when he took off his shoes to go to bed, the cook told him that if he would step down to the river and wash his feet, he might find a pair of socks on them. Boone did not wear socks. Just before Christmas we had a cold spell, when the thermometer went to 20 degrees below zero. A day or two after that it began to warm up, andhe came to the '25' ranch in the afternoon, where he had left his overcoat; oneof the blue ones, worn by the boys in the Civil War. He said he would leave his shoes and go on to Haigler, 25 mikles distant, if it were not for the sandburrs.

          I do not now remember whether there was a post office between Culbertson and Hairgler. B ut if there was, it was at Camp Creek just east of Stratton. The postmaster at Culbertson always sent all the mail to the ranches along the river by the carrier. The mail between offices was carried outside the pouch. This carrier system was very convenient for the cowboys.

          At that times [sic] there were five permanent ranches between Culbertson and Haigler. Bob Bush had a small bunch of cattle where Trenton is now located. There was one at Camp Creek, the owner of which, I cannot just now recall. The '76' was located on Muddy creek with Charlie Hickman as foreman, and Old Man Scott and "Taller Eye" as permanent employes [sic]. Elmer Miller was foreman of the '25' outfit at the Forks, and the Hour Glass was supposed to be on Buffalo creek, but they moved their permanent ranch over on the Hackberry. Dick Davenport was the manager, with Frank Pay as foreman in his absence.

          During the winter of '79 and '80, a town was laid on the site of the present site of Benkelman and called lCollins City, after Mose Collins, a well known character, who was living in Culbertson during the time of townsite company. During that winter a post office was located in the '25' ranch building, Elmer Miller was appointed postmaster and the office was named Collinsville. As soon as the roundup was started in the spring, Jake Haigler threw up his job, not because someone wanted to registger a letter, but because, when the men were away on the roundup there was no one to attend to the office, and no one was thrown out of doors about it either. Collinsville became the end of the mail route, until the railroad came along in the winter of '81 and '82. C. L. Ray.