Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-11-28
Douglas, Wyo, Boy Writes
Interestingly of His
Fathers Ranch

| live out west in that famous cattle
country of central Wyoming. live
on large ranch about one mile south
of Irvine and eight miles southeast
of Douglas. Here is description of
the Riverview ranch, the ranch l live
on.
On your way to the ranch the first
of all you come in contact with is the
one hundred and sixty acres on the
north side of the river Then you go
on down to where the road divides, one
branch going into the river and the
other going around the river to the
left. If you come in the early spring
or fall when the river is not running
around the island, ford. If the river
runs around there do not ford but go
around the road to the left, around the
edge of the hill until you come to the
bull meadow where you will see two
big stacks of hay and two small ones.
You cross Mr. Snider's ditch and out
on the hay land which is going to be
| irrigated by a new pumping plant
which will be put in either this fall
or next spring. Then you go on
around the river till the road starts
into the bushes toward the river.
When you get through the bushes you
see ferry boat on the other side of
the river Then you start to boiler
across the river until some one an
swers you. Then somebody will come
| across the river after you. When you
get across the river you go up short
steep hill and turn to the right and
go down into a corall. At the right
is big barn about 20x70. In this we
keep the milk cows while we milk
them. There is room for about thirty
cows. We milk twenty=four at the
present time. This barn is made OF
plank and inch boards and the bottom
| is made of plank siding. The upper
part is made of inch boards.
Next, you see a log barn at your
right. of which half is in the ground,
with log siding. There is room for
| ten horses in this barn. There are
saddle racks in one corner and the
feed box in the other corner that will
hold six hundred pounds of oats
Along the back are the harness racks
There you see row of sheds. There
are five sheds and the ice house. At
tached to them on the north side and
west end is another row of sheds.
These are the chicken house, calf and
hog sheds. Then the bunk house,
granary and tool shop, all in one.
| Next we come to the house, which
is large and contains eight rooms,
three bedrooms the kitchen, pantry,
dining room and parlor.
Then out into the alfalfa field where
you see many stacks of alfalfa hay
and three stacks of native hay Then
you keep going on around over the
one hundred acres of smooth meadow
land.
Now we go over to the artesian well
pasture. which is sage brush and wild
grass. making a fine pasture. Then
over the hill is the artesian we'll. the
water in this well contains iron and
oil. The flow is about twelve gallons
of water per minute.
We keep on going up Sand creek
until we come to a fence about four
miles from the river. which is the
south line of the ranch. Then we go
around the fence and come to place
where the fence is fastened to a big
butte. Then We go around the butte
to where the fence starts again. All
YOU can see is dad lands" We keep
on going until you can look down on
the river and see the buildings four
miles distant. But we keep on going
around the top of the hills looking
down into the bad lands. After going
about three or four miles we come to
an old fence line which is about the
east line of the ranch. Then we go
down the hill into Antelope basin or
Mud spring. Then on down to the
river.
First is the McQuima place which
has one-half mile of river front and
brush for shelter The Berry place
comes next, having one-half mile OF
river front and much more brush than
the McQuima place. There is more
decided land, making it about fve
miles river front belong to the ranch
This makes the ranch about 2,5OO
acres. fenced or decided and leased
land. The brand of this ranch is on
the left side of the cattle They just
branded 800 head of cattle. 240 Here
fords and 60 Holsteins. There are
$50 head of hogs, $50 chickens and "a
head of horses. This ranch is manag
ed by my father, Thomas ]. Christie
pher. ~
Claude James Christopher, Age 15'
River view Ranch Douglas, Wyo