USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 59
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Washakie is one of the three small counties of the state. Its surface is a combination of mountains, plains, bad lands and rich agricultural valleys. Along the No Wood, Ten Sleep, Spring and Otter Creeks, and other small streams of the county, the old-time ranchmen live, depending more upon their herds of sheep and cattle than on farming for their living. In 1915 the county reported 11,566 cattle, 90,971 sheep, 4,963 horses and 2,000 hogs, the total assessed value of live stock being $1,469,107.
In October, 1917, the first oil well was sunk in the Washakie Bad Lands. It turned out to be a gas well, with a flow of 8,000,000 cubic feet daily, obtained at a depth of 1,065 feet. Since then several oil companies have been "prospecting" in the county, a number of wells have been drilled and oil of excellent quality has been found. This is but another instance of wealth being obtained from Wyoming's lands formerly considered worthless.
The Denver & Billings division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- way system passes through the county a little west of the center. Worland, the county seat, is on this line of railroad. Other railroad stations are Durkee, Colter, Neiber and Chatham.
In 1915 the population of Washakie was 1,744, and in 1917 the property was valued for tax purposes at $4,188.332. In both respects the county shows the lowest figures of any in the state, but it should be remembered that it was one of the last counties to be organized, that it is small in area, and that the territory of which it is composed remained in the possession of the Indians for years after some of the older counties of Wyoming were settled. The county is rap- idly "coming to the front," however, farm lands selling from fifty to seventy-five dollars per acre. These lands produce good crops of wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa, sugar beets and emmer-a grain that is coming into use as a breakfast food. Vol. 1-35
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
WESTON COUNTY
Weston County is situated on the eastern border of the state. It is bounded on the north by Crook County; on the east by the State of South Dakota; on the south by Niobrara and Converse counties; and on the west by the County of Campbell. The county is almost square, with an area of a little less than twenty- five hundred square miles. It was originally a part of Laramie County, but was included in Crook County when the latter was established in 1875. On March 12, 1890, Governor Warren approved an act passed by the last Territorial Legisla- ture of Wyoming creating the County of Weston, to wit:
"All that portion of Wyoming Territory bounded and described in this section set forth, is hereby created and made a county of the Territory of Wyoming, under the name of Weston County, to wit: Commencing at a point on the cast boundary of the Territory of Wyoming where the twelfth standard parallel north intersects the east boundary line of Wyoming Territory; thence running west along said twelfth standard parallel north to the one hundred and sixth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich; thence south along said meri- dian line to the line of 43° 30' north latitude; thence east along said latitude to the east boundary of said territory ; thence north along said east boundary line of said territory to the place of beginning."
The new county was made a part of the First Judicial District and was at- tached to the County of Crook for legislative purposes until it should be fully organized. The county seat was established at Newcastle, in the eastern part of the county. The surface is a rolling plain, well watered by the Black Thunder and Beaver creeks and the tributary streams of the Belle Fourche River, which just touches the northwest corner. These streams provide sufficient water for irrigation, though but little of it has so far been utilized for that purpose. The principal industry of the county is stock raising. In 1915 Weston reported 26,493 cattle, 35,548 sheep and 6,873 horses, the total value of these animals being given as $1,469,107.
Coal has been discovered in large deposits in the eastern part, the Cambria field being one of the most productive in the state. These mines are at the terminus of a spur of railroad which connects with the main line of the Lincoln & Billings division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system at Newcastle. The principal railway stations are Upton, Newcastle, Spencer, Owens, Clifton and Dakoming.
In 1915 the population of Weston was 4.414 and in 1917 the assessed valua- tion of property was $6,515.346, placing the county fifteenth in population and seventeenth in wealth when compared with the other twenty counties of the state.
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WESTON COUNTY COURTHOUSE, NEWCASTLE
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF NEWCASTLE
CHAPTER XXXII
THE STORY OF CHEYENNE
HOW THE CITY WAS LOCATED GENERAL DODGE'S ACCOUNT-THE FIRST SETTLERS- ORGANIZING A GOVERNMENT- THE FIRST ELECTION-A NEW CHARTER-VIGI- LANCE COMMITTEE-EARLY JUSTICE-"JUDGE" BEAN-EARLY BUSINESS INTER- ESTS-CHEYENNE RANGERS-WHEN TEN YEARS OLD-THE POSTOFFICE-PUBLIC UTILITIES-TWENTIETH CENTURY CHEYENNE.
The City of Cheyenne, the capital of the State of Wyoming and county seat of Laramie County, dates its beginning from July 27, 1867, when the Union Pacific engineers completed the survey of the town. Ballard Dunn, of the Union Pacific system, gives the following account of how the city came to be located where it stands :
"A band of hostile Indians that had attempted to ambush and murder Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad during the days of its construction, was responsible for the founding of the City of Cheyenne. Credit must be given in this way to this band of savages, for the reason that out of this attempted ambush came the fortunate circumstances of locating the pass across the mountains west of Cheyenne over which the line of the Union Pacific was built."
For about two years surveyors and engineers, operating under the direction of General Dodge, had examined practically every valley from the Arkansas River to the Yellowstone, in the effort to find a route across the Rocky Moun- tains. At the end of that time the route by way of the North Platte River, through what is now known as the "Goshen Hole" country was regarded as the most feasible, when the incident mentioned by Mr. Dunn caused a change to the Sherman Pass. In his book entitled "How We Built the Union Pacific," General Dodge tells how this was brought about, to wit:
"While returning from the Powder River campaign, I was in the habit of leaving my troops and trains and with a few men examining all the approaches and passes from Fort Laramie south over the secondary range of mountains known as the Black Hills, the most difficult to overcome with proper grades of all the ranges, on account of its short slopes and great height. It was on one of these trips that I discovered the pass through the Black Hills and gave it the name of Sherman, in honor of my great chief. Its elevation is 8,236 feet, and for years it was the highest point reached by any railroad in the United States. The circumstances of this accidental discovery may not be uninterest- ing.
"When I reached the Lodge Pole Creek, up which went the Overland Trail, I took a few mounted men and with one of my scouts as guide, went up the
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COMMERCIAL CLUB, CHEYENNE
PLAINS HOTEL, CHEYENNE
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creek to the summit of Cheyenne Pass, striking south along the crest of the mountains to obtain a good view of the country, the troops and trains at the same time passing along the east base of the mountains on what was known as the St. Vrain and Laramie Trail.
"About noon, in the valley of a tributary of Crow Creek, we discovered Indians, who, at the same time, discovered us. They were between us and our trains. I saw our danger and immediately took means to reach the ridge and try to head them off, and follow it to where the cavalry could see our signals. We dismounted and started down the ridge, holding the Indians at bay with our Winchesters when they came too near. It was nearly night when the troops saw our smoke signals of danger and came to our relief. In going down to the train we followed this ridge until I discovered it led down to the plains without a break. I then said to my guide that if we saved our scalps I believed we had found the crossing of the Black Hills. * * I reported the result of my * examination on November 15, 1866, to the company, and on November 23, 1866, the company adopted the lines which I had recommended."
THE FIRST SETTLERS
About the time the plat of the town was completed by the Union Pacific engineers, James R. Whitehead, Thomas E. McLeland, Robert M. Beers, and three other men, all accompanied by their families, located upon the town site and to these men belongs the distinction of being the first to acquire a residence in Cheyenne. Mr. Whitehead was appointed lot agent for the railroad company. At first lots sold for $150, one-third cash, and within thirty days some of the same lots sold for $1,000. The first two-story house was built by Mr. White- head on the west side of Eddy Street (now Pioneer Avenue), and the first house south of Crow Creek was built by a man named Larimer. The lumber for these houses was brought from Denver. Morton E. Post purchased two lots on the corner of Seventeenth and Ferguson (now Carey Avenue) and erected a store building there early in August.
The first white child born in Cheyenne was a daughter of J. D. Manderville, a soldier at Camp Carlin. It was contrary to the rules of the regular army at that time for a soldier to keep his wife at or near the post where he was sta- tioned. Notwithstanding these regulations, Manderville's wife came quietly to Cheyenne and the attending physician when her child was born was the post sur- geon at Camp Carlin. The baby lived, grew to womanhood, married a man named Gregory, and at last accounts was living at Fort Collins, Colo.
ORGANIZING A GOVERNMENT
At first, Cheyenne was little more than a construction camp for the builders of the Union Pacific Railroad. General Dodge, writing of early conditions, says : "All the riffraff of the frontier gathered in that new-made camp- gamblers, bad men, hangers-on, a tough lot I assure you; so bad that at last I ordered the officer commanding the military to sweep them out of the place, which was done."
It was about this time that Cheyenne became known by the undesirable name
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of "Hell on Wheels." Within a month of the time that the first permanent set- tlers took up their residences and Mr. Whitehead was appointed for the sale of lots, Cheyenne had a population of several hundred, many of them of the "bad man" type, and the better class of citizens determined to institute some form of government that would have authority to rid the town of these undesir- able characters. Accordingly, a call was issued by a self-constituted committee for a mass meeting to be held on the evening of August 7, 1867.
James R. Whitehead called the meeting to order, Edward M. Brown was chosen permanent chairman and Robert M. Beers was elected secretary. On motion, the president appointed R. E. Talpey, A. C. Beckwith and James R. Whitehead a committee to draft a charter for the town, with instructions to present the same at an adjourned meeting to be held the following evening in A. C. Beckwith's store. The charter submitted by the committee consisted of a long list of laws, ordinances and regulations, taken from the laws of the terri- tories of Colorado and Dakota and the ordinances of the cities of Omaha and Denver. It was adopted by the adjourned meeting, and, as one of the pioneers afterward expressed it, Cheyenne from that date "began to put on airs."
THE FIRST ELECTION
Events followed each other in rapid succession in those days on the frontier. The charter was adopted on Thursday evening, August 8, 1867, and the same meeting ordered an election for city officers to be held on the following Saturday. At the election H. M. Hook was chosen mayor; Thomas E. McLeland, clerk and recorder: J. R. Whitehead, city attorney; James Slaughter, police magis- trate ; Edward Melanger, marshal; and the following six gentlemen were elected councilmen : R. E. Talpey, A. C. Beckwith, J. G. Willis, G. B. Thompson, S. M. Preshaw and W. H. Harlow. From the minutes of the mass meeting and the returns of this first election can be gleaned the names of those pioneers who were most active in laying the foundation of the city.
A NEW CHARTER
The government thus established by the people was lacking in authority from a higher power to enforce the laws passed by the council. To obviate this diffi- culty, the Legislature of Dakota Territory, in which Cheyenne was then situated, passed an act incorporating the City of Cheyenne. This act was approved by Governor A. J. Faulk on December 24, 1867, "to take effect and be in force from and after its passage." J. P. Bartlett, G. M. O'Brien and William Martin were named in the act as commissioners to conduct the first election. They immediately posted up notices and published in the Cheyenne Leader that an election would be held on Thursday, January 23, 1868, and the citizens began to array themselves into parties for the campaign.
The first officers elected under the new charter were: Luke Murrin, mayor ; Edward Orpen, city clerk: R. K. Morrison, treasurer; J. C. Liddell, Charles Sternberger, Patrick W. McDonald, William Wise, W. A. Hodgeman and J. F. Hamilton, councilmen. These officers assumed their respective duties on January 30, 1868.
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Luke Murrin, the first mayor of Cheyenne under the charter enacted by the Dakota Legislature, was born in County Sligo, Ireland, and came to America in the fall of 1855. After attending Brown County College (Ohio) for three years, he took a course in a commercial college at Cincinnati. In 1861 he enlisted as a lieutenant in Company K, Tenth Ohio Infantry, and was in numerous engage- ments during the great Civil war. In January, 1865, after several promotions, he was commissioned colonel and given command of a new regiment until mus- tered out of the service. After the war he came West and finally located at Cheyenne, where he engaged in business.
The new city government at once set about the task of "cleaning house." On February 25, 1868, a comprehensive ordinance was passed and approved by the mayor against gambling and disorderly houses, and providing fines ranging from ten to one hundred dollars for each offense.
VIGILANCE COMMITTEE
For some time prior to the passage of that ordinance the lawless element had been practically in control. The government established in August, 1867, seemed to be unable to improve conditions and a number of citizens decided to take matters into their own hands and see what could be done toward purifying the moral atmosphere. In the Leader of January 11, 1868, nearly two weeks before the first election under the new charter, appeared the following item of local news:
"GREAT EXCITEMENT-VIGILANTES AROUND "THEIR FIRST DEMONSTRATION
"Yesterday three men, F. St. Clair, E. De Bronville and W. Grier, were arrested by Deputy United States Marshal Goff, charged with stealing $900, and the court being busy in the examination of other cases, the prisoners were put under bonds of $4,500 to appear before United States Commissioner Bartlett on next Tuesday to answer to the charge of grand larceny. The prisoners were set at liberty and this morning the three men were found on Eddy Street, tied together, walking abreast with a large canvas attached to them, with the following letters very conspicuous :
"'$900 Stolen-Thieves-$500 Recovered "'F. St. Clair E. De Bronville " 'W. Grier. "'City Authorities Please not inter- fere until ten o'clock A. M. " .Next Case Goes up a Tree. "'Beware of Vigilance Committee.'
"About 8 o'clock this morning Deputy Marshal Goff took the placard off, cut the cords and turned the men loose. All sorts of rumors are afloat."
The Leader cautioned the Vigilantes to go slow in their summary methods of dealing with offenders against the law, though the editor admitted the neces- sity of "cleaning up the town." A few days after the first demonstration of the
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MASONIC TEMPLE, CHEYENNE
ELKS' CLUB, CHEYENNE
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committee, the new city officers went in and after the passage of the ordinance of February 28, 1868, many hoped for better conditions. Some improvement was soon manifest, but there were still enough of the "bad men" left in the city to cause trouble occasionally, and the Vigilantes again came to the front. The Leader of March 21, 1868, says :
"This morning rumors of the Vigilantes' doings were in circulation at an early hour, and about 8 o'clock the bodies of two men were brought to the city hall just as they had been cut down, with the ropes still on their necks. They were soon after taken in charge by Dr. F. W. Johnson, county coroner, and an inquest was held. Various parties testified and the following facts were elicited :
"Charles Martin, who was recently acquitted of the charge of murder by a jury of his countrymen, was last night about I o'clock called to the door of the Keystone Dance Hall, where he was dancing, and told that a friend wished to see him. Martin went to the door, others being prevented from going out by a display of several revolvers. The last that was seen of Martin, he was making some desperate struggles, and marks on h's head show that he had been beaten with a pistol or some other instrument. He was found this morning just east of the city, hanging upon a temporary scaffold consisting of three poles.
"Morgan, the other unfortunate victim, was found hanging in the rear of the Elephant Corral. It appears that some mules had been stolen and the owners had suspected certain parties. On the road between here and Denver they found Morgan and a man named Kelly, who after being taken into custody confessed being in with other parties from whom they bought stolen mules. W. G. Smith, one of the owners of the mules, was bringing Morgan and Kelly to this city for the purpose of giving them up to the officers of the law, when they were met about 9 o'clock last night near Crow Creek by about two dozen men who took the two men from him, which was the last he saw of them. Kelly is yet missing and it is suspected that he has met the fate of his companion."
The verdict of the coroner's jury was that the two men met the'r death by strangulation by persons unknown. The jury was composed of F. W. Williams, E. M. Tower, J. H. Follett, Harry Powers, Fred Clifford and Bud Sternberger. The hanging of the two men caused great excitement, some of the people com- mending the Vigilantes and others condemning mob rule. It was generally believed that the vigilance committee organized in January, and believed to be about two hundred strong, was not responsible for the hanging of Martin and Morgan, but that the deed was perpetrated by others. Martin shot and mortally wounded William A. James (alias Andy Harris) about 5 o'clock in the afternoon of February 13, 1868. James (or Harris) died about noon the next day, Martin was arrested and tried for murder, but was acquitted under a plea of self-defense. There were a few others hanged or banished by the Vigilantes, but the above were the demonstrations that occasioned the most comment.
EARLY JUSTICE
In the early days the town had an old log cabin on Thomas Street, imme- diately back of the Dyer Hotel, that was used as a jail, where tramps, petty th'eves and men arrested for drunkenness were confined. The jail was small and when it was filled with offenders a mild form of vigilance committee tactics
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was practiced. A crowd would repair to the jail, round up the occupants and ask each of them where he wanted to go. When he named his destination, he was faced in that direction and commanded to "Git!" The command was enforced by the application of a cowhide, sometimes aided by a heavy boot, to the town limits, and the "hobo" was allowed to continue his journey, glad that he escaped without more serious injury.
During the late '6os and early '70s the Union Pacific was overrun with tramps, who beat their way on freight trains when they could and walked when they could not evade the watchfulness of the conductors and brakemen. Every town along the line was filled at times with these gentry, and Cheyenne came in for its share. Among the early justices of the peace was James Bean, who had an original and novel way of handling tramps. When anyone charged with vagrancy was brought before him, "Judge" Bean would get down from a convenient shelf a large law book and in an impressive manner would read the penalties for vagrancy and begging. For the first offense the penalty was a modest fine; for the second a "ball and chain," the culprit to work on the streets for a certain number of days; and for the third offense "twenty lashes to be administered in public." For graver crimes the penalty was life imprisonment or hanging to a limb of a tree.
The law as thus expounded by "Judge" Bean was the product of his own fertile brain, and sometimes a "hobo" would question its accuracy and ask to see for himself. In such cases the "Judge" was always equal to the emergency. Within easy reach he kept the "butt end" of a heavy billiard cue, which was quickly produced and generally had the effect of convincing the incredulous pris- oner that the law was correct. The tramp was then given his choice of paying the penalty or of getting out of town and staying out. He usually chose the latter, and during "Judge" Bean's administration not many tramps were fed at the public's expense in Cheyenne. After several years as magistrate, Mr. Bean went to California, where he passed the remaining years of his life.
While T. J. Carr ( formerly United States marshal) was sheriff of Laramie County, the notorious Doc. Baggs and his gang of bunco men, who were working the Union Pacific, were arrested in Cheyenne and sentenced to serve a certain term in the county jail. Baggs tried to bribe a deputy sheriff to permit him to escape. The deputy told Carr, who remarked: "Well, I'll make him talk, and talk hard," and immediately started for the jail. Carr was a powerful man physically. He picked Baggs up for a few gentle caresses, tossed him in the air several times, catching him as he fell, and as he kept up the sport told Baggs he was going to "kill him by inches." When released, Baggs fell on his knees and begged for mercy. Other members of the gang were treated to the same kind of medicine and at the expiration of their jail sentence they lost no time in placing Cheyenne below the'r horizon.
EARLY BUSINESS INTERESTS
Morton E. Post and A. C. Beckwith were among the first merchants. Stephen Bon opened a shoe shop on Sixteenth Street a little while after the town was started. Early in the fall of 1867 H. J. Rogers & Company opened a bank in the store of Cornforth Brothers, but it was soon afterward removed
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to a small building on the corner of Sixteenth and Eddy streets. They were soon followed in this business by Kountze Brothers and the firm of J. A. Ware & Company. (See chapter on Financial History.)
The rapid growth of the town created a demand for hotel accommodations and within a few months several houses of entertainment were advertised. Among these were the Cheyenne (later the Wyoming) House, on the corner of Seven- teenth and Thomas streets, kept by Holladay & Thompson; the Dodge House, on the corner of Eighteenth and O'Neil streets, of which J. H. Gildersleeve was the proprietor ; the Pilgrim House was located on the corner of Twentieth and O'Neil streets and was kept by Hook & Moore, who also conducted the Great Western Corral and Stables, and advertised the "only Fairbanks hay scales in the country." Other hostelries, more or less popular, were the Talbott House, on the corner of Sixteenth and Thomas; the Sherman, on Ferguson Street, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth ; the International, the Everett, the Karns and the Meigs, all of which did a profitable business.
In July, 1868, when Cheyenne was one year old, the Daily Ledger carried advertisements of six hotels, two banking houses, nineteen mercantile establish- ments, nine physicians, seven lawyers or law firms, and a number of miscellaneous business concerns. Besides, there were numerous small shops, etc., that did not advertise. A popular place of amusement about this time was McDaniel's Variety Theater, where drinks and other refreshments were served by girls during the performance. This theater was much frequented by cowboys, stage drivers, "mule skinners," as drivers of freight wagons were commonly called, and the applause could frequently be heard a block away.
CHEYENNE RANGERS
In the winter of 1873-74 the Sioux Indians began committing depredations against the frontier settlements. An Indian was captured about three miles north of Fort Russell, brought to the fort and after an examination was set at liberty. He started for his tribesmen and about the same time a party of the Fifth United States Cavalry set out on a jack rabbit hunt. The huntsmen returned to the fort a few hours later, but the Indian wa's never heard of afterward.
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