The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-11-15
THE WALLED HERD.
Pyramid of Bones Marks the Spot where
} Their Ancestors Fell Over a Precipice
Twenty Years Ago-Dwell In Safety
Where Man Has Never Trod.

Their Ancestors Fell Over a PrecIplce
Twenty Years Ago-Dwell In Safety
Where Man Has Never Trod.
In the Widest portion of the west, 70
miles northwest of Mcekcr, where, IN
1879, the Utes lnassacred the Meelzer fam
lily and every one at the agency, is the
most wonderful cattle ranch in the world
Within space of five miles in length ana
three miles in width roaIns herd upon
whose sides the branding iron has never
been placed and around whose horns the
lar1at has never frightened. But score
or even fewer of them have ever seen
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'oheck-
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 obtainable
would be, ssP'check-up; 'em red; no ketch
'em." There are more than 1 900 of this
herd, and yet no man owns them, nor is
there man, white or black or copper col
ored who has ever been able to possess
single hoof Of these fat and tempting
beeves.
The cattle are in a prison. Out of 1t
there Is one method of escape, but to trav-
ell that road means death to the adventur-
GUS one. There is no way to get in except
it be by use of rope 1000 feet in length
AS the Indians say: 'sHeap see 'em; no
keteh 'em; no come away" On the two
long sides of the oblong space in which
these cattle roam rise precipitous and even
concave rocks for 500 or 600 feet-yawn-
olr ,%1k k1sk
end seethes and rushes they ampa or Bear
river For miles above and miles below
it plunges and stumbles on in it's headlong
haste to reach the arms of it's parent, the
scarcely less tumultuous but deeper Green
river. Like the wonderful fat top noun
tain of Colorado, this home of the impris.
oned herd has no likeness in the world.
1t recalls in its inaccessibility the marvel
GUS stories of the valley of verdure, into
which Mayne Reid's Adventures 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 30 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 Avenging An
gels of the Mormons, fled for their lives
| into what was then literally the wilder
ness. A few of those who had beer tho
| fblindest followers of Lee, the Mormon
| tend incarnate, whose hands were red
| with the blood Of woraen and children,
found in their wanderings pretty valley
| OF stream, which flows from the Wasatch
range into the Green river. They stuck
their stakes, built their campfires and dur
| ing the night their sagaoious leader had
a vision, which told him there to stay.
| They could hardly have chosen in all Utah
| "a more fertiss or more isolated spot. They
called it Ashley, and about them have since
| gathered more of their sect until where
| 1.-THE refugees posted their pickets on the
| lonely nights of the first summer has
grown thriving village. 1t is 40 miles
from the Union Pacific railroad south and
| l145 miles north of the Rio Grande West
| fern. Until within few years past it has
| Ibeen 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.
1t is tenet of the Danites that robbing
| or theft from GENTLE is no crime. So
lit was thought to be only cunning trick
when John Wyckliffe, one of the Mormon
l
)sons made night sortie on Henry's ford
| lin Wyoming and carried away 800 head
| IOf cattle ranging there. This was in 1874
Nhe owners of the cattle discovered their
| aoss few days after they were gone and
| STARTED in pursuit.
| The thieves and the stolen herd had
reached mess of inviting grass at sun
down one day and halted to camp for tho
night. A terrific storm arose. The light
lining flashed necessarily, and the thunder
tpealed 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.
tThey surged and ground, every moment
growing less subject to control. All at
lonce, as if by one mad impulse, they STAN
tpeded.
John Wyckliffe and his sons met their
fate amid the lightning's glare and the
ithunder's rear. They endeavored to head
off the stampeding herd. Instead they and
their horses were swept on and driven in
THE terror to escape the charge Of the mad
ldened animals over the brink Of the awful
precipice which fEowns up from the waters
of the Bear. After them plunged tn,
whole fright crazsd herd and down to tho
bottom of the fearful fall went horses,
riders and horned creatures. Out of this
strange plunge of life to what was seem
ingly certain death to all few of the herd
twere not killed. Those which had gone
Elahead formed cushion of death. Main
led, stunned, but still invested with spark
lof life, when the dread storm was over
the living cattle orawled out from the
mass beneath them and formed nucleus
for the herd which now reams at will
within It's rocky confines. On the bank
of the river, stretching back a few hun
;dred yards, grow succulent grasses, and
upon this the cattle have propagated and
thrived. In looking over the edge of the
,precipioe one can see that they are small
land as wild and agile as deer. They have
been shot at to see the effect and have
learned to regard the appearance of a man