White Bear Clan Appaloosa Run

Appaloosa RunDon Ulma had heard of the Bell ranch but who hadn’t in this part of the country. By a fluke in being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He met a man outside of town and rode in with him stopping at the saloon. Charlie Diditmore came in to the saloon and tried to arrest the man which came in with Don. Diditmore had to kill the man for the man drew his pistol. When the gun fight was over Charlie told Don to go to the city jail and wait for him. Charlie had tried to find out if Don had been with the outlaw or not. Don was in jail even though the door was not locked when Charlie Diditmore came in the sheriff’s office. After looking at Don he was asked if he wanted a sinter job on the Bell ranch and Don took the offer and had the chance of working on the ranch. While taking the money which Harmon Bell had recovered from bank robbers Don was involved in a shoot out at the bank when the bank was being robbed again. Then Don and Cup Madden along with Noaks Oaks made a trip to Montana to purchase Appaloosa horses for the ranch. On the way back the horse herd was stolen and Cup died while Don was saved from being killed because he carried books to read in his coat pockets. In recovering the horse herd Don rescued two women who was being evicted from their property by gun man shooting at the house. A speculation man was trying to take over the range because of the water rights he wanted to sell to a railroad.Not long after that Don married one of the women and bought the herd of the Flying U from a dieing rancher. Don moved the cattle back to his land holdings in No Mans Land or some folks called it the Cimarron Strip which was a haven for outlaws and rustlers. He also hired some of the old-time outlaws which lived at a lake on Dons property and they help him to start the Flying U ranch since the cattle and horses had already been branded by the original owner.What it took to hold the Flying U was guns and guts along with savvy on how to make things work for the ranch. Also needed up with adopting several children from an orphanage in Saint Louis Missouri.