  was  always  high.**  Starting  with  the  Cheyenne 
Leader,  established  by  Baker  and  J.  E.  Gates  in  1867, *'  the 
number  had  grown  to  eleven  in  1880.  The  Wyoming  pop- 
ulation at  that  time  numbered  20,789.«  By  1890,  when  the 
population  had  tripled,  the  number  had  increased  to  38.*'' 


In  their  reflection  on  community  life,  and  their  writings 
about  the  ideals  and  needs  of  the  territory,  newspapers 
played  an  important  part  in  the  building  of  frontier  towns. 
In  the  first  issue  of  the  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  Baker  made 
the  following  statement  regarding  the  philosophy  of  his 
paper:  "The  Leader  will  labor  to  present  a  faithful  pictiire 
of  life  and  events  in  the  far  West,  and  wiU  represent  with 
fidelity  and  truthfulness  the  peculiar  advantages  and  interest 
of  the  thriving  city  of  Cheyenne."*^  While  early  Wyoming 
newspapers  demanded  state  and  national  reform,  clamored 
for  the  better  organization  of  territory,  county  and  schools, 
and  crusaded  for  the  establishment  of  state  institutions  and 
public  offices  in  their  towns,  they  wanted,  above  all,  local 
recognition.*'  Starting  in  1886,  most  newspapers  in  the  ter- 
ritory demanded  statehood. 5"  Velma  Linford  found  in  her 
research  that  it  was  not  unusual  to  see  the  newspaper  press, 
loaded  on  a  wagon,  drawn  by  oxen  or  horses,  enter  a  future 
Wyoming  town,  even  before  the  people  had  arrived!^^ 
Newspapers  often  experienced  difficulties  to  survive 
because  subscriptions  rarely  paid  for  all  expenses. ^^  They 
generally  had  to  depend  upon  advertising  and  other  print- 
ing activities  such  as  hand  bills,  programs,  booklets  and  cir- 
culars to  keep  out  of  the  red.''  Business  boomed,  however, 
when  traveling  troupes  and  speculators  arrived  in  town.'* 
The  early  settlers  brought  with  them  a  background  of 
cultTore,  represented  in  intellectual  tasks,  social  aspirations 
and  religion.  These  qualities  had  to  be  merged  into  a  new 


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President  Ulysses  S.  Grant  appointed  John  A.  Campbell  Wyoming's  territorial  governor  during  April,  1869. 


environment  with  fewer  cultiiral  facilities,  but  not  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Eastern  states.  While  the  basic  needs  for 
existence  remained  the  chief  concern  for  many  years,  the 
early  pioneers  had  definite  prerequisites  as  far  as  their 
cultural  environment  was  concerned. ''  Some  desperadoes 
and  adventurers  floated  in  among  the  early  settlers,  but  they 
were,  according  to  Bartlett,  for  the  most  part,  transients. 
"The  real,  bona  fide  first  settlers  of  Wyoming  were  men 
of  sterling  character,  of  broad  vision  and  undoubted 
courage."^  "Nowhere  in  the  world  are  the  people  so  ven- 
turesome, so  beheving,  so  industrious.  Everybody  has  a 
"big  thing  and  is  confident  of  his  ability  to  work  it  out .  .  . 
Adventure,  faith,  work,  and  muscle  are  the  grand  means 
of  success.  "^^  Wyoming  pioneers  were,  as  S.  S.  Stockdale 
almost  poetically  declared,  "the  descendants  of  the  sturdy 
Puritans  and  courtly  Cavaliers;  of  staid  New  Englanders 
and  gentlemen  of  intense  Southern  blood;  men  and 
women  of  genius  and  of  character."'*  The  new  territory  at- 
tracted courageous  professional  men  and  on  many  a  ranch 
an  Ivy  Leaguer  was  roughing  it  out.  In  the  words  of  a 
newspaperman  who  had  visited  the  rural  areas  during  the 
summer  of  1880: 

In  Wyoming  there  is  a  class  of  highly  educated  men  engaged 
in  the  cattle  trade.  The  men  are  sunburned  and  wear  flannel  shirts 
on  the  ranch,  but  none  need  mistake  them  for  corrunon  or  ig- 
norant persons.  They  are  in  very  many  cases  gentlemen  of  culture 
and  standing.  In  the  circle  of  ranchmen  whose  acquaintance  I 
formed  during  my  stay,  there  were  several  of  considerable  wealth 
and  scholarly  attainments  who,  traveling  to  the  West  for  health, 
had  become  interested  in  the  cattle  business,  and  enchanted  by 
the  wild  open  life,  and  who  had  invested  in  stock,  roughed  it, 
and  were  enjoying  the  cUmate,  the  freedom  and  the  excitement, 
as  well  as  the  money  it  brings.  One  gentleman— mine  host,  had 
been  in  the  royal  navy  of  Great  Britain;  but  he  now  likes  the 
biUowy  prairies  better  than  the  deep  blue  sea.  A  neighbor  was 
one  of  the  best  special  geologists  in  America.  Traveling  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  profession,  he  saw  there  was  money  in  cattle  and 
so  left  his  aesthetic  Boston  home  for  a  tent." 

In  talking  about  the  earlier  years,  Wyoming  University  Presi- 
dent, Charles  W.  Lewis,  wrote  in  the  1904  University 
Melange: 

Men  and  women  have  had  to  measure  strength  with  stem 
nature.  Physical  endurance  has  had  much  to  do  with  success. 
When  our  fathers  were  standing  face  to  face  with  Nature,  pierdng 
the  mountains,  subduing  the  forest  and  the  plain  the  pursuit 
of  science  for  its  own  sake  was  forbidden  ....  Many  of  them 
came  from  Eastern  homes  where  the  cry  of  want  had  never  been 
heard.  Many  of  them  came  with  college  training  and  culture, 
but  all  the  easy  things  had  to  be  left  behind,  and  a  future  state 
was  formed  on  the  backbone  of  the  continent." 

Reverend  C.  T.  Brady,  a  missionary  who  came  to  the 
West  during  the  1880s,  was  also  impressed  with  the  quality 
of  people  found  on  ranches  and  farms,  and  maintained  that 
no  matter  where  he  went  he  "never  got  away  from  culture 
and  refinement."  Sketching  an  incident  that  occurred  on 
one  of  his  many  travels,  he  said: 

I  once  stopped  for  a  glass  of  water  at  a  non-descript  dwelling, 
half  dug-out,  half-sodhouse,  alone  on  the  prairie.  A  woman  came 
out  to  meet  me  .  .  .  graceful  and  pretty  ...  in  spite  of  her  worn. 


haggard,  overworked  look 
Eastern  college." 


She  too  was  a  graduate  of  an 


Although  many  of  the  early  settlers  were  educated,  quite 
a  number  of  them  knew  little  about  farming.*^ 

As  in  the  rural  areas,  the  towns  too  had  their  quota  of 
educated  people,  many  of  whom  were  doctors,  lawyers, 
professors  or  engineers.  Here,  however,  a  more  materialistic 
philosophy  of  life  seemed  to  prevail.  In  writing  about  her 
first  impressions  of  the  people  of  Wyoming,  Mrs.  Camp- 
bell, wife  of  the  first  governor,  remarked,  somewhat  criti- 
cally, on  this  characteristic,  saying  that  "while  earnestness, 
intelligence,  and  courtesy  characterized  the  people,  all 
seemed  to  be  working  under  the  same  great  impulse  to 
make  a  fortime  and  to  do  so  quickly.  "^^  Additional  evidence 
of  this  desire  to  make  money  is  found  in  the  content  of  the 
first  paper  that  was  read  at  the  newly  established  Young 
Men's  Literary  Association  of  Cheyerme.  On  this  occasion. 
Dr.  E.  H.  Russell,  a  young  physician,  declared  that  "we 
are  all  in  search  of  wealth  ....  which  is  the  mainspring 
of  life,  ....  and  the  propelling  power  in  every  move- 
ment."*^ Concerned  with  this  excessive  striving  after  earthly 
goods,  N.  A.  Baker,  editor  of  Wyoming's  first  newspaper, 
warned  his  readers  against  the  tendency  of  becoming  totally 
"absorbed  and  swallowed  up  in  the  pursuit  of  gain,"  mak- 
ing "every  other  consideration  secondary  to  the  aU  pre- 
vailing passion  for  riches."  He  reminded  his  readers  of  the 
importance  of  other  values  such  as  "health,  mental  ciolture, 
integrity,  a  high  sense  of  honor,  a  consciousness  of  moral 
rectitude,  and  benevolence.  "*' 

The  early  Wyoming  lawmakers  were  adventurous, 
robust,  and  clear-thinking  individiaals  who  took  care  to  write 
into  their  territorial  laws  the  things  in  which  they  believed. 
During  the  first  session  of  the  legislature  several  revolu- 
tionary laws  regarding  the  equality  of  women,  in  both  voice 
and  action,  were  passed.*'  In  fact,  Wyoming  startled  the 
world  when  from  its  "primeval  mountains  and  plains  was 
fired  the  first  shot  for  equal  suffrage."  Bartlett  drew  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  this  enactment  was  not  the  result  of 
"an  idle  fancy,"  nor  was  it  an  effort  to  gain  notoriety  or 
to  make  "a  joke,"  as  has  been  asserted  at  times.  "Every 
step  in  its  passage  through  the  legislature  showed  grim 
determination."*''  This  enactment,  which  took  a  great  deal 
of  courage,  provides  insight  into  the  philosophy  and  char- 
acter of  the  early  Wyoming  pioneers. 

Even  though  Wyoming  was  considered  to  be  blessed 
by  "one  of  the  finest  and  most  salubrious  climates  in  the 
world,"**  life  was  unquestionably  hard.  This  was  especi- 
ally true  for  the  people  out  on  the  ranches.*'  These  settlers, 
who  lived  in  log  or  stone  homes,  were  often  separated  from 
both  neighbors  and  friends  by  miles  of  virgin  land.''"  With 
roads  little  more  than  trails  during  the  summer,  and  usu- 
ally completely  covered  by  snow  in  the  winter,  they  lived 
extremely  lonely  lives.  Although  stage  coaches  traveled 
along  the  tiails  during  the  1850s,  and  the  Pony  Express  came 
into  being  in  1860,  the  postal  service  and  other  means  of 
communication  were  inefficient  and  expensive.''^  The  cost 
of  a  letter  delivered  by  the  Pony  Express,  for  instance,  was 


Wyoming's  first  museum  was  established  in  Cheyenne  during  1867  and  was  located  betiveen  16th  and  17th  streets  on  Eddy  Street,  now  Pioneer  Avenue. 


five  dollars  7^  Ranchers  and  fanners,  especially  the  women, 
suffered  from  loneliness  and  isolation. ''^  In  the  words  of  a 
rancher's  wife  who  remembered  life  before  the  advent  of 
the  automobile:  "We  just  dreaded  living  so  far  from  every- 
body and  the  whole  world  ....  36  miles  from  the  nearest 
town  or  railroad."''*  Reverend  Brady,  in  his  Recollections  of 
a  Missionary  in  the  Great  West,  also  referred  to  this  aspect 
of  frontier  life  when  he  said:  "The  distances  to  be  covered 
are  so  great  .  .  .  and  demands  upon  strength  and  bodily 
vigor  so  overwhelming,  that  it  is  no  easy  matter  for  the 
strongest  to  live  up  to."'^  It  is  thus  no  wonder  that  the  early 
pioneers  found  it  hard  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  finer  and 
spiritual  things  in  life  while  constantly  toiling  and  struggling 
to  make  a  Living  under  such  extremely  harsh  drcimistances. 
In  the  towns  conditions  were  a  great  deal  better.  As  a 
rule  the  cultural  aspects  of  life  were  not  neglected.  People 
often  organized  cultural  groups  such  as  women's  clubs, 
fraternal  groups  and  literary  sodehes  as  soon  as  towns  were 
established,  and  no  time  was  wasted  to  establish  schools 
and  churches.  Neither  insufficient  services  nor  filthy  streets. 


overrun  by  cows  and  hogs,  deterred  them.  ^^  It  was  not 
unusual  at  that  time  to  open  the  daily  newspaper  and  find 
in  it  a  request  to  have  the  streets  cleaned,  a  report  about  the 
daily  confrontations  between  hogs  and  dogs,  and  in  the 
same  paper,  a  report  about  an  art  gallery  being  opened.^ 
Many  of  the  towns  were  eyesores  in  the  beginning,  but 
as  time  passed  they  became  more  attractive  and  present- 
able.^* nourishing  merchants  and  cattlemen  started  to  build 
mansions,  and  many  of  the  prosperous  cattlemen  and  min- 
ing promoters  decided  to  reside  in  the  towns  for  the  greatest 
part  of  the  year,  instead  of  living  out  on  the  ranches  or 
mining  sites. ^' 

A  striking  characteristic  of  territorial  Wyoming  was  the 
scarcity  of  women.  In  1870,  the  ratio  was  one  to  six  for  all 
persons  over  21  years  of  age.*"  By  1880,  the  ratio  had  im- 
proved considerably,  but  men  still  outnumbered  women. 
The  Leader  reported  that  of  the  4,625  people  in  Albany 
County,  3,009  were  men.  In  Laramie  County,  the  numbers 
were  4,313  male  to  2,096  females. ^^  This  dearth  of  women, 
and  also  of  children,  greatly  influenced  social  life  in  Wyo- 

7 


ming.  Single  men,  having  little  family  life,  crowded  the 
saloons,  and  drinking  and  prostitution  became  instruments 
through  which  to  escape  the  loneliness  and  coarseness  of 
their  lives.  The  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader  remarked  in  the  fall 
of  1869  that  "all  of  the  three  vices,  prostitution,  gambling, 
and  drunkenness  are  indulged  in— seemingly  without  an 
attempt  to  conceal  it."*^  The  Wyoming  Tribune  reported  the 
next  summer  that  "two- thirds  of  the  business  places  in 
Cheyenne  were  saloons  and  the  other  third  wholesale  liquor 
houses."*'  A  law  was  passed  in  1884  which  made  it  a  misde- 
meanor to  keep  a  house  of  prostitution,  but  few  merchants 
paid  heed  to  it,  arguing  that  prostitution  was  an  inevitable 
vice  in  a  society  with  so  many  single  men.  Gambling  was 
also  a  favorite  pastime  among  men.*^  Thousands  of  dollars 
changed  hands  at  horse  races,*'  while  poker  games 
sometimes  resulted  in  the  loss  of  complete  ranches  and 
whole  herds  of  cattle.  In  an  effort  to  curtail  social  drinking, 
which  was  almost  the  rule  among  men  in  the  territory,  a 
law  was  enacted  which  provided  for  the  closing  of  saloons 
on  Sunday.  This  created  such  resentment,  however,  that 
it  had  to  be  repealed. 

Riding  and  roping  contests,  baseball,  football  and  target 
shooting  were  some  of  the  more  "healthy"  forms  of  recrea- 
tion and  in  many  towns  roller  skating  rinks  were  found 


where  young  and  old  enjoyed  themselves.**  Starting  in 
1876,  when  a  Laramie  resident  became  the  first  proud  owner 
of  a  bicycle,  bicycle  riding  became  a  popular  pastime  and 
both  Cheyenne  and  Laramie  had  bicycle  clubs.*''  Hunting, 
fishing,  picnicking  and  camping-out  were  also  popular 
pastimes  during  the  territorial  days.  On  occasion,  special 
trains  were  chartered  for  picnic  excursions.**  Wherever 
families  were  available,  dancing  was  to  be  found  and  both 
the  society  balls*'  and  the  honky-tonk  dances  in  the  saloons 
were  well  attended.  The  Buffalo  Bulletin  reported  in  1892 
that  weekly  all-night  dances  were  being  held  on  Johnson 
County  ranches,  and  that  these  sodal  get-togethers  were 
helpful  in  breaking  the  dreariness  and  monotony  of  the  long 
winters.  As  a  rule,  variety  shows,*  which  normally  included 
dancing,  singing  and  acrobatic  acts,  drew  larger  crowds  than 
the  occasionally  offered  drama  and  operatic  music. '^ 

Even  though  the  outlying  towns  and  communities  did 
not  enjoy  the  conveniences  and  entertainments  which  were 
available  in  the  larger  towns,  the  country  people  seldom 
missed  the  opportunity  to  combine  social  activities  with 
their  work.  Neighbors  often  joined  together  to  build  fences, 
erect  buildings  and  round  up  stock,  transforming  necessary 
work  projects  into  social  affairs.  Stock  shipping  was  re- 
garded as  the  culmination  of  their  social  and  business  lives. 


*^*^*'*Hi» 


.<%, 


School  in  Buffalo,  1895. 


On  such  occasions  the  whole  family  usually  spent  several 
days  in  town,  with  the  women  visiting  and  shopping  and 
the  men  attending  to  the  shipping  of  the  stock. '^ 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Methodist,  Episcopal, 
Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Roman  Catholic  and  Mormon 
churches  had  been  active  in  Wyoming  even  before  the  ter- 
ritory was  established,  religion  was  largely  neglected. '^  The 
Wyoming  Tribune,  April  8,  1871,  reported,  somewhat 
ironically,  that  the  Wyoming  pioneers  may  be  a  God- 
fearing people  but  that  they  were  certainly  not  a  church- 
going  people.  In  a  survey  of  church  attendance  in  Laramie 
during  January,  1881,  Laramie  editor  Hayford  found  that 
only  one  in  ten  people  went  to  church— the  majority  of 
whom  were  women.  However,  said  editor  Glafcke  of  the 
Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  "the  morals  of  our  community  are 
good."  Justifying  his  statement,  he  added  that,  "we  have 
one  large,  fine  graded  school,  several  good  churches,  three 
organized  religious  societies,  a  lodge  of  Good  Templars 
and  one  of  the  Masons.  "'^  Denominational  rivalry  was  less 
prominent  in  Wyoming  than  in  older  communities  in  the 
East,  and  total  church  membership  for  1890  was  also  ten 
percent  lower  than  the  average  of  the  United  States— 21.4 
percent  as  opposed  to  34.5  percent  nation  wide.'^ 

The  violence  and  lawlessness  of  those  early  days  have 
been  greatly  exaggerated  by  movies  and  the  television. 
Although  newspaper  files  do  tell  about  shootings,  knifings, 
wife  beating  and  of  the  violence  resulting  from  conflicts 
over  land  claims,  the  territorial  settlers  were,  on  the  whole, 
a  civilized  people,  or  relatively  so.^  In  the  private  letters 
of  E.  E.  Robinson,  written  from  Rock  Creek,  Wyoming  Ter- 
ritory, during  1870  to  a  friend  in  the  East,  he  told  him  that 
"the  law  in  this  country  consists  of  Colt  revolvers,  Henry 
rifles,  and  'Arkansaw'  bowie  knives."'^  On  the  other  hand, 
some  people  were  of  the  opinion  that  "Cheyenne  was  as 
quiet  and  orderly  a  city  on  Sunday  as  a  great  many  in  the 
old  States,  in  spite  of  open  saloons,  restaurants  and  billiard 
rooms. "^^  Laramie  also  was  declared  "pretty  decent." 
Crime  and  drunkermess  were  not  increasing  and  "the  peo- 
ple were  good-living,  clean-thinking,  and  morally- 
inclined."^ 

Early  Wyoming  lawmakers  also  saw  to  it  that  free  and 
compulsory  education  was  provided  to  the  youth.™  Among 
the  early  settlers  in  Wyoming  were  large  numbers  of  col- 
lege educated  and  professional  men  and  women,  who 
were  determined  to  see  that  their  children  received  the 
education  they  deemed  necessary  for  civilized  living.^"!  The 
value  that  had  been  placed  on  education,  even  before  the 
territory  was  officially  created,  "^  is  illustrated  in  a  report 
that  appeared  in  the  Cheyenne  Leader,  January  6,  1867. 
Baker,  expressing  his  pleasant  surprise  at  the  large  number 
of  citizens  that  had  gathered,  in  spite  of  a  temperature  of 
23  degrees  below  zero,  to  dedicate  a  school  house,  said  that 
"the  room  was  densely  crowded  with  an  anxious  assem- 
blage of  our  best  citizens  .  .  .  impressed  with  the  impor- 
tance of  the  undertaking."  Two  months  later,  the  Wyoming 
Tribune  mentioned  that  there  were  109  White  children  and 
14  "colored"  children  eruolled.  The  school  had  two 


teachers  and  the  students  were  studying  reading,  spell- 
ing, writing,  geography,  grammar,  arithmetic,  algebra  and 
philosophy.  1"^ 

Wyoming's  constitution  provided  for  the  maintenance 
and  regulation  of  education.  It  was  stated  that  education 
was  to  be  free  regardless  of  color,  race,  religious  belief  or 
sex,  and  that  no  religion  was  to  be  taught  in  schools.  No 
public  money  was  allowed  to  go  to  religious  schools. 

More  evidence  as  to  how  people  felt  about  education, 
is  to  be  found  in  Governor  Campbell's  message  to  the  First 
Legislature  as  it  appeared  in  the  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader: 

The  subject  of  education  will  doubtless  receive  your  early  at- 
tention. In  laying  the  foundation  of  a  new  state,  this  should 
be  the  comer  stone  for  without  it  no  durable  political  fabric 
can  be  erected.  It  matters  little  how  great  our  material  prosperity 
may  be,  if  our  moral  and  intellectual  growth  does  not  keep  a 
pace  with  it.  It  is  a  duty  we  owe  not  only  to  ourselves  and  to 
our  posterity,  but  to  all  mankind.  In  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  the  people  rests  our  only  hope  for  the  preservation  of 
our  free  institutions  ....  Now  in  the  infancy  of  our  Territory, 
let  the  fostering  aid  and  encouragement  of  the  government  be 
given  to  every  scheme  for  the  advancement  of  education,  and 
to  establish  as  the  cornerstone  of  our  embryo  state  the  princi- 
ple of  universal,  free,  common  school  education.""* 

Because  of  the  meager  and  shifting  population,  schools 
were,  however,  slow  to  take  root,  and  were  often  extremely 
unstable  in  character.  In  1872,  there  were  only  nine  schools, 
four  public  and  five  private,  with  a  total  enrollment  of  305 
students. i°5  There  were  31  libraries,  containing  an  ag- 
gregate of  2,603  volumes.  Twenty  of  these  libraries  were 
private  with  1,500  books,  and  1,000  volumes  belonged  to 
Sunday  Schools.  The  territorial  Library  was  also  started  and 
had  103  volumes. 'o* 

Although  the  enthusiasm  for,  and  the  support  of,  ed- 
ucation remained  high,  the  task  of  "holding  successive 
generations  up  to  the  culture  level  of  their  predecessors''^''^ 
was  tremendous.  In  sketching  the  difficulties  that  Wyo- 
ming educators  were  facing  at  the  turn  of  the  century, 
O.  E.  Swanson,  President  of  the  Wyoming  Teachers 
Association,  argued  that: 

The  difficulty  of  the  task  is  vastly  increased  when  the  people 
to  be  educated  are  spreading  out  into  new  territory,  or  taking 
into  themselves  large  elements  from  foreign  civilizations,  or 
from  distantly  related  portions  of  our  own  civilization.  Add  to 
this  the  responsibility  which  modem  democratic  aspirations  im- 
pose, of  educating  each  succeeding  generation  better  than  its 
predecessor,  more  extensively  and  more  variously,  and  the  task 
with  which  educators  of  Wyoming  are  wrestling  is  seen  to  be 
one  of  almost  overwhelming  difficulty.^"' 

In  1873,  the  Commissioner  of  Education  reported  that 
most  of  the  population  of  9,000  to  10,000  people,  was  scat- 
tered along  the  Union  Pacific  for  a  distance  of  500  miles, 
and  that  there  were  few  places  large  enough  to  support 
a  school.  Yet  in  spite  of  this  fact,  he  found  that  "wherever 
there  are  people  and  children  in  one  place,  enough  to  form 
a  school,  a  school  is  established  and  an  effort  made  to  have 
a  good  one.""' 

In  1874,  teachers'  institutes  became  organized  and  in 
1877  all  principals  of  graded  schools  were  required  by  law 


to  attend  these  institutes. ^i"  At  these  institutes,  which 
lasted  from  four  to  ten  days,  common  problems  were 
discussed,  courses  of  study  designed  and  textbooks 
selected.!" 

In  1877,  John  W.  Hoyt,  soon  to  be  Wyoming  governor 
and  later  the  first  president  of  the  University  of  Wyoming, 
stated  with  a  great  deal  of  enthusiasm  that  "the  public  at 
large  feels  a  great  pride  in  the  public  schools  of  the  Terri- 
tory ...  I  have  never  known  a  community,  whether  in  this 
country  or  in  Europe,  more  zealously  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  popular  education.""^  Governor  Hoyt  also  established 
the  Wyoming  Academy  of  Sciences,  Arts,  and  Letters."' 

The  compulsory  school  attendance  law  required  that 
"all  between  the  ages  of  7  and  20  years  inclusive,"  had 
to  attend  school  for  at  least  three  months  of  each  year. 
Parents  who  neglected  to  send  their  children  to  school  were 
subject  to  a  penalty  of  $25  for  "each  and  every  offence.""^ 
Most  of  the  other  states  or  territories  in  the  United  States 
during  that  time  had  less  strict  requirements  for  com- 
pulsory school  attendance. 

When  statehood  came  Wyoming  had  a  well  developed 
school  system  with  a  university  and  at  least  eight  public 
high  schools,  four  of  which  were  accredited  by  the  univer- 
sity. A  total  of  7,675  students  were  enrolled  in  the  public 
schools."^  According  to  the  constitution,  the  16th  and  36th 
sections  of  every  township  belonged  to  the  school  and 
could  never  be  sold  for  less  than  three-fourths  of  its  as- 
sessed value  or  for  less  than  ten  dollars  an  acre.  The  fund 
itself  had  to  remain  intact  and  only  the  income  from  it  was 
allowed  to  be  used. 

Between  1880  and  1890  Wyoming's  population  tripled, 
increasing  from  20,789  to  62,555  people."*  Immigrants, 
attracted  by  the  vast  coal  beds,  copper,  and  occasional  gold 
mines,  the  livestock  industry,  and  the  promise  of  employ- 
ment on  the  railroad,  came  in  a  steady  stream."''  Many  of 
them  found  work  in  mercantile  and  transportation  busi- 
nesses in  frontier  towns."* 

During  the  1870s  and  1880s,  this  brand  new  "free-for- 
all,  room  for  everybody,"  country  also  became  known  as 
the  finest  grass  range  territory  in  the  United  States."'  The 
Wyoming  Tribune  reported  of  the  "hundreds  of  miles  of  un- 
bounded pasture  field  .  .  .  where  the  numbers  of  herds- 
men were  constantly  augmenting. "^^^  The  cattle  industry 
grew  with  leaps  and  bounds,  and  with  50  million  acres 
of  public  land  just  waiting  for  cattle,  even  foreign  investors 
became  interested  in  the  business. ^^^  Notwithstanding  the 
high  freight  costs,  the  Wyoming  ranchers  were  able  "to 
furnish  Eastern  beef-eaters  with  sirloins  and  roasts,  better 
and  cheaper  than  those  of  their  home  production."  The 
Wyoming  Stock  Growers  Association,  formed  in  1873  as 
the  Laramie  County  Stock  Growers  Association,  repre- 
sented a  capitalization  of  more  than  $100  million  (at  a  time 
when  Wyoming  was  still  a  wilderness),  and  Cheyenne,  on 
a  per  capita  basis,  was  the  richest  city  in  the  world  ac- 
cording to  livestock  capitalization. ^^^ 


In  1877,  the  total  assessed  valuation  of  taxable  property 
in  Wyoming  Territory  was  $8,275,823.33.1"  During  these 
years  the  territory  assumed  a  cosmopolitan  character.  It 
represented  "every  language,  religion,  environment, 
custom  and  conceivable  grade  of  education,  "i^*  Many 
foreign  and  eastern  cattle  companies  were  established"^ 
and  large  amounts  of  money  flowed  from  England,  Scot- 
land, France  and  the  New  England  states  to  Wyoming.  The 
open  range  industry  boomed  from  1880  to  1886,  but  by  1890 
the  ever  increasing  numbers  of  sheep  began  to  crowd  out 
the  cattle  on  many  ranches.  In  addition,  homesteaders 
began  to  file  on  land  during  the  1870s  and  started  to  fence 
their  properties. i^*  When  they  included  their  water  sources, 
tremendous  hazards  were  created  for  the  cattle  on  the 
range.  1^'' 

Mining  became  more  important  after  the  Civil  War  and 
coal  mining  attracted  people  from  all  nationalities.  This  not 
only  brought  in  much  needed  business  to  the  territory,  but 
it  also  brought  organized  labor  to  an  otherwise,  in- 
dividualistic kind  of  life  style. ^^^ 

When  the  northern  and  central  areas  became  settled 
during  the  mid-1880s,  new  counties  were  created  from  the 
five  original  ones,  bringing  the  number  to  thirteen  at  the 
end  of  the  territorial  days.  The  main  means  of  trans- 
portation during  this  time  were  still  stagecoaches  and 
freight  wagons. 

The  political  history  of  Wyoming  during  territorial  days 
was  relatively  unmarked  by  any  striking  events."'  The 
costs  to  the  general  government  was  limited  to  the  supply 
of  military  service,  and  to  government  appropriations  not 
exceeding  $34,000.  Bancroft  was  of  the  opinion  that  "of 
all  the  younger  common  wealths,  none  have  conducted 
their  public  affairs  more  carefully  or  with  better  results 
than  Wyoming.""" 

Development  between  the  years  1884  and  1888  was 
slow  but  steady.  During  this  period  the  legislature 
authorized  the  issue  of  $230,000  in  bonds  to  be  divided  be- 
tween a  university  building  fund,  a  capital  building  fund 
and  a  fund  for  the  construction  of  a  hospital  for  the  insane. 
An  act  also  was  passed  to  create  an  institution  for  the 
education  of  deaf  mutes,  a  much  needed  penitentiary,  a 
normal  school  at  Sundance  and  an  agricultural  college  at 
Sheridan. "1  Being  primarily  rural,  however,  with  only  a 
few  small  industries  and  little  manufacturing,  territorial 
people  were  generally  speaking,  not  prosperous. "^ 

On  February  7,  1888,  the  first  official  step  towards 
statehood  was  taken  when  the  Tenth  Legislative  Assembly 
of  the  Territory  of  Wyoming  requested  permission  from 
Congress  to  write  a  constitution  and  to  form  a  government 
of  their  own."'  Two  years  later,  on  July  10,  1890,  Wyo- 
ming became  the  44th  state  to  be  admitted  to  the  Union, 
leading  the  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader  to  announce  that:  "after 
22  years  of  territorial  bondage,  Wyoming  had  achieved 
statehood.""* 


10 


JOHANNA  NEL  received  her  Ph.D.  in  Adult  Education  from  the  University 
of  Wyoming  in  1986.  Presently  she  is  an  Academic  Advisor  at  the  Center  for 
Academic  Advising  at  the  University  of  Wyoming.  She  serves  as  Adjunct  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Department  of  Educational  Administration  and  Adult  Education 
and  also  teaches  a  class  in  the  Department  of  Educational  Foundations  and  In- 
structional Technology.  Dr.  Nel  is  a  Board  Member  of  the  Albany  County  Chapter 
of  the  Wyoming  State  Historical  Society. 


1.  Robert  C.  Morris,  "Sketch  of  Wyoming,"  in  Selectbns  of  the  Wyo- 
ming Historical  Society,  ed.  Robert  C.  Morris  (Cheyenne:  The  Wyo- 
ming Historical  Society,  1897),  p.  20. 

2.  Hubert  H.  Bancroft,  The  Work  of  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft:  History  of 
Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming  (San  Francisco:  The  History  Com- 
pany Publishers,  1890),  pp.  25,  694. 

3.  E.  E.  Baker,  "Education  in  Wyoming,"  Wyoming  School  Journal  5 
(1908):  53. 

4.  Ichabod  S.  Bartlett,  Histon/  of  Wyoming  (Chicago:  The  S.  J.  Clarke 
Publishing  Co.,  1918).  This  group,  according  to  the  Utah  Handbook 
of  Reference,  should  receive  the  credit  for  being  the  first  actual  set- 
tlers in  Wyoming.  Forts  Laramie  and  Bridger,  established  in  1834 
and  1843  respectively,  were  not  considered  as  true  settlements  in 
the  sense  of  families  wanting  to  stay  permanently. 

5.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  15,  1869;  and  Bartlett,  History  of  Wyo- 
ming, p.  163. 

6.  Wyoming  Tribune,  October  8,  1870. 

7.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  December  17,  1867;  September  1,  1869;  and 
Wyoming  Tribune,  May  14,  1870. 

8.  Report  of  the  Governor  of  Wyoming  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  1886 
(Washington,  D.C.:  Government  Printing  Office,  1886),  p.  8. 

9.  Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  430. 

10.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  July  22,  1869. 

11.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  July  5,  1871;  and  Baker,  "Education  in  Wyo- 
ming." 

12.  Baker,  "Education  in  Wyoming."  Baker  gave  this  figure  as  $1,600. 

13.  Bancroft,  History  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming,  p.  734. 

14.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  18,  1867;  November  14,  1867;  and 
Velma  Linford,  Wyoming  Frontier  State,  (Denver,  Colorado:  The  Old 
West  Publishing  Co.,  1947),  p.  194. 

15.  Bancroft,  History  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming,  p.  738. 

16.  E.  Deaiinger  and  C.  A.  Cagle,  A  History  of  Wyoming  (1976),  p.  6. 
A  dug-out  resembled  a  half-basement  about  four  feet  deep  which 
was  boarded  up  all  around  about  three  feet  high  with  boards  to  form 
a  low  gable  roof.  This  was  covered  with  dirt  and  straw  to  keep  it 
from  leaking  and  also  to  insulate  it.  Dug-outs  usually  had  dirt  floors. 

17.  Baker,  "Education  in  Wyonung." 

18.  Wyoming  Tribune,  October  8,  1870. 

19.  Bancroft,  History  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming,  p.  738.  See  also 
Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  January  11,  13;  March  21;  October  19,  20,  21; 
December  2,  1868. 

20.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  February  17,  1875. 

21.  E.  E.  Robinson  collection,  American  Heritage  Center  (AHC),  Laramie, 
Wyoming.  Robinson  wrote  these  letters  to  a  friend  back  East  tell- 
ing him  about  conditions  in  Laramie:  "There  was  a  time  in  Laramie 
City,  when  if  a  man  shot  another  and  left  him  laying  in  the  street, 
he  would  be  promptly  arrested  for  obstructing  the  side-walk,  and 
this  a  common  occurrence,  until  the  citizens,  on  arising  one  morn- 
ing, found  twelve  of  the  'shootists'  with  'hemp  neckties'  on,  hang- 
ing from  telegraph  poles,  the  victims  of  an  impromptu  vigilance 
committee.  The  'vigs,'  by  continuing  this  'hemp  neck-tie'  process, 
soon  cleared  Laranue  of  her  share  of  the  roughs  and  desperadoes 
following  the  Union  Pacific.  Since  then  the  streets  are  rarely 
'obstructed.'  " 


22.  Bancroft,  History  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming,  p.  739.  See  also 
Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  May  17,  1872. 

23.  Baker,  "Education  in  Wyoming." 

24.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  June  22;  July  23,  1868,  August  9,  1869.  See 
also  Session  Laws  of  the  State  of  Wyoming,  1891. 

25.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  May  25,  1871. 

26.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  April  17,  1869. 

27.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  13,  1869. 

28.  Francis  Beard,  Wyoming  from  Territorial  Days  to  the  Present  (Chicago: 
The  American  Historical  Society,  Inc.,  1933),  p.  326. 

29.  Wyoming  Tribune,  November  20,  1869. 

30.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  108. 

31.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  13,  1869. 

32.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  November  16,  1869.  Contains  a  discussion 
of  county  lines. 

33.  Wyoming  Tribune,  May  7,  1870. 

34.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  28,  1869. 

35.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  November  10,  1871;  November  11,  1873. 

36.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  108. 

37.  Report  of  the  Governor  to  the  Secretary  of  Interior,  September  27,  1887 
(Washington,  D.C.:  Government  Printing  Office,  1887),  p.  7. 

38.  Wyoming  Tribune,  March  26,  1870. 

39.  Wyoming  Tribune,  January  22,  1870. 

40.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  28,  1869. 

41.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  April  6-16,  1872;  January-March,  1875. 

42.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  14,  1869. 

43.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  25,  1869. 

44.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  April  10,  1872. 

45.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  19,  1867;  April  8,  1869. 

46.  1880  Wyoming  Census. 

47.  Eleventh  Census  of  the  United  States,  3895  (Washington,  D.C.:  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office,  n.d.);  and  Lola  M.  Homsher,  Wyoming:  A  Stu- 
dent's Guide  to  Localized  History  (New  York:  Teachers  College  Press, 
Columbia  University,  1966),  p.  vi. 

48.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  19,  1867. 

49.  Rock  Springs  Rocket,  November  1,  1912;  and  Linford,  Wyoming  Fron- 
tier State,  p.  208. 

50.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  January  29,  1886;  May  9,  1889. 

51.  Linford,  Wyoming  Frontier  State,  p.  276. 

52.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  26,  1867;  July  23,  1870;  Wyoming 
Tribune,  October  8,  1870.  See  subscription  rates. 

53.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  February  1,  1889. 

54.  Linford,  Wyoming  Frontier  State,  p.  288. 

55.  Beard,  Wyoming  from  Territorial  Days  to  the  Present,  p.  324. 

56.  Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  197. 

57.  "Who  are  the  people  that  came  to  Wyoming?"  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader, 
November  5,  1867. 

58.  S.  S.  Stockdale,  untitled,  Wyoming  School  Journal  2  (1905):  48. 

59.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  August  21,  1880. 

60.  Charles  W.  Lewis,  untitled.  The  University  Melange  1  (1904):  13. 

61.  C.  T.  Brady,  Recollections  of  a  Missionary  in  the  Great  West  (New  York: 
Charles  Scribners'  Sons,  1900),  p.  48. 

62.  Ibid.,  p.  46. 

63.  Mrs.  J.  A.  Campbell,  "Wyoming  Territory:  As  Seen  by  the  Wife  of 
Wyoming's  First  Governor,"  in  Collection  of  the  Wyoming  Historical 
Society,  ed.  Robert  C.  Morris  (Cheyenne:  Wyoming  Historical  Society, 
1897),  p.  316. 

64.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  December  26,  1867. 

65.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  23,  1869. 

66.  Wyoming  Tribune,  December  11,  1869;  October  1870. 

67.  Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  197. 

68.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  May  25,  1871. 

69.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  28,  1882. 

70.  C.  T.  Brady,  Recollections,  p.  73. 

71.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  December  27,  1871;  March  10,  23;  April  2; 
May  22;  September  1,  1874. 

72.  Bancroft,  History  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming,  p.  228. 

11 


73.  Brady,  Recollections,  p.  47.  "The  life  of  a  frontier  farmer's  wife  is  about 
the  hardest  which  can  fall  to  the  lot  of  women.  All  the  cares  of  a 
large  and  ever-increasing  family,  with  several  hired  hands  to  cook 
and  wash  for,  usually  a  calf  or  two  to  bring  up  by  hand,  a  brood  of 
motherless  chicks  needing  attention,  a  kitchen  garden,  cows  to  milk, 
and  Heaven  only  knows  what  else!  She  has  no  society  and  no 
amusements,  very  infrequent  church  services,  with  no  time  to  read 
and  no  place  to  go.  She  even  finds  no  interest  in  the  changing 
fashions,  for  the  fashion  of  her  narrow  world  never  changes.  When 
by  chance  she  does  survive  all  the  troubles  and  labors  of  youth  and 
middle  life,  she  becomes  one  of  the  finest,  sturdiest,  strongest,  most 
independent  and  self-respecting  of  women." 

74.  Sheridan  Post,  January  9,  1914. 

75.  Brady,  Recollections,  p.  73. 

76.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  July  29,  1869;  May  11,  1872.  "Dirty  streets 
are  the  curse  of  this  town." 

77.  Wyoming  Tribune,  May  28,  1870. 

78.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  May  11,  1872. 

79.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  January  2,  1875;  August  23,  1885. 

80.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  202. 

81.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  January  27,  1880. 

82.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  1869. 

83.  Wyoming  Tribune,  May  7,  1870. 

84.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  September  1,  25,  1875. 

85.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  June  30,  1875. 

86.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  February  6,  1872. 

87.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  August  30,  1882. 

88.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  May  23,  1871. 

89.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  January  15;  October  27,  1869. 

90.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  March  16,  1869. 

91.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  208. 

92.  Linford,  Wyoming  Frontier  State,  p.  302. 

93.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  221;  and  Laramie  Boomerang,  June  15, 
1912. 

94.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  February  17,  1875. 

95.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  225;  Wyoming  Tribune,  June  18,  1870; 
Laramie  Boomerang,  January  25,  1915. 

96.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  February  26,  1868;  September  27;  October  4, 
1869. 

97.  E.  E.  Robinson  collection,  AHC.  Robinson  also  described  the  follow- 
ing incident:  "I  was  engaged  in  playing  a  match  of  Ball  in  Laramie 
City  on  the  4th  [July  1870],  and  myself  and  another  player  were 
endeavoring  to  lead  a  drunken  man  off  the  field,  when  he  in  a  playful 
manner  drew  a  six-shooter  and  told  us  to  'git.'  I  not  being  accus- 
tomed to  this  western  mode  of  arguing,  was  disgusted,  and  did  'git' 
in  good  order." 

98.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  March  7,  1869. 

99.  Laramie  Boomerang,  November  18,  1914. 

100.  A.  D.  Cook,  "Educational  Progress  in  Wyoming,"  Wyoming  School 
Journal  2  (1909):  9.  The  compulsory  educational  law  was  one  of  the 
best  in  the  country  and  illiteracy  was  universally  low. 

101.  Cora  M.  Beach,  Women  of  Wyoming  (Casper,  Wyoming:  Boyer  and 
Company,  1927);  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  24,  1867.  "The 
American  people  demand  schools  for  their  children  and  are  unwilling 
to  live  where  they  are  not  to  be  had.  It  was  long  since  established  by 
our  fathers,  that  the  only  soUd  foundation  for  permanent  prosperity 
is  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people." 

102.  A.  D.  Cook,  "Educational  Progress  in  Wyoming,"  Wyoming  School 
Journal  2  (1909):  9.  "Wyoming  has  always  shown  a  great  interest 
in  education.  Even  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  Territory,  when  the 
first  mile  of  railroad  was  being  pushed  slowly  forward,  the  agita- 
tion for  schools  was  started.  That  same  characteristic,  energy  in 
educational  affairs,  has  dominated  the  people  of  Wyoming  all 
through  her  history." 


103.  Wyoming  Tribune,  March  12,  1870.  I 

104.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  13,  1869.  1 

105.  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  fjr  the  year  1872  (Washington, 
D.C.:  Government  Printing  Office,  1873),  p.  383;  and  E.  G.  Dexter, 
A  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States  (New  York:  The  MacMUlan 
Co.,  1911),  pp.  152,  614,  616. 

106.  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  pr  the  Year  1872  (Washington, 
D.C.:  Government  Printing  Office,  1873);  E.  E.  Baker,  "Education 
in  Wyoming,"  Wyoming  School  Journal  5  (1908):  74;  Cheyenne  Daily 
Leader,  October  13,  1869. 

107.  O.  E.  Swanson,  "President's  Address  to  the  Wyoming  State 
Teachers  Association,"  Wyoming  School  Journal  5  (1908):  105. 

108.  Ibid. 

109.  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the  Year  1873  (Washington, 
D.C.:  Government  Printing  Office,  1874),  p.  468;  Cheyenne  Daily 
Leader,  May  7,  1872. 

110.  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  forYear  1877  (Washington,  D.C.: 
Government  Printing  Office,  1878). 

111.  Executive  Documents  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  1887-1888; 
and  Compiled  Laws  of  Wyoming,  1876,  Chapter  103,  Section  7. 

112.  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  Year  1877,  p.  297. 

113.  Message  of  Governor  Hoyt  to  the  Seventh  Legislative  Assembly,  January 

12,  1882,  p.  25.  "The  Wyoming  Academy  of  Sciences,  Arts,  and  Let- 
ters, an  association  organized  within  the  past  year  ....  deserves 
mention  here,  as  marking  an  important  step  in  the  intellectual  and 
social  progress  of  the  territory."  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  January  13, 
1882;  The  University  Melange  1  (1904-1905):  51-54.  J 

114.  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the  year  1877.  ■ 

115.  Wyoming,  Biennial  Report  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion (1890-1892). 

116.  Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  185. 

117.  Wyoming  Tribune,  December  18,  1869;  January  1,  1870.  The  article 
mentioned  15,000  square  rmles  of  lignite  coal  beds.  Report  of  Gover- 
nor of  Wyoming  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  September  27,  1887, 
p.  28;  September  19,  1888,  p.  14;  Cheyenne  Leader,  July  22;  October 

13,  1869;  Report  of  Governor  Hoyt  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  (1878), 
p.  15. 

118.  1883  Directory  of  Cheyenne  (Cheyenne,  Wyoming:  Sun  Steam  Book 
and  Job  Print,  1883),  p.  26. 

119.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  November  8,  1877;  November  7,  1879;  and 
Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  365. 

120.  Wyoming  Tribune,  January  8,  1870. 

121 .  Report  of  the  Governor  of  Wyoming  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  (1881), 
p.  52;  and  Homsher,  A  Student's  Guide,  p.  19. 

122.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  27,  1871;  Report  of  the  Governor  of 
Wyoming  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  (1886),  pp.  20,  26.  See  Minutes 
of  the  Wyoming  Stock  Growers  Association,  1881-1922,  AHC;  and 
Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  364. 

123.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  August  2,  1877. 

124.  Swanson,  "President's  Address,"  Wyoming  School  Journal,  p.  105. 

125.  Report  of  the  Governor  of  Wyoming  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  (1887), 
p.  51. 

126.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  May  25,  1871.  Editor  Baker  reported  that  lands 
were  open  to  homesteading  and  law  allowed  settlers  to  occupy  160 
acres  at  the  rate  of  $1.25  per  acre.  After  five  years  homestead  title 
may  be  acquired. 

127.  Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming. 

128.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  13,  1869;  November  18,  1875. 

129.  Bancroft,  History  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming,  p.  756. 

130.  Ibid.,  p.  757. 

131.  Ibid.,  p.  758. 

132.  Homsher,  Student's  Guide,  p.  23. 

133.  Bartlett,  History  of  Wyoming,  p.  185. 

134.  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  July  10,  1890. 


12 


THE  OVERLAND  MAIL 
IN  WYOMING 


by  Patricia  Ann  Owens 


'Nothing  on  God's  earth  must  stop  the 
United  States  Maii" 


i^crcrras 


#  €;ji,l»jf#®iit 


-^1 


This  woodcut  was  made  in  1866  and  used  in  an  advertising  poster  for  the  California  Stage  Compan\    which  earned  passengers  and  mail 


13 


By  the  mid-19th  century  the  Oregon  Trail  had  become 
a  national  highway.  Settlers  followed  the  trail  to  Oregon 
and  California,  but  had  little  tendency  to  establish  perma- 
nent settlements  anywhere  along  the  trail.  As  mining 
populations  became  entrenched  in  Montana  and  other 
areas  of  the  West  a  need  developed  for  a  transportation 
network  that  would  ship  out  the  gold  and  a  system  that 
would  bring  supplies,  mail  and  news  to  the  settlements. ^ 
Various  freighting  companies  were  established  to  meet  this 
need,  and  the  most  famous  such  firm  of  Russell,  Majors 
and  Waddell  also  organized  the  Pony  Express  to  carry  the 
mail  to  points  in  the  West  as  well  as  to  California.  The  Pony 
Express  had  a  brief  existence,  but  it  did  have  the  distinc- 
tion of  carrying  the  news  of  the  election  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln to  California.  It  was  discontinued  October  26,  1861, 
when  the  overland  telegraph  was  completed. ^ 

The  mail  was  a  link  to  home  for  the  settlers  in  the  West. 
They  felt  a  vital  need  for  information  from  the  East,  and 
through  constant  reminding  they  kept  the  federal  govern- 
ment aware  of  its  responsibilities  to  the  West.  Most  govern- 
ment officials  realized  the  difficulties  in  providing  an 
overland  mail  service  while  admitting  that  such  a  service 
was  a  necessity  for  bonding  together  the  East  and  West.^ 
It  was  obvious  that  mail  service  to  the  West  would  benefit 
economic  development  of  the  entire  country  and  would 
advance  civilization  in  the  West.  Leaders  in  Washington, 
wishing  to  promote  both  prosperity  and  civilization, 
favored  a  transcontinental  overland  mail  system  and 
passed  appropriate  legislation.  Mail  was  carried  to  sparsely 
populated  regions  and  through  uninhabited  regions  in 
hopes  of  encouraging  settlement.  Regular  mail  service  was 
a  sign  of  security.^  The  mail  service  brought  improvements 
to  a  region  and  prepared  it  for  the  emigrants  yet  to  come.^ 
Beyond  all  of  these  arguments  was  the  importance  of  the 
mail  in  human  terms.  Soldiers,  miners  and  emigrants  got 
lonesome  without  the  letters  from  home.* 

Opponents  of  the  overland  mail  pointed  out  the  hard- 
ships experienced  by  many  western  travelers  as  sufficient 
reason  for  not  establishing  official  mail  routes  to  the  West.'' 
Nevertheless,  the  demand  for  overland  mail  increased. 
One  of  the  loudest  cries  for  the  maU  route  came  from 
California.  In  February,  1860,  the  California  legislature  in- 
structed that  state's  senators  and  representatives  to  secure 
passage  of  a  law  in  Congress  providing  for  a  daily  mail  ser- 
vice from  the  Mississippi  River  to  California.  The  Califor- 
nia legislature  maintained  that  the  overland  route  could 
deliver  the  maU  in  a  shorter  time  and  with  more  regularity 
than  ocean  vessels,  and  above  all  the  establishment  of  a 
route  would  tend  to  "promote  settlement  and  bring  into 
market  millions  of  acres  of  land  now  considered  too  remote 
for  civilization,  and  would  also  tend  to  secure  emigration 
to  the  Pacific  States  .  .  .  ."* 

Postmaster  General  Joseph  Holt  expressed  opposition 
to  the  overland  route  in  his  1860  annual  report.  He  held 
that  an  overland  mail  system  would  have  to  cross  deserts 
and  mountains  in  all  types  of  weather  carrying  tons  of  mail 
14 


each  year  and  that  the  same  mail  could  more  regularly  be 
delivered  by  other  routes.  Overland  mail  would  benefit  no 
one  but  the  contractor.'  Despite  such  opposition,  a  bill 
establishing  an  overland  mail  route  passed  Congress. 

When  hostilities  broke  out  between  the  North  and 
South  in  1861,  the  mail  route  had  to  be  changed.  Congress 
authorized  the  postmaster  general  to  discontinue  the  mail 
service  on  the  southern  overland  route  which  was  near  the 
Confederate's  domain.  The  mail  was  now  to  move  along 
the  central  overland  route  from  a  site  on  the  Missouri  River 
to  PlacerviUe,  California.  Authorization  was  also  given  to 
increase  the  mail  schedule  to  six  times  a  week." 

The  contract,  let  to  the  Butterfield  Overland  Mail  Com- 
pany, covered  the  period  July  1, 1861,  through  July  1, 1864, 
for  a  fee  of  one  million  dollars  per  annum."  The  mail  con- 
tract provided  that  the  mail  be  carried  through  in  twenty 
days,  eight  months  of  the  year  and  in  23  days  during  the 
four  winter  months  of  the  year.  Bad  weather  made  travel 
conditions  poor  during  the  winter  months,  thus  the  addi- 
tional three  days  allowed  for  delivery. ^^  Mail  on  the  cen- 
tral route  would  start  July  1,  1861,  from  St.  Joseph, 
Missouri. 

The  eastern  division  of  the  mail  route,  which  ran  from 
Atchison  to  Salt  Lake  City,  was  operated  by  the  Central 
Overland  California  and  Pike's  Peak  Express  Company  (the 
C.  O.  C.  and  P.  P.  E.)  owned  by  the  firm  of  Russell,  Majors 
and  Waddell.  The  firm  experienced  financial  difficulties 
and  was  forced  to  borrow  money  from  a  western  finan- 
cier, Ben  Holladay.  By  March  21,  1862,  Holladay  took  con- 
trol of  the  company,  foreclosing  on  money  owed  him." 
As  a  result,  Holladay  also  received  the  contract  for  the 
overland  maU.  He  reorganized  the  line  and  divided  the 
route  with  W.  B.  Dinsmore,  president  of  the  Adams  Ex- 
press Company,  who  took  the  western  end  of  the  route 
from  Salt  Lake  City  to  Placerville,  California." 

Mark  Twain,  who  traveled  the  overland  route  to 
Nevada,  wrote  about  Holladay  in  Roughing  It: 

No  doubt  everybody  has  heard  of  Ben  Holliday  [sic]— a  man 
of  prodigious  energy,  who  used  to  send  mails  and  passengers 
flying  across  the  continent  in  his  overland  stage-coaches  like 
a  very  whirlwind— two  thousand  long  mUes  in  fifteen  days  and 
a  half  .... 

Twain  recounted  the  tale  of  a  young  man  who  was  told 
the  story  of  Moses  and  how  he  led  his  people  out  of  Egypt 
300  miles  to  a  new  land  taking  40  years  to  do  it.  The  boy 
answered,  "Forty  years?  Only  three  hundred  miles? 
Humph!  Ben  Holliday  [sic]  would  have  fetched  them 
through  in  thirty-six  hours. "^^ 

Holladay  was  born  in  Carlisle  County,  Kentucky,  in 
1819,  and  moved  to  western  Missouri  as  a  young  boy. 
There  he  operated  a  store  which  supplied  goods  to  the  U.S. 
Army  during  the  Mexican  War.  Money  from  these  and 
other  business  ventures  enabled  him  to  loan  money  to  the 
stagecoach  line  of  Russell,  Majors  and  Waddell  and  eventu- 
ally obtain  the  mail  contract  and  operate  nearly  5,000  miles 
of  stage  lines. **  Holladay  was  an  effective  executive  who 


The  Overland  Mail  coach  in  front  of  station  at  Fort  Bridger,  ca.  1864. 


possessed  an  ability  to  organize  the  many  aspects  of  the 
overland  stage  business. ^''  He  appeared  as  a  coarse  fron- 
tiersman to  many,  yet  was  ambitious  and  filled  with  the 
cunning  of  a  gambler  who  would  risk  his  entire  fortune 
when  a  greater  one  could  be  acquired. i*  One  of  Holladay's 
contemporaries  wrote  that  Holladay  was  a  "man  of  restless 
and  untiring  vigor.  "^^  He  combined  his  many  talents  with 
his  first  hand  knowledge  of  the  frontier  to  develop  a  great 
stage  line.  He  hired  skillful  and  experienced  men  to  drive 
his  coaches,  purchased  first-class  coaches  and  the  finest 
horses  and  mules.  He  paid  his  men  on  time  and,  to  the 
pleasure  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  he  delivered  the 
mail.^o 

There  were  93  stations  along  the  mail  route  from  At- 
chison, Kansas,  to  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.^i  These  stations 
were  ten  to  twelve  miles  apart.  Every  50  miles  there  was 
a  "home  station"  where  the  drivers  changed  and  made 
their  homes.  These  were  also  eating  stations  for  passengers 
riding  the  coaches.  Intermediate  stations  along  the  route 
were  called  "swing  stations"  and  here  only  horses  were 
changed. 2^  The  station  buildings  were  constructed  of  logs 
and  sod  and  divided  into  one  to  three  rooms.  Here  peo- 
ple ate,  slept  and  bought  groceries  and  whiskey  from  the 
store  room.  23  These  were  primitive  facilities  but  they  were 
not  the  only  hardships  experienced  by  the  stagecoach 
drivers  and  passengers.  The  weather  was  a  formidable  foe. 
Furious  snowstorms  would  blast  the  route  for  weeks  on 
end  in  the  winter,  and  flooded  streams  would  turn  the 


route  into  a  quagmire  in  the  spring. ^^  These  conditions 
slowed  down  or  completely  stopped  mail  delivery  at 
various  times  from  1862  to  1865. 

The  overland  mail  crossed  through  the  present-day 
states  of  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Wyoming  and  Utah  in  the  com- 
pletion of  the  eastern  division  of  the  route.  In  Wyoming, 
the  route  passed  between  Fort  Laramie  in  the  east  and  Fort 
Bridger  in  the  west.  Beginning  in  1862,  this  region  became 
the  scene  for  numerous  Indian  raids  upon  the  mail  route, 
emigrants  and  the  telegraph. 

The  depredations  by  the  Indians  coincided  with  the 
removal  of  troops  from  various  western  forts.  The  troops 
were  sent  east  to  fight  the  Confederacy  and  in  April,  1862, 
Indian  war  parties  took  advantage  of  the  situation  by  fre- 
quent attacks  on  stagecoach  stations  between  Fort  Bridger 
and  the  North  Platte  River.  Mail  was  often  destroyed  by 
the  Indians,  scattered  across  the  plains  or  lost  in  stations 
set  on  fire  by  the  Indians,  and  those  stations  attacked  lost 
numerous  horses  and  mules. ^^ 

A  small  force  of  soldiers  from  Fort  Laramie  tried  to 
guard  the  500  miles  of  mail  route.  However,  they  were  in- 
effective and  the  Indians  continued  their  raids.  Messages 
from  Fort  Laranue  reported  that  "the  road  is  in  danger 
daily  from  Platte  Bridge  to  Salt  Lake  Valley. "^^  In  order 
to  afford  some  protection,  two  coaches  were  run  at  a  time 
with  a  double  set  of  men.  However,  this  proved  unsuc- 
cessful. On  April  17,  1862,  dual  coaches  were  attacked  by 
45  Indians  who  fired  upon  the  men  and  coaches  causing 

15 


severe  damage  before  retreating  four  hours  later. ^^  In 
another  show  of  force,  the  Indians  attacked  a  mail  station 
within  two  hours  after  a  detachment  of  troops  left  the 
vicinity.^*  The  Indians  were  able  to  attack  quickly  with  force 
and  evade  the  troops. 

The  Indian  raids  during  1862  took  their  toll  on  the  mail 

delivery,  causing  the  postmaster  general  to  report  in  his 

annual  message  of  that  year  that  the  mail  service  had  not 

been  satisfactory.  He  was,  however,  optimistic  that  it 

would  be  made  successful.  The  mail  route  was  becoming 

more  and  more  important.  The  postmaster  general  reported: 

Everyday  brings  intelligence  of  the  discovery  of  new  mines  of 

gold  and  silver  in  the  region  traversed  by  this  mail  route,  which 

gives  assurance  that  it  wUl  not  be  many  years  before  it  will  be 

protected  and  supported  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 

route  by  a  civilized  population.  As  an  agency  in  developing 

these  resources  for  the  government  the  mail  line  is  indispensable 

and  every  needful  protection  and  support  should  be  given  to 

the  company,  and  some  allowance  made  for  failures  in  the 

beginning  of  the  undertaking.^' 


the  Oregon  Trail.  This  new  route  was  often  referred  to  as 
the  Cherokee  Trail  or  the  Bridger's  Pass  route. ^  Abandon- 
ing the  old  route  was  not  without  great  expense  to  Holla- 
day's  company.  It  was  necessary  to  abandon  26  mail  sta- 
tions and  build  25  additional  stations  along  the  new  route, 
new  stations  meant  new  houses,  new  barns  and  new  sup- 
plies all  at  increasing  expense. '*  Holladay  estimated  the 
total  cost  at  $50,000. 

To  protect  the  new  route,  James  Craig,  the  coirmiander 
at  Fort  Laramie,  ordered  escorts  of  25  to  30  men  to  accom- 
pany the  stages. 35  Sending  these  troops  more  than  100 
miles  to  the  south  forced  Craig  to  divide  his  forces  and 
severely  limited  his  ability  to  protect  the  emigrant  trains 
that  passed  through  the  region. ^^  In  such  a  weakened  posi- 
tion, Craig  petitioned  his  superior  officers  for  additional 
troops. 3'' 

Holladay  also  petitioned  Washington  for  protection  of 
his  stages  carrying  the  mail.  He  had  friends  in  the  Post  Of- 
fice and  War  departments  and  he  appealed  to  them  in  his 


fc^ivKtf'^fs: 


The  Overland  Mail  leaving  Deer  Creek  Station  during  the  1860s. 

The  mail  route  through  present-day  Wyoming  suffered 
so  severely  during  1862,  that  all  along  the  line  were  found 
disorgariized  and  abandoned  stations. 3°  After  Holladay  had 
studied  reports  of  the  raids  committed  by  Indians  on  the 
route  between  Fort  Laramie  and  South  Pass,  listened  to 
advice  from  the  persons  familiar  with  the  country,  and  real- 
ized the  inability  of  the  military  forces  adequately  to  pro- 
tect the  stage  line,  he  decided  to  move  the  line  to  a  more 
southern  route. ^^  He  later  testified  before  a  Congressional 
committee  on  his  decision: 

1  deserted  and  abandoned  all  stations  and  moved  south  from 
various  fwints  100  to  300  miles  for  the  new  route,  ...  I  can 
state  under  oath  that  the  mails  could  not  have  passed  over  the 
old  road  without  enormous  expenditure  of  money  and  loss  of 
life  and  property.  Indeed,  I  know  it  was  impossible  to  carry 
the  mails  regularly  on  that  route.  General  Craig  agreed  with 
me  that  it  was  impossible  to  afford  me  protection  with  his 
force. ^^ 

The  postmaster  general  gave  permission  in  Jioly,  1862,  to 
change  the  mail  route.  It  was  located  100  miles  south  of 
16 


effort.'*  The  mail  route  had  been  destroyed  for  hundreds 
of  miles  and  Holladay  experienced  great  financial  loss. 
Therefore  he  took  his  case  to  President  Abraham  Lincoln. 
When  he  went  to  the  White  House,  Holladay  was  accom- 
panied by  Senator  Milton  Latham  of  California.  Latham 
was  especially  interested  in  maintaining  the  regtilar  mail 
service  on  the  overland  route  to  California.  Holladay  ex- 
plained the  situation  to  the  president,  and  Lincoln  told 
him,  "you  must  have  protection;  the  mails  must  be  car- 
ried." Lincoln  instructed  Holladay  to  carry  the  mail  at  all 
hazards  and  promised  he  would  be  protected  by  the  gov- 
ernment and  that  he  would  be  compensated  for  his 
losses.  3' 

Holladay's  friend.  Senator  Latham,  wrote  to  President 
Lincoln  on  April  26,  1862,  requesting  that  authority  be 
given  to  Brigham  Young,  leader  of  the  Mormons  in  Utah, 
to  raise  100  men  to  protect  the  overland  route.'"'  Lincoln 
endorsed  the  request  and  Adjutant  General  Lorenzo 
Thomas  telegraphed  Yoimg  on  April  28  and  informed  him 


that  by  authority  of  the  president  he  was  to  raise,  arm  and 
equip  a  company  of  men  for  90  days  service  and  they  were 
to  proceed  to  Independence  Rock,  a  landmark  east  of  Fort 
Bridger,  to  protect  the  new  mail  route. *'  The  Indians  soon 
disappeared  from  this  region  and  the  Mormon  forces 
served  only  30  days  before  being  mustered  out.*^ 

Despite  Holladay's  hopes,  the  southern  route  was  not 
immune  to  Indian  raids. *^  An  employee  of  Holladay's 
wrote  from  Salt  Lake  City  in  June,  1862,  that  the  Indians 
had  caused  a  suspension  of  the  mails  and  this  would  con- 
tinue until  troops  could  arrive  to  protect  the  route  from 
further  violence.*^ 

By  1864,  travel  along  the  overland  trails  had  increased 
to  the  point  that  it  rivaled  the  days  of  heavy  overland 
migration  during  the  rush  to  California  gold  fields  in  1849. 
For  a  stretch  of  400  miles  along  the  mail  route  the  Indians 
plundered  wagons,  coaches,  stations  and  brought  Holla- 
day's empire  to  a  standstill. ^^  The  mail  delivery  was  im- 
peded; stations,  houses,  supplies  were  burned;  and  agents 
were  murdered.**  All  of  this  brought  financial  difficulties 
to  HoUaday.  The  overland  mail  was  shut  down  as  a  result 
of  the  Indian  raids  at  a  time  when  it  would  have  paid  the 
best.  Summer  and  fall  were  good  times  for  coaches  to  carry 
passengers.  Now  no  passengers  rode  the  coaches,  no  mail 
was  delivered  and  overland  commerce  in  general  was  hurt. 


Mail  had  to  be  sent  by  ocean  vessel.  Burned  stations,  stolen 
livestock  and  other  destroyed  property  cost  HoUaday 
several  hundred  thousand  dollars.*^ 

Once  again  HoUaday  appealed  for  protection  of  the 
mail  route  to  President  Lincoln.  A  representative  from 
Holladay's  firm,  George  Otis,  visited  the  White  House  ac- 
companied by  the  assistant  secretary  of  the  interior,  the 
acting  postmaster  general,  as  well  as  delegates  from 
Oregon  and  Colorado.  They  told  Lincoln  the  mail  coaches 
would  run  if  the  goveniment  would  furnish  military  guards 
and  escorts.  Otis  reported  that  Lincoln  replied: 

Mr.  Otis,  we  are  in  a  great  strait  with  the  country  today;  at  this 
time  we  have  very  few,  if  any,  troops  to  spare.  But  I  want  you 
to  understand,  as  the  agent  of  Mr.  HoUaday,  that  this  line  must, 
under  no  consideration,  be  stopped  ....  This  thing  must  be 
protected,  and  it  shall  be  protected.'" 

Clearly,  Lincoln  recognized  the  importance  of  the  mail 
route  in  connecting  east  to  west  during  the  war.  The  presi- 
dent gave  Otis  a  letter  to  take  to  General  S.  R.  Curtis  at 
Fort  Leavenworth.  Lincoln  asked  Curtis  to  meet  with  Otis 
to  discuss  protection  for  the  overland  mail  route  and  "to 
do  the  very  best  you  can  for  this  important  interest .  .  .  ."*' 
Curtis  in  turn  ordered  the  commander  at  Fort  Laramie, 
now  Brigadier  General  Robert  B.  Mitchell,  to  "make  the 
overland  stage  route  as  secure  as  possible. "5°  Mitchell's 


Stagecoach  used  along  the  Overland  Mail  route. 


V 


success  was  no  greater  than  Craig's  had  been.  Small 
groups  of  men  were  stiE  trying  to  guard  500  miles  of  coun- 
try, raids  were  committed  daily  and  Mitchell  expected  a 
general  outbreak. '' 

While  Holladay  experienced  difficulties  with  Indian 
raids  along  the  mail  route,  he  was  facing  the  end  of  the 
contract  period  for  the  mail.  It  was  necessary  to  devote 
some  effort  to  the  renewing  of  the  contract.  The  maU  con- 
tract possessed  by  Holladay  was  set  to  expire  on  June  30, 
1864.  The  postmaster  general,  by  authority  of  various  acts 
of  Congress,  divided  the  mail  route  into  sections  and  an- 
nounced in  October,  1863,  he  would  accept  bids  for  the 
mail  service  until  March  3,  1864. ^^  Holladay  bid  on  route 
number  14260  to  run  daily  coaches  both  ways  between  At- 
chison, Kansas,  and  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  a  distance  of 
1,220  miles.  His  bid  for  this  portion  of  the  overland  route 
was  $385,000.  For  the  complete  route  extending  to  Folsom, 
California,  Holladay  bid  $820,000,  but  he  was  not  the 
lowest  bidder. =3  John  H.  Heistand  of  Lancaster,  Penn- 
sylvania, bid  $750,000  to  cover  the  entire  overland  route, 
but  then  withdrew  the  bid.'^  Holladay  then  informed  the 
postmaster  general  that  he  should  receive  the  contract  since 
Heistand  had  withdrawn  his  bid.  After  some  delay  the  con- 
tract was  offered  officially  to  Holladay  and  he  accepted  on 
August  5,  1864.55 

The  new  contract  for  October  1,  1864,  to  September 
30,  1868,  stated  that  the  contractor  was  to  carry  the  maU 
with  "certainty,  celerity,  and  security  .  .  .  ."  The  mail  was 
to  be  carried  in  a  "safe  and  secure  manner  free  from  wet 
or  other  injury."  If  carried  on  a  horse,  the  mail  was  to  be 
carried  under  an  oil-cloth  or  bear  skin  and  if  carried  in  a 
coach  then  placed  under  the  driver's  seat.  The  carrier  was 
to  protect  the  mail  and  lock  it  up  or  put  it  in  a  safe  place 
at  night.  Holladay  would  receive  payments  in  the  months 
of  May,  August,  November  and  February  for  carrying  the 
maU.  5* 

The  schedule  of  departures  and  arrivals  took  into  con- 
sideration the  bad  weather  conditions  during  the  winter 
months.  From  October  1  to  April  1,  the  mail  was  to  leave 
Atchison  daily  at  8  a.m.,  arrive  at  Salt  Lake  City  on  the 
fourteenth  day  after,  by  2  a.m.,  then  leave  that  city  daily 
at  7  p.m.  and  arrive  at  Atchison  on  the  fourteenth  day  after 
by  1  p.m.  The  one  way  trip  between  either  dty  was  a  total 
of  306  hours.  During  the  other  eight  months  of  the  year, 
April  1  to  December  1,  the  mail  was  to  leave  Atchison  daily 
at  8  a.m.,  arrive  at  Salt  Lake  City  on  the  eleventh  day  after 
by  11  a.m.,  then  leave  Salt  Lake  City  daily  at  10  a.m.  and 
arrive  at  Atchison  on  the  eleventh  day  after  by  1  p.m.  This 
was  a  one  way  trip  of  243  hours. 5''  To  maintain  such  a 
schedule,  Holladay  kept  a  number  of  coaches  rolling  across 
the  plains  at  all  times.  The  distance  was  immense  and  the 
organization  of  such  an  undertaking  was  complicated. 

The  Indians  continued  their  raids  throughout  1865.  In 
January  of  that  year,  the  Cheyerme  and  Sioux  took  con- 
trol of  the  route  for  200  miles  along  the  Platte  River.  These 
raids  played  havoc  with  the  mail  and  made  deliveries  ir- 
18 


regular  along  the  eastern  half  of  the  route. 5* 

Holladay  continued  the  mail  service  throughout  the 
years  of  the  Civil  War  when  communication  with  the  West 
was  so  vital.  Damages  suffered  as  a  result  of  the  continu- 
ing raids  accumulated.  Holladay  was  a  successful 
businessman  and  a  sly  one  at  that.  The  railroad  began  its 
rapid  expansion  across  the  continent  after  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War,  bringing  with  it  new  and  faster  maU  delivery. 
Holladay  realized  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  abandon  the 
overland  maU.  On  November  1,  1866,  he  sold  the  Overland 
MaU  Company  to  WeUs,  Fargo  and  Company  and  quit  a 
winner.  5^ 


PATRICIA  ANN  OWENS  is  instructor  of  history  and  political  science  at  Wabash 
Valley  College  in  Mt.  Carmel,  Illinois.  She  received  her  Ph.D.  in  history  from 
Southern  Illinois  University  at  Carbondale,  M.A.  in  history  and  M.S.  in  forestry 
from  SIUC,  and  B.A.  in  history  and  political  science  from  Illinois  State  Univer- 
sity. She  is  a  master's  candidate  in  American  Studies  at  the  University  of  Wyoming. 


1.  Frederick  L.  Paxson,  History  of  the  American  Frontier  1763-1893  (Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts:  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1924),  p.  466. 

2.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1860,  Executive 
Department,  36th  Cong.,  2nd  sess.,  1861,  p.  560. 

3.  J.  V.  Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King:  A  Chapter  in  the 
Development  of  Transcontinental  Transportation  (Glendale,  California: 
The  Arthur  H.  Clark  Company,  1940),  p.  45. 

4.  LeRoy  R.  Hafen,  The  Overland  Mail,  1849-1869:  Promoter  of  Settlement, 
Precursor  of  Railroads  (Qeveland:  The  ,\rthur  H.  Qark  Company,  1926), 
pp.  329-330. 

5.  Ibid.,  p.  331. 

6.  Lewis  Byram  HuU,  "Soldiering  on  the  High  Plains;  The  Diary  of  Lewis 
Byram  Hull,  1864-1866,"  edited  by  Myra  E.  Hull,  The  Kansas  Historical 
Quarterly  Vll  (February  1938):  19. 

7.  Roscoe  P.  Conkling  and  Margaret  B.  Conkling,  The  Butterfield  Overland 
Mail,  1857-1869:  Its  Organization  and  Operation  over  the  Southern  Route 
to  1861;  Subsequently  over  the  Central  Route  to  1866;  and  under  Wells, 
Fargo  and  Company  in  1869,  Volume  1  (Glendale,  California:  The  Arthur 
H.  Clark  Company,  1947),  p.  85. 

8.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Miscellaneous  Document  18,  36th  Cong.,  1st 
sess.,  1860. 

9.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1860,  Executive 
Documents,  36th  Cong.,  2nd  sess.,  1861,  p.  436. 

10.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1861,  Executive 
Doctmients,  37th  Cong.,  2nd  sess.,  1862.,  p.  560;  and  William  E.  Lass, 
From  the  Missouri  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake:  An  Account  of  Overland  Freighting 
(Nebraska  State  Historical  Society,  1972),  p.  122. 

11.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1861,  Executive 
Documents,  37th  Cong.,  2nd  sess.,  1862,  p.  560;  and  Conkling,  The 
Butterfield  Overland  Mail,  Volume  11,  p.  341. 

12.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1861,  Executive 
Documents,  37th  Cong.,  2nd  sess.,  1862,  p.  560. 

13.  Lass,  From  the  Missouri  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  pp.  122-123;  Frederick, 


Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  pp.  62-65;  Hafen,  The  Overland  Mail, 
1849-1869,  p.  227;  Hiram  S.  Rumfield,  "Letters  of  an  Overland  Mail 
Agent  in  Utah/'  edited  by  Archer  Butler  Hulbert,  Proceedings  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society  38  (April  18,  1928-October  17,  1928):  267; 
and  Raymond  W.  Settle  and  Mary  Lund,  War  Drums  and  Wagon  Wheels: 
The  Story  of  Russell,  Majors  and  Waddell  (Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska 
Press,  1966),  p.  166. 

14.  Conkling,  The  Butterfield  Overland  Mail,  Volume  II,  p.  239;  and  Settle 
and  Lund,  War  Drums  and  Wagon  Wheels,  p.  163. 

15.  Mark  Twain,  Roughing  It  (New  York:  Harper  and  Row  Publishers, 
1913),  p.  41. 

16.  Dumas  Malone,  editor.  Dictionary  of  American  Biography,  Volume  V 
(New  York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1932),  p.  141;  and  Hafen,  The 
Overland  Mail,  1849-1869,  pp.  295-296. 

17.  LeRoy  R.  Hafen  and  Carl  Coke  Rister,  Western  America:  The  Explora- 
tion, Settlement  and  Development  of  the  Region  Beyond  the  Mississippi, 
2nd  ed.  (Englewood  Cliffs,  New  Jersey:  Prentice-Hall,  Inc.,  1950), 
p.  466. 

18.  Paxson,  History  of  the  American  Frontier  1763-1893,  p.  466;  Frederick, 
Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  p.  24;  and  Ray  Allen  BUlington, 
Westward  Expansion:  A  History  of  the  American  Frontier,  4th  ed.  (New 
York:  MacrmUan  Pubhshing  Company,  Inc.,  1974),  p.  551. 

19.  Eugene  F.  Ware,  The  Indian  War  of  1864  (New  York:  St.  Martin's  Press, 
1960),  p.  181. 

20.  Frank  A.  Root  and  William  Elsey  Connelley,  The  Overland  Stage  to 
California:  Personal  Reminiscences  and  Authentic  History  of  the  Great 
Overland  Stage  Line  and  Pony  Express  from  the  Missouri  River  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean  (Published  by  the  authors,  1901);  reprint  ed.  (Columbus,  Ohio: 
Long's  College  Book  Company,  1950),  p.  48;  and  Richard  A.  Bartlett, 
The  New  Country:  A  Social  History  of  the  American  Frontier  1776-1890 
(New  York:  Oxford  University  Press,  1974),  pp.  303-304. 

21.  Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  pp.  101-102. 

22.  C.  G.  Coutant,  History  of  Wyoming,  Volume  II  (New  York:  Argonaut 
Press,  Ltd.,  1966),  p.  388;  and  Dee  Brown,  The  Galvanized  Yankees 
(Urbana:  University  of  Illinois  Press,  1963),  p.  20. 

23.  Brown,  The  Galvanized  Yankees,  p.  20;  and  Root  and  Connelley,  The 
Overland  Stage  to  California,  p.  64. 

24.  Rumfield,  "Letters  of  an  Overland  Mail  Agent  in  Utah,"  p.  292;  and 
Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  p.  113. 

25.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  p.  9;  Hafen,  The  Overland  Mail,  1849-1869,  p.  242;  and 
Grace  Raymond  Hebard,  Washakie:  An  Account  of  Indian  Resistance  of 
the  Covered  Wagon  and  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Invasion  of  Their  Territory 
(Cleveland:  The  Arthur  H.  Clark  Company,  1930),  p.  105. 

26.  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Armies 
(Washington,  D.C.:  Government  Printing  Office  1880-1900),  series 
I,  vol.  XIII,  p.  459  (hereafter  cited  as  O.R.). 

27.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  p.  9. 

28.  Ibid.,  p.  55;  and  O.R.,  I,  XIH,  p.  459. 

29.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1862,  Executive 
Documents,  38th  Cong.,  3rd  sess.,  1863,  p.  126. 

30.  Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  p.  94;  and  U.S.,  Con- 
gress, Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd  sess., 
1880,  p.  51. 


31.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  p.  62. 

32.  Ibid. 

33.  Root  and  Connelley,  The  Overland  Stage  to  California,  p.  92;  Hafen, 
The  Overland  Mail,  1849-1869,  p.  230;  Lass,  From  the  Missouri  to  the 
Great  Salt  Lake,  p.  123;  Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King, 
p.  94;  and  Robert  M.  Utley,  Frontiersmen  in  Blue:  The  United  States  Army 
and  the  Indian  1848-1865  (New  York:  MacmiUan  Publishing  Company, 
Inc.,  1967),  p.  281. 

34.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  p.  2;  and  Root  and  Connelley,  The  Overland  Stage  to  Califor- 
nia, p.  361. 

35.  O.R.,  I,  Xin,  p.  468. 

36.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  p.  54;  Hebard,  Washakie,  p.  106;  and  T.  A.  Larson,  History 
of  Wyoming,  2nd  ed.,  revised  (Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press, 
1978),  p.  19. 

37.  O.K.,  I,  Xin,  p.  466. 

38.  Bartlett,  Vw  New  Country,  p.  304. 

39.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Docimnent  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  pp.  57,  61. 

40.  Abraham  Lincoln,  The  Collected  Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  edited  by 
Roy  P.  Easier,  vol.  V  (New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey:  Rutgers  Univer- 
sity Press,  1953-1955),  p.  200. 

41.  O.R.,  III,  II,  p.  27;  and  Hebard,  Washakie,  p.  106. 

42.  Hafen,  The  Overland  Mail  1849-1869,  p.  247. 

43.  O.R.,  I,  Xin,  p.  451. 

44.  Rumfield,  "Letters  of  an  Overland  Mail  Agent  in  Utah,"  pp.  267-268. 

45.  Dee  Brown,  The  Westerners  (New  York:  Holt,  Rinehart  and  Winston, 
1974),  p.  168. 

46.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  p.  1. 

47.  Root  and  Connelley,  The  Overland  Stage  to  California,  pp.  439-440,  442. 

48.  U.S.,  Congress,  Senate,  Miscellaneous  Document  19,  46th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1880,  p.  57;  and  Brown,  The  Galvanized  Yankees,  pp.  15-16. 

49.  Lincoln,  The  Collected  Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  vol.  VII,  p.  530. 

50.  O.R.,  I,  XLI,  II,  p.  302. 

51.  Ibid.,  p.  429. 

52.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1863,  Executive 
Documents,  38th  Cong.,  1st  sess.,  1864,  pp.  11-12. 

53.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Executive  Docvunent  99,  38th  Cong.,  1st  sess., 
1864,  p.  2;  and  Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  pp.  117-119. 

54.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Executive  Document  99,  38th  Cong.,  1st  sess., 
1864,  p.  2;  Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  pp.  117-118; 
and  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1864,  Ex- 
ecutive Documents,  39th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  1865,  pp.  782-783. 

55.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1864,  Executive 
Documents,  39th  Cong.,  2nd  sess.,  1865,  pp.  782-783;  and  Frederick, 
Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  p.  118. 

56.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Executive  Document  20,  40th  Cong.,  2nd 
sess.,  1868,  pp.  3-4. 

57.  Ibid.,  p.  6. 

58.  U.S.,  Congress,  House,  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  1865,  Executive 
Documents,  39th  Cong.,  1  sess.,  1866,  p.  3;  and  Root  and  Con- 
nelley, The  Overland  Stage  to  California,  p.  371. 

59.  Frederick,  Ben  Holladay,  the  Stagecoach  King,  pp.  260-261. 


19 


"Y'ALL  CALL  ME  NIGGER  JIM  NOW, 

BUT  SOMEDAY  YOU'LL  CALL  ME 

MR.  JAMES  EDWARDS": 

Black  Success  on  the  Plains  of  the  Equality  State 

by  Todd  R.  Guenther 


The  now  abandoned  home  of  Jim  and  Lefhel  Edwards. 


20 


Out  on  the  rolling,  rugged  Wyoming  prairie  not  far  from  the 
one  store  town  of  Lost  Springs  (pop.  38),  there  is  a  forlorn, 
forgotten  ranch.  Amid  its  weathered,  fallen  corrals,  blown  down 
windmills,  (and)  rusting  ancient  cars  there  is  a  gaunt  stone- 
face  house  with  a  wisp  of  smoke  trailing  up  to  the  sky.  In  the 
shadows  of  the  kitchen,  heaped  with  unwashed  dishes,  pots 
with  half-eaten  food  and  old  papers,  lives  James  Nathaniel  Ed- 
wards, now  85  years  old.  His  hair  has  turned  almost  completely 
white.  His  shoulders  are  beginning  to  bend  .  .  .  This  is  the  man 
who  once  was  the  greatest  negro  cattle  rancher  in  all  the  West 
.  .  .  Jim  Edwards  is  a  legend  in  Wyoming,  a  name  that  will  long 
be  remembered  wherever  and  whenever  cattlemen  gather  to 
talk  about  the  building  of  the  West.^ 

The  preceding  passage  dramatically  gives  Edwards 
somewhat  greater  significance  than  history  has  yet  chosen 
to.  Ciirrently,  virtually  nothing  is  known  of  the  history  of 
Blacks  in  Wyoming,  and  only  a  small  amount  about  Blacks 
in  the  West.  Very  little  information  exists,  then,  for  com- 
parative purposes,  making  such  grandiose  rankings  unsup- 
portable.  Nevertheless,  during  the  first  half  of  the  20th  cen- 
tury, Edwards  and  his  wife  Lethel  were,  possibly,  the  most 
successful  Black  ranchers  at  least  in  Wyoming,  if  not  the 
West.  It  is  clear  they  were  more  prosperous  and  produc- 
tive than  many  White  homesteaders  in  the  region,  a  large 
number  of  whom  lived  in  squalor  before  going  bust  dur- 
ing the  1920s  or  1930s.  During  that  whole  period  the 
Edwards  thrived.  Because  they  accomplished  so  much 
more  than  the  majority  of  their  more  numerous  White 
counterparts,  common  sense  suggests  they  were  probably 
more  financially  successful  than  all  their  peers,  the  few  un- 
documented Black  ranchers  included. 

Originally  from  Ohio,  Edwards  was  bom  on  February 
14,  about  1871,  and  may  have  come  West  as  early  as  the 
1880s  when  around  the  age  of  16.^  The  amount  of  educa- 
tion he  received  is  unknown,  but  bank  checks  he  wrote 
in  the  1920s  are  in  a  very  clear,  confident,  legible  hand. 
He  never  discussed  his  early  years  with  the  informants 
who  provided  much  of  the  information  about  him.  William 
Nuttall  is  "sure  he  didn't"  trail  cattle  between  Mexico  and 
Canada  as  the  imreliable  author  of  the  Ebony  article  claims, 
and  it  is  doubtful  he  was  in  the  West  before  1900.  Local 
tradition  maintains  that  before  coming  to  Wyoming  he 
served  in  a  Black  cavalry  unit  in  Cuba  during  the  Spanish 
American  War.  According  to  this  version  he  was  an  NCO 
who  refused  to  lead  his  troops  into  a  valley  he  had  scouted 
and  knew  to  be  infested  with  an  overwhelming  number 
of  enemy.  Art  Joss,  a  neighboring  rancher,  thought  he 
subsequently  deserted  and  that  Edwards  may  have  been 
a  pseudonym;  Nuttall  thought  he  was  discharged.  Refer- 
ring to  the  incident  and  his  presence  in  Wyoming  he  once 
said,  "I  wouldn't've  been  here  if  it  wasn't  for  that."  Nut- 
tall said  that  later  in  life,  Edwards  "hated  anything 
military. "3  The  National  Archives,  however,  contains  no 
record  of  a  James  Nathaniel  Edwards  serving  in  either  of 
the  Black  cavalry  units  in  the  U.S.  armed  forces,  although 
he  might  have  served  with  a  state  volunteer  unit. 


Edwards  appeared  in  Newcastle,  Wyoming,  with  his 
father  in  1900  in  response  to  help  wanted  advertisements 
placed  in  eastern  newspapers  by  the  Cambria  coal  mine. 
Both  had  worked  in  coal  mines  in  Ohio.  They  came  West 
with  a  group  of  Italian  miners  who  soon  drove  them  away. 
What  became  of  the  elder  Edwards  is  unknown.  Jim 
walked  south  looking  for  work  until  arriving  in  the  Lusk 
area,  a  distance  of  about  80  miles.  There,  the  WiUson 
Brothers  Ranch  hired  him  to  herd  sheep  on  the  Running 
Water,  now  called  the  Niobrara  River. 

Edwards  worked  for  the  Willsons  for  ten  or  fifteen 
years,  eventually  as  a  foreman.  That  put  him  in  a  super- 
visory capacity  over  lower  ranking  White  employees.  He 
remained  on  the  Willson  payroll  at  least  until  December, 
1914.*  Joss  said  the  Willsons  refused  to  pay  him  a  decent 
wage  and  threatened  to  report  him  to  the  military  au- 
thorities if  he  quit,  but  that  he  finally  took  them  to  court 
and  won  the  case.'  No  court  records  for  the  case  were 
located,  but  if  this  account  is  accurate,  it  suggests  he  did 
not  desert.  As  Edwards  was  involved  in  many  legal  dis- 
putes through  the  years,  it  seems  likely  that  if  he  was  in- 
deed a  deserter,  the  fact  would  have  been  discovered. 

The  Willson  brothers  originally  placed  Edwards  on  his 
Harney  Creek  homestead  early  in  the  century.  Joss  thought 
it  was  aroimd  1906  or  1908.'  During  the  blizzard  of  1949, 
Edwards  said  that  he  had  looked  "out  of  the  same  win- 
dow for  50  years. "^  Nuttall  estimated  he  was  on  the 
homestead  as  early  as  1901  or  1902.  He  applied  for  a  patent 
on  the  land  where  his  buildings  were  situated  in  1908,  but 
may  have  been  there  earlier.  In  a  common  arrangement 
of  the  day,  the  Willsons  set  him  up  with  the  imderstand- 
ing  that  he  would  turn  the  place  over  to  them  after  prov- 
ing up.  Instead,  when  he  received  the  patent  he  kept  it. 
When  he  sold  out  years  later  he  had  eighteen  sections  of 
land,  including  two  leased  school  sections,  was  a  respected 
member  of  the  community  and  highly  regarded  as  a  cattle 
and  horse  breeder. 

Edwards  was  the  first  Black  person  to  live  in  the  area. 
The  name  of  Nigger  Baby  Spring,  now  called  Baby  Springs 
Draw,  several  rrules  north  of  his  homestead,  suggests  the 
possible  presence  of  earlier  Blacks  in  the  area  when 
geographical  features  were  still  being  named.  That  assump- 
tion is  inaccurate.  The  name  probably  results  from  "the 
black,  tarlike  mud  through  which  the  water  seeps  to  the 
surface."  Any  one  or  anything  "drinking  there,  or  stand- 
ing in  the  water  [will]  emerge  .  .  .  plastered  with  the  black 
ooze."* 

Edwards  began  ranching  when  the  Wyoming  cattle  in- 
dustry was  experiencing  a  period  of  "general  steady 
growth,  with  [only]  nunor  setbacks."'  By  this  time  stock- 
growers  had  adopted  winter  feeding  methods  as  opposed 
to  letting  the  animals  fend  for  themselves  during  the  brutal 
Wyoming  winters.  They  had  also  learned  advanced  dry- 
farming  and  irrigation  techniques  in  their  feed  crop  pro- 
duction which  allowed  them  to  produce  larger  amounts 
of  feed.  Because  of  past  disasters  caused  by  overgrazing, 

21 


ranchers  also  became  respectful  of  the  shortgrass  prairie's 
low  carrying  capacity.  Between  1900  and  1910  the  number 
of  cattle  on  the  plains  declined  by  36.7  percent."  Cattlemen 
who  fed  their  stock  and  kept  costs  down  usually  prospered 
during  this  period.  Jim  Edwards,  an  intelligent  and  talented 
stockman,  earned  a  position  in  that  category. 

Edwards  was  fortunate  in  that  he  did  not  have  to 
winter  feed  his  stock.  His  land  just  north  of  the  Harney 
HiUs  provided  exceptionally  good  pasture.  These  beautiful, 
cedar  dotted  hills  are  on  the  divide  between  the  North 
Platte  and  Running  Water  (Niobrara)  rivers.  Because  of 
their  elevation  they  receive  slightly  more  annual  precipita- 
tion than  surrounding  areas.  The  average  precipitation 
there  is  eighteen  inches  per  year,  as  compared  to  sixteen 
elsewhere  in  the  vicinity.  Although  it  is  obvious  the  vegeta- 
tion in  the  HiUs  is  relatively  lush,  the  precise  figures  were 
not  documented  until  Catherine  Nuttall  kept  daily  records 
for  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  for  35  years.  The 
extra  moisture  resulted  in  increased  biomass  and  thus  car- 
rying capacity  for  Edwards'  land,  thereby  contributing  to 
his  future  success  by  letting  him  produce  more  with  less 
effort  and  expenditure  than  his  competitors. 

Also  during  this  period,  much  of  the  remaining  open 
range  was  claimed  by  new  homeseekers  and  established 
ranchers  trying  to  enlarge  their  holdings.  Thirty-eight 
million  acres  were  claimed  on  the  Great  Plains  between 
1911  and  1914. >'  In  1913,  Edwards  received  his  first  patent 
on  90  acres  surrounding  his  cabin.  Stockmen  who  did  not 
own  their  grazing  lands  often  lost  portions  of  the  open 
range  they  had  used  to  others  taking  advantage  of  the 
Enlarged  Homestead  Act  of  1909  or  the  Stock  Raising 
Homestead  Act  of  1916. '^  Throughout  much  of  the  thirty 
year  period  from  1890  to  1920,  Edwards  thrived.  He  was 
able  to  do  so  because  national  economic  trends  created  a 
usually  favorable  market  for  cattlemen  and  because  he  was 
a  gifted,  accomplished  stock-grower  who  was  prudent  in 
his  business  dealings. 

World  War  I  brought  a  short-lived  economic  boom  to 
Wyoming  ranchers.  Improved  animal  husbandry  methods 
and  a  growing  market  enabled  them  to  nearly  double  the 
number  of  cattle  between  1914  and  1918."  This  un- 
precedented boom  resulted  in  wild  inflation  and  ex- 
travagant speculation  in  agricultural  commodities.  Many 
new  banks  opened  with  poor  organization  and  funding  by 
parties  wanting  to  capitalize  on  the  situation.  Environmen- 
tal factors,  however,  in  the  form  of  summer  droughts  and 
severe  winter  blizzards  in  1919  and  1920,  compounded  by 
the  effects  of  a  nationwide  economic  depression  follow- 
ing the  war  and  lasting  through  the  early  1920s,  spelled 
doom  for  many  of  the  large  ranches  with  high  operating 
costs  and  smaller,  new  homesteads,  without  the  resources 
to  survive  hard  times.  Nationwide,  "net  farm  mcome 
plunged  from  a  total  of  nearly  $10  billion  in  1919  to  $4 
billion  in  1921.""  In  1920,  steers  sold  for  $150  per  head 
and  much  land  was  still  open  to  homesteading.  By  1924, 
steers  were  down  to  $60,  cows  went  for  anywhere  from 
22 


$75  to  $25,  and  choice  Wyoming  farmland  sold  for  as  low 
as  $75  per  acre.  In  short,  in  Wyoming  the  Great  Depres- 
sion began  in  the  1920s.  What  followed  after  the  1929 
market  collapse  was  just  more  of  the  same  to  western 
stockmen.  Farmers  and  ranchers  had  bank  loans  based  on 
boom  prices,  when  crop  and  livestock  prices  fell  below 
cost,  many  gave  up  and  just  walked  away.  Banks  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  state  were  heavily  over-extended  and 
many  failed.  In  fact,  all  the  unsoimd  national  banks  in 
Wyoming  failed  during  the  1920s,  so  that  unlike  many 
other  states  in  the  union,  none  of  Wyoming's  closed  dur- 
ing the  1930s.  Of  the  47  national  banks  operating  in  the 
state  in  1921,  23  were  out  of  business  in  eight  years.  Of 
the  133  state  or  private  banks  open  to  business  in  the  early 
1920s,  76  dosed  by  1927,  and  only  32  were  left  by  1936. 
Edwards  received  a  severe,  but  not  devastating  financial 
blow  during  this  period.  When  banks  in  Manville  and  Lusk 
failed,  he  lost  $30,000,  an  astronomical  sum  at  the  time. 
Two  banks  in  Manville  dosed,  in  1922  and  1923,  and  three 
in  Lusk,  during  the  years  1920,  1923  and  1924.  Seven  other 
area  banks,  in  Shawnee,  Keeline,  Douglas  and  Casper, 
were  also  casualties.  Ranches  that  survived  this  era  were 
generally  small  or  mid-range,  easily  managed,  family  sized 
operations.  That  included  the  Edwards  ranch.  An  addi- 
tional loss  suffered  by  Edwards  at  this  time  was  a  poorly 
invested  $10,000  in  a  California  movie  venture  with  Neal 
Hart,  a  former  Lusk  resident. ^^ 

Thirty  of  Edwards'  bank  checks  survive,  dating  be- 
tween 1929  and  1940.  Twenty-one  were  drawn  on  the  First 
State  Bank  of  Douglas  in  1929  and  1930.  Eight  dated 
1938-1939  were  on  account  at  the  Converse  County  State 
Bank.  One,  dated  1940,  was  from  the  Lusk  State  Bank.  This 
sample  is  too  small  to  draw  any  accurate  conclusions,  but 
may  indicate  that  after  the  earlier  small  town  bank  failures, 
they  were  utilizing  larger  banks,  presumably  with  greater 
assets,  in  larger  communities.  The  sample  is  also  insuffi- 
cient to  define  spending  patterns,  but  drafts  were  written 
to  a  variety  of  individuals  and  businesses.  A  few  examples 
are  purchase  of  gasoline  and  oil,  tractor  repairs,  agricultural 
seed  and  supplies  from  neighbors,  auto  parts,  lumber, 
$5.00  at  a  pool  hall,  a  new  kitchen  stove  ($88.25,  Wrought 
Iron  Range  Co.,  November  1930),  groceries,  land,  doctor 
bills  and  other  unrecorded  expenses. 

Edwards  was  a  hard  worker,  driven  to  succeed  in  spite 
of  the  obstacle  created  by  his  racially  determined  status  as 
a  second  class  citizen.  He  never  stopped  to  eat  a  midday 
meal  because  it  would  have  interfered  with  his  daily  goals. 
He  said  his  brand,  -f  (sixteen  bar  one,  on  the  left  ribs  of 
his  cattle  and  the  left  shoulder  of  his  horses),  represented 
the  ratio  of  sixteen  White  men  who  lived  in  the  neigh- 
borhood to  one  Black  man.  Overt  racism  was  not  a  prob- 
lem around  Lost  Springs,  where  "only  a  few  people  were 
afraid  of  them  and  made  remarks  about  'this  country  [was] 
no  place  for  a  nigger.'  "  Only  a  few  neighbors  avoided  Ed- 
wards because  of  his  race.  He  was  generally  accepted  as 
equal,  but  "[tjhere  are  always  some  people  who  hate 


negroes  even  though  they  do  not  know  thern.''^*  The  situa- 
tion in  the  Harney  Hills  may  have  resulted  from  the  small 
number  of  Blacks  in  the  area  who  consequently  were  not 
threatening  to  their  White  neighbors,  or  to  unusually  open- 
minded  attitudes  on  the  part  of  local  Whites.  In  spite  of 
this  general  lack  of  local  prejudice,  however,  Jim  Crow 
lived  out  West,  too.^''  Consequently,  Edwards  was  often 
wary  in  his  dealings  with  Whites,  especially  women.  He 
lived  through  a  time  when  the  lynching  of  Black  men  for 
allegedly  assaulting  White  women  was  often  applauded 
and  few  of  the  White  majority  burdened  themselves  with 
concerns  about  due  process  of  law  or  guaranteed  protec- 
tion of  rights  until  proven  guilty.  Between  1914  and  1920, 
382  Blacks  were  lynched  in  the  United  States  and  many 
others  imprisoned  or  executed  under  questionable  cir- 
cumstances." When  the  course  of  his  work  took  him  to 
a  neighboring  ranch,  Edwards  consistently  refused  even 
to  dismount  his  horse,  much  less  enter  the  house,  if  a 
woman  was  home  alone."  When  he  did  accept  an  invita- 
tion to  stop,  he  invariably  ate  in  the  kitchen  or  outside 
while  the  family  dined.  It  should  be  recalled  that  Edwards 
first  came  to  Lost  Springs  after  being  driven  from  a  Wyo- 
ming mining  job  in  a  racial  confrontation  with  White 
miners.  Perhaps  the  lynching  of  a  jailed  Black  man,  even 
in  the  supposedly  liberal,  enlightened  university  town  of 
Laramie  in  1904,  served  to  keep  the  need  for  caution  fresh 
in  his  mind.  The  turn  of  the  century  murder  of  another 
Black  homesteader  with  the  audacity  to  settle  in  the 
Equality  State,  near  Casper,  possibly  did  not  escape  his 
attention  either.  The  message  that  Blacks  could  not  rely 
on  the  law  to  protect  them  from  White  hatred  no  doubt 
was  driven  home  repeatedly  by  subsequent  lynchings  in 
Rock  Springs  in  1917  and  Green  River  in  1918. ^^  Edwards' 
consciousness  of  his  tenuous  position  in  western  society 
could  only  have  been  imderscored  by  Wyoming  laws  pro- 
hibiting inter-racial  marriage,  passed  in  1913,  and  another 
permitting  the  establishment  of  segregated  schools  as  late 
as  the  1960s  in  defiance  of  the  state  constitution.  As  in 
much  of  American  history,  the  early  decades  of  the  20th 
century  are  remembered  as  a  bleak  era  for  Blacks.  They 
faced  continued  oppression,  especially  those  who  suc- 
cessfully acquired  money  and  education.  Woodrow  Wilson's 
administration  was  decidedly  racist  and  expanded  segrega- 
tion. In  1913,  Booker  T.  Washington  wrote,  "I  have  never 
seen  the  colored  people  so  discouraged  and  bitter  as  they 
are  at  the  present  time."^^ 

A  large  part  of  Edwards'  success  is  attributable  to  his 
wife,  Lethel.  She  was  described  as  "small,  very  neat,  clean, 
quiet"  and  Ught  complected.^  She  did  not  try  to  straighten 
her  hair,  which  was  combed  down  neatly.  Her  parents  may 
have  been  born  slaves.  They  cooked  on  Mississippi  River 
steamboats  until  her  father  developed  tuberculosis  and 
they  moved  to  Telluride,  Colorado,  where  he  continued 
to  cook  for  a  short  time  before  his  death.  Subsequently  his 
widow,  Marie  Dawson,  and  her  two  children,  Lethel  and 
Doris,  moved  to  Denver.  Lethel,  born  between  1895  and 


1900,  was  the  oldest.  She  was  fashionable,  educated  (pos- 
sibly even  at  the  college  level)  and  bright.  She  was  eager 
to  try  new  technologies  and  techniques  that  would  improve 
life  and  production.  She  was  an  accomplished  musician  and 
excellent  pianist.  She  sang  at  the  Black  Hills  Passion  Show 
with  some  of  her  students,  at  the  Lusk  fair,  at  funerals  and 
numerous  other  gatherings.  During  the  three  years  Union 
Oil  spent  drilling  a  (dry)  test  well  near  the  Edwards' 
homestead,  she  taught  music  to  the  children  of  the  drillers. 
According  to  one  unreliable  source,  Lethel  also  sang  in  the 
choir  at  the  Congregational  Church  in  Lusk  where  they 
were  members  and  had  contributed  money  to  help  build 
the  structure. 23  Nuttall  said  the  Edwards  did  not  belong 
to  a  church. 2*  A  minister  friend  from  Denver,  who  was  also 
an  artist,  did  visit  and  preach  three  or  four  times  a  year 
though,  and  Lethel  helped  with  the  church  choir  at  the 
Baptist  Church  in  Lusk  one  summer.  She  preferred  re- 
ligious music,  including  both  Black  spirituals  and  old  Euro- 
pean hymns,  but  joked  during  the  1930s  with  neighbors 
Mable  Howard  and  Catherine  Nuttall  about  opening  a 
nightclub  for  ranchers  in  the  Harney  Hills.  She  also  en- 
joyed western  folk  music.  After  she  and  Jim  were  married 
in  Denver  in  1914,  she  brought  a  baby  grand  piano  to  the 
two  room  cabin  that  would  be  their  home.  Jim  was  not 
musical  and  neither  sang  nor  played  an  instrument. 

One  wonders  what  possessed  a  sophisticated  young 
city  girl  to  marry  a  rancher  many  years  her  senior,  leave 
familiar  surroundings  in  a  community  with  a  large  Black 
population,  and  move  to  what  must  have  seemed  a 
desolate  and  uniformly  Caucasian  part  of  a  largely  un- 
populated state.  Perhaps  she  recognized  Denver's  grow- 
ing racial  tension  and  wanted  to  escape  the  sinister  stir- 
rings of  organized  bigotry  for  a  home  with  the  attractive 
nickname,  "The  Equality  State."  A  few  years  later,  in  the 
early  1920s,  Denver's  6,000  Blacks  were  opposed  by  17,000 
local  members  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  That  organization  was 
so  powerful  that  its  leaders  willingly  associated  with  it  in 
news  photos  and  articles,  and  even  "frequently  requisi- 
tioned men  and  vehicles  from  the  police  department"  for 
their  own  purposes.^  Lethel  must  also  have  recognized 
Jim  as  an  up  and  comer.  Already  he  was  selling  cattle  in 
Denver.  He  wore  good  clothes,  was  six  feet  tall  (she  was 
5'2"),  attractive  and  slender,  and  had  nice  manners.  Ruth 
Grant  described  him  as  "soft  spoken,  polite,  clean  about 
his  person,  and  amiable."  Jim's  color  was  very  dark  brown, 
literally  black,  his  fuU  head  of  hair  was  cropped  short,  and 
he  sometimes  wore  a  small  mustache.  Except  for  his  skin 
color,  Jim  looked  and  acted  the  part  of  a  classic  Old  West 
cowboy.  He  was  a  "tall,  athletic,  lanky  cowboy  [who]  rolled 
BuU  Durham  cigarettes,  [was]  quiet,  polite,  [quarrelsome] 
only  when  drinking,  clean  and  well  kept."  Although 
Lethel  disapproved  of  any  kind  of  alcohol,  Jim  liked 
whiskey  and  if  he  went  to  town  alone  he  usually  got  drunk. 
Even  during  Prohibition  it  was  a  simple  matter  to  get  liquor 
from  bootleggers  and  local  moonshiners.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  Edwards  or  any  of  their  frequent  visitors  were 

23 


involved  in  rum-running  themselves.  Nor  did  Edwards 
swear,  but  that  may  have  been  because  "Lethel  was  very 
religious  and  .  .  .  didn't  approve."^* 

Whatever  the  attraction,  Jim  and  Lethel  struggled 
together  to  fulfill  the  American  dream  of  success.  Other 
Blacks  questioned  whether  participation  and  membership 
in  White  society  was  a  worthwhile  goal,  though.  DuBois 
wrote,  "...  one  ever  feels  his  twoness— an  American,  a 
Negro,  two  souls,  two  thoughts,  two  unreconciled  striv- 
ings, two  warring  ideals  in  one  dark  body. "2''  No  matter 
how  successful  a  Black  person  was,  they  were  still  seen 
first  as  Black  and  thus,  even  if  proud  of  it,  were  not  fully 
accepted  as  equals  in  the  dominant  White  society.  The  Ed- 
wards were  to  deal  with  this  dichotomy  for  the  remainder 
of  their  lives.  Liquor  loosened  Jim's  tongue  on  one  occa- 
sion during  a  moment  of  rage,  frustration  and  anguish, 
probably  during  the  1920s.  While  in  Lost  Springs  he 
entered  the  old  hotel  for  a  drink  or  two.  This  business 
served  as  a  meeting  place  for  people  to  eat,  play  cards  and 
visit,  regardless  of  race.  Edwards,  resentful  after  being 
heckled  by  some  of  the  other  patrons  responded,  "Y'all 
call  me  'Nigger  Jim'  now,  but  someday  you'll  call  me  Mr. 
James  Edwards! "^^  It  is  clear  that  though  he  was  already 
financially  well  off,  he  did  not  feel  accepted  as  an  equal 
to  Whites,  but  rather,  that  at  mid-life  he  was  determined 
to  become  so  and  did  not  accept  his  lower  rank  in  society. 
It  might  be  appropriate  to  note  at  this  point  that  Jim  was 
not  without  prejudices  of  his  own.  Like  most  Wyomingites 
of  his  day,  "Jim  didn't  like  Mexicans."^' 

Marie  Dawson  also  moved  to  Wyoming,  though  it  is 
not  known  if  she  and  her  youngest  daughter,  Doris,  came 
immediately.  Both  filed  large  homestead  claims  several 
rmles  west  of  Edwards'  on  December  29,  1916. 3"  The  claims 
were  north  of  a  high,  boulder  covered  hill  called  Rocky 
Top,  or  Rough  Top  locally.  Marie  had  a  small  cabin  in 
which  she  stayed  during  the  summers  to  prove  up  on  her 
claim.  She  continued  to  spend  the  winter  months  at  home 
in  Denver.  She  listed  her  address  as  2301  Washington 
Street  when  endorsing  checks  in  May  and  October,  1929. 
Both  were  drawn  on  the  Edwards'  account,  one  in  the 
amount  of  $125.00  to  pay  a  debt  owed  Dr.  I.  S.  Huffer, 
M.D.,  suggesting  a  possible  medical  problem  at  that  time. 
Her  cabin  was  a  typical  homestead  shack,  12  feet  square, 
one  room,  built  of  sawn  lumber  and  tarpaper.  The  land 
was  fenced  and  the  cabin  was  situated  on  a  ridge  above 
a  small  spring.  Jim  and  Lethel  checked  on  her  frequently 
until  she  moved  in  with  them  about  1940.  Mrs.  Dawson, 
as  she  was  called,  was  about  4 '9"  tall,  light  complected, 
and  wore  her  hair  in  an  old  style  with  many  small  braids 
all  over  her  head.  Although  she  was  very  old,  she  gave 
the  appearance  of  good  health,  not  even  wearing  glasses. 
She  was  reticent  and  seldom  talked,  even  around  Lethel, 
although  the  two  were  very  fond  of  each  other.  She  and 
Jim  also  got  along  well.  Whenever  anyone  else  was  around 
she  busied  herself  in  the  kitchen.  She  did  much  of  the 
housework  and  kept  the  place  very  neat.  At  an  unknown 
24 


date,  probably  before  1920,  Doris  moved  to  Salt  Lake  City. 
Marie  joined  her  about  1943.  Although  her  background, 
including  education,  is  a  mystery,  she  was  apparently 
literate. 

The  White  ranchers  in  the  area  respected  Lethel  and 
addressed  her  as  Mrs.  Edwards.  This  may  have  been  due 
in  part  to  traditional  courtesy  or  deference  towards  women 
in  that  time  and  place.  Nevertheless,  her  energy,  intel- 
ligence, ability,  the  diligence  with  which  she  worked, 
and  her  refined  ways  caused  them  to  admire  her.  Although 
he  too  was  respected  by  most,  Jim  did  not  get  the  polite 
title  of  "Mr."  He  was  known  as  "Nigger  Jim,"  or  simply 
"Jim."  This  prefix  seems  to  have  been  quite  common  for 
Black  homesteaders  in  Wyoming.  Depending  on  context 
and  the  speaker,  it  may  or  may  not  have  been  intended 
in  a  derogatory  fashion.  Most  people  did  not  think 
anything  of  using  the  title.  Indeed,  they  probably  did  not 
think  about  it  at  all.  Had  anyone  given  it  any  thought,  they 
doubtless  would  have  said  it  was  no  different  than  calling 
a  German  "Dutch  Charlie."  Chuck  Engebretson,  a  rancher 
in  the  area,  said  "nigger"  was  not  intended  as  slur  Ln  Jim's 
case.^^  But,  because  he  was  Black,  aware  of  his  different 
status  before  the  law  and  in  the  eyes  of  the  majority  of 
White  Americans,  and  was  familiar  with  all  the  different 
usages  and  intents  behind  the  word,  Jim  recognized  the 
label  as  derogatory  and  disliked  it  Intensely.  So  did  Marie. 
When  a  young  White  man  came  to  the  door  once  and  asked 


^mW   ^BniH^ 

I 

^   ^^■lJV-k^^^^^PI 

V  V.  ^^.       .^^K^^^^^tS^  w   ^^^F^'^^^i 

■  ..^.TTjmWwI 

Lethel  Edwards  and  dog,  Jack,  sometime  before  1934. 


to  speak  to  "Nigger  Jim,"  the  old  woman  coldly  re- 
sponded, "You  all  want  to  see  James  Edwards. "^^ 

The  original  dwelling  on  the  homestead  to  which  Jim 
brought  his  bride  was  a  two  room  log  cabin.  Earl  Eutsler 
and  his  father,  who  ranched  about  five  miles  northeast, 
built  it. 33  They  may  have  been  hired  for  the  job  by  the 
Willson  brothers.  The  cabin  was  constructed  of  logs  which 
were  probably  cut  in  the  cedar  groves  on  the  Harney  Hills 
just  south  of  the  homestead.  Its  two  rooms  were  later  used 
as  the  kitchen  and  front  (living)  room  where  the  house  was 
erdarged. 

Lethel  was  responsible  for  the  many  improvements  to 
the  cabin,  which  were  initiated  only  a  few  years  after  her 
arrival.  Eventually,  the  house  would  become  almost 
palatial  by  rural  Wyoming  standards.  Sometime  between 
about  1914  and  1917,  the  Union  Oil  Company  began  the 
first  of  three  or  four  years  of  drilling  for  oil  just  north  of 
the  Edwards  homestead.^*  Jim,  at  Lethel's  urging,  got  a 
job  hauling  fuel  oil  and  water  from  the  town  of  Keeline 
to  the  well  site  by  team  and  wagon.  This  brought  in  extra 
cash  used  to  defray  construction  expenses.  The  money  oc- 
casionally seemed  not  quite  worth  the  dangerous  effort 
when  the  heavy  tank  wagon  bogged  down  or  even  tipped 
over.  On  at  least  one  occasion,  Edwards  needed  the  help 
of  a  neighbor  and  another  team  to  get  pulled  clear  of  the 
mud  and  moving  again. 


Jim  Edwards,  ca.  1930. 


Edwards  added  in  1918  or  1919  a  master  bedroom, 
plumbing,  downstairs  bathroom  with  a  shower  and  stool, 
front  porch,  garage,  two  second  story  bedrooms  and  an 
upstairs  bathroom,  all  of  frame  construction.  The  front 
(south)  porch  was  enclosed  and  made  into  a  library  and 
sunroom  in  1934.  In  1940,  the  unpainted  external  front  and 
side  walls  were  faced  beautifully  with  large,  round  granite 
and  quartzite  stones  that  Lethel  gathered  into  pUes  on  the 
prairie  for  Jim  to  collect  later  with  a  team  and  wagon.  This 
gave  the  house  the  substantial  appearance  of  having  been 
built  of  stone,  and  made  it  much  tighter  and  warmer  in 
the  winter.  Today,  a  few  piles  of  Lethel's  stones  remain 
uncollected,  scattered  across  the  prairie.  The  trim  of  the 
house  was  painted  a  pale,  creamy  yeUow.^s  In  1987,  rem- 
nants of  piping  for  hot  and  cold  water  and  a  toilet  were 
located  in  the  upstairs  bathroom,  but  Nuttall  said  that 
when  the  Edwards  lived  in  the  house,  no  running  water 
was  available  upstairs.  Instead,  a  basin  and  pitcher  were 
located  in  the  small  washroom  at  the  head  of  the  stairs. 
The  flooring  in  the  house  was  tongue  and  groove  1"  by 
4"  fir  throughout,  with  the  exceptions  of  the  west  entrance 
hall  and  downstairs  bathroom,  which  both  had  concrete 
floors.  The  open  wooden  stairway  with  ornately  turned 
spindles  in  the  banister  led  up  from  the  front  room.  All 
the  interior  walls  were  covered  with  plaster  and  lath  and 
were  painted  or  papered. 

The  Edwards'  hot  and  cold  running  water  and  shower 
were  remarkable  on  a  Wyoming  ranch  of  that  era.  In  the 
1920s  and  1930s,  Saturday  night  was  "bath  night"  on  most 
ranches.  To  bathe,  Nuttall  had  to  carry  water  uphill  from 
a  spring  a  quarter  mile  west.  It  was,  typically,  heated  on 
the  kitchen  stove  and  then  poured  into  the  large  galvan- 
ized tub  on  the  floor  in  front  of  the  stove.  An  old  song 
went,  "Well  water's  low,  nearly  out  of  sight,  we  can't  take 
a  bath  tUl  Saturday  night."  Bathing  and  the  use  of 
deodorants  and  bath  powders  did  not  become  common  un- 
til the  1950s  or  later  when  electricity  reached  the  rural  areas 
and  supplied  ranches  with  pressurized  water  systems.  In 
an  age  when  most  rural  western  families.  White  or  Black, 
lived  in  a  crowded  room  or  two  at  ground  level  with  no 
amenities,  the  Edwards'  impressive  house  does  not  seem 
to  have  caused  much,  if  any,  racially  complicated  jealousy 
from  the  neighbors.  It  was,  however,  the  talk  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Following  its  abandonment,  there  were  even  sug- 
gestions that  it  be  turned  into  a  museum  imtil  cattle  got 
inside  and  ruined  the  interior. 

Like  the  house,  the  outbuildings  were  of  high  quality. 
A  windmill  up  the  slope  to  the  south  pumped  water  into 
a  tower  faced  with  stones  to  match  the  house.  The  room 
beneath  the  tank  contained  a  stove  to  prevent  the  water 
from  freezing  during  the  long  cold  winters.  The  elevation 
of  the  tank  was  sufficient  to  pressure  water  into  the  upstairs 
faucets.  The  corrals,  possibly  the  most  important  structiires 
on  a  ranch,  were  built  solidly  of  logs,  planks  and  stone. 
Oddly,  and  suggestive  that  Edwards  may  not  have  been 
raised  in  an  agricultural  setting,  the  corrals  and  bams  were 

25 


no  -"^ 


located  uphill  from  the  other  buildings.  This  necessitated 
excavation  of  a  drainage  ditch  through  the  yard  to  prevent 
the  run-off  from  washing  manure  into  the  other  buildings. 
This  ditch  is  now  almost  completely  washed  in.  One  barn, 
built  of  log  and  stone,  was  quite  substantial  and  divided 
into  several  sections  along  its  east- west  axis.  Another,  also 
aligned  east-west  a  short  distance  north  of  the  first,  and 
probably  newer,  was  evidently  of  frame  construction 
placed  on  a  poured  concrete  foundation.  The  bur\khouse 
was  located  immediately  east  of  the  latter  barn  and  con- 
nected to  it  by  a  short  sidewalk.  This  structure  was  nicer 
than  many  homestead  cabins.  It  had  two  rooms,  windows, 
a  stove,  internal  walls  nailed  over  the  studs,  and  two  beds 
to  accommodate  four  adults.  A  simple  ice-house  was  dug 
into  a  bank  northwest  of  the  house.  It  was  little  more  than 
a  hole  in  the  ground  covered  by  poles  and  straw,  but  it 
served  the  purpose.  Ice  was  cut  at  a  spring  east  of  the 
house  and  at  the  main  springs  over  on  Harney  Creek.  A 
frame  chicken  coop  and  another  unidentified,  collapsed 
frame  structure,  complete  the  ruins  observed  at  the  site. 
The  outbuildings  were  unpainted.  There  are  indications 
other  structures  may  have  existed. 

After  Edwards  abandoned  the  homestead  in  the  1950s, 
people  flocked  in  to  scavenge  the  dumps  and  haul  away 
anything  of  use  or  value  left  behind,  including  the  flat 
building  stones  used  in  the  barn.  Worn  out  equipment  had 
been  deposited  on  the  hillside  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
south  of  the  buildings.  As  smaller  household  goods  wore 
out  or  were  discarded,  they  were  deposited  in  a  trash  heap 
across  the  creek  east  of  the  house.  That  dump  could  not 
be  located  in  1987  and  presumably  either  washed  away  or 
is  now  covered. 

Unlike  the  majority  of  ranchers,  Jim  did  not  do  his  own 
building  or  carpentry.  Indeed,  he  "could  hardly  drive  a 
naU."^*  Consequently,  they  hired  the  work  done.  Supplies 
were  purchased  in  Keeline,  Lost  Springs  and  Custer,  South 
Dakota.  During  the  Depression  years  of  the  1930s,  Jim 
usually  had  two  or  three  young  Black  men  come  from 
Denver  to  work  for  him  in  exchange  for  room  and  board. 
They  were  responsible  for  much  of  the  menial  labor,  stock 
tending,  maintenance  and  construction  at  the  place,  and 
had  to  "work  HARD.  "3''  Jim  also  hired  a  few  Mexican 
sheep  herders  to  tend  his  flocks.  Occasionally  he  employed 
Whites  as  well  for  various  jobs.  Jim  rarely  built  fence  and 
his  employees  typically  did  not,  either.  If  his  neighbors 
wanted  to  keep  his  stock  out  of  their  pastures,  or  vice- 
versa,  they  had  to  buUd  it.  Jim  was  either  a  firm  believer 
in  the  perpetuation  of  the  open  range,  or  raised  in  an  ur- 
ban environment  and  unaware  of  rural  etiquette.  It  is  also 
possible  that  he  did  not  want  to  hinder  access  to  his  land 
for  stray  cows  and  unbranded  calves.  He  did  assist  the 
Nuttalls  with  some  fencing  on  one  occasion  when  their  cat- 
tle bothered  him. 

The  Great  Depression  resulted  in  beef  prices  and  con- 
sumption falling  drastically.  Farm  prices  dropped  60  per- 
cent, but  production  decreased  only  6  percent  creating  a 


huge  excess  of  unmarketable  produce.  By  1932,  ranchers 
were  experiencing  the  worst  depression  in  their  economic 
history.  Between  1929  and  1933,  farm  income  was  cut  in 
half.  The  Federal  Surplus  Relief  Corporation  purchased 
livestock  from  failing  ranchers  in  1933,  1934  and  1936  and 
slaughtered  many  right  where  they  stood  on  the  range. 
Like  the  brief  depression  following  World  War  I,  this 
period  also  experienced  unfavorable  weather.  A  series  of 
droughts,  worst  in  1934,  wreaked  havoc  on  the  native 
prairie  vegetation  needed  to  support  the  cattle.  In  the  mid- 
and  late  1930s,  federal  relief  was  almost  three  times  as  great 
per  capita  in  the  agriciolturally  dependent  state  of  Wyo- 
ming as  in  the  rest  of  the  country.  In  1935,  17  percent  of 
Wyoming  residents  were  on  relief.  In  1936,  the  Resettle- 
ment Administration  purchased  320,000  acres  in  eastern 
Wyoming  in  order  to  institute  conservation  practices.  The 
Taylor  Grazing  Act  of  1934  withdrew  nearly  all  remaining 
unappropriated  land  still  in  the  public  domain.  By  1936, 
143  million  acres  were  affected.  This  was  a  devastating  era 
in  the  history  of  the  Wyoming  cattle  industry.  Numerous 
ranches  and  farms  failed,  resulting  in  many  displaced 
families  and  abandoned  homesteads. ^^ 

Unlike  so  many  of  their  peers,  the  Edwards  success- 
fully weathered  those  hard  times.  They  utilized  the  fan- 
tastically inexpensive  labor  pool  provided  by  unemployed 
members  of  the  Black  community  in  Denver.  They  adopted 
some  of  the  new  conservation  techniques,  including  plant- 
ing a  windbreak  of  Russian  Olive  trees,  well  adapted  to 
arid  regions,  northwest  of  the  house.  Jim  also  took  advan- 
tage of  government  assistance  programs  to  build  small 
reservoirs,  build  some  fence  and  raise  wheat.  They  man- 
aged to  keep  major  operating  expenses  low,  and  find 
markets  for  what  they  produced.  They  even  invested  in 
a  restaurant  on  the  Sandbar  in  Casper,  for  which  they  sup- 
plied much  of  the  meat.^'  Edwards  managed  to  expand  his 
holdings  during  this  period.  He  traded  some  horses  to 
Lewis  Lee  for  one  parcel,  and  bought  and  sold  with  other 
neighbors  as  well. 

In  the  fall  of  1936,  Jim  proved,  with  his  neighbors,  that 
"he  thought  it  very  important  to  vote."  Jim,  Bill  Nuttall 
and  Warren  Larson  shoveled  through  miles  of  deep  snow 
drifts  to  reach  a  ranch  owned  by  Gene  Willson.  Catherine 
Nuttall  was  staying  there  to  care  for  WUlson's  and  Nut- 
tail's  cattle,  but  they  all  needed  to  go  to  Keeline  to  vote. 
Lethel  was  visiting  her  many  friends  in  Denver  as  she  often 
did  for  a  week  at  a  time,  so  did  not  vote  in  that  election, 
but  normally  exercised  her  right  to  suffrage.  Jim  was  a 
Republican  and  thus  probably  voted  for  Kansas  Governor 
Alf  Landon  in  the  presidential  race.  Franklin  Roosevelt,  the 
Democratic  candidate,  won  nearly  twice  as  many  popular 
votes  and  523  electoral  votes  to  Landon's  eight.  Some 
observers  feared  the  collapse  of  the  two-party  system.  Black 
voters  in  northern  cities,  where  Edwards  was  probably 
from  originally,  had  traditionally  been  Republicans.  Dur- 
ing the  1930s  many  changed  the  affiliation  to  the  Demo- 
crats, attracted  by  the  New  Deal  response  to  the  misery 

27 


RUSSIAN 
OLIVE 
TREES 


UTHOUSE 


STONE     BARN 
FOUNDATION 


TWO  TRACK    ROADS 


THE  EDWARDS  RANCH: 
48N03I2 


20  m. 


N 


EQUIPMENT  DUMP 


caused  by  the  Depression.  Edwards,  having  adopted  a 
rural  western  lifestyle,  was  not  a  part  of  the  eastern,  urban 
Black  trends."  One  is  inclined  to  wonder  what  he  thought 
of  Roosevelt's  "Black  Cabinet,"  as  the  many  highly  edu- 
cated Black  advisors  to  the  President  were  called.  Roosevelt 
has  been  called  "the  most  appealing  president  since 
Abraham  Lincoln"  to  Black  Americans.'*'  He  was  obviously 
an  improvement  on  Herbert  Hoover,  who  nominated  a 
White  supremacist  to  the  Supreme  Court,  favored  southern 
White  Republicans  over  Blacks,  and  appeared  uncon- 
cerned by  their  suffering.  The  President  however,  never 
endorsed  two  important  goals  of  the  civil  rights  movement, 
a  federal  law  prohibiting  lynching  and  abolition  of  the  poll 
tax.  Additionally,  some  New  Deal  programs  were  hostile 
to  Blacks.  The  Agricultural  Adjustment  Act  forced  many 
Black  tenant  farmers  and  share-croppers  off  the  land.  Two 
federal  housing  agencies  hindered  progress  by  refusing  to 
guarantee  Black  mortgages  on  houses  purchased  in  White 
neighborhoods  and  by  financing  segregated  housing  proj- 
ects. The  Civilian  Conservation  Corp.  was  segregated,  as 
were  many  Tennessee  Valley  Authority  sponsored  proj- 
ects. In  response  to  the  National  Recovery  Administra- 
tion's agreeing  to  lower  wages  for  Blacks  and  not  Whites, 
a  Black  newspaper  wrote  that  the  NRA  might  be  "a 
predatory  bird  instead  of  a  .  .  .  messenger  of  happiness."*^ 
Many  service  positions  such  as  waiters  and  janitors,  fre- 
quently held  by  Blacks,  were  excluded  from  social  security 
coverage  and  minimum  wage  provisions  of  the  1938  Fair 
Labor  Standards  Act.  Edwards  may  or  may  not  have  been 
aware  of  all  these  factors.  It  cannot  be  determined  whether 
he  supported  the  Republican  party  in  response  to  factors 
such  as  those  discussed,  as  a  matter  of  tradition,  or  for 
some  other  reason. 

The  Edwards  always  had  good  cars  and  good  clothes. 
The  vehicles  were  purchased  used,  but  in  good  condition. 
They  drove  a  team  and  buggy  until  acquiring  their  first  auto 
in  the  late  1920s,  when  such  conveyances  were  still  a 
novelty  in  the  area.  They  owned  three  at  different  times, 
a  Dodge  with  a  rumble  seat,  a  Buick  touring  car  and  a 
Chevrolet.  They  never  owned  a  pickup  truck,  instead  using 
teams  and  wagons  for  all  hauling.  Catherine  Nuttall  was 
a  young  school  teacher  in  Lost  Springs  when  she  first  met 
the  Edwards  in  1931  at  the  Hitshew  home  where  she 
boarded.  She  came  home  from  school  one  day  to  discover 
Lethel  seated  in  the  kitchen  waiting  for  Jim  and  Charlie 
Hitshew  to  get  the  Edwards'  car  pulled  out  of  the  mud  with 
a  team  of  horses.  Lethel  was  fraU,  very  quiet  and  dressed 
nicely  in  a  black  fur  coat  for  their  drive  to  Douglas  and 
back.  After  marrying  and  moving  to  a  ranch  just  east  of 
Edwards',  Nuttall  rode  "to  Douglas  once  with  Jim  and 
Lethel,"  about  1935,  before  they  had  a  car  of  their  own. 
"That  was  enough,"  they  said,  as  the  old  cavalryman  was 
"a  very  reckless  driver  and  [they]  were  glad  to  get  home 
safely.  "'*3  Lethel  did  not  drive  the  autos,  but  could  handle 
a  team.  She  could  also  ride  and  had  two  saddle  horses, 
one  a  baldface,  the  other  a  stocking  legged  bay. 


The  Edwards'  material  lifestyle  was  comparable  to  that 
of  most  Americans,  but  ahead  of  the  times  in  the  rural 
West.  Because  they  were  contemporary  Americans,  they 
consequently  outpaced  their  neighbors  in  more  ways  than 
just  having  a  fine  two  story  home  with  hot  and  cold  run- 
ning water,  expensive,  fashionable  clothes,  and  an 
automobile.  Their  telephone  was  installed  extraordinarily 
early  for  a  Wyoming  ranch  when  the  oil  company  drilling 
nearby  ran  a  phone  line  past  their  house  during  World 
War  I.  Neighbors  did  not  get  telephones  until  1934  or  elec- 
tricity until  1964.'*''  They  also  had  the  first  pressurized 
kerosene  cook  stove  in  the  area,  which  was  easier  to  use 
and  meant  not  having  to  cook  over  smoky  coal  or  wood 
fires,  plus  a  kitchen  that  was  not  unbearably  hot  in  the 
summer.  They  also  had  the  first  pressure  cooker,  which 
Lethel  used  extensively  while  canning  garden  produce  and 
meat.  The  first  radio  in  the  area,  powered  by  batteries,  was 
installed  in  the  Edwards'  house  in  1930.  It  was  an  Atwater 
Kant  shelf  model.  "Denver  was  the  main  station  that 
everyone  listened  to.  It  was  a  rare  event  to  get  Chicago 
at  night.  "'*5  How  they  recharged  the  batteries  is  unknown 
since  they  did  not  have  a  wind  generator. 

In  short,  the  Edwards  were  the  aristocrats  of  the  neigh- 
borhood in  spite  of  the  cultural  hindrance  created  by  White 
attitudes  toward  their  race.  It  is  interesting  that  even  dur- 
ing the  nationwide  upsurge  in  bigotry,  intolerance  and  Ku 
Klux  Klan  activity  during  the  1920s  and  1930s— called  "the 
most  powerful  social  movement  of  the  decade  in  terms  of 
numbers  and  political  influence"^*— the  Edwards  were  not 
harassed  in  spite  of  their  conspicuous  affluence  when  so 
many  White  farmers  and  ranchers  were  living  in  poverty 
and  failing  financially.  The  Edwards  "had  above  average 
nice  things,  [but]  no  one  thought  of  them  as  being 
wealthy,"  even  though  their  ranch  was  also  "above 
average"  in  size.*'' 

Jim  and  Lethel 's  daily  activities  were  quite  different. 
Their  tasks  were  divided  along  gender  based  Unes  as  was 
typical  of  homestead  families.  Jim's  days  were  devoted 
primarily  to  caring  for  the  large  stock.  This  kept  him  busy 
from  dawn  to  dusk  most  of  the  year.  "Jim  was  a  splendid 
horseman,  and  handled  teams  of  horses  with  expertise."** 
Much  of  his  time  was  spent  horseback,  riding  over  many 
irules  of  the  beautiful,  rugged  landscape  on  unshod  horses. 
Edwards  took  exceptional  care  of  his  livestock  and  en- 
couraged those  around  him  to  do  the  same.  One  morn- 
ing, after  watching  a  youthful  Bill  Nuttall  weather  the  buck- 
ing of  an  unruly  horse,  he  commented,  "Kid,  if  you'd  throw 
away  those  spurs  and  feed  your  horse  some  oats  he 
wouldn't  buck  on  you  that  way."*'  Edwards  never  used 
spurs.  Like  most  cowboys  Jim  carried  a  lariat  on  his  sad- 
dle, but  "he  wasn't  too  good  [with  a  rope].  Just  fair."^" 
He  normally  dressed  in  blue  jeans  and  cowboy  boots, 
which  were  a  must  for  safe  riding.  He  sometimes  wore 
work  or  dress  trousers  and  flat  soled  shoes  depending  on 
the  circumstances. 


29 


Work  on  horseback  always  had  potential  for  danger. 
A  spooky  horse,  or  a  mount  that  stumbled  in  a  treacherous 
location,  could  maim  or  kill  an  unlucky  rider.  Lightning 
was  another  source  of  danger.  A  mounted  rider  was  some- 
times the  highest  target  on  the  prairie.  A  Mexican 
sheepherder  working  for  Jim,  named  Chavez,  was  struck 
during  an  afternoon  thunderstorm  one  June.  When  he 
came  to,  his  back  was  badly  burned  by  the  picket  chain 
attached  to  the  horse's  reins,  which  had  been  flung  over 
his  back.  The  nails  in  his  boot  soles  also  burned  the  bot- 
toms of  his  feet.  Strangely,  his  horse  survived  too,  but  the 
sheepdog  that  had  been  next  to  them  was  killed.  After  he 
managed  to  crawl  several  miles  to  the  Edwards'  buildings, 
Jim  took  him  to  the  doctor  in  Douglas.  Chavez  later 
recovered. 

Jim  carried  a  gun  everywhere  he  went  and  was  a  good 
shot.  It  was  common  for  cowboys  to  carry  guns,  which 
were  used  to  kill  "rattlesnakes,  badgers,  porcupines, 
prairie  dogs,  and  other  varmints,"  and  were  also  "handy 
to  get  a  grouse,  sage  chicken,  or  rabbit  for  supper.  "'^  When 
on  horseback  he  carried  a  handgun.  While  herding  sheep 
he  either  carried  a  rifle  or  kept  it  close  by  in  the  sheep 
wagon.  His  rifle  was  a  .32-20,  a  versatile  caliber  introduced 
about  1882,  which  fired  a  bullet  rather  large  for  the  amount 
of  powder  behind  it,  but  was  adequate  for  use  on  deer, 
rabbits,  coyotes  or  other  targets  at  ranges  of  about  200  yards 
or  less.  A  variety  of  arms  manufacturers  produced  many 
different  models  of  this  caliber  weapon  in  several  price 
ranges  through  the  years.  It  is  remembered  primarily 
because  the  ammunition  it  used  could  be  fired  in  either 
rifles  or  pistols.  Bearse,  referring  to  the  .32-20,  writes, 
"Many  frontiersmen  found  it  advantageous  to  have  one 
cartridge  for  use  in  rifles  and  sixguns."'^  It  was  a  fairly 
popular  rifle  until  other  models  were  introduced  in  this 
century,  but  Jim  seemed  content  to  continue  carrying  it. 
His  pistol  was  a  .45  caliber  single  action  Colt,  which  did 
not  fire  a  compatible  cartridge,  however. 

Edwards  raised  thoroughbred  saddle  horses,  Hereford 
cattle,  sheep  and  high  quality  Percheron  draft  horses,  a 
breed  preferred  by  those  who  could  afford  them.  He  also 
had  twenty  or  thirty  hogs  which  he  allowed  to  roam  the 
open  range  and  ruin  his  neighbors'  yards  and  hay  mea- 
dows, much  to  their  vexation.  He  had  80  acres  in  oats  and 
raised  a  good  grade  of  macaroni  wheat  on  another  80  acres. 
Jim  furnished  the  land  and  seed,  but  contracted  out  the 
labor.  Each  party  received  half  of  the  harvest.  His  fields 
were  on  the  north  side  of  the  Harney  Hills  and  produced 
about  20  bushels  per  acre.  He  also  had  about  40  acres  in 
hay,  which  was  stacked,  never  baled.  He  got  about  one 
ton  of  hay  per  acre.  None  of  his  land,  crop  or  pasture,  was 
irrigated.  Four  acres  northwest  of  the  house  were  tilled  for 
a  garden.  Ebony  gives  obviously  inflated  statistics:  1,000 
cattle,  9,000  sheep,  200  horses,  5,000  chickens  and  500 
hogs,  in  addition  to  200  acres  plowed. '^  Experienced  area 
ranchers  familiar  with  the  Edwards'  holdings  and  the  car- 
rying capacity  of  the  local  rangelands,  give  more  plausi- 
ble estimates:  a  total  of  about  200  cows  and  calves,  30  or 
30 


40  horses,  1,500  sheep,  200  chickens,  40  turkeys,  30  guinea 
hens  and  25  hogs.'^  Edwards  ran  his  stock  on  sixteen  sec- 
tions of  land  which  he  owned  and  two  school-sections 
rented  from  the  state,  in  addition  to  using  portions  of  the 
remaining  open  range.  During  the  short  summers,  most 
of  the  stock  was  pastured  in  the  vicinity  of  Rocky  Top. 
Horses  ran  there  year  around.  Diaring  the  winter  and 
spring,  the  other  animals  normally  grazed  on  the  excep- 
tionally good  grass  in  Jim's  Harney  Hills  pasture.  Those 
figures  represent  the  peak  of  the  Edwards'  production  dur- 
ing the  late  1930s  and  early  1940s.  His  share  of  the  wheat 
was  sold  at  the  elevator  in  Keeline.  Lambs  were  shipped 
to  Denver  and  Chicago,  cattle  to  Omaha  and  Denver, 
dressed  turkeys  and  chickens  to  Casper  and  Chicago.  Get- 
ting stock  to  market  meant  trailing  them  to  a  railhead. 
Ranchers  in  the  Harney  HUls  generally  drove  them  to 
Shawnee,  Lost  Springs,  Keeline  or  even  Manville.  Between 
the  1930s  and  1950s  cattle  were  sold  to  local  buyers. 

Lethel's  days  were  also  full.  She  had  a  number  of 
valuable  skills  including  cabinet  making,  furniture 
upholstering,  sewing  (particularly  beautiful  curtains), 
braiding  rag  rugs  and  keeping  Jim's  hair  trimmed.  With 
her  mother's  help,  the  house  was  kept  meticulously  clean. 
She  kept  only  a  few  house  plants,  including  geraniums  and 
wandering  jews,  usually  on  the  sunporch.  They  also  were 
responsible  for  preserving  all  the  garden  produce  and  cook- 
ing each  meal  for  all  the  help  and  any  guests  that  happened 
to  be  present  at  mealtime.  After  saying  grace,  Lethel  always 
served  the  large  meals  for  the  family,  guests  and  hired  men 
in  the  kitchen.  Her  mother  made  baking  powder  biscuits 
for  every  meal.  Any  leftovers  were  fed  to  the  dogs.  In  the 
spring,  Lethel  planted  the  large  garden,  but  left  its  care 
and  maintenance  in  the  hands  of  the  seasonal  help.  Like 
most  ranch  women  her  age,  she  never  wore  pants  even 
to  work  in,  only  dresses.  Younger  women  however,  some- 
times wore  blue  jeans.  She  and  her  mother  usually  wore 
white,  tie-around-the-waist  aprons  to  protect  their 
clothing.  On  hot  summer  afternoons,  when  kids  from 
ranches  to  the  north  would  ride  through  the  Edwards'  yard 
to  reach  the  county  road  and  pick  up  the  mail,  Lethel  en- 
joyed going  outside  to  give  them  a  drink  from  the  well. 
She  never  invited  them  into  the  house,  though. 

She  raised  all  the  fowl  on  the  place,  which  included 
chickens,  ducks,  turkeys  and  guinea  hens.  By  taking  a 
university  extension  class  in  Casper  she  learned  how  to 
caponize  them,  and  about  1934  generously  held  demon- 
strations to  teach  her  neighbors  the  skill .  Lethel  shipped 
high  quality  dressed  turkeys  to  Chicago  for  a  time  and 
received  complimentary  letters  in  return  addressed  to 
"The  Turkey  Lady,  Keeline,  Wyoming."  She  also  did  the 
bookkeeping  and  business  affairs  for  the  entire  ranch 
operation  because  "Jim  was  not  a  businessman.  "^^ 
Although  everyone  knew  her  as  Lethel,  she  signed  the 
checks,  Ethel  Edwards. 

Because  they  never  had  children,  Lethel  was  not  faced 
with  the  time  consuming  task  of  childcare.  Although  she 
and  Jim  liked  children,  probably  even  wanted  them,  it  was 


out  of  the  question.  Her  health  was  never  good,  and  preg- 
nancy would  have  been  dangerous  for  her. 

The  Edwards  were  almost  always  friendly  and  polite 
with  their  neighbors.  As  was  customary  in  an  agricultural 
community,  they  traded  labor  at  certain  times  of  the  year 
such  as  haying,  lamb  docking,  sheep  shearing,  branding, 
etc.  Edwards  even  loaned  his  horses  to  people  needing  an 
extra  team  or  two.^*  They  always  gave  the  Nuttalls  a  freshly 
dressed  lamb  when  they  sold  in  the  fall.  Mabel  Lindmier 
described  him  as  a  "wonderful  man"  who  would  ride  up 
to  talk,  come  inside  if  her  husband  was  home,  and  help 
them  do  anything. '''  The  Nuttalls  described  him  as  "very 
neighborly.  "5*  Ruth  Grant  elaborated: 

My  father,  William  Lindmier,  Sr.,  came  here  to  homestead  in 
1916.  Dad  always  said  of  [Jtm]  that  he  would  help  homesteaders 
whenever  they  asked.  He  harbored  no  resentment  towards 
them,  nor  did  the  homesteaders  resent  Jim.  However,  it  was 
a  fact  that  the  homesteaders  learned  quickly  that  Jim  was  not 
altogether  to  be  trusted— by  this  1  mean  that  he  always  managed 
to  be  compensated  for  any  service  he  performed— nothing  was 
"for  free."  My  father  said  of  Jim,  "That  coon  would  promise 
you  that  he  would  do  anything  for  you,  but  you  had  better  see 
that  the  promise  was  kept  the  day  it  was  made,  or  he  would 
conveniently  forget  his  commitment."  Even  though  no  one  ex- 
actly trusted  Qim],  I  never  heard  of  anyone  ever  coming  to 
physical  blows  with  him.  Everyone  just  had  to  watch  him  pretty 
closely,  for  he  was  a  sly  individual.  He  was  soft  spoken  .  .  . 
and  amiable,  but  also  was  able  to  look  out  for  his  own  interests, 
and  those  of  others  which  would  benefit  him  in  the  long  run.^' 

Late  in  life,  Edwards  reportedly  told  of  some  neighbor- 
ing ranchers  having  tried  to  "horn  in"  on  his  land,  but 
that  he  fought  them  off  in  gunbattles.  "No  man  will  ever 
run  Jim  Edwards  from  his  land!  Let'em  know  right  away 
that  you're  going  to  fight  for  what  you  own.  Just  because 
a  man's  colored  is  no  reason  for  people  to  think  he's  a 
coward."*"  Shootouts  in  the  20th  century  West  were  un- 
common. This  passage  may  have  been  fabricated  by  the 
article's  author  to  entertain  readers.  Certainly,  none  of  his 
neighbors  ever  heard  of  his  involvement  in  a  shootout.  If 
the  quoted  passage  is  authentic,  Jim  was  probably  refer- 
ring to  confrontations  other  than  gunfights.  Edwards  did 
have  occasional  encounters  with  violence  through  the 
years,  but  some  of  them  were  of  his  own  making.  For  ex- 
ample, he  once  bought,  but  characteristically  failed  to  pay 
for,  a  hay  rake  from  Doug  Fowler,  a  neighbor.  When  the 
latter's  brother.  Wade,  subsequently  went  over  to  reclaim 
the  rake,  Edwards  said  he  was  going  to  pay  and  would 
not  let  Fowler  take  it.  After  a  heated  argument  there  was 
a  fight  which  Jim  evidently  won.  No  one  ever  knew  ex- 
actly what  happened,  but  Fowler  had  two  black  eyes  and 
a  bruise  on  his  cheek  afterwards.  Perhaps  Edwards  had 
a  "gun  battle"  by  pistol- whipping  Fowler,  who  began  to 
"carry  a  gun  for  Jim."" 

Edwards  frequently  neglected  to  pay  his  debts.  In 
similar  incidents,  he  bought  an  old  tractor  for  plowing  in 
the  late  1930s,  even  though  he  used  horses  for  most  proj- 
ects. Joe  Kuhn,  the  dealer  in  Lusk,  eventually  had  to 
repossess  it.  On  at  least  two  occasions  the  Edwards  were 


taken  to  court  by  creditors.  On  January  7, 1927,  they  signed 
a  promissory  note  for  $159.79  to  Abe  Friedman  at  8  per- 
cent interest  xmtil  maturity  on  April  1,  1927.  A  small  part 
of  the  debt  was  paid  a  year  later,  in  February,  1928,  but 
in  October  of  that  year  they  were  summoned  to  court  for 
a  civil  suit  to  recover  principal,  interest  and  legal  fees 
amounting  to  $133.87.  Edwards  did  not  appear,  so  after 
waiting  for  one  hour  the  judge  decided  against  him.  Court 
costs  were  an  additional  $7.75.  The  Edwards  may  have 
been  short  of  cash  at  this  time  for  they  still  did  not  pay 
the  debt.  In  December,  1928,  an  officer  of  the  court  placed 
attachments  on  one  phonograph  and  records,  one  farm 
wagon,  one  hayrack  and  wagon,  one  hay  rake,  one  disk- 
drill,  one  spring  wagon,  and  one  set  of  harness.  Edwards 
signed  the  document,  "1  accept  this  attachment  but  [illegi- 
ble] said  articles  are  [already]  mortgaged.  James  Edwards." 
Later,  in  1937,  Sam  Joss  obtained  a  judgment  against  Ed- 
wards on  a  mortgage  lien  for  $3,646.84.  The  judge  awarded 
Joss  nearly  1,000  acres  of  land  appraised  at  $2,320.00. 
Edwards  redeemed  the  debt  in  January,  1938,  with  a  pay- 
ment of  $3,931.36  to  Joss,  covering  fees  and  interest  at 
seven  percent. ^^ 

Edwards'  lackadaisical  attitude  toward  repaying  debts 
and  favors  carried  into  other  areas  also.  He  often  "bor- 
rowed" equipment  from  neighbors  and  then  kept  it.  Lind- 
mier loaned  him  a  breaking  plow  which  he  did  not  get  back 
until  the  1950s  when  they  discovered  it  discarded  in  a  pile 
of  old  equipment. 

Edwards  was  not  the  only  one  in  the  area  who  had 
people  trying  to  horn  in  on  his  land.  Sam  Joss,  who  began 
working  for  WUlson  Brothers  with  Jim  in  1900,  at  one  time 
owned  a  parcel  of  land  surrounded  by  Edwards'  land  to 
the  east  of  the  Edwards'  homestead.  Joss  claimed  the 
homestead  about  1898.  He  refused  to  rent  the  land  to  Jim 
and  allow  the  latter  to  "get  the  upper  hand  on  him."*^  Ed- 
wards, however,  used  the  land  as  though  it  were  his  own. 
As  soon  as  Joss'  hired  man  fixed  the  fence  and  left,  Jim 
loosened  the  wires  to  give  his  cattle,  sheep  and  horses 
access  to  Joss'  good  springs  and  grass. 

Time  and  again  Edwards  pushed  people  as  far  as  they 
let  him.  Once  their  limits  were  established  they  often 
became  friendly.  In  1927  or  1928,  Earl  Dunham,  a  cowboy 
for  Fred  Williams'  large  operation  headquartered  about  40 
miles  north  of  Douglas,  had  problems  with  Jim.  Williams 
rented  some  grazing  land  from  Edwards  to  rim  100  head 
of  cows  and  calves  for  the  summer.  Twice  when  checking 
the  cattle  Dunham  found  Jim's  stock  mixed  in  with  them. 
Both  times  he  angrily  drove  them  out  and  fixed  the  fence. 
Williams  told  him  to  get  along,  not  fight,  with  Jim.  The 
third  time  he  left  to  check  the  cattle,  he  put  a  pistol  in  his 
chaps  pocket  where  it  would  be  in  plain  sight.  When  he 
encountered  Jim,  whose  cattle  were  again  stealing  grass 
that  Williams  had  paid  for,  Dunham  told  him  to  keep  the 
cattle  out,  "or  else,"  implying  that  he  would  shoot  them. 
Edwards  immediately  rounded  up  his  cattle  and  kept  them 
out.  "Earl  and  Jim  were  always  friends  after  that."'* 

Additionally  aggravating  to  the  neighbors  were  Ed- 

31 


wards'  hogs— the  bane  of  the  neighborhood.  Jim's  wander- 
ing swine  are  one  of  the  things  most  remembered  about 
him.  Unrestricted,  they  did  not  just  eat  the  grass,  rather, 
they  rooted  up  the  prairie  and  hay  meadows  everywhere 
they  went,  causing  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  damage. 
Hardy  Lee,  a  neighbor  who  lived  three  and  a  half  miles 
to  the  south,  in  exasperation,  loaded  up  a  truck  with  hogs 
that  came  around  his  house,  took  them  to  Casper  and  sold 
them.  He  had  the  check  sent  to  Edwards  and  had  no  more 
trouble  thereafter  as  Jim  kept  his  hogs  away.  Another  time, 
a  sow  and  her  young  broke  into  Nuttall's  pasture  where 
Bill  was  working  with  a  green-broke  bronc.  He  decided  to 
rope  her  for  a  joke,  but  the  horse  reared  and  the  sow  freed 
herself  from  the  slack  loop  and  escaped.  Jim's  old 
employer.  Gene  Willson,  eventually  began  carrying  a  gun 
to  shoot  any  of  the  animals  he  found  in  his  hay  land  north 
of  the  Edwards.  Grant  writes: 

He  had  a  large  bunch  of  razor-back  hogs  ...  I  recall  the  vicious, 
tusked  sows  with  half  grown  pigs  following  them  coming  into 
our  yard— some  three  miles  down  Harney  Creek  to  the  north 
[of  Edwards].  They  would  stand  slavering  and  snuffling,  look- 
ing for  something  to  eat  (Mother  raised  chickens).  Running 
them  off  was  a  project,  usually  taking  shots  over  their  heads 
since  our  dogs  had  no  luck  in  turning  them  around. '^ 

Like  many  people  who  believe  themselves  un- 
observed, Edwards  was  not  above  trying  his  hand  at  a  lit- 
tle rustling.  It  was  said  in  those  days  when  a  man  could 
ride  all  day  without  seeing  another  human  being,  "that 
it  was  stupid  to  eat  your  own  beef  ."*'''  It  was  much  cheaper 
to  eat  someone  else's,  and  their's  tasted  better,  anyway. 
Few  people  ate  much  of  their  own  stock;  it  was  worth  more 
if  sold. 

One  very  hot  day  in  July,  Jim  was  riding  near  the  Wanek  ranch. 
He  came  on  a  nice  fat  three-year-old  heifer  belonging  to  Joe 
Wanek.  Believing  himself  to  be  quite  alone,  Jim  decided  that  he 
would  drive  the  heifer  home  and  butcher  her.  Joe  Wanek 
witnessed  the  theft,  but  he  allowed  Jim  to  take  the  heifer.  Later, 
Joe  rode  to  the  Edwards'  place  and  accused  him  of  the  act.  Of 
course,  Jim  denied  everything  until  Joe  unearthed  the  fresh  hide 
of  the  animal  which  wore  the  U  Lazy  Y  brand.  Joe  told  Jim  to 
keep  the  beef  but  that  on  his  way  home  he  was  going  to  find  a 
nice,  fat  heifer  wearing  the  16  Bar  1  and  take  her  along.  He 
did  just  that.  Joe  got  his  beef  back,  but  the  Waneks  had  to  work 
hard  all  night  canning  the  meat  to  keep  it  from  spoiling  .  .  . 
The  incident  did  not  seem  to  cause  any  lasting  hard  feel- 
ings, though,  for  both  of  the  Wanek  girls  took  music  lessons 
from  .  .  .  Lethel." 

Bill  Nuttall's  first  encounter  with  Edwards  also  in- 
volved a  controversy  over  the  ownership  of  livestock  in 
an  incident  which  reveals  much  about  the  Edwards  and 
area  ranch  life  at  the  time.  There  was  a  severe  drought  in 
Converse  and  Niobrara  counties  in  the  summer  of  1919, 
followed  by  a  hard  winter  and  spring  in  1920.  Many  ranch- 
ers did  not  have  enough  feed  for  their  cattle  so  turned  them 
out  onto  the  open  range  to  fend  for  themselves.  The  State 
Humane  Society  shipped  hay  by  train  to  Douglas,  which 
was  then  distributed  to  area  feeding  stations.  One  station 
was  located  on  the  Harney  Meadows  near  the  Edwards' 
32 


place.  Cattle  fed  there  came  from  ranches  on  Walker  Creek, 
Twenty  MUe  Creek  and  Harney  Creek.  Nuttall,  then  16, 
was  hired  by  Fred  and  Stella  Williams  to  gather  their  cows 
and  bring  them  home  in  early  summer.  He  did  not  know 
the  Edwards  were  Black  as  he  first  approached  the  place 
on  horseback  at  about  dusk.  This  is  one  of  several  instances 
in  which  people  did  not  seem  to  think  the  Edwards'  race 
important  enough  to  mention.  A  young  Black  man,  Mar- 
cus Bradley,  told  him  to  put  his  horse  in  the  bam  and  come 
into  the  house  for  supper.  He  added  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Edwards  would  return  soon  from  their  wagon  trip  to 
Keeline,  thirteen  or  fourteen  miles  southeast  of  the  ranch. 
Depending  on  the  load,  three  or  four  hours  were  needed 
to  drive  a  team  and  wagon  between  the  ranch  and  either 
Keeline  or  Lost  Springs.  The  trip  was  usually  made  about 
once  a  month.  Jim  and  Lethel  arrived  home  about  eight. 
Bill  was  "quite  surprised"  to  see  they  were  Black,  and  "a 
little  uneasy,"  not  having  been  near  Blacks  previously. 
Sensing  his  discomfort,  Lethel  sat  down  at  her  piano  and 
played  a  song  for  Jim  and  Bill,  after  which  they  showed 
him  upstairs  to  his  room.  The  Edwards  were  up  and  had 
finished  milking  by  dawn  when  Nuttall  heard  the  cream 
separator  running  in  the  entranceway  below  and  went 
down  to  breakfast. 

That  morning  Jim  and  Bill  found  three  of  the  Williams' 
cows,  but  Jim  said  one  was  Lethel's,  branded  with  her  3D 
(the  brand  originally  belonged  to  a  man  named  Dourghty 
who  worked  for  Sam  Joss,  but  was  purchased  along  with 
some  cattle  by  the  Edwards).  Nuttall  insisted  the  cow  was 
Williams',  so  roped  and  threw  her,  then  cleaned  the  brand 
with  a  knife  to  prove  his  case.  After  their  brief  confronta- 
tion, Edwards  called  Bill  "the  hot-headed,  red-headed 
kid, "  but  they  became  friends  and  eventually  neighbors.'* 

Often,  cattle  from  neighboring  ranches  were  dis- 
covered in  Jim's  pastures.  When  questioned,  he  once 
responded,  "Mr.  Bill,  I  just  don't  know  how  the  cow  got 
over  on  my  place.  You  take  her  back  with  you."*'  If  the 
cow  had  had  a  calf  by  its  side,  the  calf  usually  disappeared. 
When  a  buyer  once  pointed  out  that  one  cow  in  a  herd 
was  a  stray,  Jim  said  he  would  take  it  to  the  owner. 
However,  when  the  buyer  bought  the  cattle,  the  cow  was 
still  in  the  herd,  but  it  carried  Jim's  fresh  brand  then.  This 
same  buyer  claimed  to  have  encountered  Jim  night-riding 
on  many  occasions,  and  said  that  "Jim's  rope  was  pretty 
long,  and  he  knew  how  to  use  it,"  meaning  not  that  he 
was  a  good  roper,  but  that  he  was  an  experienced  rustler.''" 

On  March  18,  1915,  a  neighboring  landowner,  A.  A. 
Spaugh,  filed  a  complaint  stating  Edwards  ordered  John 
B.  Tapoya  to  kill  some  of  Spaugh's  livestock  "for  mutton" 
in  early  December,  1914.  Tapoya  was  evidently  one  of  Ed- 
wards' subordinates  in  the  employ  of  the  Willson  brothers. 
Tapoya  was  arrested  but  released  on  March  20  after  the 
judge  determined  there  was  "not  probable  cause  for 
holding"  him.  In  his  testimony,  Edwards  said  that  the 
previous  autumn  he  branded  with  the  Willson  brothers' 
brand,  "by  mistake,"  approximately  20  head  of  some  40 
Spaugh  sheep  at  the  ranch.  He  did  not  order  his  herders 


to  kill  any  sheep.  They  were  instructed  to  bring  in  strays, 
but  only  skinned  sheep  which  died  naturally.  By  March, 
only  ten  or  thirteen  of  Spaugh's  sheep  remained  alive.  The 
figure  hardly  supports  Edwards'  reputation  as  a  skilled 
stock-raiser.  In  spite  of  Spaugh's  failure  to  prove  any 
misconduct  by  Edwards  or  Tapoya,  it  certainly  appears  that 
some  type  of  illegal  behavior  may  have  taken  place.  When 
the  case  was  dismissed,  the  judge  ordered  a  frustrated  and 
doubtless  angry  Spaugh  to  pay  the  prosecution  costs 
incurred.''^ 

There  were  a  few  other  Blacks  in  the  area,  but  most 
were  only  temporary  summer  residents.  A  family  named 
Hughes  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Lost  Springs  year  round 
during  the  1930s.  About  1933,  they  trailed  perhaps  15  head 
of  cattle  up  from  the  vicinity  of  Harrison,  Nebraska.  These 
were  pastured  in  Edwards'  Rocky  Top  pasture  until 
another  location  could  be  found.  They  were  laborers  on 
farms  and  ranches  but  did  not  own  their  own  land.  They 
lived  one  summer  in  an  old  house  on  the  Edwards'  prop- 
erty. Hughes'  step-daughter,  Venessa,  was  14  and  helped 
Lethel  with  the  cooking  and  housework  during  the  busy 
times  of  lambing  and  shearing. ''^ 

J.  Edwin  Sizer,  a  young  cousin  of  Lethel' s  from  Min- 
neapolis, spent  many  summers  living  on  the  ranch.  He  was 
described  as  "the  blackest  little  boy."''^  Sizer  often  brought 
friends  along,  including  a  young  White  boy,  Willard  (Bill) 
Wheelock.  No  relatives  of  Jim's  ever  visited.  If  Jim's  father 
was  still  living,  he  never  saw  the  ranch,  nor  did  the  one 
brother  Jim  left  behind  in  Ohio.  Edwards  never  returned 
to  his  family  home  after  settling  near  Lost  Springs. 

Most  of  the  other  Blacks  in  the  area  came  out  during 
the  summers  as  a  result  of  the  Edwards'  encouragement. 
Five  or  six  were  friends  who  had  served  in  the  military  who 
came  to  live  in  their  daim  shacks  and  thus  fulfill  the 


homestead  requirements  for  getting  patents  on  the  land 
they  claimed.  None  of  them  raised  their  own  stock.  After 
proving  up,  which  they  could  do  in  less  than  the  normal 
time  because  of  their  status  as  veterans,  they  sold  the  land 
to  the  Edwards.''*  This  was  during  the  1920s,  and  Jim  paid 
them  about  $1.25  per  acre,  the  same  value  the  government 
allowed  for  improvements  on  the  homesteads.  Some  were 
in  the  area  earlier.  Marcus  Bradley  first  began  his  process 
of  claiming  land  in  1911. ^^  Thus  Jim  and  Lethel  were  able 
to  enlarge  their  real-estate  holdings  relatively  inexpens- 
ively, making  them  very  competitive  with  other  successful 
ranchers  in  the  area  who  did  not  have  that  advantage.  Ed- 
wards evidently  learned  his  lesson  well  from  his  days  with 
the  Willson  brothers.  One  of  these  families  was  named 
Kercheval.  They  were  originally  from  the  deep  South.  Dur- 
ing the  winters  he  worked  in  the  Ford  garage  in  Douglas, 
she  was  a  hairdresser.  Marcus  Bradley  was  a  barber  in 
Chadron,  Nebraska.  Several  others  were  red-caps  on  the 
Uruon  Pacific  Railroad.  These  people  were  all  in  addition 
to  the  friends,  relatives  and  employees  from  Denver  and 
Minneapolis.  Although  the  Edwards  were  the  only  per- 
manent, landed  Blacks  in  the  area,  their  ranch  in  the 
Harney  Hills  was  the  focal  point  for  a  small  Black  com- 
munity of  their  own  creation.  Thus,  even  though  they  lived 
in  a  predominantly  White  area,  they  did  not  lack  for  com- 
panionship from  other  Blacks. 

This  situation  points  out  the  surprising  level  of 
tolerance  exhibited  by  the  Edwards'  White  neighbors. 
Rural  westerners,  often  called  "red-necks"  in  the  ver- 
nacular, are  generally  perceived  as  being  quite  conservative 
in  racial  matters,  among  other  things.  In  this  case,  their 
easy-going  behavior,  which  is  also  typical,  might  be  ex- 
plained because  they  probably  did  not  find  the  Edwards 
themselves  particularly  threatening.  Jim  had  a  reputation 


Jim  Edwards  (left)  posed 

for  this  photograph  with 

some  summer  visitors  to 

his  ranch. 


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for  exercising  extreme  caution  in  his  contacts  with  White 
women,  a  subject  which  could  elicit  frenzied  hysteria  in 
the  calmest  White  community.  Nor  did  they  have  children, 
who  might  have  been  perceived  as  threats  for  desiring  to 
associate  too  freely  or  intimately  with  the  sons  or  daughters 
of  local  Whites.  But  they  were  actively  engaged  in  bring- 
ing additional  Blacks  into  the  area,  any  of  whom  might 
have  chosen  to  stay.  Those  activities  could  have  been  view- 
ed with  apprehension  in  many  communities.  But  in  Lost 
Springs,  "they  were  considered  homesteaders,  the  same 
as  white  people,"  however,  "nobody  expected  a  railway 
porter,  a  barber,  or  a  night  watchman  [for  example]  to  stay 
in  the  country."''^  The  Edwards'  conspicuous  affluence 
during  times  when  many  ranchers  across  the  West  were 
struggling  desperately  to  survive  financially  could  have 
been  another  source  of  conflict.  The  distressing,  even  ap- 
palling, treatment  of  wealthy,  "uppity"  Blacks  by  Whites 
has  been  a  common  literary  and  historical  topic  through 
the  years,  yet  there  were  no  such  incidents  directed  toward 
the  Edwards.  Even  Jim's  proud,  occasionally  combative, 
willingness  to  stand  up  to  Whites,  dating  back  at  least  to 
his  days  in  the  cavalry,  and  his  habitually  permitting  his 
stock  to  ruin  other  peoples'  property,  potentially  explosive 
situations  in  other  places,  seemingly  caused  him  no  more 
trouble  than  they  would  a  White  man.  He  seems  to  have 
had  even  less,  for  many  a  White  man  was  killed  or  jailed 
for  stealing  other  peoples'  livestock  or  damaging  their 
property.  The  attitudes  and  behavior  of  the  Edwards' 
White  neighbors  were  not  totally  without  prejudice,  but  for 
unexplored  reasons  were  much  more  tolerant  than  many 
of  their  contemporaries  across  the  nation. 

The  Edwards  did  not  limit  their  socializing  to  the  Blacks 
around  them.  Graciously  entertaining  guests  in  the  role 
of  a  country  gentleman  seems  to  have  been  a  big  part  of 
Jim's  life,  especially  in  the  summer  months  when  the  roads 
were  passable.  Using  ice  from  the  ice-house,  they  treated 
many  of  their  summer  visitors,  who  came  from  all  over  the 
country,  with  homemade  ice  cream  served  in  cut  glass  ice 
cream  goblets  (now  in  the  possession  of  Catherine  Nut- 
tall)  while  Lethel  played  her  baby  grand  piano.  Many  were 
Black  friends  from  Denver,  including  "preachers  and 
teachers"  and  an  artist.  On  one  occasion  in  the  early  1930s, 
they  invited  some  neighbors  over  to  listen  to  a  Black 
preacher  friend  who,  with  his  wife,  was  visiting  from 
Denver.  As  they  served  ice  cream  after  the  sermon,  the 
three-year-old  daughter  of  Warren  Larson  said  to  Lethel, 
"Your  hands  are  black!!"  The  Larsons  had  not  told  their 
children  that  the  Edwards  were  Black.  Although  the  other 
guests  were  slightly  embarrassed,  Lethel  was  not  and 
responded  simply,  "Yes,  child."'''' 

Jim  and  Lethel  never  became  overly  familiar  or  intimate 
with  their  neighbors.  They  did  not  attend  dances,  school 
parties,  wedding  parties,  or  other  gatherings.  There  is  no 
way  of  knowing  whether  they  did  so  out  of  simple  dis- 
interest, or  to  avoid  any  risk  of  suffering  racially  motivated 
harassment.  It  is  nearly  inconceivable  that  the  cautious  Jim 
would  have  danced  with  a  White  woman.  Attending  such 


functions  could  have  been  unpleasantly  awkward,  not  to 
mention  being  painful  reminders  of  real  positions  in 
western  society.  Nor  did  they  typically  visit  the  homes  of 
their  neighbors,  though  some  neighbors  were  often  invited 
to  the  Edwards'.  They  did  occasionally  go  to  the  Nuttalls', 
even  taking  their  out  of  town  guests  with  them.  Although 
she  was,  perhaps,  her  best  friend  in  the  area,  Catherine 
Nuttall  always  addressed  Lethel  formally  as  "Mrs.  Ed- 
wards. "''^ 

From  about  1937  to  1942  the  Edwards  were  visited  an- 
nually by  some  White  friends  who  worked  in  a  Chevrolet 
plant  in  Kansas  City.'''  They  had  three  week  vacations  and 
managed  each  year  to  pull  a  travel  trailer  to  Wyoming 
which  they  parked  next  to  the  windmill.  They  probably 
helped  with  groceries,  and  the  women  helped  Lethel  cook 
and  work  around  the  house.  Occasionally  they  did  some 
riding.  They  were  excellent  singers  and  interested  in 
western  folksongs,  which  Lethel  enjoyed  singing  with 
them.  Catherine  Nuttall  taught  them  some  songs.  Favorites 
included,  "Come  a  ki  yi  yippi  yippi  ya,"  "Red  River 
Valley"  and  "Wyoming."  They  enjoyed  popular  sheet 
music  as  well,  which  Lethel  purchased  often.  Some  lyrics 
were  obtained  from  old  phonograph  albums.  All  three 
women  enjoyed  entertaining  as  well.  Once,  with  the  Nut- 
talls and  Edwards,  they  all  participated  in  a  Fourth  of  July 
amateur  rodeo  north  of  Lance  Creek.  Bill  Nuttall  received 
several  cracked  ribs  in  the  wild  cow  milking  contest,  but, 
characteristically  of  the  people  in  that  day,  was  back  at 
work  in  the  hay  fields  the  next  morning. 

The  men  were  good  horsemen  and  did  a  lot  of  riding 
with  Jim.  They  also  helped  with  some  fencing  and  stock 
tending.  One  year  they  took  Jim's  worn  old  saddle  back 
to  Kansas  City  and  had  it  rebuilt  for  him.  They  also  gave 
him  a  beautiful  bridle  and  saddle  blanket  to  show  their 
gratitude  for  the  generous  hospitality  they  received.  The 
last  year  they  visited,  they  hauled  several  loads  of  rock  to 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  front  yard  to  build  "a  sur- 
prise." They  laid  up  a  two  foot  high  rectangular  wall  before 
being  suddenly  called  home.  The  enclosure,  whose  pur- 
pose was  never  learned,  still  stands  unfinished  in  the  yard. 

Seldom  interrupted  by  guests  during  the  long,  snow^ 
winters,  the  Edwards  were  comfortable  in  their  home.  Ex- 
cept for  an  occasional  visit  with  a  neighbor,  their  only  com- 
panions were  usually  their  dogs.  Jim's  favorite  was  a  Ger- 
man shepherd  named  Jack  who  accompanied  him  every- 
where when  Jim  was  on  horseback.  Jack  killed  rattlesnakes 
and  was  bitten  several  times,  but  always  recovered.  Other 
people  considered  Jack  vicious,  but  he  was  affectionate 
towards  Lethel  and  Jim,  who  kept  him  under  control. 
Oddly,  they  did  not  have  any  cats  either  as  house  pets  or 
mousers  in  the  barns. 

The  snowbound  isolation  of  the  winter  months  al- 
lowed them  time  to  read  and  catch  up  on  correspon- 
dence. Both  Jim  and  Lethel  were  literate,  though  Lethel 
had  more  formal  education  than  Jim.  Like  most  ranch 
wives,  she  also  did  most  of  the  letter  writing.  They 
subscribed  to  weekly  newspapers  including  The  Lusk  Herald 

35 


and  The  Lost  Springs  Times.  They  also  took  Ebony  Magazine. 
Their  relatively  large  library  contained  a  King  James  Bible, 
a  twelve  volume  set  called  The  Book  of  Knowledge  and 
perhaps  50  other  titles.*" 

The  house  was  kept  warm  by  several  stoves  placed  in 
the  kitchen,  front  room  and  master  bedroom.  Because  the 
plaster  and  lath  ceilings  were  uninsulated,  enough  heat 
rose  into  the  upstairs  bedrooms  to  keep  them  habitable. 
No  openings  exist  in  the  upstairs  chimney  to  accommodate 
a  stove  pipe.  Because  the  attic  was  also,  typically  of  that 
era,  uninsulated,  the  heat  then  continued  on  out  through 
the  roof.  The  stoves  burned  wood  obtained  along  the  creek 
or  coal  procured  from  several  outcrops  in  the  pastures.  In 
the  summer  and  fall  Jim  and  the  hired  men  strip-mined 
enough  by  hand  to  get  them  through  the  winter.  There 
were  several  small  commercial  coal  mines  in  the  area  where 
coal  was  also  available.  A  rail  embedded  across  the  top  of 
the  front  wall  of  the  house  to  hold  the  stones  over  the  win- 
dows of  the  sun  room  was  obtained  from  the  Rosin  mine 
located  about  five  mOes  west.*^ 

The  Edwards'  diet  was  typical  in  many  ways  of  Wyo- 
ming ranch  families,  though  perhaps  spiced  with  more 
variety  and  luxuries.  They  raised  potatoes,  green  beans, 
turnips,  cabbage  and  tomatoes  in  the  garden.  When  the 
raccoons  neglected  to  eat  them  all,  a  few  ears  of  corn  were 
salvaged  from  the  com  patch.  Much  of  the  produce  was 
laboriously  canned  using  the  large  pressure  cooker.  For  ex- 
ample, they  canned  30  to  50  quarts  of  green  beans  each 
year.  During  the  year  they  slaughtered  an  average  of  about 
three  or  four  cattle,  ten  sheep,  five  hogs,  100  chickens  and 
40  turkeys.  This  was  enough  to  feed  themselves,  the  help 
and  their  many  guests.  When  Jim  first  arrived,  people  ate 
a  great  deal  of  game,  including  deer,  antelope,  sage- 
chickens  and  cottontail  rabbits.  By  the  late  1920s,  game 
animals  were  almost  non-existent  in  Wyoming.  Deer  and 
antelope  hunting  was  subsequently  made  illegal  in  the 
Harney  Hills  untO  about  1954.82 

Additional  quantities  of  the  usual  ranch  groceries  were 
purchased  at  stores  in  Keeline,  Lost  Springs,  Douglas  and 
Lusk.  The  Nuttalls  estimated  annual  totals  at  roughly  100 
lbs.  dry  beans,  600  lbs.  flour,  200  lbs.  sugar,  200  lbs.  corn 
meal,  200  lbs.  oatmeal,  several  hundred-pound  sacks  of 
potatoes  and  canned  goods  by  the  case.  Other  store  bought 
foodstuffs  included  salt,  syrup,  baking  soda  and  powder, 
chocolate,  among  others. ^^ 

A  cellar  was  excavated  beneath  the  floor  of  the  garage 
with  the  trap  door  just  outside  the  entrance  to  the  kitchen. 
It  was  large  enough  to  store  most  of  the  food  and  protect 
it  from  freezing.  The  garage  could  be  heated,  if  necessary, 
by  a  stove  placed  near  the  back  door  on  top  of  the  wooden 
roofed  cellar. 

The  difficult  years  of  the  Depression  began  to  ease  by 
1938  as  the  economy  slowly  improved  and  increased  pre- 
cipitation levels  put  an  end  to  the  terrible  drought.  The 
range  recovered  rapidly  due  to  the  low  number  of  stock, 
which  began  to  thrive  again  on  the  rich  prairie  short- 
36 


grasses.  When  World  War  II  began,  it  brought  a  period  of 
unparalleled  prosperity  that  caused  cattlemen  to  increase 
their  production.  Wartime  controls  ended  in  1946  and 
prices  rose  even  higher,  making  " .  .  .it  possible  for  a  man 
to  buy  a  dogie  in  the  morning  and  sell  it  in  the  afternoon 
for  enough  profit  to  pay  for  his  dinner  and  perhaps  a  few 
drinks."*^  In  the  late  1940s,  most  cattlemen  paid  their  debts 
and  took  care  not  to  incur  any  new  ones,  and  saved  more 
money  than  they  previously  would  have  been  able  to  in 
a  lifetime.  Many  of  the  relatively  few  remaining  truly  large 
ranches  sold  out  for  high  prices  and  the  family  sized  opera- 
tion came  to  dominate  the  scene. 

Although  the  Edwards  profited  from  the  wartime 
economy,  they  would  not  enjoy  with  their  neighbors  the 
heady  days  of  the  postwar  years.  Lethel  began  to  suffer 
increasingly  from  terrible  hemorrhages.  Finally,  about  2:00 
a.m.  one  morning  shortly  before  Christmas  in  1945,  she 
began  bleeding  profusely  from  the  nose.  Jim  frantically, 
but  unsuccessfully,  tried  to  telephone  the  Nuttalls  for  help 
when  his  own  efforts  to  stop  the  torrents  of  blood  failed. 
He  then  carried  her  to  the  car,  hoping  to  drive  through 
the  snow  and  reach  a  doctor  in  time  to  save  her.  Lethel 
may  have  lived  long  enough  to  reach  Douglas,  Casper  or 
even  Denver;  no  one  knows  what  happened  that  night  ex- 
cept that  she  bled  to  death.  She  was  orJy  45  or  50  years 
old.  The  location  of  her  grave  is  unknown,  but  it  is  prob- 
ably in  Casper  or  Denver. 

Following  Lethel's  death,  the  grief-stricken,  74  year- 
old  Edwards  became  a  recluse  when  home,  drinking 
heavily  and  not  tending  the  ranch,  which  began  to  crum- 
ble around  him.  The  buildings  took  on  an  air  of  abandon- 
ment and  decay.  The  formerly  spotless  house  grew  filthy. 
He  often  left  for  days  at  a  time  to  frequent  the  old  saloon 
and  red-light  district  in  Casper  known  as  the  Sandbar.  He 
also  made  extended  trips  to  Denver.  He  sometimes  was 
visited,  not  by  old  friends,  who  began  to  avoid  him  because 
of  his  drinking,  but  by  new  people  he  met  in  bars.  They 
came  out  to  the  ranch  for  riotous  and  destructive  parties. 
These  bacchanalian  orgies  were  restricted  to  the  Edwards' 
ranch  after  Nuttall  threatened  to  shoot  them  if  they  ap- 
proached the  Nuttall  place  again. 

Once  after  Lethel's  death,  two  of  Jim's  drinking  bud- 
dies brought  him  home  with  a  good  supply  of  liquor.  The 
three  began  to  drink  heavily  and  Jim  said  he  was  going 
to  shoot  himself.  Victor  Kamp,  a  young  White  man  whom 
Jim  had  hired  to  herd  sheep,  met  Nuttall  on  the  road  and 
asked  for  help.  He  got  into  the  pickup  and  they  drove  to 
Edwards',  where  they  told  Jim's  friends  to  leave.  Jim  was 
lying  on  the  bed  beside  a  gun  mumbling  that  he  wanted 
to  die.  He  dozed  off  after  talking  to  them  awhile,  so  they 
put  the  gun  away  and  went  home.  Jim  never  mentioned 
the  episode.  Nuttall  often  looked  after  Jim  for  about  four 
years  following  Lethel's  death.  They  took  him  to  town  oc- 
casionally in  their  pickup,  took  meals  to  him  when  he  was 
snowed  in,  and  made  sure  he  always  had  plenty  of  food 
and  fuel  enough  to  keep  warm.  At  mid-century,  Edwards 


(Left  to  right)  The  bunkhouse,  house,  stock  tank,  windmill/well  and  stone  water  tower  still  remain  from  the  days  of  Jim  and  Lethel  Edwards. 


was  a  slightly  built,  wdry  old  man,  "with  an  abundance 
of  kinky,  white  hair— whiter  still  against  his  very  black 
skin."^^ 

Edwards'  last  moment  in  the  sun  came  during  the 
winter  of  1949.  Ebony  Magazine,  a  nationally  circulated 
periodical  for  Blacks,  published  a  feature  about  him.  It  was 
filled  with  errors  and  exaggerations  either  of  Jim's  or  the 
author's  making,  and  had  the  depressing  title,  "The  Last 
Days  of  Jim  Edwards. '  '**  Nevertheless,  the  renown  it  gave 
him  must  have  been  pleasing.  The  article  called  him  "the 
greatest  negro  cattle  rancher  in  all  the  West,"  and  was 
acknowledged  in  a  local  newspaper.*^ 

Not  many  years  were  required  for  the  Edwards'  hard 
earned  fortune  to  disappear.  Jim  soon  began  to  sell  off  his 
holdings,  first  the  livestock,  then  the  mineral  rights 
underlying  the  land  to  Carl  Spacht.  Household  items  and 
agricultural  equipment  were  sold  piecemeal,  not  at  auc- 
tion. Some  small  things  were  given  to  friends.*^ 

An  attempt  to  stave  off  ruin  came  too  late.  Recalling 
Lethel's  wish  that  he  never  let  the  ranch  faU  into  the  hands 
of  Whites,  Edwards  began  to  look  for  Black  stockmen  who 
could  take  over  after  his  death.  He  found  a  family  named 
Furman  at  Cold  Springs,  Wyoming,  with  several  sons  who 
came  to  work  for  him  and  become  familiar  with  the  place.*' 
Nuttall  said  the  Furmans  were  miners,  from  Rock  Springs, 


not  Cold  Springs.  Two  were  described  as  "dependable," 
one  spent  much  time  drinking  on  the  Sandbar.  They  did 
some  farming  for  Jim  and  leased  the  ranch,  on  which  they 
ran  a  few  cattle  purchased  with  a  government  loan.'"  Jim 
described  them  as  "the  cream  of  the  crop,"  adding,  "1  feel 
like  I  can  leave  this  world  now  and  know  that  my  ranch 
will  always  be  a  credit  to  my  race."'^  But  by  this  time,  the 
buildings  and  remaining  livestock  were  in  poor  condition 
and  there  was  no  money  to  make  improvements.  Nuttall 
said  that  Lethel's  cousin,  J.  Edwin  Sizer,  had  long  expected 
to  inherit  the  ranch,  but  that  Jim  lost  it  before  that  hap- 
pened. In  1950,  Edwards  was  forced  to  sell  out  to  creditors 
Beryl  Fullerton,  Otto  Bible  and  Roy  Pennington.'^ 

The  ranch  foreman  and  his  wife  who  moved  into  the 
beautiful  house  threw  out  "the  big,  gray  enamel  Home 
Comfort  cookstove,  complete  with  a  hot  water  reservoir," 
saying  they  would  not  "eat  off  something  a  nigger  cooked 
on."'^  With  no  family,  ignorant  young  Whites  living  in  his 
house,  and  the  ranch  he  built  no  longer  his,  Jim  moved 
to  Scottsbluff,  Nebraska,  where  he  lived  briefly. 

James  Edwards  died  from  suffocation  January  6,  1951,  after 
water  boiled  away  in  a  pot  in  which  chicken  was  being  cooked 
[and]  filled  a  basement  room  with  smoke.  A  companion  in  the 
room,  Tillie  Trimble,  age  33,  wife  of  Columbus  "Monk"  Trim- 
ble, also  overcome  by  smoke  was  reported  recovering  at  the 
Scottsbluff  Hospital. 

37 


Firemen  were  called  to  the  house  at  11:05  p.m.  by  Carmen 
Hernandez,  age  13,  niece  of  Steve  Hernandez,  who  rents  the 
upstairs  rooms  in  the  home.  Carmen  and  her  brother  Rudy, 
age  8,  reported  seeing  smoke  pouring  up  through  the  bathroom 
floor  and  called  firemen. 

Edwards  and  Tillie  Trimble  were  found  unconscious  on  a 
bed  in  the  basement  and  were  immediately  carried  outside 
where  manual  respiration  aid  was  given  until  a  resusdtator  was 
brought.  Edwards  was  pronounced  dead  at  11:50  p.m.  by  Dr. 
John  Heinke.''' 

The  Edwards'  story  began  when  Jim  appeared  on  the 
Running  Water  owning  nothing  but  the  clothes  he  wore, 
a  character  reminiscent  of  Horatio  Alger's  rags  to  riches 
tales.  The  end  of  the  story,  however,  seems  almost 
Shakespearean  in  its  tragedy.  One  cannot  help  but  suspect 
that  had  the  marriage  produced  a  child,  an  heir,  the  story 
would  have  ended  differently.  Yet  that  ending  does  not 
diminish  the  remarkable  and  real  accomplishments  of  their 
lives  and  the  environment  in  which  they  lived. 

In  spite  of  his  obvious  familiarity  with  Jim  Crow 
"laws"  governing  White  and  Black  relations  in  much  of 
the  country,  Edwards  was  more  than  willing  to  stand  up 
to  Whites  verbally  or  physically.  He  was  aware  of  his  status 
as  a  second  class  citizen  but  refused  to  accept  it.  Under  cer- 
tain circumstances  which  excited  deadly  hysteria  among 
Whites,  such  as  the  relations  of  Black  men  and  White 
women,  however,  he  accepted  the  need  for  extraordinary 
caution.  In  Wyoming  he  was  renowned  both  for  that  cau- 
tion and,  at  other  times,  his  defiant  behavior.  The  latter 
seems  to  have  dated  back  to  his  military  career,  at  least, 
if  not  further. 

His  aggressive,  sometimes  combative  behavior  might 
not  have  been  tolerated  by  the  dominant  White  culture  in 
other  areas  of  the  country.  An  extraneous  factor  which 
might  be  considered  crucial  to  the  Edwards'  success  was 
the  attitude  of  acceptance  exhibited  by  the  majority  of 
Whites  around  Lost  Springs  and  Harney  Hills.  Without 
that,  the  Edwards'  efforts  might  have  come  to  naught. 
Even  today,  the  tradition  of  friendly,  easy-going,  openness 
is  pervasive  in  the  atmosphere  among  the  Edwards'  former 
neighbors  and  their  descendants.  The  Edwards'  neighbors 
generally  accepted  them  not  only  as  equals,  as  human 
beings,  but  even  as  economic  superiors.  While  few  peo- 
ple actually  accepted  them  as  friends,  doubtless  in  part 
because  of  the  Edwards'  disinterest  in  socializing  at  public 
gatherings,  they  were  admired  for  their  success.  That  situa- 
tion would  have  been  intolerable  in  many  parts  of  the 
nation.  This  is  not  to  suggest  that  the  area  was  without 
racist  sentiment,  conscious  or  otherwise,  but  it  was  not  a 
powerful  force  in  local  human  interactions.  Race  relations 
are  never  simple  situations,  but  the  climate  of  the  area  was 
generally  amicable  and  Edwards  behavior  showed  he  was 
aware  of  its  complexities.  In  that  atmosphere,  persever- 
ance and  intelligence  allowed  the  Edwards  to  thrive.  They 
became  successful  and  admired  people  in  their  adopted 
home  on  the  prairies  of  east-central  Wyoming,  and  known 
to  Blacks  across  the  country. 
38 


Little  is  known  of  Edwards'  background.  He  was  prob- 
ably not  raised  in  a  rural  setting,  which  makes  his  subse- 
quent success  in  agriculture  and  animal  husbandry  all  the 
more  remarkable.  Like  his  father,  he  may  have  worked  in 
coal  mines  somewhere  in  his  native  Ohio,  growing  up  in 
an  urban  or  semi-urban  environment.  Exactly  where  or 
when  he  was  born,  and  how  he  was  brought  up  can  only 
be  speculation.  Even  if  he  did  not  have  a  detailed  body 
of  knowledge  pertaining  to  ranching  when  he  arrived  in 
Wyoming,  he  was  possessed  of  an  aggressive  intelligence 
which  allowed  him  to  learn  quickly  and  prosper.  Starting 
with  nothing,  in  a  few  years  he  managed  to  take  what 
many  perceived  as  an  empty  piece  of  the  Western  wilder- 
ness and  turn  it  into  a  large  and  prosperous  ranch. 

After  marrying,  Edwards  and  his  wife  became  more 
successful  than  most  White  ranchers  of  the  times.  Because 
Whites  were  so  far  in  the  majority,  it  is  safe  to  surmise  that 
the  Edwards  were  more  successful  than  most  ranchers, 
regardless  of  race.  Comparing  them  to  the  few,  largely  un- 
documented Black  ranchers  would  no  doubt  result  in  the 
same  conclusion.  Within  one  decade  he  and  Lethel  had 
also  managed  to  amass  a  small  fortune  in  area  banks  even 
while  purchasing  additional  land  and  livestock.  Yet  their 
spending  on  luxuries  was  far  from  miserly.  Indeed,  their 
home  and  furnishings  were  counted  among  the  finest  for 
mOes  aroimd.  When  the  banks  failed  they  lost  tens  of 
thousands  of  dollars,  but  they  had  prepared  so  well  against 
financial  misfortune  that  they  were  able  to  absorb  the  stag- 
gering losses  and  stiU  enter  the  Great  Depression  in  a  much 
sounder  condition  than  many  farmers  and  ranchers.  In 
fact,  they  continued  to  prosper  throughout  the  1920s  and 
1930s  when  so  many  others  went  bankrupt. 

Exactly  how  they  met  and  what  attracted  them  to  each 
other  will  never  be  known.  It  is  clear  they  "married  for 
love,"  but  the  marriage  was  a  good  one  for  both  people. 
Lethel  was  young,  innovative,  educated  and  hard-work- 
ing. Paired  with  the  older,  more  experienced,  equally  hard- 
working Edwards,  they  created  a  productive  combination. 
Although  Lethel  definitely  came  from  a  very  urban  back- 
ground, she  was  bright  enough  and  sufficiently  willing  to 
learn  that  she  was  able  to  teach  new  agricultural  skills  to 
her  rural  neighbors.  Jim  was  becoming  financially  suc- 
cessful before  they  married,  but  she  expedited  the  process, 
and  was  largely  responsible  for  the  many  material  im- 
provements and  beautification  in  their  standard  of  living. 

The  Edwards'  roles  and  significance  are  interesting. 
Among  the  earliest  settlers  in  Harney  Hills,  they  were  well 
established  when  the  waves  of  new  settlers  arrived  be- 
tween 1914  and  1920.  This  put  them  in  a  position  to  loan 
equipment  and  labor,  and  give  valuable  advice  to  the 
newcomers,  facilitating  transitions  to  new  homes.  Perhaps 
this  helps  to  explain  the  openminded  ways  they  were 
treated  by  their  almost  exclusively  White  and  less  well-off 
neighbors.  At  any  rate,  the  Edwards  played  significant 
roles  in  settling  and  developing  the  area  between  Douglas 
and  Lusk. 


Larson  says  that  minorities  in  Wyoming  have  received 
comparable  treatment  to  that  accorded  them  in  other 
predominantly  WASP  states.  The  picture  here  is  gilded 
slightly  because  the  small  minority  population  contributed 
to  the  inaccurate  notion  that  discrimination  did  not  exist 
in  the  Equality  State. '^  Attitudes  of  the  White  majority  in 
Wyoming  were  consistent  in  many  ways  with  Victorian  era 
White  feelings  of  superiority  common  across  the  nation. 
Gordon  Hendrickson  explained  that  Blacks  and  Mexican- 
Americans  were  the  most  visible  and  easily  identifiable 
ethnic  groups  in  Wyoming,  and  that  in  the  assimilation 
process  they  lagged  behind  other  groups  and  frequently 
assumed  the  least  desirable  jobs  and  living  quarters.'*  This 
situation  resisted  from  prejudice  on  the  part  of  employers 
and  landlords  more  than  Black  desires  for  such  lifestyles. 
But  White  bigotry  was  not  consistent  across  the  state.  Just 
as  Wyoming's  legal  system  was  schizophrenic  on  racial 
matters,  guaranteeing  equality  even  as  it  forbade  the  same, 
the  "popular  mind"  also  sent  confusing,  conflicting 
messages  to  the  Black  community.  Lynchings  and  murders 
of  Blacks  in  Wyoming  took  place,  but  were  rarities,  easily 
outnumbered  by  stories  of  Black  successess  on  various 
scales.'^  Blacks  in  rural  Wyoming  generally  had  access  to 
resources  and  opportunities  for  financial  success  com- 
parable to  their  White  homesteading  counterparts. 

The  Edwards  were  probably  the  most  successful  of  all 
the  Black  homesteaders  in  Wyoming  at  any  date.  Their 
enterprise  began  in  poverty,  as  was  typical,  but  quickly 
rose  to  unusual  heights.  That  might  not  have  been 
tolerated  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  perhaps  even  other 
parts  of  the  state.  The  Edwards  were  accepted  by  their 
neighbors  as  equals,  or  possibly  better.  Few  addressed  him 
as  Nigger  Jim,  his  success  did  not  spawn  animosity,  even 
his  breaking  the  law,  abusing  western  traditions  and  tak- 
ing rapacious  advantage  of  neighbors'  property  and  good- 
will resulted  in  little  or  no  real  trouble.  In  some  ways,  and 
not  just  economically,  Edwards  was  "more  than  the  equal 
of  his  neighbors."  This  does  not  quite  balance  his  fear 
when  dealing  with  White  women,  however,  or  his  being 
called  a  "nigger,"  and  being  seen  as  one  by  the  law.  The 
Edwards  were  not  fuU  equal  to  Whites,  but  probably  had 
a  better  life  in  the  Equality  State  than  would  have  been 
possible  most  anywhere  else  at  that  time. 

Writing  of  Jim,  a  former  neighbor  summarized: 
All  in  all  ...  he  was  a  good  man,  and  .  .  .  was  liked  in  the 
community.  His  feet,  as  aU  our  feet,  were  made  of  clay,  but 
my  memories  of  him  are  good.  I  have  a  lot  of  respect  for  any 
black  man  who  invades  a  white  territory,  makes  a  living  for 
himself,  and  builds  a  home  as  elaborate  as  his  was  on  the 
prairie.  I  believe  that  had  Lethel  lived,  the  ending  to  Jim's  story 
might  have  been  very  different— but  who  knows?" 


TODD  R.  CUENTHER,  a  native  Nebraskan,  has  resided  in  Wyoming  for  ten 
years.  He  did  undergraduate  work  at  Luther  College  and  the  University  of  Wyo- 
ming before  working  for  several  years  as  an  archaeologist.  He  earned  a  M.A. 
in  American  Studies  from  UWin  1988.  Presently,  he  is  curator  of  South  Pass 
City  State  Historic  Site  where  he  lives  with  his  wife  Barbara  and  son  Nate. 


1.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ebony,  March  1949,  p.  39, 

2.  Ibid.,  pp.  39-40. 

3.  Interview  with  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  April  9,  1987;  Letters 
to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  January  20;  February 
1988;  Catherine  Nuttall,  "Edwards,  James  'Nigger  Jim,'  "  Pages  from 
Converse  County's  Past  (Douglas,  Wyoming:  Heritage  Book  Commit- 
tee, 1986),  p.  174;  and  interview  with  Art  Joss,  Sr.,  April  9,  1987. 

4.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3,  1987; 
and  Combined  Civil  and  Criminal  Docket,  ManviUe,  Wyoming,  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  Volume  1,  p.  176,  Archives  and  Records  Management 
Division,  Wyoming  State  Archives,  Museums  and  Historical  Depart- 
ment (AMH),  Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 

5.  Interview  with  Art  Joss,  Sr.,  April  9,  1987. 

6.  Interview  with  Art  Joss,  Sr.,  April  9,  1987. 

7.  Letters  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  December  7, 
1987;  January  20,  1988. 

8.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 

9.  Skylar  Scott,  "Appendix  A,  Historical  Overview  of  the  Stockgraz- 
ing  Frontier,"  in  Reiss  et  al.  Results  of  a  Class  11  Inventory  on  the  Deer 
Creek  Reservoir  Roads  and  Results  of  the  Testing  on  the  Deer  Creek  Reser- 
voir, Converse  and  Natrona  Counties,  Wyoming,  1986. 

10.  John  T.  Schlebecker,  Cattle  Raising  on  the  Plains,  1900-1961  (Lincoln: 
University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1963),  pp.  25-26. 

11.  Ibid.,  p.  51. 

12.  Roy  M.  Robbins,  Our  Landed  Heritage  in  the  Public  Domain,  1776-1970 
(Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1976),  pp.  363,  387. 

13.  T.  A.  Larson,  Wyoming:  A  Bicentennial  History  (New  York:  W.  W.  Nor- 
ton, 1976),  p.  134. 

14.  Marybeth  Norton  et  al.,  A  People  and  a  Nation:  A  History  of  the  United 
States,  Since  1865,  Vol.  II  (Boston:  Houghton  Mifflin,  1982),  p.  671. 

15.  Peter  W.  Huntoon,  "The  National  Bank  Failures  in  Wyoming,  1924," 
Annals  of  Wyoming  54  (Fall  1982):  34-44;  interview  with  Catherine  and 
William  Nuttall,  April  9,  1987;  and  letter  to  author  from  Catherine 
and  William  NuttaU,  May  3,  1987. 

16.  Letters  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  November  16, 
1987;  February  14,  1988. 

17.  J.  W.  Smurr,  "Jim  Crow  Out  West,"  in  Historical  Essays  on  Montana 
and  the  Northwest,  J.  W.  Smurr,  ed.  (Helena:  Western  Press,  Historical 
Society  of  Montana,  1957),  pp.  149-223. 

18.  Norton  et  al.,  A  People  and  a  Nation,  p.  653. 

19.  Interview  with  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  April  9,  1987;  and  in- 
terview with  Mabel  Lindmier,  April  9,  1987. 

20.  Stan  Gustafson,  Vigilantes  of  Wyoming  (New  York:  Hearthstone  Press, 
1971),  pp.  127-131;  Frank  Schubert,  "The  Black  Army  Regiments  in 
Wvoming,  1885-1912"  (Master  of  Arts  Thesis,  University  of  Wyoming, 
1970),  p.  75,  ff.  21;  Laramie  Boomerang,  September  1,  4,  1904;  and  Ar- 
chives and  Records  Management  Division  catalog  files,  AMH. 

21.  Norton  et  al.,  A  People  and  a  Nation,  p.  591. 

22.  Letters  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  7, 
March  23,  1988. 

23.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ebony,  March  1949,  p.  39. 

24.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  December  7, 
1987. 

39 


25.  Robert  A.  Goldberg,  "Beneath  the  Hood  and  Robe:  A  Socioeconomic 
Analysis  of  Ku  Klux  Klan  Membership  in  Denver,  Colorado, 
1921-1925,"  Western  Historical  Quarterly  11  (April  1980):  184. 

26.  Letters  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  October  3, 
December  7,  1987;  January  20,  February  2,  1988;  Letter  to  author  from 
Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988;  and  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards," 
Ebony,  March  1949,  p.  39.  The  article  described  Edwards  as  being  5 '4" 
taU  and  weighing  155  pounds  in  his  prime. 

27.  Norton  et  al.,  A  People  and  a  Nation,  p.  591. 

28.  Bill  Donnelly,  quoted  in  letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William 
Nuttall,  January  20,  1988. 

29.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  2,  1988. 

30.  General  Land  Office  tract  books.  Bureau  of  Land  Management 
Archives,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 

31.  Letter  to  author  from  Chuck  Engebretson,  October  10,  1987. 

32.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3,  1987. 

33.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  January  20,  1988. 

34.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  October  3,  1987. 

35.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  October  3,  1987. 

36.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  October  3,  1987. 

37.  Interview  with  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  April  9,  1987;  and  letter 
to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  November  16,  1987. 

38.  Norton  et  al.,  A  People  and  a  Nation,  p.  709;  Deborah  Welch,  "An 
Historical  Overview  of  the  North  Antelope  Coal  Company's  North 
Antelope  Mine  in  Campbell  and  Converse  Counties,  Wyoming"; 
"Appendix  I,  Historic  Overview  of  Bates  Hole,  Natrona  County, 
Wyoming,"  in  "A  Cultural  Resource  Inventory  of  the  Proposed 
Shirley  Rim  Road— Little  Red  Creek  Realignment  in  Natrona  County, 
Wyoming,  1982,"  p.  20;  Wyoming:  A  Guide  to  Its  History,  Highways, 
and  People  (New  York:  Oxford  University  Press,  1941;  reprint  ed.,  Lin- 
coln: University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1981);  and  Schlebecker,  Cattle  Rais- 
ing on  the  Plains,  p.  156. 

39.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ehotiy,  March  1949,  p.  40;  and  let- 
ter to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  December  7,  1987. 

40.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  January  20,  1988; 
and  Norton  et  al.,  A  People  and  a  Nation,  pp.  736-737. 

41.  Norton  et  al.,  A  People  and  a  Nation,  p.  740. 

42.  Ibid.,  p.  741. 

43.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  November  16, 
1987. 

44.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  December  7, 
1987. 

45.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  January  20,  1988. 

46.  Robert  A.  Goldberg,  "Beneath  the  Hood  and  Robe:  A  Socioeconomic 
Analysis  of  Ku  Klux  Klan  Membership  in  Denver,  Colorado, 
1921-1925,"  Western  Historical  Quarterly  11  (April  1980):  181. 

47.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  14, 
1988. 

48.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 

49.  Interview  with  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  April  9,  1987. 

50.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  2,  1988. 

51.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  7,  1988. 

52.  Ray  Bearse,  Centerfire  American  Rifle  Cartridges,  1892-1963  (South  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey:  A.  S.  Barnes  and  Co.,  1966),  p.  124. 

53.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ebony,  March  1949,  p.  40. 

54.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  December  7, 
1987. 

55.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  14, 
1988. 

56.  Interview  with  Mabel  Lindmier,  April  9,  1987. 

57.  Interview  with  Mabel  Lindmier,  April  9,  1987. 

58.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  14, 
1988. 


59.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 

60.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ebony,  March  1949,  p.  39. 

61.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  November  16, 
1987. 

62.  Combined  Civil  and  Criminal  Docket,  Manville,  Wyoming,  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  Volume  I,  p.  278,  Archives  and  Records  Management 
Division,  AMH;  and  Clerk  of  Court  Records,  Niobrara  County, 
Wyoming,  Miscellaneous  Record  91,  1937. 

63.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  November  16, 
1987. 

64.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  January  20,  1988. 

65.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 

66.  Ruth  Grant,  "The  Wanek  Family,"  in  Pages  from  Converse  County's 
Past,  p.  622. 

67.  Ibid.,  pp.  621-622. 

68.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3,  1987. 

69.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 

70.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 

71.  Combined  Civil  and  Criminal  Docket,  Manville,  Wyoming,  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  Volume  I,  p.  176,  Archives  and  Records  Management 
Division,  AMH. 

72.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3,  1987 

73.  Interview  with  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  April  9,  1987. 

74.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3,  1987 

75.  General  Land  Office  Tract  Books,  Bureau  of  Land  Management 
Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 

76.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  14, 
1988. 

77.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3,  1987 

78.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  March  23,  1988 

79.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  Wilham  Nuttall,  November  16 
1987. 

80.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  2,  1988, 

81.  Interview  with  Chuck  Engebretson,  September  7,  1987. 

82.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  February  2,  1988 

83.  Letters  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  November  16 
December  7,  1987. 

84.  Schlebecker,  Cattle  Raising  on  the  Plains,  p.  186. 

85.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 

86.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ebony,  March  1949,  pp.  39-41. 

87.  Lusk  Herald,  April  28,  1949. 

88.  Interview  with  Chuck  Engebretson,  September  7,  1987;  and  letter  to 
author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3,  1987. 

89.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ebony,  March  1949,  p.  39. 

90.  Letter  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  December  7, 
1987. 

91.  "The  Last  Days  of  Jim  Edwards,"  Ebony,  March  1949,  p.  41. 

92.  Letters  to  author  from  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  May  3, 
December  7,  1987. 

93.  Interview  with  Catherine  and  William  Nuttall,  April  9,  1987. 

94.  Catherine  Nuttall,  "Edwards,  James  'Nigger  Jim,'  "  in  Pages  from  Con- 
verse County's  Past,  p.  174. 

95.  Larson,  Wyoming,  p.  105. 

96.  Gordon  O.  Hendrickson,  "Immigration  and  Assimilation  in  Wyo- 
ming," in  Peopling  the  High  Plains,  ed.  Gordon  O.  Hendrickson 
(Cheyenne:  Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical  Department, 
1977),  p.  184. 

97.  Todd  R.  Guenther,  "At  Home  on  the  Range:  Black  Settlement  in  Rural 
Wyoming,  1850-1950"  (Master  of  Arts  Thesis,  University  of  Wyoming, 
1988). 

98.  Letter  to  author  from  Ruth  Grant,  March  10,  1988. 


40 


ISAAC  a  MILLER 

Events  In  the  Life  of  a 
"High-Toned"  Dane 


by  Mark  E.  Miller 


Portrait  of  Isaac  Carson  Miller  at  the  peak  of  his  successful  business  career. 


41 


Isaac  Carson  Miller's  story  is  about  a  young  immigrant 
who  matured  with  the  Wyoming  frontier.  He  was  born  on 
March  6,  1844,  on  the  island  of  M0n,  Praesto  County,  Den- 
mark. His  birth  name  was  Isaac  Carstensen  (or  Carsensen), 
which  he  later  simplified  by  condensing  his  surname  and 
adding  a  new  surname  taken  from  his  father's  occupation.^ 
I.C.'s  Old  World  experiences  nurtured  a  restless  spirit  that 
eventually  would  take  him  beyond  Denmark  to  the 
American  West  in  search  of  greater  opportunity.  He  would 
become  a  kind  of  rural  renaissance  man,  whose  breadth 
of  character,  commitment  to  responsible  decision-making 
and  willingness  to  take  risks  established  him  as  one  of  the 
most  successful,  yet  unpretentious,  pioneers  in  Wyonung. 

It  is  difficult  to  tease  from  the  musty  pages  of  history 
why  immigrants  leave  their  homeland  to  face  uncertainty 
in  a  distant  country.  For  I.C.  Miller  the  reasons  may  have 
been  many.  He  was  twenty  years  old  in  1864  and  entering 
his  adult  life;  but  things  were  rotten  in  Denmark.  His  father 
owned  no  more  than  125  cultivated  acres  for  his  mill 
because  Danish  law  prohibited  large  agricultural  estates.^ 
Such  a  small  field  could  not  be  divided  through  inheritance 
and  still  support  I.  C.  and  his  siblings  as  they  grew  and 
began  families  of  their  own. 

Limited  economic  opportunity  created  only  some  of  the 
problems  facing  Danish  youth.  In  1864,  the  duchies  of 
Schlesvig,  north  of  the  Eider  River,  and  Holstein,  on  the 
south,  were  torn  between  political  allegiance  to  Denmark 
and  Prussia.  Christian  I  had  signed  a  decree  in  1481  declar- 
ing Schlesvig  and  Holstein  would  remain  forever  un- 
divided.^ By  the  time  this  document  was  signed,  centuries 
of  shipbuilding  had  depleted  many  Danish  oak  forests, 
allowing  heather  moors  to  invade  the  countryside.  Prevail- 
ing winds  swept  over  the  treeless  land  and  stripped  the 
once  rich  topsoil,  threatening  cultivated  fields.^  But 
Schlesvig  was  still  rich  in  arable  land  during  the  1860s,  and 
Denmark  wanted  to  retain  her  agricultural  wealth.  Because 
of  the  ancient  15th  century  document,  this  also  meant 
keeping  Holstein  despite  her  intention  to  align  politically 
with  Prussia. 

Prussia  and  her  Austrian  allies,  under  the  military 
leadership  of  Otto  Edward  Leopold  Von  Bismarck,  solved 
the  problem  by  force.  Bismarck  attacked  the  Danes  on 
February  1,  1864,  with  well  armed,  numerically  superior 
troops.  By  June  the  outcome  was  inevitable.  The  Danish 
fleet  still  controlled  the  coastline  and  seaways  around  the 
islands,  but  they  had  lost  the  war.^  Many  Danes  who  did 
not  want  to  live  under  Prussian  rule  emigrated.  Some  prob- 
ably believed  Denmark  should  not  have  claimed  political 
authority  over  Holstein  in  the  first  place,  but  let  the  duchy 
decide  her  own  fate.  Like  other  disillusioned  countrymen, 
I.  C.  boarded  a  ship  bound  for  New  York.  He  would  spend 
his  21st  birthday  and  the  rest  of  his  life  on  American  soil. 

I.  C.  (later  known  as  Ike)  landed  in  the  states  amidst 
the  Civil  War  with  only  35  cents  to  his  name.  He  learned 
the  language  and  customs  of  his  new  home,  then  bummed 
his  way  to  Omaha,  Nebraska,  in  1866,  where  he  engaged 
42 


in  marketing.  The  city  was  a  hotbed  of  commerce  prepar- 
ing for  Union  Pacific  railroad  construction,  and  Ike  earned 
money  to  finance  the  next  leg  of  his  journey  west.  In  1867, 
he  traveled  to  North  Platte,  Nebraska,  then  worked  with 
the  railroad  as  it  built  to  Bitter  Creek  in  Wyoming  Territory. 
References  are  unclear  whether  Ike  hacked  ties,  laid  track 
or  was  a  store  clerk  during  this  time,  but  he  did  engage 
in  merchandising  at  Bitter  Creek  between  the  fall  of  1868 
and  the  spring  of  1870.* 

By  June  6,  1870,  Ike  had  backtracked  east  to  Rawlins 
(Rawlings)  Springs  where  he  became  a  store  clerk.  The 
budding  community,  whose  name  later  was  shortened  to 
Rawlins,  boasted  a  population  of  612.^  Ike  entered  into 
partnership  with  W.  R.  Cogswell  in  1871  and  located  placer 
claims  at  Poverty  Hill  in  the  Hahn's  Peak  gold  mining  region 
of  Colorado.*  He  and  Cogswell  wintered  in  Rawlins  the 
first  year,  but  returned  to  mining  operations  for  a  total  of 
two  seasons,  not  really  making  much  profit.  Nonetheless, 
this  enterprise  initiated  a  lasting  relationship  between  the 
two  pioneers  which  spanned  many  years  and  involved 
other  mining  ventures.  In  1873,  Ike  returned  to  Rawlins 
and  entered  the  local  business  community  to  stay. 

His  first  community  venture  was  running  the  Alham- 
bra  Saloon  on  the  south  side  of  the  tracks  opposite  4th 
Street.  Pat  Downs  established  the  Alhambra  in  1873  and, 
later  that  same  year,  Ike  became  junior  partner.  The  two 
worked  together  for  about  a  year  until  Downs  sold  out  to 
Ike.  Ike  enlarged  the  saloon  and  made  it  a  thriving 
wholesale  and  retail  business.'  D.  M.  "Little"  Van  worked 
with  Ike  for  a  while  before  relocating  in  the  Snake  River 
country.  ^^ 

The  Alhambra  boasted  the  delightful  "Las  Ninfas" 
cigars  and  advertised  a  wide  stock  of  spirits,  including  fine 
imported  champagne,  brandy,  gin,  bitters  and  other  qual- 
ity liquor.  Scotch  and  Irish  whiskies,  Kentucky  bourbon, 
rye  and  sour  mash  soothed  the  palates  of  Old  World  im- 
migrants and  displaced  easterners  who  longed  for  the 
flavor  of  their  homeland.  Some  thirsty  patrons  did  not  pay 
off  the  credit  extended  them,  so  on  Christmas  Day  1880, 
Ike  announced  that  beginning  January  15, 1881,  the  Alham- 
bra would  operate  only  on  a  cash  basis." 

The  local  newspaper  noted  with  wry  humor  the  pop- 
ularity of  saloons  in  the  frontier  town:  "Many  a  woman 
dusts  bilhard  chalk  off  her  husband's  coat,  and  a  big  tear 
stands  in  her  eye  as  she  thinks  how  late  he  works  nights 
at  his  desk  by  the  whitewashed  wall.""  On  a  separate 
occasion,  a  reporter  lamented  that  "one  of  the  'regulars' 
who  is  an  easy  drinker,  by  mistake  swallowed  a  glass  of 
water  the  other  day,  instead  of  his  usual  dram  of  'gin. '  The 
timely  arrival  of  a  physician  with  a  stomach  pump  saved 
his  life.""  Ike  sold  the  Alhambra  business  to  John  Dyer 
and  Ben  Northington  in  May,  1881,  but  apparently  retained 
the  property  and  continued  to  make  improvements  to  the 
building. ^^ 

Ike  became  firmly  entrenched  in  the  dvic  affairs  of 
Rawlins  during  the  1870s.  He  began  buying  cattle  on  a 


modest  scale  the  same  year  he  bought  into  the  Alhambra, 
and  ran  cows  throughout  his  ranching  career.  But  his  first 
publicized  purchase,  which  was  consummated  over  cham- 
pagne in  the  Alhambra  one  Saturday  night  in  November, 
1879,  may  not  have  produced  any  beef  at  all.  The  evening 
began  with  Ike,  Charley  Blydenburgh  and  a  Mr.  Hooper 
from  Arizona  popping  a  few  corks  while  reliving  past 
exploits.  It  seems  Hooper  was  just  passing  through  and 
had  2,700  head  of  cattle  waiting  at  Bitter  Creek.  Come 
sunup.  Hooper  and  the  rest  were  great  friends.  In  fact,  they 
were  such  good  friends  that  Ike  was  the  proud  owner  of 
Hooper's  entire  herd.  Hooper  disappeared  soon  after  and 
the  newspaper  account  does  not  mention  whether  or  not 
the  cattle,  if  they  even  existed,  ever  made  it  to  Carbon 
County  range.  Ike  did  get  a  message  from  his  old  partner 
Pete  Downs  in  Evanston,  which  complimented  him  on  his 
purchase  and  jokingly  asked  him  to  treat  the  Honorable 
Mr.  Hooper  with  greatest  respect,  because  Hooper  also  cost 
Downs  $55  when  they  became  friends. ^^  Hooper  ap- 
parently conned  more  than  one  southern  Wyoming  resi- 
dent during  his  trip  through  the  territory. 

On  a  more  lasting  note  for  the  decade,  Ike  married  Ada 
Kirk  on  May  7,  1874. ^^  She  was  the  daughter  of  Henry  A. 
Kirk  and  Mary  E.  (Parrish)  Kirk.  Henry  was  a  Civil  War 
veteran,  educator,  businessman  and  successful  farmer  who 
spent  much  of  his  career  in  Rawlins. 

The  decade  of  the  1880s  involved  the  most  diverse  ac- 
tivities in  Ike's  life.  His  business  and  civic  interests  ex- 


panded considerably.  Ike  owned  sheep  as  early  as  1875, 
but  did  so  only  on  a  modest  scale  until  1880.  In  1881,  he 
entered  into  partnership  with  Joel  J.  Hurt,  and  their  in- 
vestments soon  established  them  as  leading  operators  in 
Carbon  County,  which  generally  was  more  tolerant  of 
sheepmen  than  were  other  parts  of  the  territory.  One  of 
their  early  purchases  was  the  sheep  herd  belonging  to  the 
Blydenburghs,  Sam  Morgan  and  Roberts  of  the  Jack  Creek 
Land  and  Cattle  Company. ^^  Miller  and  Hurt's  flocks 
flourished  on  prime  grazing  land  in  Carbon  County,^' 
where  herds  wintered  along  the  North  Platte  River  and 
summered  in  the  Seminoe  Mountains.  The  partners  bred 
Merino  bucks  to  Columbia  ewes  for  a  hearty,  more  profit- 
able cross.  To  better  distribute  produce  to  consumers,  they 
ran  a  meat  market  in  Rawlins  at  the  corner  of  Front  and 
5th  streets.^' 

Ike's  interests,  however,  were  not  limited  to  stock  rais- 
ing. His  business  acumen  and  recognition  as  a  fair,  civic- 
minded  citizen  earned  him  the  1880  Democratic  nomina- 
tion for  the  office  of  Carbon  County  Sheriff.  He  was 
characterized  during  the  campaign  as  a  gentleman  of  fine 
physique  and  resolute  character  with  plenty  of  sand  to  do 
the  job.  Ike  defeated  incumbent  James  G.  Rankin  on  elec- 
tion day  November  2,  1880.^"  Rankin  was  a  well-known 
Republican  who  had  recently  gained  notoriety  for  bring- 
ing George  Parrott,  alias  Big  Nose  George,  from  Montana 
to  Rawlins  to  stand  trial  for  the  celebrated  Elk  Mountain 
murders  of  Tip  Vincent  and  Robert  Widdowfield.  Parrott 


Front  Street  scene  in  Rawlins,  Wyoming,  variously  dated  between  1879  and  1883.  Telegraph  pole  at  left  is  probably  the  one  from  which  Big  Nose 
George  hanged  on  March  22,  1881. 

43 


sat  in  the  Carbon  County  jail  awaiting  trial  in  District  Court 
while  the  elections  were  held.  The  sweet  taste  of  victory 
was  short-lived  for  Ike,  because  he  was  appointed  foreman 
of  the  special  grand  jury  summoned  to  hear  the  territory's 
case  against  Big  Nose  George  on  November  15.  The  outlaw 
was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  hang  on  Saturday,  April 
2,  1881.21 

Ike  settled  into  the  sheriff's  duties  on  January  3,  1881. 
His  many  responsibilities  carried  him  throughout  Carbon 
County  which,  in  early  1881,  ran  from  Colorado  north  to 
the  headwaters  of  the  Powder  River.  Ike  was  responsible 
for  tax  collecting  and  keeping  the  peace  during  the  first 
year  of  his  term,  which  began  with  a  bang,  rather  than  a 
whimper.  He  sensed  strong  community  resentment  to- 
ward Big  Nose  George,  because  Vincent  and  Widdowfield 
had  been  popular  in  Carbon  County.  Many  ddzens  desired 
revenge.  As  precautionary  measures  to  control  the 
populace,  he  ordered  the  publication  of  the  Wyoming  laws 
pertaining  to  legal  executions,  and  posted  notices  remind- 
ing citizens  of  the  law  against  concealed  weapons. ^^  In  late 
March,  1881,  Ike  was  called  away  to  Sand  Creek  on  official 
business.  Big  Nose  George  attempted  a  jail  break  during 
his  absence.  The  escape  was  foiled,  but  later  that  evening, 
March  22,  a  masked  mob  of  irate  citizens  broke  into  the 
jail,  dragged  the  prisoner  toward  the  railroad  tracks  and 
hanged  him  from  a  telegraph  pole  in  front  of  J.  W.  Hugus 
and  Co.'s  store." 

A  year  later,  almost  to  the  day,  a  second  vigilante 
action  shook  the  foundation  of  civilized  life  in  the  grow- 
ing frontier  town.  On  Sunday  morning,  March  19,  1882, 
a  lynch  mob  grabbed  from  custody  three  thieves  accused 
of  beating  and  robbing  a  Chinaman.  The  desperados  were 
James  Lacey,  Robert  Roderick,  alias  "Opium  Bob,"  and 
a  man  named  Carter.  They  were  believed  to  be  part  of  a 
larger,  organized  gang  of  thieves  operating  throughout  the 
surrounding  country.  Lacey  and  "Opium  Bob"  were  left 
dangling  at  the  stockyards  for  passersby  to  view,  but  Carter 
escaped. 2'*  This  act  was  even  more  callous  than  Parrott's 
lynching  the  year  before,  because  the  suspects  had  not 
even  been  tried  for  their  crimes.  This  incident  stimulated 
renewed  efforts  to  protect  citizens  and  prisoners  alike 
through  due  process  of  law. 

Ike's  duties  did  not  always  involve  dealing  with 
vigilante  justice.  He  recorded  the  normal  list  of  arrests  for 
a  frontier  town  along  the  railroad.  Only  a  week  or  so  before 
the  Lacey  and  "Opium  Bob"  lynching.  Miller  arrested  a 
couple  of  horse  thieves  named  Thomas  Curran  and  Mat- 
thew Guyer.  They  had  robbed  Knox  and  Co.'s  saddle  and 
harness  shop,  and  made  off  toward  Sand  Creek.  A  month 
after  this  arrest  the  sheriff  escorted  Curran,  Guyer  and  a 
convicted  murderer  from  the  territorial  prison  in  Laramie 
to  the  penitentiary  at  Joliet,  Illinois,  where  they  would 
serve  out  their  sentences. ^^ 

The  arrest  of  Curran  and  Guyer  had  personal  reward 
for  Ike,  because  in  February,  1882,  Ike  had  purchased 
half  interest  in  the  saddle  and  harness  business  owned  by 
44 


Reuben  B.  Knox.^'  Knox'  enterprise,  established  in  the 
spring  of  1879,  boasted  well-crafted  saddles  that  earned 
a  valued  reputation  throughout  Wyoming  Territory  and 
surrounding  regions.  The  new  firm,  known  as  R.  B.  Knox 
and  Co.,  kept  the  original  Cedar  Street  location.  Ike  pur- 
chased full,  but  short-lived,  ownership  on  December  15, 
1882.27  In  July,  1883,  Mr.  John  Foote  bought  the  company 
and  placed  Knox  in  charge  once  again. ^^ 

Ike  was  re-elected  in  November,  1882,  defeating  Isaac 
Amos  for  the  job. 2'  During  his  second  term,  he  continued 
several  innovative  practices  initiated  during  his  first  years 
of  office.  In  particular,  Ike  worked  to  clean  up  the  town 
and  make  Rawlins  a  more  presentable  community.  He  col- 
lected donations  for  street  cleaning  projects,  and  used  a 
prisoner  street  gang  to  sweep  away  dust,  rid  town  lots  of 
sagebrush  and  grade  some  streets. 

The  early  1880s  also  was  a  time  of  growing  stress  on 
the  rangelands  of  Carbon  County.  Cattlemen  were  con- 
cerned about  rustling  and  the  Wyoming  Stock  Growers 
Association  worked  diligently  to  eliminate  losses.  In  late 

1883,  the  association  hired  John  M.  Finkbone  of  the  Turtle 
Detective  Agency  in  Chicago  to  investigate  activities  along 
the  Sweetwater  River.  In  September,  Ike  and  Detective 
Finkbone  rode  north  to  the  Sand  Creek  country  with  re- 
quisitions for  Clabe  and  Bill  Young.  They  arrested  Clabe 
and  charged  him  with  the  murder  of  a  man  in  Texas  back 
in  1878.^"  It  seems  the  Stock  Growers  Association  beheved 
Young  was  guilty  of  illegal  branding.  There  was  little 
evidence  on  the  hoof  by  the  time  of  his  arrest,  however, 
because  Clabe  had  sold  his  livestock  a  month  earlier  to  the 
Sand  Creek  Land  and  Cattle  Co.^^ 

Clabe  Young  was  a  popular  cattleman  in  the  region, 
and  had  been  foreman  for  Tom  Sun's  Hub  and  Spoke  out- 
fit.^^  Several  residents  heard  of  the  sheriff's  trip  and  tried 
to  warn  Clabe  and  Bill  about  the  warrants.  They  were  suc- 
cessful only  in  the  latter  case."  Clabe' s  friends,  unsym- 
pathetic toward  the  big  cattle  outfits  run  by  absentee 
owners,  were  pleased  to  hear  from  Nate  Young  in  April, 

1884,  that  brother  Clabe  had  been  tried  in  TUden,  Texas, 
on  March  13,  and  found  not  guilty. ^^  Clabe,  BUI  and  Nate 
eventually  were  blacklisted  by  the  Wyoming  Stock  Grow- 
ers Association,  although  Clabe  overcame  that  complaint 

tOO.35 

Leroy  Donovan,  a  young  man  from  Sweetwater 
County,  was  found  guilty  of  first  degree  murder  in  Oc- 
tober, 1883.^*  He  killed  a  man  in  Rock  Springs  and  was 
tried  in  Rawlins  under  change  of  venue.  The  court  inter- 
viewed 107  prospective  jurors  before  a  panel  of  citizens 
unopposed  to  capital  punishment  was  selected.  They  were 
sworn  in,  then  knelt  and  prayed  to  assure  a  just  verdict. 
Such  behavior  contrasted  dramatically  with  the  mob  tac- 
tics of  recent  years,  and  signaled  a  trend  toward  a  more 
positive  community  attitude. 

Donovan,  alias  John  Lee,  was  sentenced  to  hang  on 
January  18,  1884.  The  task  fell  to  Ike,  and  he  was  deter- 
mined to  follow  the  law  as  well  as  make  the  prisoner's  last 


/.  C.  Miller  (right)  and  Homer  'France  in  front  seat  driving  in  a  parade. 

months  as  comfortable  as  possible.  As  the  day  approached, 
workers  erected  the  scaffold  near  the  courthouse,  and  con- 
nected it  to  the  jail  building  with  a  fourteen  foot  high  fence 
concealing  all  activities  from  outside  view.^^  Only  a  few 
people  were  legally  permitted  to  witness  the  hanging.  Ike 
fastened  the  noose  around  Donovan's  neck  at  the  ap- 
pointed time,  then  asked  the  condemned  man  if  it  was  all 
right.  The  convicted  murderer  answered  "It's  about  as 
tight  as  you  can  get  it  without  choking  me."  Then  Donovan 
was  hanged.^  It  was  an  unpleasant  but  necessary  task  if 
Rawlins  was  to  become  a  more  law  abiding  community. 

Rawlins'  first  legal  execution  was  not  the  only  event 
during  Ike's  tenure  as  sheriff  which  inaugurated  a  new  era 
for  criminal  justice.  Community  concern  over  vigilante  ac- 
tivity prompted  the  formation  of  a  police  force,  ^^  and  tax 
collecting  was  removed  from  the  sheriff's  duties  to  allow 
more  time  for  other  tasks.  Also,  prisoner  street  gangs  pro- 
vided a  greater  return  from  community  investment  in  the 
penal  system.  No  longer  would  Rawlins  be  depicted  as  an 
unsettled  town  in  the  territorial  frontier;  Ike  helped  build 
a  civic  pride  that  endures  today. 

Dee's  overall  performance  earned  him  consideration  as 
a  Democratic  nominee  for  a  third  term.  But  the  October, 
1884,  convention  instead  nominated  him  for  County 
Treasurer  and  Probate  Judge.*"  His  years  in  law  enforce- 
ment ended  and  he  focused  on  even  more  challenging  roles 
in  city,  county  and  territorial  affairs. 

Ike  sirffered  the  first  political  defeat  of  his  career  when 
he  lost  to  incumbent  D.  C.  Kelly  in  the  race  for  Probate 
Judge  and  Treasurer.  Carbon  County  residents  might  have 
regretted  their  choice  in  later  years,  however,  because  in 
March,  1887,  there  was  concern  over  Kelly's  alleged  in- 
volvement in  embezzling  funds. ^^  Kelly  ended  up  paying 
back  the  county  to  avoid  indictment  by  the  grand  jury.'*^ 

Rawlins  incorporated  in  May,  1886,  under  by-laws,  or- 
dinances and  articles  that  laid  the  groundwork  for  city 
government.  Residents  elected  Ike  as  their  first  mayor  to 
preside  over  the  important  decisions  facing  the  city.  One 


account  recalls  the  efforts  of  several  women  who  wanted 
him  to  win  the  election.  These  ladies  voted  once,  went 
home  to  change  clothes  and  put  on  veils,  then  returned 
to  the  polls  to  vote  again. ■'^  M.  E.  Hocker,  Chas.  E. 
Chrisman  and  John  Carrick  were  listed  as  trustees  for  the 
first  city  council.**  The  new  mayor  approved  and  signed 
the  first  city  ordinance  on  April  28,  1886,  which  codified 
30  sections  of  the  by-laws  for  the  government  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  city  of  Rawlins. ^^  He  served  as  mayor 
for  one  year,  then  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  John  E.  Osborne. 

Ike's  political  commitments  kept  him  busy  at  the  ter- 
ritorial level  as  well,  initially  as  a  delegate  to  the  1886 
Democratic  convention  held  in  Rawlins.*'  Then,  at  the  1888 
Democratic  territorial  convention  in  Cheyenne,  the  Honor- 
able I.  C.  Miller  and  C.  E.  Blydenburgh  were  chosen  to 
serve  as  territorial  central  committee  members.  Ike  also  was 
temporary  chair  of  the  county  convention  where  he  and 
G.  Caldwell  were  picked  to  run  for  territorial  council.  C. 
C.  Wright,  A.  McMicken  and  Ike's  father-in-law,  H.  A. 
Kirk,  were  chosen  as  candidates  for  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives.*'' Unfortunately  for  the  county  Democrats, 
Republicans  R.  M.  Galbraith  and  C.  W.  Burdick  won  the 
two  council  seats  in  November.** 

Although  not  particularly  interested  in  a  political 
career,  Ike  agreed  to  try  for  public  office  one  more  time. 
President  Benjamin  Harrison  signed  the  statehood  bill  for 
Wyoming  on  July  10,  1890.  It  was  successful  in  Washington 
D.C.  largely  through  the  efforts  of  Joseph  M.  Carey, 
Wyoming  Territory's  last  delegate  to  Congress.  Territorial 
Governor  Francis  E.  Warren,  a  Republican  and  friend  of 
Carey's,  wasted  no  time  in  establishing  state  government. 
Five  days  after  statehood  he  set  a  special  election  for 
September  11,  1890.*'  This  gave  political  parties  less  than 
two  months  to  schedule  conventions,  select  candidates  and 
campaign  for  five  state  offices  and  the  new  state's  lone  seat 
in  the  U.S.  House  of  Representatives.  Ike  accepted  the 
nomination  of  his  party  for  Wyoming's  first  state  treasurer.^" 
Ike's  opponent  was  Otto  Gramm,  a  former  druggist  and 
prominent  county  treasurer  and  probate  judge  from  Lara- 
mie.'^  The  election  was  a  disaster  for  the  Democratic  party, 
due  largely  to  the  popularity  and  political  power  of  Carey 
and  Warren.  Republicans  swept  all  state  offices  and  the 
congressional  seat.  Dee  was  beaten  by  a  count  of  8,824  votes 
(56.5  percent)  to  6,790  (43.5  percent),  losing  in  aD  coun- 
ties. ^^  Those  concerned  with  the  fact  of  a  short  campaign 
could  take  solace  in  the  words  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 
The  great  novelist  once  proclaimed:  "Politics  is  perhaps 
the  only  profession  for  which  no  preparation  is  thought 
necessary.  "53 

Throughout  these  years,  Ike  never  lost  sight  of  his 
livestock  interests  or  the  growing  difficulties  in  grazing 
Wyoming's  public  range  lands.  He  and  other  industry 
leaders  advocated  an  organized  lobbying  effort  to  protect 
their  businesses.  In  May,  1880,  the  Carbon  County  Stock- 
growers  Association  organized  so  stockmen  could  legally 
appoint  a  stock  detective  and  petition  the  county  commis- 
sioners for  his  salary.  The  detective  would  represent  area 

45 


ranchers  during  round-ups.^  Both  cattlemen  and  sheepmen 
became  members  when  the  1881  meeting  was  held  in  Dee's 
office.  Ike  was  elected  treasurer  and  Joel  J.  Hurt  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  committee  charged  with  drafting  a  set  of 
by-laws.''  The  organization  seems  to  have  lasted  until  pas- 
sage of  the  Maverick  Bill  in  1884,  which  assigned  stock  de- 
tection and  roimd-up  supervision  to  the  state  organization.'* 

When  the  county  stockgrowers  association  weakened, 
Ike  and  Hurt  aligned  with  other  operators  to  form  an 
organization  of  county  sheepgrowers.  The  Rocky  Moun- 
tain Wool  Growers  Association  was  established  on  March 
2,  1886,  with  Ike  as  treasurer.'^  Hurt  succeeded  him  at  the 
1887  meeting  and  Ike  was  elected  president.  Dee  and  several 
other  woolgrowers  also  incorporated  a  company  to  build 
and  operate  a  wool  warehouse  which  would  store  clips  un- 
til transportation  costs  and  the  wool  market  assured  pro- 
ducers of  satisfactory  profits."  He  was  re-elected  president 
at  the  third  annual  meeting  of  the  association  when  discus- 
sions centered  around  Union  Pacific  wool  transportation 
rates.  Other  railways  had  lowered  rates  and  stockmen 
pressured  the  U.P.  to  do  the  same.''  Association  members 
also  worked  with  other  livestock  interests  in  opposing 
President  Grover  Cleveland's  efforts  to  remove  the  wool 
tariff  and  establish  free  trade.  John  Mahoney,  in  particular, 
criticized  Cleveland's  action  as  being  uncalled  for  and 
cowardly,  stating  that  it  should  be  sat  down  upon.  Ike,  in 
an  apparent  reference  to  the  President's  massive  physique, 
commented  that  "it  was  now  sat  down  upon  about  as 
heavy  as  it  could  be."*"" 

The  year  1888  was  a  pivotal  one  for  Ike's  interest  in 
the  sheep  industry.  In  October,  he  and  Hurt  dissolved  their 


partnership  and  spUt  their  flocks.'^  Their  herd  had  peaked 
a  few  years  earlier  at  40,000  head  when  they  ran  20-man 
shearing  crews  at  their  pens  north  of  Rawlins.  By  1888, 
their  flock  totaled  about  25,000  head,*^  ^yj  thjg  was  still 
too  many  to  sustain  on  their  range  north  of  Rawlins.  Hurt 
trailed  3,000  sheep  into  what  soon  would  be  Natrona 
County, *3  then  operated  out  of  Casper  for  several  years. 

Six  months  later,  the  Rocky  Mountain  Wool  Grower's 
Association  held  their  fourth  annual  meeting.  Members 
discussed  a  major  issue  in  Carbon  County's  livestock 
business,  that  of  grazing  on  "checkerboard"  lands. 
Checkerboard  lands  are  those  sections  twenty  miles  either 
side  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  line.  As  an  incentive  to 
buUd  the  railroad,  the  federal  government  gave  the  Union 
Pacific  surface  and  mineral  rights  to  all  odd  numbered  sec- 
tions in  this  corridor,  but  retained  ownership  of  even 
numbered  sections.  This  produced  an  ownership  pattern 
where  no  two  adjacent  sections  were  owned  by  the  same 
landholder.  To  move  from  one  private  section  to  another, 
or  from  one  public  section  to  another,  required  crossing 
over  adjacent  squares  like  jumps  in  a  checkers  game.  At 
this  meeting,  the  association  adopted  a  resolution  pledg- 
ing support  to  R.  T.  Rankin  who  was  defendant  in  a  lawsuit 
instigated  by  the  Swan  Land  Company.  Rankin  allegedly 
trespassed  his  sheep  on  railroad  lands  recently  purchased 
by  the  company,**  which  already  had  been  involved  with 
earlier  litigation  regarding  fencing  of  public  lands.*' 

The  complex  issue  of  private  use  of  public  range  lands 
became  more  heated  as  time  passed.  Related  problems  of 
rustling  and  homesteading  on  the  public  domain  would 
soon  find  graphic  expression  in  the  lynching  of  two  alleged 


The  Rawlins  National  Bank,  shown  here,  was  established  ]une  9,  1899,  and  was  located  in  the  Osborne  Building.  I.C.  Miller,  seated,  was  its  first 
president  between  1899-1912.  J.C.  Davis  (left)  and  Frank  Hadsell  are  standing  in  front  of  the  cashier's  window.  Jim  Randle  is  the  cashier  behind 
the  window,  and  an  unidentified  man  stands  in  back  of  him. 
46 


rustlers  in  a  rocky  canyori  above  the  Sweetwater  River.  In 
late  July,  1889,  Rawlins  residents  received  word  that  James 
Averell  and  Ella  Watson  had  been  hanged.  Sheriff  Frank 
Hadsell  arrested  several  prominent  cattlemen,  and  the  case 
against  the  defendants  was  brought  to  District  Court  in 
Rawlins  on  Monday,  October  14.  Judge  Samuel  T.  Corn 
presided  as  jury  selection  began.  One  prospective  juror, 
William  Jungquist,  was  excused  because  William  Daley 
submitted  an  affidavit  to  the  court  arguing  that  Jungquist 
was  prejudiced  against  the  defendants.  The  name  of  Isaac 
C.  Miller  was  drawn  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  he  subse- 
quently was  appointed  foreman.** 

This  was  a  sensitive  case  due  to  the  nature  of  the  crimes 
and  the  prominence  of  the  people  implicated.  Corn  was 
specific  and  deliberate  in  his  charge  to  the  jury: 

In  making  your  investigations  you  will  hear  the  evidence  for 
the  prosecution  only,  and  if  upon  the  evidence  introduced  by 
the  prosecution  it  appears  that  an  offense  has  been  committed, 
and  who  the  offenders  are,  it  is  your  duty  to  return  an  indict- 
ment. It  is  not  your  duty,  and  you  are  not  permitted  to  examine 
witness  upon  the  part  of  the  defense.  Whatever  defense  there 
may  be  in  any  case  must  be  made  upon  a  trial  before  a  petit 
jury  in  open  court.  Yet  you  will  consider  all  the  evidence  in- 
troduced before  you  by  the  prosecution  and  if  from  it  the 
defense  appears,  you  will  return  no  bill. 

A  full  grand  jury  consists  of  sixteen  members— twelve  of 
your  number  present  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business,  and 
twelve  must  concur  in  finding  an  indictment  before  it  can  be 
returned  a  true  bill.  Your  foreman  is  authorized  to  swear  all 
witnesses  examined  by  you  .  .  . 

Corn  continued  with  intentional  emphasis  on  the 
Sweetwater  affair: 

It  is  not  ordinarily  necessary  to  charge  the  grand  jury  with 
reference  to  special  crimes.  The  prosecuting  attorney  is  author- 
ized to  be  present  during  your  sessions  (except  during  the  ex- 
pression of  your  views  or  when  a  vote  is  being  taken)  and  will 
advise  you.  But  it  has  come  to  my  ears  and  is  the  subject  of 
much  conversation  in  this  community  and  has  been  widely 
published  in  the  newspapers  that  certain  persons  are  charged 
with  the  hanging  of  a  man  and  woman  by  lynch  law  in  this 
county,  and  it  is  evident  there  is  great  feeling  and  excitement 
in  the  community  in  regard  to  it.  In  such  matters  you  are  pre- 
eminently the  guardians  of  the  safety  of  the  people  and  the  good 
order  of  society.  You  have  sworn  to  present  none  through 
malice  or  Ul  will  and  to  leave  none  unpresented  through  fear, 
favor  or  affection.  It  becomes  you  in  connection  with  this  mat- 
ter to  be  specially  regardful  of  the  obligations  of  that  oath.  Some 
of  the  ancients  portrayed  justice  as  a  goddess  blindfolded.  Her 
eyes  were  hoodwinked  that  she  might  not  know  even  the  per- 
sons upon  who  she  was  called  to  pass  judgment.  In  one  hand 
she  held  the  balances  to  weigh  the  evidence  with  absolute  im- 
partiality, and  in  the  other  a  sword  with  which  to  execute  her 
decrees.  This  idea  of  "justice  blind"  should  be  your  guide  in 
this  matter.  Weigh  the  evidence  vwth  absolute  impartiality  and 
without  regard  to  persons,  and  then  strike  no  matter  upon 
whom  your  blow  may  fall. 

You  have  also  sworn  to  keep  secret  the  proceedings  of  the 
grand  jury  and  by  the  statute  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  court 
to  charge  you  specially  as  to  this  obligation.  It  is  intended  that 
the  grand  jiuy  shall  act  with  entire  independence,  unaffected 
by  outside  influences.  In  order  that  that  independence  shall 
be  preserved  it  is  essential  that  all  expressions  of  opinion  and 
votes  of  individual  members  upon  the  various  matters  coming 


before  you  should  be  known  to  yourselves  alone  and  should 
go  no  further.  All  that  the  public  is  entitled  to  know,  in  case 
an  indictment  is  returned  a  true  bill,  is  that  twelve  of  your 
number  voted  in  favor  of  the  finding.  And  in  case  an  indict- 
ment is  ignored,  that  less  than  twelve  were  in  favor  of  the  bUl."' 

Few  incidents  in  Wyoming  history  have  received  as 
much  critical  review  as  the  Sweetwater  lynchings,  but  facts 
clearly  indicate  that  jurors  abided  by  the  full  charge  of  the 
court  in  their  deliberations.  The  panel  considered  two 
murder  indictments  pertaining  to  the  Sweetwater  incident, 
and  according  to  each  document,  examined  John  De  Corey, 
John  S.  Cranor  and  John  L.  Sapp  as  witnesses  for  the  pro- 
secution. Prosecuting  attorney,  David  H.  Craig,  failed  to 
bring  sufficient  evidence  against  the  defendants,  so  each 
indictment  was  returned  to  the  court  and  proclaimed  not 
a  true  bill  under  signature  of  Isaac  C.  Miller,  foreman  of 
the  grand  jury.  The  docvmients  were  filed  with  the  clerk 
of  court  on  October  24, 1889. ^^  All  proceedings  were  secret, 
as  mandated  by  Corn.  The  substance  of  debate  died  with 
the  last  juror. 

The  1890s  passed  with  relative  calm  compared  to  the 
preceding  decade.  In  1890,  Ike  built  a  stone  ranch  house 
and  barn  on  Hurt's  old  homestead.  These  buildings  still 
stand  today.  At  the  April,  1890,  meeting  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  Wool  Growers'  Association,  Ike  anticipated  the 
needs  of  the  sheep  industry  in  Wyoming: 

"What  we  need  most,"  he  argued,  "is  a  closer  organization 
of  the  woolgrowers  of  the  county  and  territory.  Wyoming  is 
distinctively  a  sheep  country,  and  in  a  very  few  years  sheep 
raising  will  be  the  principal  industry  of  the  territory.  The  ad- 
vantages to  be  derived  from  thorough  organization  was  fuUy 
exemplified  by  the  cattlegrowers'  association,  which  was  a  very 
powerful  one.  Cattle  men  received  every  benefit  of  favorable 
legislation,  as  well  as  the  best  possible  rates  from  the  railroad 
company,  all  on  account  of  their  organization,  and  what  had 
been  accomplished  by  the  stock  men  could  be  done  by  the  sheep 
men  if  they  made  their  organization  powerful  enough. "'^ 

His  call  for  a  Wyoming-wide  organization,  however, 
would  not  become  a  reality  until  1905,  when  the  Wyoming 
Wool  Growers'  Association  was  organized  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  State  Board  of  Sheep  Commissioners.'''' 

The  sheep  industry  was  enjoying  real  growth  and  pros- 
perity, due  in  part  to  the  decline  in  the  cattle  business.  In 
1892,  there  were  more  sheep  than  cattle  in  Wyoming,  and 
Carbon  County  led  the  state  in  sheep  production.  While 
wool  traditionally  had  been  the  major  focus  of  producers, 
now  more  attention  was  being  paid  toward  mutton  to  sup- 
plement ranch  income.  Good  quality  Merino  wool  brought 
about  $1.90  per  fleece.  Wethers  shipped  for  slaughter 
yielded  about  $3  per  head,  with  cull  stock  about  50  cents 
to  a  dollar  lower.  These  were  good  prices  considering  the 
average  cost  per  head  for  raising  sheep  was  only  about  50 
cents.  ^^ 

But  prosperity  also  bred  conflict.  Wyoming  witnessed 
an  unprecedented  demand  for  multiple  uses  of  the  public 
domain,  including  grazing,  homesteading  and  public  ac- 
cess, water  rights,  wildlife  management  and  fencing.  The 
primary  problem  was  common  access  to  public  range  lands 

47 


Honorable  Isaac  C.  Miller  as 

depicted  in  the  May  11,  1889, 

issue  of  the  Carbon  County 

Journal. 


for  grazing,  because  large  cattle  corporations  had  fenced 
out  other  operators.  Unfortunately,  the  government 
vacillated  over  a  policy  on  proper  range  use,  thereby 
creating  an  obstacle  rather  than  an  aid  to  ecologically  sound 
management.  Interior  Secretary  Teller  declared  that  grazers 
could  not  fence  public  lands,  and  proclaimed  that  his 
department  did  not  object  to  fence  destruction  by  the 
public  who  wanted  access  to  the  lands  for  settlement.  He 
assured  everyone  the  government  would  initiate  legal  pro- 
ceedings against  those  who  fenced. ''^  This  band-aid  remedy 
was  codified  in  the  Unlawful  Inclosures  of  Public  Lands 
Act  on  February  25,  1885.^^  What  began  as  a  flickering 
ember  in  the  early  1880s  soon  spread  into  an  inextin- 
guishable wildfire— the  legality  of  fencing  public  lands  is 
as  real  a  problem  today  as  it  was  a  century  ago. 

In  a  sense,  the  government's  prohibition  of  fencing 
precipitated  deterioration  of  range  condition  in  the  West 
as  much  as  did  the  alleged  overgrazing  practices  of 
livestock  operators.  Without  fenced  pastures,  even  small 
homesteaders  who  owned  stock  might  keep  animals  on 
the  same  range  for  extended  periods  to  graze  forage  to 
ground  level  so  neighboring  herds  would  not  trespass. 
Overgrazing  occurred  on  private  and  public  land  alike, 
because  federal  law  did  not  permit  homesteads  large 
enough  to  sustain  economically  viable  herds.  Stockmen 
48 


were  caught  between  a  rock  and  a  hard  place.  Either  they 
fenced  the  range  and  faced  prosecution,  or  they  obeyed 
the  law  and  witnessed  range  land  degeneration.  This 
ultimatum  ignored  the  fact  that  fences  could  increase  ranch 
values,  protect  pastures  and  waterholes,  enhance  wildlife 
habitat,  control  the  drift  of  livestock  and  help  regulate 
breeding  to  improve  herd  quality. ^'' 

Open  range  grazing  actually  produced  more  problems 
than  it  solved.  This  was  particularly  true  in  the  checker- 
board lands.  In  the  late  1890s,  these  problems  directly  af- 
fected Ike's  operation  along  the  North  Platte  River.  He 
recently  had  acquired  the  Union  Pacific  lands  north  of  the 
river,  and  given  notice  to  adjacent  operators.  On  the  first 
day  of  November,  1898,  herders  from  the  Cosgriff  outfit 
drew  their  guns  and  crossed  the  North  Platte  with  6,000 
sheep.  They  watched  as  their  herd  depastured  nineteen 
sections  of  Ike's  winter  range.  Ike  took  the  Cosgriff s  to 
District  Court  where  the  case  was  tried  as  a  trespass  on 
uninclosed  lands.  The  Cosgriff s  argued  they  intended  only 
to  graze  in  common  on  adjacent  federal  sections,  and  could 
not  distinguish  uninclosed,  unmarked  private  land.  How- 
ever, section  comers  were  marked  by  rockpiles  and  similar 
features,  and  Ike's  foreman,  Charley  Wagers,  was  at  the 
scene  to  let  everyone  know  they  were  on  private  land.  It 
was  illegal  to  drive  livestock  upon  the  uninclosed  lands 


of  another  against  his  wUl,  and  evidence  clearly  showed 
that  the  Cosgriff  herd  not  only  crossed,  but  actually  grazed 
Ike's  sections.  The  court  decided  in  Ike's  favor,  and  held 
that  it  was  not  necessary  to  separate  private  lands  from 
adjacent  public  domain  by  a  fence.  Ike  was  awarded  pay- 
ment to  cover  both  livestock  losses  and  the  cost  of  replace- 
ment feed  to  sustain  his  remaining  herd  through  the 
winter.  ^5  Fenimore  Chatterton  filed  a  motion  for  a  new  trial 
on  behalf  of  the  Cosgriff  brothers.  The  Wyoming  Supreme 
Court  heard  the  appeal,  but  upheld  the  lower  court  judg- 
ment favoring  Ike.''' 

Ike's  diverse  interests  kept  him  going  back  and  forth 
between  Rawlins  and  his  ranch.  When  in  town,  his  home 
continued  as  a  center  for  many  social  gatherings.  Drifting 
cowboys  often  would  bunk  down  in  his  bam  rather  than 
pay  for  a  hotel  room.  Once,  a  couple  of  riders  from  John 
Coble's  ranch  near  Bosler  stayed  overnight  following  a  full 
day's  ride;  they  were  Earl  (Amos)  Johnson  and  Tom 
Horn.''''  Ike  also  operated  the  Ferris-Haggerty  copper  mine 
near  Encampment  for  a  while  following  George  Ferris' 
death.  And,  he  was  named  first  president  of  the  Rawlins 
National  Bank  when  that  business  was  established  about 
the  turn  of  the  century.  But  business  affairs  did  not  con- 
sume his  entire  time.  At  least  once  he  escaped  to  enjoy 
the  natural  wonders  of  Yellowstone  with  his  father-in-law 
and  several  others.''* 

Ike  enlarged  his  ranch  during  the  late  19th  and  early 
20th  centuries  by  purchasing  homesteads.  Union  Pacific 
sections  and  surrounding  outfits.  His  acquisitions  included 
an  old  English  outfit  called  the  RS,  the  Buzzard  Ranch  on 
Sand  Creek,  the  George  Ferris  Ranch  and  several  home- 
steads along  the  North  Platte  River,  and  the  I  Lazy  D 
(Hurt's  original  holdings).  He  also  leased  the  Dumbell  for 
a  time,  which  extended  his  sheep  camps  north  to  the  out- 
skirts of  Casper.^'  Eke's  ranch  covered  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  acres  in  south  central  Wyoming  and  was  one 
of  the  largest  in  the  county. 

Of  all  the  livestock,  horses  were  Ike's  true  passion.  He 
loved  thoroughbred  saddle  stock  and  strong,  well-matched 
teams.  He  praised  how  the  animals  thrived  on  Wyoming's 
intermountain  meadows,  and  when  he  harnessed  a  fast 
team,  he  always  gave  them  free  rein. 

By  1910,  Ike  had  earned  an  opportunity  to  reflect  on 
his  many  accomplishments.  One  day  he  and  his  daughter, 
Katrine,  were  riding  in  the  buggy  between  the  ID  Ranch 
and  his  Buzzard  holdings.  "Papa,"  she  said  as  she  con- 
sidered her  father's  advanced  years,  "would  you  be  will- 
ing to  sell  off  some  of  the  land?"  "No  Kitten,"  he 
answered  with  his  favorite  nickname  for  her,  "I  came  from 
Denmark  with  almost  no  money,  and  built  just  exactly 
what  I  want.  There  is  no  way  I  would  divide  it  up,  but 
I  am  considering  an  offer  from  a  buyer  in  Salt  Lake  who 
is  interested  in  the  entire  outfit."*"  Perhaps  recalling  his 
youth  long  ago  on  his  father's  farm  in  Denmark,  Ike  re- 
fused to  let  his  estate  disarticulate  into  less  viable  parcels. 

Isaac  C.  Miller  died  in  Long  Beach,  California,  on  May 
31,  1912, *i  before  any  sale  of  the  ranch.  His  life  spanned 


the  birth  and  early  growth  of  Wyoming.  His  eyes  saw  her 
develop  from  a  raw,  imtamed  frontier  territory  into  a 
strong  and  prosperous  state,  rich  in  agricultural  wealth. 
He  lived  during  Wyoming's  formative  years  and  died  as 
she  mastered  the  industrial  age.  Perhaps  his  greatest 
achievement  was  his  role  in  the  agricultural  development 
of  the  West,  participating  first  hand  in  food  and  fiber  pro- 
duction to  help  fuel  the  growth  of  civilization.  His  life  may 
seem  colorless  and  phlegmatic  to  some,  but  his  character, 
and  the  character  of  others  like  him,  is  deeply  woven  into 
the  fabric  of  Wyoming  history. 


MARK  E.  MILLER  is  Wyoming  State  Archaeologist  and  lives  in  Laramie.  He 
received  a  B.A.  and  M.A.  in  Anthropology  from  the  University  of  Wyoming, 
and  a  Ph.D.  in  Anthropology  from  the  University  of  Colorado.  While  his  primary 
interest  and  prior  publications  focus  on  Wyoming  prehistory,  he  also  has  exten- 
sively researched  the  history  of  Carbon  County  and  the  activities  of  his  great- 
grandfather, 1.  C.  Miller.  Dr.  Miller  is  a  member  of  Phi  Kappa  Phi  honor  soci- 
ety and  Sigma  Xi  scientific  research  society. 


1.  Interview  with  Katrine  Miller  HadseU,  Rawlins,  Wyoming,  August 
3,  1979. 

2.  World  Book  Encyclopedia,  1959  ed.,  s.v.  "Denmark." 

3.  Funk  and  Wagnalls  New  Encyclopedia,  1983  ed.,  vol.  23,  p.  198. 

4.  Lands  and  Peoples:  The  World  in  Color,  vol.  2  (New  York:  GroUer  In- 
corporated, 1964),  p.  102. 

5.  Palle  Loring,  A  History  of  the  Kingdom  of  Denmark,  trans.  David  Hohnen 
(Copenhagen:  Host  &  Son,  1960),  p.  228. 

6.  Interview  with  Katrine  Miller  Hadsell,  Rawlins,  Wyoming,  August 
3,  1979. 

7.  Wyoming  Territorial  Census,  1870,  p.  152. 

8.  M.  Wilson  Rankin,  "Reminiscences  of  Frontier  Days,"  Anrmls  of  Wyo- 
ming 16  January  1944):  80. 

9.  Carbon  County  Journal,  February  4,  1882. 

10.  100  Years  in  the  Wild  West  (Rawlins,  Wyoming:  Rawlins  Newspapers, 
Inc.,  1968),  n.p. 

11.  Carbon  County  Journal,  December  25,  1880. 

12.  Carbon  County  Journal,  November  22,  1879. 

13.  Carbon  County  Journal,  October  15,  1881. 

14.  Carbon  County  Journal,  June  3,  1882. 

15.  Carbon  County  Journal,  November  22,  1879. 

16.  Marriage  Certificate,  Rawlins,  Carbon  County,  Wyoming  Territory. 
Issued  by  Justice  of  the  Peace,  M.  Lockridge,  May  7,  1874.  Carbon 
County  Courthouse,  Rawlins,  Wyoming. 

17.  Carbon  County  Journal,  October  1,  1881. 

18.  Edward  Norris  Wentworth,  America's  Sheep  Trails  (Iowa  State  Col- 
lege Press,  1948),  pp.  316-317. 

19.  Carbon  County  Journal,  September  18,  1886. 

20.  Carbon  County  Journal,  November  6,  1880. 

21.  Carbon  County  Journal,  December  18,  1880. 

22.  Carbon  County  Journal,  January  8;  March  12,  1881. 

23.  Carbon  County  Journal,  March  26,  1881. 

24.  Carbon  County  Journal,  March  25,  1882. 

25.  Carbon  County  Journal,  April  15,  1882. 

26.  Carbon  County  Journal,  February  11,  1882. 

27.  Carbon  County  Journal,  December  23,  1882. 

28.  Carbon  County  Journal,  July  14,  1883. 

29.  Carbon  County  Journal,  November  11,  1882. 

49 


30.  John  Rolfe  Burroughs,  Guardian  of  the  Grasslands:  The  First  Hundred 
Years  of  the  Wyoming  Stock  Growers  Association  (Cheyenne,  Wyoming: 
Pioneer  Printing  &  Stationery  Co.,  1971),  p.  121. 

31.  Carbon  County  journal,  August  11,  1883. 

32.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  15,  1881. 

33.  Ruth  Beebe,  Reminiscing  Along  the  Sweetwater  (Boulder,  Colorado: 
Johnson  Publishing  Co.,  1973),  p.  65. 

34.  Carbon  County  journal,  April  12,  1884. 

35.  Wyoming  Stock  Growers  Association  circular,  September  2, 1885,  con- 
cerning "black  listing"  of  certain  employees,  Charles  "Pat"  Hall,  ed., 
Docuynents  of  Wyoming  Heritage  (Cheyenne:  Wyoming  Bicentennial 
Commission,  1976),  p.  82. 

36.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  20,  1883. 

37.  Carbon  County  journal,  January  19,  1884. 

38.  Carbon  County  journal,  January  19,  1884. 

39.  Carbon  County  journal,  March  25,  1882. 

40.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  18,  1884. 

41.  Carbon  County  journal,  March  26,  1887. 

42.  Carbon  County  journal.  May  14,  1887. 

43.  Martha  Larsen,  Martha's  Past  and  Repast  (Rawlins,  Wyoming:  Peter 
Hansen  Ranch  Trust,  1986),  p.  24. 

44.  A.  McMicken,  The  Revised  Ordinances  of  the  City  of  Rawlins,  Carbon  Coun- 
ty, Wyoming  (The  Journal  Publishing  Co.,  1893),  pp.  3-4. 

45.  City  of  Rawlins  Record  Book,  pp.  1-6,  Carbon  County  Museum, 
Rawlins,  Wyoming. 

46.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  2,  1886. 

47.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  6,  1888. 

48.  Carbon  County  journal,  November  17,  1888. 

49.  T.  A.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming  (Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska 
Press,  1965),  p.  263. 

50.  I.S.  Bartlett,  ed..  History  of  Wyoming,  vol.  1  (Chicago:  S.  J.  Clarke 
Publishing  Company,  1918),  p.  213. 

51.  Ibid.,  p.  48. 

52.  Marie  H.  Erwin,  Wyoming  Historical  Blue  Bool<:  A  Legal  and  Political 
History  of  Wyoming  1868-1943  (Denver,  Colorado:  Bradford-Robinson 
Printing  Co.,  1946),  p.  1176. 

53.  The  Oxford  Dictionary  of  Quotations,  2nd  ed.  (London:  Oxford  Univer- 
sity Press,  1955),  p.  514. 

54.  Carbon  County  journal,  May  8,  1880. 

55.  Carbon  County  journal,  April  9,  1881. 

56.  Burroughs,  Guardians  of  the  Grasslands,  pp.  105-108. 

57.  Carbon  County  journal,  February  6,  1886. 

58.  Carbon  County  journal,  March  19,  1887. 

59.  Carbon  County  journal,  March  10,  1888. 


60.  Carbon  County  journal,  March  10,  1888. 

61.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  20,  1888. 

62.  Wentworth,  America's  Sheep  Trails,  p.  317. 

63.  Struthers  Burt,  Powder  River:  Let  'er  Buck  (New  York:  Rinehart  and 
Co.,  1938),  p.  348. 

64.  Carbon  County  journal,  April  6,  1889. 

65.  Harmon  Ross  Mothershead,  The  Sivan  Land  and  Cattle  Company,  Ltd. 
(Norman:  University  of  Oklahoma  Press,  1971),  pp.  114-116. 

66.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  19,  1889. 

67.  Carbon  County  journal,  October  19,  1889. 

68.  Murder  Indictments  Numbers  258,  260,  filed  October  24,  1889,  Car- 
bon County,  Wyoming  Territory,  Archives  and  Records  Management 
Division,  Wyoming  State  Archives,  Museums  and  Historical  Depart- 
ment (AMH),  Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 

69.  Carbon  County  journal,  April  5,  1890. 

70.  Wentworth,  America's  Sheep  Trails,  p.  589. 

71.  U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Bureau  of  Animal  Husbandry,  Special 
Report  on  the  History  and  Present  Condition  of  the  Sheep  Industry  of  the 
United  States,  by  D.  E.  Salmon  (Washington,  D.C.:  Government  Print- 
ing Office,  1892),  pp.  771-775. 

72.  Carbon  County  journal,  December  8,  1883. 

73.  Unlawful  Inclosures  of  Public  Lands  Act,  February  25,  1885,  Supple- 
ment to  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  vol.  1,  2nd  ed., 
1874-1891,  pp.  477-478. 

74.  Gary  D.  Libecap,  Locking  up  the  Range:  Federal  Land  Controls  and  Graz- 
ing (Cambridge,  Massachusetts:  Ballinger  Publishing  Company,  1981), 
p.  23. 

75.  Isaac  C.  Miller  vs.  Cosgriff  Brothers,  State  of  Wyoming,  Carbon 
County,  District  Court,  Carbon  County  Civil  File  817,  November  21, 
1899,  Archives  and  Records  Management  Division,  AMH. 

76.  Charles  N.  Potter,  Wyoming  Reports:  Cases  Decided  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Wyoming  from  July  26,  1901  to  September  11,  1902,  vol.  10  (Chaplin, 
Spafford  &  Mathison,  1903),  pp.  190-239. 

77.  Reminiscence  of  Earl  (Amos)  Johnson,  1972,  in  author's  possession. 

78.  Daniel  Y.  Meschter,  ed.,  "Sixty  Days  To  and  In  Yellowstone  Park," 
Annals  of  Wyoming  44  (Spring  1972):  5-23. 

Interview  with  Frank  Edward  Miller,  Rawlins,  Wyoming,  October 
13,  1988. 

Interview  with  Katrine  Miller  HadseU,  Rawlins,  Wyoming,  February 
11,  1981. 

Standard  Certificate  of  Death,  index  no.  414  156,  City  of  Long  Beach, 
County  of  Los  Angeles,  State  of  California,  Department  of  Health 
Services,  Office  of  State  Registrar  of  Vital  Statistics. 


79 


81 


50 


INSIDE  WYOMING 


After  deliberations  of  less  than  a  month,  45  members 
of  Wyoming's  one  and  only  constitutional  convention 
signed  the  document  which  enumerated  the  future  state's 
fundamental  laws  and  principles.  With  the  completion  of 
the  constitution  more  than  100  years  ago,  Wyoming  took 
a  step  in  its  quest  for  statehood. 

Talk  of  statehood  for  Wyoming  began  as  early  as  1868 
when  the  Territory  of  Wyoming  was  created.  Twenty  years 
later  in  1888  Wyoming's  territorial  assembly  sent  a 
memorial  for  statehood  to  the  United  States  Congress.  As 
a  result,  biUs  for  statehood  were  introduced  in  both  houses 
of  congress,  although  neither  passed. ^ 

Still  believing  this  to  be  the  appropriate  time  for  tran- 
sition from  territory  to  state,  Wyoming  continued  as  if  Con- 
gress had  passed  an  act  enabling  Wyoming  to  move  ahead. 
Territorial  Governor  Francis  E.  Warren  called  for  an  elec- 
tion of  delegates  to  the  constitutional  convention  to  be  held 
July  8,  1889.  Of  the  55  men  elected  that  day,  49  attended 
the  convention  which  began  September  2,  1889,  and  was 
held  in  the  Supreme  Court  room  in  the  Capitol  building. 

Writing  a  state  constitution  in  less  than  a  month  was 
an  enormous  task.  In  order  to  accomplish  the  feat,  the 
delegates  constilted  other  states'  constitutions.  Warren 
wrote  to  the  five  other  territories  also  nearing  statehood, 
Montana,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota,  Washington  and 
Idaho,  and  received  copies  of  their  constitutions.  Others 
also  were  consulted,  but  apparently  the  three  from  which 
the  delegates  most  liberally  borrowed  were  from  Montana, 
North  Dakota  and  Idaho. 

The  delegates  did  include  some  original  provisions  in 
Wyonung's  constitution,  however.  The  most  noted  is  the 
inclusion  of  woman  suffrage.  First  passed  by  the  territorial 
assembly  and  signed  by  Governor  John  A.  Campbell  on 
December  10,  1869,  the  law  had  been  unchallenged  since 
1871  when  Campbell  vetoed  a  bill  which  would  have 
repealed  it.  Since  that  time  suffrage  had  become  well  ac- 
cepted in  Wyoming.  A.C.  Campbell  of  Cheyenne,  how- 
ever, moved  that  woman  suffrage  be  offered  to  the  elec- 
torate separate  from  the  constitution.  He  stated  he 
supported  suffrage,  but  that  others  were  concerned  that 
the  people  had  never  voted  on  the  issue.  The  delegates 
defeated  Campbell's  motion  20-8  and  included  woman  suf- 
frage in  Article  VI. ^ 

One  less  successful  issue  was  that  of  imposing  a  ton- 
nage tax  on  coal.  M.  C.  Brown  of  Laramie  proposed  in- 
cluding such  a  tax  of  IVz  cents  per  ton  of  coal  in  the  con- 
stitution. The  state  would  receive  1  cent  and  the  county 
in  which  the  coal  was  mined  Vi  cent.  Brown  argued  that 
two-thirds  of  Wyoming's  coal  left  the  state  and  believed 
those  who  benefitted  should  help  support  Wyoming's 
government.  Coal  was  the  largest  industry  in  Wyoming, 
but  according  to  Brown  did  not  pay  much  in  the  way  of 
taxes.  Leading  the  opposition  to  this  proposal  was  CD. 


Clark  of  Evanston.  Clark  argued  it  was  unfair  to  single  out 
one  industry  for  taxation,  it  would  lead  to  a  surplus  in  the 
state  treasury,  it  was  unfair  for  the  state  to  receive  more 
than  the  county  and  it  was  an  issue  which  should  be  de- 
cided by  the  legislature,  not  in  the  constitution.  Brown 
wanted  to  include  it  in  the  constitution  so  as  to  remove 
it  from  the  influence  of  corporation  lobbyists.  The  tonnage 
tax  proposal  failed.  Years  later  Brown  described  the  failure 
of  the  tax  as  one  of  the  "gravest  omissions"  in  the 
constitution.  3 

Once  completed  the  delegates  voted  on  September  30, 
1889,  37-0  to  adopt  the  constitution,  and  then  gathered  to 
sign  the  document.  According  to  the  Cheyenne  Daily  Leader: 

.  .  .  There  was  scarcely  any  ceremony  about  the  final  work  of 
the  body  and  while  the  exuberant  spirits  of  some  of  the  younger 
members  found  vent  in  sallies  of  wit,  there  was  still  something 
impressive  about  the  act,  and  a  hush  fell  over  the  throng  about 
the  presiding  officer's  desk  when  the  members  one  by  one  af- 
fixed their  signatures  to  the  document  which  will  in  a  great 
measure  control  the  destiny  of  what  is  certain  to  become  a  leader 
in  the  sisterhood  of  states,  a  brilliant  star  in  the  firmament  of 
the  republic,  an  occupant  of  a  place  in  the  front  rank  in  the 
onward  march  of  advancement.' 

Before  the  document  was  sent  to  congress,  the  people 
of  Wyoming  were  to  vote  whether  to  adopt  it  or  not.  A 
corrmiittee  of  the  convention,  in  a  written  address,  ex- 
plained to  the  people  why  the  constitution  should  be 
adopted.  Warren  introduced  the  address  with  a  short  state- 
ment of  his  own  in  which  he  said: 

Every  county  in  the  Territory  was  represented  in  the  con- 
vention. A  month's  time  of  careful,  conscientious,  and  pain- 
staking labor  has  been  spent  in  formulating  this  constitution. 
In  all  our  deliberations  we  have  endeavored  to  embody  in  our 
fundamental  law  such  economic  measures  as  we  believed  would 
comment  our  work  to  the  people  of  the  whole  Territory,  without 
reference  to  partisan  politics,  and  with  equal  protection  for  the 
rich  and  poor.^ 

According  to  the  convention  committee: 

For  twenty  years  and  more  Wyoming  has  been  laboring  vm- 
der  the  disadvantages  of  a  Territorial  form  of  government.  These 
disadvantages  are  numerous.  We  have  no  voice  in  the  selec- 
tion of  the  most  important  officers  who  administer  our  local 
affairs;  no  voice  in  the  enactment  of  laws  by  Congress,  to  which 
we  must  yield  obedience,  and  no  voice  in  the  election  of  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic,  who  appoints  the  principal 
officers  by  whom  the  executive  and  judicial  affairs  of  our  Ter- 
ritory are  administered.  It  has  been  well  said:  "A  Territory  can 
not  have  a  settled  policy.  The  fact  that  Congress  may  at  any 
time  annul  its  legislation  on  any  matter  of  purely  local  concern 
prevents  active  co-operation  by  the  people  on  those  higher 
planes  of  public  Ufe  which  result  in  the  establishment  of  a  per- 
manent State  policy."  The  abuse  of  the  veto  power  by  alien 
governors,  the  lack  of  familiarity  of  alien  judges  with  our  laws, 
and  the  frequent  changes  of  our  executive  and  judicial  officers, 
as  it  has  been  in  the  past  and  may  be  again  in  the  future,  can 
not  but  discourage  the  people.  Although  citizens  of  the  United 
States  in  name,  we  have,  in  fact,  been  disfranchised.  Territorial 
representation  in  Congress  is  a  delusion— the  Territories  of  these 

51 


United  States  have  no  representation.  Taxation  without  rep- 
resentation, a  condition  in  many  respects  allied  to  colonial 
vassalage,  with  the  many  other  wrongs  that  follow  the  applica- 
tion of  those  two  anti-American  ideas,  and  with  which  you  are 
familiar,  have  all  uruted  to  render  the  condition  of  the  people 
of  Wyoming— the  most  energetic,  inteUigent,  and  patriotic 
citizens  of  the  United  States— well  nigh  intolerable. 

We  have  endured  all  those  things  up  to  the  present  time 
without  a  murmur  of  discontent  because  we  have  not  heretofore 
seen  our  way  clear  to  throw  off  those  chains  of  political  and 
industrial  bondage,  and  to  ask,  with  hope  of  success,  our  ad- 
mission in  to  the  Federal  Union,  where  we  would  enjoy  equally 
with  sister  States  the  right  of  local  self-government  and  those 
other  natural  and  inalienable  rights  guaranteed  in  the  Constitu- 
tion to  every  man.  The  residents  of  Wyoming  are  the  descen- 
dants of  free  citizens,  such  as  framed  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  The  loyalty  of  the  sons  to  republican  institutions 
and  their  love  of  liberty  have  not  been  decreased  but  increased 
by  the  hardships  and  dangers  that  have  been  endured  and  by 
the  difficulties  that  have  been  encountered  and  overcome  in  lay- 
ing the  foundation.  It  is  admitted  that  Wyoming  Territory  stands 
next  in  order  in  its  right  to  admission  into  the  Union.  We  believe 
she  is  now  ready  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  statehood-to 
cast  off  the  burdens  and  inconveniences  of  Territorial  vassalage. 
She  can  now  ask  for  admission  with  hope  of  success.  Her  time 
has  arrived.  For  the  first  time  in  ten  years  public  opinion  in 
the  older  States  has  so  changed  as  to  view  the  admission  of 
new  States  with  a  fair  degree  of  favor.  If  not  admitted  at  this 
time,  we  may  reasonably  expect  the  wave  of  public  sentiment 
will  soon  recede  and  the  old  unfavorable  attitude  toward  the 
Territories  wUl  be  again  established.  In  this  event  our  admis- 
sion as  a  State  would  become  so  problematical  that  we  need 
entertain  no  hope  of  obtaining  the  rights  and  benefits  of 
statehood  for  the  next  ten  years. 

While  the  cost  of  State  government  is  increased  over  the 
Territorial  government  in  some  departments,  the  savings  in 
other  departments,  the  retrenchment  in  other  directions,  the 
increase  of  population  and  assessable  property  that  will  follow 
our  admission  as  a  State  will  in  a  short  time  materially  lessen 
the  burdens  of  taxation,  while  to  delay  our  application  for  ad- 
mission until  the  "swing  of  the  pendulum"  of  public  opinion 
has  reached  the  opposite  position  from  that  so  favorable  now 
to  the  formation  of  new  States  will  be  to  fasten  upon  us  for 
a  long  term  of  years  all  the  abuses  of  financial  management  that 
have  made  our  taxation  burdensome  and  made  plethoric  the 
pockets  of  public  officials  at  the  expense  of  the  tax-payer. 


The  Convention  and  the  Constitution 

The  delegates  in  this  convention  came  from  both  political 
parties  from  all  sections  of  the  Territory.  It  was  non-partisan 
in  character;  indeed  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  in  its  delibera- 
tions there  was  at  no  time  a  division  of  its  membership  on  party 
lines.  Sectional  questions  were  at  no  time  considered,  but  to 
act  for  the  common  good  of  the  whole  people  of  Wyoming 
seemed  to  be  the  ruling  motive.  The  material,  industrial,  and 
professional  interests  were  represented  in  its  membership,  and 
no  outside  influences  were  permitted  to  affect  their  action. 

The  constitution  adopted  is  believed  to  be  fairly  conservative 
and  also  progressive.  It  is  the  first  constitution  adopted  by  man 
which  gives  to  each  citizen  the  same  rights  guaranteed  to  every 
other  citizen.  Under  its  provisions  pure  elections  are  practically 
guaranteed,  and  economy  of  administration  assured  .... 

In  the  interest  of  local  self-government,  to  promote  the 
general  good,  and  to  encourage  the  future  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  State  of  Wyoming,  the  constitutional  convention 
having  finished  its  work,  respectfully  solicits  your  candid  con- 
sideration of  the  constitution  herewith  submitted  and  ratifica- 
tion of  the  same  by  your  suffrages.* 

Voting  on  November  5,  1889,  Wyoming's  electorate 
approved  the  constitution,  6,272,  to  1,923.  Although  the 
inclusion  of  woman  suffrage  did  lead  to  some  spirited 
debate  in  Congress,  both  the  senate  and  the  house  passed 
Wyoming's  statehood  bill  during  the  first  half  of  1890,  and 
on  July  10,  1890,  President  Benjamin  Harrison  signed  the 
bill  making  Wyoming  the  44th  state  to  join  the  Union. 

Most  of  the  delegates  of  Wyoming's  constitutional  con- 
vention have  long  since  been  forgotten.  In  some  instances, 
only  their  names  are  known,  nothing  else.  The  document 
they  produced,  however,  is  still  vital  and  does  provide  a 
lasting  legacy  for  the  state  of  Wyoming. 


The  details  of  the  events  leading  up  to,  during  and  following  the  con- 
stitutional convention  are  taken  from  T.  A.  Larson,  History  of  Wyoming, 
2nd  ed.,  rev.  (Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1978),  pp.  236-261. 
Journal  and  Debates  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  the  State  of  Wyo- 
ming (Cheyenne,  Wyoming:  The  Daily  Sun,  Book  and  Job  Printing, 
1893),  pp.  345-359. 
Ibid.,  pp.  637-697. 

Cheyenne  Daily  Leader,  October  1,  1889,  p.  3,  c.  3. 
Virginia  Cole  Trenholm,  ed.,  Wyoming  Blue  Book,  vol.  1  (Cheyenne: 
Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical  Department,  1974),  p.  558. 
Ibid.,  pp.  558-560. 


52 


ANNALS'  REVIEWS 


Cavalier  in  Buckskin:  George  Armstrong  Custer  and  the  Western  Military  Fron- 
tier. By  Robert  M.  Utley.  Norman  and  London:  University  of  Oklahoma 
Press,  1988.  Illustrated.  Maps.  Index.  Sources,  xvii  and  226  pp. 
Cloth  $19.95. 

One  may  wonder,  as  did  this  reviewer,  whether  the 
world  really  needs  another  volume  of  Custerania.  More 
ink  has  dried  on  the  pages  of  Custer  biographies  than  blood 
spilled  on  the  banks  of  the  Little  Bighorn.  However,  if 
anyone  need  accomplish  such  a  task  it  is  Robert  M.  Utley. 

More  than  40  years  ago  Utley  began  his  National  Park 
Service  career  at  Custer  Battlefield  National  Monument. 
Before  retirement  he  rose  to  Service  Chief  Historian  and 
Deputy  Director.  Along  that  road  he  earned  a  reputation 
for  solid,  balanced  and  impartial  scholarship,  particularly 
when  dealing  with  the  western  frontier  military  and  In- 
dian experience. 

In  his  preface,  Utley  touches  on  his  reasons  for  a  cur- 
rent Custer  biography.  First,  he  wanted  to  explore  his  own 
feeling  about  the  man,  rather  than  the  myth.  Second  was 
the  publisher's  desire  to  launch  a  new  series  of  brief 
biographies  significant  to  the  American  West.  A  current 
Custer  biography  would  make  the  series  more  complete. 
Last,  and  certainly  not  least,  Utley  wanted  to  place  Custer 
in  the  broad  context  of  those  historical  epochs  with  which 
he  was  directly  involved. 

What  resulted  is  a  very  enjoyable  and  highly  crafted 
work  tracing  George  Armstrong  Custer  from  boyhood  to 
immortality.  Born  December  5,  1839,  in  New  Rumley, 
Ohio,  George  Custer  spent  most  of  his  boyhood  in  the 
Monroe,  Michigan,  home  of  his  half  sister,  Lydia  Arm,  who 
had  married  David  Reed.  By  all  appearances  Custer  had 
a  normal,  happy  childhood.  After  a  brief  career  teaching 
school,  Custer  entered  the  U.S.  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point.  As  clouds  of  Civil  War  drifted  across  the  nation  he 
graduated,  last  in  his  class  of  34. 

Custer  proved  a  capable  staff  officer  and  rose  rapidly 
in  volunteer  service  to  temporary  Major  General.  He  par- 
ticipated in  most  of  the  major  engagements  in  and  around 
Washington,  D.C.,  earning  a  reputation  for  flamboyance 
as  well  as  aggressiveness. 

After  the  war  Custer  faced  the  demobilization  and  a 
regular  captain's  rank.  Fortunately,  he  was  selected  for  the 
Lieutenant  Colonelcy,  second-in-command,  of  the  newly 
organized  Seventh  Cavalry. 

Utley  traces  Custer's  career  from  the  plains  of  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  to  the  frozen  prairies  of  Dakota.  He  discusses 
the  political  and  social  climate  of  the  times  which  shaped 
that  career  and  illuminates  the  culture  and  attitudes  of 
Native  American  tribes  that  opposed  those  forces.  Interlaced 
are  discussions  of  those  events  and  personalities  that  split 
the  loyalties  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry  officers'  corps.  The 
author  also  touches  upon  often  neglected  aspects  of 


Seventh  regimental  history  such  as  its  role  in  the  post-Civil 
War  reconstruction  of  the  South. 

One  might  suspect  Cavalier  in  Buckskin  culminates  with 
an  in-depth  analysis  of  Custer's  Last  Stand  and  the  Battle 
of  the  Little  Bighorn,  June  25,  1876.  While  Utley  does  a 
superb  job  treating  Custer's  last  fight,  he  more  appropri- 
ately ends  with  a  chapter  discussing  Custer's  tactics  and 
personality  in  the  broader  context  of  his  times. 

Serious  students  may  find  the  lack  of  footnotes  to  be 
an  irritant,  particularly  in  those  portions  of  the  book  that 
deal  with  such  often  debated  subjects  as  Custer's  marital 
fidelity,  and  his  supposed  but  mythical  presidential  aspira- 
tions. Cavalier  in  Buckskin  is  a  well  written,  well  researched 
book  that  holds  something  for  both  a  general  reader  and 
the  student. 

ROBERT  R.  RYBOLT 
The  reviewer  is  a  Park  Ranger  with  the  National  Park  Service  previously  as- 
signed to  Custer  Battlefield  National  Monument. 


Death  on  the  Prairie:  The  Thirty  Years'  Struggle  for  the  Western  Plains.  By 
Paul  I.  Wellman.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1987. 
Originally  published:  New  York:  Macmillan,  1934.  Illustrated.  Index. 
Bibliography,  xii  and  298  pp.  Cloth  $27.95.  Paper  $8.95. 

Death  in  the  Desert:  The  Fifty  Years'  War  for  the  Great  Southwest.  By  Paul 
I.  Wellman.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1987.  Originally 
published:  New  York:  Macmillan,  1935.  Illustrated.  Index.  Bibliography, 
xiv  and  294  pp.  Cloth  $27.95.  Paper  $8.95. 

The  University  of  Nebraska  Press  has  reprinted  two 
classic  early  accounts  of  the  19th  century  frontier  Indian 
wars  by  Paul  Wellman.  Wellman's  career  began  as  a  Kan- 
sas newspaperman.  Later,  he  moved  to  Los  Angeles  where 
he  worked  as  a  screenwriter,  then  as  a  fulltime  writer  of 
Western  history  and  fiction. 

Both  books  are  representative  of  an  early  phase  of 
historical  writing  on  Indian- White  relations  characterized 
by  popular  writers  who  sensed  the  great  drama  of  the  In- 
dian wars  of  the  19th  centtiry.  Both  histories  are  lively  and 
fast-paced,  though  almost  devoid  of  analysis.  Neverthe- 
less, they  manage  to  convey  the  drama  that  has  captiired 
so  much  worldwide  interest  in  the  American  frontier.  Death 
on  the  Plains  focuses  on  the  Indian  wars  of  the  Northern  and 
Central  Plains.  With  chapters  covering  such  topics  as  the 
Minnesota  Sioux  Uprising,  the  Custer  debacle  of  1876,  all 
the  way  to  the  bloody  field  at  Wounded  Knee  in  1890, 
Wellman  narrates  a  blow-by-blow  account  of  the  irulitary 
movements  surrounding  each  confrontation.  In  Death  in 
the  Desert,  Wellman  chronicles  the  50  year  struggle  to 
destroy  Apache  resistance  in  the  American  Southwest. 

Written  during  the  1930s,  Wellman  uses  language  and 
terminology  which  may  alarm  the  modern  reader.  "The 
savages  yelled  as  they  saw  themselves  discovered  ..." 

53 


{Death  on  Plains,  108);  Indians  are  variously  referred  to  as 
"red  men,"  "hostile  hordes"  and  "screaming  savages." 
Yet  interestingly,  Wellman  writes  with  great  sympathy  for 
the  Indians,  often  portraying  them  as  victims  of  American 
aggression.  Wellman' s  writing  might  be  the  historical 
equivalent  of  a  frontier  novel  or  Hollywood  Western.  His 
rapid,  flowing  style  will  surely  appeal  to  new  generations 
of  Western  history  readers.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  those 
same  new  readers  will  credit  Wellman  for  kindling  their 
interest,  but  then  move  on  to  more  scholarly  studies  of 
Indian- White  relations.  This  is  not  to  say  that  Wellman  has 
fabricated  his  stories  or  composed  two  works  of  fiction. 
He  has  read  many  of  the  primary  sources,  but  has  em- 
bellished them  with  a  noveUst's  eye  for  color  and  detail. 
In  short,  these  two  works,  now  back  in  print,  make  ex- 
citing reading,  but  if  you  expect  a  comprehensive  analysis 
of  the  Indian  Wars  of  the  late  19th  century,  you  will  not 
find  it  in  Wellman 's  works. 

STEVEN  C.  SCHULTE 
The  reviewer  is  an  Assistant  Professor  of  History,  Mesa  State  College,  Grand 
junction,  Colorado, 


Fort  Laramie  in  1876:  Chronicle  of  a  Frontier  Post  at  War.  By  Paul  L.  Hedren. 
Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1988.  Illustrated.  Maps.  Index. 
Notes.  Bibliography,  xiii  and  312  pp.  Qoth  $24.95. 

To  date,  three  lengthy  histories  of  Fort  Laramie  have 
been  written,  each  of  them  from  a  different  point  of  view, 
all  of  them  written  by  competent  historians  or  accom- 
plished writers,  and  every  one  contributing  special 
knowledge  and  insights.  They  are  LeRoy  R.  Hafen  and 
Francis  M.  Young's  Fort  Laramie  and  the  Pageant  of  the  West, 
1834-1890  (Glendale,  CA:  Arthur  H.  Clark,  1938),  Remi 
Nadeau's  Fort  Laramie  and  the  Sioux  Indians  (Englewood 
Cliffs,  NJ:  Prentice  Hall,  1967),  and  David  Lavender's  Fort 
Laramie  and  the  Changing  Frontier  (Washington,  D.C.:  Na- 
tional Park  Service,  1983).  Add  to  this  a  brief  summary 
written  by  the  late  Fort  Laramie  Superintendent  David  L. 
Hieb— Forf  Laramie  National  Monument  (Washington  D.C.: 
National  Park  Service,  1954)— and  you  have  a  body  of  work 
upon  which  historians  and  visitors  to  Fort  Laramie  (now 
called  a  National  Historic  Site)  can  depend  for  generaliza- 
tions concerning  the  post's  place  in  the  history  of  the  West 
and  many  of  the  details  of  its  long  life. 

And  yet,  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  none  of  these 
works  is  solidly  based  on  the  voluminous  military  records 
that  exist  in  the  National  Archives.  In  Fort  Laramie  in  1876, 
Paul  Hedren  deftly  demonstrates  the  usefulness  of  this 
material  and  what  we  have  been  missing.  Basic  to  his  study 
are  post  and  regimental  returns.  These  statistical 
documents  contain  very  brief  accounts  of  activities:  they 
record  troop  movements,  changes  in  command,  skirmishes 
and  unusual  happenings.  Hedren  puts  meat  on  this 
skeleton  and  gives  it  life  by  exerdse  of  his  organizational 
skills  and  the  addition  of  supplemental  first-person  ac- 
54 


counts,  information  from  contemporary  newspapers,  and 
judicious  use  of  military  correspondence  emanating  from 
the  post  and  the  administrative  and  support  offices  that 
aided  and  controlled  it,  including  the  District  of  the  Black 
Hills,  the  Department  of  the  Platte  and  the  Division  of 
the  Missouri. 

Hedren  sees  Fort  Laramie  playing  several  specific  roles. 
The  post  was  the  closest  military  base  to  the  Black  HUls 
and  the  guardian  of  the  most  popular  route  to  the  gold- 
fields— the  road  from  Cheyenne  to  Custer  City  and  Dead- 
wood.  Troops  at  Fort  Laramie's  subposts  at  Sage  Creek 
and  Red  Canon  protected  stage  and  telegraph  lines,  keep- 
ing transportation  and  communication  links  open  through 
continuous  patrols,  chasing  renegade  raiders,  and  escort- 
ing civilian  wagon  trains.  Second,  Fort  Laramie  was  the 
funnel  through  which  filtered  the  men  and  supplies  for 
the  southern  arm  of  the  1876  Sioux  Campaign  commanded 
by  General  George  Crook,  whose  forces  engaged  in  the 
Reynolds  Fight  on  the  Powder  River  in  March,  the  Battle 
of  the  Rosebud  in  June,  the  Battle  of  Slim  Buttes  in 
September,  and  the  Dull  Knife  Battle  in  November. 

Finally,  Fort  Laramie  was  the  scene  of  a  multitude  of 
arrivals,  respites  and  departures  that  were  the  beginnings, 
middles  and  ends  of  a  variety  of  adventures  and  episodes 
important  in  shaping  the  history  of  the  region.  The  list  of 
those  coming  and  going  in  1876  is  a  recitation  of  luminaries 
in  the  Western  History  Hall  of  Fame:  military  leaders  Philip 
Sheridan,  George  Crook,  Eugene  Carr,  Ranald  MacKen- 
zie  and  Wesley  Merritt;  junior  officers  John  G.  Bourke, 
Charles  King  and  Anson  Mills,  ultimately  destined  for 
greater  glory  with  the  pen  than  the  sword;  flamboyant 
Western  characters  Buffalo  Bill,  Wild  BUI  Hickok,  Calamity 
Jane  and  Captain  Jack  Crawford;  the  Irish  pencil  pusher 
John  T.  Finerty,  Chief  Spotted  Tail,  Big  Bat  Fourier,  Frank 
Grouard  and  Frank  North  and  the  Pawnee  Scouts.  Add 
to  this  group,  M.  Notu,  the  commander-in-chief,  of  the 
royal  army  of  Japan,  and  you  have  perhaps  a  frontier 
menagerie  unequalled  in  glamour  and  disparity. 

What  Hedren  undertook  was  a  very  difficult  task:  to 
tell  the  story  of  a  post  whose  daily,  on-site  mission  was 
patrol  and  supply,  whose  resident  soldiers  participated  in 
some,  but  not  all  of  the  direct  action  of  the  1876  Sioux  Cam- 
paign, and  whose  role  periodically  expanded  and  con- 
tracted as  a  control  center  for  the  military  expeditions  under 
Crook's  command  in  the  spring,  summer  and  fall.  That 
he  succeeds  in  investing  Fort  Laramie  with  a  clearly  defined 
personality  is  a  triumph  of  imagination  and  scholarship. 

The  head  of  the  body  is  Lt.  Col.  Edwin  F.  Townsend 
of  the  Ninth  Infantry,  the  post  commander  who  labored 
long  and  hard  to  meet  the  various  demands  placed  on  him 
by  his  myriad  duties;  the  heart  is  manifest  in  the  women 
of  the  post— Elizabeth  Burt  and  Cynthia  Capron— who 
keep  us  apprised  of  the  daily  happenings  and  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  emotions;  and  the  arms  belong  to  Capt.  Teddy 
Egan  and  his  Company  K  of  the  Second  Cavalry,  who 
seem  to  be  everywhere,  chasing  Sioux  on  the  Black  Hills 


Trails,  riding  r^orth  to  fight  with  Colonel  Joshua  J.  Reynolds 
on  the  Powder  River  and  rushing  south  to  protect  ranches 
on  the  Chugwater.  When  the  year  was  over,  the  Cheyenne 
had  been  defeated.  Crazy  Horse's  Sioux  had  or\ly  one  more 
battle  left  to  fight,  the  Fort  Laramie  companies  that  had 
worked  to  make  this  possible  were  on  their  way  to  other 
assignments,  and  the  post  was  about  to  begin  an  era  of 
peaceful  decline. 

Hedren's  contends  that  Fort  Laramie  made  its  greatest 
contribution  to  the  settlement  of  the  West  during  the 
Centennial  Year,  and  few  will  dispute  the  judgment  after 
reading  this  fascinating  book.  Now  that  he  has  shown  the 
way,  hopefully  others  will  treat  the  fort's  preceding 
military  history  in  similar  fashion. 

JOHN  D.  McDERMOTT 
The  reviewer  is  a  freelance  historian,  Sheridan,  Wyoming. 


The  Saga  of  Tom  Horn:  The  Story  of  a  Cattlemen's  War.  By  Dean  F.  Krakel. 
Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska  Press,  1988.  Originally  published: 
Larainie,  Wyoming:  Powder  River  Publishers,  1954.  Illustrated.  Index. 
Bibliography,  xi  and  274  pp.  Cloth  $22.95.  Paper  $8.95. 

Few  episodes  in  Wyoming  history  elicit  more  interest 
than  the  life  and  hanging  of  Tom  Horn,  scout,  stock  detec- 
tive and  convicted  murderer.  Horn  came  to  Wyoming  in 
the  1890s,  hired  by  the  Wyoming  Stock  Growers  Associa- 
tion in  an  attempt  to  deal  with  the  rustling  problem.  Horn's 
tactics  may  have  been  too  extreme  for  some  in  the  Associa- 
tion as  he  was  soon  let  go.  Shortly  thereafter,  a  few  mem- 
bers of  the  Association  hired  him  on  their  own.  Many 
believe  Horn  to  be  responsible  for  several  killings  of 
so-called  rustlers,  but  no  charges  were  ever  brought  against 
him  until  1902,  and  then  for  the  murder  on  July  18,  1901, 
of  a  fourteen  year  old  boy,  Willie  Nickell.  Horn  was  con- 
victed and  hanged  on  November  20,  1903,  for  the  killing 
of  Nickell. 

The  Saga  of  Tom  Horn  examines  Horn's  exploits  during 
his  years  in  Wyoming.  The  strength  of  the  book  lies  in  its 
coverage  of  Horn's  trial.  Extensive  portions  of  the  trial 
transcript  are  included.  Those  portions  not  included  are 
clearly  and  concisely  described  by  the  author.  Also,  the 
days  leading  up  to  and  including  the  hanging  are  handled 
effectively.  The  myth  that  Horn  never  hanged  is  put  to  rest 
in  this  book. 

Other  areas  of  the  book  are  not  handled  as  well  as  the 
trial,  however.  The  lack  of  footnotes  is  frustrating.  A 
bibliography  is  included,  but  it  is  difficult,  at  times  impossi- 
ble, to  determine  from  which  sources  various  information 
comes.  Also,  the  book  deals  too  much  in  conjecture.  In 
determining  motivation  for  Horn's  shooting  of  Nickell, 
Krakel  uses  the  incident  from  1890  when  Kels  Nickell, 
Willie's  father,  stabbed  John  Coble.  Horn  worked  for  and 
became  a  close  friend  of  Coble.  According  to  the  book, 
when  Coble  told  Horn  of  the  incident  he  became  angry. 
"Horn's  hatred  of  Nickell  must  have  been  immediate— 


secretly  he  vowed  revenge  and  would  someday  take 
careful  aim  on  him  .  .  .  ."  (p.  13) 

When  describing  the  killing  of  Willie  the  author  also 
indulges  in  supposition.  He  studied  the  available  iriforma- 
tion  then  stated:  "In  view  of  this  evidence  perhaps  the 
crime  was  committed  in  this  way:"  (p.  14)  This  version  in- 
cludes the  mistaken  belief  that  Horn  mistook  Willie  for  Kels 
because  the  boy  was  wearing  his  father's  hat  and  slicker. 
This  is  not  supported  by  the  transcript.  No  one  who  was 
asked  what  Willie  was  wearing  that  fateful  day  mentioned 
anything  about  a  slicker. 

One  wonders  if  Krakel's  views  have  changed  during 
the  intervening  34  years  from  when  the  book  was  originally 
published.  A  new  introduction  by  him  certainly  would 
have  added  to  this  edition. 

Even  with  these  drawbacks.  The  Saga  of  Tom  Horn  is 
still  the  best  book  about  Horn's  adventures  in  Wyoming. 
The  University  of  Nebraska  Press  is  to  be  commended  for 
making  this  long  out  of  print  book  available  again.  We 
probably  never  will  know  for  sure  if  Horn  did  or  did  not 
shoot  Willie,  but  that  only  adds  to  the  mystique  of  the  man 
whose  hanging  in  1903  has  been  described  as  the  end  of 
the  Old  West. 

RICK  EWIG 
The  reviewer  is  Editor  of  Annals  of  Wyoming. 


The  Protestant  Clergy  in  the  Great  Plains  and  Mountain  West,  1865-1915.  By 
Ferenc  Morton  Szasz.  Albuquerque:  University  of  New  Mexico  Press, 
1988.  Illustrated.  Index.  Notes.  Bibliography.  288  pp.  Cloth  $27.50. 

This  book  examines  the  lives,  efforts  and  influences 
of  the  Protestant  clergy  in  the  Great  Plains  and  Rocky 
Mountain  states.  Such  an  undertaking  is  admittedly  vast 
in  its  scope  and,  given  the  variety  of  Protestant  denomina- 
tions, complex.  To  narrow  the  field,  the  author  concen- 
trates on  the  mainstream  Protestant  bodies— Presbyterians, 
Methodists,  Episcopalians,  Baptists  and  Congregational- 
ists— though  there  are  occasional  references  to  other  Pro- 
testant groups.  Catholics,  Mormons  and  Jews. 

Szasz  devotes  much  of  the  book  to  Protestant  evan- 
gelism, since  bringing  religion  to  the  frontier  and  spreading 
the  gospel  were  of  upmost  importance  to  ministers  and 
missionaries.  The  religious  hurdles  faced  by  evangelicals 
are  detailed  in  the  context  of  personal  trials  and  social  stir- 
roundings.  Szasz  shows  that  Protestant  clergy  and  churches 
proved  to  be  quite  creative  in  making  the  best  of  their  situa- 
tion, in  adapting  old  methods  to  fit  varied  circumstances 
and  in  using  new  developments  in  transportation  to  Chris- 
tianize a  large  and  sometimes  indifferent  territory.  Separate 
chapters  are  given  to  describing  Protestant  missions  among 
the  Indians,  Hispanics  and  Mormons,  because  these  groups 
presented  cultiaral  and  dogmatic  obstacles  to  ministers  and 
church  leaders. 

Missionary  endeavors  and  evangelism  are  but  one  part 
of  the  western  religious  experience.  The  author  broadens 

55 


the  picture  to  include  such  topics  as  Sunday  schools, 
church  socials,  the  role  of  women  within  the  church, 
religious  schools  and  colleges,  denominational  conflict  and 
cooperation,  Protestant  and  Catholic  rivalry,  the  economic 
and  mobile  lives  of  ministers  and  the  theological  content 
of  western  sermons.  Religion  in  the  West  was  thus  more 
than  bringing  words  of  salvation,  but  embraced  many 
levels  of  community,  individual  and  intellectual  life. 

In  the  center  of  this  activity  is  the  minister.  Drawing  from 
a  variety  of  materials  on  the  famous  and  not  so  famous, 
the  author  finds  that  the  Protestant  clergy  often  assumed 
many  roles  in  their  communities.  Besides  being  preachers, 
they  were  also  teachers,  counselors,  administrators,  civic- 
minded  individuals  and  social  reformers.  Subsequently, 
the  success  of  the  Protestant  mission  in  the  West  was,  in 
a  larger  sense,  very  much  dependent  upon  the  personal- 
ity, attitude  and  competency  of  the  churches'  representa- 
tives. Szasz  is  careful  to  point  out  that  such  men  were  not 
always  effective  or  successful.  While  many  ministers  ex- 
hibited a  vibrant  and  enabling  spirit,  there  were  others  who 
were  less  than  inspired  with  their  duties  and  despondent 
in  their  western  assignments,  both  of  which  could  result 
in  frequent  ministerial  turnovers  and  tests  of  faith  within 
the  congregation  itself. 

The  book  concludes  with  an  examination  of  the  social 
gospel  movement  in  the  West.  Szasz  stresses  that  eastern 
activities,  which  have  been  long  synonymous  with  the  social 
gospel  movement,  had  parallels  in  the  West.  He  gives 
numerous  examples  to  show  the  continuity  of  actions, 
ideas  and  personalities  and  elaborates  on  those  "specific 
needs  of  the  region,"  namely  the  care  of  health  patients 
and  the  education  and  assimilation  of  Chinese  immigrants. 
He  concludes  that  the  social  gospel  ministry,  which  sup- 
posedly originated  in  the  East  in  the  1880s,  was  an  integral 
part  of  the  western  Protestant  mission  in  the  1860s. 

Szasz  ends  the  chapter  with  a  two  page  look  at  the 
literature  of  Charles  M.  Sheldon.  Though  a  little  too  suc- 
cinct, it  is  disappointing  in  that  it  does  not  reveal  whether 
or  not  Sheldon's  efforts  had  any  real  effect  or  were  echoed 
elsewhere.  While  Sheldon  has  been  recognized  as  the 
western  social  gospel  theologian,  any  comparison  be- 
tween him  and  Walter  Rauschenbusch  will  have  to  be 
found  elsewhere. 

The  book  is  not  a  definitive  work  in  other  ways  due 
to  the  author's  efforts  to  narrow  the  scope  of  his  topic.  Ex- 
cept for  Hispanics,  Chinese  and  Indians,  Europeans,  other 
Asian  immigrants  and  Blacks  are  incidental  facts.  Szasz  also 
does  not  mention  the  role  of  regional  denominational  net- 
works. His  treatment  of  national  church  policies  for  In- 
dians, Hispanics  and  Mormons  on  one  hand,  and  home 
missionary  activities  on  the  other  are  not  balanced  in  terms 
of  effort  and  administrative  problems.  His  discussions 
about  national  concerns  for  the  welfare  of  western  churches 
are  too  general  with  the  result  that  the  Protestant  ex- 
perience appears  largely  the  byproduct  of  numerous  un- 
organized individuals  working  independently  of  their 
56 


respective  churches. 

These  problems  do  not  significantly  affect  the  overall 
purpose  of  the  book.  In  his  introduction,  Szasz  comments 
that  of  all  western  characters,  the  clergy  have  not  received 
their  due  consideration  in  historical  studies,  let  alone  in 
cinema  or  popular  myth.  Towards  these  ends  he  has  ac- 
complished his  task.  He  has  drawn  upon  a  broad  range 
of  sources  and  studies  for  a  colorful  and  informative  nar- 
rative and  has  amply  documented  his  research.  The  bibli- 
ography, however,  does  not  do  the  author  justice,  and  the 
interested  researcher  is  best  advised  to  refer  only  to  the 
footnotes  for  source  material.  It  is,  overall,  an  insightful 
and  useful  book  which  should  encourage  further  work  on 
this  multifaceted  subject. 

CARL  V.  HALLBERG 
The  reviewer  is  Archivist/Historian  for  the  Archives  and  Records  Management 
Division,  Wyoming  State  Archives,  Museums  and  Historical  Department. 


Western  Women:  Their  Land,  Their  Lives.  Edited  by  Lillian  Schlissel,  Vicki 
L.  Ruiz  and  Janice  Monk.  Albuquerque:  University  of  New  Mexico 
Press,  1988.  Illustrated.  Index.  Notes,  vi  and  346  pp.  Cloth  $27.50.  Paper 
$14.95. 

In  the  last  decade,  historians  have  tried  to  understand 
the  experiences  of  women  in  the  American  West  from  a 
multi-cultural,  class-sensitive  perspective.  Doing  so  upsets 
conventional  wisdom,  throwing  into  question  even  the 
notion  of  a  "West"  (which  after  all  was,  for  migrants  from 
Mexico,  the  North).  This  record  of  scholarly  self-criticism, 
often  painfijl,  has  yielded  exciting  results  in  four  major  con- 
ferences, several  collections  of  essays,  countless  journal 
articles,  and  increasingly  in  full-length  monographs. 

Most  of  the  essays  and  commentaries  in  this  anthology 
were  presented  in  1984,  at  a  conference  sponsored  by  the 
Southwest  Institute  for  Research  on  Women  and  Women's 
Studies  at  the  University  of  Arizona.  This  volume  reflects 
scholars'  commitment  to  seeing  Western  women's  di- 
versity. The  editors  have  gathered  together  studies  of 
Anglo  domestic  ideology.  Native  American  religion,  fron- 
tier family  tensions,  Mexican-American  women's  work, 
women's  responses  to  Western  landscape,  cross-cultural 
marriage  in  the  fur  trade,  Indian  women's  legal  rights, 
comparative  frontier  studies  and  historic  site  interpretation. 
The  comments  that  follow  each  essay  reflect  the  virtues 
and  vices  of  conference  comments.  Some  provide  useftil 
summaries,  comparisons  or  challenges.  Others  seem  to  be 
the  commentator's  way  of  getting  in  a  plug  for  his  or  her 
own  work. 

Worth  singling  out  in  the  collection  are  Robert 
Griswold's  elegant  discussion  of  domesticity,  Vicki  Ruiz' 
well-crafted  piece  on  Mexican-American  women,  and 
Genevieve  Chato  and  Christine  Conte's  rich  and  disturb- 
ing study  of  the  erosion  of  Indian  women's  rights.  These 
pieces  and  the  comments  that  follow  each  demonstrate  the 
importance  of  gender,  class  and  ethnicity  for  Western 


women's  relation  to  culture,  the  economy  and  the  state. 
Jacqueline  Peterson  also  contributes  an  innovative  essay 
on  the  connection  between  native  women's  religious  ex- 
periences and  their  willingness  to  marry  White  men. 
Antonia  Castaneda's  comment  on  Sandra  Myres'  essay 
deserves  mention  as  especially  illuminating. 

The  editors  offer  an  introduction  to  each  main  essay, 
as  well  as  a  general  introduction  and  epilogue.  They 
sometimes  claim  too  much  for  the  volume.  The  call  for 
Western  community  studies  seems  dated  in  light  of  work 
by  Kathleen  Underwood  on  Grand  Junction  and  Paula 
Petrik  on  Helena,  for  example.  The  suggestion  that 
Western  women's  historians  have  done  little  work  on  ef- 
forts to  "christianize"  non-Christian  people,  and  have 
failed  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  ethnidty  and  class, 
does  a  disservice  to  Western  women's  historians  who  have 
tackled  these  issues,  and  belies  the  voluminous  and  in- 
formative endnotes  that  follow  each  article  in  Western 
Women:  Their  Land,  Their  Lives. 

In  the  epilogue  the  editors  offer  an  agenda  for  future 
research.  For  the  most  part  they  raise  significant  questions. 


but  in  a  couple  of  cases  they  miss  the  mark.  Do  we  really 
"need  to  ask  whether  domestic  ideology  was  a  construc- 
tive or  a  negative  system  for  Western  women?"  Can  we 
even  answer  such  a  question?  They  also  ask  whether  the 
West  is  "a  region  best  (or  only)  understood  by  West- 
erners," drawing  a  parallel  to  the  matter  of  whether  ethnic 
history  can  "be  written  by  scholars  who  do  not  share  an 
ethnic  identification  with  their  research  subjects."  These 
are  not  comparable  issues.  A  person  can  change  geographical 
affiliation  by  moving  from  Montana  to  Maine  or  Australia 
to  Arizona;  one  does  not  ordinarily  change  ethnicity  by 
hitting  the  road.  Regional  identity,  while  important,  does 
not  have  nearly  the  pervasive  salience  of  race  or  ethnicity. 
Quibbles  aside.  Western  Women  is  essential  reading  for 
anyone  interested  in  the  history  of  women  in  the  American 
West.  The  editors  are  to  be  commended  for  assembling  a 
provocative  group  of  pieces  which  testify  to  the  growth 
and  variety  of  research  in  the  field. 

VIRGINIA  SCHARFF 
The  reviewer  is  an  Assistant  Professor  of  History  at  the  University  of  New  Mexico. 


BOOK  NOTES 


Basin  City:  The  First  County  Seat  in  the  Big  Horn  Basin.  By  Lylas  Skovgard. 
Basin,  Wyoming:  TimberTrails,  1988.  Illustrated.  Maps.  Index,  xiv  and 
146  pp.  Paper  $10.95. 

The  early  years  of  Basin,  Wyoming  (1896-1918),  located 
in  Big  Horn  County,  are  recounted  in  this  book.  The  study 
is  not  intended  to  be  a  complete  history  of  Basin,  but  a  re- 
counting of  the  major  events  which  helped  shape  the  town 
during  its  formative  years.  The  book  concludes  with  bio- 
graphical information  about  some  of  the  town's  original 
settlers. 


Preserving  the  Game:  Gambling,  Mining,  Hunting  &  Conservation  in  the 
Vanishing  West.  By  J.  R.  Jones.  Edited  by  Reade  W.  Doman  and  Tom 
Trusky.  Boise,  Idaho:  Hemingway  Western  Studies  Center,  Boise  State 
University,  1989.  Illustrated.  Index.  Bibliography,  iii  and  172  pp.  Paper 
$14.95. 

Not  only  was  J.  R.  Jones  a  gambler  at  cards,  but  also 
at  Life,  such  as  the  time  he  took  up  homesteading  at  Jackson 
Hole,  Wyoming,  in  1907.  Jones'  careers  included  big  game 
himter,  homesteader,  merchant,  conservationist  and  author. 
His  articles  and  short  stories,  some  of  which  were  pub- 
lished in  such  magazines  as  The  Saturday  Evening  Post  and 


Sunset  Magazine,  have  now  been  compiled  in  this  volume. 
Topics  range  from  gambling  in  western  gold  camps,  Jones' 
support  for  the  creation  of  Grand  Teton  National  Park,  to 
the  saving  of  the  pronghorns.  Included  at  the  beginning 
of  every  chapter  is  biographical  information  about  Jones 
written  by  Reade  Dornan,  English  Professor  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan,  Flint. 

Pony  Trails  in  Wyoming:  Hoofprints  of  a  Cowboy  and  U.S.  Ranger.  By  John  K. 
Rollinson.  Edited  by  E.  A.  Brininstool.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska 
Press,  1988.  Originally  published:  CaldweU,  Idaho:  Caxton  Printers, 
1941.  niustrated.  Index.  425  pp.  Cloth  $29.95.  Paper  $11.95. 

John  K.  RoUinson  left  New  York  in  1890  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  to  become  a  Wyoming  cowboy.  This  he  did  and 
in  Pony  Trails  in  Wyoming  he  recounts  his  many  experiences 
in  Wyoming  which  included  cowpunching,  trapping, 
breaking  horses  and  driving  a  freight  team.  He  also  was 
a  U.S.  ranger  in  the  Yellowstone  Park  area. 


Utah:  A  People's  History.  By  Dean  L.  May.  Salt  Lake  City:  University 
of  Utah  Press,  1987.  Illustrated.  Maps.  Index.  Bibliography,  xii  and  210 
pp.  Paper. 

57 


Written  in  conjunction  with  a  television  series  about 
Utah  history,  this  book  examines  Utah  from  its  desert 
beginnings,  to  its  settlement  and  up  to  present  day.  This 
general  history  is  what  the  author  describes  as  "popular 
and  personal."  At  the  end  of  each  chapter  annotated 
bibliographies  are  included. 

The  Wild  Bunch  at  Robbers  Roost.  By  Pearl  Baker.  Lincoln:  University  of 
Nebraska  Press,  1989.  Originally  published:  New  York:  Abelard- 
Schuman,  1971.  Illustrated.  Index.  Maps.  224  pp.  Cloth  $19.95.  Paper 

$7.95. 

The  Robbers  Roost  is  located  in  southeastern  Utah  and 
was  used  as  a  hideout  by  outlaws,  including  Butch  Cas- 
sidy,  in  the  late  1800s  and  early  1900s.  The  area  is  perfect 
for  such  a  purpose.  The  terrain  is  hazardous,  it  is  remote 
and  easily  defendable.  The  author  grew  up  on  a  ranch  that 
included  Robbers  Roost  and  heard  many  of  the  legends 
and  spoke  to  many  who  remembered  that  time  period. 

The  Country  Railroad  Station  in  America.  By  H.  Roger  Grant  and  Charles 
W.  Bohi.  Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota:  The  Center  For  Western  Studies, 
Augustana  College,  1988.  Illustrated.  Index.  Additional  Readings.  192 
pp.  Paper  $19.95. 

This  revised  and  enlarged  version  of  the  1978  edition, 
looks  at  country  railroad  and  interurban  stations  found  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  although  its  major  focus 
is  the  stations  in  the  Midwest.  The  authors  explore  the  im- 
portance of  the  stations  as  a  community  hub  and  provide 
"an  architectural  overview  of  the  combination  freight  and 
passenger  depot." 


Touring  the  Old  West.  By  Kent  Ruth.  Lincoln:  University  of  Nebraska 
Press,  1987.  Originally  published:  Brattleboro,  Vermont:  S.  Greene 
Press,  1971.  Illustrated.  Maps.  Index.  Bibliography.  218  pp.  Cloth  $21.95. 
Paper  $7.95. 

Kent  Ruth  has  compiled  a  guide  to  what  remains  of 
the  western  frontier  in  21  states,  including  Wyoming.  He 
describes  the  various  trails  located  in  the  West,  forts,  fur 


trade  sites,  gold  and  silver  camps,  hotels,  ghost  towns, 
mountains  and  mountain  passes,  rivers  and  the  Indians 
of  the  Southwest. 


Yellowstone  Place  Names.  By  Lee  H.  Whittlesey.  Helena:  The  Montana 
Historical  Society  Press,  1988.  Illustrated.  Maps.  Bibliography,  xviii  and 
178  pp.  Paper  $11.95. 

More  than  650  Yellowstone  National  Park  place  names 
can  be  found  in  this  book.  Compiled  by  the  author  during 
12  years  of  research,  the  information  provided  can  be  used 
as  a  guide  to  the  park,  a  commentary  on  unique  places  and 
a  concise  history  of  Yellowstone. 

Mesa  Verde  National  Park:  Shadows  of  the  Centuries.  By  Duane  A.  Smith. 
Lawrence:  University  of  Kansas  Press,  1988.  Illustrated.  Bibliography. 
Notes.  Index.  Maps,  xi  and  254  pp.  Cloth  $25.00.  Paper  $12.95. 

Mesa  Verde  National  Park,  located  in  the  southwestern 
corner  of  Colorado,  is  the  only  national  park  preserving 
the  culture  of  prehistoric  man.  This  book  details  the 
discovery  of  the  cliff  dwellings  and  Anasazi  ruins  in  1888, 
the  struggle  to  establish  the  park,  which  was  led  by  a  small 
group  of  women  environmentalists,  and  the  development 
and  management  of  the  park.  Also  explored  are  the  effects 
of  railroads  and  highways  on  the  park  along  with  an 
evaluation  of  the  impact  of  tourism. 

Discovering  Wyoming.  By  Robert  A.  Campbell  and  Roy  A.  Jordan.  Salt  Lake 
City:  Peregrine  Smith  Books,  1989.  Illustrated.  Index.  Maps.  184  pp. 
Cloth  $15,95. 

Wyoming  fourth  grade  teachers  now  have  a  new  text- 
book to  use  in  their  classroom.  Discovering  Wyoming  ex- 
plores Wyoming's  environment,  geology,  its  first  people, 
mountain  men,  the  western  migration,  statehood,  the 
world  wars,  the  years  since  World  War  II,  state  and  local 
government,  the  state's  ethnic  heritage  and  also  looks 
ahead. 


58 


INDEX 


Averell,  James,  47 


B 

Baker,  Nathan  A.,  4-6 

Bible,  Otto,  37 

Bradley,  Marcus,  32-33 

Brady,  C.  T.,  6-7 

Buffalo,  Wyoming,  photo,  8 

Butterfield  Overland  Mail  Company,  14 


Campbell,  John  A.,  4,  9;  photo,  4 
Campbell,  Mrs.  John  A.,  6 
Carbon  County  Stockgrowers  Association,  45-46 
Carey,  Joseph  M.,  4 

Cavalier  in  Buckskin:  George  Armstrong  Custer  and  the  Western  Military  Fron- 
tier, by  Robert  M.  Utley,  review,  53 
Central  Overland  California  and  Pike's  Peak  Express  Company,  14 
Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  3-6,  8-10;  photo,  7 
Cogswell,  W.  R.,  42 
Corn,  Samuel  T.,  47 
Craig,  James,  16,  18 
Curtis,  S.  R.,  17 


Glafcke,  Herman,  4-5,  9 

Gramm,  Otto,  45 

Guenther,  Todd  R.,  "Y'all  Call  Me  Nigger  Jim  Now,  but  Someday  You'll 
Call  Me  Mr.  James  Edwards:  Black  Success  on  the  Plains  of  the  Equal- 
ity State,"  20-40 


H 

Hadsell,  Frank,  47 

Hallberg,  Carl  V.,  review  of  The  Protestant  Clergy  in  the  Great  Plains  and 

Mountain  West,  1865-1915,  55-56 
Harney  HUls,  22-23,  25,  29,  33,  38 
Hayford,  James  H.,  4,  9 
Hedren,  Paul  L.,  Fort  Laramie  in  1876:  Chronicle  of  a  Frontier  Post  at  War, 

review,  54-55 
HoUaday,  Ben,  14-18 
Holt,  Joseph,  14 
Hoover,  Herbert,  29 
Hoyt,  John  W.,  10 
Hurt,  Joel  J.,  43,  46-47 


'Isaac  C.  Miller:  Events  in  the  Life  of  a  'High-Toned'  Dane,"  Mark  E. 
Miller,  41-50 


D 

Dawson,  Marie,  23-25 

Death  in  the  Desert:  The  Fifty  Years'  War  for  the  Great  Southwest,  by  Paul 

I.  Wellman,  review,  53-54 
Death  on  the  Prairie:  The  Thirty  Years'  Struggle  for  the  Western  Plains,  by 

Paul  I.  Wellman,  review,  53-54 
Dinsmore,  W.  B.,  14 
Donovan,  Leroy,  44 
Downs,  Pat,  42-43 
Dunham,  Earl,  31 
Dyer,  John,  42 


Edwards,  James,  21-39;  photos,  25,  33 

Edwards,  Lethel,  21,  23-25,  27,  29-30,  32-33,  35-39;  photo,  24 
Ewig,  Rick,  review  of  The  Saga  of  Tom  Horn:  The  Story  of  a  Cattlemen's  War, 
55 


Fre'mont,  John  C,  3 

Finkbone,  John  M.,  44 

Fort  Laramie,  15-16 

Fort  Laramie  in  1876:  Chronicle  of  a  Frontier  Post  at  War,  by  Paul  L.  Hedren, 

review,  54-55 
Friedman,  Abe,  31 
FuUerton,  Beryl,  37 


Joss,  Art,  21 
Joss,  Sam,  31-32 


K 

KeUy,  D.  C,  45 

Kirk,  Ada,  43 

Kirk,  Henry,  43 

Kirk,  Mary  E.,  43 

Knox,  Reuben  B.,  44 

Krakel,  Dean  F.,  The  Saga  of  Tom  Horn:  The  Story  of  a  Cattlemen's  War, 

review,  55 
Ku  IQux  Klan,  29 


Lararrue,  Wyoming,  3-4,  8-9 
Latham,  Hiram,  4 
Latham,  Milton,  16 
Lee,  Hardy,  32 
Lewis,  Charles  W.,  6 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  16-17 


M 

McDermott,  John  D.,  review  of  Fort  Laramie  in  1876:  Chronicle  of  a  Frontier 
Post  at  War,  54-55 

59 


Miller,  Isaac  C,  42-49;  photos,  41,  45-46,  48 

Miller,  Mark  E.,  "Isaac  C.  Miller:  Events  in  the  Life  of  a  'High-Toned' 

Dane,"  41-50 
Mitchell,  Robert  B.,  17-18 
Monk,  Janice,  editor.  Western  Women:  Their  land,  Their  Lives,  review,  56-57 


N 

Nel,  Johanna,  "A  Territory  Is  Founded:  Political,  Social,  Economic  and 

Educational  Conditions  in  Wyoming  1850-1890,"  2-13 
Northington,  Ben,  42 
Nuttall,  Catherine,  22-23,  27,  29,  31,  35 
Nuttall,  William,  21,  25,  27,  29,  31-32,  35,  37 


Schlissel,  Lillian,  editor,  Western  Women:  Their  Land,  Their  Lives,  review 

56-57 
Schulte,  Steven  C,  review  of  Death  in  the  Desert:  The  Fifty  Years'  War  fo 

the  Great  Southwest,  53-54 
Schulte,  Steven  C,  review  of  Death  on  the  Prairie:  The  Thirty  Years'  Strug 

gle  for  the  Western  Plains,  53-54 
Sizer,  J.  Edwin,  33,  37 
Spaugh,  A.  A.,  32-33 
Swanson,  O.  E.,  9 
Szasz,  Ferenc  Morton,  The  Protestant  Clergy  in  the  Great  Plains  and  Moun 

tain  West,  1865-1915,  review,  55-56 


Otis,  George,  17 

"The  Overland  Mail  in  Wyoming,"  Patricia  Ann  Owens,  13-19 

Owens,  Patricia  Ann,  "The  Overland  Mail  in  Wyoming,"  13-19 


Tapoya,  John  B.,  32-33 

"A  Territory  Is  Founded:  Political,  Social,  Economic  and  Educationa 

Conditions  in  Wyoming  1850-1890,"  Johanna  Nel,  2-12 
Thomas,  Lorenzo,  16 
Twain,  Mark,  14 


Parrott,  George,  43-44 
Pennington,  Roy,  37 
Pony  Express,  14 

The  Protestant  Clergy  in  the  Great  Plains  and  Mountain  West,  1865-1915,  by 
Ferenc  Morton  Szasz,  review,  55-56 


R 

Rankin,  James  G.,  43 
Rankin,  R.  T.,  46 

Rawlins,  Wyoming,  42-49;  photo,  43 
Robinson,  E.  E.,  9 

Rocky  Mountain  Wool  Growers  Association,  46-47 
Roosevelt,  Franklin  D.,  29 

Ruiz,  Vicki  L.,  editor.  Western  Women:  TheirLand,  Their  Lives,  review,  56-57 
Russell,  E.  H.,  6 
Russell,  Majors  and  Waddell,  14 

Rybolt,  Robert  R.,  review  of  Cavalier  in  Buckskin:  George  Armstrong  Custer 
and  the  Western  Military  frontier,  53 


The  Saga  of  Tom  Horn:  The  Story  of  a  Cattlemen's  War,  by  Dean  F.  Krakel, 

review,  55 
Scharff,  Virginia,  review  of  Western  Women:  TheirLand,  Their  Lives,  56-57 


u 

Union  Pacific  Railroad,  3-4 

Utley,  Robert  M.,  Cavalier  in  Buckskin:  George  Armstrong  Custer  and  th 
Western  Military  Frontier,  review,  53 


w 

Wanek,  Joe,  32 

Watson,  Ella,  47 

Wellman,  Paul  I.,  Death  in  the  Desert:  The  Fifty  Years'  War  for  the  Grea 

Southwest,  review,  53-54 
Wellman,  Paul  I.,  Death  on  the  Prairie:  The  Thirty  Years'  Struggle  for  th 

Western  Plains,  review,  53-54 
Wells,  Fargo  and  Company,  18 
Western  Women:  Their  Land,  Their  Lives,  edited  by  Lillian  Schlissel,  Vickl 

L.  Ruiz  and  Janice  Monk,  review,  56-57 
Wyoming  Stock  Growers  Association,  10,  44 
Wyoming  Wool  Growers  Association,  47 


"Y'all  Call  Me  Nigger  Jim  Now,  but  Someday  You'll  Call  Me  Mr.  Jame- 
Edwards:  Black  Success  on  the  Plains  of  the  Equality  State,"  Todd 
R.  Guenther,  20-40 

Young,  Bill,  44 

Young,  Clabe,  44 


987 


60 


DATE 

DUE 

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PRINTED  IN  USA. 

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