Birmingham age-herald., 1894-11-13
THE WALLED HERD.
STRANGE STORY OF AN lNACCESSl-
 BILE BAND OF CATTLE.

A Pyramid of Bones Marks the Spot Where
 Their Ancestors Fell Over Precipics
 Twenty Years .Ago-DwelI In Safety
 Where 1Ian Has Never Trod.
 In the widest, portion of the west, 75 miles northwest of Meeker, where, in 1S79 the Utes massacred the Meeker fam fly and every one at the agency, is the most wonderful cattle ranch in tho world. Within space of five miles in length and three miles in width roams a herd upon whose sides the branding iron has never been placed and around whose horns the lariat has never frightened. But a score or even fewer of them havo ever seen a man or horse or other animal of their kind, and, in fact, their kin except at distance of nearly 600 feet high above them. Ute Indians call them "p'check- up' or red buffalo And yet if an In- dian who has seen them should be asked about it he would laugh and shake his head, and all the information obtainab1e would be, P'oheck-up; 'em red; no ketch 'em" There arc more than 1000 of this herd, and yetno man owDs them, nor is there man, white or black or copper col ored, who has ever been able to possess a single hoof of these fat and tempting beeyes
 The cattle are in a prison. Out of it there is ono method of escape, but to trav- el that road means death to tho adventur- ous one There is no way to get in except it be by use of rope 1 1000 feet in length. AS the Indians say: Heap see lem; no ketch 'em; no como away" On the two long sides of the oblong space in which these cattle roam rise preeipitous and even conoave rocks for 500 or 600 feet-yawn- ing, black and insurmountable. At either end seethes and rushes the Tampa or Bear river For miles above and miles below it plungcs and stumbles on in Its headlong haste to reach the arms of it's parent, the scarcely less tumultuous but deeper Green river. Like the wonderful flat top noun tain of Colorado, this home of the impris- oned herd has no likeness in the world. It recalls in its inaccessibility the marvel. ous stories of the valley of verdure, into which Mayne Reids adventurers only found their way by the assistance of the balloon.
 The story of the way in which these cattle came there is as strange as their existence is curious. Over 20 years ago, when the government troops were pur- suing the Mormon murderers of the inno- cent victims of the Mountain Meadow massacre, the Danites, or Averaging An gels of the Mormons, fled for their lives into what was then literally the wilder ness. A few of those who had been tho blindest followers of Lee, the Mormon f1end incarnate, whose hands were red with the blood of women and children, found in their wanderings pretty valley or stream, which flows from the Wasatch int fb.a ri their stakes. built their campfires and dur ing tho night their sagacious leader had vision, which told him there to stay. They could hardly have chosen in all Utah a more fertile or more isolated spot. They called it Ashley, and about them have sinoe gathered more of their sect until where the refugees posted their piokets on the lonely nights of the first summer has grown thriving village. It is 140 miles from the Union Pacific railroad south and 145 miles north of -tllsc--Rio ltc -Grande Vest ern. Until within few years past it has been isolated entirely, but now it is but 80 miles from the Ute reservation, and furnishing supplies for the agency forms quite business for the community.
 It is a tenet of the Danites that robbing or theft from a gentle is no crime. So it was thought to be only cunning trick when John Wyckliffe one of the Mormon settlers of the new town, and his threo sons made night sortie on Henrys ford in Wyoming and carried away 800 head of cattle ranging there. This was in 1874. The owners of the cattle discovered their loss few days after they were gone and started in pursuit.
 Tho thieves and tho stolen herd had reached a mess of inviting grass at sun down one day and halted to camp for the night. A terrific storm arose. The light ming flashed necessarily, and the thunder pealed and cracked with intermitting fury. The four men desperately held the terror stricken cattle by riding around them constantly and chanting some weird tune. But the wild fearlessness of the furious storm excited the brutes beyond measure. They surged and ground, every moment growing less subject to control All at once, as if by one mad impulse, they stam- peded.