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Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg
New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.
I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.
I want to again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, gather around, get your cup of coffee, glass iced tea, bottle of water. Let's see what's happening out there.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat? Oh, wait. Thea, my wife, didn't report back to me. I'm gonna skip that. But guys there's more, much more.
OK Solberg:Okay. Okay. Sit up and pay attention. We have a new listener tuned in the last few weeks. And guess what? He resides in Casper, Wyoming, and his name is Hunter Halstead. Actually, he's Grace Clausen, Pankratz, grandson.
OK Solberg:Now Grace is my classmate from good old Malta High School class of 1975. So welcome, Hunter. Glad you tuned in and glad you enjoy the stories. So, Hunter, if you've been listening, you've heard a lot about Malta and, well, Phillips County. We all kinda like that stuff around here.
OK Solberg:But when I found out you were from Casper, Wyoming, well, guess what? I had to do me a little research. You know, guys, research is my hobby. I love every minute of it. Look what I found.
OK Solberg:If you wanna know about Casper, Wyoming, know one thing. Its most important feature is the North Platte River. Now every town has something that drew people to it. In Malta, it was a railroad. In Casper, the railroad did come in in 1888, actually one year after, it came through Siding 54 which became Malta.
OK Solberg:But the Casper area was thriving long long before the railroad came through because why? Because of the North Platte River, understand this, Look it up yourself. For much of the nineteenth century, the river was one of the most important features of the entire region.
OK Solberg:Did you realize, and I'm not making this up, did you realize the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, the Mormon Pioneer Trail, and the Pony Express And Overland Trail all all came right through the Casper Wyoming location. Yessiree Bob, I hope to shout, and call the doctor. If you like Old West history, you gotta love Casper.
OK Solberg:And guys, you know I love Old West history. So Hunter, you probably knew all this but I sure am glad to find out myself because long before Casper was a city, the North Platte River served as a natural highway for people traveling west. So the history of Casper is, in many ways, the history of a river crossing. The North Platte did not merely flow past Casper, it helped put, well, Casper on the map.
OK Solberg:Now when I hear the North Platte River, I'm reminded of one thing and it's a funny one thing. Charles M Russell was not just an artist, he was an author and a story writer.
OK Solberg:Well, my dear mother-in-law, she had a book written by Charles M Russell, and I read every page of it. Funny thing, back in the day of the cowboy and the covered wagon, one of their means of entertainment was to have a liar's contest.
OK Solberg:Bible alert. Bible alert. Time for our bible verse, Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who ask act faithfully are his delight. Proverbs 12:22
OK Solberg:Oh, we all know it's wrong to lie, but see but see, in this case that Charlie Russell is writing about, it was known to be a lie, so nobody believed it because it was just made to make you laugh. So in the book, Russell tells about a liar's contest.
OK Solberg:And the winner, well, he told all about him. Now the way the story goes, there were so many buffalo back then that groups would gather around the campfire and say something like, you know, I swear I saw at least 5,000 in a herd. Then the other guy would laugh at 5,000, that's peanuts. I saw a herd at 10,000. I swear that's true on my mother's grave.
OK Solberg:Well, now the winner of the contest came forward and reported, you may have seen many, but I've seen more. It happened back about 3 years ago when we was in the wagon train and we had just crossed the North Platte River and we were bedding down for the night and here comes a buffalo across the river.
OK Solberg:Well, we were right in their path and there was nothing we could do but circle the wagons and kept the lead flying all night long just to keep them from trampling us. At sunrise, oh, they just kept coming.
OK Solberg:We felt we were doomed, but we kept the circle tight and our Spencer repeating rifles were kept cool only by mama sprinkling water on the barrel with her tea kettle. It's hard to believe now, but I swear it's a naked truth or may my horse throw a shoe.
OK Solberg:I've been in many shootouts, but this thing here darn near come to give me a heart attack. My heart was knocking against my ribs like a trap bird in a cage. Well, we kept that up for 6 full days. 6 full days.
OK Solberg:Then Buffalo just kept a coming. On the afternoon of that 6th day, there was a little break in the action and quick as we could, we hitched up our wagons and hightailed it off the flat. Good thing we did because when we topped the hill, we took a gander back and here comes the main herd.
OK Solberg:That one's for you, Hunter. It supposedly happened on the banks of the North Platte River right near where you is living now.
OK Solberg:So until next time, as you go out there, don't get run over by no buffalo. And remember now, don't be bitter.