, 1924-10-02
Interesting Letter of
Rawlins' Early Days

Casper. Wyo.. Sept. 81. 1924.
Editor Rawlins Republican,
Rawlins, Wyo.
Dear Sir:
when l was in Rawlins last year
l meant to go over and see the old
Rawlins spring of Merrell's spring as
it vas called for many years and
which brings to my mind many
pleasant memories and also many
memories not so pleasant for that
was our water supply when l was a
boy and it was me who had t o carry
the water from the old pump house
which stood just south of the U. P.
spring. At this pump house the
railroad company kept a man to
pump water from this spring into
their tanks for engine use and for
the shops and the citizens of Raw
Inns also carried their water for do
nestle purposes from this pump
house. At that time there were very
few people in Rawlins. The town
was Ill on the south side Of the ".
P. tracks. 1t was a big job for the
boys then to carry water In buckets
tom the pump house to their homes
distance of from one to three or
foul hundred yards. l believe that
we all survival the ordeal, but II the
boys of today with their high ideals)
had to do the same thing l don't
believe 1t would be done.
At that time Lawrence (Larry)
Hays had his hotel Just about where
the west end Of the old Pacific hotel
now stands and he had a novel way
of hauling water from this pump
house as 1t took considerable water
for hotel purposes. He had a bar
rel rugged up with a frame work al
most like the shafts of a single bug
gy and he could either push or pull
and the barrel would roll right along
and 1t took several trips a day to
keep the hotel supplied with water.
The first pump man las we call
ed him) that l remember was named
Wilson and he lived and cooked his
own meals in the pump house. He
was very tall and slim and we boys
called him Long Neck.
He played the violin and the dull
elmer and by Dragging a little about
his playing he often entertained us
boys between trips after water.
A little later than this he had n
brother come to Rawlins who was
deaf and dumb and they operated a
blacksmith shop for several years on
the south side.
The last time I saw them was,
/ think, in 1889 at Timberlake in
Colorado just south of Baggs, Wyo.,
where they had a ranch.
Rawlins or Merrell's spring also
furnished us boys with a swimming
hole or to be more explicit a mud
hole. We had a dan in the creek
over on the flat straight south Of
he depot and in this hole the pro-
PORTION was about one water and ten
mud and oh Boy! talk about mud.
1t was the blacklist mud you could
imagine and when a bunch OF us kids
had been there for an hour and a
half or two hours we all looked alike
and sometimes it vas hard to find
clean water enough to get back to
Il natural color. But some way or
by some means we always won out.
| well remember one Sunday when
there were very lew II any boys at
Sunday school at our Catholic church
and Rev. FIR. Cassidy concluded he
would take a stroll and he did and
a few minutes later the class assem-
bled at church but their knowledge
Of the Catechism lesson was limited.
q will tell you about our first
and third swimming hole sometime
the above was the %second.)
This big spring was also the camp
ing place of Indians tthe Utes) In
early days and II is where we used
to buy our bows and arrows, mecca
sins etc. and I remember one time
Jim Quinlan. John Hays and myself
Srsited the Utes there and Jim Quin-
Ian bought a bow and arrow for 80