Scharf, J. Thomas, ed. History of Westchester County, New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II. Philadelphia: L.E. Preston & Co., 1886.

M.U Gc 978.2 Sh9h v. 2 1192386 GENEALOGY COLLECTION 1833 01065 1435 History of Western Nebraska and its People : -- (T History of Western Nebraska *. -- -- and its People GENERAL HISTORY. CHEYENNE, BOX BUTTE, DEUEL, GARDEN, SIOUX, KIMBALL, MORRILL, SHERIDAN, SCOTTS BLUFF, BANNER, AND DAWES COUNTIES. A GROUP OFTEN CALLED THE PANHANDLE OF NEBRASKA GRANT L. SHUMWAY, SCOTTSBLUFF …

Wyeth, of "Cape Bay," and His "Down Easters" CHAPTER XI 21 Nez Perce and Crow Indians -- Crow Creek Named CHAPTER XII .... - 22 Little Moon Lake -- Famous Missionaries CHAPTER XIII 24 Forts at the Laramie CHAPTER XIV 26 Robideaux of St. Genevieve -- Kiowa Raid by Red Cloud CHAPTER XV 28 The Steamboat El Paso Here -- Reuleau, the Trapper CHAPTER XVI 30 Government Buys Fort …

Red Cloud and Spotted Tail -- Massacre of Cottonwood Canyon CHAPTER VIII 51 Sunset on the Platte -- The C.ibralter of Nebraska -- Cheyenne S on Bellechugwater CHAPTER IX 53 In the Shadows -- The Fire Fly Song-- Cached Furs -- Old Land Marks -- Trapper's Rock CHAPTER X 55 Stage Drivers -- Road Agents -- Pony Express Riders -- Chas. Cliff's Adventures -- Jules and Slade Feud …

Coad's Battle on Lawrence Fork -- "Shorter" Countv Organized -- Tank Fighting on the Platter-- Buffalo Bill Kills Tall Bull CHAPTER XX 77 Indian Vgencies Adjusted-- Sitting Bull's Determination -- Battle of War Bonnet Creek CHAPTER XX] 79 Sand Hills Station Robbery -- Big Bear, or Crazy Woman -- The Sod Cabin -- Privations "t Early 5 ears CHAPTER XX 11 82 Revolt of Dull Knife …

Surveyor Schleigel's Teamster Hung at Sidney -- The Bosler Range -- The VB Brand -- Minnie Montgomery Honeymoon -- The House of La Grange CHAPTER IX 104 Creighton's -- The First Ranch of All -- Death of Creel in Bull Canyon -- Tom Kane's Adventure -- A Cowboy Wedding CHAPTER X 106 First Ranch in Nebraska West of North Platte, Keith & Barton -- H. V. Redington's Ranch …

Frewen's Ranch Experience -- Hanging of Billy Nurse by Vigilantes -- Holding up Doc. Middleton -- Death of the Famous Character CHAPTER XVI 121 Perry Yeast's Success -- Judge Gaslin, Who Wrote "The Law of the West" -- Tom Ryan's Defiance CHAPTER XVII 123 Newman's Ranch on the Running Water -- Bartlett Richards & Company -- The Scourge of the Land Inquisition -- Cattle Rustlers …

viii CONTENTS Paxton's Ogallala Company-- Hall'? Famous Drive to Pine Ridge-- Dick Bean's Death -- Gun .Men and Frantz's Comical Episode I \. Hall and Robert Graham's Old Time Ranch -- Ogallala Men and Events-- Indians Get Southers -- Bargain Sales of Ranch Locations -- Harper's Deal An Indian Wagon Race -- Building Camp Clarke Bridge -- Round-up -- Wild West Shows -- Tom …

The Virginian -- Arbuckle's Ranch -- Romance of Parents of Madeline Force -- Lingle of Valley View -- Connoly's of the "PF" -- New Ranches -- Hank Inghram's Narrow Escape The Shifting Sands -- The Storm of 78-- First Settlers on Pumpkin Creek -- First Cow in Western Nebraska-- Mental Giants of the Big Cow Days Vigilantes Hang Reed at Sidney-- The Great Bullion Robbery …

First Ranch in Dawes County -- Graham and Snvder on Niobrara River -- Other Ranches War Fort Robinson -- Stampedin' on the Old Trail CHEYENNE COUNTY Historj of ilu- Count) ('II M'TKk M Wihh-t Days <ll M'l'Kk HI nization of Cheyenne County CONTENTS ix CHAPTER IV 182 Ivodgepole CHAPTER V 188 State Officials CHAPTER VI 191 The Press CHAPTER VII 192 Fraternal Orders and Clubs …

The Churches in Deuel County CHAPTER IX 237 The Press-- Banks and Finance -- Bench and Bar -- Medical Profession -- Fraternal Organizations CHAPTER X 242 Deuel County's War Record -- Grand Army of the Republic CHAPTER XI 244 Climate and Products of Deuel County x CONTEXTS GARDEN COUNTY CHAPTER I 246 Early History CHAPTER II 252 Boundary Disputes -- As Between Individuals …

Organization of Sioux County -- County Officials CHAPTER VI 296 Sioux County in the World War -- Early Schools -- Wild Life KIMBALL COUNTY CHAPTER I 302 The History of Kimball County CHAPTER II 313 Soil, Climate and Possibilities CHAPTER [II 321 Transportation -- I [ighwaj s CI I \ITKR IV 325 The Community of Kimball CHAPTER V 337 Kimball County in the World War MORRILL COUNTY …

Gering -- First of Many Things CHAPTER III 454 City of Scottsbluff CHAPTER IV ...... ' 463 The Newspapers -- Early Days in the County CHAPTER V 469 Incidents and Personalities CHAPTER VI . 476 The Story of Irrigation CHAPTER VII 480 More of the Irrigation Storv CHAPTER VIII 487 Scotts Bluff County Schools CHAPTER IX +90 Officials Scotts Bluff County CHAPTER X 494 The Farmers …

Early Days -- And Crawford -- Many Fir County Organization and Government CHAPTER VI .... Town of Chadron CHAPTER VII ... Businesses and Professions Churches and Schools - Banks -- In the World War Things LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "Came From the; Sea" 3 Robert Stuart's Winter Camp, 1812-13 11 Death oe Hiram Scott 14 Grave of Red Cloud's Daughter, Fort Laramie, Wyoming 49 Camping …

An Old Prairie Schooner 172 Old Court, Sheriff's Residence 177 Cheyenne County Court House, Sidney 178 New High School, Sidney 180 Catholic Square, Sidney 180 Birdseye View, Sidney 181 Carnegie Library, Sidney 181 North Side of ShElden Street, Lodgepole 183 High School, Lodgepole 184 Blind Cannon Near Point of Rocks 186 ■Methodist Church, Sidney 194 "Samie Girls" 197 How the …

First Store, Oshkosh First Dwelling, Oshkosh Street Scene, Oshkosh Main Street, Lewellen First National Bank, Lewellen Street View, Lisco .... Residence of Mr. Myers. Lisco Schoolhouse, Lewellen Old Stone Schoolhouse, Oshkosh Grade School, Oshkosh State Bank Building, Oshkosh "Feeding Time," Nicholson Bros. Ranch "Some Winter/" April 17, 1920, Harrison First House Erected in …

Birdseye View of Kimball in 1900 . Street Scene, Kimball * . . . Residence of Robert Garrard, Near Kimball Kimball County High School, Kimball Modern School Near Kimball Known as "Pedrett Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday School Residence of John Ewbank. Near Kimball Residence of Chas. E. Jacoby, Photographer, Ki High School, Dix Residence of Petrus Peterson, Dix Residence …

A. T. Crawford's Garage, Scottsbluff Old Home Place of Jesse Pickering Near Mix at.- Farm Ranch of J. A. Jones Spillway Pathfinder Dam, Nebraska's Niagar. Rev. J. B. Currens Scotts Bluff Mountain Sugar Factory, Scottsbluff Lover's Leap "Twix Sisters" Ruck Smoke Stack Rock Early Schoolhouse Wheat Seeding Marketing Potatoes School xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Hampton's Golden …

We will begin at the beginning, and add a chapter to the geology of the state, a geology heretofore treated by Barbour, and Condra, and Schramm, and to which research and exploration has added much of valuable information. We will tell of the far-off , misty past, when White river, and the Niobrara, Snake creek, Bluewater, the Lodgepole, and the twin merging valleys of the …

Clumsily, I have sought to assist, and in reading the rocks, I find the story of the ancient sea, the islands and the antecedent streams of our own state, and this particular part thereof, written legibly upon the cliffs, and in the hills and valleys. So while the floor of the world is granite, we find above that floor, Nebraska, even as it stood in the midst of the first …

Around it is spread the sedimentaries of the Mississippian, and over it the Pennsylvanian formations, for the greater part of Nebraska took another plunge into the sea. Eastern Nebraska came up from the ocean, with almost all of the North American continent at a little later date. But an estuary from the Pacific covered that part of the state west of the one hundredth …

When the more violent disturbances shook the fractured region, great slabs of granite one hundred feet thick and miles in area, were in places thrust out almost horizontally through the comparatively newer rocks and shales, and these granitic intrusions have puzzled geologists, and turned aside the tides of oil prospectors from time to time. Granite and Red Beds have been …

West of this mountain range rolled the waves of the last Cretaceous sea -- the vast marine water which divided the American continent. Perhaps a low coastal range separated it from the Gulf, and it probably extended, widening, to the arctic circle. Between the Nebraska-Kansas range and the Ozarks there was an estuary, which might be called Topeka bay, and on the western shore …

In the rapidly shallow- ' ing sea that covered most of Nebraska's central plains, the Niobrara, the Pierre, and other shales were laid. Much of this part of the ocean for long year.-,, probably ranged in depth from one hundred to two hundred fathoms. There the little grains of glauconite occurred from decomposition of organic matter contained in tiny foraminiferal shells. This …

Marine animal life lingered over into the new and marshy conditions, while plants changed quickly, and the old varieties passed away. Quite likely, the Cretaceous was before and the Tertiary after, and the Laramie during the Rocky Mountain revolution. It was the period of transition. Benton oysters found new expansion, then changed into large fresh water clams, ten inches …

The original horse, a dozen varieties of the hippos family, from tree climbing horses and five toed ponies eighteen inches high, to the almost modern horse, left skeletons in the Agate fields. And there are bones of giant hogs, HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA that once wallowed in the marshes of White river, and duck-billed dinosaurs that crawled awkwardly through the water and …

Over stretches of water and sand islands, aeolion agitation bore volcanic ash and dust and sand, which found lodgement in deep lagoons and moist places. When the later igneous activity stirred the western mountains, air currents carried the ashes high and far, and then for days and days they sifted down into the wastes of water on Nebraska. Thousands of acres in the …

Ah, what a time that would have been to have lived, and seen old Nature build the heart of the American continent. A nearly mountain range, "that died a bornin' " ran from Furnas county to Dawes and Sioux counties. Nearly volcanoes sprung the earth in a dozen counties of Nebraska. The Goshen Holes, east as far as Broadwater, Nebraska, swelled like a poisoned carcass, and there …

We have traced the course of the Gering river; we find it between the forks of the Platte, and in the Scotts Bluff- Wildcat mountains. Partly broken and gone, partly eroded away, yet sufficient remains to trace the majestic current, that left coarse grey and brown sandrocks, flecked with rectangular specks of black. The turreted facades in the castellated hills, from …

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA OLD TRAILS There is a woof and warp to every garment. And the garment of frontier history is made over and upon old trails that twist and wind through canyons and woods, over mountains, and in the valley. These trails were old when the trapper came, when the first Latin adventurers penetrated the wilderness, which is now so alive and teeming with …

Before the periods of those industrious peoples -- the mound-builders of the Mississippi valley, and the cliff-dwellers of the sad southwest, and the earth-dwellers of Nebraska -- this land about us, newly risen from primeval sea, this mystical sunland of the younger world, became a land of trails. At the foot of Scotts Bluff mountain, in the bad lands north of Harrison, in …

They knew not thai man's mentality had begun to grow, and would continue until the world was swept free of the cumbersome, useless creatures of Pliocene, and their old trails would be no more. These trails are buried now, under the drill of glaciers and the wash and ashes of the ages. And the trails of glaciers, the ice-grind of centuries are strewn with stranger rocks and …

Deer, buffalo and elk, kindred and hostile beasts of early America, made the trails of the later "Overland." They crossed the gaps in the Pineridge, and in the Scotts Bluff- Wildcat range; they meandered up and down the valleys, and made worn thoroughfares over the South Pass, long before the American Indian found the heart of the new world. We can go back only a relatively …

They may find incredulous minds, but to me they have become fixed as signal fires along the horizon of the past, indicating the mark of the first white.man's foot in all of Nebraska. The opening trail of civilization in the mighty west. The first story dates back to about the time of Coronado's search for Quivera, the wonderful city of gold, which brought about the discovery …

At a trading post I met an old Navajo, who directed some remark to the ladies of our party which the trader interpreted as "pretty women." For us, he asked the weather beaten man if he could tell where we were from, and he made a comprehensive gesture to the north and said the one word "Cheyenne." As an indication of how he knew, he touched a fur worn by one of the party …

In this I loitered by day pouring over old scraps of history, and at night I would leave the hotel to stand in the Plaza, listening to the whispering winds and voices out of the past. It was at Santa Fe that I learned of Dacombo, who, so far as I can learn, was the first white man to visit America's valley of the Nile. With an introductory note from Don Juan Jaquez I met Don …

About twenty-five miles east of Taos, near the summit of the continental divide, is a lonely hut and when I went to Taos, I paused there for refreshments, and also because Senor Sol Luna had given me a token of introduction to Miguel Dacombo; and here it was that he, knowing of my desire, sat squat upon the ground, and with a stick sketched crudely in the sand, after the …

"The desert men came running, whereupon Padre Padillo told all to hide and he would meet them alone. He knelt down to pray, and the desert men fell upon and killed him, while kneeling. Fra de La Cruz, some days later, saw a small band, and being in sore need of food, he tried to reconcile them, but they also killed him. Then it was that the Soldier spoke : 'They are God-less …

They blessed the Holy Virgin that they were out of the sand mountains. One day, as in a vision, great cities shone in the sunset; and they travelled towards them many days. At last they saw they were mountains, almost like great pueblos. Mountains, many miles of them, that stood up, like ruins of castles. The Soldier said to Lucas and Sebastian, 'This is like dear old Spain.' …

Many times they left it, and wandered into the desert trying to get home, but they were driven back famished. Finally, captured by a tribe of desert men, they were taken toward the sunset until they reached mountains that shone red at sundown like the Blood of Christ. Here there was water, and wood, and game and berries. How far did they go? Once Sebastian had fever, and once …

The Padres Padilla and Le Cruz were killed, probably near Columbus, and the river of castles is quite likelv the North Platte river, and the time about 1540-1550. THE FLAG OF FRANCE IN THE WILDERNESS 'flic nexl old trail, the mxt white man's foot dial made iis mark upon the soil of Nebraska, was in 1739, when Mallei brothers made their journey into the wilderness, and research …

Some history makers say that they ascended the Missouri river to the Arikarie villages, then turned south and crossed the Platte and Arkansas rivers. Watkins says their journey is somewhat shadowy, and Chittendon tells us that they left the Missouri river at or near the present site of Sioux City, on May 29th, and reached the Platte July 2d (a physical impossibility in those …

Old-timers, over on Gonneville, or Pumpkin creek, will remember Francois Jourdain, and around Sixty-Six mountain the pioneers will remember "Tommy" Chaunavierre. (The cowboys called him "Shunover.") In the old days, thirty or more years ago, I frequently visited "Frenchy" Jourdain's cabin, which was about three miles east of Wildcat mountain, and I enjoyed his stories. He was …

Irion once was in the mercantile business. Then up Whistle creek and Coyote canyon, crossing the Snake creek valley, a few miles west of the present site of Curley, then near Spottedtail springs and down the west Sportedtail to the Platte river, then up Horse creek to a point some distance above the old Y- cross ranch, then turning southward, keeping close to the foot-hills …

Cardinal Fleury. was engaged in the desperate task of reconstruction. There was only one way by which this could be accomplished, and that was by keeping the youthful king busy with frivolous pastime, while the master-hand performed the labor. And in this matter, the careless act of a nurse materially assisted. She was an attendant of Louis XV, when he was a child, and …

the French King with some one of Castillian nobility, and it is not the character of the Spaniard to take kindly to the shattering of hopes because of a blacksmith's daughter. The conditions had reached such a stage that they involved the territory of the new world. Spaniards had been endeavoring to get a foothold in the valleys of the Arkansas and the Platte, and it was under …

Cardinal Fleury, and it was the same force that prompted the expedition of Verendrye into northern Wyoming in 1740. Whatever feeble collateral history there is available at this time, was probably inspired by Lady Pompadour. And from Duiderot, one of the famous scriveners of the time, and from De Margry, are the only references to the journey, that I have been able to find. I …

The dangers attendant during the Indian wars, the thrilling experiences of emigrants and pony express riders, and the overland stage, and the later inspiration of the cowmen, each have important parts ; and in the evolution of the past, the homesteaders of twenty-five to thirty-five years ago, and the people of the later periods, each have been history makers. The slow process …

The fierce competition waged by the Hudson Bay company, on the upper Missouri river and its tributaries, effected a change of base. We find no record of Lisa visiting this section of the state, but his mark is stamped indelibly on this land. A number of writers seem to think he was here about 1809, but no real record has been found. Manuel Lisa and his wife were the first …

For how many years they had been coming there is no record, but that they might have been associated with Manuel Lisa, seems quite probable. They appeared as free trappers at the mouth of the Laramie in the later years. When Robert Stuart and party met them at Grand Island, they had come up the river in a boat, and they disposed of the elkskin craft to the Stuart party. Rio …

Probably the change in the name was due to the Mormons, who probably misunderstood it in the first place. The notes of many paragraphers call it "Goshen Hole" after the Mormons' pilgrimage to the valley of Great Salt Lake. John Henry Smith, a once prominent Mormon, now passed, told me that there was something about this country that appealed to those of his faith, when …

The latter then became known as Gonneville creek, until the coming of the cowmen. It seems natural for successive classes of people in any territory, to unconsciously endeavor to obliterate the names and the glory of the departing peoples. Thus the reckless and contemptuous cowmen changed much of our geographical nomenclature. Lodgepole creek became commonly known as Pole …

But it does mean the obliteration of an historical identity and association, and a sentiment that the generations of men would appreciate. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA ROBERT STUART'S WINTER CAMP On June 20th, 1812, Robert Stuart, with a party of six others, left Astoria, Oregon, carrying dispatches to John Jacob Astor, of New York. The personnel of this party were hardened …

Upon the upper Mad river, now called Snake, they met with a party of four trappers, which the Astorians had left in the mountains the year previous. These consisted of Edward Robinson, a Kentuckian who in a brush with the Indians at an earlier date had lost his scalp, and John Hoback, Jacob Rizner and Jacob Miller. The Blackfeet had stripped them completely, and the first …

Stuart told him that if In- heard another word of it. the man who made the suggestion would be the one to die. The Canadian subsided, and fortunately they soon thereafter killed a run-down buffalo bull. With lives sustained, the party was enabled to continue proceed as tin- discoverers of 1 Iverland Trail, which from the east as far west as western Wyoming, has been used with …

But they were not destined to remain undisturbed in their comfortable quarters. Early in December they \vere visited by a score or more of hungry Indians, professing friendship after the manner of the early redmen when destitute and hungry. They were fed from the abundant stores of the Stuart party and sent upon their way with several days rations. This visit, the travelers …

In the years that have passed since then, the river has changed its course, and has cut into the lower end of Spring creek, leaving the location of the old camp upon what is know n as Big Island just at its lower extremity. At this place some of the older dwellers of the valley -- Theo. D. Deutsch and others -- can recollect the very old cottonwood stumps, possibly the very …

perished on the bluff that bears his name, and was twenty years earlier than the time that Captain Bonneville visited the Scottsbluff county and made mention of the famous mountain. The hut builded by these adventurers consisted of cottonwood posts, over which were fastened buffalo robes, making a wall that kept out the sweeping blasts that came down through Platte canyon, and …

It is quite generally known these peculiar creatures of the wild used to frequent the most inaccessible cliffs of old Scotts Bluff, and they could be seen standing out in bold relief on the outermost pinnacles, surveying the bad lands and the valley with proprietary dignity. They would bound along the ledges that no hunter would dare to follow, or would leap over precipices …

But occasionally great droves of antelope could be seen in the open or passing over some distant ridge. The timbered hills to the southward afforded plenty of blacktail deer, and when the hunters first appeared among them they were too wild to be scared. Upon the approach of the white man they would bound out of the thicket only a few feet away, and turn and stand looking at …

These arc the men who made the' wonderful and hazardous trip, without the loss of a man, in the worst part of the year, who discovered and traversed the most practical route across the continental divide, and laid the foundation for a great national, ocean to ocean high- HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA wey, and to whom a stone shall be raised that will fittingly commemorate their …

It is true that like many another of his kind, he died far away from civilization, and wild animals gnawed at, and fought over his bones. Too many of them shared this melancholy fate ; and too many of them shared the fate of Manuel Lisa who put so much spirit end energy into the fur enterprise. He was of more than average intelligence and had much practical knowledge of the …

caused peace loving men like Jacques Laramie to leave the partisans of the trade, and engage in free trapping. He held that the world was large enough for all. The result was that a large number who believed as he did, had decided to let the partisans fight it out ; and they had taken to the newer fields of enterprise, and had made a rendezvous at the junction of the Laramie …

Louis through the valley of the "Flat Water," in 1812-13, never again returned to the mountains. But civilization was not of his kind, and he died less than two years thereafter. Jacques Laramie was an unusual character among the people of long ago. Too many of the wilderness men were inclined to forget their obligation. Expediency and the needs of the moment were of vastly …

For five years after 1S15 the trappers met in May of each year, and when conditions were favorable, the peltries were loaded on the bullboats, and Laramie with a party would convey them down the river. Another party would take horses to a point about four hundred miles below to assist their return. Keelboats plying on the Missouri river, would take Laramie "and his cargo from …

Thus it transpired that from 1815 onward, there were troops of horse, and fleets of batteaux frequently traversing the great valley of the North Platte. There was always plenty of driftwood for their small needs, as the trips were made quickly. The boats traveled about seventyfive miles per day, and the horses about thirty, so that five or six days would take the boat to the …

The Cheyennes, also south of the river, were of the same unreliable nature, and about 1815, they joined the Arapahoes, and operated with them for several years. On the other hand, the Tetons and Ogallalas were always friendly up to this period. Even in the later wars, Spotted Tail, the famous chief of the Ogallalas, was a peace loving Indian, and regretted the necessity of …

Goshe was found dead in his cabin, and Gonneville was killed on the creek that bore his name for so many years, and even that friend of the Indian, the gentle Jacques Laramie, was not immune from the vicious Arapahoes. In 1820, he announced that he would trap on Laramie fork the coming season, and when the other trappers pointed out the dangers, he said he would go alone. He …

At the forks, he sent a small detachment up the south river with instructions to meet the main party on the Seeds-keedee, or prairie-hen river, which had been called the Spanish river for some time, and soon after it was changed to Green river. With about thirty men he crossed the south fork of the Platte at the point where the city of North Platte now lies, and the north fork …

There was an old saying among the Indians thai " Vbove the forks of the Platte, the grass does not burn." In the shadowy first years then- was very little grass in this country, and the little that did spring up in the early season, and much of the prairie was absolutely ban- by the middle of July. Thus it occurred that when General Ashley reached "the meadows," he rested for …

in the autumn of 1823, and Scott had become a free trapper, when he met LeClerc. (Ferris says that Scott was clerk of the American Fur Company, and that may have been true at one time, but not in 1828.) The competition among the companies had driven the most enterprising men into the free trapper fraternity, and the exactions of free trappers drove the companies to …

and Scott decided upon "Northwest Fur Company," as the name for their new concern. Thus it transpired that a considerable number of free trappers were assembled under the leadership of LeClerc, with Hiram Scott as clerk and bookkeeper. And they were enroute for St. Louis in 1828, to dispose of their first collection of peltries, and formally launch their company. Chittendon …

After a few days the boat was launched, but was upset in the canyon, and all provisions and ammunition were lost. The three men reached the shore, however, and after some difficulty reached Laramie's fork. While searching for food, Roi and Bissonette came upon the fresh trail of LeClerc and party, and abandoned Scott in the wilderness. On reaching the big bluff, they found …

He had married a squaw -- several of them in fact -- and was the chief of a small band when visited by Parkman. They were camped near the present site of La Grange, and were miserably poor. Their principal food consisted of choke berries crushed with stones and dried on buffalo robes in the sun. They had journeyed in from the south, and on the trip had lived for the most part …

For a while he confined himself to short journeys up the river as far as Grand Island where he met trappers coming from the mountains, and up the Loup and other tributaries trading with the Pawnees. In September, 1827, he started from Council Bluffs, where he had a trading station, with a party of forty-five trappers for Salt Lake Valley. This was the first recorded time of …

Pilcher followed the usual method and divided his party at the forks of the Platte, a small detachment crossing both forks of the river near that point, and going up the south side of the "South River." with instructions to join the main party in the vicinity of the "Southern Pass." With thirty men he proceeded up the north side of the "North river," leaving the forks of the …

And the southern tribes, hungry and hostile, were meeting them a) tin- river, and chasing them over the hills to the south. On the morning of October Sth, a large herd was espied in the valley to the westward, and the hunters experienced no difficult) in crossing the river, as it was at low water stage. Several fat buffalo were slaughtered in what later became known as …

Pilcher had one of the most wonderful trips ever made in the mountains, going with only one companion for many hundreds of miles. He returned to St. Louis in June, 1830, and after the death of General Clarke in 1838, he became Superintendent of Indian affairs, which position he held for nine years. It was under his regime that Andrew Drips became Indian Agent at Fort Laramie …

William Sublette was one of the characters in history building in the western country for several years, and it is right that more than passing mention be made of him and his achievements. He was born in 1799 and at the age of nineteen started in business for himself by ope/iing a billiard hall at Saint Charles, Missouri. He was a Kentuckian, and his father was said to be the …

This partnership with Smith and Jackson ended in 1831 upon the death of Smith. And immediately thereafter he formed a partnership with Robert Campbell, another of General Ashley's "enterprising young men." Going a little ahead of my story, Campbell, in June, 1835, with thirteen men, began the erection of a trading post about a mile from the mouth of the Laramie river, and in …

He died on the 2d of July, 1845, and the lady later married her first love, Solomon, that probably being the intention of William when he put the provision in his will. FIRST WAGONS ON OVERLAND TRAILS The valley of the "Flat Wrater" had become well known as a highway for trappers. While data of special trips are a little difficult to obtain, yet mention is made frequently of …

The old world whirls on, blazing a trail across the wilderness of space, yet probably the path it moves along has been worn smooth by vagrant worlds still moving on before. Having traversed this part of the wilderness with a pack horse several times, it was quite natural that one should look for easier modes of conveyance. Thus it was that in the early spring of 1830 two years …

About the middle of August the wagons laden with peltries, returned through the valley, and arrived at St. Louis early in October. Speaking of this trip, Smith, Jackson and I IIS TORN' OF WESTERN NEBRASKA Sublette wrote a letter in October, 1830, to Chouteau, which found its way into the Conggressional Record. It covers a wide variety of subjects. The feasibility of carrying …

And from this time for a few years, the plan was to bring merchandise by water up the Missouri to the Platte, then by wagons into the mountains. Returning parties brought wagons to the Missouri and transferred the beaver to boats, letting the mules rest while the journey was made to St. Louis and return. Thomas Forsyth in a letter to the Secretary of War in October, 1831 …

The death of Hiram Scott on the mountains "i- bluff, bad at last given it a name, and "Scott's Bluff" smm became known as a landmark by practically every trapper in the wildand H brought about a change in the habits (if the fraternity in journeys up and down the valley. If there is one sentimenl in which the whole human race is in accord, that sentiment is the desire to \ isil …

Could they conveniently pass the grave of a comrade who had shared the joys and tribulations of the wilderness, they would have taken some additional hazard for the privilege. What old cowman of this country has not yisited "Boot's Graveyard," at Sidney, where sleep many of the comrades of the days of Creighton, Snodgrass, Coad, Sheedy and Robinson-- cowboys who died with …

In April, 1831, seventy men under Zenas Leonard for Gant & Blackwell, left St. Louis, and on the first of August, arrived at the forks of the Platte. The next month was spent in the North river country between the forks and the Laramie river. The slow progress was made because of side trips hunting and trapping, on Gonneville creek, and over on Blue Water, and to L'Eau qui …

everything of value, as they were on the line of clashes between the northern and southern tribes. In the early summer of 1832, a general i rendezvous of all the fur companies and trappers had been arranged for at Pierre's Hole, some six hundred miles to the northwest. Fitzpatrick and Bridger were to be there with supplies which William Sublette was to bring from St. Louis. To …

The meeting of these two hardened hunters -- one from the mountains and the other fresh from the white man's world, was an event that called for liberal libations, and much genialty. Being admonished of the urgent need of haste, Sublette left his famous old cow and she was never seen again. Spurred onward, he made the six hundred miles to Pierre's Hole in thirty-two days. The …

Wyeth, of Boston and his "down easters." Wyeth learned where Sublette and party were bound, and with the directness and frankness of the New Englander character he told him his purpose and dilemma. Sublette readily agreed that the two parties travel together. On the way across the prairies. Sublette's experienced hunters had taught the New Englanders how to hunt, and much …

"I am sitting on a rock with plain dried buffalo as my entire meal." "I gave the boys some alcohol, more than was good for the peace of the party, and went on a good sized spree myself," etc. Wyeth raised the American flag over the wilderness of Idaho, when he built Fort Hall, and on the Columbia over the lost Astoria. But in the end he sold his fort on Wappatoo island to the …

The party had left Fort Osage, on the first day of May, with twenty wagons drawn by oxen, and further consisted of a large number of horses with one hundred and ten men under the leadership of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, and his able lieutenants, M. S. Cerre and I. R. Walker. They had followed the Sante Fe trail to White riume's agency, then blazed a new trail in a …

And on this identical day, June 13, 1832, William Sublette and Nathaniel J. Wyeth were fording the North fork at the point just above its junction with the "Laramie." It would be utterly impossible to improve upon the language of Washington Irving in describing this trip. And I would not vary from it in the least, except that I want to identify spots of interest by modern …

march of nine miles took them over the high rolling prairie to tin- North fork." "Skirting the North fork for a day or two, I) annoyed by the misquitos, and buffalo gnats, they reached, on the evening of June 17th, a -mall but beautiful grove, from which issued the confused notes of singing birds, the first they had heard since crossing the boundary of Missouri." This is the …

He remarked that the bulls and the cows generally congregated in separate herds." Here they began to see blacktail deer, which abounded in the hills, and were larger than the "prairie species," or antelope. In the gap back of Castle rock they discovered the trail of four or five pedestrians, which later proved to be Crow spies, who had dogged the train in secret for several …

Inasmuch as Bridger came to the mountains with General Ashley in 1823, and was guide during the Indian wars as late as 1865, it may be accepted that he ought to know. "On the 21st," Bonneville's party "camped amid the high and beetling cliffs of indurated clay and sandstone, bearing the semblance of towers, castles, churches, and fortified cities. At a distance it is scarcely …

Indeed, it seems to be a pleasure to them to seek the most rugged and frightful situations, doubtless from the feeling of security." On the 22nd of June, Captain Bonneville negotiated the passage of the big gap in the mountain, experiencing considerable difficulty. Thus were wagons taken over this road for the first time in history, and the gateway between the mountains and …

They proved to be the deputation of Nez Perce Indians (meaning pierced nosed Indians) which had been sent from their nation over on the Columbia to the White Fathers of the east, to learn of the White Man's Book and the Great Spirit of the White People. Bonneville remarked they were far from their native habitat, and while they had previously met the wagons of Sublette they …

They came galloping forward in a body, as if about to make a furious charge, and when close at hand opened to the right and left and wheeled in wide circles around the travelers, whooping and yelling like maniacs. "This done their mock fury settled into a calm, and the chief, approaching the captain, who had remained warily drawn up, though informed of the pacific nature of …

They lost three scalps in the engagement that followed, which satisfied their pursuers. War signs were left by the Crows, as a warning forever to the Cheyennes ; and from this circumstance, Indians and whites who since have visited the ravine south of Pine Bluffs, referred to it as "Crow Creek," which name it bears today. The cow and calf with Bonneville's party came in for a …

They then proceeded toward the northwest "to appease the manes of their comrades by proofs that his death had been avenged, and they intended to have scalp dances and other triumphal rejoicings." On the 26th, Bonneville's party camped at Laramie's fork "a clear and beautiful stream rising in the southwest, maintaing an average width of twenty yards, and winding through broad …

He was likely to omit anything that detracted from his glory. Bancroft is exceedingly severe in his criticism of Bonneville. Irving, who was Bonneville's chronicler of events, was a novelist. And one who has read Irving much is frequently amused at his exaggerations of the character of his heroes. Should his principal character, together with others, go on a spree, his would …

June 22. 1X.i2, an elkskin boat bearing four Indians came plunging out of the rapids at the lower end of Platte canyon and pulled in upon the shore, making camp at about the present site of Guernsey. < >n the following day they ■ 1 down the river to a grove upon what to be .hi island. To the right of it. the waters rushed with increasing velocity, but on the left were …

About noon the following day, the swift current of the river carried the four strangers "near the breast of a mountain on which they could plainly see bighorns," and at night they passed "the wigwam," no doubt referring to Chimney rock. Then there was the long journey through prairies the like of which they had never dreamed, and at the river mouth they were taken on a …

They had "seen his Star in the East." General Clarke entertained and fed them royally after the manner of white people, but it was too much for their uneducated systems, and the two elder members of the party died from excesses. The others remained for some time, being taken from one manner of white man's amusements to another, and finally on the announcement of their …

We leave them asleep by your great waters and wigwams. They were tired in many moons and the moccasins wore out. My people sent me to get the white man's Book of Heaven. You took me where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, and the Book was not there. You showed me images of the good spirits, and the picture of the good land beyond, but the Book was not among them to …

This Macedonian cry, "come over and help us," given by this brave upon his departure on the long journey home, was published in the Christian Advocate, in March, 1833, and made a profound sensation. It started missionaries all over the west. The two Lees, Jason and Daniel, were the first to respond, and they went for the Methodist church, in 1834. While their trip through this …

Some two hundred miles to the northwest of Scottsbluff is an extinct crater of a volcano, and the basin has filled with the clear sweet water of the Big Horn mountains. The lake, fed by everlasting springs, is named Lake De Smet. ~ There were many other heroic bearers of the Cross in the wilderness, but forever will the names of Jason and Daniel Lee. Marcus Whitman, Samuel …

In the shimmering mirage of the west they saw the silhouettes of mountains -- the wigwam, and far away the dim trembling outline of Scottsbluff. And glad to see the beginning of their native element -- the mountains -- they sent reverberating up to the silent sky, the shrill and plaintive cry of the coast tribe Indians. They broke into a run -- down into and out past the …

This was accomplished in 1826. While on the Santa Fe Trail in 1831, he was killed by Comanches, and the firm of Smith Jackson & Sublette was dissolved. It was then that William Sublette and Robert Campbell became partners in transportaion and fur enterprise. In 1834. Mr. Campbell accompanied Sublette to the mountains. The route taken was the cut off from Fort Osage to "Great …

Previously to this date, the Indians had learned to come to the rendezvous of free trappers, and many hundred of them journeyed annually to trade their peltries for the bright shining trinkets and tinsel so dear to their nature. After naming the place "Fort William," it occurred to Campbell that there were other Fort Williams in the west, and to prevent confusion in shipments …

a century ago, who accompanied General Connor on his Powder river expedition. Ladeau's father was a French-Creole and his mother a Pawnee squaw. When a small boy he was captured by the Sioux, by whom he was brought up. He was born on the Platte river, was an old timer at the Fort, and died about thirty years ago. This is the story handed down by John Hunton, now living at the …

One day, there being no one handy of whom this shipping clerk might inquire, he marked a number of bales and boxes destined for "Fort William on the Laramie," simply for "Fort Laramie," remembering only the river on which the fort was situated. Campbell, observing this, liked the idea and he changed the name as it would prevent confusion in future. This incident occurred some …

Fontenelle was made general manager, and after that date they had practically all the fur trade of Wyoming and western Nebraska. In later years there were many smaller establishments that ran for a time, but the bulk of the business went to the well established American Fur Company. Among these smaller concerns was Adams and Sabylle who built Fort John in 1836, and who later …

Hundreds of trappers periodically appeared, and from here some journeyed to civilization while others returned to the wilds. Thousands and thousands came from the east, and went on into the west ; some for homes on the Williamette and the Columbia, others to follow the trail of Jedediah Smith into the golden mecca of California. Adventurers going and coming across the …

So when Joshua Pilcher became commissioner of Indian affairs after the death of General Clarke, the influence of the American Fur Company was such that they were able to secure the appointment of Andrew Drips, an employee of the company at Fort Laramie, as resident agent. It raised quite a storm of protest from the other traders, but the department soon became fully advised …

This man Richards gave the federal authorities no little trouble, but in resisting a detachment from Fort Laramie, which had been seent out to destroy the quantity of liquor which he had brought in from the south, he was killed about 1850. ROBIDEAUX OF ST. GENEVIEVE -- KIOWA RAID BY RED CLOUD Sources of information in matters of history are often widely scattered, and the …

(For those who care to know, the exact location was where the spring house is now situated, just southeast of the big spring.) Last, but not least, there was old "Buckskin Charley" White, the intrepid government scout. From these, and partly through the kindly offices of Perry Braziel, Runey Campbell and John Peters, I am able to patch together an interesting tale, which …

He claimed to be an alchemist, avowing to have discovered formulas for defying the ravages of time and age, and also of turning baser metals to gold. He said he was born 300 B. C. and expected to live forever. He was not an adventurer, for he had independent means, although the sources thereof were unknown. He was wonderfully informed, and talked intelligently of conversations …

Louis, until Napoleon, with his tremendous energy appeared to change the maps of the world, the population of the city was largely French, and the voyageurs who allied with trapping, hunting and exploring expeditions, were largely of French extraction. Readers will note the preponderance of French names appearing in these stories. St. Genevieve, near St. Louis, was formerly …

Joseph, Missouri) or on the Gunnison, or on the Unitah, but a humble kinsman, of a later generation. For a number of years, Basil Robideaux led a hard life in the wilderness. He had the smallpox in 1838 which swept with such virulence over the plains, and depopulated Indian tribes. And at this time, the instinct of self preservation caused his compaions to desert him, as they …

After days of hunger he would fall in with the fortune to kill a deer, wolf or buffalo. All indifferent to its kind, indiscriminate as to its quality, he would greedily fill of its carcass bloodraw ; and striking a fire to keep away creatures that were a little more wild than he, he would lie down by the remnants of the half eaten carcass to sleep the fitful sleep of the …

By the spring of 1848, he had accumulated enough to lay in a supply of traders goods, and removed to "Scotts Bluff Hills." Scotts Bluffs were originally designated in the plural, and extended along the range, intersecting with the main Chalk mountains to the south and southwest. Robideaux built a small trading station near the springs near the head of a canyon, and put up a …

History connects the naming of Kiowa creek with Robideaux, in that the same raiders from the souih who burned the trading post were the following morning completely wiped out on the creek. The regular hunting ground of the Kiowas is south of the Arkansas, and east of the Purgatory. As a tribe they are more often mentioned as Comanches, by early writers. They wen- very warlike …

Crossing the hills, they stopped at a spring leading down to the northwest. Here they rested after their pillaging of the old post. At this time a dashing young Sioux warrior, with a small band of young braves, came down from the north, thinking perhaps to meet some of their ancient enemies, the Arapahoes. His spies discovering the camp of Kiowas, and being somewhat …

This reference is no doubt to old Robideaux, as no other such ruins exist, or is there any memory of them among old timers. And there are none on the line of the trail that leads through Mitchell Gap. The naming of several gaps in the bluffs is clear. Robideaux station doubtless led to the naming of the pass of that name, and the passage through the hills to the north of the …

The wilderness about it, and the people at the fort, were startled by the scream of a steam whistle, and so far, as was within the knowledge of man here, there was no such thing nearer than the Missouri river. The winter previous had 'been one of considerable severity and much snow had fallen in the mountains. The spring had turned off bright and warm, and the river presented …

The advance up the river was made at the rate of about thirty-five miles per day, below the junction of the rivers, and from that point to Platte canyon the average was about twenty-five miles. On the return the boat travelled from seventy-five to ninety miles per day. On the trip both ways it was also found necessary at times to use green cottonwood and ash for fuel, and to …

Among the few passengers alighting at Fort Mitchell from the El Paso was Reuleau, the trapper, who has a history. He is first mentioned in 1833, when he met the lone Nez Perce brave on his journey into the west, after the futile visit to St. Louis. Francis Parkman mentions him at Fort Laramie in 1847. Previous to the latter date, he had had the misfortune to freeze off the …

But for him the trail was near its end. This was the last time he ever came to light. He sleeps somewhere in the wilderness about us, but where, no one knows. I am glad that my own father met him once at Fort Mitchell in 1850, when he made his first journey to California. For it was from Reuleau that father learned much that was of value regarding Indian strategy, and the …

Their number grew until there were a half dozen or more at play, chasing each other down the slide, and swimming away sputtering, and slapping as they went about it. Then an otter appeared, and he quietly ascended the bank, to the top of the slide. He would take the slide in the manner that the beaver did, but upon striking the water, would go under and remain for a distance …

It appears that of a sudden the animals quit their playing, and the Indian saw or claimed he could see the outline of an elk in the bushes upon the other bank of the improvised lagoon. He said the elk had given the water animals some warning of the near approach of men. He claimed that there was a language of the animal kingdom, which all animals understood -- the language of …

In 1845, when a number of posts had been built around Fort Laramie, cutting off the travelers before they reached the central and larger institution, they builded two other subsidiary posts. One was on the north bank of the Platte opposite the mouth of the Laramie river, that remained there until after the gold excitement in California, and the other was a little north of the …

One suggested was where Fort Sedgewick was later established (near Big Springs), and another "on Horseshoe creek, about forty miles west of Fort Laramie in the Black Hills." At this time the mountains around Hartville and extending southwest, including Laramie Peak, were called the Black Hills. Horseshoe creek was not Horse creek, as will be seen from the designated location …

This post was commenced at once, and its location was upon the west bank of the Platte just south of the west end of the bridge between the city of Scottsbluff and Mitchell valley. Anyone who has visited this historic spot, can see the advantage of location. It commands an excellent view of the valley in all directions, yet is far enough away from the bluff to be out of range …

The report referred to did not have the element of fact, for it is certain that Fontenelle was alive as late as 1852, when my father met him at Fort Mitchell. Lucien Fontenelle had a remarkable history. He was of direct royal lineage, and his parents, Francois and Moreonise Fontenelle. came from Marseilles. France, and Lucien and his sister were born in the early part of the …

Thus it transpired that Lucien Fontenelle, having for so many years braved the dangers of the wilderness, being a veteran of the mountains, now that he had attained the age of about forty-five years, should be relieved of some of the activities and -stress of a hunter, the new fort at Scotts Bluff offered the retreat. For a time it was called Fort Fontenelle, but the …

An almost continuous stream of wagons stretched for five hundred miles, along the great highways over the mountains. Is it any wonder that the Indians who came down to Fort Laramie with Peter DeSmet in 1852, when they looked upon the great wide bare trail, should imagine that there must be a great void in the east, and could not comprehend that this was only a small fragment …

And now Fort Mitchell had become the rendezvous for trappers, as well as a halting place for overland travelers. It was here that trapping parties disbanded and went their several ways, and it was here they met to journey to the white settlements. When a number had made ready for the trip eastward they would take boats or horses, and with the voice of the wilderness, and with …

After a time the sameness of the city grew tiresome, and when another trapper outfit was preparing for the west, the most of them would be ready to come back to the life that was life to them. The joy of returning to the haunts of the mountains was theirs, and happiness beamed from the countenances, as they danced, capered and sang about the camp getting ready for the journey …

French language was much in use by the Americans, who in the main disdained the happy-go-lucky French camp attaches. They were frequently referred to as "Le Foux" or the fools, but laughter and song were unyielding to the shafts of ridicule, and whenever a fleet of boats cast off from the old fort, the splash of paddle, or the movement of poles were to the rhythm of French …

It was in 1833, so says Rufus Sage, that a party were descending the river, and they stopped upon an island some distance below the junction of the two branches of the Platte. A man named Brady and his French companion bad quarrelled. Tin- others of the party had gone out to hunt, and. upon returning they found Brady dead. 1 lis companion said it was by accidental discharge of …

No one has ever confessed the murder pf the Frenchman, but it seemed that providence had a way in dealing with murderers in the wilderness. It is generally believed that providence used in most cases, the hand of some friend of the murdered man. The death of Brady gave name to Brady Island, which name time has never effaced. One of the most distinguished caravans to visit the …

All inquiries of the latter nature led him to Jim Bridger, who was at Fort Laramie at that time. The meeting was mutually interesting to the principals, and to the spectators. Gore was accustomed to command, and he had all the imperial instincts of his nativity. On the other hand, Bridger cared absolutely nothing for rank or station. In the mountains all men were to him the …

Of the former Bridger "lowed it was too highfalutin fer him, and he did not like that Pullstuff anyway ; he thought too much of lager beer." Munchausen's stories struck him as "a leetle too big," but when his own stories were repeated to him, he said, "well, maybe they air too big too," with a twinkle in his eye. These and similar discussions continued while the two remained …

In one year, 1847, the American Fur Company shipped from Fort Mitchell, then just being established as Fort Fontenelle, and from Fort Laramie, then soon to be transferred to the government, forty-seven thousand buffalo robes. Fort Mitchell was the last trading post of the American Fur Company, and remained their property until 1864, when it was sold to the Northwest Fur …

Perrin de lac in his book, 1802. puts on his map "Ancient Village of the Paducas," on the upper Niobrara near Rawhide Buttes. Robert Harvey, when doing some surveying in Sioux county, about forty years ago, came upon "old ruins" northwest of Agate. An early map of Nebraska indicates "ancient ruins" across the river and some distance north of the present site of Bridgeport …

Major Long also stated that in 1820 the Cheyennes, "on the Cheyenne river" secured goods from the British -traders through the Sioux and they would bring them to the Platte where at "distant periods" evidently meaning long intervals, a sort of an Indian trading fair is held, usually on "Grand Camp creek," by the Cheyennes. Arapahoes, Kiowas, and Comanches. Tin's may have been …

The Sioux would have undoubtedly followed the business had it not been for the interference of the white trader, who took it over entirely. In 1814-15 the Sioux and Kiowas were at war, and a decisive battle was fought on Kiowa creek in the west part of the present Scotts Bluff county. Here the Kiowas wrere beaten and retired into the mountains. They later went south and joined …

They attacked at night, and at their sudden approach the old woman, who was grinding bones in an improvised mortar, and had a torch of pitch pine stuck down her back, with the upper end alight, started to run toward the river. The village was situated upon a bluff. As she approached its precipitous shore with the Assinaboines in close pursuit, she took the torch from her back …

Sioux Red Cloud's father had a brother who married a Northern Cheyenne woman about 1820, and the Cheyenne Red Cloud was their son. This indicates that the Northern Cheyennes and Ogallala Sioux were at peace and intermarrying at that time. This Red Cloud, half Sioux and half Northern Cheyenne, married a Southern Cheyenne woman, and lived with the Southern tribe. This would …