USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 77
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 77
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 77
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27 Corlett says of Jones, who was a young man, not more than 28 years of
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man,28 associate justices ; Silas Reed, of St Louis, sur- veyor general; 2 and Frank Walcott, of Kentucky, receiver of public means.
On the 19th of May the judges having qualified, and the organization of the territory being completed, Governor Campbell issued a proclamation assigning them to their districts ; the county of Laramie con- stituting the 1st, to which the chief justice was assigned, the counties of Albany and Carbon the 2d to which Judge Jones was assigned; and the 3d the county of Carter, to which Judge Kingman was assigned; designating the times and places of holding courts therein, and subsequently attaching the Green River region to Carter county and the 3d judicial district. The first term of court was held at Chey- enne, September 7th, 1869. The census returns, owing to the sparseness of the population, and the difficulty of finding deputies willing to travel over the country, much of which was unsafe on account of Indian raids, were not all in before the last of July. On the 2d of August a proclamation was issued call-
age, that he was entirely cool and impartial on the bench, and for that reason was approved by the bar and people. He was of intemperate habits, but such was his popularity that he was elected delegate to congress from the territory before his term was ended. He was born in Ind. in 1842, and edu- cated at Miami university, Ohio, afterwards studying law at Corydon, Ind. When the civil war broke out he volunteered in the 17th Indiana regt. He distinguished himself in all the campaigns in which he served, rising to the rank of major for gallant and meritorious conduct.
28 ' Kingman,' says Corlett, 'was regarded as a very interesting man, but I cannot say he was successful as a judge. He was a man of very strong prejudices, and was in the habit of allowing himself to be informed about the case, and was apt to espouse one side or the other.'
29 According to Johnson & Tuthill's Direc. of Cheyenne, 1883, C. D. Ruyer was nominated, but if so, he must have declined immediately, as Reed was nominated in April 1869. Congress, however, had passed no law establish- ing the office of surveyor-general, and although an appropriation was made, and bills introduced establishing the surveying and local land offices, they did not pass before the adjournment of congress. This neglect caused the postponement of a surveying office in Wyoming until the summer of 1870, when surveys began along the line of the railway. They commenced at the intersection of the 3d standard parallel with the guide meridian at the ter- mination of the Colorado surveys. The delay in surveying was injurious and irritating to settlers on public lands and town-site companies. Rept of sur-gen., in U. S. H. Misc. Doc., 40, p. 2, 41st cong., 3d sess .; Wyom. Council Jour., 1869, 18-19. Wolcott served in the union army, and reached the rank of major. He was U. S. marshal of Wyoming in 1871-2, and became a wealthy cattle-dealer.
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ing for an election on the 2d of September, for choos- ing a delegate to congress, and members of the first territorial legislature, which by the organic act was limited to nine councilmen and thirteen representa- tives, which might be afterward increased to thirteen and twenty-seven respectively.30
The candidates for the congressional delegateship were S. F. Nuckolls and W. W. Corlett, Nuckolls, democrat, being elected by a majority of 1,368 in a total vote of 5,266. He was of the family some members of which are settled in Colorado, where he also came in an early period, being known as a busi- ness man rather than a politician, but his sympathies were with the slave-holding south during the war. He was not renominated, and died a few years after- ward.
The legislature in a sixty days' session perfected and adopted a code of laws which, with the example of the several new territories adjacent to guide them, was an admirable foundation in which to construct a perfect state in the future. Had no omissions been made, there need have been no more legislatures 31
30 The council consisted of T. D. Murrin, J. R. Whitehead, and T. W. Poole of Laramie co .; W. H. Bright, W. S. Rockwell, and George Wardmen of Carter eo .; Frederick Layeoek and James W. Brady of Albany eo .; and George Wilson of Carbon eo. Bright was chosen president, T. S. Poole chaplain, Edward Orpen sec., Mark Parish asst see., Charles H. Moxley sergt-at-arms, Peter Lemmon messenger, Henry Arnesfeld fireman. The house of representatives consisted of Posey S. Wilson, J. C. Abney, Herman Haas, Howard Sebree, Louis Miller, J. N. Douglas, William Herrick, Ben- jamin Sheeks, James Menafee, J. C. Strong, John Holbrook, J. M. Freeman, and S. M. Curran, speaker. L. L. Bedell was chosen chief clerk, W. C. Stanley asst clerk, William Baker sergt-at-arms.
31 The Wyoming Tribune commented upon the negleet to pass a militia law, which the governor had recommended; to provide for a commission of sta- tisties, and a bureau of immigration; and to exempt certain kinds of personal property from seizure and sale on execution. Wyom. Misc., MS., 9. Instead of the militia law, the legislature memorialized congress to order paid to the governor of Wyoming all the internal revenue collections not already appro- priated for other territorial objects, for the purpose of paying volunteer troops who might be called into the field to serve against hostile Indians. Wyom. Laws, 1869, 721-2. The legislature of 1871 passed an act authorizing the formation of volunteer militia companies, but it was not put in execution. An act was passed for the same purpose in 1882. Sess. Laws, 1882. 155. The presence of a number of U. S. posts has a tendency to eause neglect of mili- tia organizations. Congress was still further memorialized on the Indian troubles, and asked to reestablish the forts on the Powder river route to
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The laws of Dakota were repealed December 10th, the act to take effect on the Ist of January, and not to impair any rights acquired under Dakota laws, nor to interfere with the course of actions at law already commenced.
A county was established in the Green River coun- try called Uinta, with the county seat temporarily at Merrill, near Fort Bridger. The name of Carter county was changed to Sweetwater, and the county seat located at South Pass City. 32 The judicial dis- tricts were altered, making Laramie and Albany counties compose the 1st, Carbon and Uinta the 2d, and Sweetwater the 3d, Judge Kingman was assigned to the 2d, and Jones to the 3d. The official year was made to terminate on the last day of October. The seal
Montana. Increased salaries were asked for the judges and legislators. An appropriation was made by the legislature of $1,500 additional to be paid to the chief justice, and $1,000 to the associate judges. Better mail facilities were petitioned for.
32 The officers appointed for Sweetwater co. were W. C. Erwin, James A. Brennan, and John Dugdale, commissioners; T. Quinn, probate judge; John McGlinchy, sheriff; Tim. McCarty, co. clerk; P. L. Williams, prosecuting atty; Henry Smith, assessor; Frank Gilman, supt of schools; William Smith, co. sur .; John Morris, coroner; James W. Stillman and Presley J. Talbert, justices of the peace in South Pass precinct; James Smith, constable; Ed- ward Lawn, justice of the peace in Atlantic City precinct, and W. Hogan, constable; William Grinnell, justice of the peace in Bryan precinct. No appointments were made for Point of Rocks, although such a precinct was named.
The officers appointed for Carbon co. were A. B. Donnelly, E. V. Upton, and Robert Foot, commissioners; George Doyle, sheriff; Robert Foot, justice of the peace of Fort Halleck precinct; Hinton, justice of the peace of Carbon precinct; probate judge and ex-officio justice of the peace, William R. Hun- ter, of Rawlins Springs; Thomas J. Williams, clerk and registrar of deeds, H. C. Hall, supt of public instruction. The county seat of Carbon co. was located at Rawlins Springs.
The county seat of Albany co. was located at Laramie City; officers, H. Wagner, Joseph Mackle, and S. C. Leach, commissioners; J. W. Connor, sheriff; L. D. Pease, probate judge; Charles Hilliker, assessor; George Van Dyke, justice of the peace; R. S. Kinney, clerk; John Barton, D. Shanks, William Carr, and George Young, constables; Foose, coroner; James Vine, surveyor; S. W. Downey, prosecuting attorney.
The county seat of Laramie co. was located at Cheyenne. Officers: L. Murrin, H. J. Rogers, and George D. Foglesong, commissioners; T. Jeff.' Carr, sheriff; William L. Kuykendall, probate judge; John T. Chaffin, clerk and registrar of deeds; C. C. Turley, coroner; S. H. Winsor, surveyor; H. Garbanati, county atty; Rev. H. P. Peek, supt of public schools; D. C. Tracy, justice of the peace at Pine Bluffs; William Baker, justice of the peace at Cheyenne; Frank Gates, justice of the peace at Fort Laramie; William Rowland. con- stable at Pine Bluffs; A. J. Mead, constable at Cheyenne; and Gibson Clark, constable at Fort Laramie.
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designed for the territory had on its face a Norman shield, on the upper half of which was emblazoned mountains, with a railroad train, the appearing above the horizon, and the figures " 1868 " below the middle point of the shield. On the first quarter below, on a white ground, a plough, pick, and shovel, and a shep- herd's crook. On the second quarter on a red ground was an arm upholding a drawn sword. The motto " Cedant arma toga " surmounted the shield and the whole was encircled by the words " Territory of Wyo- ming, great seal."
The code adopted allowed gambling,33 and taxed every kind of property, except United States and public property, which included scientific and all school or benevolent institutions, with the money and credits belonging exclusively to them, and the kitchen, furniture, bedding, and clothing of every per- son, and provisions for a family amounting to the value of $100. The school tax was fixed at two mills on a dollar of the assessed value of all taxable prop- erty. Jails were required to be erected and kept in every county, the sheriff to be responsible for the manner in which they were maintained. The terri- torial penitentiary was located at the town of Lara- mie, Albany county, and congress was memorialized that the territory had been deprived of the use of that part of the internal revenue set aside by law for penitentiaries in the territories, for a large portion of the year 1867, the whole of 1868, and the greater part of 1869, during which time the internal revenue of Wyoming had gone to the credit of Dakota, for which loss the legislature asked to be reimbursed. A. second memorial declared that in and about the Sweetwater mining region, and on the border of the Shoshone reservation set apart by Sherman and his co-commissioners in 1868, were congregated many of
33 Says one of my authorities: 'J. M. Pattee bought up the legislature, and ran the Wyoming lottery. In 1876 it collapsed, but Pattee had drawn prizes enough to become rich.'
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the criminal class, who constantly committed theft, robbery, and murder, there being sometimes twenty persons held for trial at the same time in that county, which had no prison. The military posts of Fort Bridger, and the camp on the Popo Agie had kept in the guard-houses a number of criminals, to aid the officers of the law, but refused longer to make these places serve as jails for this class of offenders. The expenses of holding prisoners, under the circumstances was a heavy tax on the county, and it was asked the secretary of war should aid the people by providing a prison at one of the military posts in which prison- ers held for trial could be confined and subsisted until the people were able to meet the difficulty. Convicts were taken, at great cost, to Detroit, where they were imprisoned in the house of correction. 34
The seat of government of the territory was estab- lished at Cheyenne, and an appropriation asked for the erection of a capital. 35 All this was legislation
34 Wyom. Gen. Laws, Ist sess., pp. 32. The penitentiary was completed in 1872, and in less than a year was destroyed by fire. Laramie Sentinel, Aug. 27, 1873. It was partially rebuilt, soon after which the government, by act of congress, transferred the prisoners from the charge of the U. S. marshal to the control of the territory. A commission was appointed, consisting of Herman Haas, James France, W. H. Halliday, and Gov. Thayer, to investi- gate the cost of keeping prisoners at Laramie, and at other prisons in the neighboring states, the result of which was that the penitentiary of Nebraska was declared, by act of legislature of 1879, to be the territorial prison of Wyoming. Wyom. Sess. Laws, 1879, 142. As late as 1884, a penitentiary commission for selecting prisons existed.
35 U. S. H. Miscel., iii., No. 60, 41st cong., 2d sess. Cheyenne was rein- corporated at this session. W. W. Slaughter was mayor in 1869; Edward Orpen, city clerk; John Burrows, city marshal; George Raymond, fire war- den; J. R. Whitehead, N. J. O'Brien, Henry E. Eisfelder, Dayton, and T. W. Poole, aldermen. Wyom. Misc., MS., 2. Cheyenne sustained the loss of $250,000 by fire on Jan. 11, 1869. Wyom. W. Tribune, Jan. 15, 1869. The commerce of Cheyenne was immense for a frontier town during 1868-9, it being the entrepôt of the vast region lying north, west, and south, until the railroad was completed, when of course the trade was divided between the many points along the line. But in this brief period fortunes were made and lost. Prices were fabulous, and business partook of the recklessness of gambling. It was never disputed that this town exceeded in vice and un- wholesome excitement any of the many new cities in the west. Yet that it was not wholly composed of the transient classes, some facts go to show. In 1869 it had a population of over 4,000, sometimes nearer 6,000, In the autumn of 1870 it had 1,600. . It had at this period a public school, with 2 departments, accommodating about 100 pupils, and two select schools, each with about 30 in attendance. These were under the management of the catholic and episcopal societies. It had 5 well built and well furnished
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WYOMING.
to the point. But what attracted most attention, at home and abroad, was an act passed and approved December 10th, giving women the right to vote and hold office, and was cordially approved by the gov- ernment. The law was immediately put in practice by the summoning of women on juries, and the appoint- ment of women justices of the peace, the first being by the commissioners of Sweetwater county who chose to that position Esther Morris, the wife of John Morris.
The judges of Wyoming were no more happy than had been those of the other territories. Aside from the firm support given the rights of women under the suffrage act, there was the usual opposition to imported officers, and demand for home appointments. Howe, who was probably annoyed by this clamor, resigned at the end of two years. Jones being nominated delegate to congress to succeed Nuckolls, there were two vacancies on the bench, which was filled by the appointment of J. W. Fisher chief-justice, and J. M. Casey, the United States district attorney, associate justice, who held the office four years. Fisher remained chief justice until about 1879, when he was succeeded by J. B. Sener, who held the office for six years, and was succeeded by John C. Perry. The associates of Fisher, after Kingman and Carey, were
churches, occupied by the episcopal, methodist, congregational, presbyterian, and catholic congregations. The masons, knights templar, odd fellows, and good templars had lodges in a flourishing condition. "Some business houses would compare favorably with those of cities of ten times the age and popu- lation. The furniture and crockery house of A. R. Converse carried from $30,000 to $50,000. Joslyn & Park, manufacturers of native jewelry, had a business of $75,000 per year. The dry goods houses of C. D. Foglesong, S. F. Nuckolls, Marks, Myers & Co., carried cach from $25,000 to $40,000 in stock, besides which there was another dry goods store. There were 2 banks, 3 wholesale and retail tobacconists, 3 hardware houses, 2 boot and shoe establishments, 3 clothing houses, 2 book and stationery stores, 3 drug stores, 1 confectionery, 2 bakeries, 1 livery stable, 2 first-class hotels and several inferior ones, 1 daily and 2 weekly newspapers, a well organized fire department, with 1 steam fire-engine and a hook-and-ladder company. A company bad nearly completed an acequia for bringing water a distance of 7 miles to run through the principal streets. And better than all, it was at this time a well governed and orderly town.
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E. A. Thomas, followed by Jacob B. Blair, and Wil- liam Ware Beck. The latter failed to give satisfac- tion to the people of his district, who caused the leg- islature in 1877 to memorialize the president for his removal. The petition was not heeded. In 1879 the president was memorialized that W. W. Corlett would be acceptable as a successor to Chief-justice Fisher, which prayer was also disregarded, efforts to shake off non-resident officials being nearly always futile. 36 Peck was succeeded by Samuel C. Parks. The suc- cessor of district attorney Carey was Edward P. Johnson,37 who remained in office over seven years, and was suceeeded by C. H. Layman, followed by M. C. Brown, and J. A. Riner, W. T. Sweesy, and Gustav Schnitger succeeded to the marshal's office.
The legislature of 1869 fixed the time of elections on the first Tuesday of September in each year. At the election of 1870 there was to be chosen a delegate to congress, and on every succeeding alternate year a delegate. Members of the legislature and county officers were to be elected in 1871, and every two years thereafter, and the legislature was to meet on the first Tuesday in November after election. By the organic act the length of the sessions was fixed at forty days, except the first, which was permitted to be sixty. There was none of that turbulence or effort to evade obligations which disgraced some of the territorial legislatures during their infancy ; no needless increase in the number of legislators, no whole- sale thieving or reckless plunging of the territory in debt, and congress found little to disapprove. 38
36 Wyom. Session Laws, 1877, 142; Id., 1879, 156.
37 Johnson was born in Greenbush, Ohio, Aug. 21, 1842. He entered the union army, and served 3 years in the 93d Ohio regt. In 1867 he graduated from the university of Mich., removing soon after to Denver, where he stopped a short time before casting in his fortunes with Cheyenne. He was prosecuting attorney for Laramie co. in 1869-70. His appointment as U. S. dist. attorney was one of the few instances of domestic material being chosen to fill government offices. He resigned after 7 years to accept again the office of prosecuting attorney for the county. He was chosen to the council of the territorial legislature in 1879, but died Oct. 3, before it was convened.
38 U. S. Sen. Jour., 1175, 1546; 41 cong. 2 sess .; Id., 548, 3 sess .; U. S. H. Jour., 1359; 42 cong., 2 sess.
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The subsequent act of congress providing that rep- resentativesand delegates to congress should be elected on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in Novem- ber 1876, and every second year thereafter, caused a change in the law of Wyoming, which was made to conform to this act, and the biennial election of the legislative and county and territorial officers to occur upon the same day. The council and house of repre- sentatives were increased to the full number allowed by the organic act in 1875. No session was held from November 1879 to January 1882, from which period the biennial sessions subsequently dated.
The republicans in convention, in August 1870, nom- inated Jones, and the democrats John Wanless. Jones' majority was 227 in a total vote of 3,202. In 1872 Jones was again nominated, but was beaten by William R. Steele, democrat, by a majority of 271 in 3,213. In 1874 the republicans nominated J. M. Carey, who was beaten by Steele, nominated to suc- ceed himself. In 1876 the republicans again nomi- nated W. W. Corlett, their choice in 1869, whose majority over Steele was 1,104, in a total vote of 6,626.39 Again in 1878 the republicans elected their
39 Corlett was born in Concord, Ohio, in 1842. His parents were from the Isle of Man, but migrating to the U. S. their son was educated in Amer- ican institutions, spending three years in Willoughby collegiate institute, near Cleveland, where he was employed as tutor for onc ycar. In 1862 he enlisted in the 87th Ohio regt as 2d lieut. He was captured at Harper's Ferry, paroled, and sent home. After teaching another year he exchanged as a prisoner, and again entered the army, joining the 25th Ohio battery in the south-west, where he remained until the close of the war, after which he returned home, and began the study of the law, graduating in 1866. His health failing, he went to Denver, and thence to Cheyenne, where he was one of half a dozen republicans who effected an organization of the party in Wyoming called the Grant club. He was defcated, as already known, on the congressional ticket in 1869, but was appointed postmaster of Cheyenne the following year, which office he held for three years. He held the office of prosecuting attorney for Laramic county from 1870 to 1876, when he was elected delegate to congress, declining a renomination in 1878. Daily Sun, Sept. 21, 1876; Id., Oct. 15, 1876. For S or 10 years he was a member of the school board, and never relinquished the practice of the law except which absent in Washington. In 1885 he was chairman of the commission to com- plete and revise the laws of Wyoming. His life helps to make history a study worthy to be pursued. Mr Corlett has furnished to my collection of manuscripts The Founding of Cheyenne, which is a complete synopsis of the
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candidate, Stephen W. Downey, by about the same majority over E. L. Pese, democrat. In 1880 the choice lay between A. H. Swan, republican,40 and Morton E. Post, democrat, who received a majority of 147 in 7,667 votes. But in 1882 Post had a majority of 1,111 over the republican candidate J. M. Meldrum. In 1884 his party again nominated Joseph M. Carey, who was elected in opposition to William H. Holliday.
The administration of Governor Campbell, which lasted until 1875, was attended by no disorders, nor was it embittered by political feuds. The utmost harmony existed between him and the legislature. which three times left to him the apportionment of the territory into legislative districts. He found it without funds to carry on the government ; he left it out of debt, and with nearly $20,000 in the treasury. He found the territory with a small fixed population, its improvements of the most transitory character; he left it with permanent towns, comfortable homes, and substantial business establishments. The unsettled val- leys had become settled with thrifty stock-raisers and agriculturalists. The vigilants of Wyoming per- formed no more the functions of courts and execution- ers after his first proclamation, and where the wildest orgies had once been witnessed order and decorum prevailed. He was not superseded, but called to Washington to fill a higher if not a more useful office. 41
To Campbell succeeded John M. Thayer of
establishment, not of Cheyenne, but of the provisional and territorial gov- ernments.
40 A. H. Swan was born in Greene co., Pa, in 1831, of Scotch and Welsh progenitors, long settled in that state. He was one of S boys, and received an academic education. He removed to Iowa in early manhood, engaging in stock-raising, which he followed for 14 years before coming to Wyoming, where he very much extended his operations, and became an associate in the great cattle companies that represent millions. His name in Wyoming is synonymous with ability, enterprise, and honor. Wyom. Rept Gov., 1883, 57; Carey, Politics and People, MS., 2.
11 Cheyenne News, Feb. 15, 1875; Bristol, Newspaper Press, MS., 2.
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Nebraska," who held the office four years. During his administration occurred the Bighorn expedition, and the failure of a commission appointed by the president to treat with the Indians for the extinguish- ment of their title to the Black hills region where gold was believed to exist. A scheme was proposed about this time of annexing a portion of Wyoming to Colorado, by settlers on both sides of the boundary line, which had no foundation in reason, and came to nothing. 43 Another proposition was more seriously entertained in 1877, of forming a new territory out of the Black hills, a portion of northern Wyoming, and parts of Montana and Dakota." Thayer was opposed to the scheme of another territory, but favored the project of severing the Black hills from Dakota and attaching them to Wyoming, which as they lay half in the latter territory, and had intimate relations with Cheyenne, seemed a proper connection. The legisla- ture was advised to and did memorialize congress against a division of the territory.45
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