USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 54
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now." In a few moments he came out and they went to the schoolhouse and held a session of some sort. When they were ready to close the school one of the men said to the other, "Is'nt it time to close this here thing up? I'm getting awful dry. " A little girl repeated the Lord's Prayer and the Sunday school came to a summary end. Out of this beginning the Congregational Church of Green River came into existence. For many years it was the only church in the town.
The young missionary who did this pioneer work went from there to the next camp, where he held a service, preached another funeral sermon, and comforted a heart broken mother to whom after many years a picture was sent with these words: "We thought you would like to have a picture of the man who started Christian work at Green River and preached Sarah's funeral sermon-Newell Dwight Hillis.
Doctor Hillis is now one of the most noted and talented preachers in Brooklyn, N. Y., but he never did a greater work than that at Green River, Wyo., and when he preached Sarah's funeral sermon.
Big Horn, the oldest town in Northern Wyoming nestles close to the base of the mountains from which it derives its name. On the arrival of the first permanent settlers they found a long low log house and stable with accommodations for twenty men and horses, built upon a beautiful but secluded plateau close to the heavily wooded banks of Goose Creek, which proved to be the northern rendezvous of the notorious James Brothers, bandits, to which place they retreated when hard pressed by the officers of the law. They usually came and went in bunches of three or four. This retreat was kept in readiness for them by a darky by the name of John Lewis, and Big Nosed George, the latter a cruel faced fellow who was finally caught and hung by the settlers at Miles City, Mont., for robbery and murder.
The first postoffice established at Big Horn was in 1879, and the first sermon was preached in the saloon in the fall of 1881, a curtain being drawn across the front of the bar during the service. As soon as the schoolhouse which the people began to build in the winter of 1881 was completed, the Sunday school which had been organized and held in the log house of W. E. Jackson, was moved to it. When this was accomplished a friend of the Sunday school went to the saloons and gambling houses and said: "Boys! The people are trying to start a Sunday school over in the schoolhouse and they need some help. You used to go to Sunday school when you were kids. For the sake of those good old times let's go over and help them out. And then one of the saloon keepers spoke up: "See here, fellows, this saloon will remain locked until that thing is over, and remember that nothing less than cart wheels (silver dollars) goes into the hat." It was from this beginning that the Congregational Church at Big Horn came into existence. At an early day a mining camp was started in the eastern part of Converse County and went by the various appellations of "Running Water," "Silver Cliff," and "Lusk." It soon became the center of a rich mining and stock raising district. Gold, silver, copper and coal were mined and a smelter erected. Like many another mining camp it soon grew into a veritable city of tents. The sale of lots at Lusk began in 1886 and in two months the place boasted of forty business houses and a large population. In May of the same year Rev. Harmon Bross held a street service from a wagon, and afterward in a church tent. From this beginning grew the Congregational Church of Lusk, now a strong and prosperous
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organization, well housed, and with a complete equipment for all lines of church work.
The Town of Douglas was started in September, 1886, and in one month had a population of 1,500, with twenty-seven saloons, two dance halls, and all that went with them to make up a typical "Jumping off Place." Today Douglas is one of the model western towns, the home of many wealthy stock and sheep men. It was for many years reputed to be the richest town, in proportion to its population, of any place in the Rocky Mountain states.
The first religious services in Douglas were held in a tent by Reverend Mr. Rankin of Denver. Later on a Presbyterian Church was established which afterwards sold out to the Congregationalists. This church has grown strong in membership and influence and is now occupying its third church edifice, built of pressed brick and modern in all its appointments, ranking as among the finest buildings in the state.
Buffalo, an inland town, has for many years been the center of a growing cattle industry. In early days it was the center of the "Cattle War" which gave Wyoming an unenviable reputation. The town was located on Clear Creek, near Fort McKenzie, whose protection she appreciated in the early days of her history. It was in this town that the Congregationalists planted their second church. The building was erected on the crest of a hill in the center of the place and could be seen for miles in all directions. It is known as "The Church on the Hill," and for years the settlers, the country over, have been wont to bring their dead for christ an burial. The church has recently been greatly enlarged and modernized in all its appointments.
Sheridan, Wyoming's northern metropolis, has grown in size and influence with great rapidity. It is a strong competitor with Cheyenne and Casper for first place in Wyoming's towns.
The Congregational Church was organized early in the life of this town and has held a strong place in the hearts and lives of the citizens from the beginning. This church has now the finest church edifice of any in the state. It is equipped for all lines of church and social activity.
The organization of Congregational churches at Dayton, Wheatland, Lander and the newer towns, followed unceasingly, until now the Congregationalists number seventy-five churches and missions that they are caring for within the State of Wyoming. But few of the churches organized by the Congregationalists have disbanded, though a few have been discontinued on account of the removal of the membership to other localities.
With extremely few exceptions, the Congregationalists have not established their work on fields, or in towns where other denominations were at work, but almost invariably they have been the first on the ground, and in the work of laying Christian foundations in Wyoming they stand second to none.
Prior to January 1, 1900, Wyoming was yoked with several other states for missionary purposes, and during that time was under the leadership of eight dif- ferent superintendents.
On January 1, 1900, Wyoming was made a district by herself and Rev. W. B. D. Gray was appointed its superintendent of missions, with headquarters at Cheyenne, and for more than eighteen years he has had full charge of the Con- gregational work in the state.
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In retiring from that work, which he has voluntarily and insistently done, he closes thirty-seven years of missionary service, thirty-five years of which has been consecutively spent in the superintendency of the work in the Dakota's and Wyoming.
Were it possible to write the early history of the Congregational, as well as other churches of Wyoming, it would have as thrilling a narrative as Ralph Connor's "Black Rock," or Owen Wister's "Virginian." Indeed the real "Virgin- ian" lived at Lander for several years, an honored officer in the Congregational Church, and his wife, a skilled musician, the leader of the choir and an active church member.
The experiences of the missionaries in those early days were as thrilling as can well be thought of-when one remembers that for many years the railroad facilities were meager, and very much of the travel was accomplished by stage, through the valleys and over the mountain ranges, in a country so sparsely settled in those early days, that in long drawn out rides one was fortunate if he met a couple of cowboys on horseback.
In those days the traveler carried his bed with him, and when he came to a house if the family were not at home, he would most likely find the door key hanging in plain sight so that he could go in, cook a meal, and make himself comfortable, but it was, and is the unwritten law of the mountains and plains, that the unknown visitor must wash his dishes and leave the place as neat as he found it.
Life lived on the boundless silent plains- the matchless scenery that is met- the freedom and greatness of it all-the vast things to be accomplished-made great men and women of the pioneers.
Were there not mountains to be tunneled-railroads to be built-wildness to be overcome-irrigation ditches made to traverse the plains and carry water like rivers to enrich and fructify the land? Was there not vast wealth in coal and iron-gold and copper-oil and gas, to be discovered and utilized ?
Too much admiration cannot be accorded to the pioneers of Wyoming, grand people all of them. Splendid men and women who left their eastern homes-bring- ing with them their culture of school and church, to carry out God's great plan, and found a new commonwealth under the shadow, and in the fastnesses of the Wyoming mountains, giving of themselves unstintingly, to lay a glorious founda- tion in school and church and community life, that nations yet unborn may be benefited thereby.
W. B. D. G.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Methodism began in Wyoming about fifty years ago. In the city hall at Chey- enne on Sunday morning, September 20, 1867, Reverend Baldwin of Burlington, Colorado Territory, delivered the first sermon in the Methodist faith in Cheyenne. In fact, it was preceded by only one other sermon-that of a Baptist clergyman. After the sermon a Methodist society was organized by Dr. D. W. Scott, a prac- ticing physician of Cheyenne. He was authorized to act as local preacher by Rev. W. M. Smith, P. E., of the Denver district. A Methodist Sabbath School was organized October 6, 1867, with the following officers: Dr. D. W. Scott, superintendent ; Frank B. Hurlbut, secretary ; J. W. Hutchinson, librarian and
BAPTIST CHURCH, LARAMIE
FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND PARSONAGE, LARAMIE
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treasurer. The first quarterly conference was held June 9, 1868-W. M. Smith, P. E .; Doctor Scott, pastor; W. D. Pease, leader; Theodore Poole, steward; and G. S. Allen, local preacher.
The public schoolhouse was obtained within which to hold church services and Sunday school. Rev. A. Cather succeeded Doctor Scott as pastor of the Cheyenne church in August, 1868, and during his administration two lots were secured for a church building on Eighteenth Street. At a quarterly conference held February 21, 1870, Rev. J. Anderson, then the pastor, offered to carry on the church construction and so he was appointed financial agent and superintend- ent of construction by the trustees. By the middle of July, after many difficul- ties, the church building was almost completed and provision was made to cover the entire indebtedness. The building was dedicated September 23, 1870, by Bishop Ames. At this time the society had a membership of nineteen. During the winter of 1874 the roof of the church building was blown off during a heavy storm, which necessitated an expenditure of over one thousand dollars for re- pairs.
At the General Conference which met in New York in May, 1888, Wyoming was made a mission, having before been a part of the Colorado Conference. At the next annual conference, which met in July, 1888, Reverend Rader was ap- pointed to the position of mission superintendent of Wyoming.
The dedicatory service of the present church building in Cheyenne was held March 25, 1894. This handsome church, at the corner of Eighteenth Street and Central Avenue had been started in 1890 and had been finished under the burden of many difficulties. At various times since the dedication improvements have been made upon the structure.
The Wyoming State Conference was organized at Newcastle, Wyo., Septem- ber 7, 1914, Bishop Edwin H. Hughes, presiding. At the third annual session of the conference in September, 1917, it was shown that in Wyoming there were thirty-eight churches, twenty-eight parsonages, and a total of 4,478 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the Cheyenne District of the Wyoming State Conference there are societies at Carpenter, Cheyenne, Chugwater, Doug- las, Egbert, Evanston, Hanna, Hudson and Riverton, Kemmerer, Lander, Lara- mie, Manville, Pine Bluffs, Rawlins, Rock Springs and Wheatland. In the Sheridan District there are churches at Basin, Big Horn, Buffalo, Cody, Cody Circuit, Casper, Clearmont, Hyattville and Tensleep, Garland, Newcastle, Powell, Sheridan (charge and circuit), Sundance, Rozet charge, Torrington, Thermopo- lis, Upton, Worland.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH
The first Baptist Church in Wyoming was started at Laramie City several years before the establishment of a society at Cheyenne.
On September 21, 1877, a number of Baptist residents of Cheyenne met in the Congregational meeting house and organized the First Baptist Church and So- ciety of Cheyenne. There were twenty-one constituent members upon the first membership roll. Articles of incorporation were filed with the secretary of the territory and with the clerk of Laramie County on December 11, 1877. The sig- natures of S. A. Sturgis, I. C. Whipple, F. E. Warren, J. M. Thayer, J. T. Hol-
BAPTIST CHURCH, CHEYENNE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, CHEYENNE
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
liday and C. S. Wells were appended to the articles, as the first six trustees. The members comprising the organization were: Ithamar C. Whipple, Mrs. C. S. Wells, C. S. Wells, J. T. Holliday, S. A. Sturgis, Mrs. Emma J. Sturgis, J. L. . Cabe, D. C. Lusk, Mrs. Sarah L. Lusk, C. S. Bradbury, Elizabeth Wallace, Mrs. Sidney Davis, Mrs. Florence J. Gardiner, Mrs. Rebecca Crook, Mrs. W. W. Crook, Marietta Williams, Mrs. Esther M. Durbin, Mrs. E. A. Douglas, Asa C. Dobbins and Edna J. Leibey.
After the organization meeting the society rented the Y. M. C. A. rooms for the weekly meetings. Rev. D. J. Pierce, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Laramie City, presided at the organization of the Cheyenne Society and be- came its first pastor, preaching here once a month. On January 1, 1879, Rev. William M. Young became the pastor and the courtroom was secured for the services.
At a meeting of the church November 22, 1877, I. C. Whipple, C. L. Wells and S. A. Sturgis were appointed to investigate the cost of lots and a church building. However, the church did not build until 1880. On September 24th of that year a contract was let for the construction of a church on the corner of Eighteenth and Ferguson streets (Carey Avenue). The second church building was located on the corner of Warren Avenne and Nineteenth Street and was constructed in 1894. The cornerstone was laid in July and the building dedi- cated in December of the same year.
The Sunday school was organized January 12, 1879, in the courthouse, with Prof. C. L. Wells, superintendent.
In the Southeastern Association churches are located at Casper, Cheyenne, Durham, Chugwater, Dwyer, Evanston, Gillette, Hulett, Jackson, LaGrange, Lusk, Rural, Laramie, Rock Springs, Sheridan, Pleasant Valley, Douglas and Ucross. In the Big Horn Basin Association churches are at Basin, Burlington, Greybull, Colter, Gebo, Lower Shell, Lucerne, Manderson, Meeteetse, Neiber, Otto, Powell, Shell, Thermopolis, Worland, Kane, Lovell, Lander and Riverton. Out of this number regular pastors are located at Manderson, Hulett, Casper, Sheridan, Meeteetse, Powell, Lovell, Evanston, Durham, Gillette, Glenrock, Douglas, River- ton, Jackson, Cheyenne, Shell, Laramie, Basin and Rock Springs.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE COUNTIES OF WYOMING
THE TWENTY-ONE COUNTIES-ALBANY-BIGHORN-CAMPBELL-CARBON-CONVERSE -CROOK-FREMONT-GOSHEN-HOT SPRINGS-JOHNSON-LARAMIE-LINCOLN - NATRONA - NIOBRARA - PARK - PLATTE - SHERIDAN - SWEETWATER - UINTA-WASHAKIE-WESTON-HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EACH-DATE OF ORGANI- ZATION-BOUNDARIES-EARLY SETTLERS-TOPOGRAPHY-RESOURCES-TRANSPOR- TATION FACILITIES-POPULATION AND WEALTH, ETC.
Wyoming Territory was created by the act of Congress, approved on July 25, 1868, and the Territorial Government was organized the following April. There were then two counties-Carter and Laramie-which had been established by the Dakota Territorial Legislature, and which embraced practically all of the present State of Wyoming east of the 110th meridian of longitude. Charles D. Bradley, representative from Laramie County in the Dakota Legislature in 1868, procured the passage of bills creating the counties of Albany and Carbon, but before these counties could be organized the Territory of Wyoming came into existence. The first Territorial Legislature of Wyoming erected five counties-Laramie, Albany, Carbon, Sweetwater and Uinta-each of which extended from the northern to the southern boundary of the territory. By subsequent acts of the Legislature, these five counties have each been divided and new ones formed, until now (1918) there are twenty-one counties in the state, viz. : Albany, Bighorn, Campbell, Car- bon, Converse, Crook, Fremont, Goshen, Hot Springs, Johnson, Laramie, Lin- coln, Natrona, Niobrara, Park, Platte, Sheridan, Sweetwater, Uinta, Washakie and Weston.
ALBANY COUNTY
The Albany County created by the first Territorial Legislature of Wyoming was quite a different county from the one bearing that name at the present time. Section I of the original organic act provided :
"That all that portion of Wyoming Territory embraced within the following described boundaries shall be known as Albany County: Commencing at Bufort (Buford) Station on the Union Pacific Railroad; thence due north to the forty- fifth parallel of north latitude; thence west along said parallel to the eastern line of Carbon County ; thence south along said eastern boundary line of Carbon County to the forty-first parallel of north latitude; thence east along said forty- first parallel of north latitude to a point due south of Bufort Station, and thence north to the place of beginning."
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The county as thus established included all of the present County of Albany, the greater part of the counties of Converse and Campbell, the east end of Sheridan and a strip about twelve miles wide across the eastern part of Carbon, Natrona and Johnson. The act of 1869 also appointed the following officers for the county, to serve until the next general election : H. Wagner, Joseph Mackle and S. C. Leach, county commissioners ; J. W. Conner, sheriff ; L. D. Pease, pro- bate judge ; R. S. Kinney, county clerk; Charles Hilliker, assessor ; S. W. Downey, prosecuting attorney ; James Vine, county surveyor ; Dr. - Foose, coroner ; George Van Dyke, justice of the peace; John Barton, D. Shanks, William Carr and George Young, constables. The county commissioners were given power to fill vacancies in the various county offices, the appointments not to extend beyond the next general election.
The county seat was located at Laramie City, "until removed therefrom by law," and it was further provided that the act should take effect on the second Monday in December, 1869.
Changes in the boundaries and dimensions of Albany County, through the formation of new counties, have reduced its original size from 14,904 square miles to 4,401 square miles. It is now bounded on the north by Converse County ; on the east by Platte and Laramie; on the south by the State of Colorado, and on the west by the County of Carbon. Near the eastern border, extending the full length of the county, are the Laramie Mountains, and in the southwest corner is the Medicine Bow Range. Between these mountains is the upper valley of the Laramie River, which furnishes some of the finest grazing lands in the southern part of the state. The county is rich in mineral deposits, Iron Moun- tain, so named because of the richness of its ores, when first developed yielded 85 per cent pure metal. Rich copper, silver, lead and gold mines have been opened in various parts of the county. These mines are described in the chapter on Wyoming's mineral resources. A few miles south of Laramie are the famous soda lakes containing millions of tons of pure sulphate of soda. Oil has been found at Rock River, Big Hollow and along the Laramie River.
One of the early settlers of the county was Nathaniel K. Boswell, who came to Wyoming in 1868 and settled at Laramie soon after the Union Pacific Rail- road was completed through Albany County. Mr. Boswell was a native of New Hampshire and took an active part in the development of the resources of the county. In 1883 he established the soda works near the deposits that he had discovered some years earlier. These works were afterward sold to the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Boswell was sheriff of the county for nine years and was then appointed deputy United States marshal. He was active in breaking up the gang of road agents that operated in Wyoming in the latter '70s, robbing stage coaches and express trains, and in 1883 he was elected chief of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association to organize a force of men and watch the branding of animals, etc.
Robert Marsh, an Englishman, came to Albany County in 1868 and was for seven years mayor of the City of Laramie. He also served as county commis- sioner and as a member of the school board. Thomas Alsop, another English- man, settled in Albany County in 1868. That fall he discovered the coal banks at Carbon and during the winter took out over one hundred thousand dollars worth of coal. In 1875 he was elected one of the county commissioners.
E
POSTOFFICE, LARAMIE
ALBANY COUNTY COURTHOUSE, LARAMIE
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
Mortimer N. Grant, a native of Lexington, Mo., came to Wyoming with a surveying party in 1869 and located in this county. He afterward served as auditor of the Territory of Wyoming. Robert E. Fitch came to this county from New York at an early date in the county's history. He served as superin- tendent of schools and was a member of the Senate in the first State Legislature. Ora Haley was born in the State of Maine and settled in Albany County in 1868. He was elected to the Lower House of the Territorial Legislature in 1871 ; was a member of the council in the legislative session of 1881, and was one of the county's representatives in the first State Legislature in 1890.
Other early settlers were John H. Douglas, J. E. Yates, Michael H. Murphy, James H. Hayford and Otto Gramm. Mr. Hayford was appointed judge of the Second Judicial District in 1895 upon the death of Judge John W. Blake. Otto Gramm served as city and county treasurer, as a member of the school board and in the Legislature, and in 1890 was elected the first state treasurer of Wyoming.
Although Albany is considered one of the small counties of the state, its area as given in Rand & McNally's Atlas is 4,401 square miles, or 2,816,640 acres. The principal towns and villages in the county, with their population in 1915, are as follows: Bosler, 75; Buford, 80; Foxpark, 100; Hermosa, 182; Laramie (the county seat), 4,962; Lookout, 100; Rock River, 195. According to the state census of 1915 the population of Albany County was 8,194, and in 1917 the assessed valuation of property was $15.585,603. These figures show the county to be the seventh in the state in both population and wealth. Although the state census of 1915 shows a decrease in population of 3,380 during the pre- ceding five years, the valuation of property in 1917 was $291,204 greater than that of the year before, indicating plainly that the county lost nothing in wealth through the decrease in the number of inhabitants. No doubt much of that de- crease is more apparent than real, due to the different methods employed by the United States and the State of Wyoming in taking the enumeration. The state census was taken by the county assessors, who received no additional compensa- tion for the work and consequently could not reasonably be expected to exercise the care necessary to insure an accurate enumeration. This hypothesis is sup- ported by the fact that in 1914 the state cast 6,951 more votes than in 1910.
The main line of the Union Pacific Railroad enters the county near the south- east corner and runs in a northwesterly direction through Laramie, Howell, Bos- ler, Lookout, Rock River and Wilcox into Carbon County, and the Colorado, Wyoming & Eastern runs in a southwesterly direction from Laramie into Colo- rado. These roads give the central and southern portions of the county good transportation facilities.
Stock raising is the principal industry. In 1910 the county reported 35,068 head of cattle, 150,000 sheep and 7,000 horses, the value of the live stock being then estimated at $1,882,476. Next in importance comes mining. From the earliest settlement of the county, even before the county was formed, gold placer mining was carried on in the gulches in various parts of the county, but no record of the value of the precious metal has been preserved. The Rambler Mine at Holmes has produced some of the richest copper ores in the West, and has also produced platinum, palladium and osmium. Coal measures have been profitably worked near Laramie. Other mineral deposits are gypsum, graphite,
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