The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1895-08-30
IN "A TIGHT PLACE.
Ten Minutes Of Terror Under Stan-
peded Cattle.
The, ProyidentiRl Escape of Four Men
from, BEING Trampied to Death
by Madly Rushing

.'Yes, we have an adventure now ana
then out in our country" said Judge
Thompson, of Wyoming. If you'll
come out and see us I'll refer you 10
five or six men whose hairbreadth es-
capes would fill book AS for me, l
haven't had but one close call worth
relating" 'a3ssAs2es..
''That's the very one I'm after SAID
the Detroit Free Press interviewer.
"Well, it didn't amount to much as
an adventure, I'm afraid, though I'm
free to say was never more frightened
for ten minutes. Between what is
called the Granite ridges and Bad Wa
ter creek, in central Wyoming, is fine
cattle range. / was out with q small
party last summer prospecting for GER
tain minerals, and had to cross this val
lev at about the center. There We're
four of us on horseback, with our outfit
hacked on the three lead mules, and at
about two o'clock in the afternoon we
sighted something to make the hair
lift our hats right off our heads"
s'Indians or grizzly bearsg queried
the scribe
| s.Pish! The Indians were all right
and grizzly bears don't wander down
into the valleys by daylight What we
sighted was a herd of about four thou
sand cattle com ing our way, and
they were coming as if every critter was
carrying one hundred pounds OF steam
| Two or three herds got mixed, and IN
trying to separate them the boys had
started general stampede. In the
old days the buffaloes used to be some
on the mad rush, but let me tell you
that the wild cattle of the west can run
| o third faster, and when they once get
started they will charge flaming
mountain. The front of the herd
wasn't over n mile away when we
sighted it, and it was no use to run be-
fore it, turn back, or ride ahead. Our
horses were scrub stock and had nc
speed"
'sAnd there was no convenient grove
or rock to shelter you?"
| mot a tree nor a rock Tor five miles
around, but just where we pulled III
was natural ditch about fifty feet long
cut out by the rains. 1t wasn't ovel
two feet wide by twenty inches deep
but it was our only hope. We slipped
off our horses, gave them slap, ant
piled into that ditch face down."
| aud the herd passed over you?"
EXACTLY. / hadn't drawn thre'
long breaths when the front of thu
herd was at hand. Let me just tel
you that was never so scared in al
my born days. Every critter wa
believing, horns clashing, hoofs dig
ging up the soil, and as each on
| jumped the ditch he caved the dirt il
on me. / felt fifty different hoof
scuff my back, and every instant cx
pected to be stepped on. 1t took tn
herd only about ten minutes to pass
but the time seemed hours long to me
When the last one had come and gon
was regularly covered in and had t
be ding out Two of the party wer
stepped on and badly hurt"
"And your horses and mules?"
Picked up on the hornsof the cattl
and tossed about and stepped on tillthe
were reduced to pulp. JUST cleaned y
out as slick as a whistle. If we'd bee
in our saddles nobody wonld haV
recognized us as having once been HI
man beings
Seemed like the hand Of providenc'
didn't it?.
"0f course That's what we look II
and depend upon out in our countr,
Come out Sonic time and zee how th
old thing works when we are going
have an avalanche three miles long i
{ .. few fhonsand feet vide