From a Pioneer Album - Katie Sothman Hitshew

by June Willson

Katie Sothman Hitshew came to Keeline, Wyo., on March 13, 1888, with her parents, younger sister and two younger brothers. In Lyons, Iowa, from where they started, they had a few difficulties caused by a railroad strike. Mrs. Sothman and the children were waiting in the depot when the conductor came in and said there would be no trains out that night. Katie quickly identified the car in which her father was tending livestock. The family spent the night in a nearby hotel.

The next morning, her father got up early to milk the cow. When he got to the depot, the train had just pulled out. The family caught a passenger and as the two trains came close to each other, Mr. Sothman went onto the freight.

When they arrived in Keeline, George Hofman, section master from Manville, helped unload. Mr. Sothman was section master at Kee1ine for several years.

Katie was about fifteen years old the year the family moved onto the ranch. One sister had been born at the section house and another was born at the ranch. The older girls often rode horseback after the cattle.

One day, the water holes were dried up, all except one spring. The cattle had trampled that, so it was rather dirty. Katie and her sister took shovels and went to clean up the spring. It was messy work so the girls took off their shoes and stockings.

A few minutes later a buggy came into sight. They made a mad scramble for the house. The buggy drove on up to the house and George and Eugene Willson got out. On the pretext of asking for a drink of water, they found out what the girls were up to. The men were on their way to Harney Meadows and had seen the girls out in the pasture.

The Sothman family lived on the ranch until the children were of school age, at which time they moved to Manville. Later they moved to Lusk.

Mrs. Katie Hitshew has made her residence in Lusk for the past number of years. Other members of her family are Bill Sothman at Meeteetse, Wyo.; Mrs. Emma Pray of Phoenix, Arizona; and Mrs. Rose Davis ot Long Beach, California.

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