Lige Driskell & George Finch

Elijah H. “Lige” Driskell (also spelled Driscoll, Driscol, Driskoll) was born in Kentucky. He left Missouri and went to California to hunt for gold. He came to Wyoming with Johnston’s army at the close of the Mexican war, and during the “war” with Mormon pioneers. The army marched through to the crossing of Big Sandy, on the Old Emigrant Trail, near what is now Eden, where it went into camp, but the wagon train was captured and destroyed by enemies. To provide supplies for this army, herds of cattle were driven from Texas and it was with one of these herds that Lige Driskell came to Wyoming. He became associated with Bridger, Sublette, and other pioneers and a store and trading post was established in the Burntfork Section. He served the Union during the Civil War, but then returned to Burntfork, where he became a prominent rancher, stockman, and mercantile owner. George Howard Finch II was born February 9, 1859, in Wyoming to a French-Canadian father and Shoshone mother. After his father disappeared, his mother married Lige Driskell. When George married Martha Hereford, Lige gave him a brand and told him to go into the cattle and horse herds and cut out whatever animals he thought should rightfully be his. Lige Driskell and George Finch built up the finest ranch in the country; they had a remuda of horses that was larger than most cattle ranches.