"It may safely be saidthat nine-tenths of those engaged in the stock-business in the Far West aregentlemen. Here is a fascinating, health-restoring and profitable occupation forthe great army of broken-down students and professional men, and in crowds theyare turning their backs upon the jostling world to secure new life and vigor uponthese upland plains," George R. Buckman in Lippincott's Magazine,1882.

     AMONG the many diverse, interesting andentertaining social phenomena that have made up the past American scene and itslife, one of the most curious — and, in retrospect, one of the most romantic— was the wholesale migration to the plains of the Great West in the early1880's. The professional historian has catalogued this emigration as one of thefactors making up the life of that age, but the phenomenon itself deserves morethan mere cataloguing, for it is an important — exceedingly important —movement that was to affect profoundly American life and American culture insubsequent years. [1] That this judgment is more than mere rhetoric becomes

apparent when one considers the careers of a single quartet of Westernemigrants. The most notable of the quartet was the young and bespectacledTheodore Roosevelt whose cattle-ranching career of several years began in theDakotas in 1883. His ranching life led eventually to the leadership of the RoughRiders and their part in the war with Spain. The ultimate reward of thespectacular leader of the Rough Riders was his elevation to the White House. [2]Emerson Hough, the second of our quartet of the West, began his professional life(the study and practice of law) in a cow camp at White Oaks, New Mexicoterritory, in 1881. His experiences at White Oaks laid the foundations for acareer as a noted chronicler of the West, which probably reached its zenith inone of the greatest of our motion picture plays The Covered Wagon. [3] Thethird member, Frederic Remington, ventured his patrimony in a sheep ranch inKansas in 1883, and the fourth member was Owen Wister who made his first trial ofranch life in Wyoming in 1885. In The Virginian, Wister's most popularbook, he created characters and lines that live to the present day. [4] Onehas only to recall Wister's line-now used so much as to be threadbare —"When you call me that, smile," to appreciate the point.

     Of these four men, only Roosevelt and Wisterwere known to each other previous totheir Western life. None of their trails crossed in their early years in theWest, but in later life all became very intimately acquainted with each other andwith each other's work. Roosevelt and Wister were to become Remington's mostardent admirers and protagonists; Hough, on the other hand, was doubtlessRemington's severest critic. All four, however, were extremely active andarticulate exponents of the West and its life.

     For every one of this articulate quartet,however, there were thousands of inarticulate embryo ranchers in the West before1885. Although Mr. Buckman's estimate that ninety percent of these newcomers were"gentlemen" may be unduly optimistic, it is probably true that the sunshinyatmosphere of the wide open spaces was rent by many a curse with a pronouncedHarvard accent. Cursing, indeed, seemed to be almost a necessary requirement ofthe difficult life of the West, a fact recognized by that genial philosopher andfount of considerable wisdom, Mr. Dooley, a contemporary well known to thequartet mentioned above. "No wan," points out Mr. Dooley, "cud rope a cow orcinch a pony without swearin'. A strick bringin' up is th' same as havin' awooden leg on th' plains." [5] This sage observation is given added pointwhen it is recalled that the inability of the future leader of the Rough Ridersto use some of the stronger parts of speech in the Saxon language nearly led todiscrediting him as a rancher. At his first round-up, Roosevelt urged one of hishands to head off cattle that were making a break for freedom with the shrill cry"Hasten forward quickly there!" The roar of laughter that followed was echoed atmany a campfire and Roosevelt almost became the laughing-stock of the countryround about, but his vigorous character eventually weathered the near disaster. [6]

     More pertinent, however, than the question oflanguage on the plains; is the question "What brought this great influx to theformer haunts of the buffalo?" The answer to this question is too long andinvolved to consider in detail here. The immediate causes in each case weredoubtless as numerous as the immigrants themselves but there are certain broadaspects of the problem that we can point out and which will not be irrelevant inunderstanding Remington and the success that he later achieved.

     The building of the railroad westward and theremoval of the Indian barrier were of fundamental importance in the westwardmigration. Once the main barrier was down and access to the vast new country waseasier, the trek began. Adventurers, big-game hunters, settlers in search ofcheap land, health-seekers, gold-seekers, enterprising young politicians,restless young men-these and many other types-joined the army of the newforty-niners. Leading the van was the world-roaming, inquisitive Englishman. Manyof this class were sportsmen, but England's need of beef was also an importantfactor in the westward surge, so important that a Royal

Commission was sent from England in the late 870's to study cattle raising onthe plains. As a result of its favorable report-and even before-many Englishmenwere among those who sought the plains of the New World. "The Americancattle-trade is exciting much interest in England, where two of our most pressingneeds just now are cheaper meat and outlets for our boys" is, for example, thepreface of a contemporary account in an English periodical. [7] If the Englishmanstarted the trail west, the whole world soon followed suit and representativesfrom nearly every civilized nation of the globe could be found on the prairiesand plains of the West.

     Why our countrymen — the Easterners —joined this march to the West is not as readily explained. Emerson Hough in laterlife ironically attributed the "discovery" of the West to three well-knownAmericans and infers that these three were responsible for the great interest inthis region. "Buffalo Bill, Ned Buntline and Frederic Remington," writes Houghwith feeling, tinged no doubt by envy, "all, might one hold the niche in fame ofe'er a one of these tripartite fathers of their country! It is something to havecreated a region as large as the American west, and lo! have not these three donethat thing?" [8] Hough, of course, was referring to the West created in the minds ofthe Easterner by the above trio, for the West, it scarcely needs be said, wasdiscovered long before Remington's day. Hough's commentary, however, is revealingin that it serves to emphasize the part that Remington played in American lifeduring his heyday (1890-1909). But what was the lure that led Roosevelt, Houghand Wister to the West? Remington felt that Catlin, Gregg, Irving, Lewis andClark aroused his incentive for the Western venture. [9] Their influence, I amsure, was supplemented by still other sources; sources that consciously orunconsciously affected many Americans who migrated to the plains in the early1880's. In the first place, there was considerable popular literature, both inbook and periodical form on the subject, preceding and contemporary with thebeginning of the decade in question. Such books as Col. R. I. Dodge's ThePlains of the Great West (published in England as The Hunting Grounds ofthe Great West), Vivian's Wanderings in the Western Land, Campion'sOn the Frontier (Campion made his Western venture as a result of

interest aroused by Catlin's paintings), and Camps in the Rockies by W.A. Baillie-Grohman were all published between 1877 and 1882, several beingsufficiently popular to require publication of more than one edition. [10]The periodical literature, too, of this same

interval contains numerous articles on the West and its attractions; manytimes illustrated by artists from first-hand observations." These Westernillustrations are of sufficient importance to warrant more extensive discussion;a discussion which we will, however,

postpone until later in this series. But probably more important than thebooks,periodicals and illustrations of the period was still another source ofinformation-the newspapers. One can scarcely pick up an issue of an Easternnewspaper of almost any decade after 1850, without finding news items from theWest concerning Western migrations; accounts of Indian troubles; tall stories offrontiersmen and highwaymen and letters from homesteaders, miners andtravelers-some of it authentic, much of it garbled and a great deal of it luridreporting of imaginary events. In fact, so terrible was the reporting in manycases, that Western inhabitants complained of the treatment they received at thehands of Eastern newspapers. Robert Strahorn, a Westerner and a free-lancewriter, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Alter Ego" for the Rocky Mountain Newsof Denver, and other newspapers, commented on his colleagues in the East in thefollowing acid vein:

     Of manners and morals of western people generally,much is said that is far beyond the pale of truth. Nearly every eager itemizer,from the manager of a representative eastern paper down to the senseless andsuperficial scribbler for the eastern backwoods press, comes to the new west withmind literally charged with glowing absurdities and with an unyieldingdetermination to realize these absurdities. Why this should be is partlyexplained by the fact that eastern readers demand experiences from the westernplains and mountains which smack of the crude, the rough and the semi-barbarous.[12]

     The Indian question, especially, Strahornpointed out, was invariably overworked by these Eastern correspondents who sawIndians behind every clump of sage brush, menacing the traveler at every step inhis journey across the plains. No doubt, the cause of this extraordinary interestin the Western Indian that the Eastern newspaper reporter displayed Was greatlystimulated by the appalling military disaster that overwhelmed Custer and hiscommand on the hills above the Little Big Horn river in the summer of 1876 —the centennial year. [13] Custer's defeat certainly had the effect offocusing the attention of the entire World upon the Western region and thenewspaper interest in this event and succeeding Indian questions is readilyunderstandable, no matter how imperfectly they were reported. The considerablevolume of Western literature-in newspaper, periodical

and book — makes it apparent then that the West had been "discovered"-inwhatever sense the word may be used-long before Remington's day. The West wasearly a part of the national consciousness, and the events and literature in thedecade from 1876 to 1886 had developed a consuming interest in the life of theplains. No matter, for our present purpose, if the great bubble of an abundantranch life burst with sickening suddenness in the terrible winter of 1886-1887and if the migration from the plains was almost as rapid as the earlieremigration to the Western land; for, despite the bursting of the bubble, thisconsuming interest was shared by a large audience, and there were many in thataudience Who had partaken of that life. By the late 1880's the time was opportunefor still other chroniclers who could recall and recapture the life just passedwith pen, pencil and brush. They soon appeared and among them was Remington. Thefact that he was fortunate enough to have lived for a time this life on theplains, led naturally, if not directly, to his mature achievements as one of thecountry's leading illustrators.

     The year that Remington lived in Kansas was theonly time that he established residence on the plains, although in subsequentyears he made frequent Western trips for inspiration and fresh material. In thisrespect he was unlike Charley Russell, whose work has frequently been comparedwith that of Remington. Russell spent most of his life as a resident of the Westand worked for some years as a cowhand. As a result, his work is frequently moreexact, as far as detail goes, than was that of Remington, who was primarilyinterested in action rather than exact detail-an important point to keep in mindin comparing the two artists. [14] The Kansas experience, however, was notRemington's first Western venture. Late in the summer of 1881, as a youth of 19,he had spent some Weeks on the plains of Montana and that trip had apparentlycast its spell over the youngster. [15] Some sketches had resulted from this tripand one had been published by Harper's Weekly in 1882 Which was used, however, toillustrate an incident of life in the then Arizona territory. [16]

     A year and a half spent at the Yale Art Schoolwas terminated early in 1880 by the death of his father who left him a patrimonyof several thousand dollars. [17] After he quit school, Remingtoncorresponded with a Yale friend, Robert Camp of Milwaukee. Camp was graduatedwith the class of 1882 and late in the same summer went to south-central Kansasto try his hand at sheep-ranching, one of the many individuals in the Westernmigration of the early 1880's. Remington, if he could have followed his owninterests, would doubtless have found his way to the cattle range and establishedhis own cattle ranch. But the initial venture in a cattle ranch on any save themost modest scale, was an expensive business. Theodore Roosevelt, for example, inless than a year invested over eighty thousand dollars in establishing his cattleranch in the Bad Lands of Dakota. [18]

     Remington had no such sum to invest and Camp, inhis correspondence, pointed out that a sheep ranch could be established with thesmall patrimony that Remington had available. [19] Further, Campdescribed the country where he had made his establishment, and life on his ranchwith such enthusiasm that Remington was soon eager to join his friend. Camp madethe necessary arrangements for the purchase of a small ranch adjoining his own onthe south, and early in the spring of 1883 Remington left Albany for a farewellvisit to his family at Canton and then set out for the plains of Kansas. [20]

     The Kansas "ranch," the purchase of which Camphad arranged for Remington, was a quarter section (one hundred and sixty acres)in northwest Butler county. Butler county is — and was also in Remington'sday — a huge rectangle of land, so large that it has been humorouslyreferred to as "the State of Butler." It is a rolling upland that lies on theextreme western edge of the Flint Hills, a high escarpment running north andsouth which roughly divides the eastern third of Kansas from the remainder of thestate. The escarpment rises abruptly from the prairies on its eastern side butslopes upward gently on the western side, merging again into prairie level, andstill farther west-much farther-becomes eventually the High Plains. The FlintHills proper are vast swells, treeless but covered with bluestem grass, and formone of the great natural pasture lands of the world. Sheep and cattle raising andgrazing had begun in the eastern Flint Hills almost with the opening of Kansasterritory in 1854. As settlers moved west after the Civil War, the stock industrygradually moved with the migration. In the late 1870's after a year or so ofextremely dry weather and the failure of grain crops, greater attention wasdirected to the utilization of the natural resources of the country, especiallythe native grasses. As a result, a considerable boom in the raising of sheepdeveloped in the western Flint Hills. Butler county and its neighbor to thesouth, Cowley county, became the leading "sheep counties" of the state." A goodmany young bachelors were attracted by this boom, among whom was Robert Camp; andshortly after, Remington arrived.

     The immediate country where Camp and Remingtonhad their ranches — if farms of 160 acres could be called ranches — wasa sloping plain with almost no trees save along the water courses. Most of thewater courses — deep gashes giving rise to steep bluffs — were dryexcept during the wet seasons, although the principal one, the Whitewater river,usually was a flowing stream. Their immediate neighborhood was well settled sothat the country could by no means be regarded as frontier. Ten years earlierthere had been frontier difficulties with horse thieves and vigilantes, and thethen-cowboy capital, the rough and turbulent town of Newton, [22] was only fifteenmiles to the west of Remington's ranch. But these difficulties had longdisappeared by the time Remington arrived. They had left their effects, to besure, on the country. The language was that of the horse and cow country and thesheep ranchers rode horses as extensively as their neighbors to the west and worethe characteristic "chaps" as well. This sheep country, too, was still largelyunfenced, each farm owner fencing a patch of his land for his "corral." It shouldbe noted that in the early 1880's there was no odium attached to sheep ranching,nor any of the conflict between sheep and cattle interests which was so widelypublicized later in Western history.

     The Camp and Remington ranches joined eachother. El Dorado, the county seat, was twenty miles south. Peabody, the nearesttown on the railroad, was some ten or twelve miles to the north. It was from herethat the young men laid in most of their supplies and carried on their businesstransactions — the trips to town, of course, being made at infrequentintervals by horse. A tiny settlement, Plum Grove, was within three miles ofRemington's ranch, but the settlement consisted only of a general store —Hoyt's store — a schoolhouse, and two or three houses. [23]

     Camp and Remington soon struck up anacquaintanceship with two other young bachelors and the four soon becameinseparable in their enterprises and sports. One of this group was JamesChap-

man, a youngster from Illinois, who "ran" another sheep ranch nearby. And, ofcourse, the ubiquitous Englishman was present. Remington, in an account of hisKansas experiences, designated him only as "Charlie B-," probably a pseudonym tohide the real name of one of that small army of remittance men then scatteredover the West. Remington wrote:

Charlie B. ——— was your typical country Englishman, and the onlything about him American was the bronco he rode. He was the best fellow in theworld, cheery, hearty and ready for a lark at any time of the day or night. Heowned a horse ranch seven miles down the creek, and found visiting his neighborsinvolved considerable riding; but Charlie was a sociable soul, and did not appearto mind that, and he would spend half the night riding over the lonely prairiesto drop in on a friend in some neighboring ranch- in consequence of whichCharlie's visits were not always timely; but he seemed never to realize that achap was not in as good condition to visit when awakened from his blanket atthree o'clock in the morning as in the twilight hour. [24]

     Strange, isn't it, that Charlie was able towander over the prairies at night without danger from the redskin; or wasn't itstill stranger that friends visited casually back and forth at their own freewill whenever fancy struck them? It can thus be seen that life on a Kansas sheepranch was a far more prosaic affair than life in the West was so luridly built upto be by the newspapers of the period.

     To be sure, to Remington's New York friends inAlbany and Canton, Kansas was really West and doubtless they felt it wouldrequire all of Remington's ingenuity and strength to keep his scalp from beinglifted by the savage redskin on week days and great skill with the weaponsprovided by Mr. Colt to prevent his massacre by the Bad Men of the West when hewent to town on Saturdays. Probably, too, Remington himself was not unwillingthat his Eastern friends should have this impression. Not long after his arrivalin Kansas, he wrote a hasty note from Peabody to William Poste, a legal friend inCanton, N. Y., who had examined some papers for him:

Poste
Dear Sir
Papers came all right-are the cheese-man just shot down the street-must go

     The tantalizing effect of this note on therecipient can readily be imagined and it certainly would do nothing to relievethe popular

impression of the West, an effect which young Remington was trying toperpetuate, for an examination of Peabody newspapers shows no such catastropherecorded.

     Remington probably arrived in Kansas early inMarch of 1883. He was met in Peabody by Robert Camp, who was eager to take thenew arrival on a tour of inspection. The Camp ranch was first visited, butRemington was impatient to see his own property, and so without further delaythey were off to the Remington place. There he found a small frame house of threerooms, a well, two barns and a good-sized corral. The main part of the house, astory and a half high, consisted of a long living room below and a bedroom above.Built on the north side was a single room, a gable roofed affair, that served asthe kitchen. [26] The barns were chiefly for horses and considerable remodeling andextension was necessary for conversion to sheep. Remington had arrived earlyenough in the spring to witness lambing and sheep-shearing on the Camp ranch, sohe soon had some idea of the trials and tribulations of his new business. ThatCamp had really gone into sheep raising on a considerable scale is seen from thefact that Remington witnessed a wool clipping amounting to some seven thousandpounds.

     As soon as he had gained some idea of his newundertaking, Remington set to work. Almost his first move, necessarily, was thepurchase of horses. Although sheep raising was the principal business of theregion, horses came first in the interests of the

ranchers and every chance meeting at Plum Grove or Peabody was an opportunityto discuss the merits of horses, to maneuver a swap of the animals or to promotea horse race whenever a newcomer of any reputation put in his appearance. Everyrancher kept a small string of horses for work and play. Upon the advice of Camp,several were purchased and finally Remington was able to secure, afterconsiderable dickering, a most unusual animal of which he became very fond. Shewas "a nervous little half-breed Texas and thoroughbred, of a beautiful lightgold-dust color, with a Naples yellow color mane and tail." She was promptlynamed Terra-Cotta, although to the other boys on the ranch, who had not had theadvantage of a year and a half at the Yale art school, she was called Terry.After the horses were purchased, a ranch-hand, Bill Kehr, was employed. Bill wasstill younger than his employer and was really more a boon companion than a hand.Bill also had several horses; one of them, Prince by name, was in appearance agrey sleepy old plug, but his appearance belied his character for he was really aspeedy animal and his owner had been able to use Prince's undistinguishedoutlines for his own advantage on several occasions. In fact, Prince had so muchof a local reputation that it was hard to match him up for a race. Jim Chapman,the friend of Camp and Remington, had acquired a horse, Push-Bob, with areputation for speed, about the time Bill Kehr went to work for Remington. A gooddeal of discussion as to the relative merits of Prince and Push-Bob took place inthe evenings after the chores were done, but the owners were cautious aboutputting the horses to the actual test. The race was eventually run but not untillate fall under circumstances that were unusual, to say the least, and with amost disconcerting outcome; but we must postpone for the moment this story untilwe get Remington well started on his ranching career. [27]

     With his horses purchased and a ranch handemployed, Remington plunged eagerly into the task of getting the ranch inoperation. A large sheep shed was erected at the top of a slope overlooking hisrange, many hundreds of sheep were purchased, and supplies were freighted fromPeabody. Kehr, being accustomed to ranch work, took the lead in getting most ofthese tasks accomplished, leaving Remington the task of looking after horses andherding the sheep, although Remington was always able to get relief from thelatter task by employing one of the many neighborhood youngsters — and

     Fortunately for Remington and his boarders. themonotony of a diet of unwashed potatoes could be varied with canned sardines andcanned tomatoes; and doubtless the pile of empty tin cans outside Remington'scorral grew steadily larger with the months.

     As spring advanced, Remington had more time toroam the prairies and he grew more enthusiastic about his new life. Thequarter-section directly west of his was offered to him and he promptly boughtit. The toil and drudgery of ranching were easily forgotten in the momentaryenthusiasm. This was the life, and how he did enjoy it. "The gallop across theprairie," he wrote in describ ing an early morning run to Bob Camp's place, "wasglorious. The light haze hung over the plains, not yet dissipated by the risingsun. Terra-Cotta's stride was steel springs under me as she swept along, brushingthe dew from the grass of the range. . . ." [29]

     His rising exuberance as his new life developedwas in marked contrast to his behavior when he had first reached the Kansasranch. Several acquaintances who knew him then recalled that he was inclined tobe melancholy, "moody beyond anything I had ever seen in man" reported one of hisfriends. "In his moments of despair he was not only morose but recluse. He hidfrom the majority of all his fellows save one, a chap of his own age, JamesChapman, who hovered near as something of a guardian angel." [30] The cause of

this attitude is now hard to ascertain. All his life Remington was inclined tobe volatile — for a time intensely enthusiastic, then despairing; but as hegrew older this behavior gradually disappeared. Possibly the youthful Remington,when he first reached Kansas, had been disappointed in love or it may have beenthat one of his chief interests in life — drawing — had as yet broughthim little satisfaction, or the death of his father, all may have played a part.But in the development of his new life the melancholia wore off and Remingtonsoon became more jovial and was well known and popular over the countryside. Manyof the children of the period recall the interest he took in them. His drawing,too, was by no means neglected, for he spent considerable time with his sketchbook. He sketched his ranch, his sheep, his neighbors and their activities. Hewent to Plum Grove and sketched the preacher who visited the schoolhouse onSundays and the sketch was then passed around the audience. A neighbor bought atrotting horse and Remington drew the horse. Bob Camp's cook was greatly pleasedwhen Remington drew for him on rough wrapping paper a sketch of a cow defendingher calf from the attack of a wolf. Many evenings a crowd would gather at theRemington ranch and Remington would sketch the individuals as they "chinned" withone another or as they boxed, for boxing was a favorite sport of the youngranchers. Few cared to put on the gloves with Remington as he was almost in theprofessional class and his opponents were always in for a good mauling when theyfought with the ex-Yale football player. [31]

     The work of the ranch was so well settled intoroutine that by July Remington was getting restless again. Leaving the ranch inBill Kehr's hands, Remington, together with a friend from Peabody, GeorgeShepherd, decided to take a look at the country south and west. Just how extendeda trip — on horse, of course — they made at

this time is now unknown. They probably went down into Indian territory, notmanymiles south of Butler county and then may have gone west into New Mexicoterritory and back by way of Dodge City. At any rate, Remington had made ahorseback trip of some distance into the Southwest — a further explorationof the Western scene.

     He was back on his ranch before many weeks, forhis uncle Lamartine came out to visit him early in the fall. It was anunfortunate and tragic trip for Lamartine, for he and Frederic, in returning oneday from the twelve-mile trip to Peabody were caught in a violent plains'rainstorm. Exposure to the elements led to an illness for the elder Remingtonthat eventually developed into tuberculosis and led finally to his untimelydeath. To the burly young rancher, hardened by an outdoor life of many months,the storm was just a passing incident and without effect. It was with genuineregret, however, that he put his ailing uncle on the train for home, for he andLamartine, not greatly separated by years, had many interests in common. [32]

     It was shortly after his uncle left inmid-October, 1883, that one of Remington's most memorable experiences in Kansasoccurred. He had ridden up to Bob Camp's ranch with James Chapman one evening,and after supper the three, together with Camp's cook, gathered around thekerosene lamp on the kitchen table. As Jim leaned his chair back against thewall, he suggested, "Look here, boys, what do you say to running jackstomorrow?"

     "I seconded the motion immediately," wroteRemington in recalling the evening, "but Bob, the owner of the ranch, sat backand reflectively sucked his big pipe, as he thought of the things which ought tobe done. The broken fence to the corral down by the creek, dredging the wateringholes, the possibilities of trading horses down at Plum Grove and various otherthrifty plans weighed upon his mind; but Jim continued,-'It's nice fall weathernow, dry and cold; why a hoss will jest run hisself to death for fun; that oldBob mule scampered like a four year ole colt all the way to Hoyt's grocery withme today, and besides, there hain't nothing to do, and the jacks is thicker'ntumble weeds on the prairie."'

     With Remington's added urging, Bob Camp was soonwon over and the sport was planned for the next day. "Jacks," it should bepointed out, are jack rabbits, animals that have "the most preposterous ears thatever were mounted on any creature but a jackass"

according to Mark Twain, who also remarked that the jack rabbit, when reallyfrightened, "straightens himself out like a yardstick every spring he makes." Atany rate, coursing the jacks was a thrilling chase, but usually not a verydangerous one — for the rabbits. They were coursed by using dogs —usually fleet-footed greyhounds — to rout the rabbits out of their cover andon to the range. There the chase was taken up by the mounted hunters, each armedwith a lance, a light pole some six feet in length. The object of the chase wasto touch the rabbit with the lance, a feat not often accomplished. The chaseconsisted of quarter- or half-mile dashes in the open, followed by a suddenswerve in the line of the chase as the rabbit broke for cover. This was usually aslew (a depression) filled with tall grass, or a rough creek bed-a deep gash inthe prairie ordinarily dry but containing dwarf willows. Coursing jacks was thusexcellent training in horsemanship even if other gains were meager.

     The hunt arranged by Chapman and Remingtonincluded seven horsemen; for, in addition to the original trio, there were JohnSmith, who furnished the greyhound, "Daddy," by name; Bill Kehr, Remington'sranch hand, who was riding Prince; Phip, Bob Camp's cook, who really should notbe called a horseman since he was riding "Bob," a mule somewhat advanced in yearsand who at various times in his long career had "elevated some of the best ridersin that part of the country toward the stars"; and, lastly, Charlie B-, theEnglishman, on a blue mare and rigged out in regulation English hunting togs,with the exception of the red coat, which several years' experience in the West,had taught him was not appreciated for its true worth. Remington was mounted, ofcourse, on his favorite, Terra-Cotta, and Bob Camp on a dependable but not speedymare, Jane, by name. Jim Chapman was riding Push-Bob, Prince's much-discussedrival; in fact, one of the reasons for arranging the hunt seems to have been thechance offered to get more real facts on the relative merits of the twohorses.

     The party assembled at Camp's corral, moved downacross a dry branch of the Whitewater river that cut across Bob's quarter, up thebluffs and out on to the open range. They had not gone far until

"There's a jack-take him, Daddy," came a quick cry from Johnnie, and the nextmoment Johnnie's big bay was off. There goes the rabbit, the dog flies after. "Goon, Terra," I shouted, loosing on the bit, hitting her lightly with a spur, andaway we went, all in a ruck. Old Prince was shouldering heavily away on my right,Push-Bob on my quarter, Jane off to the left, and

Phip at a stately gallop behind-the blue mare beingleft at the post as it were. The horses tore along, blowing great lung-fulls offresh morning air out in snorts. Our sombreros blew up in front from the rush ofair, and our blood leaped with excitement. Away scurried the jack, with his greatears sticking up like two antique bed-posts, with Daddy closing the distancerapidly, and our outfit thundering along some eight rods in the rear. Down into aslew of long grass into which the rabbit and dog disappeared we went, with thegrass snapping and swishing about the legs of our horses. A dark mass on my leftheaves up, and "ho-there goes Bob head over heels." On we go. "Hope Bob isn'thurt-must have put his foot into a water-hole," are my excited reflections. Weare out of the slew, but where is the rabbit and the dog?
"Here they go," comes from Phip, who is standing on the edge of the slew, fartherdown toward the bluffs of the bottoms, where he has gotten as the result of ashort cut across.
Phip digs his spurs into the mule, sticks out his elbows and manifests otherfrantic desires to get there, all of it reminding one strongly of the style ofone Ichabod Crane, but as we rush by, it is evident that the mule is debating thequestion with that assurance born of the consciousness that when the thing isbrought to a vote he has a majority in the house.

     The rabbit dodged, doubled in its tracks whenout on the plain again, and came almost directly at Remington who lunged with hislance but missed as Kehr and Charlie swept by. This time the rabbit made for adry creek bed. Kehr and Charlie crashed together as they went down into the bedand both were unhorsed.

     Remington, attempting to head off the rabbit,chose to go over a high bluff above the creek. But the descent was so steep thatTerra's knees bent under her and both she and her rider went down. Remington wasthrown to the bottom with such violence that he lay stunned on the ground, butsoon he and Terra were up again. To continue the comedy of errors, another rabbitwas run out of the creek and made straight for Phip mounted on his mule. Phipprepared to deal the fatal blow, but as he made ready the mule spied the rabbitcoming at him, shied violently and sent his rider sprawling and cursing on theplain.

     The riders slowly gathered for a council of war.Bob Camp was the last to arrive, "a sketch in plaster," since the spot where hehad been unhorsed was a hole of soft blue mud. After a breathing spell, thehorsemen were out for another round. One rabbit had been run down and another wasstarted. It made its escape through the corral of a newly-settled rancher, "old"John Mitchner. John came out with a hospitable "how-de boys" and asked them todinner, an invitation which was eagerly accepted. While waiting for John's boy tocook up a meal of bacon and eggs, the conversation turned

to horses. As the hunters looked over John's stock in the corral, Jim Chapmanbegan to "rib" the old man about his horses and John replied, "Wall, my hossstock ain't nothin' to brag on now, because I hain't got the money that youfellers down in the creek has got fer to buy 'em with, but I've got a little maredown thar in the corral as I've got a notion ken run some shakes." This statementwas an open invitation for a race and in practically no time Jim had wageredPush-Bob against old John's little mare. Bill Kehr promptly joined in. "I'll betPrince can beat either of you," he said. "I'll ride him; and we'll all three run,the winner to take both, and it's a good time to see whether Prince or Push-Bobis the better horse."

     They agreed, and dinner was forgotten as oldJohn went into the corral for his horse. When he led her out, so old and decrepitdid she seem, cupidity got the best of the remaining hunters. Remington put uphis favorite Terra-Cotta against another mare and her colt in old John's corral;Bob Camp bet Jane against four head of John's cattle; Jack Smith entered hishorse in the wagering; and Charlie, the Englishman, staked his blue mare againsta likely looking three-year-old in the old man's string. Only Phip on his mulewas immune to the fever and he expressed his doubts in no uncertain manner. Buthis voice was lost in the excitement as the three horses came into line for aquarter-mile race. Remington was to fire the starting shot. Charlie and Bob,together with old John's son, rode out on the plain and marked the finish lineand acted as judges. But let Remington tell the story of the race.

The three racers came up to the scratch, Bill and Jim sitting their sleek steedslike centaurs. Old Prince had bristled up and moved with great vim and power.Push-Bob swerved about and stretched his neck on the bit. The boys werebare-footed, with their sleeves rolled up and a handkerchief tied around theirheads. Old John came prancing out, stripped to the waist, on his mare, whichindeed looked more game when mounted than running loose in the corral. The oldman's grey, thin locks were blowing loose in the wind, and he worked his horse upto the scratch in a very knowing way. We all regarded the race as a foregoneconclusion and had really began to pity old John's impoverishment, but stillthere was the interest in the bout between Prince and Push-Bob. This was thefirst time the victors of the Whitewater bottoms had met, and was altogether thegreatest race which that country had seen in years. How the boys from thesurrounding ranches would have gathered could they have known it, but it is justas well that they did not; for as I fired the gun and the horses scratched awayfrom the mark, Old John went to the front and stayed there to the end, winning byseveral lengths, while Prince and Push-Bob ran what was called a dead heat,although there was considerable discussion over it for a long time afterwards.There was my

dear little Terra gone to the hand of thespoilsman, and the very thought almost broke my heart, as I loved that mare as Ishall never love another animal. I went back to the corral, sat down and began towhittle a stick. It took Bob and Charlie a half an hour to walk the quarter of amile back to the ranch. Bill and Jim said nothing kept them from flying thecountry to save their horses but the fact that they had nosaddles.

     The six stood disconsolately looking through thefence of old John's corral as he herded in his newly acquired string. Then hereminded them of dinner, but for some reason they had lost their appetites, andwith a last look at their former mounts they started dejectedly for home, tenmiles distant. Phip and old Bob were used to good advantage, for all the saddleswere piled on the mule.

     "Every man in this country will know this insideof two days," was the disheartening comment as they got under way. The full forceof this observation became only too apparent that evening when Remington and BillKehr rode down — on new mounts, of course — to Hoyt's grocery at PlumGrove to renew their larder. As they approached the front of the store and lookedthrough the window, they saw by the pale light of the lone lamp, old John perchedon a sugar barrel. He had quite an audience and as he reached the climax of hisstory, there arose a shout of laughter which was probably heard in El Dorado,twenty miles distant. Bill and Remington looked at each other and quietly decidedto go hungry the next day as they turned their horses about and headed for homewithout going into the store."

     If this episode lingered long in Remington'smemory, still another one, following the horse race by a month or so, must havebeen equally well remembered — and remembered with still greater regret— for it was probably one of the causes leading to his withdrawal from ranchlife. A Christmas eve party had been arranged for the residents of Plum Grove andthe ranchers and settlers in its outlying territory. That night saw theschoolhouse crowded to its small capacity. Remington and all "the boys" werethere and so was a prominent member of the community who had incurred theirdislike. It is probable that a few drinks had made the boys more boisterous andcareless than usual, for as they saw the bald head belonging to the object oftheir dislike well up in the front of the audience, the target was irresistible.Large paper wads and small balls of mud began to fly toward the gleaming balddome. Such conduct was, of course, immediately reprimanded, and the guiltyparties were asked to leave the schoolhouse. The public reprimand

left its sting and made the culprits more obstreperous than ever. As theygathered outside the building, one of them spied a pile of straw. It was hastilypiled outside the window and set blazing with a cry of "Fire, Fire." A near panicresulted. The crowd poured from the doors and even from some of the windows, butfortunately, it was not disastrous. The affair naturally aroused considerablefeeling, and the more staid members of the community swore out warrants for thearrest of the perpetrators of the thoughtless prank. The Walnut ValleyTimes, published at El Dorado, even noted the event in its columns:

     Some of the youngsters up in Plum Grove [northwestButler county], on Christmas eve., at an entertainment in the schoolhouse,behaved in most unseemly manner, judging by report, and got up a row whichassumed almost the proportions of a riot. The matter has culminated by a suit inthe district court; Fred Pennington [Remington], Wm. Kehr, John Smith, ChesterFarni [Harris?] and Chas. Harriman being the defendants. The first trial resultedin the disagreement of the Jury. Another trial is set for February 4th. The boysare a little "wild and wooly" occasionally in the northwest. [34]

     The Times account is essentially correctsave that the matter was adjusted in the justice court before Justice Charles E.Lobdell rather than in district court. We have Lobdell's word for it that after atwo-days' trial in which the jury disagreed, the case was dismissed upon thepayment of costs, which, along with the attorney's fees and all other expenses,were borne by Remington. One of the attorneys referred continually to Remingtonas "Billy, the Kid," an allusion which evidently greatly disturbed youngRemington, as well it might. In fact, the whole affair was a source ofconsiderable embarrassment to him and he doubtless wished many times that he hadnot been so foolish and reckless. Up to this time, he had been popular in thecommunity, but, as a result of the prank, which easily might have had a far moreserious and tragic conclusion, he was looked upon with less favor. If Remingtonfelt guilty and brooded over the affair at the time, his sins have long sincebeen forgiven. [35] The story above has been told in Butler

county many times since that day, but always with forbearance and with pride-apride that young Remington was part of its life for a time and that hisexperiences on the prairies contributed to his knowledge of Western ways and ofWestern horses.

     It was not long after the conclusion of thetrial that Remington decided to give up ranching. The bad light in which theschoolhouse incident had placed him was no doubt a contributing reason. But therewere other, and probably more important ones. In the first place, Remington wasnot cut out to be a rancher. "He didn't take a great deal of interest in theactual work of the sheep ranch," is the statement by which Robert Camp, now inhis eighties, sums up his recollections of Butler county days and FredericRemington. [36] Sheep ranching could go along smoothly in pleasant weather,especially when boys of the neighborhood could be hired to herd the flock,leaving the boss free to roam as his fancy dictated. But there was hard work,too. It was a herculean task to protect the bleating animals from the suddennorthern blasts of wintry weather. The sheep had to be dipped several times ayear, an extremely dirty, stinking and disagreeable task, and at lambing timealmost constant attention for weeks had to be given to the majority of the flock.In addition to these more or less routine drawbacks, there were the troubles ofshearing and the selling of the wool. Unfortunately for Remington, the price ofwool took a tremendous slump in the early spring of 1884, the first time he hadany for sale. [37]

     As a result of these mounting difficulties— and the embarrassment of the trial — Remington began looking for apurchaser of his property. He found one before many weeks, sold his two quartersections, his sheep and remaining horses, and by May of 1884, after a year oflife on the Kansas plains, he quit the ranch. [38]

DR. ROBERT TAFT, of Lawrence, is professor of chemistry at the University ofKansas and editor of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. Heis author of Photography And the American Scene (New York, 1938), andAcross the Years on Mount Oread (Lawrence, 1941).
Previous articles in this pictorial series appeared in the February, May, Augustand November, 1946, issues of The Kansas Historical Quarterly, with thegeneral introduction in the February number.

1. The Buckman article, quoted above, "Ranches andRanchers of the Far West," Lippincott's Magazine, Philadelphia, v. 29 (1882), p.435, begins by commenting on the Western exodus of young collegians andprofessional men from the overcrowded East. As far as I know, there has been nospecific or extensive study of this Western migration of the late 1870's andearly 1880'x. The fundamental origin and the economic causes of the migration andthe organization and conduct of the huge cattle companies have beensatisfactorily dealt with by Ernest S. Osgood, The Day of the Cattleman(Minneapolis, 1929), especially in the chapter "The Cattle Boom." W. P. Webb,The Great Plains (Boston, 1931), pp. 233-239, and Louis Pelzer, TheCattleman's Frontier (Glendale, Cal., 1936), are other sources of informationon these topics. The social aspects of the migration in all their interestingfeatures, however, still lack a chronicler. The contemporary literature listed inFootnotes 10 and 11 (far from complete, but somewhat more extensive than isavailable elsewhere) may serve as a starting point for such a study; and,incidentally, the present series contributes, I trust, to this interestingsubject.
2. The standard source of information on the Westernexperiences of Theodore Roosevelt is Hermann Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the BadLands (Boston and New York, 1921). The ranching experiences of Roosevelt asonly one of the chapters of his life are described in many biographies, forexample, Henry F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt (New York, 1931). It is notargued in the text, of course, that Roosevelt would not have been President savefor his ranch experience, but the route, which began with the Dakota ranch, andthen led through the Rough Riders and Snanish war to the governorship of NewYork, to the Vice-Presidency and then to the White House, got him there morequickly than if his Dakota experiences had not occurred. After I had written thelines in the text concerning Roosevelt, and the effect of Western life on hiscareer, I chanced across John Burroughs' Camping & Tramping With Roosevelt(Boston and New York, 1907). On pp. 14 and 15 Burroughs made a statement creditedto Roosevelt himself that is practically the same as my summary.
3. There is no satisfactory biography of EmersonHough. His original Western venture, not dated with certainty, is brieflydescribed by Lee Alexander Stone, Emerson Hough: His Place in AmericanLetters (Chicago, 1925), p. 16. The Covered Wagon was called "the onegreat American epic that the screen has produced" by Robert E. Sherwood, ed.,The Best Moving Pictures of 1922-23 (Boston, 1923), p. 72. Lewis Jacobs inThe Rise of the American Film (New York, 1939), gives a more reasonablejudgment of the film but even he called The Covered Wagon "forthright,impressive, and vigorous."
4. For Owen Wister's initial experience in the Westand his early contacts with Theodore Roosevelt see Wister's Roosevelt-TheStory of a Friendship (New York, 1930). On page 28, Wister writes "Early inJuly, 1885, 1 went there [Wyoming]. This accidental sight of the cattle-countrysettled my career." For a brief biography of Wister, see New York Times,July 22, 1938, p. 17. The Virginian, when it first appeared in 1902, wasan overnight best seller, The Publishers' Weekly, New York, v. 135(February 18, 1939), p. 835.
5. Finley P. Dunne, Observations by Mr. Dooley(New York, 1902), p. 227.
6. Hagedorn, op. cit., p. 101.
7. The Spectator, London, March 17, 1877, p.341. The report of the Royal Commission referred to is Report on AmericanAgriculture, With an Appendix (1880), which is part of the report of theRoyal Commission on Agriculture (depressed condition), 1879. Buckman,loc. cit., also states in connection with this western migration, "TheEnglish first sought out the new land."
8. Emerson Hough, "Texas Transformed," Putnam'sMagazine, New York, v. 7 (1909-1910), p. 200.
9. Remington's autobiography, Collier's Weekly,New York, March 18, 1905.
10. Richard I. Dodge, The Plains of the GreatWest (New York, 1877), or its English edition, The Hunting Grounds of theGreat West (London, 1876), was one of the best known books of its kind anddoubtless was the incentive that drew many to the West. Many years after itspublication, Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell called it "The best bookupon the plains country."- See their American Big-Game Hunting (New York,1901), p. 323. The other books mentioned in the text were published asfollows:
J. S. Campion, On the Frontier (London, 1878). Experiences of some yearsin the West, ranching, hunting and traveling.
A. Pendarves Vivian, Wanderings in the Western Land (London, 1879).Experiences in the west on a hunting trip in 1877.
William A. Baillie-Grohman, Camps in the Rockies (New York, 1882). ALondon edition appeared the same year; a second English edition in 1883, and asecond American edition in 1884. The book, based on four trips to America, wasessentially a sporting book but it contains a chapter on ranching and an appendixwhich estimates the probable profits to be gained from cattle ranching. Otherbooks bearing on the same general period are numerous. A few are listed below.Altogether their influence, quite apart from any real merits the books may or maynot have possessed, must have been considerable. The interested reader will notehow many are of English origin or had English editions. Some others of the period1876-1886 (my list does not exhaust the subject) are:
William Blackmore, ed., Colorado, Its Resources, Parks and Prospects(London, 1869). Although lying outside the dates specified above, it is given asan illustration of an elaborate emigrant brochure.
Earl of Dunraven, The Great Divide: Travels in the Upper Yellowstone (NewYork and London, 1876).
Frank Whittaker, George A. Custer (New York, 1876).
Edward L. Wheeler, Deadwood Dick Library (Cleveland, 1878-1889). Overfifty published in this period. All were Westerns.
James B. Fry, Army Sacrifices (New York, 1879). western Indian war.
Harry Castlemon, George in Camp or Life on the Plains (Philadelphia,1879). A book for boys.
William F. Cody, Life of William F. Cody (Hartford, 1879).
John Mortimer Murphy, Sporting Adventures in the Far West (New York andLondon, 1879).
Rossiter W. Raymond, Camp and Cabin: Sketches of Life and Travel in theWest (New York, 1880). Nevada, California and the Yellowstone country.
Stephen R. Riggs. Mary and I: Forty Years With the Sioux (Chicago, 1880).Missionary life from 1837 to 1877.
Samuel Nugent Townshend, Our Indian Summer in the Far West (London, 1880).Description of a tour of Kansas, Colorado and the Southwest.
Benjamin F. Taylor, Summer-Savory Gleaned From Rural Nooks in PleasantWeather (Chicago, 1880). Colorado and Utah.
J. W. Buel, Heroes of the Plains (St. Louis, 1881)
James A. Little, Jacob Hamblin (Salt Lake City, 1881). Frontiersman inUtah and Arizona.
Gen. James S. Brisbin The Beef Bonanza, or How To Get Rich on the Plains(Philadelphia, 1881; also an English edition with the same imprint). Here's adaisy! There was no curb on General Brisbin's enthusiasm. By five years,according to Brisbin's estimate, the annual income from a cattle ranch would bebigger than the original investment. "After the fifth year the profits will beenormous." Sheep ranching also was boosted and the prospective sheep rancher wastold that he could "clear on herd and ranch worth $12,000 in three years." Toprove his points for skeptical readers Brisbin has the expenses and profits allcarefully tabulated for a five-year period.
R. P. Spice, The Wanderings of the Hermit of Westminster Between New York andSan Francisco (London, 1881).
G. Thomas Ingham, Digging Gold Among the Rockies (Philadelphia, 1882).
William H. Russell, Hespereothen: Notes From the West (London and NewYork, 1882), 2 vols. By the well-known English correspondent of the Civil war.Described a trip of 1880-1881 through Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico andCalifornia.
Richard I. Dodge, Our Wild Indians (Hartford and Chicago, 1882). TheIndians were western Indians and Dodge, an army officer, wrote with the authorityof a good many years' experience on the plains as this book and The HuntingGrounds of the Great West show.
George F. Price. Across the Continent With the 5th Cavalry (New York,1883).
George O. Shields, Hunting in the Great West (Chicago and New York, 1883),Mainly Montana and Wyoming.
E. S. Topping, The Chronicles of the Yellowstone (St. Paul, 1883).Historical and promotional.
Gen. George A. Custer, Wild Life on the Plains and Horrors of IndianWarfare (St. Louis, 1883). Reprints of General Custer's Galaxy articles plusadditional material. Presumably published for large circulation (cheap paper andextremely crude illustrations) ; it went through many editions. Intermediatebetween the more conservative books listed above and the still cheaper dimenovels. Incidentally, dime novels by 1884 were being severely criticized on thegrounds that the pernicious influence which they exerted was causing youngstersto commit crimes (robberies and holdups) so that they could "go West and becowboys"; a criticism certainly pertinent in any discussion of the effect ofliterature on the Western migration. See the New York Semi-Weekly Tribune,March 11, 1884.
Reginald Aldridge, Life on a Ranch (New York, 1884);in England as Ranch Notes (London, 1884). Aldridge, an Englishman, out ofwork in the depression of the 1870's. came to the United States after readingletters from Kansas and Colorado published in the English periodical Field. Thebook reviews his cattle-ranching experience in Kansas, Indian territory and Texasfrom 1877 to 1883.
William Shepherd, Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep(London, 1884, and New York, 1885).
Profits of Sheep and Cattle Raising in Southwest Kansas (Topeka, 1884).This pamphlet is cited as illustrative of still another type of literature whichhad marked influence in the Western migration of the 1880's. It is a promotionalbulletin published by the Santa Fe railroad. That these bulletins did have aconsiderable effect — although not always the desired one — is attestedby a Kansas correspondent in a letter to The Nation, New York, August 6,1885, p. 113.
Elizabeth Custer, Boots and Saddles (New York and London, 1885). Althoughthe life of the Custers on the Dakota plains in the 1870's is the topic, the bookagain focused Eastern attention on the West.
Walter, Baron von Richthofen, Cattle Raising on the Plains of NorthAmerica (New York, 1885). The author states that he had lived in Colorado andwas for many years engaged in the stock business. He gives a brief account of theextent of the cattle ranching by 1885 with estimates of costs and profits.Chapter 9 deals with the great ranches of the West and gives some idea of themagnitude of ranching as a big business. I have read that Baron Richthofen wasthe father of the celebrated aviator Richthofen of World War I and that theaerial tactics of the "flying circus" introduced by Richthofen were suggested bytales told by the elder Richthofen of the circling tactics used by the PlainsIndians in the warfare against the whites. I have been unable to verify therelationship between the two Richthofens.
Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman (New York and London,1885). Not to be confused with Roosevelt's Ranch Life and the HuntingTrail, published two years later.
John H. Sullivan, Life and Adventures of a Cow-Boy or Valuable Hintson Raising Stock (New York, ca. 1885).
De B. Randolph Keim, Sheridan's Troopers on the Border (Philadelphia,1885). Ernest Ingersoll, The Crest of the Continent (Chicago, 1885).
Percy G. Ebutt, Emigrant Life in Kansas (London, 1886). Cattle ranching inKansas in the 1870's.
E. Marston, Frank's Ranche or My Holiday in the Rockies (London and NewYork, 1886), "What We Are To Do With Our Boys."
11. Among my notes on articles in the periodicalliterature dealing specifically with various aspects of ranching (not alreadycited) are those listed below. It should be kept in mind that articles dealingwith Western Indians, the West, etc., should also be included in any completebibliography of Western literature for in the late 1870's and early 1880's allsuch material served to instruct and attract its readers in the West.
W. A. Baillie-Grohman, "Cattle Ranches in the Far West," FortnightlyReview, London, v. 34 (October, 1880), p. 438. This article forms the basisof Chapter 12 in his book Camps in the Rockies.
Alfred Terry Bacon, "Ranch Cure," Lippincott's Magazine, Philadelphia, v.28 (1881), p. 90. The title suggests one cause of Western migration. Baconcontinued the above article in a second one, "Colorado Round-Up," ibid.,p. 622. "Ranche Life in the Far West" (uncredited), Macmillan's Magazine,London, v. 48 (1883), p. 293. Reprinted in Living Age, Boston, v. 1:;8(1883), p. 596. A word of caution to those enthusiasts of little knowledge whowere considering ranch life (sheep raising) on the plains. Many of thedifficulties and hardships are pointed out.
Arthur H. Paterson, "Camp Life on the Prairies," Macmillan's Magazine,London, v. 49 (1884), p. 171. An Englishman's experience.
"A Wyoming Cowboy on Cattle Raising," one-half column in the New YorkSemi-Weekly Tribune, February 29, 1884, p. 3. This item is cited asillustrative of much of the fugitive contemporary literature, which altogethermust have totaled hundreds of accounts. This story, for example, was reprinted inthe Tribune from the Pittsburgh Dispatch. It is a heartyrecommendation of ranch life with its great profits, plus an amusing tall storyof Western justice.
Alice W. Rollins, "Ladies' Day at the Ranch," Harper's Magazine, New York,v. 71 (June, 1885), pp. 3-17. Still another aspect of life on a western Kansasranch.
Rufus F. Zogbaum, "A Day's Drive' With Montana Cow-Boys," ibid. (July,1885), pp. 188-193. Zogbaum was probably as nearly Remington's immediatepredecessor as any man.
The Nation, New York, v. 41 (July 2, 1885), pp. 15-17, has a long reviewand discussion of the well-known Report in Regard To the Range and RanchCattle Business in the United States, by Joseph Nimmo, Jr., another importantitem in any Western bibliography. How extensive the interest was in this reportand in the West can be judged by the letters to this publication which the reviewinitiated. Letters to The Nation — some of them of considerablelength — on the same general topic (most of them are from Westerners) willbe found in v. 41 as follows: (July 16, 1885) pp. 50, 51, (August 6) pp. 113,114, (August 27) pp. 172-174, (September 17) pp. 237, 238, (October 29) pp. 360,361.
Frank Wilkeson, "Cattle-Raising on the Plains," Harper's Magazine, NewYork, v. 72 (April, 1886), pp. 788-795. Another first-hand account by one who hadtried it out.
12. The quotation from Robert E. Strahorn will befound in his Hand-Book of Wyoming (Cheyenne, 1877), p. 105. For abiographical sketch of Strahorn, see The National Cyclopaedia of AmericanBiography, v. C (1930), pp. 445, 446. That Eastern newspapers really gavemany items of Western news can be seen from the number of entries found in theIndex To the New York Daily Tribune under the heads "Indians," 'West,""Cowboys," "Ranching," "Plains," for the years 1868-1885 inclusive, a period inwhich large migrations to the West took place.
13. See Part IV of this series: "Custer's LastStand," in The Kansas Historical Quarterly, November, 1946, pp. 361-390.
14. Russell will be considered later in this seriesand further comparisons of his work with that of Remington will then be made.
15. Remington left Canton, N. Y., in August, 1881,for Montana, according to the St. Lawrence Plaindealer, Canton, N. Y.,August 10, 1881, p. 3. I am indebted to Editor Atwood Manley of thePlaindealer for the courtesy of examining the files of thePlaindealer in his office. Remington several times referred in later yearsto this early trip to Montana.-See the autobiography cited in Footnote 9 and hisbook, Pony Tracks (New York, 1895), p. 7.
16. The sketch will be found in Harper'sWeekly, New York, v. 26 (February 25, 1882), p. 120. It was re-drawn by w. A.Rogers who mentions the fact in his autobiography A World Worth While (NewYork, 1927), p. 246. Rogers himself had some experience as a western artist whichwill be recorded subsequently in this series.
The length of Remington's Montana visit has not been established with certainty.He was back in Albany, N. Y., by October 18, 1881, as I have a copy of a letterwritten by Remington on that date in which he states that an interview withGeorge William Curtis, editor of Harper's Weekly, had been arranged forhim so that Curtis could be shown some of Remington's sketches.
17. Remington was enrolled at Yale for the schoolyears beginning in 1878 and 1879 (Yale University Catalogues for theseyears). He left school during the Christmas holidays of 1879 and did not returnbecause of the ill health of his father who died on February 10, 1880. Ogdensburg(N. Y.) Journal, February 19, 1880. I have studied in some detailRemington's life at Yale as well as his life in Albany, N. Y. He held some fiveor six jobs in Albany from 1880 until he moved to Kansas in 1883. I hope topublish these studies subsequently.
18. Roosevelt's investment in the Bad Lands ranchwill be found in Hagedorn, op. cit., appendix, p. 482. Mr. Hagedornestimates that Roosevelt lost over fifty thousand dollars in Dakota, aconsiderable share of the loss being caused by the terrible winter of1886-1887.
19. My information on Robert Camp and Remington isbased on personal interviews with Robert Camp in 1943, who was then over eightyand living in Milwaukee. I am indebted to Wilbur I. Barth of the First WisconsinTrust Company, Milwaukee, who interviewed Mr. Camp for me on three differentoccasions, asking him my many questions and returning the replies. Mention of"Bob" Camp's activities in Kansas will be found in the Peabody Gazette forthe period under discussion as follows:
August 24, 1882, p. 5, mentions the presence of Bob Camp and the issue ofSeptember 7, p. 5, in its Plum Grove notes, mentions that Mr. Camp moved onto hisplace "some two weeks ago"; also mention of the Camp venture on October 19, p. 5,November 30, p. 5, and December 28, p. 4. The last item states that Camp owned900 sheep and "thinks sheep raising the boss business." The location of his ranchis also given as Sec. 25, T. 23, R. 3. It is thus seen that his ranch was in thesame section as Remington's (see Footnote 20). The issue of June 21, 1883, p. 4,states that Camp "clipped between six and eight thousand pounds of wool thisspring." Camp lived in the Peabody neighborhood for some years. The lastreference that I have found to Camp in the Gazette is in the issue ofSeptember 9, 1886, p. 5.
20. An item in the St. Lawrence Plaindealer,Canton, N. Y., February 28, 1883, states that Fred Remington had resigned hisposition in Albany and was in Canton and would leave for the West "in a fewdays."
An examination of records in the office of the register of deeds of Butler county(at El Dorado) was made for me by Mrs. Corah Mooney Bullock of El Dorado, to whomI am indebted for other valuable aid as well. Mrs. Bullock's examination showsthat Frederic Remington bought from Johann and Maria Janzen the southwest quarterof Sec. 25, T. 23, R. 3 (Fairmount township, Butler county), on April 2, 1883,for the consideration of $3,400. On May 31., 1883, Remington purchased thesoutheast quarter of Sec. 26, T. 23, R. 3, from Charles w. and Sara Potwin for$1,250. These figures enable us to make a fair estimate of Remington's resources.To the $4,650 spent for land, there should be added $2,000. A letter to Horace D.Sackrider from Frederic Remington dated Peabody, May 16, 1883, stated thatRemington was that day making a draft against the St. Lawrence County Bank for$1,000. My sheep sheds are going up and I want the money." The letter is in theH. M. Sackrider collection. The other thousand dollars Remington drew from theCanton bank in the fall of 1883. The basis for this last thousand is found m atelegram dated "Sept. 5, 1883, Peabody, Kansas" that Remington sent his uncleHorace D. Sackrider (H. M. Sackrider collection). The total investment in theKansas ranch, then, as exactly as can now be determined, was $6,650. It isdoubtful if Remington's patrimony was as large as this. It is probable that partof the money was borrowed from his mother, for in a letter to H. D. Sackrider,which from its context was written in the fall of 1889, Remington writes ofpaying interest on money borrowed from his mother. (The last cited letter is alsoin the H. M. Sackrider collection.)
Information from the Butler county clerk shows that both quarters were sold byRemington to David W. Greene on May 31, 1884.
21. For the history of Butler county I have consultedVol. P. Mooney, History of Butler County (Lawrence, 1916), p. 186; JessiePerry Stratford, Butler County's Eighty Years (El Dorado, 1931), p. 45.The A. T. Andreas, and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas(Chicago, 1883), p. 1430 ff, is especially useful for my purpose as it is almostcontemporary with Remington's stay in Butler county. For the agricultural historyof Butler county in Remington's day I have used the Second Biennial Report ofthe State Board of Agriculture (1879-1880), pp. 229, 265, 266; ThirdBiennial Report (1881-1882), pp. 152-157, and Fourth Biennial Report(1883-1884), pp. 44-50. "Agricultural Resources of Kansas," in KansasState College Bulletin, Manhattan, October 15, 1937, pp. 24-26, also hasgiven useful information on the characteristics and topography of Butlercounty.
22. By Remington's day, the cowboy capital hadshifted to Dodge City, over 150 miles west of Newton.
23. A very valuable source of information onRemington's life in Kansas is found in an article by Remington "Coursing Rabbitson the Plains," Outing, New York, v. 10 (May, 1887), pp. 111-121.Appearing only three years after Remington's residence m Kansas it is especiallyuseful as it gives names, geographic localities and incidents which, in manycases, can be actually verified. Mrs. Myra Lockwood Brown of Regalia (also inButler county) has been especially active in collecting Remington materialrelating to his Kansas residence. In the past fifteen years she has interviewedmany of the older residents of Butler county who had personal recollections ofRemington in Kansas, including Judge R. A. Scott and J. H. Sandifer of El Dorado,Rolla Joseph of Potwin, and others. She was able to verify all the geographiclocations mentioned by Remington in his article and has visited the Remington"ranch." As a result of the efforts of Mrs. Brown and the writer, a briefillustrated review of Remington's activities in Kansas appeared in the CountryGentleman, September, 1947, p. 16 ff. Reference to material collected by Mrs.Brown is referred to hereafter as M. L. Brown."
24. From the Outing article. See Footnote23.
25. The copy of the letter given in the text (toWilliam A. Poste) was kindly lent to me by Mrs. Alice Poste Gunnison of Canton,N. Y., a daughter of William A. Poste.
26. Mrs. M. L. Brown interviewed Rolla Joseph ofPotwin (see Footnote 23) some years ago and he described the Remington house,barns and corrals for her before either of them had seen the sketches reproducedin this article. Writing January 5, 1948, after having viewed the drawings, Mrs.Brown said: "In regard to the house as Remington knew it, this is what I know:Rolla Joseph of Potwin described to me the house in detail-the barns, corrals,etc., the shape of the house and roof, the number of rooms and what they wereused for, the color of the house, etc., and the way it faced.
"Everything is just as Remington sketched it, according to Mr. Joseph. Theone-story room on the north with a gable roof, not shed roof, was the kitchenwhere Remington prepared meals, including pancakes and beef steak, for the ranchhands, the men that were constantly coming in, and for the little boys he had outthere to ride his horses and watch whatever fun, such as wild steer riding,boxing, or just planning something, might be under way. Mr. Joseph told me thatRemington was always, to use his phrase, 'mixing in' with the smaller boys,particularly those at a disadvantage in any way.
"The other room downstairs, besides the kitchen, would now probably be called aliving room. I think that Remington and his fellows often ate there. At any rate,it was in this room that the small diary, black and about the size of an ordinarypocket loose-leaf notebook, was one day discovered, opened. Mr. Joseph told meabout the book. One of the two Lathrop men, one a Peabody banker, the other aWichita oil man, which I do not at the moment recall, told me of what he readthere. At that time the Lathrops were neighbors of Remington. Remington had beenattempting to do something for a problem son sent west by his father forRemington to make a man of him. The words inscribed were: 'You can't make a manout of mud.' The book lay on a table.
"The half-story room upstairs was sleeping quarters. Billy Kehr stayed at theranch most of the time. There were other guests. The door, in the sketch, inwhich a man appears standing, is on the east.
"This is right for the lay of the land and the road as I saw it. I do not believeany of the former buildings could be recognized from present structures, whichare modern in every respect. According to what Clifford Lathrop told me, one ofthe last of the old buildings to be razed was the one of the barns which heldinside — not on the door, as some reports have it — the sketch of thecowboy roping a steer, which Remington had cut there with his knife. That sketchwas a neighborhood pride. This barn also served as a sort of gymnasium, as didthe yard near it."

28. M. L. Brown and the Outing article.
29. Quotation from the Outing article.
30. M. L. Brown.
31. I have made extensive examinations of the Peabodyand El Dorado newspapers of the period and have found occasional contemporarymention of Remington in these sources. In the Plum Grove notes of the PeabodyGazette, June 21, 1883, p. 4, is the item "Mr. Remington, on the `Johnsonplace,' is building a large sheep barn." The issue of July 5, p. 5, mentions aprospecting trip of Remington and George Shepherd to "the southern part of theState." The Gazette, October 18, p. 5, reports that "Fred Remington'sfather started for his home in the East, last Monday morning." "Father" isobviously in error and should read "uncle," for Mrs.Ella Remington Mills andPierre Remington both wrote me that Lamartine Remington, an uncle of FredericRemington, visited the Kansas ranch and caught a cold that developed intotuberculosis.
Mention is made of a trip that Remington and Robert Camp made to El Dorado inibid., December 13, 1883, p. 5, and the El Dorado Republican,December 7, p. 3.
From the interviews of M. L. Brown, it seems certain that preliminary sketchesthat Remington afterward worked into his more mature productions were made duringhis Kansas stay. Included among these were "The Last Stand" and "The BroncoBuster."
In addition to a small album of original Kansas sketches (approximately quarto insize) in the Remington Art Memorial at Ogdensburg, N. Y., reproductions ofsketches of direct Kansas interest appear in the Outing article (Footnote23), and in Harper's Weekly, v. 32 (April 28, 1888), p. 300, a half-pageillustration "Texan Cattle in a Kansas Corn Corral," which has been reproduced onthe cover of this Quarterly.
32. See reference to Peabody Gazette andLamartine Remington in Footnote 31.
33. The description of the race and the quotationsare from the Outing article.
34. Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, January11, 1884. The item was discovered by Mrs. Bullock of El Dorado.
35. The affair at the Plum Grove schoolhouse wasrecalled by Rolla Joseph (mentioned above) who states that "it never would havehappened if the boys hadn't been drinking," and by the justice of the peace inthe case, Charles Lobdell. Lobdell, later a member of the state legislature andstill later the editor of the Kansas City (Kan.) Tribune, gave hisrecollections of the affair in the Tribune, October 29, 1897. Stillanother version of the story appears in the recollections of H. A. J. Coppins, aresident of the Plum Grove community in Remington's day. The Coppins'recollections, a valuable contribution as they contain several interestingsidelights, appeared in the El Dorado Times, November 24, 1943, 1 amindebted to Mrs. Bullock, who became so much interested in this Remington affairthat she attempted to trace the records in the justice court of El Dorado butfound, as the result of her search, that some cleanly and God-fearing formermayor of the town, had, in a burst of zeal for cleaning up things, thrown awayall old reports, the accumulation of years. Probably it is just as well that theywere destroyed for many a sinning soul will rest easier in his grave since therecords of his misdeeds are thus forever hidden from the eye of man.
36. From the interviews of W. I. Barth (1943).-SeeFootnote 19.
37. The difficulties of sheep farming in Remington'speriod are feelingly described in the recollections of a Kansan, William M.Wells, in The Desert's Hidden Wealth (1934), pp. 177, 178. In thiscategory of recollections, another item having some bearing on ranching in theFlint Hills is Frank Harris' My Reminiscences As a Cowboy (New York,1930). Harris, later a literary light, was a partner in a cattle ranch at Eurekain the 1870's. The book is cited as evidence to show the close contiguity ofcattle and sheep ranching in the Flint Hills area. In all of the contemporaryaccounts of sheep and cattle raising before 1885, I have never found anyindication that there was marked rivalry or hostility between the two. Indeed inAldridge, op. cit. (Footnote 10), mention is made of a cattle ranch andsheep ranch which were adjacent to each other. My colleague, Prof. James C. Malinof the University of Kansas, tells me that in his studies of agricultural historyon the plains, there is no evidence that there was marked rivalry between sheepand cattle raisers in this period. Some ranchers, indeed, raised both sheep andcattle; others were in some years cattle ranchers and in other years sheepranchers, depending upon the fluctuations of economics and weather.
38. See Footnote 20. It is probable that Remingtonleft before May. The Peabody Gazette, January 24, 1884, p. 5, has areference of the sale of the Remington place to "D. M. Greene." According to thisitem Greene planned to move to the Remington place "about March 1st," a usualdate for moving on the farm.