, 1925-01-01
PIONEER WELLS
OF WYOMING ARE
WELL KNOWN

WILL 1AlNOVN
The following letter from John F.
Heagney of Casper will prove Of in
terest to readers of The Republican:
Casper, Wyo., Dec. IS, 1924.
r.. II. Alcorn.
Rawlins. Wyo.
Dear Sir
have been thinking lately OF the
slogans or yells that / have known
In Wyoming and we never heal any
OF them any more except Powder
River"
I believe the first one I remember
was "Sweetwater" and from about
1879 to 1885 If you asked a man
where he was from it was Sweet
water" The next question was when
did you can in?" then when are you
going out?" How is Sweetwater,"
etc. and when a man had put a few
drinks of Mountain Dew" under his
belt he would shout "Sweetwater,"
until Jim Finley or Dick Daley con-
Guided he had had fun enough, and
then it was another thing and they
would lead him up to the calaboose.
There was also a yell Bitter
'lCth anu VIZ AVE NGtTu IL men
TONED In several different ways but
the most popular with some men af-
ter procuring about half a tank full
was "Im q he wolf from Bitter Creek
and IT'S my night to howl" I'm
sure tough. We're all tough from
Bitter Creek and the farther up the
creek you go the tougher they get.
I'm from the head" Now as a gem
eral thing when a man had delivered
himself of the above or similar
speech some other man, probably in
che same spirit. CIR Spirits would
take 1t for granted that he was look
ing for trouble, and after very slight
deliberation would proceed to change
the contour or decorations of the
face n head of the wolf from Bit
tor Creek" and sometimes unless they
we're too full of the spirit" they
would both emerge we'll decorated
as to eyes, etc, and probably minus
hair. WHISPERS and maybe an ear or
two. But / W. saw 1t fail that
when a man looked for trouble he
found Il. We have not heard of
Bitter Creek for many years.
The old Indian yells are also a
thing of the past. They have buried
the yells with the Ratchet but the
White River Utes could give any
other tribe great odds and beat them.
OF course l eve heard them In
battle, but | have heard Sioux, Crows,
Araphoes and Shoshones In bear
dances In tire OF peace as we'll as
the Utes and I can say that none
can compare with the Utes for weird
ness and flerceness. 1t would almost
turn your blood cold, or as the
soldier Of Gen. Merritt's colored
Troop said after coming into Rawlins
after they had rescued Major Thorn
burgh's command at White River in
1879.
They were all drinking and having
a good time in the saloons and I
happened to be In John Foote's sa-
loon with my father and someone
asked a very black soldier what he
thought of the Ute war whoop. He
said: Say boys, when dem Utes COM
menced to yell l just turned white
In de face and 1 been white ever
since" And l know that If such a
thing were possible it would surely
happen.
But the yell of all yells and one
which will last for centuries was or
iginated In Casper about 1897 and
was used only by COW boys and
sheepmen until the world war. THE
Hole in the Wall" and Powder
River" are very closely related. The
waters Of Buffalo creek valley known
as the Hole In the WALL accord
Ing to blood and thunder stories)
flowing into the Powder river"
Prior to the World War when a
lot OF COW boys and sheepmen came
TO Casper you would hear someone
yell Powder River" and someone
else "Hole In the Wall or Powder
river a mile wide and an inch deep"
como fork DRY Powder River, at
times IL nearly all in Natrona coun-
~ and n peculiar thing about II is
that any place You come to II dry,
o ran dig and get water in from
ono to three feet In almost pure sand
and we used to water teams and get
water to cook with in that way).
The Wyoming soldier took up the
yell Powder River and from all
accounts II Is known the world over.
and served n good purpose during
tho world war. n will not soon be
forgotten by England, France or
Germany.
when ] started this I only meant
to wish you and yours a Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year and
much prosperity for 1s25-and I nlso
hope that I can find some way OF
" ''ng Rawllns for a week during
tQoC