Our history! The story of how we have come to be raising horses for over 100 years. Pictures and life story of Edwin Earl Cam Camblin Cam left his home in SE Nebraska at 10 years old in 1887. He struck out on his own and went to Kansas and found work on the horse race tracks. Then he came to Wyoming in 1892 and went to work for W.C. Irvine as a body guard and cowboy until 1900. He then went work for Keeline Brothers as a cowboy and breaking horses. He spent 6 years there cowboyin and breaking horses with a man they called Mexican John. Their summer camp was at Hoe Springs, at the head of Hoe Creek, SW of Gillette. The camp lied south of the Keeline Headquarters, the 4J Ranch. They spent their winters at the winter camp on Barber Creek west of Gillette. When Cam left Keelines they reportedly had 33,000 head of sheep, 30,000 head of cows, and several hundred head of horses. They built a monstrous horse barn 60 by 80 feet that stalled 40 horses and held 150 tons of hay in its loft (its still visible from Highway 50, 16 miles south of Gillette). After 1906 Cam went out of his own and used his skill as a teamster and started a small freighting business. He used his wagons and teams to haul needed goods and supplies to various ranches and small communities. Cam was also known for being a very good cook and he used that skill as a round up cook a few different times. Cam had become acquainted with the Zigler family that had moved into the Pumpkin Butte area in 1911. Christina Ziglers parents both passed away the winter after arriving at the ranch headquarters at the Pumpkin Buttes that they had purchased from a man named Frank Smith. Christina was the oldest of all the Zigler children, leaving her responsible for their care and the livestock that they had purchased from Frank Smith when they bought the ranch. The livestock was mainly horses. Cam was a cowboy and horseman who had a developed a deep love for horses. It first started while working on the race tracks and continued as he cowboyed for W.C. Irvine, Keeline Brothers, and breaking and training horses for both outfits and for himself. While Cam and his younger brother Tut were handling horses being used building a railroad spur from Casper, WY to Forsyth, MT., they were working a little ways south of Buffalo, WY when Cam rode up to Tut early one morning and told him Building a railroad is decent wages but too slow of work for me. I been looking over there at those Pumpkin Buttes for the past few days and I think Ill go see how that pretty little Chrissy Zigler is getting along taking care of those kids and that band of horses. She might need a little help. After helping her at the ranch and with the horses, Cam and Christina decided to get married, which they did in October of 1913 and honeymooned at The Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, WY. They were accompanied by Christinas younger sister Hattie who got married the same day to Will Vonberg who had a ranch on Cottonwood Creek on the west side of the buttes. In the years to follow Cam and Christina raised 8 children, one of whom was Earl Earlie Camblin. Earlie made his parents proud when at the young age of 10 years old, he won the saddle bronc riding at the 4th of July Rodeo in Savageton, WY. Cam took care of his family by raising quality horses. He also continued to do some freighting and working for different large ranches that needed help with their roundups for branding and shipping. For instance George Amos, Keelines foreman, sent for Cam to come help him work herd at what is known as the Greasewood Lake on the Belle Fourche River, about 15 miles east of the Pumpkin Buttes. There were several roundups coming together coming at the Greasewood. There was right at 14,000 head of cattle that needed to be worked. George Amos had sent for Cam because he respected his ability to read brands and work herd. George Amos and Cam were the only 2 that worked herd all day long. George Amos was riding a personal horse of his own, a gray horse he called Snowball. Cam was riding a blood bay gelding that he called Kid. Cam said he was the best cutting horse he ever owned. Cam left the buttes way before daylight and arrived at the Greasewood as the sun was coming up. When it was light enough to read the brands, George and Cam started working herd. They worked herd all day and finished at sundown. Cam then rode Kid the 15 miles back to the buttes and when he unsaddled him he gave him an extra bucket of oats, turned him loose, and he told Kid he was going to give him a little rest. Cam never rode Kid again because he thought he had rode him too hard that day. In 1919 the Keeline Brothers once again hired Cam. They had their final roundup because of the diminishing open range in Campbell County and surrounding area. Cam was hired by Keelines to head up the roundup in and around the Pumpkin Butte area. Everything north of the buttes that belonged to Keelines they trailed to the rail head at Ucross to ship, east of the buttes they trailed and shipped out of the rail head at Moorcroft, everything south of the buttes they trailed and shipped out of the rail head at Orpha down by Douglas, and everything west of the buttes they trailed to the rail head at Powder River, west of Casper. His wages was $1 per head per cow and $2 for every bull that he shipped for them. Keelines foreman George Amos, and one of their top hands Mexican John had made the recommendation for Cam to head up the roundup by the buttes because they both had complete trust in him as did the Keeline Brothers. Cam had earned their trust while working for them from 1900-1906 and they knew about his previous employment as body guard for W.C Irvine, so they knew he was not one to be intimidated and their money would be safe with him. Out of all the men that were working for them, they chose Cam one fall as their cattle rep to deliver a train load of steers to the stock yards in Chicago, IL., where he was in charge of marketing them and collecting the payment in cash. He put the cash in a suitcase, he handcuffed it to his wrist and rode the train from Chicago back to Gillette with Keelines suitcase full of money in his lap and his pistol in his other hand on top of the suitcase. Cam told his oldest son Earlie, that he hardly slept because the money in that suitcase was more then most would see in their lifetime. Over the years Cam never lost his love for good horses. Cams main income through the teens and the twentys was raising and selling quality horses. He improved upon the original band of mares that the Ziglars had acquired from Frank Smith by infusing what he called hot blood, which we know as thoroughbreds. His first step in this improvement process came about when he chose a few broke horses and a good number of unbroke horses, around 80 head, and put them on a train at Gillette,WY bound to Kentucky. He picked up a friend in Nebraska along the way. In Kentucky they broke and sold the horses for whatever the customer wanted from buggy horses to saddle horses. He took the money made from those horses and bought a thoroughbred stud that he called Rex. Cam, his friend, Rex, and a hound dog loaded the train and headed back west. As agreed upon Cams friend got the use of Rex for one year on his mares so they got off in Nebraska and Cam continued home to the buttes. One year later, Cam rode the train back to Nebraska with his saddle and bridle, then he tested Rexs stamina on their journey home back the Pumpkin Buttes. Rex was the foundation for Cams Quarter Cirlce Y horses. They proved to be very versatile and used for everything from cow horses to polo ponies back east, they noticed that the horses would not only watch a cow but they would watch a ball as well. Cam was also known for selling remount horses to the cavalry. When the horse market crashed Cam sold off a lot of his horses and replaced them with cows and some sheep to utilize the grass on his ranch. He did this so he wouldnt be depending on only one source of income to feed and care for his family. Cam continued to stay very active raising livestock up until his death in 1950. Through the good and the hard times, Cam was known for enjoying a card game if time permitted. Off would come his saddle and his blanket spread out for a friendly game of monte. Throughout his life, Cam, was deeply respected by the big ranchers that he worked for, the cowboys he rode along side, the people he did business with, and all his neighbors. He and Christina not only raised 8 children, their door was always open to anyone who was having a hard time or needed help. They helped many of the surrounding neighbors and their children during the depression and the drought of the thirtys. Cam was more than just a cowboy. He was a horseman, an excellent hand with livestock, a loving husband, father, and grandfather. Cams life was unique in the way it started in one century and ended in anther. He watched the times change from horse and buggy to jet air planes. Even though times changed drastically, Cam never lost his focus on the things that are most important in life. Cam had a unique perspective of Wyoming ranching history because he had ended up on both sides of the fence as he had worked for the big ranches during the Johnson County Invastion War and had ended up being a small rancher himself. Cam worked for, rode along side, and was respected by some of the most influential men in the beginning of Wyoming ranching history. A few interesting side notes- Frank Smith told Cam in later years that he had got word shortly after the large independent ranchers and their body guards representing the stock growers association of Wyoming had gotten off the train in Casper and were headed for Buffalo which was the beginning of the Johnson County Invasion. Frank Smith knew that they had a list of individuals that they didnt want to be around at the end of their invasion. Frank knew that his name was one of the ones on the top of that list, because of his location at the Pumpkin Buttes and the water holes and springs that he controlled. He told Cam that he saddled up the best horse he had at sundown and left the buttes headed east and when the sun came up he was sitting in South Dakota. He stayed there until the Invasion fracas was over. He didnt know that Cam had been a body guard when he first came to WY and Cam didnt enlighten him either. The mares that Cam and Christina used as their foundation mares were the same bloodlines of the horse that saved Frank Smiths life that night. Frank continued telling Cam about how sometime after returning from South Dakota Frank had heard about W.C. Irvine had left the Ogalalla and gone to Gillette. Frank sill held a grudge against Irvine because of the Invasion. He knew where the buggy trail crossed the Belle Fourche River going to Gillette. He intended to dry gulch Irvine on his route back to the Ogalalla from Gillette. But when Irvines buggy was crossing the Belle Fourche at the point where he was going to dry gulch him, he seen that Irvine had a young man as a body guard with him. He reasoned that the young body guard had to be good with a gun or he wouldnt be with him. He knew that when he shot the team was going to spook and he didnt know if he could get the body guard before the body guard got him. So when he couldnt get them lined up where it would only take one shot to get them both, he told Cam I pulled the trigger and let the hammer down easy with my thumb. I let them proceed to the Ogalalla unharmed. Cam never told him that he was the young man that was the body guard. Cam had also met Tom Horn. Cam was at the roundup by Newcastle when Diamond L Slim was hung. Cam knew and worked with many ranchers and had many stories that could fill history books on how the west really was.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 03:52:20 +0000
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