By R. H. “Bob” Burns
Al Houston came west to Denver in 1857 from Kansas City by wagon train. He hunted game for the Overland Stage Company around 1860, between Laramie and Bitter Creek, and furnished meat for the Union Pacific Railroad construction crews. About 1863 he settled on the Laramie River just north of where Laramie City was later located. In 1879 he moved to the Platte River valley. He sold out in 1909 and moved to California, where he died on Nov. 20, 1915. He was a guide for hunting parties and was a great friend of Captain Cooper of the firm of Marsh & Cooper, who ran the 7L Ranch. One fall Capt. Cooper could not come for a hunting trip he had made arrangements for with Al Houston, so he wired from England to his partner Bob Marsh, to give Al Houston a present of $1000. Around 1860 Al Houston had one of the first repeating Winchester rifles in the range country. This was a sixteen-shot repeater and he gave the Indians a surprise and a scare when they rushed him, as was customary after the first shot from a muzzle loader. The Indians would wait for the first shot from a muzzle loader and then would rush the unarmed (unloaded) pioneer and overpower him before he could reload. Houston fooled them with his repeater and killed off five in all before they could reconsider their action and beat a hasty retreat.
The late Oscar Sodergreen told the writer that Al Houston was at the Mandel ranch when he came to Wyoming in 1873 and soon afterwards Houston moved across the river. Oscar remembered vividly Al’s repeating Winchester rifle which was around a .44 rim-fire caliber. The late Jim King told the writer that Al Houston was one of the finest shots he ever saw perform. He could pick out certain game animals from a herd with his rifle. He invited Jim, as a kid of twelve, to go on a two months’ hunting trip with one of his parties, but Jim’s dad thought Jim was too young. Bill Houston, a brother, married a squaw. Al moved around from place to place with his wagon and team. When he saw a good piece of land he would settle there for a while and then sell out. Consequently he had many locations, but never a permanent one. He had a fine team which he called “Shad” and “Billy.” He used this team on his numerous hunting trips where he acted as guide for hunting parties.
The Laramie Daily Sentinel of June 30, 1871, reports that “an English gentleman has been making Laramie his headquarters for hunting trips into the neighboring mountains during the past year. He went out west with ‘Al’ Houston, who is his constant hunting companion. A friend of ours came across the party only a day’s ride from here in the North Park, one day this week, and from him we learn that they are having a good time and fine sport. Besides innumerable quantities of deer, elk, antelope, etc., they had ‘bagged’ nine bears, some of them monsters. One weighed over 800 pounds. The ‘Wilds of Africa’ don’t furnish any finer field for the sportsman than this Rocky Mountain region.”
