That is : the soldier aKvays treated the cowboys as "herdsmen," and the cowboys returned the sentiment with vigor. The gamblers respected the men of the range for their money, for the game way they took a loss, but generally with utter contempt for their skill at cards. Occasionally they miscalculated. Sandy Ingraham caught a fellow "out on a limb" once in the Capitol saloon of Cheyenne. After a delay of careful deliberation of fifty minutes, he called the gambler's bet of seven hundred dollars, and won with "two deuces."

Captain Chas. King, who wrote Trumpeter Fred, and other tales of local color, always used the offensive appellation "herdsman." Thus the whipping of a drunken or saucy sol-' dier by a cowboy or freighter was always considered legitimate sport.

Occasionally the cow outfits would sweep down on old Fort Fetterman, or some other camp or sub-station in the Fort Laramie district, and would rope the mountain howitzers, and antiquated brass cannon, jerking them from their positions, would drag them about the fort. Soldiers knew better than to inter-

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

fere with such pranks, for when the sport was over, the boys would make amends.

When there came real Indian troubles, the civilian was a valuable asset. An average

freighter or cowman was much better skilled in the tactics of Indian warfare, and were needed when trouble arose.

COAD'S RANCH AT SCOTTSBLUFF STATION -- SHEEDY'S SEVEN-U RANCH ■ ANECDOTES ABOUT THEM

About 1870, the Coad Brothers took possession of the old Stage station, "Scotts Bluffs," and put in a herd of cows. This they developed to colossal proportions. The younger Coads still have the ranch north of Cheyenne at which Mark M. Coad was killed a few years ago by a Mexican. At the early date, however, the principal ranch was just a little west of the present site of Melbeta, and their range took in all of the south part of the North Platte valley, from Court House rock to and including Mitchell valley.