This picture is hard to make out, but treasured, and here is a conversation I had about it with my cousin Donald
Donald Slack: Dixie, this is taken when they lived on Trout Creek probably about 1896 or so. Grandma Emma in the checkered dress is holding Bill Slack. That would be Grandpa Frank with the Pitchfork.
You know the story of how they got on the Trout Creek Ranch, don't you? Grandpa Frank was asked by his sister Melissa (Slack) Bloom to come take care of the Ranch while her husband, Wes, served two years in the state penitentiary for cattle rustling. The governor later pardoned Wes on the basis of a letter from Buffalo Bill. Slack Creek is just across the North Fork from the present Trout Creek Ranch
Dixie Miller Goode: No, I'd never heard that - or even heard of a Melissa. Two men in the back with pitchforks, one on hill and one just behind Emma. I assume Frank would be close to her?
Donald Slack: Yes, Frank is the one closest, behind Emma. Melissa was "Aunt Lit". She had responded to an ad placed by Wes bloom for a woman to help him care for his son after his wife and baby were drowned when their wagon overturned while crossing the North Fork. He & his son were on horses beside the wagon. I will tell you the whole story some day.
