Out of the canyon there scurried in all directions wild animals that had been down to drink. There were wild horses, deer and antelope.

Being Grangers, the Ashfords wanted pigs as well as cattle, and there were none. Then it occurred to Mrs. Streeks, (also a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Ashford) that Laing had told them of his hogs. It was a long ways to Laing's ranch, the nearest source of supply, but not so very far comparatively with the overland journey from beyond the Missouri.

One day Mrs. Ashford and her younger daughter hitched up the team to the wagon and started out for Laing's. That night they had negotiated the hills through Wright's gap, and reached Charley Smith's in Creighton Flat. Here they stayed all night. The next day they drove on down to Laing's, passing Chimney Rock, and Court House Rock on the way. The country between those landmarks was alive with rattlesnakes. At first they stopped and killed them, but there were so many, after they had killed fourteen or fifteen, they gave up the work of extermination, and passed a great many, which rattled saucily at them.

Laing had many of the charming characteristics of his native land, his accent was delightful and perfect, and he was a good entertainer. He fixed up a crate, and loaded the two pigs for the women folks, and they returned. Laing's were the first hogs on the North Platte river, and Ash ford's were the first on Pumpkin creek or into the territory later embraced bv the boundaries of Banner county.