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June 03, 1923 - Image 5

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1923-06-03

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SUNDAY MAGAZINE
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 1923
T e' est Side Minin any
Placer Mining and the Providential Gentlemen
There is a district of limited 'area C. T. JOHNSTON cial headquarters. Jeff Dunbar, an
along the Colorado-Wyoming boun- outlaw from several schools of crime,
dary, where the highwayman, the rust- University of Michigan spent his week ends "shooting up"
ler, the horse-thief and their relatives saloons. I was never in a saloon
in other fields of criminal industry while this interesting pastime was in
found sanctuary from the pursuit of progress, but'I have inspected the de-
officers representing law and order vasted areas soon after the meetings
long after their activities were frown-; had adjourned. Dunbar was a genius
ed upon by an unquestioned majority and an expert in his own field as
of Western people. The country to no one could view the results of his
which I refer lies along the Little handiwork without admirton. Butch
Snake:River, a tributary of Green Cassidy, another celebrity, was less
River. The River has its source in prominent in local society. He too
the Sierra Madre Mountains, some of. business trips several times each year.
its tributaries coming from Wyoming #During his absense or soon after his
and the others from Colorado. After return, newspapers frequently pub-
the river receives enough water from lihed accounts of railway robberies
these tributaries to dignify the title, it and similar exploits, thus enabling
wanders along in an uncertain way as those in position to put two and. two
though undecided as to whether it together to arrive at conclusions,
would cast its lot with one state or the These conclusions were seldom di-
other. It finally leaves Wyoming for Drawing by Ethel Sch chcrer vulged to Mr. Cassidy. He had o
the last time near the mouth of Dry Chicago Academy of fie Arts reputation of being quick and effec-
Gulch,-a channel of more importance some 10 miles east of Dry Gulch. could purchase violin strings, dyna- five in argument and his opponents
35tmhlesn etof th e m tainysm A scout, Joe Rankin, made his cele- mite or whiskey at the same counter, generally lost interest in discussion
3u miles west of the mountains. brated horseback ride to Rawlins, a Perkins' private office was an arsenal. as soon as sincerity and frankness ex-
The boundary between Colorado and distance of Sf1 miles, to spread the His theory of survival was completely ceeded caution. Johnny Red Shirt,
Wyoming is an astronomical line,- news of the massacre and call for expressed in his own laconic phrase another social light whom I met, was
the 41st parallel of north latitude. help. Troops were dispatched from ology by, "Those who are alive learned on ordinary horse-thief. His abilities
Charles Lamb always expressed great! Cheyenne, Fort Steele, Rawlins and early to shoot first." He was noti- were probably heredity, although the
respect for the equators I sympa- Salt Lake City. These left the rail- fied by' the sheriff one evening that environment was not altogether dis-
thized with his feeling as I became road at Rawlins, traveled 65 miles to attachment papers would be served couraging to his chosen field of ac-
acquainted with this boundary line. Baggs, just north of the Colorado- on him the following morning, so, tivity. After having been shot through
It was surveyed in 1872 by the late Wyoming boundary and on Snake during the night, he drafted all the: the shoulder by a careless sheriff, he
W. A. Richards, Commissioner of the River,-where a stockade was built, help he could muster and moved his was brought to Baggs, while I hap-
General Land Office under President The Indians were soon subdued. Meek- entire stock across the boundary line pened to be in town. On the follow-
Roosevelt. An astronomer from Har- er was concerned in their civilization into Colorado. twgcday, he rode horseback between
yard accompanied the expedition. and he died a martyr to his theory. A physician by the name of Ricketts, two officers from B'aggs to Rawlins,
Monuments were set at each mile on The valley has been the home of lived on a ranch just west of Dixon a distance of 65 miles. No ordinary
which numbers were inscribed indi- some unusual characters. Old Jim He was an able man and highly prized nan, severely wounded in the shoul-
eating the distance from the south. Baker, early pioneer, squaw man, trap- by the people of the valley when net der, could have stood such a trip. I
east corner of Wyoming. West of per and guide, established his home under the influence of morphine. Rick lost track of Johnny after he was
the Sierra Madre Mountains most of in the mountains near the source or etts had chosen between success, as sent to the penitentiary for five years.
the original monuments were cotton- Snake River while "this part of the the word is commonly spelled, and Although more than twenty-seven
wood posts which disappeared within country was still Mexican territory. the morphine habit. Having decidedyears have passed since I made my
a few years, although some remains One of the early towns, as one pro- in favor of the drug, he established first journey along the Little Snake
of decayed wood could be found as ceeds downstream, is Dixon, Wyoming, his home among people who would River, I have never before written of
late as 1900. The geology of the val- seven miles east of Baggs. Numerous: not cast the first stone. His course imy impressions of the valley and its
ley Is 'varied. Coa eneasures abound interesting characters lived at or near naturally led to a suicide's grave. people. I have not feared contradic-
and many ranchmen "fined their own Dixon. At a general store, conducted The element that most interested the, tion although I can speak with less
fuel supply at the time of my first by Charlie Perkins near Dixon, one casual obsgrver seemed to have no spe- reserve since receiving positive as.
visit. With an astronomical line, surance of the death Of Butch Cae
pocrly located, ;a topography that sidy. I have felt that the mhen with
had not been mapped and :a mixed whom I was then associated had had
hadugnotribeennmapped pandciaymixed
geology, the valley offered a paradise enough grief and that publicity would
for scientists who delight in the corn- A '1C _only add insult to injury. Ini addi-
plications that arise 'due to over-lap-' tion, many things of serious import
ping fields. It was something of an to them were more or less amusing
outrage, therefore, when society s- to me. Most of the principals of the
perimposed upon this tangle of natur- ROBERT BARTRON comedy that I witnessed in 1S9 and
al complexities a population that was 196 have now passed to anotb W
equally confused and heterogeneous.. Much, too muth, has already been to our credit that one hundred and sphee, where, I hope, they hAve laid
While the valley lead been explored written of. the Dodos. You have all fifty of the ten thousand thousand- up treasures too frequently Igured
r prior to the completion of the Unon :heard of their thimble theatre with! percenters have pulled the Dodos' first by promoters of mining disappoint-
Pacific Railroad, 1169 to 1870, it (id season onto the right side of success, ments.
ntits four rows, of back-breaking
not become a resort for the fugitive t .*rSooner or later in nearly every com-
from justice until the railroad pro- benches, its seven foot proscenium, its munity a prophet appears to intro-
vided better transportation convenien- ladder tumbling down to the dressing IL To Change the Snbjet: duce a new era. The Soak 1ve-
ces as well as an improved prospect rooms at a near right angle, as well Surely everyone has seen Tony Valley escaped this srt of a calamity
for a more lucrative reward for viola- as the ducky-daddes themselves. The Sarg's marionettes, or at least,, his until along about the yeat 1894, when
tions of the seventh commandment actors are actually so close to the kind of marionettes, the kind that one John Hardinbu gin, suffering a
Some will doubtless recall something audicence that one can feel their fran- jump and bounce and wiggle and lucid interval, due to a telnporary
of N. S. Meeker, formerly editor or, tic pantings as they forget their lines.! shimmy. They are really most de-' separation frop alcohol, anonced
the Greely Tribune and then Indian In all, the place, a deserted barn I lightful and amusing; to use a sweet that the hifls along Dry Gulch and
Agent at Fort Meeker, some 50 miles, propped up by logs, is really incon.. phrase, anyone from six to sixty in. in that vicinity contained placer gold.
south-west of the Little Snake River ceivable inadequate and uncomfort- stantly falls under the sway of their! Hardinburgh had all of the essen-
Valley. Meeker had a theory that the able. But despite all'these inconveni- ridiculous burlesque. The term quite tial attributes of a prophet; he be-
Indian would be improved by hard ences the illuminati patiently assem- describes them: a burlesque that is lieved in his theories and he believed
work. The Indians, failing to grasp ble three nights monthly to vew the taken from the harlequinades and bur-! in himself. ile was in position there-
Mr. Meeker's logic, killed him early impassioned-if wordy-dissertations letta and mummery of a primitive f so, t make converts to his cause.

in October, 1879. To protect white' of rhetoric instructors on the seven people. lis not ais to make a general ap-
people remaining at Fort Meeker, deadly sins, such as religion, let us Their ultimate art, however, prob. esl to mankind and he never dreamed
troops were immediately sent from: say, and labor, and love. It is all ably lies in the more rarified field of Proving sything to his neighbors,
Fort Steele, a station located at the quite astonishing, this continued sup- of tragedy and poetic fantasy. With but in some mysterious way he soll
point where the Union Pacific Rail. port of the little theatre, and surely a picture of the familiar jumping-jack 'i'rlaims to a group of men livtnr.
road crosses the North Platte River, most encouraging. Although Ann Ar- puppet before one, it is hard to accept i 5' ovid-nce, Rhode Island. It is
28 miles east of Rawlins. Most of the bor gave only feeble support to the this theory, which as yet has hardly0 ,i)b!r that any prophet, engaged
detachment,-only a few hundred greatest living Shakeserarean acos been proven in practice. Tire fact, in a re of this kind, would think
troops, under Major Thornburgh,- during his recant visit, Vahaeren-. nevertheless, growss then one con- o Pro; :'ence first. The names of
were ambushed and killed by the In- "Cloister" played to empty houses, siders the Noh drai0as of Japan, ,'ny oth'be Providential victims are
dins in ThornburĀ°h Gulch, a tribu- and Strindberg's "The Stronger" wa's doubtless the purest plays of al lit 0'mO"::nt. They did ot fiyur- io
tory of Srat Riser 'ro t; srost' considered "mediocre," at least it is (Coatin ucd on Ps ni'a t) fl'tiner on Pos Fear)

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