The way becomes tortuous, and rocky, but without any particularly steep ascent in any place, we arrive on the level tableland nearly three hundred feet above the river bottom.

The canyon is said to have been a dangerous place to pass through in early times because of hostile Indians. The first settlers found several graves at the lower end of the hollow, upon one of which was a board marker, with the inscription Rachel Pattison, died 1849. This grave is now marked by a stone slab and there is an Oregon Trail marker there.

Beside the Indian relics, many remains of pre-historic animals have been found in and near Ash Hollow. Of these, the most valuable collections have been made by Air. and Mrs. M. P. Clary, who live in the Hollow ; and by Mr. Edward H. Hartman, who lives near the mouth of Blue creek.

In the mad rush to the west, the pioneers during several decades scarcely stopped to take a second look at the territory which is now Garden county : Westward Ho ! Farther, farther west, was the cry.

Not more than fifty years ago, the cattlemen began ranging stock in the valley here. First among them were the Adams Reddington Company south of the river and the Knowles Baldwin Company and Ogalalla Land and Cattle Company north of the river. One of the first permanent habitations in the county was a camp built near the mouth of Blue Creek by the Ogalalla Company. The site of this old camp is