Charles K. Bucknum

Charles Karner Bucknum (October 12, 1847 – November 21, 1915), sometimes written as C. K. Bucknum, was an American Indian Wars veteran, settler, rancher, trapper, and politician who settled various areas of Wyoming Territory. Bucknum is noted as being one of the earliest settlers of Casper, Wyoming, and Musselshell, Montana. He served in the Wyoming Legislature from 1904 to 1908 and was the mayor of the city of Casper from 1892 to 1893 and again from 1901 to 1902. The city of Bucknum, Wyoming, just west of Casper, is named after him.

Early life Charles Karner Bucknum was born October 12, 1847, in Peru, Indiana, in Miami County. He was the son of Kelb Bucknum and Evaline Lumesdan, both of New York. He was also the great-grandson of Amasa and Anna Karner Bucknum. Bucknum's father was the owner of a pharmacy in Indiana until 1852 when his family traveled to McCartysville in California (now Saratoga, California). Bucknum's father died while in California in 1854.

On July 25, 1863, Bucknum enlisted into the ranks of Hatch's Minnesota Cavalry Battalion under the command of Edwin Aaron Clark Hatch. He served until mid-1866 when the battalion was mustered out of service. Ilges hired Bucknum as a military scout and guide due to Bucknum's proficiency in many Indigenous languages as well as in Plains Indian Sign Language.

Bucknum would eventually serve as a military scout under Major Ilges, General John Gibbon, General John R. Brooke, and Colonel Nelson A. Miles during the Nez Perce War. In 1875 Bucknum married a Gros Ventre woman by the name of Ioliti who later died in 1882, together they had 2 children. Bucknum later ran as the mayor of Casper from 1892 to 1893, he served as county commissioner of Natrona County, Wyoming, from 1895 to 1896, and was again elected as the mayor of Casper From 1901 to 1902. From 1904 to 1908 Bucknum served as a Republican state representative in the Wyoming Legislature. Bucknum, Wyoming, is named after Bucknum. The city was named Bucknum on December 27, 1907, at the behest of Frank Walters, the local manager of the Chicago and North Western Railway.