The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-27
NO MAN OWNS THEM
THE STRANGE STORY OF AN mac
CEssIBLE BAND OF CATTLE.
A Pyramid of Bones Marks the pot
Where Their Ancestors Fell Over
a Precipice Twenty Years Ago.

Denver Letter in Sar Francisco Examiner.
In the widest portion Of the West. sev-
e~nty-hve miles northwest of Meeker, where,
i'm 1879. the Utes massacred the Meeker
family and every one at the agency. is the
most wonderful cattle ranch in the world
Within a space 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 have ever seen a man
or horse, or other animal of their kind, and
in fact, their kin. except at a distance of
nearly six hundred feet high above them
The Ute Indians call them "pcheck-up,"
or red buffalo. And yet If an Indian who
has seen them should be asked about it, he
would laugh and shake his head. and all
the Information obtainable would be,
'.p'check-up; 'em red; no ketch EN-" There
are more than a thousand of this herd, and
yet no man owns them, nor is there a man,
white or black or copper-colored, who has
ever been able to possess a single hoof OF
these fat and tempting beeves.
The cattle are in a prison. Out OF ii
there is one method Of escape, but to
travel that road means death to the adven-
turous one. There is no way to get I'm ex-
cept it be by use Of a rope one thousand
feet in length. As the Indians say: Heap
see 'em; no ketch 'em; no come away" On
the two long sides of the oblong space in
which these cattle roam rise PERCEPTIONS
and even concave rocks for five or six hum
dred f~eet-yawning. black. and insurmount-
able. AT either end seethes and rushes the
Yampa or Bear river. For miles above and
miles below it plunges and stumbles on in
it's headlong haste to reach the arms of its
parent, the scarcely less tumultuous. but
deeper Green river: Like the wonderful
the imprisoned herd has no likeness in the
world. 1t recalls in. its inaccessibility the
marvellous stories of the valley or verdure
into which Mayne Reds adventures only
found their way by the assistance OF the
balloon.
HOW THEY CAME THERE.
The story of the way in which these cat
tie came there is as strange as their ex-
istence is curious. over twenty years ago,
when the government troops were pursuing
the Mormon murderers of the innocent vic
Tins of the Mountain Meadow massacre,
the Danites, or avenging angels of the Nor
mons. fed for their lives into what was
then literally the wilderness. A few of those
who had been the blindest followers of Lee,
the Mormon fend incarnate, whose hands
were red with the blood of women and
children, found in their wanderings a pref
~ valley or stream which flows from the
Wasatch range into the Green river. They
stuck their stakes, built their camp-hres,
and during the night their sagacious leader
had a 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 since
gathered more Of their sect, until where
the refugees posted their pickets on the
lonely nights of the first summer has
grown a thriving village. 1t is 40 miles
from the Union Pacific railroad south, and
AS miles north of the Rio Grande Western.
Until within n few wears past IL has hPpn
isolated entirely, but now it is but thirty
miles from the Ute reservation, and fur
nishing supplies for the agency forms quite
a business for the community.
1t is a tenet of the Danites that robbing
or theft from a gentle is no crime. SO IL
was thought TO be only a cunning trick
settlers OF the new town, and his three
sons made a night sortie on Henry's Ford
bred head OF cattle ranging there. This
was in 1874. The owners OF the cattle dis
covered their loss a few days after they
We're gone and started in pursuit.
The thieves and the stolen herd had
reached a mess OF inviting grass at sun
n niThf. one a t aay and storm narred arose 70 ean The fo iir fne
ming flashed necessarily and the thunder
nsaled and cracked with intermitting fury,
stricken cattle by riding around them con-
stantly and chanting some weird tune. But
the. wild fearfulness of the furious storm
excited the brutes beyond measure. They
surged and glnned, every moment growing
less subject to control. All at once. as If
by one mad impulse, they stampeded.
John Wyckliffe and his sons met their
fate amid the lightning's glare and the
thunder's roar. They vored TO head
oft the stampeding herd. Instead they and
the terror TO escape the charge OF mad
dened animals. over the brink OF the awful
preclpiee which frowns up from tie waters
fright-crazed herd, and down TO the bot
tom OF the fearful fall went horses. riders.
of life. to what was seemingly certain
death to all, a few OF the herd were not
killed; Those which had gone ahead formed
still invested with a spark or life. when
the dread storm was over. the living cat
tie crawled out from the mass beneath
them and formed a nucleus for the herd
which now roam at will within their rocky
confines: On the bank OF the river. stretch
culent grasses. and upon this the cattle
have propa gated and thrived. In looking
over the edge Of the precipice one can see
that they are small and as wild and agile
the effect. and have learned TO regard the
appearance OF a man. whether Indian or
clanrbering over rocks and through under
brush in the chase 10 a point OF conceal
SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY.
The place where the thieves and their
horses and the herd fell is plainly marked
by "A pyramid OF bones which rises to the
hight of thirty feet. The CHASTITY remain
der 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 with 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, and 10 them the
monument OF skeletons is no source OF dis
ouietude. There Is no fierce mountain lion
or more dangerous bear. nor. in fact. any
other animate thing within this COW garden
or Eden. As yet, too, no man has been
able To reach or disturb them.
TIE I-foe have n fradfffop that e.-.~. -