Over the Divide from Kingsley along the Powder River another community blossomed, from the relatives of Lester Earlding Earley and his wife, Eulalia Veronica (Lillian) Haasl. Lester's brother Vernon Stanley and Lillian's sister Agnes also homesteaded there, as shown above.
On the irrigable land of gumbo, sand, and cottonwoods, the descendant of two of Lester and Lillian's children, Lester Earley Jr, (Buck) and John Earley have made their living from the land, helped at times by working off the ranch at various other jobs. Today, John and Helen Earley's son Luke manages the land that Lillian homestead on, and Buck's son Lester owns Lester Earlding's homestead.
Two other homesteaders added to the magic that became this community along the Powder River: Agnes Haasl, Liliian's sister, and Lester Earley's brother Vernon Stanley also homesteaded, as shown in the graphic above. Earley brother Bob helped out on the ranches until he chose to move to Massachusetts.
Lester and Lillian raised their children on Lillian's homestead on the Powder River: Beatrice "Betty" Lillian Weisser, Sister Helen M Earley, Lester Joseph Earley, John James Earley, Anne Margaret House/Amsden, Agnes Gertrude (Leigh) Mackaben/Patten, Margaret May Manguso/Young, Katherine Joan Miller.
Paraphrased from Anne Earley Amsden's Echoing Footsteps' entry:
Lester Earlding Earley was born in Nova Scotia and later his mother moved to New Hampshire with her three boys, Grant, Bob and Vernon and her daughter, Pearl, when her husband John died. Lester's mother took on another bunch of children to raise and Lester and his brothers didn't stay long at home.
Lester was in his late teens when he and his brothers Bob and Vernon decided to heed the call of "Go West, Young Man, Go West." They boarded a train which took them to Terry. They were broke when they arrived and took the always-available ranch jobs until they earned enough to buy their stock-in-trade, a horse and saddle.
Bob soon tired of the west and took a train to Massachusetts. He subsequently went to work in a gear factory. He often longed to return to Montana and in 1939 wrote he had definitely decided to sell out and return with his adopted children. Before he could realize his dream he died of a heart attack.