He owned the old ranch at the time of his death, and his son. Tom Hunter, still owns it. Tom has an office in Cheyenne. Colin Hunter was coming with a wagon train to Fort Laramie in 1867, when, on July 4th, the sound of guns attracted their attention. The sight of the blue coats gave them some apprehension. When the shooting subsided, they found the soldiers and a civilian or two, with one dead white man in their midst.

Just what the difficulty was they could not learn, nor did he ever learn, but the dead man was killed by a white man's bullet, and the shot was fired from behind the bank of the river. This happened near Bordeaux's place. The dead man was George Riptoe, whose experiences along with others followed the massacre at Fort Phil Kearney up on the Piney, and the rescue of that beleagured garrison.

Coutant tells a pretty story of the famous ride of John Phillips on Colonel Carrington's fine thoroughbred, all the way alone through

the bitter cold Christmas weather, from the Piney to Horseshoe station. There is another story which many old timers tell concerning that message and how it was transmitted,. that I am led to believe, after much inquiry.

Many of the older people will remember Jim Bellamy, and his Nine Mile station, or ranch nine miles up the Platte river from Fort Laramie.

On the night of December 24, 1866, late in the night, Bellamy and Daniel McUlvane, and several others were sitting by a roaring fire at Nine Mile station, when out of the bitter cold and darkness appeared four horsemen, whose names should go down in history. They were Dan Dillon, big diffident Dan, Sam Gregory, George Riptoe and John Phillips. They had all ridden all the way from Fort Phil Kearney.