History of Johnson County,  Wyoming

Johnson  County was organized in 1879, and was named after E. P. Johnson, a prominent  attorney of Cheyenne. It has
an area of 4,046 square miles. The total assessed  valuation of the county in 1900 was $2,341,448.12; the population of
the county,  3,027. With its rolling plains, extensive forests and fertile valleys, it  is
justly regarded as one of the best sections of the state. The Big Horn  Mountains have an elevation of 14,000 feet, while
 many of the valleys are less  than 4,000 feet above the sea level.

The  resources of Ihe county are varied. Stock raising is the chief industry. The  vast open range and abundant streams
of pure water make it a paradise for  cattle. There are thousands of acres of grazing lands, and sufficient land can  be
irrigated to produce enough hay, grain and alfalfa to make winter feed for  all the live stock that the range will support
 in summer. The county is one of  the best watered counties in Wyoming, being well supplied with small streams
 heading in the Big Horn Mountains, and flowing generally to the northeast or  northwest.

The  northern part of the county is a good farming country and easily accessible by  means of the Burlington railway.
 All kinds of vegetables are successfully  raised; cabbage, turnips, rutabagas, lettuce, parsnips, cauliflower, beets,  carrots,
celery, broomcorn and sorghum cane are all grown with success, while  melons and small fruits of unequalled flavor and
excellence are cultivated.  Yield of oats per acre is forty-five bushels and upwards; potatoes average 400  bushels; alfalfa produces two crops per year, of from four to seven tons per  acre; and other crops in proportion.

There are  30,000 acres under irrigation, and 200,000 acres are susceptible of irrigation  and only await the advent of the
 industrious settler, who can here obtain a good  home cheap, and there are 2,000,000 acres of available grazing land. Pasture 
lands sell for $2. irrigated from $15 to $25. Prices of products obtained by  ranchmen are as follows: Alfalfa, $3.50;
 timothy. $0; bluestem, native, $8 per  ton; oats, $1.25 per cwt.; wheat and potatoes, $1 per cwt. There is a large  supply
 of pine timber taken from the mountains, which is well suited for  building purposes. Along the streams are thrifty groves
 of cotton wood, and  experiments have shown that timber of various kinds can be as successfully grown  here as in
the prairie states of Kansas and Nebraska.

Minerals  are yet undeveloped, but valuable prospects in gold, silver and copper are found  in the Big Horn Mountains.
 Oil is found in large quantities, but because of a  lack of transportation facilities is not worked.

This  county is. without doubt, one of the best range counties in the state. It has  one of the finest winter ranges in the west,
 where stock can roam at will,  secure from winter storms in the shelter afforded by the high hills and deep  gulches, while
 on account of the protection given by the location of the Big  Horn Mountains and its spurs, lying to the west and north,
blizzards are  unknown, and the fall of snow is the least, especially on the head of Powder  River and its tributaries, of
 any place in the same latitude in the United  States, with the probable exception of a small strip on the Pacific coast. The
 hills are covered with a thick sod of buffalo and other native grasses, and the  cattle on the range in the central and southern
 parts of the county keep in as  good condition as many of those in pastures where they have been fed nearly all  winter.

Buffalo,  the county seat, has always been a prosperous town, and at the present time has  a population of 1,000. It is the
 business center of a fine grazing and  agricultural district and has superior natural advantages.

Clear  Creek could furnish water power for a hundred factories, besides irrigating  several thousand acres of land. At the
 present time Buffalo is thirty-two miles  from the Burlington railroad, but at no distant day expects to have a railroad  connection.

Its citizens have been very enterprising in building up the town,  having erected a $40,000 court house, a $15,000 school house

 and numerous brick  buildings. The city also maintains an electric light plant, flouring mill, water  works and two newspapers.

 Two
stage lines are operated, one leaving daily for  Sheridan and the other for Clearmont, the nearest railroad point. The town of 
Buffalo needs an electric railway connection with the Burlington Route, a  distance of forty miles down Clear Creek, where water
power can be obtained  therefor.

The Sahara  Ditch Company has built a canal to irrigate some 10,000 acres of fine land in  southern Johnson County,
which will afford homes for a considerable number of  prospective settlers. The increased number of sheep
and cattle being fed each  year in
this county affords a ready market for the sale of all grain and  forage which can be raised. A private company
 has secured the use of Lake De  Smet for an irrigation reservoir and contemplates raising the lake level so as
 to afford sufficient water for the irrigation of large tracts of land in  northern Johnson County and in southern
and central Sheridan  County.

Here is  located the State Soldiers' Home, upon 1,270 acres of fertile land. The  buildings cost over $100,000.

The United  States land office for this county is at Buffalo.

(Source: The State of  Wyoming, Published by Authority of the Ninth Legislature, 1919 - Transcribed by  C. Anthony)
 

BIOGRAPHIES

Robert B. Rose, an attorney who came to Buffalo from New York in 1908, was a strong supporter of the community and it
 development. He served as clerk of district court, county attorney, and represented the county in the lower house of the
state legislature in the 1923 session.

In 1925, Bill James was serving as mayor of Kaycee and had great faith in the future of that part of the county.
He came to the Powder River country from Montana in 1901 where he worked on the range and finally got into
the sheep business. He later owned and operated a hardware store in Kaycee.

One of the kindly, unselfish characters of Johnson County was  Dr. I.W. Blake. Physician and surgeon who
administered to the progressional wants of resints for over 30 years. Regardless of weather conditions, Dr. Blake
answered the call of the sick and afflicted by day and by night and it mattered not to him whether the patient was
evoid of funds or of sound financial status. A graduate of  Rush Medical College, Chicago, he practiced medicine in
Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri before moving to Wyoming county was Dr. I. W. Blake, physician and surgeon who
administered to the professional wants of residents for over 20 years. Regardless of weather conditions, Dr. Blake
answered the call of the sick and afflicted by day and by night and it mattered not to him whether the patient was
devoid of funds or of sound financial standing. A graduate of Rush Medico College, Chicago, he practiced medicine in
Wisconsin Illinois and Missouri before moving to Wyoming.

John C. Flint, referred to by his friends as often following the medical profession, was Buffalo's under­taker. Being of Scotch birth,
 he was known for his ver­satility and was also engaged in the mercantile business. When he arrived in town in 1906, he was lean
of pocketbook but strong on grit and found work as a carpenter. In 1908, he bought an interest in the undertaking establishment
 and, three years later, became involved in the mercantile business. He was also the man to call upon if there was any entertaining to be done.