Pioneering on the Cheyenne River: Part 3, Pioneers on the Cheyenne
ELMER E. BROWN
ELMER E. BROWN was born on March 23, 1875, at Elgin, Illinois. At the age of 12 he accompanied his parents to Crawford, Neb., where his father, George H. Brown, owned a large farm, and became president of the First National Bank there, which position he held for many years. He drove the four miles from his farm home to the bank each morning.
At the age of 18, Elmer started in business for himself, his capital being $1,000 which his father gave him for a birthday gift, and $400 his mother gave him before she died. Elmer purchased sheep with this money, and by care, thrift and good management this original flock was increased to a good-sized band. This was in the days of the cowmen's and sheepmen's war, when there was much hard feeling expressed, with occasional flare-ups. Then one night when everything seemed to be running smoothly, and Elmer's herder had bedded down the well-fed sheep on public domain, yet far from any filing, a band of cattlemen rode down on the quiet camp, thereby scattering the frightened sheep in all directions. In the days following some of the sheep were found several miles away, and many of them were never found. This calamity left 19-year-old Elmer somewhat bitter toward cattlemen, and, in fact, toward all mankind in general. His after-life was marked by a certain aloofness toward his fellowmen, with distrust of their intentions. Yet toward old friends, people whom he had known in his boyhood days, and whose integrity had been proved, he showed many acts of kindness when those friends badly needed a helping hand.
Elmer then moved his depleted band of sheep to Wyoming, locating on Lance Creek at least 20 miles from the nearest neighbor. This ranch was near the place where the last Indian battle between officers of the law and a band of redmen was fought in Wyoming. In 1899, Elmer sold this ranch to Souther & Penny. Scott Sides is the present owner. In the meantime Elmer had gone to Chicago and learned the carpenter trade, and in the latter part of that year he was married to Marie Elvira Hogg, daughter of John T. and Harriet Lucy Hogg, at the family home in Edgemont, South Dakota. The young couple left for Ledyard, Iowa, where Elmer built a lovely home near the city limits, and there engaged in the business of fattening sheep to be shipped to the Chicago markets. Here there was more bad luck for Elmer. In 1902, a big cyclone tore through the district, blowing away the barn Elmer had built and doing considerable other damage. Three amazed old ewes were left standing on the spot where the barn had been. Elmer then sold his place at Ledyard and returned to Wyoming, purchasing another ranch on Lance Creek-the original homestead of C. L. Brewster. Here Elmer built another big two-story house and gradually his ranch became the largest in that part of the country. Here Mr. and Mrs. Brown raised a family of five children-Mrs. Inez Zurcher of Lincoln, Neb.; Mrs. Bernice Bird of Red Bird, Wyo.; Mrs. Gladys Holland of Denver, Colo.; Mrs. Grace Bancroft of Cheyenne, Wyo., and one son, John Elmer, of Hat Creek, Wyo.
As Elmer's health failed, he sold his ranch to Clyde Zimmerman, and then moved to Lusk, Wyo., where he built a house on the west side of town. Here he spent the remainder of his life. He died on February 4, 1943 at the age of 67 years. Elmer was a staunch member of the Masonic Lodge and the beautiful and impressive burial service of this fraternal order was rendered at his burial.
Mrs. Brown passed away in Denver, Colo., on October 3, 1943, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Gladys Holland.
WILLIAM H. PEARSON
WILLIAM H. PEARSON was born in Iowa in 1850, where he grew to manhood, and while yet a youth accompanied his father from Creston, Iowa, in the buckboard across the country to Asoton, Idaho. Here he filed on a homestead, did a little farming, and went into the horse business. The spring of 1896, he sold his land holdings and trailed his horses to what is now Niobrara County, Wyoming. His father drove the chuck wagon and W. H. had one man known as the "Dead Man," to help him trail the horses through. They arrived at the end of their destination in July, 1896, and located at the old 9 9 9 ranch. His father and the "Dead Man" left shortly after their arrival.
It seems as though after Guernsey vacated the old 9 9 9, it was a "catch-all" for most new arrivals, until they looked the country over. He located his horses and later that fall he employed Ethan Hogg to help him trail a bunch to the Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. They used a pack outfit to convey their bed and board. He sold some of the horses and traded others for Indian blankets.
When they returned, Pearson rigged up an old sewing machine that he had found at the mouth of Old Woman Creek, where an immigrant wagon had burned. He put the machine into working operation and proceeded to make his winter outfit from the blue Indian blankets. He made such things as pants, coat, shirt, cap, mittens and underwear. Pearson not being an accomlished tailor, there was some lack of uniformity and fit in the make of his clothes. Someone mentioned a little misfit about his clothes, and he replied, "I'm not out on dress parade, just out for comfort." If this old suit could be had today, Henry Ford would snap it up quick for his museum.
In 1898, Pearson located on the Cheyenne River, about four miles east of the 9 9 9. By hard work and thrift he established one of the biggest horse ranches of the latter-day period. He irrigated alfalfa and wild hay meadows from the Cheyenne River, and also raised some small grain.
Pearson detested baking powder biscuits and so at the ranch he always made sour dough biscuits. The neighbors nicknamed the ranch the "Sourdough Cafe," with emphasis on the sourdough.
Among the hands that worked for Pearson were: Mike Hudspath, - Antone, Tom Steele, Nate Cooksey, Pete Knapper, Earl Mercer, the K. C. Kid, Bill Konrath, Mexican John, Patsy Sullivan, James P. (Sourdough Ike) Baker, Mike Marchant, Otto Rohlff, Chester A. Arlington, -- Glen, and Collet Cooksey.
In 1905 Pearson virtually sold out his horse herd. Mike Marchant and "Sourdough Ike" rounded up and delivered $30,000.00 worth of horses on contract to a Canadian horse buyer by the name of John Harkness. The purchase price was $30.00 per head. These horses were gathered from Western South Dakota, Western Nebraska and almost to the Montana line in Wyoming, and thence around by the Pumpkin Buttes and south to Douglas, Wyo., on the north side of the Platte to the Nebraska line. This was their outside circle, and at no time did they get so far out but that an SP horse was picked up. The bed and provisions were conveyed by pack horse. They left the ranch about the first of July and the contract terminated September 11th. The last shipment of this contract was made from Ardmore, South Dakota.
Mr. Pearson retained about 300 head of his top horses. Later on in the fall Mike shipped three cars of these horses to Omaha and they averaged $77.50 per head.
At the time Mr. Pearson sold his horses he was only $500.00 in the red. He virtually had everything in the clear, so he decided at his age he would invest in something a little tamer than wild horses, and he chose, of all things, real estate. For his own personal good he had better invested in a bunch of Eskimos, at range delivery and book tally. His real estate investment was in the city of Seattle, Washington, near the water front, and the sharks took his small fortune and submerged with it. He also got into the oil game in a small way, and it seems as though that caught "afire" and went up in smoke, and left Pearson holding a question mark for his life's savings. He lost his real estate and oil holdings through bad management, and his ranch went later on.
Pearson once remarked that he had better stayed with the horses, that he could halter break a wild horse, but he couldn't handle the high-power cheater. He lived his declining years penniless. Mr. Pearson was a bachelor and died in the State of Washington in 1940.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry McGee are the present owners of the old Pearson ranch. They have improved the place and added a modern eight-room house. They are the parents of three children-Dorene Collins Darrow, Floyd Collins, a veteran of World War II, having enlisted in the Navy Air Corps at Newcastle, and was discharged in Denver, Colo., and DuWayne McGee, who is at home with his parents.
LEE CARR
LEE CARR was born September 31, 1870, in New York State. He left New York with his parents in 1874 and journeyed westward. Reaching Kansas, they purchased a farm and devoted their attention to agricultural pursuits.
Here he was educated in the public schools and lived the life of an ordinary country boy.
In 1886, the lure of the West called him, and as this was a day when all young men wanted to go West, he arrived at what is now Dewey, So. Dak., and got a job punching cows for the Union Cattle Co. on their Beaver Creek ranch (the S&G) and worked there for six years.
Some of the first foremen were E. F. Hall, Jimmy Laramie and Ed Lindsey. Among some of the cowboys were Walt Sopher, B. Lacy, Jesse Durst, Charles Petro, Jack Kelly and George Curry.
Lee was working for the S&G in the fall of 1889 when the railroad was completed to the Wyoming State line. He helped load out the first shipment of cattle to be sent to market from the S&G stockyards. In 1892, after the S&G closed out, Lee and Sam Bunker went to Johnson County, Wyoming, where they witnessed the events of the "Cattlemen's War." There are a number of credible stories as to what caused this "war," but the following seems to be the one the majority of pioneers cling to.
The cowboys (some called them rustlers, and perhaps some were) bought cattle, branded them, turned them on the open range. The cattlemen claimed the rustlers were getting too many mavericks-unbranded calves. The cattle companies were accused of sending hired assassins into Johnson County.
They had hired a number of "Texas Rangers." Several stockmen were wounded and two were killed in the fight. This fact created more bitter feeling. The militia was called out to settle the trouble. Arrests were made of cattlemen, rustlers and cowboys. And the case was set for trial. In the meantime all the "Rangers" had left the State, and the case was dismissed.
Lee and Sam left the Jackson Hole country en route to the Black Hills. One evening they hired out to a rancher who was an Easterner. The following morning the horse wrangler corralled the horses. He was hot-headed and abused his horses. The Easterner, not knowing the by-laws of a bone-headed bronc snapper, just discharged the three, and that was the end of the job for Sam and Lee at that ranch. They then packed up and were on their way. They secured work at the 777 outfit--called the three-seven, branded 7 on the shoulder, 7 on the side, and 7 on the hip--but this job proved a little more lasting than the former one. While there they took a trail herd of 777 cattle to North Dakota, and then on to the Missouri River, where they turned them out for better range.
Lee was afterward sent with a string of spotted ponies to the Teddy Roosevelt wagon, as a rep for the 777. The wagon foreman was a rough old sour dough Texan, and each morning he would assign you, your string of horses, and you had to ride them or your meal ticket was canceled. Teddy Roosevelt's brand was a triangle and an elkhorn. The beef was rounded up and shipped from Bismark, North Dakota, to Chicago. The price of prime grass beef at that time was about 5 cents per pound.
The cowboys were gathering stragglers near a Russian settlement where a 777 long-horn steer had located with their milk cows. He refused to change locations and "got on the fight." The Russians had a baby in a crib setting in the sun of the cabin door. Suddenly the steer ran amuck and made a dive for the door. His horns were so long he couldn't get in, so he stood fastened, throwing slobbers on the baby. The cowboys roped him, blindfolded him and marched him off.
Mr. Carr worked for the 777 for two years, then returned to Wyoming and worked for some of the early pioneer outfits of this State. In 1898 Mr. Carr married Mary McKenna, at Custer, So. Dak. Miss McKenna came to the Black Hills with her parents when a small child, making the slow and difficult trip from Iowa in a covered wagon. There were born to them five children Earl, Myrtle, Louis, Leo and Myron. Mr. Carr used his preemption right to acquire a 160-acre homestead on the Cheyenne River, about two miles west of the old Bridlebit ranch, the outfit he had worked for in his younger days. He disposed of this land to the Newcastle Land and Livestock Company.
In 1910 he located twelve miles west of the S&G on main Beaver Creek, at the junction of Black Tail Creek. There he had a fine irrigated alfalfa ranch and raised white-face cattle and thoroughbred horses. Old cowhands said that when Lee was out on the range they always found him to be a "top hand" on a top horse. He was a man known by everyone for his generosity and kindness. Mr. Carr died in December of 1946.
ED CLARK
ED CLARK came West in early manhood and got a job with the -T outfit, working for them until it closed out.
In the early days, while Ed was working at the -T, the foreman hired two would-be "Rears-and-Sawbuck" cowboys, as they might be called. They imagined they were wild and woolly. Each owned a six-gun and belt. As the spring roundup wasn't to start for six or eight days, they stayed around the bunk house and wore their guns constantly, only removing them when they went to bed, then placed them under their heads. So Ed, a real old cowpoke, decided he would show them what made a tough man look tough. He proceeded to cut the breeching off an old set of harness and made him a belt, fastened it on himself and got the de-horning saw and hung it on his belt, and didn't even remove the outfit when he went to bed. About two days afterward the two would-be's caught on and hung their firearms on the wall Ed continued wearing his de-horning saw until the wagon started.
Ed Clark was united in marriage to Miss Maude Schreckengust, who resided near where Ardmore now stands. They were the parents of four children three boys and one girl.
Mr. Clark filed a preemption on land on Hat Creek, some 15 miles south of Edgemont. Later he moved his family to Edgemont so their children could attend school. He ran a dray for George Paine for a few years, then clerked in A.J Colgan's store. He was an all-around character except a bad one.
Ed Clark was elected Sheriff of Fall River County, South Dakota. According to the statutes of South Dakota, a Sheriff serves one term, then he retires one term, and if he is a strong enough "vote-getter," he can come back four terms in a row under the law. He. said he hung up the target for Teddy Roosevelt to shoot at, some thirty years later, and he (Roosevelt) being a great and good man, too, also hit the "Bullseye." Ed said that is proof the Republicans started that fool notion of four terms, in a small way, and the Democrats commenced where the Republicans left off, and carried out the idea in a big way.
The old-timers say that as far as they knew, Ed's four terms in the Sheriff's office is the record of Fall River County and the State of South Dakota. This record has only been equaled once in the nation, in the big office.
After serving out his four terms as Sheriff, Ed moved to Ardmore and engaged in the grocery business. Frank Downey, who now resides in Edgemont, and is a livestock buyer, was one of his clerks.
At one time Ed Clark and Ed Jones had a general store in Ardmore. He usually sold from 50 to 200 pounds of fence staples to a rancher. When the homesteaders and dry farmers began to flock in, a lady came in the store and was making purchases. She finally called for 5 -cents' worth of staples. Ed could scarcely believe himself when she said 5 cents' worth. He said, "Did I understand you to say 5 cents' worth or 500 pounds?" She said, "Five cents' worth, please." Ed said he then wrapped them up and his mind was still twisting around like a Texas cyclone when he handed them to her, saying, "Lady, are you going to eat them here or take them with you?"
Ed worked on the range for different cow outfits. He was a typical Westerner and his latchstring hung on the outside for all comers.
Mr. and Mrs. Clark observed their golden wedding anniversary a few years ago at Rapid City, So. Dak. Mr. Clark died at Hot Springs, So. Dak.. in September of 1947.
CHARLES McENDAFFER
CHARLES McENDAFFER was born in Huntington, Indiana, in 1867. He left there in 1868, coming to Nebraska with his parents, where they settled on a ranch. In 1888, he went to Oklahoma, and was there for the "claim run." In 1893 the U. S. government purchased a tract of land, about seven million acres, in the northern part of Oklahoma, from the Cherokee nation, which was opened to white settlement. The land was laid out in 160-acre homesteads and ownership of these homesteads was decided by a "claim race" or "run," which was to start at a given hour. On the day of the "run" there were thousands of people there in every known conveyance under the sun, and some horseback and afoot. As Charles was a bit slow he missed the "Bullseye," so he left for the Cimarron River, where he got a job with the LUK cow outfit of Colorado, owned by the Kramer Brothers, who were trailing cattle to Montana.
In describing the trip with a trail herd gathered in Texas and Oklahoma to be driven north to Montana to fatten on the ranges, Charlie said: ''The winter of '93, we collected the cattle and wintered on the north side of the Platte River. The following spring we gathered the cattle and started on the drive north. Besides myself, there was the trail boss, cook, horse wrangler and eight cowboys. Among the latter were Loss Hays from Texas, Black Jack, Ed Varney and another known only as Flanagan. Black Jack was an ex-cowboy with a shady reputation.
"We lived on sourdough bread baked in a Dutch oven, meat or wild game killed as needed, beans, coffee, fruit or berries which grew in the vicinity. We had no trouble with Indians or outlaws-just encountered the usual difficulties, high water, stormy weather, high winds and thirst. We went through what is now Niobrara County in July. There were very few range cattle in the county at that time. Feed was fairly plentiful, but water was scarce. When we reached Old Woman Creek, water and feed were good, so we spent about a week working down it. We crossed Lance Creek near the old ULA. We crossed the Cheyenne River above the mouth of Snyder Creek. We made camp one night near the AU7 on the east side of the Cheyenne River. This was known as the Chisholm Trail. We arrived at our journey's end in September and wintered at the mouth of Musselshell River. In the spring of 1895 our outfit, the LUK, drove our stock to the vicinity of Billings, where we hit the main roundup. There were many other cow outfits there, including the VVV, the XIT, the N-N, the Bow-and-Arrow, etc. The XIT and N-N were out of Texas, the LUK from Colorado, the Quarter Circle Diamond out of Mexico.
"We worked down the south side of the Yellowstone River during the first part of July. The cowboys wanted two days off to celebrate the Fourth of July at Miles City. Quite a number of them ran into an old acquaintance, John Barleycorn, and to make a visit with him used a little extra time to renew acquaintances. As I didn't know the family, I was back in camp on schedule.
"We camped at a corral near the old Sioux-Crow battle-ground, known as Crow Butte. All the posts of the old corral were decorated with skulls. One could gather a pocketful of bone souvenirs without moving but one or two steps. This was the place where one bad Indian made a good Indian out of another bad Indian."
Charlie was staying overnight at a horse ranch near Signal Butte, Mont. During the night a couple of fellows, Black Joe and a partner, came in the bunk house to stay the rest of the night. About daylight a Sheriff rode up and arrested the pair. The Sheriff thought Charlie was connected with them, so he had him hold up his hands too. Charlie finally convinced them that he was working another game, and all the money he had was coming the hard way.
In 1897 Charlie was hired by Gene Buchanan of Colorado to go to Oregon to purchase and trail back a herd of cattle. He bought 2887 head, 1100 at $9.50 per head, 600 at $7.50 per head, and the rest for as low as $6.00 per head. To trail these cattle from near Portland, Oregon, to Sterling, Colo., took six months and 27 days. He came through Niobrara County on virtually the same trail he used when going to Montana with the first trail herd. In 1930 he returned to Wyoming with his fine white-face cattle and located in the northeastern part of Niobrara County, on Robber's Roost Creek. In 1934 he sold his cattle interests and bought a bunch of registered thoroughbred horses and continues raising them to the present time.
E. H. LINDSY
ED LINDSY migrated from Missouri to Wyoming Territory as a youth, and took a job of cowpunching with the Union Cattle Co., one of the largest cattle outfits of the territorial period. He was sent to the S&G and also worked at the Bridle Bit ranch, later becoming range foreman. He certainly didn't miss his calling by becoming a cowboy, as he learned to ride the wildest horses on his father's farm and his cussing vocabulary dated to an early age. This may account for his wonderful mastery of the art in later years. Whether Ed's profanity was an asset or not, it certainly was no liability.
Ed, or "Pug," as he was called, was not gifted with much beauty. He was red-headed, red-faced, with a short turned-up nose. As Pug once stated, "We were a family of fourteen and all the homeliness that should have been equally divided among the family all fell to me."
Mr. Lindsy married Alberta Drew, whose home was in the Black Hills, near Custer, South Dakota. They were the parents of two daughters-Alta and Ethel. Just after the beginning of the present century, Mr. Lindsy purchased the Bridle Bit ranch and filed on a homestead adjoining it. He later increased his holdings until he had one of the best hay ranches, watered by the Cheyenne River, in this area.
There were two Civil War veterans homesteading near the ranch. Pug was going to Omaha with a shipment of beef cattle, and asked one of them to stay at the ranch during his absence to feed the chickens and the dog while he was away. It had been pre-arranged that Mert Jones was to come, and they would drive to the shipping point at Dewey, So. Dak., together. The morning they planned to start, Pug was up early as usual and, had his breakfast. He asked Mert if he wanted to gallop down with him to see the other old soldier. When they arrived at the house the old soldier wasn't up. Pug hollered, "Hello," and the old man came to the door in his nightshirt. Pug said, "What the hell are you goin' to do for a bed when you get that one worn out?" He told the old soldier that he planned to be gone about a week or ten days. Pug said, "Roberts, I want you to keep an eye on old John, he might die while I am gone." Roberts said, "What in the world would I do with him if he should die?" Pug replied, "Oh hell, just take your saddle horse and drag him out of the yard. You could set your traps around him and you might catch a coyote."
While he was in Omaha, after business had been attended to, Pug associated a little too much with the "Johnny Walker family." While under the influence of said family, he "throwed in" with the Salvation Army for a change. He was making considerable noise; but Pug being a good financial bet, they overlooked the noise. A policeman, observing the commotion Pug was. causing, interfered with Pug about his noise. As the Salvation Army hadn't made any complaints, Pug knew he had the Army on his side. He informed the "flatfoot" to get goin', otherwise he would have him arrested for disturbing public worship. In telling this story afterward, Pug said that was “one law-man I sure beat to the draw, but I had to stay all night with the Salvation Army to do it."
With hard work and natural ingenuity, along with cow sense, Pug acquired a large bunch of white-faces. He was usually appointed one of the wagon bosses for the annual roundup in this district. He was a good mixer and as long as he had money the boys could eat and drink.
Two State scab inspectors stayed all night with Pug. It was their job to look over all cattle for traces of infection. They asked him if it would be possible for them to see his cattle early the following morning, as they had a big day's work ahead of them. "Sure," agreed Pug, "that is one part of my chore--to show my guests around as soon as possible and as quick as possible." They thanked him very much for his kindness. Pug told them to "forget it, ... it's all in the day's work."
Breakfast was over by 2:00 a. m., and they were at the corral saddling up shortly thereafter. They said Pug jumped on his horse and said "Right this way, gentlemen, if you want to see my cattle." They said they followed Pug not by sight, but like some people learn to play music, by ear. They followed him down the river bottom for about three miles. Pug said, "Gentlemen, have you seen anything that looks like the itch?" The inspectors said they had not-"in fact, we haven't seen a single critter that appeared to have anything." Pug said, "Well, that's the way I had it figured. Good-day, gentlemen, I've got to make a little circle up on the head of Alkali Creek. Call any time." The inspectors said, "Wait, Mr. Lindsy, we will have to go back to the house so that we can have a little more light in order to write you a bill of health." At the ranch the inspectors wrote up a bill of health, handed it to Pug, who looked it over for a moment and said, "Hell, take it with you, the next inspector that comes along perhaps won't be able to read and write and he wouldn't know what it was all about anyway." They asked if he could direct them to the George Lacy ranch, about 18 miles away on Lance Creek and he replied, ''Yes, sir," and walked out into the yard with them and pointed to a bright star and said, "See that bright star?" They said they did, and Pug continued, "Well, that's the North Star. Put your back against that and start due south; when you come to Lance Creek you turn to your right, and if you understand navigation that'll be goin' up the creek; after you've gone in that direction two miles you'll be right in his yard."
Thus the inspectors parted with Pug, with the hope in mind that they would do their future inspecting in some other part of the State.
Ed Lindsy was considered one of the best range men in this part of the West. He was always on time at the right time, rain or shine, hot or cold. Mrs. Lindsy took their two daughters, Alta and Ethel, to Newcastle, where they completed their high school course. Still feeling the urge for higher education, Ethel attended the University of Nebraska. After graduating from there, she has taught in the leading high schools of the State, and is at present teaching at Casper, Wyo. Alta owns a beauty parlor at Greybull, Wyo., where her father died.
JEFFERSON BARTLEY
JEFFERSON BARTLEY was born in Edna, Jack County, Texas, in 1862.
Jeff made three trips up the old trail, one in the early '70's and the other in 1879, when the plains teemed with buffaloes and other wild game was plentiful.
In April of 1876 he got a job with an outfit making up a trail herd to go to Montana. In relating his experiences, Mr. Bartley said: "There were 2100 long-horn steers in the herd. We tried to hold the herd about two miles wide, the distance varying with the nature of the country. There was a trail boss, two drag drivers, two flank men, two point men, two swing men, a cook and a horse jingler. Each man on the trail had seven or eight horses. The regulation diet was bread, meat of buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, dried fruit, beans and coffee. After following the Platte River about a week, we turned north through Niobrara County, crossed Bogie Creek near the mouth, then traveled north, crossing the Cheyenne River near the AU7. We finally reached our destination, near Miles City, Montana. We had trailed these longhorns two thousand miles before we turned them loose on the Powder River."
After delivering the cattle, Jeff went back to Texas and left the following spring with another trail herd of 2700 steers. On both trips they left Texas about April 1st. At that time of the year most of the rivers and creeks were on a rampage, and they would have to swim the steers and hitch their ropes to the tongue and sides of the chuck wagon, thus pulling and guying the wagon, they brought it across. They had no serious accidents at these crossings on either trail. There were many other hardships, such as storms, heavy rains, winds, thirst and stampedes. On both of these trails they had the same Negro cook. They thought he was one of the foremost cooks of the South, particularly on sourdough biscuits, black coffee and sow belly.
Coming through Missouri, two of the men on the trail-Oscar Jacks and Claude Rex-had a misunderstanding over a woman, and Oscar shot Claude, and in that way the dispute was settled out of court and Oscar and Claude got along very well for the rest of the trip.
The steers from this trail were delivered to the Half Circle L outfit, near Miles City, Montana. The trip was made in about five months, trailing cows and calves being much slower.
Jeff stayed in Montana and worked for the Half Circle L for about a year. In 1880 he made his last trip up the trail. These cattle were delivered to the Suffolk Cattle Co. on their Cheyenne River ranch, the AU7. Jeff got a job from this outfit and worked there several years. He then went to Arizona and worked for the Brazil Land and Cattle Company, being foreman for this outfit for many years. In 1903 he was sent to Brazil, State of Sao Paulo, to work for the same outfit, the company having large interests down there. He went by rail to New York City, where he spent about four days sightseeing before leaving for Brazil. While in New York he met a fellow by the name of Billy Lewis from Miles City, Montana, who was going to Monte video, about 500 miles farther than Jeff was going.
On March 20th, they sailed for Brazil on the ship Vestrus, Jeff and Billy sharing a state room together for the trip. Jeff took his cowboy outfit with him, as he was told he wouldn't be able to buy anything that would suit him in South America, the saddles made there being very poor in quality and just ate up a horse's back.
On the trip they stopped 24 hours in the West Indies. They engaged little mules and found guides in readiness to conduct them over the island. Here they saw cocoa plantations. The wet cocoa beans are piled in heaps to let the pulp ferment. They are then polished by bare feet. Jeff thinks the island is more like the State of Louisiana than any place he has seen. It is flat and level. The first morning on the island, Jeff got up early and heard a commotion at the shore, so went to investigate. A boatful of men and women were dropping pennies into the water and natives were diving for them and would come up with them in their mouths and yell "Boss! Boss!”
Jeff had a letter of credit for $500.00 from a Lordsburg, New Mexico bank. One day while walking on deck, a man walked up and asked him if he had lost any money. Jeff looked, and his letter of credit was missing. Jeff rewarded the finder by giving him $35.00 for returning it.
It took them just 19 days, counting the layovers, to make the trip to Rio de Janeiro. He was told to stop at the Deener Hotel. This he did, and the next day went by train a distance of nearly 400 miles to the -ranch, when; he was going to work. On this trip they passed through nineteen or twenty long tunnels.
The Brazil Land and Cattle Co. owned about three million acres of land, most of it being hilly, with an abundance of vegetation and trees. They ran about 100,000 head of Brahma cattle. Murdo McKenzie was manager of the ranch. There were only four or five Americans working for the company and they were all made bosses over the natives who worked there. The cattle pasture on the great unfenced grass-lands, or savannahs, which has only grass and scattered trees, as far as one can see. Jeff had about 35 or 40 men working for him. One day one of his men came riding up to him very scared and said he had found a boa constrictor. Jeff rode to the place and shot it. It was about 24 feet long. Jeff said that in that part of the country they were very scarce, but monkeys, wild pigs, deer, antelope and many other wild animals were numerous. There were a number of ostrich farms and the brilliant tropical birds, macaw, birds of paradise, lyre birds, and other bright plumaged birds in profusion. Brazil nuts grew wild in the forest, millions of pounds of them rotting every year. There are also rubber, cacao and coffee plantations. Three-fourths of the coffee produced in the world is grown on the plantations in the highlands near Sao Paulo.
While Jeff worked there, a party of noted American hunters came to the ranch on a big game hunting trip, and in this party was Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit.
Jeff stayed two years and eleven days. They wanted him to stay longer, but he would have had to become a citizen if he had stayed, and he did not want to do this. They dislike losing an American, as most of the Portuguese are ignorant and don't make good stock hands. The Portuguese on this ranch were nearly all white, but some were mixed with Indian or Negro no color line among the common people.
While working there Jeff received $70.00 per month. He returned to the United States via Panama. From there he went to El Paso, Texas, and then to Arizona and worked again for the Brazil Land and Cattle Co. He worked there several years, and in 1914 came to Wyoming and got a job from Jake Mill, who ran about 1,000 head of cattle. Jeff and the writer's son Jim worked together here, and Jeff gave him his silver-mounted bit which he used while in Brazil.
Jeff filed on a homestead in the Snyder Creek country. After making final proof he sold it to Wm. E. Hogan. The proceeds of this land, as well as several thousand dollars he had acquired, he loaned to a rancher near Douglas on interest, so he could take care of himself in his declining years. Through default he never collected his money and Jeff lost all. He worried about this for years until his illness eventually left him weak, mentally as well as physically. Jeff was kind and good-hearted and was loved by everyone.
JOHN T. HOGG
JAMES BLAIR HOGG arrived in Wyoming in April, 1896, aged 21 years The wide-open range of Wyoming presented a new set-up for Jim, but being adaptable, he was soon as familiar with the plains of Wyoming as he had been with the valleys, forests, brooks, wheat and tobacco fields of West Virginia, his native State. Jim filed on a homestead on Lance Creek adjoining that of his father, John T. Hogg, and his brothers, William and Ethan.
Jim's first job in Wyoming was helping John Berry through the lambing season at the old 9 9 9 ranch, situated just below the Hogg families’ ranch. In 1898 Jim was camp tender for Swift & Co.'s big sheep outfit near Gillette and Devil's Tower in Wyoming. By nature Jim was a horse trader and spinner of yarns. Of the three Hogg brothers, Jim was the practical one. His brothers had a deep-rooted affection for thoroughbred horses, training and racing horses, whereas Jim preferred work stock.
In 1908, Jim went to Iowa and purchased a big stallion to put with his band of work mares, and he always had a horse to trade. Jim got a lot of fun from trading "sight unseen" with such articles as knives, guns, chaps, etc. Another hobby of Jim's in his later 'teens was breaking young oxen. He trained them to be so gentle and obedient to "gee" and "haw" that farmers were anxious to buy any that he had broken, and as Jim never refused any one a favor, he would usually part with his pet yoke of oxen and start all over again breaking another pair. But all these pleasant and familiar activities were ended when Jim reached Wyoming, where the work and surroundings were so entirely different. Those were the days of the big spring roundups, of line riders, night riders, and cowboys camping on the Cheyenne River and Lance Creek, friendly cowboys who always brought a quarter of antelope or a big hunk of freshly-butchered beef to the Hogg ranch-interesting, thrilling, hard-riding days that are gone forever, but remembered vividly by the few survivors of this interesting and unique epoch of the West. Jim even tried his hand at farming on a small scale and each spring would see him plowing up a garden patch from which he usually had watermelons and vegetables in season.
Jim was a friend to mankind. He never met a person who was not his friend. Although a bachelor-as his brothers were-he was unusually fond of children. Many now grown to adulthood remember Jim's many kindnesses.
He could talk all night on any subject that took his fancy, and delighted in telling tall tales and jokes on people he knew, but always in a happy vein nothing ever to hurt anyone. One of the tales he liked was about a boy about 19 whom Jim knew in West Virginia. This fellow, Jesse Love, was a barefoot, 'possum hunting, indolent youth, and the hardest work he ever did was to move fast. One summer day they were in a blacksmith shop with several other neighbors, and someone said to Jesse, "You better lift your foot, Jesse, you're standing on a red-hot iron.'' Without moving, Jesse asked, "Which foot?" I heard him tell this joke fifty years ago, but I've since read a version of it in a magazine. Whether Jim was the originator or not is a matter of conjecture. Jim was always cheerful, always willing to help others and generous in the extreme.
When, after a short illness, he left us in the fall of 1941, much of sweetness and beauty had gone from our lives.
JOHN T. HOGG
JOHN T. HOGG was born in Mason County, Virginia, January 22, 1844. He enlisted in the war between the States on the Union side, in the 13th Virginia Infantry, and served twenty months, until the close of the war. On January 25, 1870, he married Harriet L. Maupin, who was born at Point Pleasant, Virginia. To this union was born William G., Julia Inez, James B., Ethan A., Mary E., Sylvie M., and Marion H. Mrs. Hogg's father, Lindsay G. Maupin, served all through the entire Civil War in Company A, 8th Virginia Cavalry, on the Confederate side.
John T. Hogg was a little under age when he enlisted in the Union army. He winked at Uncle Sam and gave him the run-around and got in early. He said it was taught the Virginians that it was their duty to fight in all of America's wars, regardless of what side they were on, and that the Virginians won one little war all by themselves (French and Indian). Texas, though, stole the show in World War II. However, they sheepishly admit England and Russia helped them a little. John T. Hogg's great-grandfather was prevented serving in the Revolutionary War on account of his age and infirmities, although he had served as captain of the 1st Virginia Volunteers through the entire French and Indian war. However, he sent his negro, Duncan, who served through the entire time as one of George Washington's bodyguards.
Mr. Hogg went to Florida in 1912, but in 1920 he returned to Wyoming. Mrs. Hogg died on November 11, 1904, and is buried at Edgemont, So. Dak. Mr. Hogg died September 11, 1932, and is also buried at Edgemont.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BLESSING
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BLESSING was born in Letart, Mason County. West Virginia, where he attended school and grew to manhood. His father was an enterprising farmer, but Frank did not like farming. He was very much interested in the wild yarns about the West. Finally the lure of high adventure stirred him until he struck out for Dakota Territory.
In 1880, he worked at different ranches until he got a job with the -T outfit, and worked there several years. Frank was working for the -T when the Burlington Railroad was being built through Dakota, and just after its completion, in 1889, there was a wreck near the ranch. The cowboys visited the wreck, and there were various things scattered among the wreckage, one being a car of raspberries. The cowboys lost sight of everything but the raspberries. They said they did not eat all they wanted, but ate all they could, and the result was they all got sick. One man had to be operated on for appendicitis. It was reported his appendix was "busted." After the cowboys all regained their health, they said "no more train wrecks for us in the future. We had enough raspberries to do us for the rest of our lives."
Frank could not be satisfied to work for another, so he filed on a home stead on Hat Creek, about nine miles northwest of the present site of Ardmore, and invested his savings in a few cattle. Here he purchased other land and built up a fine ranch. He married Hattie Fox at Cincinnati, Ohio. The children from this marriage are: Edith, Blanche and Lloyd (deceased). Frank died in South Dakota a few years ago at an advanced age.
The present owner of this ranch is J. C. Christensen.
CHARLES LOGAN BREWSTER
CHARLES LOGAN BREWSTER was born in Collingwood, Canada, on Lake Ontario. He came to Lead City, South Dakota, in 1888, when he was 13 years of age. His aunt, Mrs. Eliza Bryant, owned the Bryant Hotel in Lead, which she opened in 1876, the first hotel operated in Lead City. This hotel and another one in Lead, which she managed, was filled with old-time gold miners and prospectors, and many of them had recently "struck it rich." It was said that Mrs. Bryant had grub-staked more people to prospect for gold than any single person in the Black Hills. Gold nuggets were plentiful and jubilantly displayed. Flour was worth many dollars a sack and every thing else in proportion. Logan attended school week days and helped in the hotel week ends and evenings, but he was eagerly awaiting the day when he would be old enough to get a job in the gold mines. When he was 17, he went to the Belle Fourche country to work for his brother-in-law, "Carrick Red Hill," who was running cattle on the Belle Fourche River. Mrs. Hill,
Red's mother, was first cousin to George F. Hearst, father of William Randolph Hearst, noted American newspaper publisher. Mrs. Hill had confidence that "Thar's gold in them thar hills," and financed her cousin by teaching school while he went prospecting for gold. Mrs. Hill's husband, "Missouri" Hill, filed on a homestead on the Belle Fourche River, within a mile of where the city of Belle Fourche is now located. It was here, years later, that Logan Brewster got his first experience in cattle raising. When Mr. Hearst became owner of the famous Homestake gold mine, he built Mrs. Hill, his bene factress, a $10,000 home in Los Angeles, California, on a street afterward named Hill street. She also received from her cousin $100.00 a month for life, and in his will Mr. Hearst left $10,000 to each of her four children.
ALBERT HERMAN
ALBERT HERMAN was born in Illinois. In his early youth he came with his parents, brothers and sisters, to Wyoming, settling in the southern part of the State, where he found employment on various ranches.
When only 17 years of age, Albert started working for the 21 horse ranch. His brother in-law, Matt Brown, was range foreman of the outfit at this time. He worked here until 1897, then homesteaded a tract of land on the Cheyenne River, near the mouth of Mule Creek, and turned to ranching in earnest, recording his brand and becoming one of the county's biggest stock-raisers.
Albert made several trips to Old Mexico, where he purchased dogies. shipping them to Wyoming for the ranchers. He made one trip to South America, where he went to look over the cow proposition of that country, returning via Panama Canal, stopping en route in Mexico for another train load of dogies.
Some of the boys who worked for him were: Ed Buchanan, James Mc Mimmimum, "Cannibal Dick" and James (Sourdough) Baker.
Albert was a top hand on the range, a good mixer and a good dealer. He always attended all the old ranch dances and helped out with the music on the banjo and guitar.
About 1910, he sold his holdings to Cal Sutherland, and located in Edgemont, becoming an influential citizen. For years he held the position of chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fall River County Bank, but one of his greatest interests was the livestock industry. He continued to buy cows and sell to the ranchmen. He also had an
Mr. Herman married Dorothy Crane, daughter of a Fall River County Sheriff, at Hot Springs, So. Dak. To this union two children were born Alma and Albert. After completing high school in Edgemont, Alma attended nurses' training school in Illinois and Albert is a senior at the Lincoln University.
Mr. Herman's untimely death occurred in 1940 at Rochester, Minn., where he had gone for medical aid.
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Sutherland are the present owners of Albert's Cheyenne River ranch. They have improved the hay lands and the old log house has been replaced by a five-room dwelling.
Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland are the parents of one son, Grant, who is a veteran of World War II. During the war he was married to Mrs. Clara McEachern and they are the parents of one daughter, Joan McEachern.
CHARLES PETRO
CHARLES PETRO was born on July 11, 1869, at Westville, Indiana. At the age of 11 years he began the battle of life on his own account, but he found time to receive an education in the common branches of learning, amid these duties.
In 1885, he landed at DeSoto, Iowa, worked there a few months, then left for Nebraska. In August, 1890, Charlie came to Dakota, and his first job was night watchman on a locomotive which was working at Chilson Canyon. In railroad slang, they call that the "iron horse." After four months' try at the "iron horse," Charlie decided that he wanted a real horse, one he could "set straddle" and let his feet hang down-one that didn't have to have a turntable to turn around on and a skidway to run on. He turned in his resignation and bid farewell to the "iron horse."
He then went to work for J. C. Ryder, owner of the Wineglass horse ranch, located on Red Canyon, range Red Canyon and Cheyenne River north of Edgemont. He worked for this outfit for two years, then went to work for the Union Cattle Co. at their S&G ranch and worked there until it closed out. In the fall of 1892, Charlie and George Holms were sent, with two four mule teams, from the S&G to the OS, on the Cheyenne River in Wyoming. The OS was also owned by the Union Cattle Co. They made this trip to get the company's belongings, such as mowers, blacksmith tools, harness, hay rake, doors, windows, fixtures, etc. Mert Jones was living in one of the small houses.He offered to buy the doors and windows from his house. The company had set a price, but Mert thought their price too high, and so the boys took the doors and windows, leaving Mert in an air-conditioned house. At that time roads were few and far between and most roads were where you made them as you went along. Charlie's team became a little unruly and turned the wagon over. His foot caught in the breeching of the wheel mule. Charlie says he received a minor injury in the mix-up, and he decided right there that a man and a mule were never supposed to work in the same harness. As far as the doors and windows were concerned, they might as well left them in the houses, as they were as much of a wreck as the houses they left.
After the S&G closed out, Charlie took a trail herd of horses for J. L. Ryder to Hay Springs, Neb. He sold sixteen head and traded the rest for cattle, driving the cattle back to the ranch on the Cheyenne River.
In the summer of 1893, he night-wrangled horses for the Edgemont Improvement Co. when they were building the big irrigation ditch from Edgemont to Beaver Creek. At that time they were building dams.
In the fall of 1893, Charlie and Charles Snyder started for the World's Exposition in Chicago. They went as far as Omaha with a shipment of cattle for Paine & Arnold and John Craven. Charles Snyder wore a suit of buckskin clothes his pappy made him. It was a pretty flashy outfit, especially for the City of Omaha. The management of "The People's Clothing Store" spied this queer-looking cowhand from the sagebrush country. They offered him $35.00 per day for two days to sit in the store window for an attraction. The cowhand thought they were poking fun at his garb. He was angered and told his comrades he was taking the first train home. The boys said, "What's the big idea? Aren't you going with us to the Fair?" He replied, "I should say not; if I went to the Fair it would just be my luck for their champion baboon to die and they would want me to take his place in the cage for the multitudes to stare at." So Snyder was as good as his word he went home. His dad was very much displeased. He had put in so much time killing deer, tanning hides, cutting, assembling, sewing and finishing to make his son a he-man—virtually being a slave to him for the one big moment. What worried the old man most, he had gotten him fixed out where he was in the big money and the poor simp turned the offer down cold and returned to his father's bed and board.
Charlie continued on his journey to the Colombian Exposition and had a great time while he was there, seeing the Windy City and the wonders of the world.
On his return from the Fair he secured work clerking in D. K. Snively's general store at Edgemont, So. Oak. D. K. Snively was an old-time freighter, freighting from Sidney, Neb., and other points to the Black Hills.
February 3, 1895, Mr. Petro married Anna Adams at Ardmore, South Dakota. Mrs. Petro's parents were one of the earliest among the pioneer settlers of the northwest part of Dakota Territory, coming to Oelrich in 1887 from Scotland County, Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Petro are the parents of five children-Lawrence, Margory, Alta Mae, Belva (deceased) and Beulah.
In 1896 and 1897 Charlie worked for the Cross Anchor outfit. Ed Woolfolk was foreman at this time.
In 1900 Charlie went into the cattle ranching business "on his own," locating in Plains Valley. Here Mr. and Mrs. Petro reared their family. In later years they moved to Edgemont so that the children might have the advantage of a high school.
Mr. and Mrs. Petro observed their Golden Wedding anniversary on February 3, 1945. By hard work and careful management , Mr. Petro has accumulated a comfortable property and expects to enjoy this world's goods for the rest of his days without much exertion.