Lusk, circa 1918, looking east
On left is the Northwestern Hotel, photo on provious page. The broad street running away from
the viewer is present day East 2nd Street. Prior to the coming of the
motor car, small towns abounded. The towns would frequently consist of a church, a general store, post office, saloon, and a
Grange or Odd Fellows Hall. Throughout rural America such towns would be strung along railroad tracks or a stage line on an average of
about ten to fifteen miles apart, a convenient distance for isolated homesteaders to hitch up and ride to
town for church, lodge meetings, and supplies. Such were Node and Van Tassell to the east of Lusk and
Manville, Keeline, and Shawnee to Lusk's west.
Scene at Van Tassell, approx 1917
Van Tassell was founded when the Fremont,
Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad arrived in 1886. The town was named after Ranchman Van Rensselaer Schuyler Van Tassell.
Passenger Depot, Van Tassell, Wyoming, Approx. 1910
The use of a box car as a railway depot was not necessarily unique to Van Tassell. At the opposite end of the state, the Union Pacific used
three box cars on a siding as the railway station for Granger. The center car housed the ticket and baggage office. Another car
constituted the freight station and the third was the passenger waiting room, divided into
Ladies' and Gentlemen's waiting lounges. The two waiting areas were divided by a chalk line drawn on the floor. Smoking was
permitted in the Gentlemen's Lounge but not in the Ladies'.
Van Tassell was incorporated in 1916 and rapidly became a main shipping point for
Goshen and Niobrara Counties and at one time had a newspaper, two stores, two churches, an electric
plant, a hotel, three cafes and a city jail. The town was also home to
Ferdinand Branstetter Post No. 1 of the American Legion, the first post chartered in the
United States. The charter is now on display in the Stage Coach Museum in Lusk. Branstetter, originally from Nebraska was one of the first
residents of the area to be killed in World War I. Beginning in the 1920's, following construction of what is now
US Highway 20, business was conducted in nearby Harrison, Neb. or in Lusk and the town slowly declined reached a
nadir in the 1990's of a population of 8. As of the 2000 census the town's population is 18. The Town has a modern town hall and
community center.
The area presently encompassed
by Niobrara County, however, did not begin to be settled until the 1870's with the
establishment of the Sage Creek Cantonment near the old Hat Creek Road Ranch north of the
Hat Creek Breaks north of present day Lusk. Some settlement occurred, of course, south of Lusk in Goshen County near
Rawhide Buttes.
Hat Creek Butte, north of Lusk
The Hat Creek Breaks, a line of hills are, like Rawhide Buttes, an extension of a geologic formation
known as the Pine Ridge Escarpment which divides the Great Plains from the rest of the
state. It was from the Breaks that early intreped travellers on
the Black Hills Stage first felt that they were really in the Black Hills. The Black
Hills received their name as a result of the ponderosa pine which from a distance seemed
black when seen in contract to the lighter chalky sedimentary rocks. Rawhide Creek was first
described by Rufus B. Sage in his description of his early 1840's trip through
the area:
This creek traces its course over a broad sandy bed, through a wide valley of rich clayey loam,
slightly timbered and luxuriant in grasses. Towards its head it is shut in upon both sides by high pine hills; but,
in passing on, these mural confines are exchanged for the prairies, and the
creek finally debouches into the Platte.
North of the Breaks on Sage Creek was the Hat Creek Station. As
noted on a previous page, there were two Hat Creek Stations, the newer one slightly
to the west of the old is still in existence. Hat Creek, itself, is in
Nebraska, but through error, Capt. Egan in establishing the fort, thought he was on
Hat Creek. The name stuck. Further to the north, near present day Mule Creek Junction and just south of the present day
Weston County line, was the Robbers' Roost Road Ranch. The Robbers' Roost Station was a
long, low, crude building with a sod roof. See photo on Deadwood Stage page.
About 1869, James Moore started the J M along Rawhide Creek about two miles north of the
present town of Jay Em. Moore in conjunction with Charles
Moore owned ranches on the North Platte at Cedar Creek, Nebraska, and on the
South Platte near present day Stirling, Colorado. During the short life of the
Pony Express, Jim Moore was a rider between Midway and Julesburg. The division from Mud Springs to Julesburg was sometimes referred
to as the "Jules Stretch" after the line's superintendent Jules Beni. Beni, as discussed with regard to
the Overland Stage, died at the hands of Jack Slade. On June 8, 1860, Moore made his epic
280-mile round trip from Midway to Julesburg and back in 14 hours and 46 minutes, changing mounts at Julesbvrg,
Thirty-Mile Ridge, Mud Springs and ending at Midway. Moore averaged over 18 miles per hour.
The ride was described by Col. Henry Inman and
Col. Cody in their 1898 The Great Sale Lake Trail:
James Moore, the first post-trader at Sidney, Nebraska, made a ride
which may well lay claim to be one of the most remarkable on record.
He was at Midway Station, in Western Nebraska, on June 8, 1860, when
a very important government despatch [sic] for the Pacific coast arrived.
Mounting his pony, he sped on to Julesburg, one hundred and forty
miles away, and he got every inch of speed out of his mounts.
At Julesburg he met another important government despatch for
Washington. The rider who should have carried the despatch east had
been killed the day before. After a rest of only seven minutes and
without eating a meal, Moore started for Midway, and he made the round
trip, two hundred and eighty miles, in fourteen hours and forty-six
minutes. The west-bound despatch reached Sacramento from St. Joseph
in eight days, nine hours, and forty minutes.
Jay Em, Wyoming, 2005. Photo by Geoff Dobson.
Moore sold the ranch to Van Tassell. Later, after Moore's death, Van Tassell married Moore's widow.
The Town of Jay Em, twenty-three miles south of Lusk in Goshen County, was founded by Lake C. Harris (1889-1983) about 1905.
The town was named after Jim Moore's J M Ranch.
Harris claimed a homestead in 1912. At one time, the little town
had a post office, grocery store, hardware, garage, and the Farmer's State Bank of Jay Em which opened in
1920 and sold out in 1945. The bank was one of the few that did not close during President
Franklin Roosevelt's bank moratorium. (The bank did not get the word.) Shoults Garage in the photo
was operated by James Alan Shoults (1891-1973) between 1928 and 1945. A blacksmith shop was behind
the garage. Shoults sold out to Wolfe's Repair. The barns in the distance housed the
hardware and grocery.
Jay Em, Wyoming, 1940. Photo by John Vachon, courtesy of
Library of Congress.
Upstairs on one side was a hall for dances and other community functions. John Vachon (1914-1975) was a photographer for the Farm Security Administration from 1936 to 1943. Following
World War II, he was a photographer for Look Magazine.
Schoolhouse, Jay Em, Wyoming, 2005. Photo by Geoff Dobson.
Between Van Tassell and Lusk is Node. Node derived its name from the
Node Ranch founded prior to 1880. "Node" refered
to a brand held by the ranch in the shape of a knot or node. The ranch was at one time owned by the Western Live
Stock Company in which Frank Lusk held an
interest. The ranch was sometimes referred to as the "Flying E."
Node, Wyoming, approx. 1910.
In 1894, the Node Ranch was sold to Thomas Bell who operated as the Tom Bell Cattle Co. Tom Bell was originally from Portneuf, Quebec. His
family moved to Richland, Nebraska in 1867 when Tom was four years of age. His father died in 1877 and his mother remarried.
Bell came to Wyoming on his own at 15 and was employed by Swan and later by Charles F. Hecht as a range rider. For Hecht, he rode line along
Young Woman and Lightening Creeks. On occasion he shared a dugout line cabin with a cowboy working for the
OW, John Kendrick. Kendrick later became governor and a United States Senator. Bell would also share the
dugout with the horses, the horses being separated by a canvas wall.
DeHoff & Son Grocery, Node, Wyo., 1914
After he purchased the ranch, Bell discontinued
use of the Node brand. Instead Bell used a "carlink" brand. Bell ran princapally a hereford-short horn mix. Bell served as the first chairman of the
Board of County Commissioners upon the formation of Niobrara County. The town, however, retained the Node name. Bell ultimately retired to
Florida.
Tom Bell Cattle Co., undated.
The post office was not established until 1910 when Peter Hansen was designated as
postmaster. He maintained the
office at his homestead. The post office was later moved to the DeHoff Grocery. Today, the town has minimal
population.
Next Page: Manville and Keeline.
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