He made money by a number of transactions, and then they advised the big plunge as a rare opportunity. It broke him and his Cheyenne Bank, and with it went the savings of the frugal cowpunchers.

William A. Force was put in charge of the ranch of Pole creek, and among the young fellows who went to work for him was Fred Wolt, for many years a well known resident and business man of Gering, and now ( 1920) President of the Chamber of Commerce at Norfolk, Nebraska.

Among the New York visitors at the ranch was Lillian Force, a sister of the foreman, and her chum, Kate Talmadge.

The freedom of the ranch, the glorious talaho rides in the rarified western air, the white light of moonlit nights, the stars that

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

seem so close to the earth, and the attentions of the dashing foreman of the big ranch, all had a part in the result that Kate Talmadge became Mrs. William A. Force. From this union Madeline Force was born, Madeline Force who became Mrs. John Jacob Astor. He, the grandson of John Jacob Astor the first, went down on the Titanic a few years ago, when that great vessel sank in the Atlantic on its maiden trip, and but for the romance of the high plains here related, Madeline Force would never have been born, and he would likely not have been on the fatal trip.

The horses from Arbuckle's ranch often were brought to the "North River" to winter. Robert F. Neeley took charge of winter feeding the first winter, and then John R. Stilts built some large sod barns and sheds and for several winters attended to the business. Fred Wolt came over to the valley, and remained. He married one of the valley's young ladies, Lillian Brashear, and went into mercantile business at Gering.