The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-13

was awarded the prize for being the first
person to enter this valley. at the Old
Folks celebration held at Logan recently.
Uncle john as he is famIIiarly called.
IS not only q pioneer of this county, but
or the state as well, being one OF the
band of AZ heroes. To all the older
residents of Cache. John is well known.
while the younger ones. interested by his
peculiar appearance, all known him by
reputation, at least. And withal they
nave but little to say that is uncompli-
mentary 10 the old pioneer.
johns home is in Mllville. where he
mas extensive property interests, and the
man is a type in himself: "A trifie above
the medium height. but sturdy in build.
with his features bronZed and wrinkied
by time and weather. and with 4 mass of
loose gray hair falling in tangled con-
fusion upon his shoulders, he is the typ
zeal frontiersman of half a century ago.
and TO the romantic observer seems a llv-
ing figure plucked from the pages of
borderland lore. And like these heroes.
too, he seems to retain in a remarkable
degree the vigOr and keennesS of youth.
He is Y years of age yet his figure is
erect and his step firm, while the eyes
that peer kindly. yet keenly out from
an ambush of hair, still glance along a
rifle barrel with the deadly ACCURACY
that made him famous as hunter in
early days.
John is a Hoosier, having first seensthe
light of day in the year 1877. in the CEN
trail part of Indiana He left that state
in 1912 and becoming a member OF the
Mormon church, passed through all the
troublous times subsequent to that date
and incident to the journey westward to
Utah. Uncle John is not laxative in
dividual. but occasionally he will indulge
in few "reminiscences. and couple of
days ago the writer was fortunate enough
to drop into a select little circle that was
being RECALLED with some of the old pfo-
neer's experiences.
What did each valley look like when
first saw it?'' he queried, half in answer,
half in interrogation as one of the mem
beers expressed a desire 70 hear sahont
just ike big notified sea of moving
beauty-it was simply grand. and. do you
know, that TO me. who always loved TO
be outdoors. il has never look so fine
here to herd cattle and put up hay In
the spring of 1875. and If you think we
don't amount to much. but if you think
we didn't enjoy ourselves, too, you're
mistaken.
Fine Sport.
1.-The huntin' and fshin' in them days
why. it simply makes a fellow feel blue
today TO think of Il; and sometimes It
used TO make fellow feel blue then"
he added, with a reminiscent chuckle. 1t
made We like dernation, I'll tell you. TO
so oct huntin bear and scare up lnJuns.
Not that We ever had much trouble in
Cache with them fellows, but, dern il, We
never knowed how to take EN-, and 1t
allus made We feel nasty when about
twenty of EN- happened onto three or
four of us away from camp. But We
never fit 'em. no Stree, We jest talked
'em out of fightin, and. by gosh, tell you
we had 70 do some powerful talkin some
times.
Il remember when old Chief Katato
got mad because the people in Box Elder
told him that Brigham Young was going
TO bring him presents, and Brigham,
knowing nothing about the matter. didn't
fetch any Well, the old cuss got awful
sulky and after coming over into this
valley, he and forty-two of his braves
swooped down on US one fine morning
We was camped on the church farm that
now is, and of course there wuz no good
irwin to git away. so we Jest buckled in
and talked them redskins out of hghtin.
fer l tell you they had come over TO us
prepared 10 slaughter US al and take
what we had and they could easy have
done il, for there wasn't but eight of us
in camp. 1t cost US a couple of beeVeS
and some provisions. in addition TO our
all right and we wuZ blamed glad to get
rid of EN- that cheap.
No. never had occasion to shoot any
1njunS in this county, but L thought
was up agin that sort of a deal one day.
1t happened like this. Some of the boys
had been out hunting and after KILN
some ducks. they SpieG flock of geese
and shot away all the ammunition they
had with 'em tryin' TO git some, but only
succeeded in woundin one Well. when
they came in. / thought I'd go out and Try
them geese a whack. l went out about
two miles from camp. and jest AFTER
crossin' a small ravine sees something
that looked like a man Dart Denlilu a Gig
sagebrush. l holiered at it. but it kept
awful still, and yet ] could ketch
glimpse of it sneakin' through the sage
toward little knoll, not far TO the right
Plenty of Indians.
and they amt feelin' none too friendly
nuther or they wouldn't be snoopin
around that way, so down 1 goes onto
my knees. and of all the, dern, crawliR
T.1,a ~, -
thatun was the worst. l sneaked and
sneaked. and tried 10 git good look at
the dern thing. but 1t was. allus behind
some convenient screen of brush Wen.
] daSsn't shoot. fur fear of there beng
more of the blamed sneaks in the bush,
fer if | had shot one; why, never IN
the rest out of the notion of scalpin me.
So | sized up the country to see II there
was any more of EN-. but nary a sign
could | see. Nothin' but that aggrdVatln
cuss dodgin' round in the brush. That's
some pesky redsl<in out after scalps on
his own hook i thought. and so l re-
first time ] got anything like decent
sight of his carcass Pretty soon ! saw
him dart Behind. a bush. through which |
could distinguish the black bulk of his |
bodv- am takinfsa good, careful aim. I
blaZeds away. Well sir. there was, the |
dangIieS1 commetion behind that bush /
that was ever seen, right after ! shot. |
ind the deyl knows what. iiyln' in all |
:. seems TO take it awful hard / SAYS !
to myself %ss TANNED in another load. |
all the time keepin' lookout for the 4
next one that might show UP. But TO /
more appeared SO went cautiously over (
30 that bush. and when | got there what /
dive think I'D Killed? NUthin' but that |
dern goose that Joe Baker had wounded: !
IL couldn't hS because of broken wing. |
hut lest kept dodgin around liz That \
brush, maxim me believe l was huntin' an |
Inlun.
What was the most exciting experience |
YOU ever Rad with Indians asked a 4
listener Uncie John poncered fora mo-
ment and then replied:
A Lively Incident.
We'll. about the worst mess l ever got |
lev in southern Utah. Me and my brother i
Ben and Old man Empey. father of \. a. I
Empey NJ Salt Lake. took our cattle /
down into Skull valley in 1883 and we |
nick, I out a location for our camp about !
twelv,. miles the other side of Hooper : /
ranch. We was maxim Hooper 5 place
sort of headquarters until we could get
fairly established in our own pace, which !
was al what they called the burnt
springs We had been there few days.
and like lot Of blamed fools had shot
All our ammunition away at game OF va
rious kinds and also at targets. never
dreamin of lnjuns. and KNOWN, there
was plenty more powder and bail al
Hoooer's We realized just what fools
we were a couple of mornings later. when
we were awakened by the report OF guns.
ard when we raised up 10 see what was
H.. matter there was ten or a dozen
Injuns in war paint. dom dance out
)n the plain in front of Us. occasionally
stoppin. however. 10 pop away at US. Tor
every son of a gun of EN- had a
IA dressin' YOU kin bet. and then !
yelled TO Ben and Empey to
% git the horses our while stood of. the
Injuns. fer you see. not KNOWN how
many of iis there was they weren't anX- I