The ranch buildings were intact as late as- 1887. The creek was called after a French trapper and squawman named Chadron (pronounced with a long O and accent on the last syllable) who came to the country with Janis and Bordeaux in 1847. The Frenchman, Chadron, had squatted on a tract of land on the west side of Chadron creek near its junction with White river. In 1880 a postoffice was established at the "Half Diamond E. Ranch," with Robert Harrison postmaster. The ranch was owned by Price & Jenks of Cheyenne and was a veritable fort for protection against hostile Indians. The corrals were stockades and the ranch was constructed from heavy logs and made with port holes in the walls for convenience in fighting Indians. An underground escape was prepared, leading down to the creek and thence into the dense brush that bordered its banks. This underground passage was stored with supplies sufficient for a siege of several days duration, and so packed that it could be carried away in small quantities if necessary, and many were the skirmishes had with the vicious red-skins. The last battle between Indians and soldiers in the vicinity of Chadron, was fought a few rods north and west of the old ranch building, on the land now owned by A. N. Jackson, which was the homestead of George Dorrington, and the rifle pits have remained to this day. The location of the ranch was ideal, on the banks of beautiful Chadron Creek which winds through thick foliage as it makes its way into the broader valley where its sparkling waters mingle with the more turbulent White river, near the point where the first real settlers of Dawes county pitched their serried