The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-09-08


grow succulent grasses, and upon this the
c cattle have propagated and thrived. In |
looking over the edge of the precipice |
one can see that they are small and as
wild and agile as deer. They have been
to regard the appearance of O man,
whether Indian or white, es menace !
from which they fee. claihbering over
rockc ard through underbrush in the
chase TO point OF concealment.
The place where the thieves and their
horses and tho herd fell is plainly marked
by pyramid of bones, which rises TO
the height of 30 feet. The ghastIy
reminders and relics of the human and
animal victims of the terrible leap shine
forth white and glistening when the sun
is high and reaches that spot witty its full
glare. The progeny OF the surviving
animals from the fall are fat and sleek
though, and have their sunny beds, deer
like, where they lie for warmth in The
winter aud 10 them the monument OF
skeletons IL no source of disquietude.
There is no fierce mountain lion or moro
dangerous bear, nor, in face, any other
animate thing within this COW garden of
Eden. As yet, too, no man has been able
TO reach or disturb them.
The Utes heve tradition that savors
of n romance cocnsc cted with this wonder
tul spot. IL il that young buck who
was of Piah's renegade band became en-
amored of young quarter bred Sioux
squaw and sought to take her to his tribe.
The Utes have virtue if such it may be
called, of total prohibition from mingling
with the white in marriage relation.
| Even when there have been instances of
women of their tribe becoming too ia
miliar with white men they have invaria-
| by been visited by the severest punish
meat, the progeny destroyed, with the al
most equal certainty of killing the indis
Greet sguaw. SO, for "Se-ne iaho" and
his Sioux bride, they had no welcome.
Added to their three-fourths white blood
was the still worse odium that the only
Indian blood in her veins was Sioux, a
tribe which the Utes hate as they hate no
white or other living being.
The bucks drove "Se ne j aho and the
! woman away. After weeks of outlawry,
often pursued and clinRiug to an exist
ence of terror, the young buck and his
squaw determined that they would seek
the Cattle Valley, which the Indians call
the "Lowsr Earth" and try to find access
Once there tney could dwell in peace, and
would DO rich in the possession of hun
dreds of animals, the flesh of which they
could eat, while from the skins they could
make their clothes. They tried q
score OF ways in which to gain access
Descent was death. The rapids of the
river was the only course. The buck pa
tiently made dugout from log and q
paddle from limb. Twelve miles above
they launched the rude craft, themselve:
lasbed it, and went whirling and shooting
on downward. When they emerged from
the dark walls into the opening which
they had hoped would be their i'll. pregna
BILE refuge the dugout was bottom up, ant
already splintered by contact with a thou
sand Jagged rocks, while IT bore on, il
the resistless current, two lifeless ans
bruised bodies.
. This remarkable spot Is where Blu
mountain and Cross n Juntain, both wei
known landmarks for the hunter, savag'
and white, rear their precipitous side
out from the Bear river. Among the nov
b living witnesses of the accuracy of tn
! statements made by the lLdiaus OF tn
= existance of cattle in this lneccessib
valley is Alexander Powell, more famlil
arly known as Coon" who makes hi
: headquarters at Meeker. Powell Is a
intelligent man, OF a good Virgins fami
u ly, but like many Others who drifted ives
u years ago, has lost both ambition an
I desire To return home. He has spent te
u years earning d precarious iivlihood a
guide and trapper and has frequentl
visited this particular spot.
The other most curious physical fol
y nation which HIS separated animal lif
,. from the possible approach of man,
9 one of tbs Fiat Top mountains In GA
e field county, Col. This mountain stand
. up like gigantic cube. On one side
3 perceptable, the place where the connec
D ing link, with it's broad ana level sun
s NIT was centuries ago. Marks of hos
= back" which ohce ran out and down !
8 the other mountains can be plainly seei
E From vantage points some miles ava
IS field glasses will disc.ose on II clear Ia
l. moving
. ANIMALS on THE GRRAr MESA.
ss Those who have been there pronount
J. them as beyond doubt, species OF I'll
n moose, bearing the fiat, broad horns an
.e having all the shaEbling movements
those animals, now unknown to the gan
seekers in Ibis section OF the Unit,
st States.
Tue animals on the top or the big Me-
"A are extremely shy of hunters, and two
n. three schemes which have been tried
NJ capture them have failed. Several pa
,e ties of Ute hunters, who make the Boo
IA Plateau their hunting grounds, have a
n tempted ID climb the rugged steep tn
r. leads to the top, aud one Indian who su'
~ ceeded in scaling it for 40 or 80 feet VI
~ killed by falling from the perch. II
Indians describe the animals as strong
,v resembling the moose, although of larg
n frame and antlers. They do not attic IN
"a to account for their presence on top
the table land, to which there is no ro'
or access, simply affirming that the an
T. mails are there and that Indian no cat'
=, um." party of scientific tourists, wi
"a saw them through powerful glass cou
=. give no logical reason for the presen
,s of the remarkable tenants between lal
Of and sky.
. A thin stream of water trickles doy
o. one side of the platesu and gives evide
ns ce that the animals have water as we'll
"A the food which is seen growing about I
e. edges to the heighth of Two feet. L