Show History H story of Ashley Valley w settlement The Echoes Echoes' From the Dust Dus features will be a series concerning concerning concerning con con- the first ten years af after lei settlement of C the Ashley Valley TilE THE STORY OF PAT LYNCH Compiled Complied by Iv Iva Carroll Gray Soon after Pardon Dodds built the first house ouse in Ashley Valley several bachelors who were prospectors came here and proved up on claims These were squatter claims as the Government at this time had made no survey of the land Al AI Westover John Kelly Charles Bentley a and d Pat Lynch were among m ng the group PAT LYNCH was seeking a anew anew new life and a place where he could forget the past Ashley Valley began to settle up too toe rapidly to suit his purpose so in inthe Inthe inthe the spring of 1878 he traded his homestead to John Fairchild ld for forSO SO fop poles and with his string of oi well-bred well Morgan horses he moved into the canyon country Th The place where he settled was along the Yampa R River ver near the place where the Green and Yampa rivers m meet t This canyon on the map map of the Dinosaur National Monument is shown as Echo Park but it itt t became known as Pats Hole because Pat Lynch claimed it for so many years Pat was born in Ireland about 1830 and his name name was James Cooper His family was very p poor poor or and when just a alad lad he worked for a tradesman but did not like Uke the work He ran ran away and left Ireland on a ship sailing around Africa When near the co coast st of Africa he got in an n argument with the first mate and struck him Knowing that he would receive severe severe punishment he jumped overboard and swam t the mile and one half to shore where he was picked up by a tribe of natives He soon won favor among the natives by giving them assistance during a battle batUe with another tribe He was was was' given a mud hut but and a choice of their theft maidens for a bride He said There was one one onel l lass ass who was was mostly native but had red hair and I picked her Evidently some other Irishman had visited th the thc tribe before me We lived together and I f had two twos s sons sons ns by her GOT and wanted to get away The opportunity came carne soon after the tribe picked up a a Portuguese officer The natives decided he was was to be executed and they entrusted me with the job of putting him away I was given a sword and was to go into the jungle and dispatch him there Soon as we got well out into the jungle I told him to go fast and as far as ashe ashe ashe he could so the natives would not riot catch up with him I l guess he got away all right as I never heard of him again Soon after that my chance came and I too got away 1 I went to the Coast and secured a passage on ona ona a 9 ship and finally found my way to to America During u the the Civil War Pat enlisted in the Navy on the side of the North under the name of Pat Lynch His duty was an assignment on a Mississippi gunboat Here he met with an accident when he was struck by bya a shell wt which ch shattered a knee After er leaving the hospital where he had fiad ad almost recovered from the injury he enlisted in the Northern Army and served out an enlistment in the last year of the thew war rIE r. r I HE IE IE WAS discharged and got gofa a ajob ajob job on a construction crew Again his temper got him into trouble He lie quarreled with the foreman and parted his hair with a claw bar Thinking he had killed him Pat made a quick getaway He lie went west where he joined the US U.S. C Cavalry valry under his own name James Cooper and served in southeastern Colorado He lie also served out an enlistment in New Mexico Later he found out that he had hadnot hadnot not rat killed the foreman and perhaps it was at this time that he began egan to use the name Pat Lynch s again It is said laid that he hed drew d e government pensions under both names The two checks did not do much for him financially but they did a lot for his ego Following his discharge from the service th this last time he came to eastern Utah where he finally settled in the Echo Park country lie He laid claim to the en entire ire Yampa Canyon area from Harpers Cor Corner per to Thanksgiving Gorge a distance of about twenty miles OUTLAWS and Indians Indians' passed through his domain but the they received no welcome from hint him t 01 His tiis only greeting to them was be 1100 gone He ue wanted to live alone atone and that is what h he did becoming well-known well as i a hermit who raised wild horses horse and cattle for a living lie He took tool pride in having the best horses horse he could get and was able t to train them well When breaking wild horses he used med a blindfold if needed lie He helped the fellows fellow with their horses when out 01 on The Round Roundup p. p lie He was very ver Independent after eating a at at camp he took care of his own dishes saying that then hi he knew what was on his plate lasand last las and who used it so there was ni no need for the fellows to bother about washing about washing it In t his s later years when it was difficult for foi fort t him m to get on on and off his horse he trained it to lay down while he performed both acts For quite some time Pat Pa occupied a a- cabin near the thi mouth of Hells Hell's Canyon ii In Castle Park Mrs Charles CharlesI I Mantle said the cabin was was blown up one day while Pat was after a bucket of water H He claimed someone was out to U get him but it was quite possible that some stored or 01 forgotten dynamite went off by bj natural causes H He made use ol of many caves and shelters in the Yampa Area as temporary camps often staying wherever night overtook him Some of the shelters were equipped with meager supplies such as coffee and and occasionally even the luxury of a bed After the loss of his cabin in Castle Park he cleared the first few feet of the entrance to one of the caves used many years ago by prehistoric Indians H Here re was found a scrap of paper on wt which ch was written his squatter declaration TO ALL WHO WIIO tt this s may that I IPat Pat Lynch do dolay dolay dolay lay cl claim im on this this this' bottom for my home and support on the month of 1886 On the other side of the paper was written If in these Caverns you shelter take Leave everything you find around Plais do to them no harm Hanging up er on the ground On several rock surfaces some of which already had Indian Indian- dr drawings Pat added a pictures pictures' he h drew V re t a s sailing shi sh ship probably as near as he could remember to the one on which he made his trip to Africa A small cave on Pool Creek near near ear the Chew home also served as his home A distance of about ten miles separated this this this' habitation from the one at Castle Park Pat had been living his hish h hermits hermit's life for over twenty years when Henry Shank a ayoung ayoung ayoung young man looking for a homestead arrived in the area He took up a homestead in Lily Park on the north side of the Yampa River near the point where the Little Snake empties into the Yampa River some miles miles' from the places where Pat Lynch lived Henry Shank says It was the fall of 1902 that I rode into Lily Park looking for some land and a place to build a home I got there just when the Wells Fargo interests were building up a big ranch and I wasn't welcomed with open arms In fact I was invited to leave But I had come come to get a place so I went to Glenwood Springs made my filings and got the ground I had chosen I Iwas Iwas Iwas was sorta sorts settled in 1903 when I got a job with the Moffat Railroad surveying crew It was in the of 1904 I first became acquainted with Pat Lynch The crew of which I Iwas Iwas Iwas was a member moved into one of his camps and he helped us in every way he could We needed some potatoes and learned that a man named Ruple who had a place near Island Park below Whirlpool had some I got Pat to act as guide and we set out with a pack string to go over the twenty miles or more to get them Pat said he had not been over the trail for 17 years but he thought he could find it and he did It was one of the roughest rides I ever took We dropped off Blue Mountain on the right trail and Pat lost last his bearings only once once on- on ce PAT WAS A good friend of the theR R ples He lie had helped them move from Ashley Valley to Island Park in the spring of 1883 He Ue acted as guide then going ahead of the wagons to Find passes through the hills Inthe In Inthe Inthe the Buckskins northeast of Vernal Pat led them up a draw and over a pass that was difFicult dif dir for ox teams to travel This pass has since been known as Paddys Paddy's Gap Pat and Hank Ruple had run cattle together on Brush Creek Mountain north of Vernal Th They y were s scouting around for lor the best range land and Hank flank scouted farther than Pat on one occasion When he returned late in the afternoon cold and hungry Pat had a hot dinner ready Seizing a tin plate Hank heaped it high with meat thinking it was rabbit He lie ate two pieces before he began to wonder why there were so many sections of backbone The meat was delicious no denying that and he ate a couple more pieces before he asked the question that was troubling him tam What kind of meat is this tt s Pat Didn't this rabbit have any legs leg's Rattlesnake Pat an an- Big fat on one one he was too And Ruple went up in the rocks and lost his dinner The John Chew family moved to Pats Pat's Hole from Browns Brown's Park At that time they bought a a squatters squatter's right on Pool Creek from froma a a man named Morgan Pat claimed Morgan had encroached encroached encroached en en- on his territory and the two did not get along well But in spite of a quick temper Pat cooperated aiding survey crews and others who requested help Once a year for a time Pat descended Green River from Echo Park putting in at its confluence with the Yampa and traveling downstream by homemade raft to Island Park or he would walk on the ice during the winter to visit his old friends the To return home on one occasion he borrowed a horse after fording the river downstream from the ranch he foll followed wed a trail up Moonshine Draw at the head of Split Mountain Canyon and returned to Pats Pat's Hole across Blue Mountain Pl Plateau Home again he released the horse to return by itself Itsel to Island Park WHEN OSCAR R A Ames es drowned in the Yampa River near the Maybell bridge Pat watched the river night and day for several days looking for the body but he would not take pay pa for his efforts In his later years his peculiar ways became more pronoun pronoun- ced He had to spend more time near his friends as he was too ill to care for himself On occasions occasions occasions oc oc- he w would uld make attempts attempts at at- tempts to return to his beloved haunts along the Yampa DURING IllS HIS last serious illness he stayed at the William Baker home in Johnson Draw and they did wl wl what at t they could to take care of t him m. m He lie realized the end was near and said Just you put me in Ina a boat and start me down the river Ill I'll getoff get getoff getoff off at my place He lie died in 1918 when he was 87 or 88 and was buried burled in iq Lily Park on the south side of the river A white marble headstone headstone headstone head head- stone furnished by the United States Navy marks his grave In 1943 when mapping the geology of that area Mr and Mrs G G. G E located the grave on a small rise surrounded by a down broken-down barbed wire fence in a greasewood and sagebrush flat about yards from the south southbank southbank southbank bank of the Yampa River on the edge of the old White Bear Ranch As the couple r stepped closer to examine the Inscription inscription inscription in In- a large rattlesnake r buzzed his loud warning from from under the headstone Their remark to the snake was If Pat has such a fine guardian we shall certainly respect you This story was compiled from information written by Billie and an item published in the Vernal Express by C. C A. A Stoddard |