Pioneers
Contributed
by
Louise Alexander Troxel
My father, William John
Alexander, was born December 12, 1880 at Bonnam, South Dakota nine miles
from Yankton. He was the youngest son of Eugene and Nancy Butler
Alexander. He came to the New Fork Valley with his parents when he was
eight years old.
My grandfather, Eugene
Alexander, son of Mary and William Alexander, was born in Syracuse, New
York, February 5, 1844 the twelfth of a family of thirteen. At the age
of seventeen he went west to the Dakota Territory
where he rode for the Pony Express and freighted for the U.S. Government
along the Missouri River. At Yankton he met and married Nancy Butler, a
school teacher, from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She had come to the Dakota
Territory with Governor General Faulk as tutor for the Faulk children.
Eugene and Nancy had five children: Charlotte (Mrs. James Redman),
Prank, Essex, Charles, and William (Bill) all of whom grew to adulthood.
In 1883 Eugene and Nancy and
the children left Yankton. For three years they farmed on the Niobrara
River near Atkinson, Nebraska. In the spring of 1886 they started for
Oregon and got as far as Montpelier, Idaho, before winter set in. Two
and a half years later, in 1888, they again started for Oregon. En route
a trapper returning from Oregon told Eugene that he had gone broke
there. From him Eugene learned of the Green and New Fork Valleys and
decided to give up Oregon for Wyoming Territory. He arrived on the New
Fork River in June 1889, about where the Nels Jorgensen house now
stands; the river was dry. Eugene and his son, Frank, rode up the river
to look for a better location and on June 28, 1889, chose a spot three
miles below New Fork Lake. They were the first family to settle in the
upper valley. Later in the year the Westphal family homesteaded below
them.
With the help of his sons,
Eugene built a two-room cabin, part of which is still standing. Two
years later he built a five-room log home, and in 1907 he completed a
large, two-story frame home, quite elaborately furnished for that time.
Two of his wife’s prize possessions were an organ and a Victor
phonograph.
Nancy, my grandmother, a capable hard-working woman, found time
to teach her children, run a post office (called Alexander, Wyoming at that time), and run a roadhouse for travelers who stopped for meals or a
night’s lodging. In later years she had one of the most beautiful flower
gardens in the area.
The first year, 1889, was a year of hardship. In the fall Eugene went
with team and wagon to Montpelier, Idaho to buy staple food supplies and clothing. He was gone two months. The winter of 1889-90 was
severe. He and the boys had put up 40 tons of hay, cutting it with a scythe. By early April it was gone. They moved the cattle to the hills
around New Fork Lake where the hills were bare and the grass was good. Thus they were able to keep most of the cattle alive. To sell his cattle,
Eugene and his sons trailed the cattle through Union Pass in the Wind River Mountains to Hudson, Wyoming. From there the cattle were
shipped by rail to markets in Nebraska.
Nancy, my grandmother Alexander, died March 25, 1920. Eugene, my
grandfather Alexander, died April 3, 1937. Both were buried on their ranch. Their oldest son, Frank, who died in Seattle, Washington in 1925
when returning from Canada, was also buried there.
To make an extra dollar, Bill (my father) and his brothers had hunting
camps in Hoback Basin and in the upper Green River Valley. When Bill did not have hunters of his own he guided hunters for Billie Wells. One
fall he guided Charles Hepburn1, a writer, who had hunted in Africa and
Asia. Bill also drove pipe for water wells. He spent one year in Idaho mining gold for his uncle, Abe Alexander.
At the age of twenty. Bill had scarlet fever. Recovery was slow as there
were no antibiotics to combat the disease. It was a year before he could
work again.
My mother was Ora Elsie Yarger. She was born in Middletown, Ohio
January 21, 1883, the daughter of George Hampton and Mary Gall Yarger. In 1895 at the age of twelve she came to Wyoming with her parents. She
met Bill at a New Year’s Eve dance at Daniel, Wyoming. They were married, one year later, January 6, 1909, in a quiet
ceremony at the home of her parents on Horse Creek near Daniel, Wyoming. (The ranch now
owned by Charles F. Alexander). The ceremony was performed by Justice D.H. Johnston. For a year and a half they lived with Bill’s parents.
In December 1909 they were expecting their first child, me. As the
winter was severe and the nearest doctor thirty miles away, Bill took Ora
to Ogden, Utah to the home of his sister, Mrs. James Redman. I arrived January 2, 1910, Louise (Mrs. Roy Troxel). There followed seven other
children (four boys and three more girls):
Dan — August 28, 1911
Jeanette — February 7, 1913 (Mrs. J. Seaman)
Charles — December 28, 1915
Edgar — May 20, 1918
Ruth — December 23, 1920 (Mrs. Charles Bryant)
Dorothy —June 17, 1922 (Mrs. C.A. Fear, Jr.)
Robert — December 15, 1927
In early 1910 Father and his sister, Charlotte, each filed on homesteads
of 160 acres one-and-a-half miles east of the present Cora, Wyoming. Five
years later he purchased Charlotte’s land when she and her family moved
to Idaho. In June of 1910, Father moved Mother and me to a tent-house on the homestead where we lived until he and his brother, Charlie,
completed the four-room log house which was to be our home. Later a fifth room was added. (The house still stands on the ranch now owned by
my brother, W.D. Alexander).
The following years were busy years for Father and Mother. In spring
there was branding cattle and trailing them to summer pastures. Hay fields had to be irrigated and garden planted. In summer there was the
harvesting of hay with horse drawn machinery and a crew of eight or ten men. When fall came there were cattle to round-up and drive a distance
of nearly one hundred miles to the railroad at Opal for shipment to markets in Nebraska. In October there was a trip with team and wagon to
Opal or Rock Springs to get the winter food supply and other necessary items. Some staple foods such as flour, sugar and coffee could be
purchased at the Cora store. After the snow was on the ground. Father gathered his bear-skin coat and his camping equipment consisting of tent,
bedding, and “grub box” which contained cooking utensils and enough food for a week. With sled and four-horse team he went to the Black
Butte area to cut and haul our year’s supply of wood for fuel. Often he
went alone. This was an anxious time for the family. In winter there was
feeding and caring for livestock, often in two or three feet of snow.
There were good times, too. In summer there were rodeos. Father
entered the saddle bronc riding, horse racing and he and his brother, Charlie, were always in the chuck-wagon races. There were dances and
card parties. A highlight for several years was the Fourth of July
picnic and dance at New Fork Lake. People came many miles to visit with
friends and relatives, many of whom they saw only once a year at this
event. Christmas was celebrated at my Grandfather Alexander’s house
with uncles, aunts and cousins. There was a big tree to decorate on
Christmas Eve. Christmas dinner was a feast. What an exciting time this
was for the children!
My parents had little formal
education after coming to Wyoming. But Father was an avid reader and a
good listener. He could discuss many subjects. For his time he was a
good veterinarian and an excellent carpenter. For four years he was
treasurer of the local school board. He invented a wire stretcher better
than any he could buy. Mother was an excellent cook, seamstress and
housekeeper. Both of them enjoyed company. The latch string was always
out for travelers who needed a meal or a night’s lodging.
Father told of a childhood
experience on the way to Oregon. On the Sweet-water River in Wyoming
they met Jim Averill who wanted to buy one of their milk cows with a
personal check. Grandfather refused to sell for anything but cash. The
next day about sundown Ella Watson, better known as Cattle
Kate, caught up with them and paid cash for the cow. She stayed the
night with them, leaving early next morning with her cow.
Our home was the scene of many
good times while we children were growing up, and afterward too. Dinners
at Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter with many guests. Picnics at the
ranch or Granite Springs in Hoback Basin. Today family and friends
gather for a carry-in dinner at the home of Dan (Bud) and Dottie
Alexander each Memorial Day.
One of the highlights of my
father’s older years was the party given for him on his seventy-fifth
birthday by Christina and Carroll Noble at their home near Cora. Many
old timers and younger people were invited to help him celebrate. He
enjoyed the party immensely.
Mother died September 30, 1945.
Father died September 24, 1966. Both are buried in the Cemetery at
Pinedale, Wyoming.
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