Natrona County WY Archives History - Books .....Natrona County Pioneer Association 1923 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wy/wyfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 5, 2005, 7:04 pm Book Title: History Of Natrona County, Wyoming NATRONA COUNTY PIONEER ASSOCIATION The membership of the Natrona County Pioneer association is composed mostly of the men and women who gave up the comforts of established homes and friendships and came to a "new country." Transportation was difficult in the early days and the pioneers were without many of those things which we nowadays consider absolute necessities. Many of the pioneer women of Natrona county had been reared in comfortable homes, but they bravely endured hardships and sometimes privations without losing any of their womanly charm, or their refinement or their culture. The work of the early settlers was to organize a town and county and bring in those things necessary to the solid foundation of a prosperous, progressive community. Because of the hardships and privations so courageously faced by these pioneers, it is but proper that they should have an exclusive organization which meets annually, or oftener if desired, and thus strengthen the bonds of friendship. With this idea in view, the Natrona County Pioneer association was organized on November 12, 1901, with Mrs. W. S. Kimball, president; Mrs. R. L. Carpenter, vice president; Mrs. W. D. Rhoades, secretary; Mrs. P. A. Demorest, treasurer. Those present at the time the association was organized were Mrs. W. S. Kimball, Mrs. W. A. Denecke, Mrs. J. J. Svendsen, Mrs. C. H. Townsend, Mrs. N. S. Bristol, Mrs. Hannah McClure, Mrs. C. C. P. Webel, Mrs. Northington, Mrs. H. L. Patton, Mrs. Lew Seely, Mrs. Wm. Jones, Mrs. David Graham, Mrs. C. E. Hewes, Mrs. P. A. Demorest, Mrs. H. A. Lilly, Mrs. John McGrath, Mrs. A. T. Butler, Mrs. Sarah Stroud, Mrs. C. H. King, Mrs. W. D. Rhoades, Miss Grace Demorest and Miss Etta Butler. Man}' new members have been added since the association was organized, but the membership was limited to those who came to the county previous to 1895. However, in recent years the by-laws were changed so as to include those who came to the county previous to 1900. The first annual reunion of the association was held on November 14, 1902, and about 300 men, women, and children were present. Mr. Charles K. Bucknum acted as chairman of this meeting and among the speakers was Hon. Bryant B. Brooks, who said: "A pioneer is one who goes before and prepares the way for others coming after. Who knows what the future has in store for us? Who would dare lift the veil of futurity? Who can foretell the treasure that may yet pour forth from these surrounding hills? Who knows the secret locked deep beneath the surface of these oil-stained plains? Who guesses at the result to follow the spreading of yonder on-rushing river over thousands upon thousands of acres of deep alluvial soil? Who is sagacious enough to predict the price of live stock, of beef and mutton, when yonder ribbons of steel span the continent? When six hundred million people in the Orient, and in all the islands of the sea cry to us for food ? When our stock trains face west, instead of east. God alone knows, and to God-like souls he gives the larger hope. Standing now in the presence of a miraculous achievement history looks out upon the future and stands dumb. "Look about you, and see what has been accomplished in fourteen years. Then tell me, oh, ye prophets, what will it be like, when the first half of this new century is history? What sort of people will then inhabit this oasis, in the Great American Desert? I will tell you. "Women so surpassing fair, that all the world pays homage. Men of vigorous strength, with an unheard of power for effective action, capable of solving the deepest riddles of the ages. Giants, physically, intellectually and morally. Made so by their natural environment. Made so by an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent force. Steadily uplifting every fibre of their bodies, every atom of their souls. Made so by the spirit of these rugged mountains, by the voiceless influence of these matchless plains, by the intoxicating ozone of this high, dry, perfect atmosphere. Made so by Nature's quick and lavish returns for honest toil. "If there be any here present, who are not Natrona pioneers, to all such, I say: Welcome, thrice welcome, to the best climate, the best state, the best county, the best city, and the best society on earth." Governor DeForest Richards, Alex T. Butler, William ("Missou") Hines, Patrick Sullivan and others made short addresses, songs were sung by Miss Savilla King and Mrs. B. B. Brooks, and then the following letter from Charles W. Eads was read: "Thermopolis, May 30, 1902 MRS. W. D. RHOADES, Secretary Natrona County Pioneer association, "Your kind favor of May 10th is at hand and contents carefully noted, and I will say that I was pleased to hear from you. "I will tell you that I was the second man that came to Casper. I located there on June 7th, 1888, and when I landed there was just one man there, and that was John Merritt. He was on the bank of the river, and was getting his supper. He was frying his meat on a bent stick and making his coffee in an oyster can. I went up to him and asked if he had any idea where Casper was, and he said he could hardly say, that he had been looking for it about a week. " I told him to come over and help me put up my tent and he could camp with me. I had a tent and stove and a little grub and he said he would just put in with me. So the next morning we talked over the location, and we set up the first tent of the old Casper, and after that I was familiar with all the transactions of Casper for ten years. Yours very truly. C. W. EADS." With Mr. Eads when he first came to Casper were his daughter Fannie Eads, his son, Kise Eads, and Abe Nelson and John Johnson. Mr. Eads went to Bessemer to make his home within a year after coming to Casper and later moved to Casper mountain, where he established a mining camp and called it Eadsville. John Johnson was drowned near Douglas in 1897 and Abe Nelson has spent many years on Casper mountain prospecting and is still a resident of this county. Mr. Merritt remained in Casper more than ten years, and then moved to Joplin, Missouri, but returns to Casper occasionally to visit among his old-time friends. Members of the Natrona County Pioneer Association (1906) Mrs. Henry Bayer, Mrs. W. S. Kimball, Mrs. Wm Jones, Mrs. C. E. Hewes, Mrs. T. A. Dean, Mrs. J. F. Crawford, Mrs. H. L. Patton, Mrs. Harold Banner, Mrs. W. D. Rhoades, Mrs. C. K. Bucknum. Mrs. W. A. Blackmore, Mrs. J. J. Svendsen, Mrs. E. D. Norton, Mrs. P. C. Nicolaysen, Mrs. Sarah Place, Mrs. P. A. Demorest, Mrs. M. L. Bishop, Mrs. W. A. Ford, Mrs. Sarah Stroud, Mrs. D. A. Robertson. Amalia Bostelman, Mrs. C. F. G. Bostelman, Mrs. R. L. Carpenter, Mrs. Robert Osborne, Mrs. Emma Sturgeon, Mrs. C. M. Hawks, Nora Banner. Chrissie Carpenter, Ruth Kimball, Wm. Rhoades, Carla Bostelman, Doris Bruce. Helen Banner. After the reading of this letter an old-time dance was enjoyed; a round-up supper was served at midnight, after which dancing was resumed and continued until an early hour in the morning. At another annual meeting, held in November, 1906, the following appropriate remarks were made by Mayor W. S. Kimball: "Pioneering held a certain fascination for the men, which was almost entirely lacking with the women. Pioneering, with the latter, meant hardship, privation and even isolation, and it undoubtedly required greater courage, even greater devotion, and yet greater staying qualities upon the part of the woman than the man. We can never bestow too much praise, too much honor, on the pioneer women, and we rejoice today that most of them are prosperous in the enjoyment of comfortable homes and giving their children every advantage that is given young people elsewhere. "Show me a pioneer, man or woman, and you have shown me one who possesses qualities which command your respect; one, too, who appears equally well in a log cabin or a gilded mansion; who can in a rough and ready manner meet any danger or emergency that may arise, or in evening gown or in dress suit grace any drawing room." Annual reunions have been held each year since and occasionally picnics are held in the summer time. With each annual meeting it is observed that some of the members have been called to that "bourne from whence no traveler returns," but as each member goes hence, it is pointed out with satisfaction that he played a part in the building of one of the best towns and most prosperous counties in the west, and although his taking off is regretted, it is but the way of the world; it is God's way. Additional Comments: History of NATRONA COUNTY WYOMING 1888-1922 True Portrayal of the Yesterdays of a New County and a Typical Frontier Town of the Middle West. Fortunes and Misfortunes, Tragedies and Comedies, Struggles and Triumphs of the Pioneers and Illustrations BY ALFRED JAMES MOKLER Publisher of the Natrona County Tribune from June 1, 1897, to October 15, 1914 R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO (1923) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wy/natrona/history/1923/historyo/natronac11gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wyfiles/ File size: 9.9 Kb