The Dickinson press., 1915-10-09
EDITOR GRAHAM'S
VISIT TO THIS CITY


In early days w. S. Graham, now
editor and owner of the Schafer
Record, was a cowpuncher and made
frequent trips to Dickinson. He
worked with Robert o. Meyer and
many other old time cattlemen we'll
known to u readers, and strange to
say he turned out to be a most
successful newspaper man, and his
story of his last overland drive to
Dickinson for supplies will interest
many Of our readers. The article
reads as follows:
The early history of Mckenzie
county by Attorney Geo. F. Shafer,
which has been running for the last
several weeks in the Record is con-
cluded in this issue. Mr.. Skaters
mention in this history of oldtimers
living in Dickinson and the long
overland journeys to that town made
by ranchers, recalls some of the
writer's own experiences in the early
days.
When Dickinson was a yearling l
used to work for the Long x cattle
outft-that is to say, l used to draw
$35 a month and found. During the
shipping season this outfit shipped
several trainloads of cattle from
Dickinson every ten days or two
weeks. My frequent visits then en-
abled me to get very well acquainted
with the people who were good to
Long X cowpunchers and to cowpunch-
ers from other outfits for that mat
ter. I liked the town and its
people and never overlooked an OPP
| %portunity to visit it for at least a
few days. A few days was plenty
long enough for me to shoot my
| change. WIZ"
After the Long. x and H. A. out
fits had closed out l got DOWN. to
about two visits annually to thesold
cow town. And these I might add
were made with a team and a
heavy wagon after supplies.
I used to think the bunch Of old
timers there We're good old scouts
and think so yet for that matter,
but for a few minutes n night in
the early days I was of the opinion
that Frank Kihm, formerly proprie-
tor of the Willard house and at the
time proprietor of the St. Charles,
was the prince Of them all. He is
now dead. r
I had made the long overland journ-
ey to. Dickinson for a load of supplies
and for a man to work on the
ranch. I have more to say about the
man. After arriving in town I put
up with Frank kim at the st.
Charles. About the third night in
town, when in those days l could
sleep soundly without fear of any one
taking my roll from the pockets of
my pants which could always be
found on the floor on the third night
in town, some raped on my room
door long about the shank of the
evening and yelled, "Fire!" 1t was
then that I arrived at the opinion
that Frank Kihm was the prince of
all good fellows. I never imagined
that a landlord would send a porter
clear up to the third floor to have me
get up and look at a fire out over
town somewhere. Anyway I appre-
ciated his thoughtfulness for
crawled out and took a look out
over town from my west and only
window. Failing to locate the fire
and not wishing to annoy the porter
I went back to bed and slept soundly
till morning.
The next morning I stepped out Of
my room and you can imagine my
surprise when I discovered that for
the greater part of the night l had
had the hotel all to myself. A fire
starting in the basement and run
ming up the elevator shaft had nearly
destroyed the building.
The second day out Of Dickinson on
this particular trip found me with my
load of supplies and my man on the
banks Of the Little Missouri which
was IN the rampage. The river
looked to be about a mile wide and
there wasn't a doubt in my mind
that it would swim a full-grown gil
raffe. I spent the night on shore.
The water had not lowered an inch
during the night and it looked to me
as though it never would, By noon
I had with the assistance Of my man
completed the construction of a
large raft Of cottonwood logs. !
loaded this raft with about all it
would carry. After instructing my
man to wade and push the raft as
far as possible I tied one end Of a
long rope to it and the other around
my waist and struck out swimming
for the other shore.
After about a half hour of the
hardest work I ever did in my life I
reached the. other shore. When /
could get my breath / began making
preparations to pull the raft ashore
with the ropeI had tied around my
waist. These preparations had not
gone far when I discovered my man
pushing the raft ashore. He waded
the entire distance. / swan it. He
y wasn't a very big man either.