The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-05-28
BIG BILL.

Back OF Laramie, wy, there IS a
range of hills that would be called
mountains anywhere else. Here you
can find deep gorges, ravines and valleys
Some twenty miles above the city there
is u road that winds up and up into the
hills, over acres of barren rock, and then
descends down into a beautiful valley
where grass is growing luxuriantly, and
tsheep and antelope are grazing Follow
the road by a miniature lake, and by and
by it will lead you around the base of
tall mountain. and there you will find a
little log cabin beside willow lined
stream, and you will see there a large
sheep corral
was lounging on the ground few
years ago in front of the little cabin
smoking peacefully. and listening to the
wind signing through the willows and
pines, the bleating of the sheep in the
corral and the howl of the coyote up in
the hills
LAS far as l know, Big Bill and me
were the first white men who herded
sheep up here in the hills" said the oc-
cupant of the cabin, as he sat in the
doorway with his pipe in his mouth.
I'VE came up here from the home
ranch down ON the Laramie river and
built this cabin and the corrals in II
We had about 5000 sheep to look after
with the dogs to help us, and it was
pretty hard work, for then the hills were
full of mountain lions, and they din't
know the difference between the sheep
and the antelope, but we got along all
right. AS the old man sent some of the
sheep down on the plains and others to
tho home ranch, Bill and me didn't have
anything to do, so we went up in the
northern part of the state rounding cat
tie, but in the latter part of 1887 the old
man sent for US, and so we came back
and took about 5000 sheep up here to
look after.
I'VE hadn't been here long before
young tenderfoot came up from Omaha
to help us, the old man said, but in real
ity he only wanted little outdoor exer-
else. Jim was mighty good fellow
though, If he was a tenderfoot, and he
and Bill became warm friends. Jim was
small. thin and pale, and Bill was big
bronzed and full bearded, with hair that
fell down on his shoulders Jim Just
used to stick by Bill as close as sick
kitten to hot brick, and used to follow
him away over by Dirty EN- mountain
and Ragged Top. and when he came in
at sundown he would look like corpse
but after while he got as strong as an
OK and slept like horse. After supper
they would take their pipes and tobacco
and go out there under yonder tall pine
and would talk until long into the night,
and used to sit here and wonder what
the mischief they would talk about. But
Jim was the best natured fellow that
ever lived, excepting, of course, ,IBig Bill
All that summer they were as insepara-
bic as the lamented Siamese twins. and
whenfone went down to the home ranch
or to Laramie the other would go too.
''One day Jim wasn't feeling well. and
I'm blessed if Bill didn't camp right by
his bedside all day long, and me and
Shep, the dog. had to look after the
sheep Jim was only sick a couple of
days, and the next Sunday when the
men from down on the ranch came up to
bring us some papers and canned stuff
they brought a letter for Jim from his
employers down in Omaha asking that
he come home at once. When Jim got
ready to go | am an Indian if he and
Big Bill didn't cry. and Bill he walks
clear up to the top of the hill, and sat
down on bowlder. and kept his eyes
fastened on the wagon as it turned
around the serpentine road. and watched
it until it disappeared on the plain be-
low, and then he came back here and
sets down awful gluln, and says he to me:
Jake, Jim's an all fired good Teller
"'You bet he is.
That's all said, but Big Bill under
stood me. Every Sunday when the men
from the ranch didn't come up Bill used
70 walk clear down there and get the
letter that would be sure to be there for
him from Jim. and he would bring it
back up here, and we used to work pretty
hard to read it, even if it was written
with typewriter, for you know neither
Bill nor me had ever had any.schooling
They were awful good letters. though.
and once he sent US some fine wooden
shirts and mittens, and some crack to-
bacco and a couple of pipes; this is one
OF them now About month after he
left we got letter saying he was going
to be married, and he was dead anxious
for Big Bill to come down and take it in,
bat Bill wouldn't do it, because he said
Jim might be ashamed of him; but Jim
wasn't that kind of fellow. as I'm going
70 tell yon pretty soon.
About three years after his marriage
Jim wrote letter asking both Bill and
me to come down and see him and his
wife and the kid, and there was lot of
scribbling. which Jim said was the
baby's invitation. Course knew it was
Big Bill they wanted to see. although
Jim and me were good friends, but as
Bill allowed he wouldn't go if | didn't
20 with him. | consented to go, and SO
when the sheep had been moved down to
the ranch we went down to Omaha
We didn't tell him we were coming, for