For the cowboy, while feared by some, was loved by many and admired by all ; for there never was a truer friend, a braver boy to face the many perils common to his day and duty, nor a more faithful guardian of the interests intrusted to his care. Fair weather meant a holiday fur him but when the storms of winter raged in their greatest severity, he would disdain shelter and defy old Boreas, and though generally supplied with the best of saddle horses, would show by his greater endurance, man's superiority to the animal. While doubtless many tales greatly exaggerate the bravery, nerve and dare-devil spirit of this peculiar class, there are, nevertheless, incidents and facts, the mere relation of which for several generations yet will always draw interested listeners.

During the times referred to. Fort Sidney was one of the most noted and popular forts on the plains. Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills and while the railroads had not built into that territory, the gold-seeker could not be kept out, and Sidney being the nearest railroad point, had become the outfitting station and a constant stream of goldhunters flowed northward from that point. The trail crossed Pumpkin creek at Court House Rock, and in 1876 the first wagon bridge across the North Platte river was constructed about five miles west of Bridgeport, at what for years was prominentlj shown on the map of Nebraska as Camp Clarke. The name of "Camp" was given liecause the tide of travel to and from the hills had become so great awaiting its completion, that the caravans and pedestrians congregated on either side of the valley in that immediate vicinity gave the appearance of a bivouac. That Sidney, the county seat of Cheyenne county, should frequently have gotten its name, together with a photograph giving a bird's-eye view of its principal thoroughfare, in the Police Gazette was not surprising.