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Two Letters From Bill Hooker, Wyoming Pioneer, and Pamphlet,

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:225.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
Two Letters From Bill Hooker, Wyoming Pioneer, and Pamphlet,

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Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
first is ALS, 1pp, 7.25" x 9.25", n.d., Lake Beulah, WI. To Mr. Shaffner of the Wyoming Pioneer Association requesting a new membership card, since Mine is so worn that it can hardly be read, & I need a new one if I'm going to Independence Rock July 3, 4, 5!! He sketches his old card which identifies him as Non-Resident Honorary Life Member, No. 1.

Second is ALS, 1p, 8.25" x 10.75", [1932], Lake Beulah, WI. Written on verso of a Wyoming Pioneers Association Flyer dated Aug. 29, 1932, that mentions the association's efforts to preserve an historic schoolhouse built in 1884. His letter is the cover for his contribution to the effort. He also notes that his address for the winter will be care of the Milwaukee Journal.

Third item is a copy of The Goldenrod, Summer 1932, Vol. 2, No. 3. 12mo, 12pp, Arapahoe, NE. Published occasionally. Devoted to Amateur Journalism, Reminiscences of the Old West, Travelogues, etc. This issue has a couple pages concerning the dedication of the Hooker monument, erected near Douglas, WY, at the forks of the Fetterman and Yellowstone trails, with a short biography of William Francis (Bill) Hooker.

Hooker (1856-1938) was born in Fon du Lac, WI. He lost his mother when he was young, so at the age of 15, he headed to Wyoming, where he became a "bull-whacker" working for a number of well-known freighters, as well as moving supplies from Cheyenne and other points on the UPRR to Fort Fetterman, Fort Laramie, and the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indian agencies. In 1874 he built a cabin on La Bonte Creek, just outside Douglas. "Indian trouble" began in 1875, and, of course, took Custer and his men the following year, and drove Hooker and his partner to Fort Fetterman. After a few years more on the prairie, Hooker returned to Wisconsin and started a career as a writer, working for newspapers as well as writing magazine articles and books, several of which were popular with boys around the turn of the century. The monument, unusual in being erected to commemorate a living individual, was erected as much to commemorate a way of life that had just about disappeared by 1932 as it was to honor a single man. 

The Thomas Minckler Collection of Western Americana

Condition: Letters with usual folds, minimal toning. Pamphlet excellent.