Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, November 4, 1923, Page 19

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1923 be Casper undap Cridune AGE SEVEN. PERSONAL GLIMPSES AND TALES OF THE PONY EXPRESS RIDERS Howard Ezan' [ere | dians Good and Bad. No other name is more c'osely | ked with the Pony Express than ffat of Howard Egan, one of the original band of Pioneers, who were Jed into the valley of the Great Salt Lake by Brigham Young, was the man who laid out the Central or Egan route across the Utah-Nevada | country—the route which after- wards became the Pony Express Trail He afterwards was given charge of the Pony Line all the way from Salt Lake to Carson City. He ‘was also one of the relay of riders to make the first run. And his sons, Brastus and Howard, both played important parts in this venture, the former as a Pony Rider; Howard as a station keeper out at Ibapah, or Deep Creek, on the Utah-Nevada line. Howard also substituted as a Pony Rider. It was my privilege to meet both of these boys, when the'r heads were gray with age. and to listen to some of their stories. The Egan fami'y later published a little book called “Pioneering the West," in which a complete account of their father's activities on the mail line nd his various other pioneering ‘ventures, together with other fam- ily history is given. The book pre- gerves much valuable source ma- terial, and reflects the spirit of the wilde, Whee Cotas CFE Dog Che Trdiany ag an ambush pone (4 FOCEr aL Oars sand dunes. The hole filled quick! with water, a bit brackish, but bet- ter than thirst. After we had given ourse!ves and our horses had had a good drink, Jack filled up the hole again, because, if he didn't, he sald that there would never be any wa- ter there again. It was a bit Fert Indian superstition that prompted his act. Jack’s method of locating water was to follow the tracks of coyote the answer, “Mebbe, no want to come,” was “We went on and visited our min- ing prospect, and I’ heard nothing more about the Shoshones for about two weeks. At this time I vaad_ back at Deep Creek. Then Dan, our Indian chore boy, to’d me that there were about a dozen strange Indians down at the Gosute camp, | little more than a half mile away. | Dan asked me to let him take our wagon cover and g@ to the camp to hear what they had to say. “You can go,’ I told | him, ‘but! not with the wagon cover.” I did not like his actions one bit, I felt he was lying, and I to'd him He lit out and that was the last I wo saw of Dan. | ‘Another thing that roused my suspicions was the fact that the Indians who had promised to help right side I struck out for the sta- tion on the run. I did not know what a close call I had until later when the trouble was past. Jack ‘told me what had happened. The Pahvant was determined to kill me, but Jack had tod him if he tried it, he would kill him. They were glaring at each other, one ready to shoot me the other ready to defend my life, when I rode up. “It was not long till we saw a big column of smoke rising over at eight mite station. When the boys asked what that meant, I sald, ‘It means @ burned station and dead men.’ “I was right. The Indians had attacked the station, and murdered the keepers. They had also shot down the stage driver as he came up unsuspectingly into the station, | and had shot a passenger through us drive in our cattle had not shown the head. The wounded man's two up for the supper I had promised toys who were in the coach and an. them, jother passenger escaped, and the “I went to the telegraph office at’ father atrangely enough got well of the station and when I told the op- his serious wound.” erator that he would make a good, There are Indians and Indians as get sitting there by the window this story plainly shows, oe ees Somes sDAK PLUG TROULE DESERVES ATTENTION, | and asked if I expected any trouble. | I to'd him that he had better get Most drivers and mechanics are he usual spark plug | his shooting irons ready and send there is j word along the wires that the =| dians were acting ugly. I did not know what might happen. “Then I went out and set a man) to keep a sharp eye on the move-| ments round the Indian camp. ‘If a J single tepee goes down, you come as familiar with | quickly as you can and tell me.’ I troubles. However. directed him. That would mean I knew, that they were gett'ng the squaws out of danger. We all slept with one eye open that night. “Just as daybreak the guard T though seldom encountered. which ' must admit is a very good record. | this year even though it is very ‘s geratly misleading. In some cases) With the hundreds of satisfied cus- | greatly increased. the insulating material used in the| tomers which he has boosting his construction of the plug is porous, | prodyct, we do not see why he can permitting a leakge of the current|not double his contracted amount through the porcelain. In addition to this, the varbon which is one of the products ¢f combustion, is ab sorbed, so that in time w! was once an inrulator becomes a conduc tor. The spark plug may be taken apart and cleaned, so that it appears in perfect condition yet it will not operate satisfactorily, with the re- sult that another part of the sy tem receives the blame. The only remedy in such cases is to replace the plug. MICHELIN CONTRACT Is RENEWED BY MOSHER ‘FOR THE COMING YEAR R. M. Mosher, “The Michelin | Man,” has just recently renewed his | contract with the Michelin Tire com- pany for the ensuing year. Mr. Mosher reports a very good year | just past, from November to Novem- ber, which is his fiscal year, and is very optimistic over the prospects Quality Strength RE-CHARGED 518 E. Yellowstone for the year now coming. Mr. Mosher just doubled his contracted +amount for last year, which we make Christmas, this an Automotive BATTERIES Sales Service BATTERIES RENTED Motor Service Station Phonel1473-J Another | 0 tell them I want to talk said, old days; but an even nearer view] and other desert animals, He knew had told to watch the camp, came of the real Pony Rider came of|that they must have some place at and to!d me that all of the Indian course from a talk with the boys} which they might quench their sent a boy over with the tents were going down. themselves. thirst. The Ind’an of the deserts| invitation. He came back with the ‘Get my horse,’ I ordered the I found Howard Egan, son of the| through which the Pony Express| Word that the Shoshones had said men, ‘and you had better have the old major, just a few months before | Trail, ran, was a keen student of na-| ‘If the white man wants to talk he others saddled if you don't want he passed away in Richmond, Cache| ture.’ He had to be or perish out| C8" talk to the dogs.’ them burned in the stable. I am going to ride straight to that Indian camp and find out what is up. I intended to find out, if I could, why the Indians who had promised to help with the cattle had fatled to keep their promise, “As I rode up to the Indian en- campment, I saw two of them standing apart from the rest, eyeing each other sharp'y. It was Egan ack and the Pahvant Indian. The Pahvant had a buffalo gun under his blanket; Jack's rifle was across h's arm ready for action, “When I asked Jack why the In- “My rep'y to that was to tell them that I was no Shoshone and did not talk dog talk, but I would see them in the morning. The boy took this word and came back with threat from them that they would steal our horses that night. | “I told the boy to tell them that if they did they would have to take the horses through the alr; for if they left any tracks I wou'd get the horses and them too. But it did not look very pleasant work ahead of us just the same, “Jack's advice to me was for me there in those arfd wastes. And he could turn that knowledge to good or i'l against the Whites. It was a dif- ficult matter for a white man to trap the willy desert Ind'‘ans, unless he knew the desert pretty well. The friendship that Egan Jack had for Howard Egan was the means of saving Howard's life in later years when the Indian outbreak oc- curred. This was a year or so af- ter the Pony Express had been sup- planted by the telegraph line and the Overland stage. Howard was still at the Deep Creek station as county, Utah, next to the Idaho line, He had to lean rather heavily on his staff at the time, being somewhat broken with the weight of years, and the hard frontier experiences through which he had passed. But his memory was clear as.a be!l when it came to recalling those exper! ences especially out on the overland trail, The tales he seemed most to tell ‘were those relating to his experi- ences with the Ind'ans out there on the desert—and of these he had a rich collection. He had learned the CLUB SEDAN s1045 F. OQ. B. Detroit Indian nature like a book from first| keeper, serving the Overland. The to go" home that night. He would dians had not come he made no ae hand contact with it both in peace] Egan's had a ranch at this point|*t@Y With the Indians. The Sho- ply, “What is the matter here?’ I shones would not hurt him, he said, demanded. Still Jack said nothing. with horses and cattle. The story of this outbreak was another that I had direct from this frontiersman. “It happened,” he said, “after Gen- eral Connor had pounced upon Po- catello's band of Bannocks and Sho- shones up there on Battle Creek in Southern Idaho and had almost w'ped them out. The Indians had killed a good many of Connor’s men and those that escaped were furious to kill more, of course. They came out on to the desert to get the!r re- venge. There were not so many whites there so the reds had an ad- vantage. “I did not hear of the fight Con- nor had had until some time after it was over,” saidy Mr, Egan, “I had been out with Egan Jack pros- pectif@: ““Otie day while we were on that trip, I gave him a sample of my horsemanship which greatly mpressed him. Jack was not much of a rider. He had never owned a horse, “When we came to a smooth p'ace on the desert, I showed him how a man could pick up the end of a la- riat while after a running ‘horse from which the lariat might be drag- ging. And I showed him how a man could throw himself on to the side of his horse to escape bullets and ar- rows. Jack kept me doing these tricks again and again, “On our return’ to the Indian camp we had passed on our way from the Deep Creek station, I learned that some Shoshoni Indians had pitched their camp near t of the Gosutes. After supper I was talking with some of the leaders of Goshutes around the f nd I ked why their Shoshone friends did not come over and talk with us and in war times. One of Howard Egan's real friends as an Indian, called “Egan Jack,” Pecause he had been almost raised with the Egan fami'y. Jack and Howard were frequently together on their trips about the desert after stock and doing other duties con- nected with the Pony Express line. And many a time Jack's Indian knowledge of the desert saved them from suffering, perhaps dying of thirst. “Jack could find water where there Wasn't any,” said Howard in tell- ing me of the Indian's sagacity. “I remember once when we were out in that dry country we had got down to the last pint in our canteen. Jack asked for a drink, but I told him he had better walt. He said that the water would taste better than when it got warmer, so I handed it to him and dewn his throat it went. A little later I asked him where he would go for more water. We were miles away, it would seem, from any sign of it, : “Jack scanned the desert and said, hen T was a little boy we camped ewhere near here, and my moth- p went and found water near one the mounds over there! He point- A to some low hills on the edge of desert. “We made our way to the largest fipund, and sure enough he soon f@ind a water hole near the top of i€| The hole was about two feet Wide, six feet long and eight or nine féet deep, and was filled with good ¢lear water. We slaked our thirst, Tilied out canteen and went on our why “At another time Jack supplied tag_with water by digging down in but they were no friends of the white men. I told Jack that I thought the Indlans were cowards, and that they would not carry out their threat. I asked him if he would stay by me and he promised he would, so I remained within the Gosute camp that night and the next morning the Shoshones had gone off as I had thought they would, without taking our horses. Then I started to ride past the Pah- vant and Jack said: ‘Where you g0- ing?’ “‘Atter my cattle,’ T said, ‘Why don’t you speak?" I started on again and Jack again asked, ‘Where goin?” ‘Home,’ I said, and Jack sald quickly, ‘Ride, side horse fas “I knew what that meant, so rid- ing cautious'y by, I whirled my horse and throwing myself _on_his ALL READY TO GO! MONDAY MORNING NOVEMBER 5 The B& D Auto Supply Company Will Throw Open Its Doors to the Public ON DISPLAY 1 IN2» BOOTH NO. 5 Dayton Cord Tires Guaranteed for 10,000 Miles Se SECOND ANNUAL AUTOMOBILE SHOW Kennedy Motor Company Phone 909 You Never Will Know } Complete Tire Satisfaction Until You Use Michelin Cords Dissatisfied customers are prac- tically unknown with Michelin dealers. R. M. MOSHER THE MICHELIN MAN 4 4, 316 W. Yellowstone Phone 309 Auto Tops New and Repaired ' Accessories “A Full Line” FREE ROAD SERVICE UP TO 10 MILES Located in New, Thoroughly Modern Quarters At 619 E. Second Street J.L. BIRD R. C. DAVIS “Drop In’ OPEN EVENINGS 230 W. Yellowstone