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.

They then went up the Lodgepole valley to the point near the present city of Chappell, "twenty-four miles from the mouth HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA of the creek," and from there crossed to Mud Springs (now Simla) which they attacked on February 4th, driving off some horses and mules and a lot of Ed Creighton's work cattle. Creighton had the cattle on what was known as …

The impudence of coming practically under the walls of the fort, caused decisive and prompt action on the part of the military. Captain O'Brien, with thirty-seven intrepid and mounted men, rode out and charged a very superior number of Indians. There was a frightful carnage, and hand to hand encounters. The soldiers lost half their number, and made a fighting retreat. Fourteen …

Captain O'Brien and an escort were bringing the stage from the east, when they discovered the Indians and the smoking ruins of the station. There were four men and one woman in the stage and five of the escort, and they had just overtaken two teamsters. The small cavalcade made a show of bravery, and moved steadily along. Captain O'Brien rode to an eminence, gave signals …

They were apparently well satisfied for the time to revel in their plunder. They were in such numbers, being several thousand, that it would be impossible for them to subsist except for such raids. This large band was made up of several tribes, but for the most part, were Sioux, Arapahoes and Ogallalas. Great quantities of supplies were being forwarded with the intention of …

On proceeding to Cedar Creek it was found that the Indians had crossed the river. In pushing forward they discovered a large war party on the opposite bank, and were preparing to cross when they discovered that the Indians were crossing to the south side, with the apparent purpose of engaging the military. A position was taken and rifle pits dug, the howitzer that had been …

Some two hundred others started after the daring little band of soldiers, which fought its way back with a loss of two men. The Indians then gave up the attack for the day. The following morning they renewed the fight, but not with the same heart as the day before, and soon gave it up and retired into the hills on the north side of the- river. The whole cavalcade of the savage …

One of the disheartening things about Indian fighting was the lack of knowledge displayed by those in charge higher up. For instance, long after hostilities were commenced and the Indians were congregating to resist establishment of posts along the Bozeman road in the Powder river country. General Dodge wired to General Mitchell, who was about to leave i imaha fur Fort …

After the battle, the hostiles moved to Bear Butte in the Black Hills, and early in March, the bands separated, Spotted Tail and his Brules moving east of the Hills, while the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, joined the Northern Cheyennes under Red Cloud, on Powder river. In April, Spotted Tail, Little Thunder, and sixty lodges of Brules, came in to Fort Laramie and voluntarily …

Wilcox, no relation, that I can find, of the captain, was employed by the government to disinter the bodies and remove them to the government cemetery at Cottonwood. He quite easily located the grave of Captain Fouts and a soldier at Fort Mitchell, and after an extended search he found the two other soldiers, who had been buried on the battlefield. Later,- two other soldiers …

General Conner, in the Spring of 1865, moved his headquarters from Denver to Fort Sedgwick, which was built not far from the site of the burned Julesburg, for from this point he could better direct operations. Mooney says that Red Cloud was "the most famous and powerful chief in the history of the tribe, and rose to distinction by his own force of character." "He was not a …

Butler, "the nature of the system that prevailed among the Sioux and Cheyennes as to the authority and position of the acknowledged chiefs, and the war chiefs or leaders like Red Cloud and Crazy Horse and Roman Nose. One might imagine there would be much conflict of authority. But evidently not." Crazy Horse was not much known until after 1865, when he had a brother killed by …

M. Chivington, at Fort Lyons, on the South Platte, drove the peace loving Indians into the more desperate of the savages. The latter was an unprovoked attack upon a large village of inoffensive Indians. Over the lodge of the chief there floated the stars and stripes, yet an hysterical, or a deliberately brutal, commander brought about wholesale murder, with the result that …

He was furnished an escort from Julesburg to the "wood reserve" on "Lorron's "fork, and there erected a small log house, called by him the "ranch." The day following its completion, he and three others were at work loading some wood about three miles from the "ranch." The thermometer was about twentyfive degrees below zero. His party was attacked by Indians, which rode clown …

The savages then drove away their horses and mules and some of their cattle, but the latter could not travel sufficiently rapid to suit them. The next day it was decided to return to Julesburg, and ask that the government furnish guards to protect them from future similar experience. They took the oxen and went to the tableland in the direction of the old Water Holes, but were …

About ten miles north of the present site of Sidney, he came upon a detachment that had already been sent out. They said that the day before, they had had an engagement with some Indians near there, and had taken from them a number of horses, which proved to be Goad's, and the Indians had fled in the storm towards the south. A few days later thirty-six men arrived at a "ranch" …

A military post was established, and soldiers were garrisoned there. "Shorter" county, the antecedent of Lincoln county, had tried to organize five or six years earlier, but the only officer who had qualified was Charles McDonald, judge, who did so in order to perform marriage ceremonies. The county seat had been designated as Cottonwood Springs, but the county was …

With this they made merry, tying one end of a bolt to a pony's tail, one would ride out across the prairie with a hundred yards of brilliant calico streamers trailing in the wind. At another time "Dutch Frank" saw the Indians on the track ahead of him, and feeling sure that it meant death to stop, he opened the throttle, plowing through them throwing them into the air and …

It was at this time that Tall Bull, one of the most bestial and brutal, although brave Indians, obtained the title of the "scourge of Kansas," because of his numerous raids, culminating in the massacre of the "German Settlement," and taking away two of the young women. General Carr had at hand the strategy, of maneuvering of the best known of all the old scouts on the pursuit …

INDIAN AGENCIES ADJUSTED -- SITTING BULL'S DETERMINATION -- BAT- TLE OF WAR BONNET CREEK Then for a few years, the work of establishing agencies and locating the Indians in places where each might better work out his destiny, without the interference or trouble making of another tribe was the duty of the war department. Early in the seventies the old Red Cloud agency was built …

None of the equipment nor any trace of them was ever found. Nothwithstanding Spotted Tail's avowed friendship for the whites, and his expressed opinion of the uselessness of struggling against the white race, when Wiltse's surveying party reached the vicinity of White Earth Creek, one hundred and sixty-two miles west of Keya Paha river, a number of Indian scouts armed with …

The establishing of Fort Robinson, in 1876, was practically contemporaneous with the adjustment of the Indians in their different agencies. It was nearer to Red Cloud because the Red Cloud Indians needed watching more than those under Spotted Tail. In 1876, Red Cloud was deposed by the whites, and he no longer ruled as chief. The "great red cloud" -- his warriors wore red …

If having business at Laramie they would go up the river to Laramie ferry or bridge, then by the mail route to White river. Freighters frequently forded the Platte at Old Red Cloud, and then struck down the Platte a number of miles, to avoid the sand ridges that lay directly north of the agency. From the old agency to the new, there seems to have been several roads, and they …

The Sioux Trail from White river to the Republican ran parallel with this route, and it was used as late as 1876 by Brules and Ogallalas. Fort Robinson and the New Red Cloud agency on White river was where all the trails merged into one. The fall of Red Cloud, and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills brought forth another leader of the war division of the Sioux. Sitting …

I have walked over the battle ground and observed the location of the graves, as shown by the little white stones, for each was buried where he fell, and it tells the story of a struggle better than all else. All who are making a trip into the northwest, should, if possible, stop over one day at Crow agency, Montana, just over the Wyoming line, and spend that day at the battle …

Events justified his disobedience, as it often did in the kaleidoscope changes in fighting Indians. Colonel Cody, who at that time was in the midst of a Wildwest exhibition, at the Centennial Fair, abruptly closed his show at tremendous loss, and volunteered his services. He was made chief of scouts with General Merritt. To intercept the movements of the Indians the cavalry …

It fell with a forward momentum, and the horse Cody was riding fell over it. Yellow Hand and the veteran of the plains were both afoot, and went at each other without a moment's delay, one with his tomahawk, and the other with his knife. With his left hand Cody caught the blow of the tomahawk, and plunged the knife into the heart of the Indian. Falling upon him as he went …

There was some apprehension that when they got among the five thousand friendlies they would excite them to violence. It was determined to make a show of courage, and the troops, in solid formation, ready for any emergency, rode straight through the agency, to Fort Robinson. That ended the insurrection at the agency, and Sitting Bull, whom Custer was trying to prevent from …

I have a letter from Koch in which he speaks of his connection with the Sand Hills station, which is located a few miles over the line in Wyoming, and he says : "eighteen miles west of Scottsbluff." This would indicate Robideaux Gap, far eighteen miles west of Mitchell Gap would not reach the state line. It was shortly after the Grattan Massacre that Spotted Tail and a band of …

It is one of the many branches of the Cheyenne river, not much more than a creek or canyon, occasionally widening to small hay valleys. In the early days it bore the Indian name "Big Beard." the same obtaining from the character of the grass that grew along the bank of the stream. But for the last generation it has held the name of "Crazy Woman," because of incidents and …

This unexpected denouement, for there had been no intention of murder, for a moment disconcerted the outlaw, and in the moment the father and the girl escaped, but were separated in the night. The story tells of their wandering up through the valley of the Nortn Platte, and to the Horse creek caves. Then on through the Rocky Gap, where their persecutor chased the "Prairie …

The girl's sweetheart was temporarily away from the lodge on the Medicine, and when he returned he found the cabin in ruins, and all had departed, including the woman. Of course he knew nothing of their fate, nor that the woman had been hit by a tomahawk, and had wandered away "a crazy woman." Some instinct sent him on into the west, and there is quite a long story of it, and …

They then lived for a time in a huge sod cabin, some distance west of the Big Horn range in Wyoming, but later left their happy mountain domicile for the old home in Ohio. "Sometimes when Lillie musing sits, A dreamy mist before her flits, And to her waking memories come Fair visions of a mountain home. And all her gilded marble halls Become transformed to sodded walls, Her …

We all had the same ambitions, and all did our level best to make those humble places of abode, real homes. We had no wild or extravagant ideas or desires, but we wanted that farm for ours and our children. A few, like the dwellers in the cabin west of the Big Horns, went back to better things (perhaps) in the east. The most of us that have survived are still here, where our …

era and the Sterling & Cheyenne branches of the Burlington drew heavily from the granges of western Nebraska for the help needed to build them. Young and Hiersche brought in from Colorado the few sheep that was the nucleus of their later large herds. Irrigation in the North Platte valley was in its infancy. A few of the smaller ditches were in operation, and others had been …

We are told that they again sought for but could not find the owners, and as they had apparently been abandoned for a long time, no doubt for better equipment, the old ones were loaded in the wagons and brought into western Nebraska. It is yet an open question if they sought very diligently for the owners, and also what they would have done had they not found them for they had …

He said that there was no flour in the house, no food, that the children cried because they were so hungry, that he had brought a load of wood to town to try to trade for something. No one wanted to trade; the merchants needed money and not fire wood, and no one else would buy it. He only wanted a few dollars, and he could not borrow at the banks, or get credit at the stores …

Those three dollars were the last three dollars that he had in the world. What was he to do ? He managed it some way, just as many another managed it, and to this day, they can look back and say : "I do not see how it was done, or where it came from, or what kept the wolf away. Elijah was fed by the ravens, and I guess the ravens must have looked after us." HISTORY OF WESTERN …

On the night of September 9, 1878, eightynine men and two hundred and forty-six women and children, vanished in the darkness, leaving their tepees standing to deceive the soldiers. As soon as the departure was discovered, hundred of troops from a half dozen posts, were detailed to overtake or intercept them. Guards were placed along the Kansas Pacific and the Union Pacific …

In their flight of five hundred miles, they had, besides the damage inflicted on the settlements, fought three engagements, each time with more than twice their number, and with a total loss of only fifteen Indians killed. From prisoners taken later, it was learned that they were trying to reach their kinsmen in Montana, where they intended to surrender if they would he …

When Dull Knife's band reached the sand hills of Nebraska, they scattered into small bands, and the pursuit of any single band resulted in that band breaking into fragments, and if a capture was effected, it was only a single Indian. The soldiers, weary of the long chase, and the baffling tactics of the Indians, went to Fort Robinson ; and after a brief respite, together with …

Red Cloud requested of the army officers that the knives be taken away from the Indians, for in event that the government should order that they be taken again south, they would, rather than yield to the order, take their own lives. This request was ignored by the military. In. the time that elapsed in getting orders from Washington there was apparently some laxity in …

They then tore up the floors and constructed rifle pits in the enclosure, to command all the windows. About ten o'clock at night, on the night of January 9th, they killed two sentinels, took their guns and made good their escape. As they fled over the snow in the valley of Soldier creek, the alarm was given and hundreds of shots were exchanged with not many casualties, after …

In the silence, they moved forward, and came upon tracks in the snow, indicating, the route taken by the fugitives. There was a dark spot upon the snow, that as they approached proved to be Buffalo Hump, a relative of Dull Knife, and he was near unto death. So near, that his only movement thereafter was a futile attempt to kill Bronson, which effort took his last ounce of …

Of the three hundred and thirty-five that left Indian Territory, seventy-two were the total number killed. Two hundred and six were recaptured, and sixty finally made good their escape. They won their fight, however, for instead of sending them south, the others were brought north from the territory. The tribe was given a reservation in Montana, to which many of them were …

Clark, captain of the Second Cavalry, followed the work of Major North in training Indians for scouting and police work. North had a number of Pawnees at Summit Springs when Tall Bull's band was annihilated ; and as they were preparing to go into battle, they discarded Uncle Sam's uniforms, and wore only breachclouts. They painted the bodies thick with vermillion, red and …

It was the universal language of the race. So impressed was General Sheridan with its importance that he detailed Captain Clark to prepare and submit to him a work on the silent language. This was not completed until 1881 ; too late to be of value in the wars, but of great interest and merit. Old Indian fighters and frontiersmen had, however, absorbed much of it in the earlier …

THE WINDING STORY-- SAGES TALE OF ORGIES -- THE NEW DAWN "The story winds as winds the river," and memory and history goes back along the Red Cloud Trail, when it did not bear the distinction of the common translation of the name, "Marpiya Luta." It was used, however, by the trapper and the trader, and the country of North Sioux county, then unorganized, was alive with dangers …

Life, morality, soul, all the finer Instincts of man, were subordinated and submerged in the one great purpose of greed. The stories of Sage in Rock Mountain Travels, include events in the history of the Panhandle of Nebraska. Sage went out over the route later designated as the Red Cloud Trail, with a party of the traders, and his is a harrowing recital of the drama of life …

About the same time two traders from another fur company appeared and one had liquor and the other goods to trade. The Indians were treated, and as usual, commenced to fight. In the end they attacked the other trader. He was compelled to flee, and through the friendly assistance of squaws, he managed to escape with his life. His goods were taken, and one of the Indians who had …

Bull Eagle, another chief, was intoxicated and laughed at him. Inflamed he rushed to Sage's quarters, intending to kill "Yellow Hair," as Sage was called. He was tall, well made, and wild-eyed. Bull Eagle, in sudden anger appeared, and made a thrust at him with his knife, but the old chief caught the blade and nearly severed two of his fingers. His wife then interfered, but …

Low Bow, his son. preached a sermon, calling on "Wakan-tunga" the Great Spirit for help. All the Indians" cried like children, and the whites helped prepare a burial scaffold. After all the chaos of early years, we wonder that there is anything left of the red men ; but time and another generation accomplish marvelous changes. There was a change in the few years that followed …

In the soul of Standing Bear, the "new day" was breaking. And the highly intelligent Indian, the farmer and the cattle raiser of the Pine Ridge, may some day know that the destruction of the serpents in White river, started the new thought, which, when the fires of the fourteen years of war burned out, left his race a new people, and his tribe with new ideals, and a destiny in …

She did not want them to be at war with the white race, and through all the years of the last great conflagration she suffered, and plead for the cause of peace. To cure her infatuation for an officer at Fort Laramie, Spotted Tail took her over to the far Powder river. Here she pined away and died, the doctors said of tuberculosis, but the soul of White Flower has never died …

They wrapped her body in beautifully dressed deer skins, and out north of the present ruin that was once the post hospital, they erected a scaffold, for her burying place. The soldiers helped to erect the scaffold, they went out to meet the burial pageant, and over her resting place they fired the burial salute. . Her favorite white horse was killed and its head and tail …

From every source available we have thought to make this part of the story of the development of the high plains, complete, there being no authentic record. Only fragmentary incidents here and there, that have fiction and inaccuracy as a basis or for filling, it gives but little idea of the magnitude of the business. Naturally from the broken stories -- the material at hand …

I find particular objection to the stories that picture the man of the range, on a dance floor with his "chaps" on, or wearing a hat or spurs or gun. When such are given, it shows the ignorance of the writer. He never saw a cowboy dance, but has been at some low joint called a "dance hall" where "four-flushers" and tinhorn gamblers congregate ; a place that would not exist if …

J. Robb. John 'Wright'. Charles H. McDonald, and a score of others now that HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA have taken the "long, long trail," to Other Ranges. And from those living, (1919), Frank and Jess Yoder, H. V. Redington, R. U. Vantassel, John Adams, Charles F. Coffee, John Hunton, Granville Tinnen, Joe Wilde, Eugene A. Hall, Perry Braziel, Robert Graham, Charles Nelson …

Neuman, W. F. Gumaer, Billy King, Harry Hynds, John Evans, Tom Hughes, and dozens of other of the old guard have come the stories of the time when the Panhandle of Nebraska was one vast pasture where roamed the long horns, and where wild horses and the bronchos ran free in the western wind. In the new mode of travel, the motor car, I have gone many miles to find the man or the …

In the upper story about fifty rooms have been fitted out for the accommodation of the public, and the other half of the upper story is one immense hall with oak floors used by the people of the country wide as a meeting and dance hall. It is one hundred and seventy-five feet long and twenty-four in width. Around about this building the barren severity of soldier's quarters …

It was not uncommon in those early days of rough men for quick retort and challenge and resort to arms. And many a man was buried in the cemetery with "boots on" to lie in unmarked graves. To the west and south of an oblong square formerly used for parade grounds, stands what is left of the officers quarters, which were excellent, well-built domiciles, and in the midst of them …

The larger outfits, the Creightons, the Coads, and a few others, established "ranches" or a headquarters for a few caretakers, who were to look after the "bull herds," during the winter months. Bull canyon, in western Banner county, is one of these wintering places. Another point was on Cedar creek and Smith's lurk, near Mud Springs. In Carter canyon is the ruins of another of …

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA STAGE STATION RANCHES -- NAMING FORT MITCHELL ON THE NORTH PLATTE RIVER FIRST RANCHES Jules Beni, of early fame, once had a "ranch," on the south side of the South Platte about a mile from the mouth of the Lodgepole creek, and as early as sixty-four this ranch, which was nothing but a trading post, where occasionally a lame ox was left to …

He, Holliday, obtained his wood supply from Jack Morrow's canyon. Ware tells us that there were two crossings of the Platte at Old Julesburg, one almost opposite the station and curving up the stream to a point about a half mile above the entrance, and the other several miles farther west. After crossing the Platte, these two routes continued up the Lodgepole on opposite sides …

Consequently, General Mitchell determined to drive them south so that they would cease their murdering and depredations along the Overland and Denver trails. On the evening of January 27, 1865, he set out prairie fires, simultaneously all the way from Fort Kearney to Denver. There was a brisk north wind blowing, and it "sure" was one sight to see the sheet of flame three …

Tracy came to the country as early as 1867, and he cut cordwood in the Pine Bluff hills which he sold to the Union Pacific. This railroad was just then penetrating into the western part of Nebraska and they used, handled and sold large quantities of wood. Tracy had one pile of a hundred cords or more, cut in the winter of 1867, or the spring of 1868, waiting for the* …

John Hunton is authority for the statement that the first real cow business in the vicinity of Fort Laramie was when Benjamin Buckley HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA Mills ( Buck Mills), a Kentuckian, brought two hundred and fifty short horn cows from southern Iowa and northern Missouri in October, 186S. These he located on the Laramie river about three miles up that stream from …

Coad, the government wood contractor" up to 1872, yielded to Hunton, the contract for Fort Laramie, which Hunton held for ten years. Hunton began to see something in ranching when the larger herds commenced to arrive, and he located a ranch about four miles up the river, and began to accumulate cattle. This he continued during the period he was supplying wood for the fort. His …

He crossed the Kaw river on pontoon bridges and drove his herd through the streets of Topeka, when it was but a village. These were among the first of the ranchers west of the junction of the Platte rivers. This magnificent cow country which lies west of the forks of the Platte, and east of Fort Laramie, soon was filled with great herds. The first herds were gathered about the …

John Hunton would not be sure about that, but he thought the mountain was unnamed pior to the locating of the 66 brand. However, a number of old timers, namely: D. McUlvane, Colin Hunter, H. M. Ingraham, and others have said that the mountain was named before the Daters appeared in this country. The thrilling events that led to the naming of mountain forms another chapter in …

The fame of the mountain does not extend far across the wide reaches of western prairie, except along the Texas trail, where from the Panhandle of the Lone Star state to Assinnaboine, the cow-punchers knew of the Daters and the famous Sixty-six brand. Only a few have heard of the battle of Sixty-six mountain, and most of the early ranchmen assume that the cattle brand brought …

The mystery of it is that Ed. connected up with these people, and that he lived and experienced events that transpired many years before he had come into the west. About the silence of the wagons, and about the solitude of Sixty-Six mountain, there is wrapped one of the great tragedies of the west ; and one person only can tell that story in all its graphic details. It forms …

The lady slipper, that rare wild flower, grew unplucked beside the trails that he had made. The people interested in him, his relatives, had many children of their own ; he was as a fifth wheel to a wagon, and they thought that he might make a place for himself in the west. So, at the age of fifteen or sixteen years, they sent him out to the far wilderness of Cheyenne, "to …

He also sought at the restaurants, and offered to leave the gun as security for his breakfast. One of the old night women of Cheyenne, straggling along in the grey dawn of morning, saw him, and bought him his breakfast. Her motherly intuition had sensed his needs, and her ragged heart had pulsed for the moment with the eternal sensibility of charity. Thus even in the lowly and …

The bees and the butterflies were calling him. The lone environment, the solitude of the prairies, are enough to try the intellects of mature people, and there is graver danger for the young. Out of the high tablelands, the mirage makes everything seem so unreal. Lakes where lakes are not, trees where the trees have never grown, inverted cities on the sky, mountains lifting …

A "touch of the prairie," is madness incipient, and unless relief comes in some exciting diversion, or in the rush of tears, the victim will perish in the wilderness, or come wandering into the edges of civilization in a sort of driviling lunacy that may be permanent. The writer remembers well his own experiences in Goshe's Holes, now called Goshen Park, where the goblins of …

When the tempest of his homesickness passed and the frame shook spasmodically with subsiding sobs, he would return to the duties of the range. By and by, the prairies began to look different, he began to make friends with the cattle he tended, the horses he rode, and other life of the plains. Nomadic red men drifted by at intervals and he had no fear of them. Like Fiddler …

But she did describe the violinist as a "bow-legged, left-handed, red-headed and freckle-faced fiddler, who played with the violin standing on its head." If one recognizes anyone from this description, perhaps one best be as circumspect as was Mrs. Stickney, and mention no name, for though now a grizzled veteran of the prairies, the described can clip the ears of a coyote at a …

I had heard of it before, but had never heard the story in its entirety until the side partner of "Shanghai" Pierce, dropped a few words that put me on the trail. It was after the Union Pacific was builded, and the old Overland trails were falling into disuse, that Ed. Stemler came into the west, and the summit of Sixty-six mountain knew his homesick .grief and loneliness …

They were a party of emigrants, and had left Julesburg several days previously; the grasses of the Lodgepole valley were so alluring to them and their worn stock, that when they reached the point where the Jules Cutoff left the valley for the table-lands, they were reluctant to follow the continental thoroughfare. So, up the Lodgepole valley they continued for several miles …

The trail of the runaway horses took the emigrants to the head of "Lorren's Fork," then to the springs in the hills bordering Gonneville or Pumpkin creek. Now they had come back, but were going again. Abandoning his purpose of going to Ohio, the lone herdsman hereafter journeyed with them, showing them the way to Fort Laramie. He knew the route, the watering places, and the …

They took refuge in the hills and fought long and hard. It was days before the remnant of the sixty-six were overcome near a spring on the north side of the mountain, and here it was that Ed. Stemler fell, as the others had fallen, fighting stubbornly. There is a superstition among the Indians about red hair, atid it is said this fact is all that saved him from the shocking …

After a few weeks of solitude, an adventure like this, and its miraculous finale for the one that lived, and who knew no reason why he had been spared, will make it all seem like a vagrant dream. A nightmare of the prairie, a figment that never had real substance. Why had he left his herds? What directed him to these people, and how came they there ? Why had the Indians …

For over forty years he has lived on the 66, sometime on one slope of the mountain and sometimes on the other, but always with the wraiths of the 66 emigrants that faded out of the world over a half century ago. He has his thousands of acres, and his thousand cattle, but sometimes at night, the moonlight calls out images from the rocks -- images of the long ago -- and the …

The harnesses were rotting on the wagon tongues. That Stemler knew of these wagons, that in the solitudes and the isolation he came in touch with People already gone, that in some way he connected up with Them, and Intelligence went through Experiences and in Companionship of possibly ten years before, is an explanation satisfactory to many old plainsmen, who have heard Voices …

He owned the old ranch at the time of his death, and his son. Tom Hunter, still owns it. Tom has an office in Cheyenne. Colin Hunter was coming with a wagon train to Fort Laramie in 1867, when, on July 4th, the sound of guns attracted their attention. The sight of the blue coats gave them some apprehension. When the shooting subsided, they found the soldiers and a civilian or …

Many of the older people will remember Jim Bellamy, and his Nine Mile station, or ranch nine miles up the Platte river from Fort Laramie. On the night of December 24, 1866, late in the night, Bellamy and Daniel McUlvane, and several others were sitting by a roaring fire at Nine Mile station, when out of the bitter cold and darkness appeared four horsemen, whose names should go …

Old Bedlam was alive with a merry party, which had been dancing all the night. On the upper floors the officers had administrative quarters, and the lower part of the building was full of the dancers. Dillon, because of his bashfulness, found it difficult to attract the notice of any of the soldiers who were busy dancing attention to the ladies ; and while hesitating, Phillips …

Dan Dillon, the bearer of the message that reached the fort, having returned from the south and rejoined his command, was in 1881, given some dispatches at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, for delivery on the other side of the Indian reservation, at Fort Meade, South Dakota. He vanished somewhere in the Cheyenne river country. Nor has he or his remains, .or any of his effects, horse …

Others were Antelopeville, Cheyenne, Ogallala, Sidney, and Camp Clarke. Alliance, the present headquarters of the Stockmen's association, was not then on the map. The Box Butte table lay in all its virgin glory under the western sun. The Texas trail was three hundred miles wide, if you take in all its deflections and ramifications. From east of Ogallala to the Laramie plains …

The route of the original Texas Trail was not direct, it swung eastward across Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, to Coffeyville ; then swung westward up the Arkansas river valley a hundred or more miles, and while such a route had water advantages over a route more direct, I had often wondered if that was the reason for its being in such an indirect way. The story came to me in …

One of those beautiful moonlight nights so common to the southwest, while the cattle were all lying down apparently at ease, they suddenly arose, and after a brief thunder of hoofs, seemed to melt into the moonlight mist, and the night riders had gone with them. When daylight came the trail was followed a short distance after which it became too indistinct to follow. In the …

The cowboy's long, low whistle And singing by their side." Suddenly, like one, the entire herd arose, and the silence of the night was changed to a pandemonium of sound. The earth trembled with the beating of hoofs, the cowboy's tranquil call rose to a shrill crescendo, shouts and shots woke the startled prairie owls, and all was feverish anxiety. The two men who returned to …

When he looked forward, it was upon an empty plain, save for the one lone horseman, that came riding back to him. "Did you see it?" he asked. The other had seen nothing that could be designated as "It." "The Phantom Steer" said the first spokesman. "As sure as we live there was a big, shadowy steer that led the bunch, and these that came on became as he, for I rode through …

The cattle were brought north by rail and unloaded at Wendover, and trailed from there into the Big Horn Basin and the British possessions. I "skinned mules" on the head of Pole (Xodgepole) creek, Horse creek and the Chugwater, and I cooked for an outfit from the river to "the basin." I had had no experience at cooking to amount to anything, but I could boil spuds and beans …

Hughes -- all HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA alive today (1919), and still able to draw a bow across the strings. In fact I would like to go to one of the old fashioned dances, \Vith the old fashioned music, and a crowd of the old timers. To be sure, it would be nothing like the gymnastic performances of the new people, the dips, the trots, and the wiggles that we are told is …

All were more or less concerned, for Tate was supposed to have intentions of giving evidence against the Bay State Company concerning some of their acquisition of land from the government, and the empty saddle looked bad, for Jimmy was a good rider, even when intoxicated. "Long" (Wyatt) Heard, now (1919) and before of Uvalde county, Texas, then headquartered on Pumpkin creek …

He now lies in "Boots Graveyard," a part of the Sidney cemetery, that was set aside for the boys who died in the classic way of the early west. "Bad men" were always drifting in and out of the early camps, and through the frontier towns, and it was somewhat difficult to distinguish the real from the make-believe. Occasionally one would make his bluff stand up for a time, but …

One time a "bad man" drifted into Cheyenne, and his name was enough to strike terror to tenderfeet. "Red Path Bill" was a dread combination. "Bill" was a favorite name in the wild first years of the west, especially if the person was a bad man; but "Red Path" prefixed would certainly indicate for a bad man nothing less than a trail of human gore. Red Path Bill was hungry …

His business developed, and at the time Red Path Bill appeared, the place contained a vestibule, with cigars and the like ; and behind swinging doors of mahogany was a mahogany bar and crystal glass, and then a third room separated from the second by swinging doors of green. In this latter room were the choice of any number of tame amusements : the faro box, the roulette …

Furthermore the boys did enjoy seeing the gamblers duck for cover under the tables or behind the bar. Red Path Bill, with moccasined feet, came silently in. His deep voice called for the strongest at the bar, and then, to the swinging doors of the inner room. Suddenly he was electrified. A heavy fist smote simultaneously each door, and they swung wide. With spectacular effect …

He went about annoying the players, who tolerated him with rare good nature, until he trod upon the toes of a bystander. Fred Ashford was working in the Union Pacific shops at the time. He had for several years whacked bulls on the Black Hills route for Billy Hecht. Fred was a man r f medium stature and prodigious strength. He quit freighting in 1882 and joined a cow outfit …

That is : the soldier aKvays treated the cowboys as "herdsmen," and the cowboys returned the sentiment with vigor. The gamblers respected the men of the range for their money, for the game way they took a loss, but generally with utter contempt for their skill at cards. Occasionally they miscalculated. Sandy Ingraham caught a fellow "out on a limb" once in the Capitol saloon …

About 1870, the Coad Brothers took possession of the old Stage station, "Scotts Bluffs," and put in a herd of cows. This they developed to colossal proportions. The younger Coads still have the ranch north of Cheyenne at which Mark M. Coad was killed a few years ago by a Mexican. At the early date, however, the principal ranch was just a little west of the present site of …

It faced the south, and was 20 by 50 feet, its walls were thirty inches thick and the sod were eight or ten inches in thickness. It had red cedar cross logs and ridge poles, and poles and dirt were used for the roof. A row of posts through the center supported the center ridge log. The building contained two rooms, the smaller being about 12 by 20, was used for the kitchen. A …

Dennis Sheedy bought this outfit sometime after, and here was the famous Seven-U (7U) brand. He increased the herd to large proportions. Sheedy accumulated a fortune and has been busy for years in the commercial affairs of Denver, being president of the Denver Dry Goods Company only a short time ago, and now (1919) vice-president of Colorado National Bank. It is to be ventured …

Tim Montrose was the cook, and a good one he was, albeit that he "was not much larger than a drink of water," as the cowboys used to say. Tim was particularly tired of one fellow in the olden days who settled down near the ranch and made it his general source of provender. Almost; daily he would sojourn from his squatter's cabin to the ranch to visit Timmy, and incidentally …

Montrose made regular trips to Chicago, to his old home ward, and he invariably came back with the scars of battle, for he loved a fight. One time in a cow outfit, a big bully tried to "run a whizzer" on Timmy. For a little time those who knew Montrose were surprised to see the stranger apparently "getting by with it." Suddenly the battle fire in the little Irishman blazed up …

He planned deeply and from his pondering a scheme of revenge was formed, that lacked only one little essential element of successful strategy. He saddled his pony, from the woodpile he selected a club. Ordinarily he was a good man with his fists, but this time he was taking no chances. He took his station at the door from which he had been ejected. Soon one of the boys stepped …

But scratches and bruises were common in those days, and after a brief delay to ascertain how serious were the casualties, the gay party went on with the dance until after sunrise. At the Seven-U there are four graves -- two of which were emigrants and two are old cowboys that died with their boots on and were so buried. One of the latter was a brother of Henry Bradford, who …

Here he proceeded to blind it with a gunny sack, and then saddle and bridle it. One sudden upward swing of the head at an unexpected moment took "Brad," who was leaning over the partition from an adjoining stall, squarely in the face, and he lost all the teeth of his upper jaw on the left side. Occasionally afterwards, he would point out and display the gold teeth with which …

Contemporaneously with the establishment of the Powers ranch (about 1871), Bosler Brothers & Company built their home ranch on the lower Blue, near the present site of Lewellen, and extended their business to include several ranches up and down the North Platte river on the north side, but they always maintained the principal quarters on the Blue. They ran 15,000 to 20,000 …

This territory he was to invade was generally known as the Bosler range, although it was occupied by Boyd brothers, of which Ex- Governor James E. Boyd was one ; and the other ranches of less importance in relation to size. Schleigel had been at the work two or three weeks, when he took two men and teams and crossed the country to Sidney for supplies. He bought his provisions …

SchleigeFs party believed the dead man had stolen no horses, but that cattlemen thought so little of human life, they had hung an innocent man, in order to scare them into giving up the survey. There was no evidence that it was the work of the Boslers or any clue as to the identity of the parties who committed the deed, and perhaps the man had stolen a horse some time and the …

After settling down on Bear creek he returned to Denver and sought out his "Virginia," and brought her with him to the ranch. The romance of Virginia Bouton, placed upon the range the old and familiar name. "VB" brand. One born to the range, cannot change his habits instantly, and while anchored on BeaT creek, Mark Bouton traveled much. Mrs. Bouton frequently accompanied him …

One lady fell dead, and she had much the same graceful carriage as Mrs. Bouton, but proved to be another and an entirely innocent girl. Her companion was Minnie Montgomery, the daughter of John Montgomery, who owned the log stage station on the Black Hills route, at the north end of the Fort Laramie bridge. Miss Montgomery did not see the assailant, and whoever he was, he made …

He had a series of hurdles of various kinds over a given run and he mounted one of his well broken ponies and rode away. The first hurdle, which was an insignificant affair, proved too much for his thoroughbred, and they went down in a heap. A great shout of laughter went up from the assembled ladies and gentlemen, which provoked young Gardner into a torrent of language so …

This was located by a man named Brown, and the forty acres on which it was situated was sold to the Bay State. This spring is known as the "Four- Jay-Spring." Ed Bouton, a brother of Mark Bouton, of the VB, followed from Texas soon after the location of the VB ranch on Bear creek. He also had a temper and an inclination to homicide. A sister arrived and in due time was married …

Reaching the city late one evening, the punchers went into an emporium for a bracer, before going to break the news. The Dutchman waited some time, and being thirsty, and also rightly sensing the boys were taking several before returning, he decided to make the delivery alone. Mrs. Bryant heard the knock on the door, and answered the summons. The Dutchman said simply : "Mrs …

This foreman used to make periodical visits to Deadwood, taking from the ranch some of the fat cattle for Deadwood markets. The P. F. people were not receiving the liberal returns that they had been led to believe was in the ranching business, and grew suspicious of their foreman. An examination of the books seemed to give an impression that all the cattle sold in Deadwood …

We lack interest in history and the older events, frequently because we have no intimate relationship. Yet, to know that this new land of ours had its loves and romance fifty or more years ago, attunes our hearts to the reception of stories of the days so long past. We travel about and find places named ; and they are of mountain or plain, or city or valley, and we seldom stop …

I think she had buried a round half dozen husbands, before she met Tommy Chanavierre (Shunover) and in the late eighties Tommy was her spouse -- the one we knew. Tommy was the one whose pride of ancestry runs back to the time when Marchioness La Pompadour was spreading the French Empire over the western world, but to us he was merely a jolly old Frenchman, who liked to talk …

It will be observed also that this line was the path of the buffalo at an earlier date, and it later became the route of the travelers into the gold field of the Black Hills, where Henry T. Clarke's steel lined stages went over the old toll bridge. Now the travel is by motor, or over the Burlington. Creighton went west up Gonneville or Pumpkin creek. Then over to Horse creek …

The half-circlebar brand, of the very early days, developed into the quarter-circle-block, generally called "circle-block" in the later years. Pumpkin creek ranch became the "Home Ranch" after its acquisition by the Bay State, and the name Pumpkin creek, in place of Gonneville creek, rose in usage, as the wild vegetable which provoked it gradually disappeared. The range cattle …

These animals were not always enduring, and they required periods of rest. A man named Creel decided he would make a business of handling the tired cattle until they should be able to resume the burden of the yoke. Bull canyon was unnamed and unappropriated, and there was an abundance of water, and the nearness of the range to Cheyenne made it a desirable spot for the purpose …

The plan failed, and Creel was killed, and Bull Canyon became only a name and a memory. Tom Kane used to run the ranges of the Pumpkin creek country. Kane was known in Sidney in the early days. One day he had a brush with the Indians, and escaped into the rushes on the creek bank ten miles east of Wild Cat mountain, where he lay three days caring for his wound before he …

He was driving by, and stopped to watch me turn over the sod with my grasshopper breaker. , In the course of our conversation I said that it would be a mighty good thing if the grangers and the cowmen could dwell together in harmony. John exclaimed that I was the first granger that he had ever heard say such a thing, and asked me why I thought so. I told him that I thought the …

wine, and in the early prodigal way of the west, a dish pan full of this was set out on the table for use of any who desired to partake. It was said that they even insisted that the Elder take some, and that he did touch it to his lips. This was taken as evidence that he did not hold himself above his associations, and there were few boys on the range that would not swear by …

As Pogue straightened up, he wiped the tears from his eyes, and said: "Bill, I always did have a good time when I was with you." The groom was a bit nervous, and the boys would urge him to "take a bracer and buck up. It ain't as bad as it seems," and otherwise "jolly" him. Boots usually was a very brave man, but the boys' tormenting got on his nerves, and he wept during the …

The wild bronc made a quick swerve, and the man swung out clear of him and the ground while it ran in a short circle. The quick wit of some other cowboy, and his skill, saved the man. He dropped a rope over the animal's head, and brought it up, head end to the man on the ground. "Swing your pardners," shouted that worthy, as he jumped to his feet. The near tragedies of old …

The first to actually engage in ranching in western Nebraska, that is west of North Platte, was Keith & Barton. Morrill C. Keith was grandfather of Ex-Governor Keith Neville, and Guy C. Barton was well known in Omaha business and club circles for many years. The location of their ranch was at O'Fallon's Bluff, and about eighteen miles west of North Platte. Guy Barton was the …

but the altitude, and the better grasses in the vicinity of North Platte, made a change in his plans and he was almost as early in that vicinity as Keith & Barton. His first ranch there, however, was south of the river and east of North Platte city, and the high posts a little east of the state experiment farm, indicate the gateway of the original ranch. He later moved to the …

His ranch dates the same year that Coad Brothers took over Scottsbluff Stage station for their cattle operations, but earlier in the year. The country along the Platte was a year or two later than Mr. Redington in the matter of seniority of ranch locations. But north of the river into the Black Hills remained Indian domain until some years after when gold discoveries in the …

This ranch branched into mercantile business and had a post-office. This location later became known as Nerud's corner, and the four corners were occupied by different branches of business. A timely wag immortalized them in verse that ran as follows : Nerud's corner, Baxter Street, Foster's restaurant, And nothing to eat. Joe Nerud had long since become the owner of a valuable …

He told the officers of the law that he would take Bill out to the ranch, if they would let him off. The humor of the situation was too great to be resisted, and he was put into the wagon alongside of Joe. and sent out to Snake creek. I cannot say what brought about the transformation in Nerud's sentiment, but the fact is, that a day or two later, Bill Bowen arrived on the …

Pearson's ranch was one of the later places on Snake creek, and he needed more range and came into the hills about three miles north of the west end of Lake Alice, where he established a camp -- as a sub-station for the ranch. These sub-stations consist usually of a well and windmill and a set of watering tanks. Sometimes a small shack and corral is added. This sub-station of …

Akers were building their first irrigation ditch over the Wyoming line, when they saw John coming, riding like the wind, and when he got in hearing distance he commenced to shout the news : "There is a whole colony settling on the river down below Scottsbluff, and they have brought along everything, even a postoffice." This latter was, of course, an invention or imagination …

He also needed more range than was obtainable near there and he came into the Lake Alice country, and established a sub-station about a mile northwest of the Pearson wells, Wallace's wells then became a watering place for many travelers. In due time. Wallace's business took him to Scottsbluff, and he and his family have resided in that city for about all the life of the …

The Mud Springs in Sioux county soon passed to the hands of the Schoonovers, and they in turn sold it to Ed Eastman. Eastman used to live at Minatare, and was identified in the story of Jimmy Moore, related elsewhere. Eastman wanted more land, and Mrs. Eastman secured a divorce on very good grounds of periodical intoxication. She then took a claim near his land, and in due …

He had bought out Frank Harris, Will Benn, Iperhope and some others, and made quite a ranch. After Billy's death, Mrs. Haines sold the ranch to Wilson brothers. Doc. Wilson was quite active for a time, but the ranch finally went to Scotty Henderson. Scotty has been in the Snake creek for a third of a century, and is the present owner of the valuable ranch, the history of which …

Charlie was quite a fellow to "play his own hand," so he soon went over on the Box Elder in the Goshen Holes and built his initial ranch on the northern range. The following year he went to the river, for hay and grasses of the Goshen Holes then made rather short picking for the stock in winter. Around the Rock ranch location, then as now, there were some excellent meadows …

None of the chroniclers of events along the Overland trail has mentioned it, and the trail fell into disuse about the time or shortly after slavery was abolished. The overland stage and the pony express had a stopping place near the present ranch, and the meadows were used for supplying feed for their stock. But I am conviced that Rock ranch as a ranch- came into existence …

They had what was called, "The Wild West Exchange" at Ogallala at this time, and here the boys challanged one another for feats of doing or daring characteristic of the Wild West. Someone had captured a young buffalo, and had it properly confined. While generally the talk was of horses, and Gordon was expostulating concerning the merit of his horse, as a racer, Coffee told him …

At the time they were at Ogallala, a noted character named "Fly Speck Bill." his face being well spotted with freckles that had the appearance of fly specks, had been apprehended and placed in the city jail. But the jail was a flimsy affair, and failed to hold him for long. A day or two later, as Coffee was leaving Sidney for the north on the stage, Bill was found to be one of …

point him out, as he had reason to believe the horsethief was in town. They went into the Tivola saloon, then on the corner west of the old Inter-Ocean hotel, and the man was sitting at one of the tables. Likens pressed a gun muzzle against the back of his neck and said : "Fly Speck Bill, you are my meat." The arrest proved a tame affair, for the man merely glanced at the …

Coad early refused to follow the custom, and the calves of other fellows found in his herds were left unbranded. One time a calf belonging to the Coads crawled through the bars, into Mitchell valley, and was found by a bunch of fellows from higher up the river. That Coads might understand the custom, they singed the hair on one side of the calf with big letters "M-A-R-K" and …

He estimated his speed, and took note of the time by his watch, until he had reached, as he thought, about fifteen miles -- that being a neighborly distance. There he and his wife and boys, Charles T. Jr., the youngest was only six months old, settled down in a cabin on what proved to be section fourteen, township thirty-three, range fiftyfive. There the O-Ten-Bar brand and …

Two of the hangers on about the S-Bar-E ranch were "Whitney Jim," and "Trapper Tom," and they built an independent cabin on a branch of Hat creek, where they could follow their own inclinations wittiout interference. Jim had an inclination, or propensity, for strong drink, and a pronounced aversion to cleanliness. In season he would gather a wagon box full of wild plums, take …

The different branches of Hat creek and White river began to take on the euphoneous names of early days, such as "Dirty Jim Creek," "Sow-belly Creek," "Tom Creek," "War Bonnet Creek," and the like, and Coffee's ranch, after he had removed to Chadron and the kangaroo rats made merry around the place, was nick-named "Lickit ranch." While the place was abandoned part of the time …

Their range included the lower Pumpkin creek country and Lawrence fork. Adams in a recent letter tells of it, and emphasizes the name "Lorren's fork," explaining its original significance. "Lorren's," of French derivation, indicates robbers, and the rocks about the head of this stream were once the rendezvous of a band of robbers, who preyed upon the unprotected stragglers …

A lady told us "No, we never feed travelers," and she no doubt meant it. The travel along the route was doubtless quite extensive and they had adopted the system. We asked how far it was to the next ranch, and she stepped outside to show us the road. Seeing our horses and accoutrements, she exclaimed : "Oh, you are cowboys, are you ? Well, come right in, and we will find a …