I find particular objection to the stories that picture the man of the range, on a dance floor with his "chaps" on, or wearing a hat or spurs
or gun. When such are given, it shows the ignorance of the writer. He never saw a cowboy dance, but has been at some low joint called a "dance hall" where "four-flushers" and tinhorn gamblers congregate ; a place that would not exist if the cowboys were the only patrons.
The history, the incidents here related, come to me from years of association with old set-
\r "Signal Buttes"
tiers, cowmen particularly and from the most authentic sources available. They will come as near to a chronicle of the facts as will probably ever be written, for I have made considerable effort that it be true to the epoch that followed the Indian wars.
Among those who have contributed by letter, story, word or book, to that which I include, are William A. Paxton, John A. Creighton, John A. McShane, Tohn Bratt, Major Walker, W. F. Cody. A. B. Hall. I I. Mcintosh, Colin Hunter, Colonel Pratt. Mark M. Coad, Bartlett Richards. W. I. Kelly, Henry T. Clarke, S. J. Robb. John 'Wright'. Charles H. McDonald, and a score of others now that
HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA
have taken the "long, long trail," to Other Ranges.
And from those living, (1919), Frank and Jess Yoder, H. V. Redington, R. U. Vantassel, John Adams, Charles F. Coffee, John Hunton, Granville Tinnen, Joe Wilde, Eugene A. Hall, Perry Braziel, Robert Graham, Charles Nelson, Runey C. Campbell, Robert Harvey, Colonel Joe Atkins, L. J. Wyman, Morrill Wy-