The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-02-11
TRAPPING ANTELOPES.
METHOD OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS
IN CAPTURING THEM.
Pens in Which Hundreds of the
Wary Creatures are CorraIed AT
Once-A Cruel Practice.

Few people in the west and scarcely
any in the east, have any idea of the
unique manner in which the Navajo
Indians have from time immemorial
caught antelopes, writes a. correspond
ent at Helena, n. M. Thousands of the
beautiful creatures still abound upon
the vast tablelands of this territory.
In the country just south of the Nava-
/ 10 reservation, and between it and the
Atlantic & Pacific railroad, one fire.
quently comes upon long, straight
rows of the trunks of trees and the
branches of cedar and pine stretching
for miles across these treelesS plains.
In many places, says the Chicago Jour
nal, they are nearly rotted away, and
only the larger limbs and trunks now
mark these lines. These are the ruins
of ancient antelope corrals of pens.
The large bands of antelopes have
| long since been destroyed in this part
of the country, and only small herds
of from five to ten can be seen. These
are mostly hunted down upon the
American or white mans plan. How
ever, directly south Of WinsloW, about
fifty miles distant, large bands of these
graceful creatures still roam, and there
is in existence there a new corral that
is in running order at the present time.
| 1t is here that the old men of the tribe,
who believe in the ancient manner of
| catching game, enjoy their annual
hunt.
This corral was built in 1890 by the
order of the old chief, Gano Mumcho
and his son, Many Horses. A place
was selected where a slight hill was
! found upon the border of wide prai-
RE Not even a sagebrush could be
SEEN and trees for the corral had to be
brought from the cedar-covered hills
nearly ten miles away. They were cut
and dragged to the place by the men
and bows on horseback. A close pen,
| circular in form, about one hundred
feet across was first built against the
steep side of the hill, so that the tops
of the posts used could not be seen
! from the opposite side. Two lines of
! trees were then dragged and laid loose
| ly upon the ground, but close enough
| to appear like a brush fence. These
lines at the pen are about twenty
yards apart and run almost parallel
! for one hundred yards or so and then
spread apart at an angle of about
thirty degrees and extend across the
plains for four and half or five miles.
When the party reaches the corral
for the annual hunt the chief first Sc
Ilects the officers, four to watch each
point of the compass. around the pen.
For each pit is dug deep enough TO
nut him out of sight. The less space
| required the more the occupant is es-
teemed and deemed worthy of promo
/ ton later on The chief and his as
sistant then take their places at the
right side of the entrance to the pen,
standing in hole dug for the pur-
pose and just deep enough to hide all
except their heads. From five to eight
/ Indians on the fleetest horses are set
out at daybreak to surround a band of
antelope and head them toward the
corral An antelope when startled
keeps as far as possible away from any
place where an enemy might be hid
ing, hence they keep as far away from
the wings of the corral which are on
either side of them, as they can. After
being closed in upon they cannot turn
back, as the drivers are in hot pur-
suit, and they make q dash for the
top of the HILL which to them appears
to be the only opening between the
horrid lines of brush fence. But, alas
for them, they find themselves in
closed in a stout pen, around which
they run in circle, never trying to
jump over The shouts and yellS of
the Indians at length so completely
terrify the poor animals that they
stand trembling and apparently I'M
conscious of the Indians, who now ap-
proach and kill them with clubs,
hatchets, stones or anything at hand
AS many as $50 have been caught at
one time in this manner, and for
wholesale destruction of game it sur
passes any numbering process in vogue,
and should be stopped entirely