On January 1, 1868, it was a city of six thousand inhabitants. Was it not indeed a "Magic City," which could furnish a six months' record like the above? However, this was but the _Quatre Bras_ before the Waterloo. Cheyenne's real struggle for life, for advancement, for culture and permanent prosperity, was to begin with this new year of 1868. We know how grandly the young city conquered, not by "magic" this time, but better still, by patience, pluck, and indomitable will. But to her honest and law-abiding citizens, at the outset of 1868, things looked dark indeed. Cheyenne was the terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad that winter, and the scum of the floating Western population drifted thither. Houses were insufficient, and many wintered in tents and dugouts. To make things worse, great numbers of squatters came, and began seizing town lots. "Shootings were frequent, and every manner of vice abounded. A canvas saloon would answer as well as another for gambling, drinking, and the purposes of the dives. Various men and women made the place intolerable. It was never disputed that this town exceeded in vice and unwholesome excitement any of the new cities of the West." The police were overwhelmed. Crime, theft, and assault were rampant. Patience ceased to be a virtue. The commander at Fort Russell was appealed to, and a battalion was sent by him to escort the squatters beyond the city limits. After that, the good people of Cheyenne took matters into their own hands, deciding to "Take up arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them." A vigilance committee, that _dernier_ resort of the order-loving Westerner of that period, was formed. On January 11, 1868, this committee arrested three men for robbery. The criminals were bound together and placarded with the following notice: "$900 stole. $500 returned! Thieves F. St. Clair, W. Grier, E. D. Brownell! City authorities please not interfere until ten o'clock A.M. Next case goes up a tree! Beware of Vigilance Committee!" Comparatively gentle measures, like the above, were useless. Authority in that wild land had to be made of "sterner stuff." Not until the vigilants had hung and shot a dozen men did comparative order prevail. There was many a dark day for the well-wishers of Cheyenne; yet they lost "No jot of heart or hope, But pressed right boldly on," and gradually peace came out of strife, order out of confusion, and civilization reigned supreme. In 1869, Cheyenne became the great _entrée_ port of the vast regions north and west. On September seventh of that year the first term of court was held in the city. [Illustration: A MOUNTAIN VILLAGE.] In that same month of September, an election for members of the first Territorial Legislature took place. That Legislature held a sixty days' session. Some of its _dicta_ were as follows: Gambling was allowed.