Natrona County, Wyoming - The whole text, 1923 (part 8 of 15)

On June 7, 1889, a total of ninety filings were made on oil lands in Natrona county, covering more than 14,000 acres. Most of this land was in the Salt Creek field, and the names of the locators were: Ernest Riall, Russell J. Straight, Albert M. Kitchen, Daniel H. Dorsett, Ernest V. Johnson, Charles P. Collins, Frank A. Hecht, W. E. Hawley and P. M. Shannon. These were eastern people, and the filing on the land caused a great deal of enthusiasm among the people of Casper. In the fall of that year the active oil operations in Natrona county were two rigs near Ervay, one at Bessemer and a new

The drilling of the first well in the Salt Creek field was commenced by the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas company in the fall of 1889. The drillers had considerable trouble in getting this well down to the oil-bearing sand owing to the fact that the formation was a great deal diflPerent from that in the Pennsylvania fields, where the drillers came from. The hole first caved in and after this trouble was remedied large boulders were encountered, which threw the drill to one side, and caused a crooked hole, and this stopped operations until the following February. George B. McCalmont, vice-president of the company, came to Casper in the spring of 1890 and took charge of the drilling operations. Other members of the company were: P. M. Shannon of Pittsburgh, president; and C. P. Collins and R, J. Straight, both of Bradford, Pennsylvania.

In the summer of 1890 there was a great deal of activity in the oil fields in this part of the state and on June 26 the Wyoming Derrick, published in Casper, made the following announcement:

"If there is any one of the many resources of this territory of greater importance than another, and calculated to bring it into immediate general notice, it is the immense oil deposits being opened up. The country is dotted over with surface indications in every direction. The oil-producing belt extends diagonally across the territory from the northeast corner to the extreme southwest. Work of development in the Salt Creek and Powder River basins, in the southern part of Johnson county, shows the deposit to cover an area - in these districts alone - more than double in extent the entire Pennsylvania fields, and a product far richer than that of any other oil region known to the world. Chemical investigation demonstrates that the oils of these basins possess both lubricating and illuminating qualities.

"E. H. French last week located oil lands for nearly every business man in Casper. People here, realizing the true value of the oil fields perhaps better than any one else, are putting all the money they can spare into oil lands. Can the public at large ask for any better evidence of the genuineness of our oil fields and the value thereof.^"

The first well to be brought in by the Pennsylvania company was on June 30, 1890, at a depth of 1,090 feet, which proved to be a good producer. As soon as the well came in the derrick was fenced and guarded, and no one allowed to approach it. All those who were connected with the company denied that oil had been found, but in spite of this denial the fact was out and the denials had no effect upon the minds of the people, but it was the middle of October before the oil company officials would admit they had oil, the reason given for the denial being that they wanted to be sure of a clear title to the land.

The oil was sent to Pittsburgh for analysis, and it was a great surprise, not only to members of the company, but to all the chemists who made a test of it. The chemists declared that the product could not be a natural mineral from the ground, for, they declared, no such oil had ever been found in the world. They said this oil must have been compounded with animal oils, and the members of the company had been deceived by some one who had compounded it and sent samples to them, but when President Shannon assured them that it was the natural crude oil, just as it came from the ground, the chemists said that nature had done more for this oil in the ground than the best and latest refining and compounding processes had done for other oils. This oil sold for ten dollars a barrel. The report of the chemists decided the company to drill other wells and develop the Salt Creek field. The drilhng of the second well was commenced in 1 891, but proved a failure, having had bad luck with the hole and failing to go down deep enough to reach the oil. The second hole caved at a depth of about 500 feet, and they got what is called a flat hole, and then a crooked hole, so crooked that the tools would not go down, and thus the second hole was abandoned.

The drilling of the third well was commenced in 1892, and the oil sand was reached in due time. In 1893-4-5 and '96 wells numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were brought in, and they were all good producers. All these wells were within a mile of each other and their depth ranged from 600 to 1,100 feet.

In the fall of 1894 the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway company ordered a car load of this oil as a sample and it gave such satisfaction that the company used it exclusively as a lubricant for a number of years, and for five months this railroad company used the crude oil without it even being strained, there being no refinery here at that time.

The oil was hauled from the fields to Casper in tanks by string teams. These teams would haul supplies to the field and return with a load of oil. A description of these string teams is thus given by a local newspaper at that time: "Two string teams were loaded out from here with 26,000 pounds of piping. One of the teams was made up with sixteen head of horses and four wagons and when the wagons were coupled out to receive the piping, the entire outfit occupied a space of ground 240 feet long, and was the longest string outfit which ever went out of Casper. The company now has five teams on the road, two of four horses, one of ten, one of twelve, and one of sixteen. "

Early in the year of 1895 F. J. Carman, a chemist and refiner, erected a small refinery for the Pennsylvania company in Casper, just east from where the Natrona Power company's plant is now located, and railroad oils, dynamo and other lubricating oils were refined. The fires were started under the stills of this refinery on the 5th of March, 1895. The plant had a capacity of from fifty to one hundred barrels of finished oils each day, the product being valve, engine and car oil, the company confining itself to the manufacture of lubricating oils only.

The company had stored in tanks in the field 4,000 barrels of the crude oil, and 2,000 barrels of the refined product were stored in Casper which was kept ready for shipment to its customers on short notice in case of an emergency.

By this time the oil fields in this part of the country were attracting so much attention, that metropolitan newspapers were sending representatives here for the purpose of making an investigation of the fields and publishing a description of them.

On the 4th of April, 1895, the announcement was made that "sixty barrels of refined engine oil had been shipped from the refinery the past week, for which the company received $14.00 per barrel, net. " From six to ten men were employed at the refinery, which included the office force and the workmen at the plant. For two years the business was carried on with but few changes in the plant, but in July, 1897, the company's business had increased to such proportions that a new still of 150-barrel capacity was installed and a car load of steel drums in which to ship the refined product was purchased.

For the month of August, 1902, the company's pay roll amounted to $5,200, which included the drillers and other workmen in the field, the freighters and the men at the refinery; this also included the office force, and it was remarked at the time by one of the local newspapers, "this means much, indeed, to our town and community." At that time well number 13 was being drilled and when it was brought in it was estimated that there would be a daily output of about forty-five barrels, but it was announced that the company would continue drilling wells until there would be an output of 100 barrels daily.

The people of Casper were very proud of the oil refinery and boasted that "it was the only oil refinery in the state." When the town was honored by distinguished visitors, such as our United States senators, congressman, governor or any of the state officers, who were candidates for re-election, and who usually came to see us just before election time, a delegation of prominent citizens never failed to pilot them through the refinery, and explain to them all the details of how the oil was produced from its crude state to the refined product. In making the rounds through the refinery, which required about forty-five minutes, the visitors generally emerged with their shoes covered with oil and their clothing somewhat soiled, but the residents were used to it and it did not seem to bother the distinguished visitors.

In the fall of 1902 three string teams were making regular trips to the oil fields from Casper, hauling out supplies and bringing in the oil, and on account of the increased production from the new wells six new tanks, with a capacity of ninety barrels each, were built and taken out to the field to store the oil.

In 1900 and 1901, nearly a million acres of land in Natrona county was withdrawn from agricultural entry by the United States land commissioner which was classed as oil land. Two special agents had been in this territory a number of months making an investigation of the land and they recommended the withdrawal of the land. Four hundred thousand acres of land in the Salt Creek country was included in the segregation. Stockmen and ranchmen in the county made a vigorous protest against the segregation, claiming that not one-fourth of the land withdrawn was oil-bearing land ; that the assessment work on most of the "oil" land consisted of hauling a few loads of rock in the road and of dragging a rail over the sagebrush, and then making an affidavit that honest assessment work had been done, and that the oil men were not trying to develop the country, but they were acquiring the land for speculative purposes. On March 28, 1903, the land commissioners, acting upon a petition from Natrona county, signed by more than two-thirds of the taxpayers, restored to entry all the oil lands in Natrona county excepting the area upon which actual development work had been done by the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas company.

The Societe Belgo-American des Petroles du Wyoming early in November, 1903, bought all the holdings in Wyoming of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas company, the property consisting of the refinery in Casper, fourteen producing wells and 105,000 acres of oil land in the Salt Creek field. The price paid was ^600,000. The deal was made through J. H. Lobell of Chicago. In less than a month after the deal was consummated the new company announced that it would build a railroad from Cheyenne to Lander and from Casper to Salt Creek. The Casper town council on February 27, 1904, granted to the Belgo- American company forty acres of land within the corporate limits of the town, or adjacent thereto, suitable for an oil refinery, and the proposed railroad to be built by the same company was granted a right-of-way through the corporate limits of the town for all railroad and depot grounds that the company desired to use in the construe- tion and maintenance of the road and depots. And in the event the company established an oil refinery in Casper the town council agreed to give the company, without cost, so much of the town's surplus water as might be necessary for the use of the refinery and all the buildings in connection therewith, and the company's property was to be exempt from all municipal tax for a period of ten years.

The survey for the railroad was made from Cheyenne to Lander. Lander people also wanted the refinery built in that town, and made fully as liberal inducements as Casper had made. Some of the officers of the company made a visit to Casper during the summer and they were feasted and entertained as only the best people of Casper could provide. From Casper the delegation proceeded on its way to Lander. The trip was made in buggies over the route of the proposed railroad. The telephone poles for a distance of three miles outside of Lander were decorated with flags and bunting. A delegation of Lander citizens, headed by a brass band, met the oil company officers at the three-mile station and escorted them into the town. The streets of the town had been cleaned, the buildings decorated and everything was in holiday attire. The officers of the company were feted lavishly, and the many advantages were pointed out why the refinery should be built there. The officers of the company made no promises to either Casper or Lander, but took note of all that was said and offered and then suggested that Orin Junction was a very desirable location for a refinery and a splendid location for a modern city, such as would be builded, wherever the refinery might be located.

For more than a year the people of Casper and Lander were on the anxious seat; both tov/ns continued to offer the best they had if the company would decide upon their town as the place to build the refinery; but, alas, the company decided upon neither Casper, Lander or Orin Junction as the place to build its refinery, but on account of some irregularities and financial difficulties it was compelled to decide that it would build neither a refinery nor a railroad. Some of the members of the company were arrested for fraud and others lost their standing for honesty in the community in which they lived, and the hopes and dreams of the people of Casper, Lander and Orin Junction were blasted, so far as having a new refinery and a new railroad were concerned. Casper was content with having the "only oil refinery in the state," and Lander was compelled to get along as best it could without a refinery or a railroad and Orin Junction abandoned hope of ever being an oil town. But on account of the alleged irregularities and chicanery of some of the members of the Belgo-American company, who bought the property of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas company, and the intricacies of the law, all operations at the refinery in

Casper were soon suspended and the plant was out of commission until the summer of 1907, when the business men of the town considered it a menace and fire trap, and signed a petition requesting the town council to order it removed and that the oil pond adjacent to the refinery be filled with earth. Although the town council made an order in compliance with the request of the petitioners, the old refinery remained inoperative and undisturbed and the oil pond was not filled up.

Early in the year of 1910 the Franco-Wyoming Oil company was incorporated, and secured through purchase all the lands, properties and assets of every kind of the Belgo-American company. New capital and new men were put in to manage the affairs of the company. John M. Thurston of Nebraska was the attorney, and W. G. Young, an American, from the east, was the field manager, with headquarters in Casper. The principal stockholders of the Franco-Wyoming company were Douglas Read, president Banque Intermediare of Paris and director of the Credit Foncier of France; Count Puytonaine of Paris, ex-U. S. Senator John M. Thurston of Nebraska, Judge Mayer and Rudolph Mayer of Philadelphia, and Ernest F. Ayerault of New York City. With the new ofl&cers and new capital this company commenced operations at once to develop its Salt Creek property and on April 8, 1910, the first shipment of drilling machinery arrived in Casper and was immediately taken out to Salt Creek where the drilling for oil was commenced. Work was continued in the field during the summer and fall and up into the winter until the, cold weather caused the company to cease operations, but work w^as resumed early in the spring. The company had decided to build a refinery in Casper for the purpose of refining the oil that was produced from the twenty wells or more that had been drilled and a pipe line was to be built from Salt Creek to Casper. The town of Casper by an act of the town council leased to the company twenty acres of land immediately east from Highland cemetery where a refinery was to be built. There were a few people of Casper who objected to this property being leased for refinery or for any other except cemetery purposes, and it was proposed to get out an injunction preventing the company from occupying the ground, but the principal objections were mysteriously removed and work on the refinery was commenced in the summer of 191 1. It was announced that this refinery would have a daily capacity of 5,000 barrels. Work progressed rather slowly at this refinery, and it was on June 11, 1912, when the fires were first started under the stills. This refinery was owned by the Natrona Pipe Line and Refinery company, which was a subsidiary of the Franco-Wyoming company.

On June 17, 191 1, a resolution was again adopted by the Casper town council ordering that the old refinery situated in the town of Casper, between Center and Wolcott streets, south of the C. & N. W. railway tracks, be removed on account of the building being dangerous and unsafe; that it was readily exposed to fire, and should it catch on fire, other property in that vicinity was in great danger of being destroyed. The Franco-Wyoming company at once removed the building and machinery, and the city filled up the pond of sludge which was an eye-sore and a nuisance, and thus was removed all evidence of the first oil refinery in the state of Wyoming, of which in the early days Casper was the proud possessor.

The Midwest Oil company was incorporated early in the year of 1910, with Oliver H. Shoup, president, and Verner Z. Reed, Karl Schuyler, H. M. Blackmer, R. D. Brooks and Bern Hopkins his associates. This company had acquired considerable land in the Salt Creek field and was a rival of the Franco-Wyoming company. The Midwest company was very active in drilling wells and building a refinery west of Casper and a pipe line and telephone line from Salt Creek to Casper. The first car load of pipe for the pipe line arrived in Casper May 25, 1911, and by the first of December, 1911, the company had expended $650,000 for the purposes above named. Twelve producing wells had been brought in, the pipe line and pumping stations were complete, the telephone line was in operation, many storage tanks were in place and the refining plant was far advanced, and on January 15, 191 2, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the fire was turned on under one still, the machinery was put in operation and the production of gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, gas oil and fuel oil was commenced. It was announced that in several weeks other stills would be ready and the capacity of the plant would be 3,000 barrels per day when the plant was completed. Arrangements had been made with the Union Tank Car company for twelve tank cars to transport the product to market. The Midwest company had rented three office rooms on the second floor in the Kimball building on Center street, where the business of the company was transacted until the 14th of April, 1914, when they moved to their new quarters in the Midwest (now the Henning) hotel, which comprised eleven rooms on the second floor. These offices were maintained until early in the spring of 1917, when the top floor, consisting of twenty-five office rooms in the Oil Exchange (now the Consolidated Royalty) building were occupied. But even these commodious quarters, in addition to the offices of the company at the refinery in this city and those in the First National Bank building in Denver, were soon outgrown and on March 7, 1921, the company moved into the Midwest Refining company building on

Second and Wolcott streets, occupying the two top floors, consisting of sixty-six rooms, a three-story administration building was erected at the refining plant, where splendid offices were maintained, and additional offices were required in Denver where the head offices were maintained.

The Midwest Oil company and the Franco-Petroleum company (the latter having been merged from the Franco- Wyoming company and the Natrona Pipe Line and Refining company) were merged on February 28, 1914, and the new company was capitalized at ^20,000,- 000, under the name of the Midwest Refining company. At this time the new company had a total daily charging capacity of 12,800 barrels and a boiler capacity of 1,875 horsepower. Improvements were made and equipment was added continually, and five years later, or on January i, 1920, the total still charging capacity of the plant was 46,900 barrels per day, and there were under construction at that time stills which would charge an additional 12,000 barrels, which would give the company a total still charging capacity of 58,900 barrels. The boiler capacity of the plant at that time was 14,000 horsepower. The capacity of the storage and operating tanks amounted to approximately 2,500,000 barrels. At the loading racks 200 cars could be loaded at one time. Fourteen hundred men were employed at the refinery in Casper by the Midwest company on January i, 1920, in addition to the several hundred men in the offices here and four or five hundred more at the fields in Salt Creek, Big Muddy and the other fields near by. In addition to the refinery at Casper, the Midwest company was operating a refinery at Gray Bull with a daily still charging capacity of 3,000 barrels and one at Laramie with a daily still charging capacity of 4,800 barrels.

During the summer months of 1922 contracts were let by the Midwest company for the building of eighty-six storage tanks of 80,000 barrels capacity each, and in December a contract was let for the building of forty more tanks of the same capacity, and negotiations were also being made at the same time for the building of thirty more 80,000-barrel tanks, but without the construction of the latter thirty tanks, when all the containers have been completed that have been contracted for the company will have tankage capacity for the storage of approximately fourteen million barrels of crude oil at its tank farm on the north side of the Platte river within two miles northwest from the city of Casper. It was by mere chance that the people who organized the Midwest Oil company, which later became the Midwest Refining company, became interested in the Salt Creek field and built its refinery in Casper. Very little work had been done in the territory where the hundreds of producing wells are now located in the summer of 1910 when Bern Hopkins and A. M. Johnson of Colorado Springs, who were in the employ of Verner Z. Reed, stopped over night at the Henshaw and Fitzhugh camp in Salt Creek while making the trip with a team and buggy from Casper to Sheridan. E. T. Williams was in charge of the camp at that time and he was doing some validating work for Henshaw and Fitzhugh, who had located upon all the land they possibly could. This land was about five miles south of the Shannon field, and the first development work done here was by a company under the title of the Petroleum Machippij Salt Creek, The Hague, Holland, who had brought in a producing well in 1908 at a depth of 1,000 feet, but on account of there being no means of transportation to a refinery except by teams and wagons, there was no demand for the product, and the well was practically abandoned. (The Machippij company and the Franco-Wyoming company in 1910 were consolidated, and took the name of the Wyoming Oil Fields company.) Then came Henshaw and Fitzhugh in 1910 who were doing their validating work by the spring pole method. While stopping over night at the Henshaw camp, Messrs. Hopkins and Johnson became interested in the tales told about this oil field, and upon their return from Sheridan they again stopped at the oil camp and then arranged with E. T. Williams to lease the "Middy" claim, the lease being in the name of Bern Hopkins as trustee for Verner Z. Reed and associates, which later became the Reed Investment company. This company drilled its first well on 11-39-79, and at a depth of 1,860 feet produced a water well. Oliver H. Shoup, who was office manager for Mr. Reed, in company with Bern Hopkins, then made a trip to Paris where they interested some French capitalists in this field and development work progressed until it was a proven field and the men interested in the company were made millionaires. During the progress of this development work a great many conflicts arose as to title of the lands. Line riders were hired by the several companies and many a contest was the result. These line riders were men of nerve and they put up a fight for their companies equal to the fights on the range made in the earlier days by the cowboys for what they considered their rights. That many a strip of land was acquired by might, rather than right, there is no question. It was generally the stronger forces that won, and oftentimes men and material were moved off a claim which was settled upon by the stronger faction. Some of these combats among the employees of the different companies resulted in a hasty visit of the sheriff and a number of deputies to the battle ground, and a great deal of expensive litigation resulted before the ownership of considerable of the land was settled, but with all the contests, conflicts and litigation, the

Midwest in ten years grew from a very small concern to a fifty million dollar corporation, and at the time it was absorbed by the Standard Oil company it was the dominating influence of the mountain states oil industry.

In the spring of 1913 the Standard Oil company of Indiana decided to build a refinery in Casper, but the oflScers of the company did not announce the fact from the house tops. Agents for the company came here and went over the ground very thoroughly before a move was made that would indicate that the company intended coming here to do business. On July 6, 1913, C. B. Manbeck bought from J. M. Carey & Brother eighty-four acres of land in the western limits of Casper. This land was not bought in the name of the Standard Oil company, but in the name of Mr. Manbeck, and the Carey company was not aware that it was for the Standard company until the public announcement was made. The price paid for the land was $24,000, or a fraction less than $300 per acre. The only stipulation in the contract was that the property should not be laid out in town lots or additions to the town of Casper and should not be used for residential purposes for at least ten years after the filing of the deed. No doubt the Standard company would have paid $1,000 per acre for the land if the Carey company had demanded that price.

The announcement that the Standard company would build a refinery on the property acquired by Mr. Manbeck was not made until July 18, 1913, when articles of incorporation were filed with the secretary of state, with a capital stock of $30,000,000, the filing fee being $6,011. The list of the stockholders comprised 550 names. The work of clearing the land for the refinery plant was commenced at once, and on July 22 Mr. Manbeck with a number of construction men arrived in Casper to make the preliminary arrangements for the building of the refinery. The work progressed rapidly under men of experience, and on March 11, 1914, the first unit of the plant was in operation, but a large number of men were employed in the construction and the enlargement of the plant, and improvements and additions have been continually made until the Standard's plant in this city is one of the largest and most modern of any refinery in the United States. In the spring and summer of 1921 this company made improvements and additions to its plant which virtually tripled its producing capacity, and when completed there were in operation 275 pressure stills, eighty coke stills and many other reducing devices that were necessary to handle the oil from the producing fields near Casper. Ten storage tanks, forty feet high and 120 feet in diameter, with a capacity of 85,000 barrels to each tank were built, in addition to which a great many smaller tanks were built. These gave the company a storage capacity at the refinery in excess of a million barrels of oil, and when this building program was completed the plant was capable of handling 25,000 barrels of oil per day. These improvements were estimated to cost not less than ten million dollars.

On June 3, 1921, a meeting of the stockholders of the Standard company met at Whiting, Indiana, and voted to increase the capital stock of the company from one hundred million dollars to one hundred forty millions. This increase was made in order that the additional stock could be used in exchange for stock of the Midwest Refining company, which was capitalized at twenty million dollars, and on October i, 1921, the refining plants of the Midwest company passed to the control of the Standard company, the two refineries in Casper and the plants at Gray Bull and Laramie then being under control and operated by the giant and powerful Standard company. The Midwest company, however, continued to operate the producing department as well as the marketing of the product from the refineries.

During the year 1922 the Standard plants on the western outskirts of the city of Casper were operating almost at their full capacity, where in the past they had been operating only at from thirty to sixty per cent of their actual capacity. The cause of the increased production was through an order of two million barrels of gasoline to be shipped to a foreign country. Large shipments were made each month to the Magnolia Oil company at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and from there it is shipped on boats to foreign ports. To fill this order the company sent out on an average two train loads of tank cars each week, each train consisting of about 19,000 barrels of gasoline, with sixty cars to each train. This was in addition to all the other orders for domestic consumption that were filled by the company.

Although, at times, the shipments were somewhat delayed, on account of some changes being made in the specifications, the company came within 100,000 barrels of filling the order during the twelve-month period, and so satisfactory was the service and the product that the contract was renewed to furnish two million barrels during the year of 1923. The renewal of this contract assures a market for the entire output for the number three plant, located immediately west of the city of Casper, and with plants numbered one and two furnishing gasoline for domestic consumption will necessitate the operation of all three plants to their full capacity during the entire year of 1923.

Such progress was made in the manufacture of gasoline during 1922 that from the standpoint of volume of gasoline produced, the Casper refinery of the Standard is the largest plant in the world. During 1922 the Casper plant averaged 1,350,000 barrels of crude run each month, or approximately 45,000 barrels daily. About 615,000 barrels of gasoline were manufactured each month, while the plants produced also 170,000 barrels of refined oil, or kerosene, monthly. The three plants operated by the Standard in Casper manufactured 30,000 barrels of lubricating oils. Other by-products manufactured included 2,500,000 pounds of paraffin wax each month. In addition, 5,000 tons of coke were made each month. The remainder of the crude except that lost through the process of manufacture found its way into fuel oil, gas oil, asphalt, engine distillate and similar products.

The Producers and Refiners corporation has the largest absorption plant in the world about two miles west from the city of Casper. This plant absorbs the gasoline from the gas which is piped from the Mahoney Dome and the Wertz and Ferris fields. Work was commenced on the erection of this plant in the summer of 1922 and it was finished in December. This plant has a daily capacity for the handling of forty million cubic feet of natural gas, from which it will recover the gasoline before delivering the product to the refineries for fuel. It is estimated that the output of natural gasoline will run from 7,500 to 10,000 gallons daily when the plant is operating at its full capacity.

The Texas company, after several months' conference and negotiation with the Casper Chamber of Commerce and the citizens of Casper, decided on July 7, 1922, to build its refinery three miles east from Casper instead of at Glenrock, where the company had already acquired a tract of land upon which to build its plant. This decision was brought about at a luncheon held by the members of the Chamber of Commerce and officers of the Texas company on the above date when it was pledged that the citizens of Casper would contribute $50,000 for the purchase of the site, and the Texas company would give in exchange the 500 acres of land near Glenrock upon which it had intended to erect its plant. The Civic Land company was formed, an appraisal committee was appointed and the amount which the business men and property owners of Casper should invest was decided upon. The land owned by the Wyoming Refining company was sold to the Civic Land company at cost, and the Evans Realty company donated 120 acres, thus making the total area of the land for the Texas company's refinery site 640 acres. Within a week the $50,000 was raised and title to the land was given to the Texas company.

Heavy shipments of material to the new site were made at once, and by the first of August there were 225 men on the pay roll of the Texas company, in addition to 375 men employed on the works through contractors. These men were employed on the railroad yards and switches, loading yard tracks, the large smoke stacks, brick work for the crude stills, concrete work, the building of hundreds of tanks and the many other things attendant upon the building of a modern oil refining plant. In addition to these 600 men who were working on the refinery plant, there was a large force of carpenters, masons, cement workers and other workmen busy in the erection of business houses, shops and residences in the town of Evansville, which is in close proximity to the refinery.

The Central Pipeline company is the carrier of the crude oil from the Salt Creek field to the Texas company's plant, and on October 8, 1922, the first oil entered the Salt Creek end of the line and within a few days a large stream of the "liquid gold" was flowing into the tanks that had been built to receive it. In February, 1923, fires were started under the stills of the Texas company, and Casper's third large oil refinery was in operation.

Several hundred miles of pipe lines have been built from the oil fields into Casper which are used to transport crude oil, gasoline, gas and water. These pipe lines have been put in at an expense of several millions of dollars, but with all this, new lines are continually being built, which are necessary to transport the product to the refineries. Among the pipe lines coming into Casper are: The Midwest Refining company's forty-two mile six-inch line from Salt Creek to Casper; the same company has two eight-inch forty-two mile lines from Salt Creek to Casper, for the transportation of crude oil, also one three-inch and one four-inch forty-two mile gasoline line and one six-inch forty-two mile water line from Salt Creek to Casper. The Western Pipeline company has an eight-inch forty-five mile line from Salt Creek to Casper and the Central Pipeline company has a forty-five mile eight-inch line from Salt Creek to Casper. The Illinois Pipeline company has a twenty-two mile eight-inch line from Big Muddy to Casper. The New York Oil company has a thirty-eight mile 6-12 pipe line for gas from Poison Spider to Casper; the Producers and Refiners corporation has a ninety-mile 10-14 i"ch line for gas from the Mahoney Dome to Casper, and the Bolton Oil company has a thirty-two mile six-inch line from Bolton creek to Casper.

In addition to the manufacturing and producing companies mentioned heretofore, there are a great many producing companies maintaining offices in Casper with a large force of men in the field, among them being the Sinclair-Wyoming and the Mammoth Oil company, who are drilling the Teapot dome for the United States navy as well as doing considerable other development work, the Fargo Oil company, the E. T. Williams, the Ohio, the Chappel, Staley Syndicate, Bessemer, Western States, Salt Creek ConsoHdated,

Wyokans, Kasoming, Elkhorn, Salt Creek Producers, Boston-Wyoming, Marine, Merritt, Fensland, Domino, Mountain and Gulf, Glenrock Oil, Consolidated Royalty, Five Tribes, Royalty and Producers, Carter, Gypsy and many others.

More than half a billion barrels of crude oil were produced in America in 1921, from which 123,000,000 barrels of gasoline were refined, thus it takes nearly four barrels of crude oil to make one barrel of gasoline. There are forty-two gallons of oil in a barrel. Of these 25 . 6 per cent goes into gasoline; 9 . 7 per cent kerosene; 47 . 9 per cent fuel and gas oil; 4.3, lubricating oil; 2.4 wax, coke, and asphalt; 6 per cent miscellaneous and 4. i per cent loss.

Although a franchise was granted on March 9, 191 1, to "B. H, Hopkins, his successors and assigns, for the laying of oil pipe lines in the streets and alleys of the town of Casper, for the purpose of selling, furnishing and distributing petroleum or its products, and gas to consumers within the town of Casper," the first tangible evidence of the residents of Casper being supplied with natural gas was on January 13, 1920, when the New York Oil company, whose headquarters were in Casper, announced that a contract had been let to the Hope Engineering and Supply company to build a gas pipe line from the company's holdings in the Iron Creek-Poison Spider and South Casper creek fields to the city of Casper. The greater part of the line was to be of twelve-inch pipe, with reinforced Dressier couplings to insure the line against gas escaping. In a statement at that time, in reference to supplying the citizens of Casper with gas, Mr. Frank G. Curtis, president of the New York Oil company, said: "To be able to bring this great relief to Casper will forbid the mercenary motive pervading the effort. All we want is a fair return for the investment and operation and the achievement will mark our greatest desire." Upon the franchise being granted by the city council surveys were immediately made for the lines from Casper to the gas fields and the line was completed October 11, 1920, and gas was turned on at the Midwest refinery the next day where it was used in the various processes of refining oil. At that time the company had eight producing gas wells, but the fields had been only partially developed. The first gas well to be brought in at Iron Creek was on December 17, 1917, and the first gas well to be brought in at Poison Spider was December 24, 1917. The gas is brought from the field under a heavy pressure and this pressure is delivered into the city to certain points where regulators that work automatically are placed. These regulators cut down the heavy gas pressure of several hundred pounds to only a few ounces and deliver this low pressure to the city mains from which it feeds direct to the homes and business houses.

These regulators are so built that when anything goes wrong, they immediately shut off all gas so that there is no danger from the gas suddenly failing in the night and then coming on again to cause trouble.

On account of the convenience and economy of gas for fuel, both for industrial and domestic purposes, it was estimated that the city of Casper would experience a rapid growth in population as well as the establishment of many new industries where gas could be used, such as glass factories, iron and asbestos industries and other enterprises. In December, 1920, the first month of the service, more than three hundred million cubic feet of gas was consumed in the city of Casper and at the Midwest Refining company's plant for fuel purposes, and more than 500 applications were on file for connections to be made with residences in the city.

After one year's trial the consumers of gas expressed themselves as being highly pleased with the service, the convenience and the price, and instead of three hundred million cubic feet being consumed in a month, in December, 1921, the company was supplying 2,300 families and twenty factories, laundries, etc., which consumed fiftythree million cubic feet and in addition to this the Standard refineries consumed 542,000,000 cubic feet with a total of 595,000,000 cubic feet consumed during the month, and a total of 6,214,000,000 cubic feet consumed during the year, with an assurance that more than six billion cubic feet for each year would be consumed as long as the company could supply the gas.

In regard to the supply of gas in the fields a careful estimate has been made by geologists of national reputation who estimate that the production in the Iron Creek-Poison Spider fields will furnish more than six billion cubic feet each year for at least twenty years, and with the many other fields adjacent to the city of Casper the citizens may be assured that the supply will not be exhausted for at least a century.

In the whole state of Wyoming there are said to be fifteen light oil structures, producing or capable of producing paraffin base crudes on a par with Pennsylvania oils, the daily production of which is about 78,000 barrels, with several fields shut down and others running only a portion of the oil. The potential production of Wyoming's light oil fields is about 180,000 barrels per day. The cost of development of these fifteen light oil fields up until 1922, was about $62,872,500, which takes in the cost of edge wells, classing the latter as producers except where no oil whatever was found in the hole. Besides these fifteen light oil fields, there are seven black oil fields with a daily production of 425 barrels, a potential production of 3,750 barrels, a development cost of $3,448,560 and four fields shut down. There are fourteen gas fields producing in Wyoming and in some instances these gas fields also produce oil. The cost of developing these gas fields up until 1922, was $4,635,000.

Besides the above listed fields, there are also seven structures in the state where oil in commercial quantities is known to exist. The cost of the development of these seven fields, as nearly as can be estimated, is $1,778,600. The cost of the development of the producing fields in the state, most of which are in Natrona county and adjacent to the city of Casper, is as follows:

The Midwest Refining company, $22,768,480, paid out for the drilling of wells on successful structures. The Ohio Oil company, $18,342,660, expended in the development of successful structures; the Kasoming Oil company, $2,230,000; Producers and Refiners corporation, $1,456,900; New York Oil company, $1,340,000; The Texas company,$i,322,72o; General Petroleum company, $1,320,500; Sinclair Oil company, $254,000; Carter Oil company, $308,000; Union Oil company, $120,000; and the Inland Oil & Refining company, $150,000. The rest of the firms operating in Wyoming are listed as miscellaneous and show a total expenditure of $4,650,000. The above figures are for successful development only, no dry holes are considered. The following figures give an approximate expenditure by each firm on dry holes where the whole amount was a total loss or nearly so: Ohio Oil company, $2,437,654; Midwest Refining company, $1,976,000; Kasoming Oil company, $658,000; Inland Oil & Refining company, $535,000; The Texas company, $1,387,530; Producers & Refiners corporation, $51 1,000; Associated Oil company, $445,000; Carter Oil company, $360,000; Empire Gas & Fuel company, $210,000; Union Oil company (Calif.), $1,200,000; Standard Oil of California, $322,090; Cosden Oil & Gas company, $110,000; Gypsy Oil company, $52,330, and miscellaneous companies, $10,947,690.

The state of Wyoming is credited with one-twentieth of all the oil reserves in the United States. On January i, 1922, the average daily production from the 225,000 producing wells in the United States was four and one-half barrels, whereas the average daily production in Wyoming was forty barrels. Wyoming leads all other fields in the average daily production of wells. The crude oil of Wyoming has the highest gasoline extraction of any field in the United States, running forty per cent to fifty per cent as compared to twenty-four per cent in the Appalachian and twelve per cent in the California fields. In Wyoming but nine and one-half per cent of the estimated crude in the ground in the first sand has been extracted compared to thirty-five per cent in California, sixty-one per cent in Louisiana, eighty-nine per cent in the Appalachian fields and thirty-six per cent in the midcontinent fields. Many practical oil men consider the Salt Creek field, the greatest single oil pool of high grade gasoline oil in the United States or even in the world. Certain sections of this wonderful field produced, from 1914 to 1919, 63,500 barrels of oil per acre. With the single exception of Spindle Top in Texas, where the oil is much inferior in quality from the standpoint of gasoline content, this Salt Creek production exceeds that of any other high grade oil field east of the Rocky mountains. The average production in Salt Creek during the last several years has been 19,500 barrels per acre, which average, with the single exception of Spindle Top, is greater than any field east of the Rockies. The Kern river field of California has an average production of 25,698 barrels per acre, but this is low grade oil and not to be compared in quality with Salt Creek. The famous Cushing pool in Oklahoma has an average of 4,350 barrels per acre; the Gleen pool a little more than 3,000 barrels per acre; the Augusta, Kansas, pool, 4,800.

During the year 1921 the Salt Creek field produced 11,362,000 barrels of oil. Out of a total of 261 producing oil wells completed in the state of Wyoming during 1921, 120 of them were located in the Salt Creek field. The drilling record for the state during the year was the completion of 339 wells, 261 of which were producing oil wells, fifteen were gassers, and there were sixty-three failures. In 1920 there were 348 wells drilled, 284 of which were oil wells, thirty-one gassers and sixty-three failures.

During the year 1922 the Salt Creek field produced 23,725,000 barrels of crude oil, but this only in a small degree represents the amount this field could produce with the release of oil now confined or shut-in at "producing" wells. From January i to December 31, 1922, the average daily output of Salt Creek was 65,000 barrels, covering periods of pipe line runs of thirty per cent, fifty per cent and forty per cent of production of uncapped wells. During several days of the last week in December, the Salt Creek pipe lines handled as high as 78,000 barrels but 65,000 barrels is reported on authority as the daily average covering the entire year under the three pro ratas. The best of authorities estimate that the Salt Creek field will produce a flow of oil for at least fifty years, or until 1972, with the same amount of drilling that has been in operation for 1921 and 1922, and that onetwentieth of the field has not yet been developed. There are about thirty square miles in this one vast dome, where practically every hole drilled means an oil well. There are two known producing oil sands and three other possible sands below these, and it is said that if this is not a billion dollar oil field, there is none in the United States.

Entering Salt Creek from the south, almost as through a gateway, the great oil field comes suddenly into view, a natural amphitheatre, the massive outcrops of the Shannon sandstone banked against the skyline like spectators of the activity far below. Seven miles to the north the bowl extends, and four miles east and west. Minor hills and valleys extend all over the field, but the general effect from the high entering road is one of flatness.

Derricks are sparsely spotted over the great area, some new and clean, others blackened old-timers, kept on the job for cleaning operations or deeper drilling. Most of the steady producers are not discernible from a distance, the rigs having been dismantled, and the wells quietly discharging into the feeder lines.

Over the many roads crawl fleets of motor trucks, carrying casing, timber, machinery and supplies, up hill and down dale, supplying the many camps dotted here and there.

About the center of the field is the village of Salt Creek. Here is the postoffice, Midwest offices. Midwest hotel, large and commodious, a splendid new brick school building, comfortable residences and all that goes to make up the comforts and conveniences of a small town such as a theater, church, newspaper, etc.

Near the south end of the field there is a new village known as the Ohio-Columbine camp, which consists of a long row of modern houses, which flank the main street, and in addition to these houses there are many other comfortable residences on the other streets which have been laid out. Following the main road northward, the next settlement of importance is the Midwest gasoline extraction plant. Here the streets are well laid out, with many comfortable residences.

Drilling activity at the north end of the field is not as marked as at the south end, probably seventy per cent of the new rigs being at the south end, but some day the north end of the field no doubt will have as many rigs as are now on the south end.

At this time (1923) there is an average of only about eight producing wells per square mile, or two wells per quarter section. The problem in the Salt Creek field is not in getting the crude oil, but how to get a market for it is the perplexing question.

In addition to the wonderful Salt Creek field, many new fields in Natrona county are being opened up, which goes to show that Casper will be an "oil town" for at least a century from this date, and is destined to be not only the largest and wealthiest city in the state, but one of the leading cities in the middle west of the United States.

During the latter part of 1916 and for nine months in 1917 Casper experienced a wonderful oil boom. Men in all walks of life neglected their business and their professions to buy and sell oil stocks. It was a small day's business if half a million dollars' worth of oil stocks were not sold; for a number of months the several hundred oil brokers each made a profit of from $100.00 to $1,000.00 per day. Oil exchanges, where stocks were sold at auction, were established, and during the afternoons and evenings the rooms were filled with men and women who bought and sold stocks; in the evenings the rooms were not large enough to accommodate all the customers and many remained out on the side walk, but they bought and sold stocks just the same. In the lobby of the Midwest (now the Henning hotel) was where most of the trading was done. Many brokers had desks in the small rooms adjacent to the lobby, and an enormous rental was paid for these little rooms; there were a great many people who had no office nor desk, but they did their trading on the floor of the lobby. Most of these brokers always had on hand stocks worth from $5,000 to $25,000. Checks were given for stock amounting to several thousand dollars, and no doubt was ever entertained but there was money in the bank sufficient to cover the amount of the check; if some of the men who then wrote a check for $5,000 which was accepted without question, were to write a check today for $500 it would be taken with a considerable degree of suspicion as to whether it would be cashed at the bank. Orders were given among these brokers for the purchase of stocks at a given time and price, and if the stock was delivered before the time specified, it was accepted by the broker who gave the order, even though the price had gone down several points and the transaction involved a considerable loss. Square dealing and honesty was the rule among the brokers, and when one failed to act upon the square he was blacklisted and boycotted.

New oil companies were organized every day and the stock was placed on the market. Many of these companies had land that turned out very valuable, and the price of their stock today is from ten to twenty times as much as it sold for when the companies were first organized, but on the other hand many, many of the companies that were organized then and sold their stock at from fifty cents to one dollar per share today are unheard of, and many people have stored away certificates of a sufficient number to decorate four sides and the ceiling of a large-sized office room, all of which would not sell for enough money to pay for their postage carriage if they were to be delivered to the purchaser by mail service.

In the fall of 1917 many of the brokers had gone out of business; there was but little trading; men who had loaded up on stocks in the spring and summer were now selling out for any price they could get, while others took their loss like good philosophers and charged it up to bad judgment. But those were the real boom days in Casper.

THOUSANDS upon thousands of cattle perished in the middle western states during the severe and long-continued storms of the winters of 1886, '87 and '88, and in the summers that followed the hills and hollows of the open range were literally covered with the bones of the beasts, which were bleached by the scorching rays of the summer's sun. The stockmen of Wyoming were the greatest losers of any of the cattle states, and many of the men who were comfortably well-to-do in the fall of '86 were financially wrecked in the spring of '88, and others were left only a shadow of their large herds which had been turned out after the fall roundups to rustle their feed and find shelter from the winter's storms.

But the rigorous winters and hot, dry summers were not the only menace that confronted the cattlemen and which bid fair to diminish their herds. The cattle thieves, or "rustlers," so called in those days, were now boldly making their presence felt more than ever before, by blotching the brands of the estray cattle they could find and putting their irons on the calves they could pick up. The thieves had steadily increased in numbers year after year until the cattle owners were in the minority, and the rustlers' influence, or rather, their means of intimidation, was much greater on the range than that of the "cattle kings."

The cattle owners, after seeing their large herds nearly wiped out by the elements, were forcibly impressed with the fact that the laws of our statutes did not protect them from the now strong band of rustlers, and they must organize and adopt and enforce a law of selfpreservation, or go out of business entirely. The man who owned a great number of cattle and large tracts of land was looked upon by the rustlers as a prey, and the brand on his stock was blotched and the animals were driven off from their range with impunity, hence the organization of the cattle owners, who declared that "an injury to one is a concern to all," and it did not take them long to adopt their own methods of protecting their property and set up their own laws as punishment for the transgressor.

found sympathizers. On account of their reckless unlawfulness there were many people who protected them through fear, and it is said that in some cases men who served as jurors, and some of the judges on the bench failed to do their sworn duty, either through fear or actually favoring the thieves; and up to this day there are some people who contend that these men were justified in their depredations, because the big cattle outfits many times exceeded their rights in taking up large tracts of land and monopolized thousands of acres of the open range, thus starving and driving out the settlers and owners of small bunches of cattle. Courts had become a farce. There was no chance of securing a conviction upon a charge of cattle stealing in those days, and because of their security from the law some of the rustlers oftentimes committed crimes greater than stealing cattle, and little was said and nothing was done about it.

The first case, in what is now Natrona county, to require the cattle owners to apply the law of "self-preservation," occurred in the present peaceful and prosperous Sweetwater country. The day and date was Saturday, July 20, 1889, when James Averell, a man who conducted a saloon and small store in that part of the country, and Ella Watson, who ran a "hog ranch," and who adopted the name of Kate Maxwell, but who was dubbed by her friends "Cattle Kate," and was a consort of Averell, were hanged to the limb of a tree, in Spring canyon, near the Sweetwater river, about five miles west from the Averell ranch, and their bodies were left dangling side by side for more than thirty hours, until the authorities from Casper went out, let them down, held an inquest, and then buried them side by side on the ranch in close proximity to the saloon where they had carried on their nefarious business.

Averell's place of business was a "hang-out" for the rustlers, but many of the cowboys came there for a night's carousal, and before they left the place Averell generally had all their money and "Cattle Kate" had the promise of her brand on from one to half a dozen calves. Kate had taken up a homestead about a mile northwest from the Averell ranch, near "Steamboat" rock, where she built a cabin and had a pasture fenced in, and in a very few months had accumulated a very nice herd of cattle. When questioned as to how she acquired the stock, she simply said she "bought" them, and there was no law to disprove that she was not the rightful owner of them.

Both Averell and the Watson woman were avowed and open enemies of the large cattle and land owners, and on April 7, 1889, Averell wrote a letter for publication to the Casper Weekly Mail condemning the cattlemen who were operating in the Sweetwater country, and among other things he said:

"They are land-grabbers, who are only camped here as speculators in land under the desert land act. They are opposed to anything that would settle and improve the country or make it anything but a cow pasture for eastern speculators. It is wonderful how much land some of these land sharks own - in their minds - and how firmly they are organized to keep Wyoming from being settled up. They advance the idea that a poor man has nothing to say in the affairs of his country, in which they are wrong, as the future land owner in Wyoming will be the people to come, as most of these large tracts are so fraudulently entered now that it must ultimately change hands and give the public domain to the honest settler. Is it not enough to excite one's prejudice to see the Sweetwater river owned, or claimed, for a distance of seventy-five miles from its mouth, by three or four men? Change the irrigation laws so that every bona fide settler can have his share of the water; and as soon as possible cancel the desert land act, and then you will see orchards and farms in Wyoming. Who was it that in the year 1884 tried to have an act passed in the territorial legislature to bond each county in the territory to the amount of $300,000 to run a railroad tunnel through the Seminoe mountains? It was one of the Sweetwater land grabbers."

Averell had homesteaded at the foot of the hills along the Sweetwater upon land that he mentioned in his communication as being claimed by these "three or four men," and the Watson woman put up her shack and fenced in a pasture not much more than a mile distant from Averell, and the two places were the incentive for many a hideous carousal and disregard for decency, where unlawful contracts were entered into for mavericks that were to be turned into the "Cattle Kate" pasture where her brand could be put on them. They were so open in their dealings that the cattle owners in the neighborhood decided that drastic measures must be adopted, and the man and woman must be dealt with severely, and the sentence of death was accordingly carried out with dispatch.

The first news of the hanging to reach Casper was on Sunday morning, July 21 , at about eleven o'clock, nearly a whole day after the tragedy occurred, when E. J. Healy rode hurriedly into the village on horseback and told the authorities that Averell and the Watson woman had been taken by a mob and hanged side by side to a tree near Averell's ranch. The people of Casper were aware that trouble had been brewing in that neighborhood for a considerable length of time, and Phil Watson, the deputy sheriff, whose headquarters were in Casper, immediately started out with a posse of men to make an investigation. Upon arriving at the Averell ranch the deputy sheriff and his men ascertained that the facts were as represented by Healy, and the bodies had not yet been taken down.

The deputy sheriff and several men were guided from the Averell ranch by Frank Buchanan about five miles up the Sweetwater river, and turning to the south, following up the gulch leading into the rocks, in the darkness of the night, they found the bodies hanging close together, each at the end of a rope, which had been thrown over the limb of a scrub pine tree. The authorities cut the ropes and let down the bodies and carried them to the Averell ranch where an inquest was held by Esquire Emery, Dr. Joe Benson, Tom Denson, Jess Lockwood, E. J. Healy, Jud Brazil and Frank Denson.

From the evidence given by Frank Buchanan, Ralph Cole, 'Gene Crowder, and John DeCory, the coroner's jury returned a verdict that "the deceased man and woman, James Averell and Ella Watson, came to their deaths by being hanged by the neck at the hands of A. J. Bothwell, Tom Sun, John Durbin, R. M. Galbraith, Bob Connor, E. McLain and an unknown man. The unknown man is said to have been George B. Henderson, who was shot and killed about a year later, an account of which is published elsewhere in this volume. The next morning two graves were dug a short distance east from the Averell building and the bodies were buried by the deputy sheriff and the other men who were there at the time, and although the graves were quite shallow, it is said there was at least twelve inches of water in them when the bodies were interred, the water having seeped through from the river, which was about on a level with the burial spot.

'Gene Crowder, a lad about fourteen years of age, who was at the Watson woman's cabin when the men drove up, gave his version of the taking away of the man and woman as follows: "I was at Ella's house trying to catch a pony when the men drove up. John Durbin took down the wire fence and drove the cattle out of the pasture, while McLain and Connor kept Ella from going to the house. After a while they told her to get into the wagon, and she asked them where they were going to take her. They told her to Rawlins. She said she wanted to go into the house to change her clothing, but the men would not permit her to do so, and they made her get into the wagon. Bothwell told her that he would rope and drag her if she did not get in. She got in and then we all started for Jim Averell's place. I tried to ride around the cattle and get ahead of them, but Bothwell took hold of my pony's bridle and made me stay with them. I then stayed with Durbin and helped him drive the cattle, while the others went ahead and met Jim, who was just inside his second gate, and who was just starting to go to Casper. They made him throw up his hands, and they told him they had a warrant for his arrest, and after they made him unhitch his team, they all came up where the cattle were and Jim asked Durbin where the warrant w^as. Durbin and Bothwell both threw their guns on Jim and told him that was warrant enough. They then made Jim get into the wagon and drove back a way and around on the north side of the rocks. John DeCory and I hurried down to Jim's house and told the folks there that they had taken Jim and Ella and were driving around the rocks with them. Frank

Frank Buchanan testified before the coroner's jury to the effect that "when the boy told him Jim and Ella were being taken away by the mob, he got his six-shooter and a horse and went around to the west end of the rocks and saw them going toward the river. They drove into the ford and followed up the bed of the stream for about two miles, once stopping a long time in the water and arguing loudly, but he could not understand what they said. After they came out of the river, on the south side, they went toward the mountains and pulled up a gulch leading into the timber and among the rocks." He, the witness, then said he "rode around on the south side of the rocky hills, tied his horse and crawled over close to where they were. Bothwell had the rope around Jim's neck and had it tied to a limb. He told Jim to be game and jump off. McLain was trying to put a rope around Ella's neck, but she was dodging her head so that he did not succeed at the time. I opened fire on them, but do not know whether I hit anyone or not. They turned and began shooting at me. I unloaded my six-shooter twice, but finally had to run, for they were shooting at me with Winchesters. I ran to my horse and rode back to the ranch and told them that Jim and Ella had been hanged, and then I started for Casper. I got lost and pulled up at 'Tex's' ranch about 3 o'clock next morning. The hanging took place about twelve hours before."

"Tex" is E. J. Healy, who brought the news to Casper, and whose homestead shack was not far from where the government bridge now crosses the Platte river, about twenty-five miles southwest from Casper.

Buchanan further said: "Averell never owned any cattle and there were none in his pasture at the time of the trouble; the whole affair grew out of land troubles. Averell had contested the land that Connor was trying to hold and he had made Durbin some trouble on a final proof, and he had kept Bothwell from fencing in the whole of the Sweetwater valley. Ella Watson had a small bunch of cattle, nearly all of which were freshly branded, as she only recently got her brand recorded."

Bob Connor, who, it is said, never denied that he was with the party that did the hanging, told some of his friends that when they started out to get Averell and the Watson woman, they had no intention of hanging them, but they did intend to scare them and force them to leave the country. After forcing them to get into the wagon they took them to the Sweetwater river and told them that

Spring Crekk Canyon. Ihis is where Ella Watson and James Averell were taken to be hanged. "The way of the transgressor is hard," and the road to the place of execution was rougli. + indicates tree where they were hanged. Inset: Ella Watson's cabin, near Steamboat rock, in the Sweetwater country.

they would drown them if they did not promise to go away. Instead of promising to leave the country the man and woman laughed at them, and told them there was not water enough in the stream to give them a decent bath. Some bitter words were passed by both sides, and then they came out of the stream and the victims were taken up into the gulch known as Spring canyon, among the timber and rocks, and ropes were thrown over the limb of a small tree and nooses were placed about the necks of the man and woman. They were once more told that if they would agree to leave the country they would be turned loose, but they again laughed at them and said that they did not dare to hang them, and then, it is said, Bothwell gave Averell a push and Henderson pushed the woman, and they both swung out between heaven and earth, and the two souls were sent into eternity. In contradiction of this, it was said at the time that Ella Watson, while struggling to keep the rope from being placed around her neck, begged the men in the name of God to spare her life, imploring them as they loved their mother and revered their sisters, not to send a helpless and erring woman thus unprepared before her Maker, but as no one was present except those who participated in the hanging and the victims, this statement cannot be verified.

Ella Watson was wearing a pair of Indian moccasins at the time the men forced her to get into the wagon, and after she was hanged the moccasins dropped from her feet, but they were not picked up by the men who cut the ropes and let the bodies down. Two days after the hanging Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Jameson went to the scene of the tragedy for the purpose of securing some photographs, and they found the moccasins under the tree, and Mrs. Jameson still has them in her possession. Mrs. Jameson took a photograph of the scrub pine tree which served as a scaffold upon which the victims met their doom, and the accompanying half-tones were made from the original photographs which were taken July 22, 1889.

Six of the men accused of the crime were in time arrested by Sheriff Frank Hadsell of Rawlins and given a preliminary hearing, and each of them was placed under bond of ^5,000, which was furnished and the men were allowed to go their way until they might be summoned to the district court or before a grand jury. George B. Henderson's name was not among those on the warrant.

A brother of Averell from Tacoma, Washington, came to Wyoming as soon as he heard of the tragedy. He was very quiet in his dealings, and succeeded in working up a very strong feeling against the men accused of committing the act, and for a number of weeks a subscription paper was circulated and a large fund was raised to carry on the prosecution. The county attorney was to be aided by some of the best criminal lawyers obtainable, and the feeling became so intense that no one in the Sweetwater country ventured from his premises without being well armed.

Ella Watson's father came from his home near Lebanon, Kansas, and made his headquarters at Rock Springs, where he remained until after the case against the men was disposed of by the grand jury. Mr. Watson said that Ella was his oldest daughter, and she was twenty-eight years of age at the time of her death.

The grand jury of Carbon county convened in Rawlins on Monday, October 14, 1889, with John Milliken, Alfred Crove, H. A. Andrews, James Candlish, John C. Dyer, W. B. Hughes, John Mahoney, W. L. Evans, Charles Hardin, F. M. Baker, I. C. Miller, J. H. Mulhson, C. W. Burdick, T. J. Dickinson, Harry Haines and George Mitchell as grand jurors. On Tuesday, the 15th, the case of the Territory of Wyoming vs. Albert J. Bothwell, Earnest McLain, Robert B. Connor, Tom Sun, Robert M. Galbraith and John Durbin came before the court, and in his charge to the men who were to decide whether or not a true bill should be returned against the accused. Judge Corn said:

"It is not ordinarily necessary to charge a grand jury with reference to special crimes, but it has come to my ears and is the subject of much conversation in this community and has been widely published in the newspapers that certain persons are charged with the hanging of a certain man and woman by lynch law in this county, and it is evident that there is great feeling and excitement in the community in regard to it. In such matters you are pre-eminently the guardians of the safety of the people and the good order of society. You have sworn to present none through malice or ill, and to leave none unpresented through fear, favor or affection. It becomes you in connection with this matter to be especially regardful of this oath. Some of the ancients portrayed Justice as a goddess blindfolded. Her eyes were hood-winked, that she might not know even the persons upon whom she was called to pass judgment. In one hand she held the balances to weigh the evidence with impartiality, and in the other a sword with which to execute her decrees. This idea of 'Justice blind' should be your guide in this matter. Weigh the evidence with absolute impartiality and without regard to persons, and then strike, no matter where the blow may fall."

The accused were represented by Attorneys Corlett, Lacey and Riner and J. R. Dixon, and the state was represented by David H. Craig, the prosecuting attorney for Carbon county, and he was assisted by D. A. Preston. A challenge of the array of the grand jury was made by the attorneys for the accused, but the challenge was denied by the court, and after due deliberation by the grand jury it reported as follows:

"Territory of Wyoming vs. Albert J. Bothwell, Earnest McLain, Robert B. Connor, Tom Sun, Robert M. Galbraith and John Durbin. Not a true bill." The records then follow: "The grand jury at the present term of this court, having failed to find a true bill of indictment against the above-named defendants, or either of them, it is

It was claimed by the friends of Averell and Ella Watson that no bills were returned because of the lack of witnesses; that Buchanan, the material witness for the prosecution, who was under a fivehundred-dollar bond to appear, was "induced" to leave the country. He came to Casper in September and slept in a livery stable for two nights, then mysteriously disappeared and has never again been seen by anyone here. His bonds were forfeited and suit ordered against his bondsmen to recover the amount. John DeCory and Ralph Cole also mysteriously disappeared, and 'Gene Crowder, the fourteenyear-old boy, died of Bright's disease, before the case came to a hearing, and thus the case ended, until each individual should be taken and tried before that Higher Court, where no guilty man escapes.

The story is told that Ralph Cole left the Averell ranch the night after the hanging, and he was followed by George B. Henderson. Cole reached a surveyor's camp late at night and remained there until morning. The next day, while trying to make his way to a station on the Union Pacific railroad, he was overtaken by Henderson, who shot him, and the body of the victim was burned to ashes. Whether or not this is true can not be verified, but the fact remains that Cole has not since been seen, although every effort was made by friends to find him.

Regarding the disappearance of Cole, Dr. Mercer in his "Banditti of the Plains," written in 1894, says that "he was hunted like a wild beast, and the supposition is that he sleeps beneath the sod in some lonely mountain gorge, where naught but the yelp of the passing wolf disturbs the solemnity of his last resting place. Or, perchance, this same howling beast picked the bones and left them to bleach on the barren hillside."

On January 21, 1891, the lands filed upon by Ella Watson and James Averell were contested by Henry H. Wilson. The Averell homestead was filed upon February 24, 1886, in the Cheyenne land oflice, and was described as follows: West half of the northwest quarter, section 26, and north half northeast quarter, section 27, township 80, range 85 west. The Ella Watson homestead was filed upon March 24, 1888, the description of her land being the west half, southwest quarter, section 23, and south half, southeast quarter, section 22, township 30, range 85 west. The contestee stated that Averell and Watson "died in July, 1889, without legitimate issue of their bodies, being each a single person, and that the improvements on the said lands had been sold by the administrators of the estates of the said persons, and since their death the said premises have been entirely abandoned." At the same time that the contest notices were being pubHshed, there appeared in the dehnquent tax Hst at the county treasurer's office of Carbon county the information that the Averell estate, with G. W. Durant of RawHns as administrator, owed the county $12.44 for taxes, and that the Ella Watson estate was indebted to the county for taxes to the amount of $2.49. Wilson in due time filed on the land above described and after proving up he sold the tracts to A. J. Bothwell.

The little shack owned by the woman, in which high carnival was held many a night by men crazy with drink, was moved by Bothwell from its original location, near Steamboat rock, to the bank of a small stream known as Horse creek, a couple of hundred yards east of the buildings on the Bothwell ranch, where it served the purpose of an ice house for thirty years after the tragedy, but in 1921 it was torn down.

The Averell buildings have long since been torn down and moved away. The two unmarked graves cannot be found, and even the trees among the crags where the tragedy was enacted have nearly all disappeared, and only the rugged rocks remain unchanged by time.

Today, a little more than thirty-three years from the time of the tragedy, four of the men who are said to have participated in this hanging, have been called hence, "where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary shall find rest." Whether or not they were justified in their acts they have already answered before the spirits of the two poor creatures they sent before them, and judgment has long since been pronounced upon them by the Judge on High. At this time, 1923, three are still living: A. J. Bothwell retired from the stockraising business in 191 5 and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he has since made his home; R. B. Connor went back to his old eastern home at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, shortly after the tragedy, but returned to Central Wyoming several times on visits; R. M. Galbraith went to Little Rock, Arkansas, and engaged in the banking business, became wealthy and retired. He has visited this part of the country several times in recent years. Earnest McLain, who, with several of the others, claimed to be an unwilling member of the party, left the country a few years after the unfortunate affair and has not since been heard from and it is supposed that he is dead.

Time has to some extent healed the bitter feeling that existed between the friends of the men who set themselves up as judge, jury, and executioner, and the friends of the two unfortunates who were sent out of this world and before their Maker without being given time or opportunity to ask forgiveness for the wrongs they had committed or to repent of their sins.

The Killing Of Henderson 273

George B. Henderson, who is said to have been one of the participants in the hanging of James Averell and Ella Watson in the Sweetwater country in July, 1889, and who was accused a few days later of shooting one of the principal witnesses and burning his body, was range manager for the 71 Cattle outfit, and from the day of the Sweetwater tragedy it seems that he was burdened with troubles of many kinds, which subsequently resulted in his being killed. His last quarrel was with a night herder named John Tregoning, who went by the name of Smith.

Instead of looking after the stock as he was supposed to, Tregoning usually built a camp fire and slept beside it, while the herd of cattle was allowed to roam at will. For his neglectfulness Tregoning was discharged by Henderson. Tregoning went to Buffalo, in Johnson county, after he was discharged by Henderson, and a few days later Henderson went to Buffalo after delivering some cattle to Johnson county parties. Tregoning met Henderson and asked him for some money, which he alleged was due him for work. Henderson gave him a check for nine dollars and told him that was all that was due him, and he must consider himself discharged from the 71 Cattle company. Tregoning contended that more money was due him, and that he would consider himself in the employ of the company until he arrived at the ranch and was paid in full. After Henderson left town Tregoning became boisterous, using some very abusive and vile language, and said that he would get even with Henderson in some other way. Tregoning then went to a hardware store where he bought a .45 Colt's six-shooter.

The next morning Tregoning left Buffalo, going to the Sheehan ranch, about two miles up the Sweetwater river from the 71 ranch. He turned the two 71 horses which he had borrowed, into Sheehan's pasture, and catching one of his own horses, he rode over to the 71 ranch. Henderson had just arrived home. Tregoning had his .45 Colt's in his holster, and Henderson ordered him to take it off, informing him that it was against the rules to carry a gun while on the ranch. Tregoning refused to take off his gun. Henderson then went into the ranch house and Tregoning went to the bunk house. Mrs. Henderson kept a close watch on Tregoning, and she called to her husband that Tregoning was going to shoot at him. Henderson immediately went out of the ranch house with a Winchester rifle and forced Tregoning to take off his six-shooter, after which the matter of wages that were due Tregoning was satisfactorily settled, and Tregoning was told to leave the ranch and return the two horses belonging

Henderson then told Tregoning that he had been told of the threats made against him and said: "This is very serious, and if I hear of you making any further threats against me, the next time we meet, you must come a-shooting."

Tregoning then left the ranch, and three days had lapsed without the borrowed horses being returned, when Henderson, accompanied by Pete Stickles, a man employed on the 71 ranch, went over to the Sheehan ranch. Arriving at the ranch, Henderson dismounted from his horse at the horse corrals, and some cowboys told him that Tregoning was in the cabin. Henderson started for the cabin, leading his horse by the bridle reins, and Stickles rode behind him on his horse. Henderson had his six-shooter strapped upon him, but Stickles was unarmed. When Henderson was within about forty feet of the cabin door Tregoning came out with a Winchester rifle and advanced to the path and a man named Berry also came out of the cabin, and he was also armed with a Winchester. Tregoning ordered Henderson to stop and take off his gun, but Henderson continued to go forward, his head being bowed down to avoid the wind, which was blowing at a terrific gale. Tregoning again called out : " Stop ! Mr. Henderson ! Mr. Henderson, stop and take off your gun." Henderson then stopped, looked up from the ground, and pointing his finger at Tregoning, said : " Smith, put down that gun," and Stickles called out to the men, saying: "Two of you have guns; one of us is unarmed. If there is any trouble between you put down your guns and talk it over like men."

Tregoning looked back over his shoulder at Berry, and then leveling his rifle at Henderson, he pulled the trigger, and Henderson fell to the ground, exclaiming, "My God, I am shot," and he died almost immediately.

The jury who tried the case in Lander, the murder having been committed in Fremont county, deliberated for twenty-seven hours before returning a verdict, eleven of the jurymen favoring murder in the first degree for both Tregoning and Berry, but a compromise was reached on murder in the second degree for Tregoning and manslaughter for Berry.

Prosecuting Attorney Vidal of Fremont county was assisted by Attorneys A. C. Campbell and W. C. Stoll of Cheyenne, who were employed by the 71 outfit, and the defendants were represented by Attorney Look of Greeley, Colorado, D. A. Preston and E. H. Fort of Lander.

A Dance Hall Murder 275

Tregoning made his escape from the penitentiary after serving a Httle more than two years, and at that time it was intimated that the warden's daughter assisted in his escape. The prisoner is known to have come back to the same part of the state where he committed his crime, and the cattle rustlers protected him and assisted him in getting out of the country, and he has never been captured.

Governor John E. Osborne pardoned Berry after having served seven years, and the pardon met with no objection because he did not shoot at Henderson, made no threats and it is said would not have been convicted if he had had a separate trial from Tregoning.

Henderson had been shot at several times and had had numerous quarrels between the time of the hanging of Averell and Ella Watson and the day he met his tragic death. Two weeks after the hanging of the man and woman, an attempt was made on Henderson's life, which was described by the Carbon County Journal as follows: "About 9 o'clock Wednesday morning as George B. Henderson, manager of the 71 Cattle company, whose home ranch is near the Three Crossings on the Sweetwater, was leisurely driving along the road about a mile this side of Bell Springs, he was fired at by a concealed assassin, the bullet striking his off horse in the left hip, lodging near the hip joint. Upon being hit with the bullet the horse pitched and started to run. It took Mr. Henderson several minutes to get his team quieted, by which time nothing was in sight to show from whence the shot came. From the direction of where the shot came and the position of Mr. Henderson in the buggy, the bullet must have passed very close to his body."

George B. Henderson's correct name is said to have been John Powers. He came to Wyoming from the coal camps of Pennsylvania, where, it is said, he was mixed up in the killing of a man while acting as a "coal and iron police." He was the first of the seven men who were named in the unfortunate Averell-Watson affair to meet his death, and it being of so tragic a nature, many people deemed it a well-merited and salutary act of retributive justice, which was not long in its coming.

The first murder that was committed in Casper occurred on Saturday night, September 20, 1890, at about eleven o'clock, in the dance house conducted by the notorious Lou Polk, at which time and place John Conway shot and killed A. J. Tidwell, better known as "Red Jack," a cowboy in the employ of the FL Cattle company. A number of cowboys were in town that evening and, as was their

H. J. Summers, Jr., who was better known as "Sonny," a vioHnist, was chief musician at the hall that evening, and about the hour mentioned, when the boys had begun to feel the effects of their numerous drinks, Jimmie Hines, one of the cowboys, approached "Sonny," with whom he was acquainted, and saluted him familiarly. "Sonny" was not feeling well and failed to respond, whereupon Hines became indignant and attempted to quarrel with him. The matter was finally peacefully settled, but a little later Hines conceived the idea of renewing the quarrel, and solicited the assistance of "Red Jack." As soon as the quarrel was renewed, Conway, who was acting as barkeeper, interfered and he and "Red Jack" exchanged a few blows. But Conway suddenly broke away, and running back of the bar, got a six-shooter and began flourishing it. None of the cowboys were armed, having deposited their six-shooters with friends, to prevent the possibility of bloodshed, as was their habit before starting in on a spree. Conway continued to flourish his gun, and there was a general stampede. Nearly everyone ran out of the north door, including "Sonny," who ran against a limb of a pine tree standing in front of the door, and his left eye was gouged out.

"Red Jack" ran out of the east door, with Conway in close pursuit. When he saw Conway coming out of the door with the gun he exclaimed, "I am going! I am going!" But Conway rushed up to him, struck him on the head with his six-shooter and knocked him down, after which he deliberately shot him as he lay upon the ground. The ball from the six-shooter entered at the left side, above the hip, and passed through Tidwell's body, causing almost instant death.

One of the female inmates of the establishment ran over to Center street after Constable Hugh Patton, and when she found the oflftcer she cried: "Oh, come, quick. They are fighting and shooting over at the dance hall." Mr. Patton immediately hurried over, and upon his entrance was greeted by Conway with the remark, "Well, I guess I am your prisoner. Here's my gun." The constable asked him what he had done, and he said: "I knocked a lame fellow down and shot at him. I expect I killed him."

The ofl&cer then ordered Conway to accompany him, but when they reached the door the prisoner demurred and demanded his gun, expressing a fear that the cowboys would do him violence. The officer assured him he would be protected, and finally compelled him to go. He was taken over to one of the saloons and left under guard and Mr. Patton returned to the dance house to ascertain the extent of Jack's injuries and found him in the building, where his friends had carried him, a corpse. Conway was immediately lodged in jail and guarded until morning, when the inquest was held. The verdict of the jury was that Tidwell came to his death by a shot fired from a pistol in the hands of John Conway, without just cause or provocation.

Conway was immediately returned to the town jail, and a close guard was put over him. The cowboys were justly indignant over the unprovoked murder of one of their number, and to their friends freely talked of lynching the murderer. All day Sunday the cowboys were on the go, and by evening every "puncher" within a radius of many miles was in town. The officers scented trouble, and then resorted to a ruse to elude the would-be lynchers.