It will be observed also that this line was the path of the buffalo at an earlier date, and it later became the route of the travelers into the gold field of the Black Hills, where Henry

T. Clarke's steel lined stages went over the old toll bridge. Now the travel is by motor, or over the Burlington.

Creighton went west up Gonneville or Pumpkin creek. Then over to Horse creek, and up to the Laramie Plains. Here he built a substantial set of ranch buildings, securing the materials from the Laramie mountains.

From this beginning in 1867, originally for the protection of his bull herds, the great

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

Creighton ranch was born. He was first in the work of tying the east and west with wires and electric communication, so was he first in all Wyoming and western Nebraska to go into the cow business. The Creighton ranch operations extended and establishments were built on Horse creek and Pumpkin creek, and his ten or twelve thousand cattle roamed the ranges of the east half of Wyoming and the western part of Nebraska. The half-circlebar brand, of the very early days, developed into the quarter-circle-block, generally called "circle-block" in the later years.

Pumpkin creek ranch became the "Home Ranch" after its acquisition by the Bay State, and the name Pumpkin creek, in place of Gonneville creek, rose in usage, as the wild vegetable which provoked it gradually disappeared. The range cattle were very fond of the product, and the vine, and the very roots of the vine, were stamped out by the cattle trying to get more of the tasty verbiage.