A 1922 tragedy northeast of Laramie Beware of March blizzards!
The Horse Creek area between Green Top Mountain on the south and Ragged Top on the north have long provided excellent summer pastures on the eastern edge of Albany County. Some, especially the well-heeled ranch companies, mostly used the open range for sheep and cattle while others claimed places through the Desert Lands Act and filed homestead applications to the federal government.
Open Range
Big outfits such as the Swan Land & Cattle Co, King Brothers Sheep Ranches, and Warren Livestock Company grazed their animals in these high pristine meadows. Clear mountain creeks and abundant grass sustained their Albany County herds for many years, though it was mostly public land that no one yet owned. Some used these ranches only in the summers while others lived here year-around, although the winters were harsh with ferocious blizzards and altitudes up to 8,500 ft.
Many settlers filed land claims, hoping to establish a family legacy in this area. Some stayed, but many left, as can be seen by the abandoned cabin foundations and log or sod piles associated with their occupancy. The stories we can deduce from these remnants and scant newspaper coverage include tragedies as well as successful enterprises.
The Sheriff is called
In the days before accurate weather forecasting and radio broadcasts, weather events were far less predictable than they are now. A predawn call to Albany County Sheriff George Trabing on Saturday, March 18, 1922, alerted law enforcement to a tragedy.
Horse Creek rancher Harry Brown notified the sheriff that Mrs. John Adamson had frozen to death in a blizzard near Green Top Flats northeast of Laramie. Sheriff Trabing and undertaker E. W. Johnson set out for the area at 9 a.m. that morning, driving a team of horses and a wagon.
They traveled up Ninth St. until they reached the Spur, a landmark six miles northeast of town. From there, they passed the old University quarry and headed east up Rogers Canyon Road, named for Oscar Rogers, early day carpenter, and timberman who had taken out one of the first Desert Land Claims near this area in 1884.
The pair traveled up the narrow, steep, and winding road through about 10 inches of snow that had been left from the blizzard of the day before. The Green Top Mountain area was about 18 miles from Laramie; they reached it in the early afternoon. The men were under the impression that Carrie Adamson's body had been found. But on their arrival, they learned that the search was still being conducted.
The events had begun the day before when John and Carrie Adamson were working around their homestead near Green Top Flats. The two had talked about proving up on their property early and were happy with their progress. They had been married just two years previously, on January 1, 1920, and had begun working together on the property John had filed upon.
Both had been married before with children from those marriages. Carrie had come to Laramie from Nebraska with two sons, Delbert and Wayne Williams, 16 and 12 years old, respectively. She also had a married daughter who lived in Nebraska. Her husband had died in 1914. She found employment in Laramie and later married John E. Adamson. His 12-year-old son and Carrie's sons lived at the homestead with them.
Blizzard!
As they finished their work, on March 17 John and Carrie decided to replenish foodstuffs in short supply. As it was such a lovely day, they knew they could go to the neighboring Perue Ranch four miles away, to buy items such as potatoes and flour to tide them over until they could make a trip to town. They set out walking at about 2 p.m., wearing only light clothing.
John Adamson said they reached the Perue ranch, then left at 4:15 and headed home with their supplies. About one mile down the road, it started snowing lightly but not enough for alarm. However, in a short time they were overtaken by a ferocious blizzard that struck with full fury.
They were not very familiar with the area's landmarks and the freezing and blowing snow had them completely lost. The blizzard was said to last about 12 hours and leave 10 inches of snow when it was done. They found shelter behind some rocks with John wrapping his coat and arms around Carrie—holding her to offer some protection.
Carrie perishes
At dawn, the storm abated, but John realized that his wife had died during the night. He made his way back to the Perue ranch suffering from exposure, fatigue, and frozen fingers and toes. Word was sent to the Harry Brown ranch, one of the few in the neighborhood with a telephone. Brown contacted Sheriff Trabing. Upon arrival at the scene, Johnson and Trabing joined in the search. After several hours, undertaker Johnson was called back to Laramie by urgent business leaving Trabing to continue the search.
Carrie's body was found about 6 o'clock that evening and loaded onto the wagon. Harry Brown and Sheriff Trabing began the long journey back to Laramie with Carrie's body, reaching town at 11 p. m. that night. Sheriff Trabing said later that this trip was one that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
A spooky ride
What made it so memorable was that wolves still roamed those hills. Trabing said they could hear the wolves howling that night as the wagon came down the narrow, winding Rogers Canyon Road. It was a long, slow trip in a night that was clear and very cold. There was a moon that was just a few days past full.
As the horse's hoofs crunched in the deep snow and the wolves’ howls echoed from the canyon walls, Carrie's frozen body kept sliding forward on the steep descent, her feet poking into the backs of Trabing and Brown.
It was a spooky 5-hour ride for the two. Her body was then turned over to Stryker Funeral Home for burial arrangements. Both men were sure to have a few sleepless nights reliving the eerie events of that day.
Another tragedy
There was more tragedy ahead for the Adamson family. A little over two years later, the newspapers reported the death on January 29, 1924 of 14-year-old Wayne Williams, son of Carrie Adamson.
Wayne and brother Delbert had gone into Cheyenne for school in the fall of 1923. The boys had attended the Leslie country school near their home the previous year but transferred to Cheyenne. Wayne had come back home at Christmas and worked on the Art McKechnie ranch, not far from his stepfather's homestead.
The boy's death was reported in the newspapers as either heart problems or a horse accident—no confirmation was found in the newspaper. Wayne's body was sent back to Nebraska, where he was buried beside his father and mother.
Sheriff Trabing
Sheriff George Trabing died before I was born, but he told this story many times to his son, my father LaVerne Trabing, always with the admonition that it reminds you that life is never certain.
Those who were part of search and rescue then, as now, keep memories of tragedies with which they are involved. When they talk about them, as my grandfather George Trabing did, they become part of Albany County’s history.
Records show that John Adamson did prove up on a homestead claim in 1929, though that parcel was much closer to Green Top Mountain than the one the Adamsons apparently were living on in 1922. By 1941, he had sold off some of this land and in 1943 was living in Laramie. He died in 1946 at age 76 and is buried in Greenhill Cemetery.
George Trabing had served as deputy sheriff to Sheriff Carl Jackson for four years between Jan. 1915 and 1918. He was elected as Sheriff in 1918 for a two-year term and reelected in 1920, serving until January 1923. As part of his job, he and his deputies had seized many moonshine stills in the hills east of Laramie and dealt with cattle rustlers and horse thieves throughout that area. Trabing was accidentally shot and killed in the line of duty in 1931 in Washington State. He was serving as a Federal Prohibition officer there at the time of his death.
Sheriff Trabing’s father, August Trabing, settled in Laramie in 1868. Both men spent time in the mountains east of Laramie because the Trabing ranch and stage stop August founded was only about 10 miles north of the Horse Creek area. Trabing family members still live in Albany County.
Brown and Perue families
Rancher Harry Brown—the first to summon Sheriff Trabing, was born in Laramie in 1884 to the Charles W. Brown family, who had homesteaded on a tributary of Horse Creek in the vicinity of Green Top Mountain. After Harry was married, he and his wife lived on the family ranch where they raised one daughter, Eunice, whose married name became Stiles.
The Brown family raised prize cattle and horses; Harry Brown’s great-granddaughter owns it now (2021) and leases it out for grazing. She treasures the ranch and history and, although she now lives in California, spends as much time as she can at the family place.
Henry Perue had several different homestead claims in the Horse Creek area and was a neighbor of Harry Brown and the Adamson family in 1922, though the parcels he received from the federal government in the 1930s were also close to Green Top Mountain, south of CR17. The Perue family came to Laramie in 1897, and many of the extended family members had ranches and businesses in the Laramie area, and some still live here. Some of these early ranchers also worked in Laramie or rented out their holdings.
An article from November 12, 1923, indicated that someone named Thompson had rented a cabin on the Perue ranch at Horse Creek and made moonshine. The report stated that one of the largest and neatest copper stills with a capacity of 65 gallons was seized from that location by federal agents. The Perue family was not implicated in the moonshine arrest. Henry Perue remained in the Horse Creek area; he and his wife Jessie were there at the time of the 1940 census, the most recent record I found.
The McKechnie ranch where John Adamson’s stepson Wayne worked in 1924, was in business probably before 1910 and accumulated land through various homestead claims, adding more acreage through land purchases later. Arthur E. McKechnie Sr. was a participant in rodeo events around the area in his younger days and raised cattle and fine horses, which he showed and sold.
His son Arthur E. McKechnie Jr. followed in his father's footsteps selling quarter horses for cutting, racing, reining, and performance classes. Although this ranch is no longer in the family, third-generation grandson Ed McKechnie (Arthur E. McKechnie III) and wife Kristy carried the Horse Creek Ranch name to Arcadia, Kansas, where they raise and sell champion high bred horses. Now the Wyoming McKechnie ranch has become a part of other ranches in that area.
I wonder about the lives of the others involved in this story, particularly the rest of the Adamson family. This area basically remains the same as it was over 100 years ago. There has not been much change to the landscape. But there are certain to be plenty of other stories the old-timers told that are unknown to us today.
By Nancy Trabing Mickelson
Editor’s Note: Nancy is a fourth generation Wyoming resident who grew up in Laramie. Her parents were Bonnie and LaVerne Trabing. She and husband Jim live in Sheridan but also still spend time at their Laramie home. Her passion is researching her family’s history in Wyoming. She republished an 1888 catalogue of the Trabing Commercial Company founded in 1868 by her great grandfather August Trabing and his brother Charles. She enjoys sharing family Wyoming history with interested groups.
Caption: Horse Creek area landmarks along Rogers Canyon Road (CR17) circa 1922 based on recollections of residents and historic maps. Both the Strong Coppermine and the townsite of Leslie were short-lived after a 1907 fire ended the mining, but the school remained for a while. Perue and Adamson locations are not shown on historic maps though McKechnie and Brown ranches are shown. Old-timers consulted recall that Adamson and Perue were living north of CR17 in 1922, so both are shown with question marks. Documents report that both men received homestead grants between 1929-1936 that were closer to Green Top, about 4-6 miles south of the present CR17. It is impossible to tell for sure from available accounts precisely where these two ranches were located in 1922. Note that locals refer to CR17 (a gravel road) as “Rogers” Canyon Road, though most maps and road signs leave off the “s” in Oscar Rogers’ name.