Nichols expands his holdings in Newcastle
Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
With Leonard Cash
In this week’s installment of “History on Main,” historian Leonard Cash continues his discussion on the industrious A.M. Nichols.
According to the News Journal from Jan. 26, 1906, the Mondell and Nichols Contracting Co. took on another contract that would include four miles on the northwestern
extension.
By April 27, 1906, they completed their railroad work on Shoshone and “moved the first of the week to section 113 and 114, being about midway between Shoshone and Lander.”
In addition to the construction company, Nichols and Mondell also had a ranch, and according to an article from Nov. 16, 1906, they purchased the Getchell bunch of cattle and placed them on their Oil Creek ranch. Another article from the same issue reported that the Nichols and Gue meat market received a new coat of paint.
On July 12, 1907, the paper announced that George Hodge became the new foreman of the Mondell and Nichols ranch.
Nichols’ son Lloyd ran into some trouble around July 19, 1907, when he scratched his leg with a hay hook and received blood poisoning. It was thought to be so bad at first that he might need to have his leg amputated, but after “the most constant care and treatment,” he turned for the better and was doing just fine.
A news article from Aug. 2, 1907, reported that the Nichols Supply Co. was keeping everything up to standards.
“The Nichols Supply Co. well may it be termed the ‘Pure Food Store’ as they handle nothing but goods that have passed inspection according to the pure food law,” the article says.
The meat market also met the same high standards as the supply company because on Sept. 8, 1907, the paper announced that the Nichols Meat Market was deemed neatest and cleanest in the state by “Pure Food Commissioner Busk.”
“He paid a very high complement to the Nichols Meat Market by saying it was the neatest kept and cleanest market in Wyoming,” the article says.
According to the Sept. 20, 1907, issue, Mondell and Nichols expanded their ranching enterprise when the Oil Creek Ranch Co. was incorporated. F.M. Mondell became president; R.W. Dyer, the secretary; and A.M. Nichols, treasurer and general manager. The new company took over the Mondell and Nichols ranch and stock interest, Getchell cattle, and Bud Smith cattle.
“The personnel of this company is a guarantee of its success,” the article says.
A couple of months later, the supply company received a “fine, new cash register,” according to the Nov. 1, 1907, paper.
“It is one of the latest improved models and is a beauty,” the article says.
A week later on Nov. 8, 1907, another new shipment was received. This time it was a carload of Washington apples at $2 a box, said “to be one of the finest shipments ever unloaded at this point.” Additionally, manager S.V. Washburn resigned because of health issues, so he went to the McCourbey Bros. Ranch in hopes of improving his health with the fresh air.
“Evidently it did, because he came back into town and went into business,” Cash said.
The store’s delivery horse was worked a little too hard, according to an article from Jan. 24, 1908, when their best delivery horse died.
“The horse had been driven rather far and allowed to stand in the cold without being blanketed, which resulted in its death,” the article says.
However, the bad news didn’t end there. On Jan. 31, 1908, the paper reported that the store was broken into through the front door, but all the thief took was a dollar in change and a few cigars and pipes.
An article from May 1, 1908, advertised that 30,000 pounds of Pillsbury Best was available at the store as well as other “good things” from “Chase and Sandborn” and the “Club House.”
Nichols broadened his livestock business by purchasing red hogs that were raised on the LAK ranch, according to an article from March 20, 1908.
On June 5, 1908, an article announced that Preffie Sandy from Georgetown, Colorado, became the new manager at the grocery section of the supply company.
S.V. Washburn bought an interest in the supply company, according to the Sept. 4, 1908, paper and “will give his entire time and attention to the
business.”
The Oct. 2, 1908, edition of the Journal said that Thos. P. Sweet and Nichols’ store were both having a cement walk laid in front of their business
properties.
In addition to being a businessman and jack-of-all-trades, Nichols was also very involved in politics, having served as a Weston County commissioner for two years, and on Nov. 27, 1908, the paper announced that he was a newly elected state legislator.
The article gave a brief summary of Nichols’ life accomplishments, starting when he moved to Wyoming in 1887. Originally, he dabbled in the newspaper industry by working at the papers in Sundance, Douglas and Newcastle until 1896, when he went into the livestock business.
“The newspaper push of the state should warm to A.M. Nichols, the newly elected legislator from Weston County. While he is not actually an active member of the profession, he has served his time and still has a warm place in his heart for the pencil pusher,” the article says.
Nichols accumulated “more and more of the one thing needful,” according to the article, and eventually started his supply company, which soon grew into a prosperous business.
“His newspaper training has given him a clear insight into things as they are while later years in the live stock business have rounded out a general experience. That should make him a valuable member of the coming assembly,” the article says. He was also a member of the Wyoming Consistory No. 1, A.A.S.R. of Cheyenne, Kalif Temple, Mystic Shrine Sheridan, and master of the Blue lodge A.F. & A.M. in Newcastle.
The Jan. 1, 1909, issue announced that a new typewriter was installed at the bookkeeper’s office of the supply company. It was a new model from Smith-Premcet Co.
The paper from March 5, 1909, reported that Nichols came back from a trip to Billings, Montana, where he bought a carload of pulp fed beef.
A few weeks later, the company received an order for three carloads of Weston County oats from a firm in Denver, and they just finished loading it, according to the March 19, 1909, paper.
On May 14, 1909, the News Journal reported that Nichols purchased lot 6 of block 10, which was the vacant lot west of his supply company.
That wasn’t the only new purchase he made, however. According to the July 2, 1909, paper, Nichols bought a five-passenger touring car and “is now taking a course of sprouts in the art of becoming an expert ‘Shufur.’” J.L. Baird also bought a four-passenger roadster.
“The cars are both beauties,” the article says.
W.M. Disterpath, who was employed at the Nichols’ meat market for two years, was leaving because he bought his own meat market in Gillette, formerly owned by Claude Rush and Max Schiller, reported the July 9, 1909, issue of the paper. Martin Seifert and A.F. Wathen were to take charge of the Nichols market.
According to an article from July 16, 1909, Nichols took his automobile, driven by a “large” team of horses, for a spin on the prairie, but he soon ran into trouble.
“It was lucky that the machine was equipped with a whip socket. The loss of a bolt caused a change in power as far as the nearest telephone station and it was not long before Jay Baird responded to the call with the necessary repair part,” the article says.
Edward Gue, who formerly worked at the Nichols meat market, moved away to Casper, but according to the Sept. 17, 1909, paper, he was moving back to Newcastle with his family because he bought an interest in the supply company.
“Mr. Gue will have charge of the meat department of the business and has not been away so long, but will remember the ‘cut’ you want,” the article says.
Next week, Cash will retell the story of the fire that destroyed the A.M. Nichols Supply Co.