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​Fred Cornell
 
Few Clothes and Plenty Horse by Robert W. Macy – “And speaking of camp tenders and the old commissary at the Empire Sheep Company ranch headquarters, here is a short tale.  Sometime after the turn of the century a young man from Ontario, a Canadian whose name was Fred Cornell, arrived in Northeastern Wyoming and found employment with the Empire as a bookkeeper.  In due time Mr. Guthrie put Fred in charge of the commissary – the decision was made partly because this man appeared to have some measure of business acumen who was frugal by nature.  On one occasion a salesman sold Mr. Cornell a quantity of cheese.  In pricing this commodity, it became apparent that the price per pound would be greatly reduced if the ranch purchased a carload of cheese (I’m assuming a rail carload) – and so it was.  As the camp tenders came to the dock at the commissary to load supplies it became rather evident to Fred that he had overbid his hand.  He made every effort to get cheese out to the camps.  He encouraged the camp tenders to take a few extra-large cakes of cheese with each load.  The camps were slugged with cheese.  The herders tired of cheese.  They fed it to the dogs and in some cases threw it over the cut bank in front of the wagon.  Mr. Guthrie occasionally visited the camps.  When he saw the surplus cheese situation, his only comment was, “Jucks dang, the boys are sure wasting a lot of cheese.”  This story has no dramatic climax – no punch line, and is offered here merely to picture a phase of an era that is now gone.  I know Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Cornell very well, and I revere the memory of these men.”
 
Fred Cornell was born in 1878, died November 1, 1947 at the age of 67.  Married to Annie ??, who was born in 1877, died in Sundance on January 31, 1962 at the age of 84.