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Show THE PAGE SIX TIMES-NEW- NEPHI. UTAH S. Friday, July 30, 1925 I Notes News to Live in It'a a Privilege Utah FEED DAIRY COWS GRAIN IN SUMMER : That it is false economy for dairyto depend on pasture alone for during the summer months Is shown lo the case cf Dave Ehredt an niinots dairyman living near Elizabeth, Jo Daviess county, who last year lost Just $19.40 worth of milk and in saving $7.72 worth of feed oo each of his cows. This is shown In a report recently sent to the college of f ifffilii men feed but-terf- at 4 "Jim Bridger Lies," Long a Tradition, Disproved by History. By Man wil ELMO SCOTT WATSON UUUISIS WHO VISll llIB I tniuwsiuue National park this summer and see for the first time the wonders of that region no doubt will also make the acquaintance of one of of the favorite traditions the West that of on ' American otherwise Baron Munchausen, known as Old Jim Bridger, and the tradition of . "Jim Bridger's Lies." For the fame of this frontiersman seems to be Inextricably bound up with that of America's Wonderland and the result Is a most amazing combination of myth, misinformation and sheer bunk. . . Perhaps the survival of the proverbial western fondness for "stuffing the tenderfoot" or "keeping the pilgrim guessing" has something to do with keeping alive this tradition. Perhaps our Anier-- . lean falling for accepting "rubber stamp" phrases and Incorporating them Into our national plut-forof "popular beliefs" has as much to do with It. At any rate, most of us seem willing to accept ' the terms "American Munchausen," "biggest liar on earth" and "discoverer of the Yellowstone" as synonymous for the name James Bridger. without realizing that we are thereby doing a grave Injustice to one of the bravest and most remarkable frontiersmen who ever trod American soil. c ni Book Debunks Bridger Myths however, pome effort Is being myth and to .give tardy Justice to the memory of tills truly great pioneer. Happily for his future fame a. historian, whose home Is on the shores of the great Inland sea which Bridger did discover, has set about the task of bringing together all the available Information about him, winnowing the fact from the fiction, analyzing, testing, weighing evidence and trying to arrive at the truth as nearly ns. the truth can lie determined. The result Is a book "James P.rldger," by J. Cecil Alter, Shepard Book Co., Salt Lake City which can almost be regarded as the last word on the subject of James Bridger, which presents him In a truer light than he has ever been presented before and which In Itself Is. a monumental piece of historical scholarship. Not only does Mr. Alter's book gle a faithful picture of an epic era In American history, but it should net at rest once for all the mass of misinformation that has been Idly tossed about and proves Hint Old Jim P.rldger was "more lied against than lying." So an article such as this, which could not hope to be a condensation of all the thrilling and Interesting Incidents In the book, can do no belter than to follow the line Indicated In Its title and show the general unfairness of the "American Munchausen" tradition. First of all the "discoverer of the Yellowstone" tradition : Jim Bridger wus not the "discoverer" nnd never pretended to be. That honor, if It Is limlled to "white discoverer" and excludes the first Indian Ms ldon:lty unknown, of course who ever gazed upon Its spouting geysers, belongs to John Colter, a member of the Lewis nnd Clark expedition, hunter, trapper, Indian lighter nnd explorer, who. so fur as Is known, wns the first Aniericnn to visit what Is now the park. This was In 1S07. Naturally, Ms account of Its wonders was not believed and "Colter's Hell" became n term of derision. Fortunately, made to debunk the Bridger "Bridger Lies!" Cut Does He? Il Is possible, although ('("n'tely established, that It has never been lsited the P.rldger eli.wstone region In 1S;;T). The first written h "crlpllon of Its wonders appeared In Niles October 0, 127, In the form of a letter, t nMlshed without a tdgnature, from a member r n trapping expedition. The Identity of the v i!er Is unknown and, although It has been to P.rldger, Mr. Alter points out that he c ':M not write, probably was not with this par-- t "ii!:ir party, hence the letter was not his. There Is good reason to believe that he did visit do park es a member of the I'it.patrlek trapping I ry In 1S.HO and that Is the dnte usually given j. 'i the time of Ms first view of the Yellowstone However, the date of what wns bis first visit, according to Mr. Alter, was 132, while p.rldger was still with FJtzpntrlck en the rxpoditlon which Is recorded In Washington Irvlng's account of the adventures of Cap-t.'ilBonneville. As lo the "Jim Bridger lies" tradition It Is not especially strange that such, a tradition should lies were based spring up. lriee (hese upon facts whlh lr themselves seemed almost Impossible to believe- - the facts about the wonders of the Yellowstone park. Just when th tradition started It la difficult to. say. The chronology of It . n xc&te agriculture, University of Illinois, by Clyde Nichols, tester In the dairy herd Improvement association of which Ehredt Is a member. During the year ending April SO, 1926, which included all the 1925 pas-tur- e season, eight representative cows in his herd gave an average of 5.8G0 pounds of milk containing 242.25 pounds butterfat. They ate an average of 1,523 pounds of grain during the year. The previous year the same eight cows each produced an average of 6,485 pounds of milk containing 27815 pounds butterfat and ate 2,006 pounds of grain. They were fed national conflagration of entertainment. Unfortunately, however, Bridger's truthful narratives ot grain as a supplement to pasture durexperience, and his faithful descriptions of'ths ing the summer of 1924, whereas no natural phenomena of the Yellowstone Park and grain was fed for this purpose during other regions, were to be twisted almost beyond the 1925 pasture season. recognition in the withering heat of ridicule and In saving 483 pounds of grain a cow, disbelief. This came about largely through secondhand narrators, who still attributed the retold Ehredt sacrificed 625 pounds of milk story to Bridger. and butterfat The grain was worth Soon after arriving at tho Westport farm In the late fall of I860 Bridger was sought out by Ned $7.72, while the milk and butterfat and were worth $19.40, making a net loss Buntline, a prominent story writer of the day, him "Bridger gave him enough adventures to keep to of $11.6S from not feeding grain. his life," according writing the balance of took This Is a representative case of the a liking to Buntline General Dodge. Bridger and took him across the plains with him on a many reports sent In by dairy herd to scouting trip. After a while Buntline returned Improvement association testers demthe East and not long afterward the Jim Bridger destories commenced to be published. One of these onstrating the false economy of was printed every week, and Bridger's companions pending on pasture alone for feed durused to save them up and read them to him. Bunting the summer months, H. E. Jamiline madia Bridger famous, and carried LIm through assistant in dairy extension, said. more hairbreadth escapes than any man ever had." son, Thus through the alchemy of the journalist the The ordinary pasture crop furnishes a flame of Bridger's stories was transformed Into cow with roughage only, and it Is Imchunks of pure gold for Buntline, and Bridger possible for a cow to himself soon found that he was not so much of a eat the volume of this relatively frontiersman as a story teller, the author of "Old coarse material which Is necessary to Jtm Bridger's Lies" to the unfortunate discredit of the truthful old scout. Bridger's stories were maintain both production and body greedily seized upon by story tellers everywhere, condition. and tagged with Bridger's name, after countless It takes a good pasture even to pro. metamorphoses. vide the necessary nutrients for a cow Thus the tradition was carried on endlessly giving a pound of butterfat a day. For and It seems that Bridger himself. In his later tows producing more than this amount, some grain should be fed days, helped, perpetuate it. William S. Brackett, even with the best pasture, the amount who was a member of an expedition which Bridger guided to Utah In 18C2, writing In the depending on the production of the "Historical Collections of Montana," declares that: cows and the condition of the pasture. One pound of grain for euch five Bridger keenly felt the suspicions cast upon his of milk Is often recommended. of the as pounds to wonders the and truthfulness honesty A suitable ration for early summer Yellowstone. Disgusted at his unmerited treatment and angered at the talk about "Old Jim Bridger's feeding consists of equal parts ground Lies" he retaliated as so many other mountain corn, ground oats and wheat bran. men have done by stuffing his tejiderfoot listeners with the most preposterous stories bis Imagination Another good ration consists of three could conjure up. parts each of ground corn and ground oats and one part linseed oil meal or Idle Tales for cottonseed meal. As the season adIdle People vances and the pasture becomes poorThe truth is that when Bridger "dtfcw the long the amount of linseed or cottonseed er, bow" he founded his romances on a great deal ot meal should be Increased to about fact. If his hearers on y had the wit and sense of the ration. to sift it out. In this way the old scout avenged himself for the distrust previously shown for his accurate and truthful accounts of many of the wonders he had seen In the Rocky Mountains. I Profitable Cows Raised to do the same have known many an of smart tenderfeet From Pure-Bre- d Sirea thing when an audience laughed or sneered at a truthful recital of someWhen scrub sires are directly comformer's experience. thing marvelous In the sires the evidence pared to pure-breThe testimony of scores of prominent military Is always greatly in favor of the pure commanders and civilians can be produced showing that James Bridger was always to be trusted breds. Two cow testing associations and believed In as a guide, scout, trader and In Wisconsin have recently published pioneer. His Idle tales were told only to Idle people in idle hours. At heart he was as comparisons. In one association, cows truthful as he was skillful and brave. He never sired by grade bulls averaged 144.8 betrayed any man and was never untrue to any pounds butterfat; those by purebred trust, public or private. sires 230 pounds. In the second association the grade sire's daughters proHigh tribute as this is. It Is amply substantiated by the many authorities quoted In Mr. duced 215 pounds butterfat per year Alter's historical narrative. In the preface he as compared to 205 pounds per cow sires. states that "in this work it is hoped that the for those sired by pure-breold scout may find a certain sanctuary from the Eighty pounds more butter at 40 cents unjust designations of braggart, drunkard, polyg-- . a pound means $32.00 p,er cow per amlst or prevaricator, though It is further hoped year; or $320.00 for each ten heifer that he will not be shielded from any Just and calves produced ; which means $040.00 to be credited to the pure-bresire proper characterization howsoever buse." Undoubtedly ho refers to the characterization of for two years use if he sired ten . Bridger In the movie version of Emerson Hough's heifers per year. Since It requires "Covered Wagon" which resulted In a $1,000,000 about 2O0 pounds butter per cow to break even, no profit was made on the suit for damages against the producing company of the grade sires; and by Mrs. Virpinla Bridger Hahn, a daughter of the daughters old scout. The suit which was Bled two years the owners who used these sires had low wnges, If any, for their labor. ago was ended early this year when the court Charles I. Bray, Colorado Agriculwas to In effect it defame that ruled "impossible anyone's ancestors." So apparently there has been tural college. added to the "Old Jim Bridger's lies" tradition this other tradition of Jim Bridger as a roistering Room for Expansion in blade, and the type of person who gets most of his It as will movies the accept Ideas from probably Dairying, Says A. Boss Andrew Boss, vice director of the unquestlonlngly as lie does the oiher. But for those who recognize the fact that the Minnesota experiment slntlon, does truth does not usually lie In extremes, a court not believe that the dairy business Is decision either way would mean nothing. To likely to tie overdone. There Is noththem Bridger's shortcomings, whatever they were, ing to fear, he snys. In the moderate were far outbalanced by his good qualities and expansion of dairying in regions fawith them hl nme Is secure. They will rejoice vorable to the Industry. that In the face of tradition, myth and bunk an "The probable Increae In cows and honest nnd thoroughly satisfactory attempt has In dnlry production." he says, "will been made to fuinil Ceneral Iodge's hope that be met by the probable Increase In "so remarkable a man should not be lost to history population and by Increased use of and the country and his work allowed to be dairy products so long as business and Industrial conditions remain ns at forgotten." present With comparatively higher prices for beef stock, many of the general purpose cattle raisers, who have been mllklnn some of their cows, hns nut been used by Nlcolay and Hay In their will go back to beef raising, thus reducing milk production somewhat, ts biography," said the aged son of the (treat Emanthe ndvantnge of the dairyman." cipator. The trunk hns been a grent mystery. There hns been a belief that In particular It contained Way for Better Sires data, having to do with Lincoln's ancestry or The average number of dairy ani, hlnft-dprivate family affairs. The son. It has been on the Indiana farm Is 4.4 mals kept was keeping It nil quiet for fear of the explosion cows, nnd the average yearly producthat might follow Its release. tion of these rows Is slightly over 4.010 Energetic writers have enmped mi the Robert pounds of nillk. according lo II. f. to confident of their ability T. Lincoln doorstep, extension specialist at Cnnnn, gnther In this greatest of all Lincoln scoops. But Purdue dairy This low producuniversity. were nowhere. have .Money, told, got they they a need for better breedcould not buy the trunk, and the contents were tion Indicates pureing. Mow to provide hlgh-rlns- s destined to disappear with the Inst of the bulls for the mnny small dairyThere has been noihlng ml b else la bred men In the state. Is one of the most the Llncolnlnnn line to unearth, and great Important problems lo Improving th has been unabatedly pursued. dairy condition. g Is a tantalizing proposition. Bridger's description which was first officially recorded was during his term as guide for the Stansbury party In 1849 and 1850 and the recorder was Lieut J. W. Gunnison. In one chapter of the book Mr. Alter says : The story of Colter's Hell has been told and retold for 35 years with little variation; but In 1827 a newspaper had published a story describing a visit to a part of the park which added some seat to the Colter Inferno. Then In 1833 a Mormon of newspaper bad published another some of the park featuns, and still description another came to light In 1842; but all these descriptions were antiquated and the stories losing caste. Tells About Park's Wonders Gunnison's arrival at the settlements was calculated to reawaken Interest In the park, for be had a first-han- d description of the park phenomena by Bridger who had visited the park many times from many directions as a trapper. Bridser was therefore interviewed by a newspaper man on the lower Missouri, and a general description of the Beysers, hot water phenomena, and the canyons was given. It was a good Btory and after setting It in the publisher confided the news to a friend type who unfortunately catuioned agains'&a too great confidence in the tale of a mere Trapper. The cold water thus poured broke the faith of the writer and the story was discarded. What a narrow miss from becoming the first to record Bridger's story I That same editor published many stories of the park in later years and in 1873, when Bridger was decrepit, and very near his demise, a story was run which followed Bridger's description, taken from other sources, together with an explanation and an apology to the old scout. The author of the book pays particular attention to these stories In two chnpters headed "The Beginning of Bridger's Stories" and "The Evolution of Bridger's Stories." In the first he says: The outstanding development of the Raynolds' U. S. A., who was sent to explore the Yellowstone river winter at Deer Creek (1859) in the atmosphere of the mountains and the presence of many mountain men was the Incubation of the original brood of reminiscent yarns of the trappers and mountaineers. And James Bridger, personifying all that was peculiarly of the mountains, was to become not only a central figure In mnny of these tales by proxy, and foster father of them all In general, but the parent peacock. In fact, of many of -the choicest tales In the limitless flock still flying- aboot In mountain lore. "Is It surprising (writes Raynolds) that men leading such a life (as these trappers), not hearing from civilization oftener than once a year and then only through the fur companies who sent to them to get their furs and supply them with ammunition and Indian trinkets, but who yet retained a recollection of the outer world they left, should beguile the monotony of camp life by spinning yarns. In which each tried to excel all others and which were repeated so often and Insisted upon so strenuously that the narrators came to believe them most religiously." Capt. W. F. Haynolda, "All Wild Tales Are Bridger's" It Is Interesting to note that Ned Biiiitline (Col. E. Z. C. Judson), who helped make BufTulo Bill famous. Is principally responsible for the "Old Jitn P.ridger's Lies" tradition. The chapter on "Evolution of Bridger's Stories" tells about Bunlline's activities us follows: The flame of Interest that was kindled In the stories of bjKone trapper days at Raynolds' winter quarters on Deer Creek was slowly fanned Into a one-four- th old-tim- er d d END OF LINCOLN TRUNK MYSTERY son nnd sole Robert T. Lincoln, ninety-year-olsurviving descendant of the Civil War President has let It be known that the mysterious trunkful of I.lneolnlana which he recently presented to the Congressional library contains nothing for hunters of unprlnted historical mailer to get excited about nothing. In fact, that has rot already been published. Mr. Lincoln, who hns steadfastly refused to discuss the trunk's contents, still refuses to talk; but he lias whispered enough Into the ears of the Congressional librarian to quiet the heart palpitations of those Lincoln enthusiasts who have known of the trunk and have spent their good time, their good money snd the good Influence of wealthy nnd social friends In an effort to get s peep Into the chest-"There Is probably nothUf In the material that d Lin-coin- s. it ! Salt Lake City. Information was field Tuesday in the federal court for seizure and condemnation of 120 cases of canned blackberries, said to be In the possession of local a wholesale grocery. It is charged that the food is unfit for human consumption, being adulterated and decomposed in part and, under the pure food and drag act, condemnation is asked. The blackberries are said to have been shipped here from Chehalis, Wash., about April 12 of tnis year by the Pacific American Fisheries company. Duchesne. There is going to be good fishing some day in the Uinta river and in Ashley and Brush creeks. Eastern brook trout in great quantities have been planted during the past few days fro mthe state hatchery at White Rocks. In some cases the fry had to be transported across the Uinta range of mountains at the head of Lake Forn and Uinta rivers by pack horses, reaching an elevation of 10,500 feet. The planting was done by Jack Tingey, chief deputy state fish and game commissioner, and Warden Lee Burnham. Moab. Ten-inccasing will be run In the John H. Shafer No. 1 well on Oil Refining. the Utah Southern-UtaMidwest Exploration companies' site on the Shafer dome, located about seven miles southwest of the Frank H. Shafer No. 1 discovery well on the Cane Creek dome. The pipe will be set in a lime shale at 1735 feet. ' h h Logan. The outstanding feature of the local market Monday was the ' heavy offerings of tomatoes. Approximately 200 lugs were offered. The prices broke lower than last week, the best selling at $2.25 per lug. The early sales were around $2, while the later sales were around $1.50 per lug. Salt Lake City. The number of sheep in the state of Utah shows an increase from 2,S55,000 in 1925 to 2,520,000 in 1926, according to the annual survey issued by George A. Scott federal livestock statistician for the seven Western states. There were 1,714,000 lambs docked in this state during 192G as compared with 1,407,000 in 1925, according to Mr. Scott's report. A large percentage of this number will be marketed this fall, while the remainder, consisting of ewes, will be saved for breeding. Salt Lake City. With a determination to bring, if possible, the next annual conference to Salt Lake, Utah state farm bureau officials departed Sunday morning for Reno to attend the annual conference of officials and leaders of farm bureau activities in the eleven western states, which opened there Monday morning for three days. The Utah party accompanied President Sam II. Thompson, of the American Farm Bureau federation, who has been a Utah visitor for several days, on the trip to Reno. Brigham City. County Agent RobH. (Bob) Stewart of Boxelder county sets his foot heavily down upon the reports that his county Is not going to get at least a normal crop of peaches this year. In fact, comments the Boxelder Tent, the peach crop this year will be a "big" one. The county had a good export movement over a large territory. The only gloomy spot in the county concerns sugar beets. This crop is not likely tonl to yield more than a nage, observes Mr. Stewart. As is the case in other sections of the region, the "white fly" has made serious inroads In sugar beets. Price. D. H. Madsen, slate fish an ! game commissioner, has sent word ti the Carbon County Fish and Oam-- i Protective association that three rcoi shipments of fish for planting In th streams of Carbon and Emery counties will be shipped this week. There will be thirty cans of young trout In each shipment. Vernal. An additional shipment ol 10.000 young rainbow trout has been received In Vernal from the White-rockhatchery and planted In upper Ashley creek. Trout creek and In thai part of Brush creek flowing through what Is known as "buck pasture." The shipment was transported from the hatchery in a tank truck, the farthest point of planting being ninety tnilci distant from the hatchery. The time has arrived fot Ogden. the farmers of the nation to take s careful look into the marketing machinery that handles the dislrublion of their produce, declared Sam H Thompson of Illinois, president of th American Farm Bureau federation, here Tuesday. He was addressing officers of various community units ol the Weber County Farm bureau and also Weber county business men. Salt Lake City. One of the favorite pastimes of skeptical visitors to ths agriculture belts of the Inter mountain west Is to attempt to discredit the claims advanced frequently by the home residents on yields per acre. Tourists visiting their friends in the west, investment bankers on Inspec tion trips with their western agents and farmers from ther lands away from horn for s few Weeks become dubious when a loyal Utahn or Idaho-commences to chant the praises of his home towa. ert half-norma- s n . |