The emigrants moving into the far west occasionally were inconvenienced by the sudden mountain storms that still visit here once in a while. They sometimes were just sudden deluges of w"ater that lasted an hour or two. At other times they were accompanied by hail of such severity that such legends as that of Cannon Ball river result. Along this stream are piles of rounded -rocks and Indian tradition is that they fell in a mountain storm.

In the early days of ranching there was a blizzard that was remembered for many years as the most severe of all time, and its reputation still survives. It is doubtful if one of such destructiveness has ever occurred before or since. The storm started on March 7, 1878, and lasted until the tenth. Thousands of cattle perished. The Seven-U, near Bayard, was a heavy loser. Ranch losses ran from forty to sixty per cent. Billy Heck, in charge of freighting from Cheyenne to Fort Laramie, was caught out in this storm with twelve teams of fourteen yoke of oxen to the team, and the entire 168 head perished. "Stuttering" Brown, who ran the stage over this route, did not venture out, much to his good judgment. A nephew of Nick Janis (Genice) died on the river near the state line. But this was before the years of the granger.

In 1884 there was also a bad loss of cattle, incident to a storm, but strong or well fed cattle survived it. The storm of March 22, 1886, was tremendously destructive. It continued for about ten or eleven days, "sometimes letting loose a little to get a better hold," as the people said. It occurred after an extended period of fine weather. The grass had started and cattle having been out grazing on the soft spring grass were unfitted to sustain the long period of the storm.