Hat Creek, A Day in the Life - Hanson Family History (9/20/2025)

Opening remarks by JoAnn Wade:

Welcome to a Day in the Life at Hat Creek. We invited you here to not only commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the soldiers arrival to this very spot, which initiated all of the local happenings and history down through the years, but also to begin the celebration of America’s 250 years as a nation. Earlier this year the county commissioners appointed a committee to lead Niobrara county’s celebration of America’s history. The committee consists of Leslie Stewart, Sanda Johnson, Sheila Bolden, Richard Ladwig, Debbie Sturman, Morgan Nolan, Gary Bayne and myself (JoAnn Wade). Throughout the next year, we have many different experiences planned to showcase our Niobrara County History.

Welcome to the 150th anniversary celebration of the Hat Creek Stage Station!

Donna, Danny and Jeb Hanson's Family History (video)

Frank Hanson was born in Illinois in 1870, the youngest of twelve children. When he was still very young, his family moved to Tekamah, Nebraska, and settled near Silver Creek. At about two and a half years old, Frank nearly drowned when he followed his older siblings across a creek and fell in, only to be saved by one of his sisters.

By age eleven, Frank was working for his brother-in-law, Jim Olinger, while attending school in the winter. Around this time, his brother O.J. Hanson, who worked in Wyoming, visited home. Another brother, Red, was heading back to Wyoming, and Frank begged to join him. With little money, the two traveled by foot and hitched rides until they reached Sidney, Nebraska, where they stayed briefly before continuing west. Frank recalled buying a cowboy hat and six-shooter, though he had little cowboy experience at first.

From Sidney, they headed toward Fort Laramie, alternating between walking and horseback. Frank struggled with his hat blowing away in the wind and often had to chase it, nearly losing it in the Platte River. Red frequently rode while Frank walked, forcing the boy to struggle along. Along the way, they stayed at the 4P ranch, where Frank hoped to begin work.

At the 4P, Louis Davis was foreman, and Frank was promised work beginning in May. Until then, he lingered with the cowboys, observing their life. When work didn’t materialize, he hired on at the PF ranch, digging ditches for a few weeks before quitting due to disputes among the crew. He then drifted back to Nebraska, covering long miles on foot, and by the time he returned, he was exhausted but determined.

Frank continued finding seasonal jobs. He worked cultivating corn near Tekamah, and the following winter experienced the great blizzard of 1888 while staying with Jim Olinger. Later, he followed Red again, this time to Node, Wyoming, where he was introduced to John B. Kendrick, who gave him his first steady cowboy job at $25 a month. Frank began riding broncs and gained a reputation as a working hand.

His early cowboy years were full of challenges. Horses often bucked, and he had to prove himself. He worked under various outfits, including the OW ranch, where he was part of large roundups. He also worked for Tom Avant and later for the LX and UT outfits, moving with cattle across Wyoming, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. Frank recalled broncs and balky horses giving him plenty of rough rides, but these experiences hardened him into a skilled cowboy.

Life on the range was unpredictable. Frank endured harsh winters, including being snowed in while traveling with cattle. On one trip, he lost his way in a snowstorm and narrowly survived the cold, finding shelter in a sheep camp. He described riding through deep snow, nearly freezing, and eventually thawing out among strangers who took him in.

During the early 1890s, Frank’s work took him across vast stretches of country. In 1890, he joined the LX outfit as an all-steer outfit during the “Indian scare.” He wintered in Buffalo and rode with crews driving cattle north and west. In 1891 and 1892, he worked for the UT outfit and later took part in the “Johnson County War” era, though he focused mainly on his cattle work. He recalled running herds for miles without fences, often sleeping rough and riding long days.

By 1893, Frank’s experience had grown, and he was trusted with difficult jobs. He took cattle from the Missouri River to Sandstone Creek, camping along the way and facing storms. He described snow so deep it buried shacks and forced men to improvise to survive. Despite hardships, he pressed on with his work, continuing to hire on with outfits like the OW and LX, and enduring blizzards, isolation, and the ever-present danger of broncs.

In 1894, Frank worked on Hanging Woman Creek, where he narrowly avoided legal trouble after staying in a shack with a man who was later arrested for forging a check. In 1895, he pushed cattle as far north as the Canadian line. At that time, there were three cowboys named Frank with the outfit, so he earned the nickname “Big Frank.”

Frank’s story reflects the toughness required of early cowboys—long miles on foot and horseback, brutal winters, dangerous broncs, and unpredictable pay. Through it all, he built his reputation as a reliable working hand. What began as a boy’s dream of adventure turned into years of hard labor and survival on the open range, shaping him into the man remembered in this memoir.

My father, Dan Burke Hanson, was born February 4, 1906 in Lusk, Wyo. which was then Converse County. His sister, Sadie Hanson, was born in 1907. Interesting enough at that time telephone service existed at their home on Young Women Creek. In 1911, Dan’s half sister, Margaret Dorsey, taught him to read and write. Dan and Sadies mother, Kate, was a firm believer in education. She was instrumental in getting rural schools in that area established. Dan started school at the Clouse family homestead, 5 miles west of his home. Dan and Sadie attended several different schools in that area. As more homesteaders moved in school locations changed. It is my observation that the homesteaders worked hard to keep the riding distance for the students to less than six miles. He could remember adults talking about World War 1 and that they all agreed that the US should stay out of the war. France and Germany were the two most free countries in Europe, people were split about which country should win. Woodrow Wilson was reelected on the promise to keep the US out of the war; a promise he didn’t keep. I guess politicians haven’t changed much over the last 100 years. He attended country schools until 1922 when he finished his last two years of high school in Lusk. Interesting enough he played on the first Lusk football team.

When he attended high school it was the present Elks Lodge with approximately 100 students attending…now there are 80 students or less attending NCHS. In 1925, Dan attended Laramie College. While in college he chopped wood and peeled potatoes at a boarding house. He received his teaching certificate in six weeks. He began his teaching career at Van Tassel. 90 dollars a month was his salary. The 90 dollars was much more than the $30 he would have received being a ranch hand. With his first pay check he bought a 40 dollar saddle. He rode that same saddle until he was unable tide any more. In 1926 he taught school nine miles west of his parents and his Home Place. In 1927 he went back to Laramie for the fall semester. In 1930 he taught at Carbon Black in Lance Creek. When Carbon Black blew up he was right there. During his time at Carbon Black he filed for a candidate on the Democratic for the Legislature and was elected. In 1931, the Lance Creek school board found a substitute for Dan’s teaching position, the tall, gangly, 24 year old headed for Cheyenne. Dan lost the next election because of too many no votes on spending money. About 15 years later Dan was approached by the Niobrara County delegates to ask if he would make another run for the office, his reply “the Democrat party have gone way over to the left and left me behind.” Needless to say he did not run again.

In May of 1943, Dan married Margaret Brock. An interesting little side note, Mother said she did not understand why men liked to wear neckties..her father, J.Elmer Brock said he knew just the man for her since he had met my father at various Stockgrower meetings.

After they were married Dan and Margaret moved to the Haydu roughly two miles north of 270 on the same turnoff as the original homestead. To this marriage was born six children, John, Kathy, Brock, Dan Jr, Julie and Jeb. All but two of the children were born in Lusk.

In 1954, Margaret’s Father, J. Elmer passed away, consequently Dan and Margaret bought out her brothers share of the ranch and moved the family to Kaycee. At that point Dan continued to run both ranches. Spec Black was the Lusk ranch foreman until 1980 when Dan Jr. took over. Through the years Dan and his children and grandchildren have added to the holdings of both the Lusk and Kaycee ranches.

Dan Jrs sons (Dan Henry and Ben ) are currently running the Cross H ranch. Jeb also ranches in Niobrara County on part of the original ranch. Jeb’s daughters are involved in helping him as well as running their Landkamer grandparents ranch. Dan Srs other four children and their children ranch at Kaycee. Dan and Margaret had six children, ten grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren.

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