USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 79
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 79
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 79
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60 A. R. Converse, born in Mass in 1842, arrived in Cheyenne Nov. 14, 1867, and established the first house-furnishing business here, taking F. E. Warren for a partner in 1873, and selling out to him in 1878. In 1875 he engaged in stock-raising on the Chugwater, and later organized the National Cattle co., but sold his interest in 1884. He also organized the Converse Cat- tle co., with a range on Lance creek, 180 miles n. of Cheyenne; capital stock $1,000,000. He was one of the first county commissioners elected after the organization of the territory, and from 1876 to 1880 was territorial treas- urer. He was one of the most public-spirited citizens of Wyoming, and assisted materially in building up Cheyenne.
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the wrecking of railway trains for plunder. They were after a struggle brought under control by the courage and skill of the sheriffs. 61
61 What the struggle was will appear from the following: Ervin F. Cheney, while deputy sheriff of Atlantic City, succeded in arresting three who had escaped from prison. He was assisted by McCabe, a well known scout, and another person. All three of the criminals were resentenced to prison for long terms. Bill Bivens was one of these robbers. Scott Davis was thanked by a joint resolution of the legislature of 1877 for the capture of Blackburn and Wall, two notorious desperadoes. Wyom. Sess. Laws, 1877, 144-5. Coaches in those days were iron-clad to ward off bullets. In 1878 the coach from Cheyenne to Deadwood was attacked by 6 masked men, and robbed. Meeting the coach from Deadwood at Lightning creek, the driver gave a description of the spot, and warned the south-bound driver to look out for it, as the robbers were no doubt waiting for his coach to repeat the assault. There were three passengers inside, one a woman, the express messenger, Capt. Eugene Smith, on horseback, and the driver, John Flaherty, on the box to defend the coach. Smith rode about 400 yards ahead of the stage. At the scene of the robbery he picked up some certificates of registered let- ters left on the ground, but saw nothing of the robbers until 1} miles below Cheyenne river station, where a dry creek offered a favorable ambush. In this ravine Smith was seen by the driver beckoning to him to come on. He had a revolver in his left hand and a rifle in his right. 'I have got them here, and I must get them out,' he shouted; 'you drive on.' He rode alone up and down the creek for some distance, and finally fired a shot, which caused one of the concealed road agents to fire, and reveal their hiding place, which, seeing that they were sought, and judging by Smith's coolness that he had assistance at hand, they were anxious to conceal. They soon dis- covered that he alone was opposed to them, and shots were freely exchanged. Smith's horse was mortally wounded. In the skirmish he fired 4 shots with his pistol and 17 with his rifle, and had 50 shots fired at him, none of which touched him. The robbers, who had concealed their horses, mounted and rode off, thinking, no doubt, that Smith was endeavoring to drive them into a net prepared for them. He then mounted the coach, which proceeded safely to its destination. The Rocky Mountain Detective association, at the head of which was Gen. D. J. Cook of Colorado, had its members among the sheriffs and their deputies in Wyoming, who did some courageous work. Nathaniel K. Boswell of Laramie City was one of the most efficient. In the winter of 1878 he took 13 deputies and followed up until he arrested this gang of 6 stage robbers, whose names were Irwin, Marriner, Harring- ton, Congdon, and two others, all desperate men. They were surrounded 7 miles east of Rock creek station, and taken without resistance. He arrested Jesse James in Nebraska for one of the gang, without knowing that he was the notorious man of that name. James was lodged in jail at Laramie City; but the prisoner escaped throughi want of evidence. Afterward when he saw a photograph of Jesse James, he knew he had had the famous robber in his power. Jack Watkins, a much dreaded desperado, was arrested by Bos- well when no one else would attempt it. He followed Miller and Oaks, horse thieves, 400 miles, alone, and getting ahead on their trail, made them throw up their hands and dismount, as they had compelled many an honest man to do, and making them put the handcuffs on each other, brought them back to Wyoming. He was appointed chief of the detective bureau of the stock-growers' association in 1883, and had from 30 to 50 subordinates.
In the autumn of 1878, in the vicinity of Laramie, an extra locomotive preceded railway trains, which were run slowly for fear of wrecking, and which carried a guard of soldiers. Such a state of affairs suggested, if it did not justify, the revival of the vigilance committe. In Nov. a coach from the north for Laramie, having on board two captured robbers, Mansfield and
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The advancement of Wyoming from 1884 to 1888, if not as rapid as in some portions of the inter-mon- tane territories was steady and permanent. The leg- islature of 1886 had authorized the issue of $230,000 in bonds to be divided between the capital building fund, the university building fund, and a hospital for the insane. These bonds were payable in 15 and 35 years, and found a ready sale at five cents premium. An act has also been passed to create an institute for the education of deaf mutes; and $100,000 was appropriated in 1888 for the construction of a peni- tentiary. 62
Mclaughlin, was stopped at Platte river ford by masked men, their guard disarmed, and the prisoners taken out and hanged. S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 4, 1878. Donovan was hanged for murder in Frémont county. Several valu- able lives were lost in the effort to thwart the operations of organized bands of outlaws. By the combined action of the local authorities, the depart- ments at Washington, and the railroad and stage companies, a check was put upon their operations. Mess. Gov. Hoyt, 1879, 28-9. They were not ex- terminated, and in a year or two began their depradations once more. Big- nose George, Dutch Charley, and others attempted to wreck a railroad train. Several were captured. Bignose George contrived to get off his shackles, and attacked his jailer, Robert Rankin, whom he injured seriously. He was taken from confinement the night following and hanged by vigilants, who also executed some of his associates, Jim Lacey and Opium Bob. In 1884 ten solid men of Cheyenne took from jail one Mozier and hanged him. His crime was that of killing one of two men who had kindly offered to carry him in their wagon from near Laramie to Fort A. D. Russell. Some soldiers coming in sight, the other intended victim escaped, and the murderer was captured. Two conditions seem to accompany robber-gangs-the prosperity of the producing class whom they prey upon, and an unsettled country at hand in which to make their rendezvous. These conditions have existed in the Rocky mountain territories. In Hands Up !! or Twenty Years of Detec- tive Life on the Plains, by D. J. Cook, a book of nearly 300 pages, is con- tained the narrative of many of the most celebrated crimes and arrests oc- curring in his department. Cook was born in Ind. in 1840; reared on a farm, and received a common school education. He went to Colo in 1859, and mined in Gilpin co. Two years afterward he returned to Kansas and purchased a farm, but soon engaged in freighting for the government. He learned a good deal of the villainy practised in his calling, when employés of the quartermaster's department stole the horses and stock belonging to a train, and sometimes the whole train, taking advantage of the bad repnta- tion of the Indians, whom they emulated, Cochran's Hist. Fort Laramie, MS., 66-7; and his natural quickness of observation became sharpened. He was transferred to the ordnance department of the army of the frontier in 1863, and on returning to Colo established the association of which he was for more than 20 years chief. He is mentioned in my Hist. Colo, 467, as major- general of the militia of that state.
62 The capital, located at Cheyenne, was designed by D. W. Gibbs, of Toledo, Ohio. Its outline is classic, and it is built of Rawlins sandstone, which has a pleasing greenish gray tint. The size is 216x112 feet, and the height to the final point of the dome 153 feet. This imposing structure,
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Wyoming experienced the same hardships which has always embarrassed the efforts of the territories to establish a school system. During the period of sparse settlement, when aid is most required, no rev- enue is derived from the school lands, which are either unoccupied, or ranged over by the herds of cattle companies who are at liberty to graze their ani- mals upon them year after year, while the schools must wait for state government to give them any right to benefit by them. Congress should have authorized the territories to lease the 16th and 36th sections, in order that a revenue, however small, might be gath- ered, which would lighten the burden.6 Wyoming was granted in 1881 the customary 72 sections for university purposes, and set about selecting them in 1886, a task not without difficulty, owing to the rail- road grants, Indian and militia reservation lands, and Yellowstone park reserve. The same necessity for which cost $150,000, stands on a gentle elevation facing Capitol avenue. Board of Trade Rept, 1888, p. 13.
The university, located at Laramie, cost $50,000. The corner stone was laid Sept. 27, 1886, and the building was completed in the following Sept. It occupies the city park, the grounds comprising 4 blocks donated by the city council and the U. P. R. R., and 10 acres besides added by the commis- sioners, making about 20 acres in the heart of the city. The plan of the edifice is elegant in style, the material being Laramie sandstone, with orna- ments of Rawlins stone. It is 157x71 feet. The university is non-sectarian, and open to all. The first board of regents consisted of M. C. Brown, J. H. Finfrock, W. H. Holliday, Edward Ivinson, J. H. Hayford, John W. Hoyt, and Samuel Aughey. Hoyt was made prest of the university. He was assisted by Charles D. Conley, W. Smith, and A. Nelson. Hoyt had long been connected with educational matters, domestic and international, and was three times prest of international juries on learning, for which services he was knighted by Emperor Francis Joseph at Vienna. Conley had filled different chairs at Blackburn university, Ill. Smith was a graduate of Dart- mouth college, and a son of Chicf-justice Smith of N. H. Nelson was a graduate of the state normal school of Mo. Laramie W. Boomerang, Aug. 18, 1887.
The insane asylum was located at Evanston, and completed in 1887. The commissioners were A. C. Beckwith, C. D. Clark, and William Hinton. Rept of Gov. Moonlight to the Sec. of Interior, 1887, p. 46.
63 Notwithstanding that no aid was expected or received, the territorial legislature provided for a school system of a high order. The librarian of the territory is supt of public instruction. The law provides for a teachers' institute, which holds annual sessions of from 6 to 10 days. The public school-liouses in five counties cost $173,471, of which the amount raised by tax was $39,826, the remainder by voluntary subscription. In three other counties $16,550 was raised in 1886 for this purpose. The average cost of tuition per pupil per month varied from $2 to $9, according to the number of students. Id., 39-41.
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POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND MATERIAL AFFAIRS.
leave to utilize the university land existed that was urged on account of the public school lands. The college so courageously founded by the public spirit of the inhabitants should have enjoyed the rental of the lands appropriated by congress, and not a railroad or a cattle company, and the more so that tuition was free to all those nominated by the commissioners of the several counties, and nearly free to all students from any quarter.
The land laws of the United States, although the most liberal in the world, and made to suit the neces- sities and encourage the enterprise of the people, have always been subject to criticism, and have been many times amended to adjust them to the different condi- tions of new communities. The irruption into the mid-continental portion of the United States of Eng- lish and other foreign capitalists, who purchased mines of which they knew little and spent money lavishly in an attempt to make money out of them-an attempt which often proved abortive-was welcomed by the pioneer, because it at least brought into the country means which could be used in other forms of develop- ment ; but when foreign capital was applied to the purchase, at the minimum price, of millions of acres of the best land, including the banks of rivers, prevent- ing small farming and nullifying the purpose of the land law, which was to benefit the poor man, congress was appealed to with a request to enact a law against alien land holding. Accordingly on March 3, 1887, such an act was passed. No sooner was this done than a cry was raised that the act worked injury to the territories, preventing mining men from securing loans on mining property and other classes of real estate, a complaint which proceeded rather from east- ern operators in western mines, than from the actual settlers and residents of the territories. Wyoming encouraged, and derived much benefit from the investment of English capital in manufacturing and
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other enterprises; but the sentiment of the majority was that instead of one man with 100,000 cattle occu- pying 1,000,000 acres of the public land and making $500,000 per annum, it was better to have 1,000 men with 100 head and 640 acres making a profit of $500 yearly.
In 1889, after the election of President Harrison had again brought the republicans into power, F. E. Warren was reappointed to the governership, a choice all the more welcome to the people on account of his liberal land policy, and his efforts in securing from the general land department a large number of pat- ents for years wrongfully withheld from the smaller settlers. 64
64 Especially during his former administration, his resignation being largely due to differences with U. S. commr Sparks. In his Report for 1889 the gov- ernor states that the U. S. land laws were originally framed with a view to the prairie sections, and when applied to the mountain regions worked great hardship and injustice. In the Mississippi valley, for instance, 160 acres selected almost anywhere would be sufficient for a farm, but in Wyoming, except for a few choice locations, such an area would not support half a dozen full-grown domestic animals. Still the people of that territory have been held to the same rulings, and compelled to pay the same prices, as in the western states. In other respects this report is a most able document, furnishing the most complete account of the resources of Wyoming, its in- dustrial, social, commercial, financial, and political position, that has ever come to my notice.
CHAPTER VI.
MILITARY AND INDIAN AFFAIRS. 1849-1886.
STANSBURY'S OBSERVATIONS-BELIEF IN THE PRESENCE OF GOLD-INDIAN TREATIES-ATTITUDE OF THE SAVAGES-SMITH'S EXPLOITS-MILITARY MASSACRE OF INDIANS-INDIAN CHIEFS AT WASHINGTON CITY-DIVERS MILITARY EXPEDITIONS-GOLD APPEARING-INEVITABLE DESTINY OF THE RED RACE-BROKEN PLEDGES-THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES BROUGHT OUT-LONG, CONTINUOUS, AND BLOODY. FIGHTING-FINAL TRIUMPH OF CIVILIZATION-SLAVERY AND SAVAGISM EXTERMINATED.
THE earlier explorations of Wyoming by the gov- ernment were for the purpose of ascertaining the best wagon and railroad routes. Captain Howard Stans- bury, who was ordered to explore the Great Salt lake and its valley in 1849, after performing this duty, made a reconnaissance of a railroad route from Salt Lake City to Fort Bridger, and from Fort Bridger to the Platte valley east of Fort Laramie. An almost straight line, he found, could be extended from Bridger to Laramie, forming a chord to the arc of the North Platte route in use, a line which was subse- quently adopted by the Union Pacific railroad, except that he advocated going through the Cheyenne pass,
1This term is deceptive. It is applied to a valley about 4 miles wide and 45 miles long, lying between the Laramie hills on the west and the elevated plains on the east, and between Crow creek on the south and Chugwater on the north. It appears, says Stansbury, 'to have been cut out by the violent action of an immense body of water flowing in a northern direction.' Stans- bury's Expedition to Utah, 260. Chugwater on the north is said to have been so called by the Indians, who meant by it 'the place where the buffalos throw themselves away,' the hunters chasing the animals until they plunged over the cliffs formed by the table-land into the river. Water not being an Indian word, it seems more probable that white hunters named it, from the circumstance referred to, or that they put the meaning of some Indian words into this one.
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whereas the road passes over the southern end of the Laramie range. Stansbury's report did not mention any mineral discoveries except coal. In September 1857, Lieutenant G. K. Warren of the topographical engineers, who had been exploring on the upper Mis- souri for a year or two, made an exploration from Fort Laramie north to Inyan Kara mountain, on the west slope of the Black hills, from which point he was turned back by the Sioux.
Among other interesting observations, he found the composition of these hills to be, 1st, metamorphosed azoic rock, including granite; 2d, lower silurian (pots- dam sandstone); 3d, devonian; 4th, carboniferous; 5th, permian; 6th, jurassic; 7th, cretaceous. The highest peaks were granite. He found between the elevations small, rich valleys, covered with fine grass for hay, and susceptible of cultivation by means of irrigation ; fine timber for fuel and lumber, limestone and good building stone, many common and useful minerals; but that which was of greater interest at that period was his assertion that gold has been found in places in "valuable quantities." 2
In July 1859 Captain W. F. Raynolds of the same corps, under orders from the war department, pene- trated from Fort Pierre on the Missouri river to the Black hills, which he explored on the northeast and north, after which he proceeded to Powder river, Bighorn, and Yellowstone valleys, wintering near the Platte bridge. In his report he alleged that very decided evidences of gold were discovered in the Big- horn mountains, and also in the Black hills. He dared not make known to the men in his command, which was largely composed of irresponsible adven- turers, what he believed to be true, lest they should disband and leave him in the wilderness.3 F. V.
2 Cheyenne Leader, Oct. 24, 1874.
3 Raynolds' Rept, in U. S. Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 77, p. 14, vol. ii., 40th cong., 2d sess. Raynolds was accompanied by Lieutenant H. E. Maynadier, J. D. Hutton topographer and artist, J. H. Snowden topographer, H. C. Fille- brown meteorologist and astronomer, Antoine Schonbarn meteorologist and
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Hayden, geologist, who accompanied Raynolds, as he had Warren, was placed under a pledge of secrecy until the expedition was out of the mountains. Their reports to the government were supplemented by the statements of many persons that the Indians had ex- hibited gold nuggets at Fort Pierre and Fort Lara- mie, and by the assurance of De Smet that he had discovered rich gold mines in these regions, although with jesuitical slyness he refused to reveal the locality, out of consideration for his "dear Indians," whom in his writings he describes in colors not very different from those on frontiersmen's palette.
I have already related how strong was the impres- sion in the public mind that gold existed in the Big- horn and Black hills countries when the treaty was made with the Sioux and Arapahoes in 1868, exclud- ing white men from all that region extending from the Missouri river to the 104th meridian west, and between the 43d and 46th parallels; and also from the country north of the North Platte river and east of the summits of the Bighorn mountains, permitting no settlements of white men, no forts, and no roads in all that territory. Of this impression the commis- sioners were well aware, and equally cognizant of the fact that where gold is known or believed to exist men will go, at any risk to themselves, and in oppo- sition to any laws. In the face of this knowledge, the commissioners pledged the government to keep white men out of this entire region, and to close up the road to Montana. 4
artist, F. E. Hayden naturalist and surgeon, M. C. Hines asst, George Wal- lon time-keeper, and several unprofessional gentlemen. The escort was cominanded by John Mullan.
4 The wording of the treaty seems to imply a reservation of the country lying north of Nebraska, but simply to regard as 'unceded Indian territory' that portion afterward included in Wyoming. Wyom. Compiled Laws, 1876, lxx. It gave, while excluding white men from Indian territory, the right to the Indians to hunt outside their reserved lands on the Republican fork of the Smoky Hill river, and 'on any lands north of North Platte.' On their part, the Indians agreed to preserve peace, to make no opposition to railroad construction, to attack no travellers, kill no white men, and take no captives. The treaty was confirmed Feb. 16, 1869.
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On the 3d of July following the treaty with the Sioux, the same commissioners concluded a treaty with the Shoshones and Bannacks, at Fort Bridger, and set apart as a reservation for the former tribe all that country lying south of the Owl creek mountains, and north of the divide between the Sweetwater and Popo Agie rivers, and between the Wind river moun- tains on the west and Bighorn river on the east,5 leaving north of the Sweetwater mountains only a single narrow strip of country between the east shore of the Bighorn river and the west flank of the Big- horn mountains which white men might traverse, and on which the Indians were permitted to hunt so long as unoccupied, or game could be found upon them.
At the moment these treaties were being negotiated, the Union Pacific railroad company was already be- yond Laramie City with its track, and towns and population were drifting with it rapidly westward. Congress had established the territory of Wyoming between six and seven months before the senate con- firmed the treaties with the Sioux and Arapahoes, Shoshones and Bannacks, excluding from occupation and exploration fully half its area. Before the treat- ies, or the organization of the territory, gold mining was already being carried on in the Sweetwater coun- try, and settlements being made. Such was the con- dition of Wyoming relatively to the Indians and the government, such the keeping of the compact made by the government with the savages, when it became a territory, and for which a reckless peace commission and a careless senate were responsible.
The Sioux and the Shoshones preserved for some time a peaceful attitude toward the white people, ex- cept where renegades of these tribes joined with the Arapahoes, who paid no more attention to the treaty than the United States had done, merely presenting
6 This is not the exact description of boundary, but comes near enough to it for my purpose.
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themselves at the agencies to draw their rations. These Arabs of the plains roamed as far west as the Sweetwater, and were so swift and so cunning that their raids were at first imputed to the Shoshones. Their depredations, which included many murders, and the destruction or robbery of a large amount of property. H. G. Nickerson, in the spring of 1870, after a number of murders had been perpetrated, vis- ited the Arapahoe camp as a spy, and being suspected, very nearly lost his life.6 Upon the evidence gathered by him, a company of 175 well-armed men was raised to avenge the death of these citizens. But through the leadership having been assumed by one William Smith, a bravado, who was subsequently killed in a brawl, the intended effect of the lesson was lost. Dividing his command, Smith marched in broad day- light with sixty men toward the Arapahoe camp. On the way he met a party of Indians, with their chief, Black Bear, going to the settlements to trade, with their families, sixteen in all, and slew them without mercy. This piece of infamy gave the Indians further grievance, of which they quickly availed themselves. These disturbances led to the establishment of a per- manent military post in the vicinity of the Sweetwater settlements, which was named after Lieutenant Stam- baugh, a promising young officer killed in a skirmish May 4, 1870. Men slept with their cartridge belts and gun at hand, and when surrounded, crawled into a thicket to defend themselves as best they could.
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