Chapter 6

Rocky pulled the ambulance beyond where the tepee was going to be. The doors opened, and Jack and Karen came out. Karen inspected the plot of the prepared ground. Then she went to the pile of poles and tumbled them apart to see more than a few. “Who cut these?”

Burt spoke, “I did. I hope they will be okay?”

“Much good, me Karen, your name?”

“Call me, Burt.”

Karen looked at me, “Kid, it’s too late to make tepee tonight. I cook and sleep early. Cook early in the morning, put up poles, put hides on, and need help with two braves.”

“I’ll be here. Roland will be here too. Rocky, you and Mable might as well go on into town. Tom will ride in with you. He has to send a telegram. Itea, do you want to go in and spend a night with Mable?”

“No! My place here with you.”

Burt spoke, “Your Pa and Ma’s bed is made up so you can stay with a roof over your head.”

I asked Roland and Bob where they were sleeping, thinking they might sleep in the ambulance. “Naw, I’ll bunk under the freight wagon.”

“Okay.” Burt again spoke, “I’ve got enough beef steaks for everyone if your wife would cook it. I also have two dozen ears of early corn that came in on the train from down south. It is wilted, but I have been soaking it.

Karen said, “Kid, build me a fire. I like corn and beef. Bury the corn in coals. It has been a long time since I have corn.” It wasn’t long before Itea, Jack, and I had built a fire out of some dry limb wood Burt had stacked up. It was almost an hour before we raked the coals aside and buried the corn ears, raking the coals back over them. Burt brought the corn soaking in pails of water.

He returned to the cabin and brought out a flat cast iron skillet that went half the width of a fireplace. It was ten inches wide and two feet long, making it large enough to fry all the steaks at once.

Tears came to my eyes when I saw it. It was my mom’s, and she cooked with it while traveling when we started west. The fireplace in the cabin was large enough for it to fit. We hadn’t used it as much because we had a cooking stove after we arrived.

There was just a bit of light showing in the window in the morning. Itea and I had gone to sleep last night from the excitement of arriving at our destination. This morning, it was different, “Kid, I woke up early. I heard that the Burt man went out but didn’t come back. Are you feeling brave this morning? I am feeling very brave.”

“That’s because you have feelings for me,”

“I know, and that’s why I’m feeling brave. Kid, I feel like this when I’m near you. You won’t ever leave me or go off somewhere for a long time, will you?”

“I never intended to. I hated it when you stayed with Mable, and I couldn’t see you every day.”

“I believe you, my Brave. This nice house, how come you no keep?”

“Itea, I thought Burt killed my folks, so I destroyed his home and all his buildings by fire. It was his son who did it, and the law hung his son, and he lost everything. Burt moved in here because he didn’t have any place to live. It was the sheriff who allowed Burt to stay. When I was here last, I found out all about what happened the day my Pa and Ma died. He apologized to me for what his son did.

“It was only fair that I admit I burned everything at his ranch, and he accepted that it was something I did in retaliation. By him living here on the land for six years, no one wanted to take my land when I abandoned it. This way, we now have my father’s land, and he has a home.”

“You good man, my Brave. We should go see Karen and help put up a tepee.” We walked outside and looked over at the parked ambulance. The horses were feeding close by in the fields. There was smoke rising from a campfire. Everyone but Karen was drinking coffee. She had what looked like a pole a little less than ten feet long. There was a peg sticking down through near the ends.

Jack had one of these pegs in a hole. Karen was at the other end. Karen backed around, marking the ground while Jack made sure his peg didn’t come out of his hole in the ground. Soon, there was an eighteen-foot circle. When Karen went around marking the ground, her marks came together. She smiled at Jack and uttered. “Good.”

Itea was in the center when this tepee was constructed the last time. Now Karen took another stick and went around the circle, laying a marker at the end of the stick from where she had begun. Surprisingly, she arrived at the beginning with the first marker, precisely the stick’s length. I had seen this once before, and it still amazed me.

I knew it was time to start digging a shallow hole at each marker. Karen watched me at first. She had shown me when we built this the last time, and I knew it was for the bottom end of the poles to sit in.

Itea had our breakfast cooked and motioned for me to eat. Karen motioned for Roland to help her pick up a pole and carry it to a position where one end would go into one of the shallow holes I had dug. The pole lay across the circle and extended out four feet or so. One more pole for the adjacent hole and the small top end were lying together, crossing about a foot from the top.

Now, one more pole is directly across from the two others; the three tops are lashed with rawhide lacings. “Help now.” Karen directed three men to get together and walk up the single pole into the air. Roland, Bob, and Burt did this. Karen and Itea were at the other pole base and did not let those ends move. The three men were lifting all three poles upright. I was on the ground end of the single pole, moving the end toward the hole in the ground.

When the two pole ends were near, Karen and Itea steered the ends into the holes and made sure they didn’t come out or go sideways. My end was slowly moving closer to the circle. We stopped to rest one time to relieve our muscles. I only had to brace my foot about the end because the weight had shifted, and the pole was digging into the ground. Karen and Itea had their ends of the poles in the holes, and there was enough weight to keep them there. Five minutes later, I said, “Let’s finish this.”

It was done, and we had a three-pole tripod over where the tepee would be. Now, we had to position the other ten poles. With three of us lifting, we raised one to the vertical, walked to the hole for the butt, and eased the top to where the first three were lashed together.

By then, all thirteen poles were up, and the tops were nestled with the ones lashed together. Itea had made herself a ladder out of short poles lashed to the two originals. She had one more rung to add before she could reach the top. This one was only wide enough for her feet between the two poles.

“Kid, that’s the whole frame, just like the one we left at the ranch. That is the third time in my life I have helped build one. Karen has done it many, many times.”

Rocky and Mable rode in a couple of hours before noon. They were surprised to see the frame of the tepee up and ready for hide-covers. I asked Mable, “How was your room at the hotel?”

“Kid, most comfortable. I’ll stay there until Rocky constructs a home for me. Itea, wouldn’t you like to live there in the room next door to me?”

“Mable, it would be fun, but Kid wants to stay out here. I can stay in the cabin like I did last night; it is nice, and it was Kid’s home at one time. Karen will finish the tepee in a couple of days, and I would still like to live in it.”

“Itea, have you decided where to build a new home yet?”

“No, not yet. Kid and Rocky will be looking and decide today if he has time after Karen gets the easy lower hides on. The high ones take more time.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you can reach where the first hides are laced to the frame, from the ground. Above there, we must make temporary ladders to climb to the higher ones. I’m going to begin making them this morning.”

“Itea, you are doing a lot of work, doesn’t that bother you?”

“No, there are a lot of people here to help us. Before, the squaws and the bigger children had to do it all while the braves went hunting.”

“Oh,”

“Kid, my Brave, say work now, make home, and make papooses later. I chose him when I was not many years old, and I have plenty of time to make papooses after I get older. I take him to my bed, make sure no papooses yet, have a home first.”

Mable asked, “That happened at my house, didn’t it?”

“Yes,” Mable laughed because that is what Rocky told her one time not long ago.

Karen went to the freight wagon and asked Bob to uncover the hides from under a piece of canvas. She was the one who saw them packing. The hides coming off were the heaviest because they were the ones to go around the bottom. Number two hide continued from one pole to the next. The hides were irregular, so they went up the reverse as they had come from the original frame. The lashing was basic rawhide sinews.

Rocky asked, “Karen, they must leak in some places, don’t they?”

“Yes, there is always patching to do. Sometimes, it isn’t good after a big wind. It wasn’t bad at the ranch, but there is more wind here.”

“Karen, I tell you what; I’ll buy you enough canvas to cover the whole tepee after you get the hides on, and then your home will be tight from the weather. All twelve panels are the same width, and I think we can get the canvas big enough so that there will be only four seams. You must know how to make the seams water-tight when folded together and sewed?”

“Yes. Take a long time, so I will put hides on and work on canvas before cold weather.”

“Bob, when will you be returning home?”

“Not until the other three wagons got here and unloaded. I imagine it will be another day or two.”

“I’ll pay you and Roland wages to continue putting the hides on. I want Itea and Kid to pick out our house lot with Mable and me.”

“Sure, I can use a couple extra bucks.”

“Burt, maybe you would like a little extra change too?”

“Not necessary.”

Tom Horn rode in on a livery horse, leading Itea’s horse. “Kid, have you time to show me more of your land? My Pa is interested in buying a few acres for a commercial project if he thinks it is what he wants.”

“And what and where would that be located?”

“As close to the railroads spur as possible. It is hard to pin down just by sending messages by telegraph. Father ended up in the last message saying he would be out here late the day after tomorrow. He is boarding a train coming west before midnight tonight. You are interested for sure, aren’t you?”

“I am. What is your father building to put on this land?”

“Several wooden warehouses built for storage of different machines and farming equipment. Pa will need one large lot to store raw lumber. There will be a lumber mill for milling and shaping lumber for silo staves. In our store, I would like to face the Farmer’s Road.

“He said if you didn’t want to sell empty lots, he would want an option to purchase when ready to sell. You could pick up a few extra bucks that way. Pa told me this was just what he had been planning for when the western territories opened up when they became more populated. Word is that within a handful of years, Wyoming will become a state.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Hard to say; you’ll have the government looking over your shoulder— Both State and Federal. Your life will be better policed. I notice you and Rocky still carry a gun on your hip, and that habit will be frowned upon.”

I turned to Rocky and asked. “Do you know all about things like that?”

“Not much. I guess you had better talk to Steven, the lawyer, and engage him to sit in on these things. He has been great in looking out for your interests so far. Button him up before things begin changing around here.”

Mable said, “Kid, I can help you with much of this. Remember, you will be selling plots of land and need a surveyor for that. Another thing you will have to look into is what these lots will need for water and where it comes from. Not everyone can have a dug well. There is sewage to consider, too. You might find an engineer to see what is possible. You have some money, and I’ll be glad to help you with what I have,”

Mable asked Rocky, “Is that okay with you, Honey?”

“Sweetheart, I’m here for Kid and Itea in what they are starting. I swear this is the most interesting time for me in my life.”

“Mine too. Well, let’s get started. We should ride down by the railroad and look at the land there.”

I thought some while riding. Here I am, twenty-two years old, with a child bride. I also had some early education, but it didn’t continue long enough to help me in what I was attempting to do with what I found myself involved in now. Rocky had bought me some books, and I had read them all. Some were damned dry reading, but I could see now why he had bought the ones he did, being useful as they were turning out to be.

We rode out Jenkins Road to the Farmers Road. Reaching the intersection, we stopped for a minute and talked. It was busy in front of Sam’s business, located to the right of us, with two pairs of horses getting shod and six men standing there watching him. If I went up the road to his place, I would be held by being introduced to Sam’s customers.

“Tom, you begin looking for what your Pa wants for property between here and the railroad. I should save a plot to get someone to build a grocery or general store on one of these corner lots. There still should be room enough so I can build what I need next to Sam.”

Rocky said, “That’s good thinking, Kid.”

“I guess it is. I wonder if I shouldn’t put it on another street parallel to Jenkins Road. That’s going to mean those beautiful trees will have to go.”

“Kid, that means two more corner lots there to build on. I don’t think Mable and I would like to live there. We might prefer the lot next to the cabin and Karen’s tepee.”

“Are you sure? That surprises me, so why?”

“Karen will have the tepee covered with canvas and may paint some scenes that she can’t do with it being covered with hides. Mable has already said she is going to teach Jack his letters.”

“Mable and Rocky, the land is yours.”

“Don’t be so fast, Kid; Itea, what about you, and where do you want your home to be built?”

“I’m hoping Kid will build the other side of the tepee. He said he would build me a place to make moccasins. The sunsets are so beautiful looking across the open fields.”

“Itea, it is as you wish.” We resumed our trip.

Tom Horn said, “Kid, I’m going down to the railroad land in the corner. I’m guessing you own about forty acres between the corner and the railroad. I also think that you have about five hundred acres in the fields and the pond in the center of the open land suitable for planting, so that leaves about a hundred acres comprising the woods on the end by where you are talking of building your homes.

“There is that steep portion next to the Farmer’s road that can be grazed, adding to the five hundred and forty acres of open land and land next to the railroad. You could easily save forty acres more for housing and commercial construction. That brings you to a total of six hundred and twenty acres. That leaves twenty acres left. You spoke about a lane or street on the north side of Jenkins Road that you could use for more housing.

“That might settle your mind a bit on where and how you want to divide up your full section of the six hundred and forty acres. My thoughts might save you from making too many mistakes that would come back to bite you in the future.”

“Tom, I thought I would go slow and plan everything, but I didn’t know where to start. Your thoughts are helping me immensely. Thank you.”

“That’s great, Kid. You will like my Pa when you meet him. I rattled off a short message of the young couple he would be dealing with to tell my mother, and I always have to tell him the accommodations where he will be staying.”

“It must have cost a lot for the telegraph message?”

“It’s just the cost of doing business. When you cut the message to a few words, it is not that much. I always deal with Pa, so he fills in what I mean. You know, ‘Yun, cple, frndly, in love.’ things like that. Pa gets the message that you are someone he can sit down with and talk.”

Itea listened to us talk. She was mystified and had little knowledge or familiarity with the new culture she was moving into. She also didn’t understand how the telegraph worked. If I hadn’t had the books and papers that Rocky bought, I would be stumped as well.

“Tom, why do you think this is a good place to buy land and build a business for your company?”

“Pa thinks it is good because Cheyenne is westward on the railway. I was close to Casper when I was out looking to sell farming equipment. We’ll have sales in Nebraska, which is over the border east of here. No matter what you charge for your land, it will be cheaper than where the more settled centers are asking per acre back in Ohio, where we are.

“Anyway, Pa will be here late tomorrow, and I have booked a room where we can meet tomorrow night for supper with him. It is to meet and eat and not a business meeting. I have also reserved seats for a comedy play at the Community Hall. I don’t imagine Itea has seen many plays. It includes Mable and Rocky, too.” Mable immediately thanked Tom.

We got down to the railroad right of way and walked beside the spur where loading and unloading took place. Then we walked back toward town to a pile of small stones. Tom said, “That must be your south-east corner. If the plot is rectangular, forty acres would be about correct. I don’t expect Pa to need only about half of that. That will be so you will still have lots along Jenkins Road.

“Pa will have it surveyed anyway. Using the surveyor to Platt out smaller lots might be a good idea if you sell house lots.”

I wish my Pa were here to do what was coming up. I didn’t need to sell any more of the land, but if I were going to build a good home for Itea and start my own business, I would need more money to keep going.

“Great, Tom, we’ll talk about this after dinner tomorrow. We might as well cut up across the land from here. I want to see how Karen is getting along.”

“Kid, I’m going stay here a bit and study more about the lay of the land. I’ll make suggestions to Pa when he steps down from the train. I may see you later on today. I know how busy you are.”

We cut up toward Jenkins road and came out on it right by the two trees I knew had another marker. We turned there and rode by the cabin and on to where Karen, Bob, and Roland were working on the tepee. Burt was there, too.

“Kid, I’m glad you are back. Why don’t you go into town and see if you can find enough canvas? We have the bottom two layers of hides on, and I’ll go around with one more layer.”

“Okay, Karen, I’ll hitch horses to the ambulance to carry the canvas. You might have Jack watch across the fields looking for the three other freight wagons traveling. If he sees them, one of you can ride over and tell them where we are. I expect them to make it here today. We still have to find a place to store Mable’s furniture. You might as well ride with me and look the town over.”

“I need help Karen with the tepee.”

“You no need to stay here, Itea. I know you want to be with Kid, and I have plenty of help.”

I pulled the ambulance close to the dock behind the General store, and we went inside. It was a vast store, handling all kinds of merchandise. Itea and I walked throughout the store. Two clerks loaded the canvas, and I asked if I could leave the ambulance there while we walked around town. “Sure,”

We went out the front entrance and walked across the street and down as far as the shops were. I didn’t take Itea down where there were the saloons. We did walk up the street where the well-to-do people lived.

“Houses are huge, aren’t they, Kid?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think many are as rich as you and I. We can afford to build a big house like this. Is that something you have to have?”

“No, never. I’d never be able to find you in that big house.” We stopped at a diner for coffee and a piece of pie. The waitress was an older woman with gray hair.

“Hi, I’m Sary Fenton, and I’ve never seen you two here before. Are you living here in town or maybe from one of the farms outside?”

“Not in town and not a farmer. I’m Matt Jenkins, and this is my wife, Itea. We just arrived a few days ago and are settling on some land I own.”

“You must be related to the owner of that big plot of land west of town with the same name as the road.”

“We are the owners.”

“You aren’t the person who gave Sam Buckland some land to build his business on when the powers that be forced him out of town, are you?”

“That would be me.”

“Oh, I am friends with his wife, Hilda. They knew they had to leave town and didn’t have the money to buy land and build a new Blacksmith building. They were at wits end worrying about what they were going to do. No one in town believed Sam when he told around that someone gave him land. Then he went ahead and started building. The townspeople figured the landowner would show up and kick him out.

“Nope, can’t do that. Sam has a solid deed to the property. I’m going to be using his forge some in my own business. I make wheels for wagons, so I’ll build right next to him.”

“I’m so glad you stopped in so I could meet you.”

“Itea and I are glad to meet you too, Sary.”

Itea and I finished our pie, and then I went to pay. “Go on, now, today it’s on me. Do come in again.”

We went up the street, stopped, and looked at all the small shops that held different businesses. When we reached the General Store, we crossed over, returned to the ambulance, and headed home.

Itea spoke, “Kid, do you think what that man said about using tar to splice two pieces of canvas together will work, and they won’t pull apart even during the winter? He told you how to do it so the tar won’t show at the seams. Karen can draw pictures of it, and it will be beautiful.”

“Well, I did buy the roll of rawhide lacing, brushes, a very sharp knife, and a couple of awls to double ensure they would hold together. I’ll suggest it anyway. Rocky may have some idea about it. We can always find a use for the tools, and the tar is used on regular roofs.

We headed out of town, and Itea spotted a house for sale. “Kid, There is a house for sale. It has a large barn behind it. It looks empty, and Mable will need to store what is on the freight wagons somewhere until we get our homes built. I’ll tell Rocky about it.”

“Good thinking, Sweetheart.”

We reached the cabin and saw the three freight wagons off the road parked out on the open land. We drove by them and up to the tepee. Everyone shouted hello at us. There was the bunch of horses that Dugan and Whitney had been caring for during the trip here grazing in the fields. They had been on ropes all the way, picketed in a makeshift rope corral at night, or on leads by our two men or more tied behind the wagons while traveling.

We drove to the bunch that stood there talking in front of the partially constructed tepee. “Hi Guys, how was your trip?”

Dugan answered, “Kid, not bad. The horses settled down within a day of leaving. It seemed slow, but the freighters said we made good time. They are laying over a day and heading back the day after tomorrow at daylight. Rocky is trying to figure out where to unload Mable’s stuff. And where do you want the buggy that’s on the wagon?”

I turned, “Rocky, Itea spotted a house for sale on this end of town. It looked like the barn was empty. Do you want to go into town and ask if we can rent it for a few months while we build our homes? It will be on the left before you get to Main Street. If not, we can cut some poles for a frame and buy more canvas. The house looks much larger than the one Mable lived in.”

Rocky turned to the freighters, “I’ll get my horse. You don’t have to unload today, do you? I’ll buy enough food to feed you men.”

“Nope, we just want to get off them damned seats.”

Rocky saddled Mable’s horse, and then he saddled his own. I watched them leave to find storage for what was on the three freight wagons. I drove the ambulance over to the tepee framework of poles. “Karen, I brought up an idea. You may want to look at this to make your tepee watertight. I bought enough canvas to give you a good sample of how to do it.”