USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 64
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CATTLEMEN'S INVASION OF 1892
In order to understand the reasons for this invasion, it is necessary to go back a few years and note the conditions which preceded it. Back in "the day- of '49," during the rush to the California gold fields, thousands of wagons drawn by oxen crossed the plains bound for the new El Dorado. Some of these belated freight trains were caught among the eastern foot hills of the Rocky Mountains by the first snows of winter. To continue the journey under such conditions was out of the question, so there was nothing left for the men but to construct rude winter quarters and turn their oxen loose to shift for themselves, thinking no doubt at the time that the cattle would either starve or fall a prey to wild beasts. Greatly to their surprise, however, when spring came the oxen were found to be in good shape and ready to resume the journey. Cattlemen of Texas and else- where, upon learning that animals could exist throughout the winter season upon the natural grasses of the Wyoming plains and foot hills, drove thither their herds,
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and it was not long until thousands of cattle were quartered in Wyoming, upon ranges where grass was plentiful and water convenient.
The first markets for these cattle were the mining camps and military posts scattered through the Indian country. But the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad opened the eastern markets, where the price of beef ruled high, to the Wyoming cattlemen. The business then became a sure money maker and this led to the formation of great corporations, much of the stock of which was held by eastern capitalists, and some by residents of the British Isles. In a few instances more than one hundred thousand head of cattle were owned by one of these companies. In 1872 the Wyoming Stock Growers' Association was organ- ized and from that time until the admission of the state it dominated the legisla- tion of the territory.
When the cattle business was first introduced the land was owned by the Government and ranges were free to the cattle owner. Stock in the cattle com- panies returned good dividends and the herds were increased to the highest possi- ble number. This had the effect of overcrowding the ranges and a shortage of feed naturally followed. Prices of beef in the eastern cities also declined, the managers of the cattle companies found it difficult to keep up the dividends and stockholders began to inquire why. Then the expedient was resorted to of ship- ping every animal available, even though not of the class that commanded the best price in the market, "culls were rounded up, shipped and sold as feeders, the proceeds going to swell the regular profits of the business and cheer the heart of the stockholders."
About 1889 another factor entered into the conditions. Wyoming was knock- ing at the door of the Union for admission. Many who preferred a state gov- ernment to that of a territory, seeing that Wyoming was likely to be admitted, came flocking into the territory in order to be among the first to secure desirable lands. Settlements were formed along the valleys in the central and northern portions of the state, where water could be obtained for irrigation, and these homesteaders restricted the great cattle ranges. These settlers and the shortage of herbage finally forced the managers of some of the cattle companies to "pass a dividend." The stockholders demanded the reason and were informed that the failure to declare the customary dividend was due to "rustlers," who were stealing the cattle.
There was just enough truth in this statement to give color to the situation. Doubtless a few cattle had been stolen here and there from some herd, but the general round up system then in vogue rendered it practically impossible for many to be taken. The real reason was that the herds had been robbed by the managers in the past to keep up the appearance of profits until that system could no longer be continued. True, the farms of the settlers presented another rea- son. Range cattle, when left entirely to their own resourcefulness, could take care of themselves. If a blizzard came along they drifted with the storm. When it was over they quietly grazed their way back to their accustomed feeding grounds. After fences were built by the homesteaders the storm driven animals were hemmed in. When they came to a fence they walked back and forth along it until they died from sheer exhaustion, and many cattle perished in this manner.
In the early days of the cattle business, cowboys were paid, in addition to their regular wages, from $2.50 to $5.00 per head for each "maverick" upon
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which they could place the company's brand. In 1884 the Territorial Legislature passed the "Maverick Bill," which had been prepared by the Stock Growers' Association. This law made it a felony to brand a maverick, except under the supervision of an authorized agent of the association, and then with the letter "M" as the property of the territory. Such cattle were to be sold in April of each year, the money going into the territorial treasury to defray the expense of the general spring round up and inspection. This was directly contrary to the instructions previously given the cowboys, and it became as difficult to convict men for branding mavericks as under the old system. Stockmen complained of the failure to convict men under the new law and made this their principal excuse for the invasion of 1892.
WAR ON THE RUSTLERS
That there were a few persons scattered through the territory who lived by stealing cattle and horses is indisputable, and this condition of affairs was taken advantage of by the cattlemen. The theft of one steer was magnified in the telling to a score of cattle. When the inquiry was made as to who were engaged in this wholesale thievery, the answer came back "The settlers and the small stockmen," until the term settler and "rustler" became synonymous. The free use of this term was an encouragement to the actual thieves, who could brand mavericks with impunity and charge the act to some settler. The fencing in of the lands was really the main offense of the settlers, and in time the opinion became prevalent that the term "rustler" was overworked by the cattlemen for the purpose of creating sympathy and covering their later efforts to drive the homesteaders out of the country.
Among the settlers who came into the territory about this time, or a little earlier, was one James Averill, who took a claim on the Sweetwater River, in the northwestern part of Carbon County. He opened a small store and was appointed postmaster. Adjoining his claim was that of Ella Watson (known as "Cattle Kate"), who had a small herd of young cattle that she had purchased from cowboys and ranchmen. These claims were in the very heart of one of the great cattle ranges and their presence there was an eyesore to the cattlemen. Averill was charged with selling whisky, which was probably true, and Cattle Kate was accused of being a woman of "questionable reputation," which may likewise have been true, and it was claimed that her cattle had been stolen by cowboys and given to her, but no action was ever begun in the courts against either the woman or Averill.
One night in the summer of 1889 ten men rode up to Averill's store, covered him with guns and commanded him to surrender. They then went to Cattle Kate's and took her out of the house. She and Averill were then hanged, "as a warning to all rustlers." Two men saw the deed committed. One of them, a young man who was an invalid, was taken in charge by the lynchers and died a few weeks later. The other man made his escape and gave the names of the lynchers to the Carbon County grand jury. His identity was learned and he was hounded out of the territory. When court convened there was no witness against the defendants and they were discharged. This had a tendency to widen
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the breach between the cattlemen and the settlers and encouraged the former to continue the war.
Persecution of the so-called rustlers went on for about two years without any further lynchings. On the morning of June 4, 1891, three men went to the house of a man named Waggoner, near Newcastle, and by impersonating officers pretended to have a warrant for his arrest. He accompanied the sup- posed officers and was never seen again alive by his family. His body was found on the 12th hanging to a tree in a gulch which still bears the name of "Dead Man's Canyon."
The following November N. D. Champion and Ross Gilbertson, who were living in a cabin belonging to W. H. Hall, on the Powder River, were visited early one morning by four armed men who ordered them to "give up," and one of the four shot at Champion, who was still in bed. Champion responded with a shot from his revolver and the visitors beat a hasty retreat. A trail of blood showed that Champion had not missed his mark. In their haste the maranders also left their horses near the cabin, which led to their identification. One Joseph Elliott was arrested on a charge of attempted murder and placed under a bond of $5,000. As Champion was afterward killed and other witnesses were "persuaded" to leave the state, the case against Elliott was finally dismissed.
Orley E. Jones, frequently called "Ranger Jones," and J. A. Tisdale, two settlers in Johnson County, were waylaid and killed in November, 1891. Charles Basch accused Frank M. Canton, an ex-sheriff of Johnson County, with the murder of Tisdale. Canton was arrested and given a preliminary hearing before a justice of the peace, which resulted in his being released. Additional evidence was obtained and in the spring of 1892 he was again arrested. This time he was given a hearing in chambers before Judge Blake of Laramie and held in bonds of $30,000, but he was never convicted.
ORGANIZING THE RAID
In the light of subsequent events, the belief became general that the cattle- men, early in 1891, came to the determination to terrorize the settlers to such an extent that many of them would leave the state. Failure to convict the murderers of Jim Averill, Cattle Kate. Tom Waggoner. Jones and Tisdale, encouraged them to make further and more open war on the settlers, particularly those in the northern part of the state, where the encroachments upon the cattle ranges were the most serions. Agents were sent to Idaho, Colorado and Texas to recruit a force of men "tough" enough to cope with the hardy settlers, many of whom were known to be men who could "hit hard and shoot straight." One of these men, George Dunning of Idaho, afterward made a sworn statement, in which he said: "Each man was to receive five dollars per day and all expenses, including a mount of horses, pistols and rifle. In addition each man was to receive fifty dollars for each and every man killed by the mob."
The bringing of these men into Wyoming was in direct violation of the state constitution. Article XIX. Section I. under the head of "Police Powers," pro- vides : "No armed police force, or detective agency, or armed body, or unarmed body of men, shall ever be brought into this state, for the suppression of domes-
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tic violence, except upon the application of the Legislature, or executive when the Legislature cannot be convened."
The Legislature was not in session, and if Acting Governor Barber ever made a request for such a force to be sent into the state, the fact was not publicly known. The armed force of some fifty or sixty men left Cheyenne by special train for Casper on April 5, 1892. Buffalo appears to have been the objective point of the expedition, as it was there that Sheriff W. G. Angus held the evi- dence against Frank M. Canton and the settlers in that section were more obnox- ious to the cattlemen than in some other parts of the state.
On the morning of the 6th the raiders left Casper on horseback and the next day arrived at the Tisdale ranch, forty miles from Casper, where they halted until their supply wagons came up. While here they received information that some "rustlers" were at Nolan's K. C. ranch on the north fork of the Powder River. This ranch was attacked on the morning of the 9th. Here Nick Ray and Nathan D. Champion were killed and the ranch buildings were burned by the raiders, who then pursued their way toward Buffalo. About this time they met Jack Flagg and his stepson, whom they tried to capture, but failed. The invaders then started on a forced march for Buffalo, sixty miles away, hoping to reach there before Flagg could spread the alarm, capture the town, kill Sheriff Angus and destroy the evidence against Canton. At two o'clock the next morn- ing they arrived at the 28 ranch, twenty-two miles from Buffalo, where a rest of two hours was taken and refreshments were served. Soon after resuming their march they met a horseman who informed them that Sheriff Angus had a posse of 200 men under arms ready to give them a warm reception.
This information caused a change in plans. The raiders went to the T. . I. ranch in a bend of the Crazy Woman Creek, about twelve miles from Buffalo, where they constructed breastworks of logs and earth and made preparations for a siege in case they were attacked. They had not long to wait. At daylight Monday morning (the IIth) the ranch was surrounded and before sunset nearly four hundred well armed and determined settlers were upon the scene. Believing the improvised fortress of the raiders too strong to be attacked only with small arms, the settlers sent a request to the commandant of Fort Mckinney for a cannon, but the request was refused. The settlers had captured the supply wagons and a supply of dynamite belonging to the invaders, and two of the wagons were converted into a portable breastwork, which they called a "go devil." and which they hoped to get close enough to the ranch buildings to throw the cap- tured dynamite into the works. Tuesday night some rifle pits were dug within three hundred yards of the fort and manned by picked marksmen. Wednesday morning the "go devil" was ready for business. The plan was to push the port- able breastwork near enough to drive the besiegers from cover with the dynamite, when they would be picked off by the sharpshooters in the rifle pits. No doubt this plan, had it been carried out, would have ended the raid in short order. But something happened to prevent its execution.
On Tuesday, the 12th, Acting Governor Barber telegraphed President Harri- son that an "insurrection exists in Johnson County," and asked that Federal troops be sent there to preserve order, etc. President Harrison ordered the secre- tary of war to concentrate a force sufficient at the scene of the disturbance, and on Wednesday morning, just as the settlers were about to begin active operations.
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Col. J. J. Van Horn, commandant at Fort Mckinney, appeared with three troops of cavalry and took the invaders to the fort as prisoners. The next day Sheriff Angus made a demand that they be turned over to the civil authorities to be tried on the charge of murder, but Governor Barber refused to grant the demand on the grounds that their lives would not be safe in Johnson County.
Forty-four men surrendered to Colonel Van Horn and a few others were afterward rounded up by Sheriff Angus. On April 15, 1892, Governor Barber requested Colonel Van Horn to "obtain the custody of and take to Fort McKin- ney and there give protection to the men belonging to the invading party who were arrested before the surrender, and who are now confined in the county jail at Buffalo." Later the governor telegraphed the secretary of war to instruct the commandant at Fort McKinney to deliver the prisoners at Cheyenne. They were then held at Fort D. A. Russell until June 19, 1892, when Judge R. H. Scott of the Second Judicial District, composed of Albany and Johnson counties, wrote to the governor and asked that the invaders be delivered to the authorities of Johnson County. He suggested, however, that they be detained at Fort Russell or taken to Laramie and confined in the north wing of the penitentiary there until brought before the court for trial.
A change of venue was taken from Johnson County and on August 7, 1892, the men were placed on trial at Cheyenne. They all pleaded not guilty. Some time was spent in securing a jury. Before the jury was made up, Sheriff A. D. Kelley presented a petition to Judge Scott for relief, setting forth that Johnson County was not financially able to pay the expenses of detaining the prisoners in the penitentiary pending the hearing for a change of venue, and that he, as sheriff, would no longer assume the responsibility of current expenses. On August 10th Judge Scott announced that he had no authority to issue an order compelling the County of Johnson to reimburse the sheriff of Laramie County, and as the defense refused to give bail, he was forced by circumstances to release the prisoners upon their own recognizances. They were accordingly released. On January 21, 1893, when the cases were called for trial, it was found that the "hired men" had left the state and their whereabouts were unknown. Alvin Bennett, then prosecuting attorney for Johnson County, offered to nolle the cases, which was finally done, and the legal farce, with its miscarriage of jus- tice, was at an end.
Such in brief is the story of the famous "Cattlemen's Invasion." A. S. Mercer, formerly editor of the Northwestern Live Stock Journal and a man fully con- versant with the facts relating to this unpleasant episode, afterward published a little book entitled "The Banditti of the Plains," in which he gives detailed accounts of the methods used in getting rid of witnesses, the attempt to establish martial law in Johnson County, etc., with many of the official communications and orders issued in connection with the affair, but the main incidents of the invasion are as given above.
EXPLORING THE GRAND CANYON
The Colorado River is formed in the southern part of Utah by the junction of the Green and Grand rivers, the former of which rises in western Wyoming. and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona is one of the scenic marvels
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of the world. Although this Canyon is far south of the State of Wyoming, it is entitled to a place in Wyoming history, because the Green River has its source in the state, and because several expeditions for exploring the canyon were out- fitted at and started from Green River, Wyoming, the county seat of Sweetwater County. No mention of these expeditions is made in the chapter on "Explorers and Explorations" in the early part of this volume, for the reasons that they were undertaken for a specific purpose, having no bearing upon the general explora- tion of the territory now comprising Wyoming, and they were unofficial in char- acter, made chiefly to gratify the ambition and curiosity of the explorer.
From Green River, Wyoming, to the mouth of the Colorado River is a little more than sixteen hundred miles and the fall is 6,075 feet. The average fall per mile is therefore a little less than four feet, but more than half of the descent is in the canyons along the stream, and these canyons include about one-third of the distance. A list of the canyons, with the length in miles and the height of the walls in feet, includes the following :
Name of Canyon
Length
Height
Flaming Gorge )
Horseshoe
36
2,700
Kingfisher
Red
22
3,000
Lodore
Whirlpool
I4
2,200
Split Mountain
9
2,000
Desolation
97
2,700
Gray
36
2,000
Cataract
41
3,000
Marble
66
3,500
Grand
217
6,000
Total miles of canyon
538
Between Desolation and Gray canyons there are two short canvons called Labyrinth and Stillwater. The names of all the canyons indicate their character. To shoot the rapids in small boats, hemmed in by walls towering from two to six' thousand feet above, requires courage and daring, yet men have been found to accomplish the hazardous feat, merely for the sake of demonstrating that it could be done, and the published accounts of their voyages have given to the world reliable information concerning one of the most picturesque rivers in the United States.
GEN. W. H. ASHLEY
As early as 1825, Gen. W. H. Ashley and a party of his employees descended the Green River as far as Brown's Park, Utah, passing the Flaming Gorge and the Horseshoe and Kingfisher canyons. These were no doubt the first white met who ever attempted the descent of the Green River in small boats. They were not explorers in the true sense of the term, but were looking for a place to trap
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for beaver, etc., and finding the conditions favorable in what is now Brown's Park made no effort to descend the stream beyond that point.
The next attempt of which any record can be found was that made by W. L. Manly and a small party in 1849. The records of Manly's expedition (if such it can be called) are rather meager, but it is known that the voyage was abandoned before reaching the Grand Canyon.
MAJ. J. W. POWELL
On May 24, 1869, Maj. John W. Powell left Green River, Wyoming, with four small boats-the Emma Dean, Kitty Clyde's Sister, No Name, and Maid of the Canyon. The expedition consisted of John W. and Walter Powell, William H. Dunn, G. Y. Bradley, O. G. and Seneca Howland, Frank Goodman, Andrew Hall, William R. Hawkins and John C. Sumner, the last named acting as guide. The No Name was wrecked in the rapids of the Lodore Canyon, but the other three boats kept on and about the middle of August reached the head of the Grand Canyon. By this time most of their provisions had been destroyed by the frequent upsets, or rendered unfit for use, and the members of the party were placed on short rations. They had plenty of dried apples, which constituted the principal article of diet as they passed through the last of the canyons. On August 28th three men left the party, preferring to take their chances of climb- ing the almost perpendicular walls and finding their way to some settlement, but they were never heard of again. The expedition arrived at the foot of the Grand Canyon on August 30, 1869. Two of the men-Hall and Sumner-kept on down the Colorado and finally reached the Gulf of California.
Major Powell made a second trip through the Grand Canyon, starting front Green River, Wyo., in the summer of 1872. His report of the first expedition to the Smithsonian Institution established the fact beyond question that he and his associates were the first white men to navigate the Green River from Wyoming to the Grand Canyon. In 1917 the United States Government erected on Sentinel Peak, overlooking the Grand Canyon, the "Powell Memorial," a pyramid of lime- stone on the summit of which is a bronze tablet bearing a medallion portrait of Major Powell and the follownig inscription :
"Erected by the Congress of the United States to Maj. John Wesley Powell, first explorer of the Grand Canyon, who descended the river in row boats, traversing the gorge beneath this point August 17, 1869, and again September I, 1872."
JAMES WHITE
When the bill to erect the Powell Memorial was pending in Congress, Senator J. F. Shafroth, of Colorado, submitted an article prepared by Thomas F. Dawson showing that James White, a Colorado gold prospector, passed through the Grand Canyon in 1867, two years before Powell's first expedition. The article was printed as Senate Document No. 42, and contains, besides White's own statement, the statements of several others acquainted with the facts. The account of White's adventures is interesting, but as he struck the Colorado River far south of the Wyoming boundary his story does not form a part of the history of this state.
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MISCELLANEOUS EXPEDITIONS
On June 1. 1869, only a week after the start of Major Powell's first expedi- tion, H. M. Hook and fifteen others left the Town of Green River with the inten- tion of going through to the Gulf of California. Their supply boat was wrecked in Lodore Canyon and the expedition was abandoned.
Frank M. Brown, a Denver railroad man, with fifteen of his friends, started from Blake, Utah, May 25. 1889, with the intention of going through the Grand Canyon. Their three boats were all wrecked in one of the canyons. Brown and two of his companions were drowned and the twelve survivors saved their lives only by climbing the walls of the canyon.
Late in August, 1896, George F. Flavell left Green River with a small party and went down the river some distance, when the sickness of one of the party caused the abandonment of the expedition. About a month later Nathan Galloway started from the mouth of Henry's Fork, just south of the Wyoming boundary. Galloway used a peculiar type of boat, invented by himself, and on February 10, 1897, ar- rived safe at the Needles, California.
Two young men from St. Louis, Mo., with a steel boat, attempted the voyage in the summer of 1908. Their boat was wrecked in the rapids of the Red Canyon. The two men swam to shore, dressed only in their under clothing, and wandered for four days when they reached the ranch of a half-breed Indian, who furnished them with clothes and directed them to safety. Thus ended another failure.
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