EARLY DAY STORIES. 71 



and wild as soon as they are hunted by man. What would 

 I give to go back again to the old times, and old scenes, and 

 old neighbors of forty years ago ? It cannot be ! yet it fills 

 my heart and my eyes full to think of and to write of it. 



About the 28th of May, 1869, we were camped near 

 the east bank of Cedar creek^ on the northeast quarter of 

 section 27, Oakdale township, on the land now owned by 

 Antelope county, and known as the county farm. "We" 

 means Solomon S. King and myself, who had come to look 

 the country over, and if we liked it to select claims for our- 

 selves and for several others. We had been running lines 

 for two or three days both east of the camp in Oakdale 

 township and south as far as the center of Cedar township, 

 but had not crossed to the west side of the creek as yet. 

 It was all new and wild everywhere. There were no signs 

 anywhere that there had ever been a white man in the coun- 

 try excepting in one place we found where probably a hunt- 

 er or trapper had cut down a small cottonwood tree two or 

 three years before, and excepting also the mounds and stakes 

 made and set by the government surveyors two and a half 

 years previous to this time. It was an ideal place to camp 

 anywhere along Cedar creek. The water of the creek, flow- 

 ing between steep banks, was deep and cold; fine springs 

 of clear, pure water were numerous; there was an abund- 

 ance of hardwood timber, plenty of dry wood, good grass 

 and good shelter. We were not on a hunting trip and made 

 no effort to get any game, except an occasional duck or 

 prairie chicken, both of which were abundant. There were 

 antelope in sight most of the time, and every day we saw 

 deer and wild turkeys, and there were also tracks of elk 

 in abundance, but we saw none of the animals themselves. 

 We were in a great game country, but we were hunting 

 land, not game. We thought we had found just the kind of 

 country we were looking for, and we believed that we were 

 the first upon the ground, as we had seen no signs of the 



