Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-12-06
A Wonderful Cattle Pen.

Within space OF i've m les IN length
and half-mile in width roam a herd
upon whose sides the branding iEn
has never been placed. and around
whose hornes tho lariat has never
frightened.
But score or even fewer Of them
have ever seen man or horse or
other animal of their kind, and, in
truth. their, kin except at distance of
nearly GOO feet high above them. The
lutte Indians call them ''p chek-up"
or red buffalo. And vet if an Indian
who had seen them should be asked
about it he would laugh and shake his
head. and all the Information obta n
able would be, 'P chek-up; EN- red.
no hetch 'en." There are more than
GO of this heard. and ct no man
owns them; nor is there any man.
white or black or copper colored, who
has ever been able To possess boot
of these fat and tempting beeves.
The cattle are IN a prison. Out OF 1t
there is one method of escape, but to
travel that road means death 10 the
adventurous one. There is no way to
got in except it be by use of n rope a
thousand feet in length. As the In
dians say, Heap see 'em; no ketchum,
no come away" On the two sides Of
the oblong space in which these cattle
roam. rise PERCEPTIONS and even con-
caved rocks OF 500 and 600 feet At
either end scethes and rushes the
Ynmpa or Bear II yer.
For miles above and for miles below
IL plunges on in its headlOng haste to
reach the arms of Is parent the
scarcely less tumultuous but deeper
Green RIVER Like the wonderful Hat
top mountains of Colorado. this home
of the imprisoned heard has no like =
ness in the world. 1t recalls, in its in
accessibility the marvellous stories OF
the valley of verdure into
which Wayne Reds adventu-
rers only found their way by the as
sislcnce OF the balloon.
The story of the way in which these
cattle came there is rs strange as
their existence is curious. Fifteen
years ago, when the government
troops were pursu ny the Mormon
murderers of the innocent victims of
the Mountain Meadows Massacre. tho
Canites. or avenging Angels of the
Mormons; fed into what was then
literally the wilderness. A few of
those who had been the blindest fol-
lowers of Lee, the Mormon iiend in
carnate, whose hands were red with
the blood OF women and children.
found in their wandering a pretty val
lev on a stream which flows from the
Wasatch range into the Green River.
They stuck their stakes, built their
campiires and during the night the I
sagacious leader had vision which
| told them where 20 stay. They could
scarcely have chosen in all Utah a
more fert le or more isolated spot.
They called it Ashley. and about them
have since gathered more of their sect,
until where the refugees posted the
picket of the first summer has grown a
thriving village.
1t is 40 miles from the Union Pacific
Railroad south and 145 m les north OF
the Rio Grande Western. Until within
five years it has been isolated eniirel y
but now it Is thirty.five miles from the
Utah Reservation. and furnishing sup
plies for the agency forms quite a bus
ness for the community.
1t is tenet of the Danites that ROB
bing or theft from Gentle is no
or me. SO it was thought to be
only cum nG trick when Joe
Wvcitft one of the Mormon settlers
OF he new town. and II 5 three sons
malO night sortio on Henry's Ford
in Wyoming, and carried away SOC
bead "r cattle ranging there. This was
! in 1876 The owners OF the cattle dis.
covered the loss of the stock n few days
after the were gone and started in
pursu :.
Tho Wycliflps had their friends along
the trail. and were warned by signals
of the gang of the pursuing party Ac-
ccrlingly they drove the cattle as fast
a. they could travel on eastward, across
Green r yer and up along tho Bear
with the Intention of reaching the Elk
Mountain country in Northwestern Col
Orado where thew would be practically
safe from detection, and their stock,
also could secure the most succulent
of feed.
The thieves and the stolen herd had
reached q mesa of inviting grass at
sundown dav and halted to camp
for the night. A terrible storm arose
the four men desperately held the ter
rOr-stricke1 cattle b. riding around
them constantly. But the wild fear
fulness of the furious storm excited the
brutes beyond measure. All at once.
as if by one wild impulse. they STAN
pedcd stampede of cattle by day is
calculated To strike terror 10 anv heart
lest there be some human being in the
pathway. A stampede nv night is one
Of the most appalling spectacles. John
Wyckl ffe and his son endeavor ed to
head of the stampeding herd. Instead.
ther and their horses were swept on
and DIR wen in the terror to escape TIE
charge of the maddened an mails. over
the br NIX of the awful precipice which
frowns up from the waters of the Bear.
After them plugged the whole brighten.
herd. and down to the bottom of the
fearful fall went horses and riders and
horned creatures.
Ont of this plunge. to what was
seemingly certa II death for all. few
Of tho herd were not killed. Those
which had gone ahead formed a cush-
ion Of death. Manned, stunned but