| Show josie morris browns park plonner P swsqry teffs of JEarly eassyeays jearlyvays Vays P 1 Y vv19 is INI I 1 T g I 1 e lee le kay interviews jot in hr her mountain hom home by lee le kay editor utah fish and game bulletin there Is L perhaps no spot in america that furnishes luch such a moving and a dramatic story in th the settlement of the wext dext than t that h qt in browns park in eastern utah very early in the history of the west pioneer people poured through this country early in the nineteenth century part of the mexican slave trade was conducted through browns park later intrepid explorers made their way into this section As carly tis is 1925 william ashley navigated the green river as did dellenbaugh and powell in 1860 both beth made in fo te resting notations notation conc concerning eming this area in their diaries after the day of the explorer came the trapper in quest of the valuable ble beaver fur then followed the cattle men later sheep men came this brought brough the range wan that make the history i ot of the country read almost like stories from a dime novel it became also the ren devous of the early day outlaw butch cassidy and his gang and others were there by the time josie bassett as a child came into the picture in 1875 the stage was all set for one of the most dangerous ept episodes in browns park parkhtstory hI stoy 0 the stage was set with a ba backdrop C of at greed and int intrigue webe we9e ez th actors on the stage were men n struggling for a foothold in the western world men who want ed to establish a legitimate business and do their part in I 1 the I 1 bllldlne b1tilding of the great inland e empire 1 I other actors were those who were to parasitize legitimate alsol industry there were also those who carved the outlaw trail and the then those who expected to open up valuable bonanzas with the single stroke of the i pick T there here was also the rem n nant of the redmen who came to browns park in the wintertime to feast upon the game and to bask in the pleasures of clement weather bosle joslc josle bassett was only five years 31tars old when she arrived here having been born in little rock i arkansas her father was major 74 herbert bert bassett of civil war notoriety after the war he came to brown browns park to join his brother who had served the union army and had cornehere come corne here staking out a claim in what is no now known as willow creek josles jogles childhood recollection of browns park Is not only a memory of hardships struggles and murders but many pleasant memories she had a vivid memory of brown browns park being lush with grass up to her tiny head as she the traveled from place to place to following her jather lather a cattle man one of josles jogles earliest memories was of one of the fights that occurred along the outlaw frail hall she tells of john bennett an outlaw cowboy who shot and killed billie strong strang a child of nine years of age billie a play playful fill boy perhaps lonesome because of no other children th there ere I 1 to 0 play with forced his attention tte n tion on bennett the child teased the inebriate cowboy until in a fit of anger he shot and killed billie josie remembers vividly how bennett escaped and with an individual by the name of P L johnson left the ranch hurriedly in the vicinity of browns biowns liowns park they picked up harry tracy and his companion lant who had only a few da days before esc escaped from vtteentiary the staks utaks utah state pe penitentiary this TWs is the harry tracy who was later to become one of the wests bests most merciless killers later relates josie sheriff E A farnham arrested bennett when he came to the ranch for food A posse took out after the outlaws who were rendovouz ing the mouth of ladore canyon in their attempt to capture the three outlaw outlaws V S hoy one of the cattlemen in the south end of browns park was shat and killed presumably by b johnson during the capture of o7these these desperadoes pera does bennett met with I 1 what the early day vigilantes I 1 claimed was justice he was hanged at the corral of the bassett ranch when asked if bosle iosle josie saw the hanging she said well I 1 did see the sack that was on his i head before they hanged him and I 1 saw them take him down placing him in a buggy they i bulled eulled pulled the buggy by hand to a burying place not far away As I 1 soon as the hanging was over they unlocked the sheriff who had been handcuffed to my fathers bed I 1 dont imagine the sharitt shpritt riff put up much of a struggle gi while he was beine hand cuffed josie recalled that after the lynching lunching lyn ching of bennett tracy and lant and johnson were taken captive the latter two were taken to a colorado jail where they again made their esca escape e tracy to become a deadly killer le that lansa lans& history described in his f final I 1 nal melee in the northwest where he met his death the X IP 14 old ape 34 lu k Y V A 4 this Is the house that bosle josle bu ailt ilt the living room has a fire pinco made of petrified wood writer aked akcd tvked josie to describe trac tracy she said lie ile was a smahr smalr small min man and the morning they took him captive I 1 felt sorry for him it was freezing cold ills his shoos were vere worn from his feet he ile could be described as a loyal friend but a dangerous enemy I 1 remember the morning mornin they captured him because tic he gave me a beautiful indian blanket I 1 prized it highly A few days after I 1 said father wh what it Is this insect his answer was josie that is a louse and it came off that blanket that harry tracy gave you josle bosle recalls how jarvis who ran the ferry boat in browna brown a park at what is now referred to as bridgeport was killed and her dislike for men like hood and mckinley reputed to have slain jarvis but of all the char acters ackers that josic has known she has more diere disre disregard gard tor for tom horn than any other it was tom horn who was reportedly hired by certain cattle interests to clean up bro browns wns ans park good and bad alike left after tom horn issued a written notice for them to leave however none took him seriously at first later horn came back and killed the first two cowboys he saw ilsom alsom dart and matt rash at this point in jogles josies josles history 10 she left browns park along 19 .19 g with most everyone else but it seems that after conditions quieted down she came back and again engaged in the cattle industry there are few lf if any living individuals who have the intimate knowledge of browns park that josie has once I 1 ask ed her who the two people were who are buried in those graves in a certain part of gav browns rodg rovg a park pirk she said oh mr kay there are not two people in those graves there are tour four people and she furnished first hand information regarding retarding the death and burial of these chese ihese people it requires more delicate language than the writer can presently muster to describe bosies josies josle bosle as romances it seems that she had tough luck with her husbands three times she ventured the realms of matrimony according to her own statements but today she lives alone in a canyon retreat where she maintains a complete economic unit for her own welfare her two sons are st still ill living one onea a rancher in uintah county and one an ex movie cowboy in hollywood josie described her second exit from browns park as being a rather dramatic move she left with her sole possessions 0 ssessions fifty head of cattle and pd 150 150 head of sheep although the writer does not know it is presumed that it was not entirely her own volition that caused her to find a new home her move from browns park lead her towards the indian reservation country at uintah basin but upon landing at jensen she was cautioned that there were really no good places in that area for her to establish a foothold jonws josles josws independence again asserted itself when she temporarily pastured her cattle and sheep in jensen and rode the reservation country seeking a new place to live she returned to jensen disappointed when she remembered disaprinted disa printed ber passing pawing over a likeable spot t a as t she had made her way from browns park over douglas mountain near the head of a canyon not far from where F ather hther father Esca escalante Iante had traveled in 1776 she staked out her claim a squatters right when she first ai arrived rived there the e en tire canyon bottom t om was a sea 0 of plant life grass herbs and shrubs and one side of the canyon thickly covered w with I 1 t h greasewood it was wa i here she was to build a house build fences break up the land ride for cattle herd sheep in fact all of themental the menial mental tasks re representative senta tive of home bulldingl building besides practicing the culinary arts besides the many jobs josie josle bosle had to do to balance the budget she has hobbles very dexterous with the needle she has patch ed to together 9 ether some very lovely quilts tt it is said of twe that she can kill kin a beef on me range skin it out dress it and have it hanging up in forty orty five minutes this is a challenge to the roost most dexterous men she maintains a lovely gat garden den cuts the wood from the range and brings it in irk tor for winter use usef rides brides 25 miles on a saddle safldle s&ddle horse hoise at lease once a week tor for mail and goes goei fishing in the river adl distance adlstance stance of about eight miles from her home she is a good h huntress tres and maintains she always gets her deer the day the writer to took 0 k I 1 his I 1 3 first occa occasion sinn to visit and get ac qualntr vunintrd d with josie josle bosle relations wire wi re rather strained around her I 1 i i p c it seems that through a 11 ertain rtain rtairt deal over which josie sene arc src mcd d to have h ive little control ill I 1 of h br r ranch property had been t from her but she Is maling Just justmcnts justments ments and lest lesi you thing josic josie is living in retrospection iro lection pection bo be ih informed formed that thp &he ahe ins nniicunccd animlinced taf thp thf building of ii a now home that will become a hunters guest lodge in one of continued on page 7 afe 14vi t 9 A X coile joile shows fred reynolds local game protector her flower and veqtable veq table garden JOSIE MORRIS BROWN PARK TELLS OF EARLY DA DAYS Y continued from page 6 the most backwoods parts this western country during the heavy winter of 1940 bosies josles josies acquaintances in uintah county were more or less concerned as to her welfare but the heavy snows precluded the possibility of getting in to see sce how now she was doing during the winter during the later winter a department representative rode up to josles jogles home when he arrived there josie joste was busy chasing a coyote that had been bothering her turkeys after she has settled that score with mr varmint she was asked how the heavy winter had served her not bad n not bad she said and to th tho ot query u did you lose any cattle tiefy9he she responded not one agiou asiou As you know I 1 had no hay to fee feed them but I 1 drove down into the wash and with my axe I 1 cut down the cottonwood trees and they survived on the twigs twig and bark of the branches many of the secrets of josies bosies I 1 life I 1 f e and the mysteries of brown park will die with josie her contemporaries can fill in many of the missing links unks in one of the wests bests most interesting stories but these too for obvious reasons will never find their way to the printed page many of the interests interesti Inte interesting resti ig fa facts ta t9 have already become legenda legendg legen legendary dg to know josie joste is to respect r her for her ready wit he her in independence ep en her friendliness and also for the fact that she Is stul stih a good shot |
