William Edwin Amspoker

William Edwin Amspoker was born in a sod house near Cadiz, Ohio, and in 1885, when he was 21, he went to work for cattle baron Abel Pierce trailing cattle from Texas to Montana. He then trailed longhorn cattle from Texas to Montana for Dudley Snyder. In all, Ed made three trail drives between 1885 and 1887. On the third cattle drive Ed decided to settle in Wyoming, taking up a homestead north of Manville. He was also employed by John D. Kendrick to manage a large horse herd north of Lusk. Later Ed purchased 20 horses and four freight wagons and began freighting from Casper to Lander. It was a seven-day trip one way. These teams were handled with one jerk line. Supplies were hauled to Lander and in the spring wool was hauled back to Casper. In 1904, Ed married Lillian Hormel who ran a café in Douglas. Ed moved his freighting business to Douglas. Ed was considered one of the top “long-line skinners” in the area and the only person known to turn a string of ten horse teams and four wagons around in the intersection of 3rd and Main Street in Douglas. In 1914, they bought a small ranch on Six Mile Creek west of Douglas.