Prologue
The Wyoming Territory is rich in history. Famous frontiersmen such as Jim Bridger, John Colter, Kit Carson, Jebediah Smith and General John Fremont spent time exploring the land and hunting for beaver pelts. While exploring the Rocky Mountains, John Colter discovered an area of steaming geysers and magnificent waterfalls that he called “Colter’s Hell.”In 1872, that area was set aside as the world’s first National Park, known as Yellowstone. William Cody gained a name for himself hunting the large herds of buffalo that roamed the great plains of Wyoming. The city, Cody Wyoming, near Yellowstone National Park is named after its famous resident.
Forty miles east of Lovell, Wyoming, at the crest of Medicine Mountain, is located the Medicine Wheel, an ancient shrine with twenty eight spokes and a circumference of two hundred and forty five feet, built by some forgotten tribe. A Crow chief reportedly said, “It was built before the light came by people who had no iron. This prehistoric relic remains as one of Wyoming’s unsolved mysteries.
There is evidence in Wyoming of prehistoric occupation dating back more than twelve thousand years. These historic tribes were nomadic and known as the Plains Indians. They were the Arapaho, Arikara, Bannock, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, Nez Perce, Sheep Eater, Sioux, Shosone, and Ute Tribes. The Cheyenne and the Sioux were the last of these to be controlled and placed on reservations.
Wyoming was the scene of the last of the great Indian battles. Fort Phil Kearny, in northern Wyoming, had the bloodiest history of any fort in the West as thousands of well organized Indians fought fierce battles with the United States Calvary. These Indians were led by famous chiefs such as Crazy Horse and Red Cloud.
Fort Laramie in southeastern Wyoming became a haven for the emigrants and people seeking gold as well as a critical station for the Pony Express and the Overland stagecoaches, thus becoming a vital post for the military in its wars with the Plains Indians. It witnessed the growth of the open range cattle industry and the coming of homesteaders, or “sod busters” and the building of towns.
In 1869, Wyoming’s territorial legislature became the first government in the world to grant female suffrage by enacting a bill giving Wyoming women the right to vote. Thus, Wyoming came to be known as the “Equality State”. It wasn’t long after the signing of this act that Ester Hobart Morris of South Pass City, became the first woman ever to be appointed as justice of the peace. Mrs. Louisa Swain, on September 6, 1870, in Laramie, became the first woman in the nation to cast a vote.
While all of this was going on, the large ranchers in Wyoming were complaining of unbridled rustling by small “nesters” and that railroad contractors fed their crews with beef purchased from these rustlers. Without adequate law enforcement, the cattlemen took matters in their own hands hanging without trial those they thought were guilty. Regardless of such efforts to stop the rustling, the problem continued.
The infamous “Hole in the Wall” was located in Johnson County and seemed to attract various outlaws who preyed on cattle interests. Included among this group were Tom Horn, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to name a few.
The cattlemen took it upon themselves to hire and send an “expeditionary” force of Texas gunmen, led by a former deputy United States marshal to go in and rid the area of these unsavory individuals who were rustling their cattle. Each man was promised a fifty dollar bonus for each “rustler” killed. The plan included the force, under the command of Major Frank Wolcott, to go to Buffalo Wyoming in Johnson County to replace the county government with individuals who would be more favorable toward the large cattle interests. It was this bunch of individuals, with nicknames that conjure up the best of the Wild West, and their shenanigans that caught my interest and brought my novel to the Wyoming Territory.
Much of the historical information I gathered was from G.B. Dobson’s web site, About Wyoming Tales and Trails and from the characters he described that many of the names used in this novel are derived.
During this time when the Wyoming Territory was going through its growing pains, Sweden was experiencing its worst recession since 1650. While the population in Sweden was increasing by an alarming rate, it was estimated that over forty per cent of its soil was unproductive.
People were leaving for America in great numbers aided by firms based in New York who sent representatives to Sweden to arrange passage on ships carrying iron to America. These ships would provide cheap passage and would only charge twelve dollars per person for a voyage that would last about seven weeks. It was an emotional time for these people, saying good bye to their brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. Watching the countryside where they grew up pass by for the last time. They were never to see their family and home again.
These immigrants were often met by the Bethel Ship Mission in New York City, an organization which helped people arrange travel west. Many of these Swedish immigrants found work with the Northern Pacific Railroad helping build the Yellowstone Division. Once they saved up enough money, they purchased land close to the track so they could once again get back to farming. It is here where, Esben Hjerstedt and his mother, Corinne, went to live with his uncle, who was living in Wyoming while he worked for the railroad.
“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Confucius 551-479 BC