Idaman

[Idaman]

Idaman
you kmight try a 12v pump like they have in travel trailers for your boost pump and most of them have a built in pressure switch that turns them on and off when you open a faucet

I lived in Travel trailers alot when i was in construction and was always traveling an I have only had to replace 1 of these pumps in several yrs
I don't beleive they would work to draw water from the well because the suction is minimal as I think you will find out with the sprayer pump also

The travel trailer pump might work longer too. Good idea. We just had the atv pump sitting around I hated to unibstall the one in the trailer.

You could also use the fridge from the trailer until the propane ran out. I don't know how long one would run on a 1000 gallon tank.

I need to see just how much sun power charging would be needed to run the fridge on 12v with sun as the battery charger.

At one of our houses there is a wonderful spring but it is exactly level with the house so the atv or trailer pump would really help there.

on my travel trailers I had 2 deep cycle marine batteries and they would run the fridge approximately 2 days without being hooked to anything if they were already cold and stocked on propane they would run a month on 2 30lb cylinders (4-5 gallon each I think)so on a 1000 gallon they shoud run for alooooooong time

Since your observations we were remembering that a couple of years ago we lived in our travel trailer on a ranch we had leased (baaad mistake) for three months. Ours has two propane tanks but I think that they are 7.5 gallon. Anyway they lasted better than a week each maybe even two weeks each. If you take the shorter time a 500 or 1000 gallon tank should last close to a year. We never used the 12v route there.

Years ago at Empire we spent each summer in the mountains with the cows. My wife and I usually lived in a camper on a 4X4 pickup because of there being only a one room line cabin at each site. When there were several cowboys staying there she wanted a little privacy. There we used both 12v and the propane because we were at least 1 hour from gasoline and 3 hours from a propane provider. The place we stayed the most was called Relay and the cabin is the one with the Tiny horse in it. We didn't have a travel trailer there because it took a 4X4 just to get there. We never had to pack gas in on a horse to the truck but there were some dicey times.

One of the Indian cowboys favorite tricks was to find a sign left by some camper showing others in his party the way he had gone to where the party was going to camp. The cowboys would turn all the signs around showing the opposite direction from where they should have gone. Several times some poor gal who was supposed to be following the signs to their prospective camping spot would show up at our camp
after maybe hours of driving and being totally lost the whole time because of the false directions of the signs. After telling us her sad story and predicament we knew just what had happened. I couldn't help those poor ladies because I usually wasn't with the guys when they had the bright idea of turning the signs. The cowboys sure wouldn't help and if they had turned three or four signs around even they couldn't remember which way they had turned them and where she should have gone. I usually drew her a map of how to get back to town and left it at that. The problem for them was that much of this country had logging roads criss-crossing it and the roads all looked alike anyway.

Just today we got a letter from one of our Empire neighbors who had a massive ranch. He is still there but is 95 and running the place. We actually had two neighbors from back then who turned 95 this year.

 

[Idaman]

The sign issue at Empire and the surrounding area si yet another dimension to the whole saga.

The native guys there had a real hatred for signs. In the case of turning the wrong way at Relay the signs were mostly paper plates with some writing on them so they were easy to move or turn. Often they would alter the direction of 2 or 3 signs and lead the unwitting camper in a certain direction. When the poor camper got to the last sign it would point out into a lake. I don't know whether they ever got the hint or not.

Back closer to the headquarters of course the issue was highway signs put out by the BC highways people. These took a little more work as they had to be dug up and then turned or moved.

One fall the highways people had put out a whole bunch of new signs along the roads giving directions and distances etc. I was happy because if there were any outsiders such as repairmen, truckers, and friends the signs were really very helpful to them to reach us. My happiness didn't last long as over a few days the signs all disappeared.

That winter I went with one of our native employees down to his house to see about a house repair that he thought he would appreciate our doing. When we went behind the house out of sight to the passersby I discovered a whole pile of the missing highway signs with the sign part still attached to the wooden post it had hung on. There was evidence there that the wooden posts for the signs were being cut up and used as firewood. I glanced over at the employee and he just gave me his great big toothless grin and nothing was ever mentioned again about the signs

 

[Txwalt]

I've been reading this whole thread the past few days and just finished a few hours ago. I really enjoyed the stories and all but what am I gonna do now. ;-) I guess I'll just have to check back every now and then. Seriously though it was really enjoyable reading. Reminded me of some of my Dad's army stories.

Walt

 

[Idaman]

I've been reading this whole thread the past few days and just finished a few hours ago. I really enjoyed the stories and all but what am I gonna do now. ;-) I guess I'll just have to check back every now and then. Seriously though it was really enjoyable reading. Reminded me of some of my Dad's army stories.

Walt

Thanks for the kind words. There will probably be quite a bit more coming. I am trying to post in subject groups and not repeat anything without acknowledging that the comment was referenced back in a prior post.

 

[Idaman]

This share of stock issued in 1908 was a membership in what is now the AHA. It represented a life time membership in the association. At the time that the present day association was formed you could turn this in for a lifetime membership. Obviously we didn't turn this one in but instead got a lifetime membership in about 1960. So we in theory have two lifetime memberships.

 

[Idaman]

Interesting the price of registered Herefords just a few years ago.

Painter was of Painter Herefords near Denver and at the time a fairly well known breeder.

The prices went up some from 1908 to 1920. The shipping charges weren't too bad either.

 

[Idaman]

Notice the hand written prices in those days around 1900.

If the hand written notes are not clear enough.

The Grove 3rd sold for $7,000 at ten years of age before the turn of the century.(Bottom right)

Lord Wilton sold for $18,000. (bottom left)

Fanfare sold for $1,875. (bottom left also)

Soudan sold for $1,000. (top) and was imported.

Those prices just blow my mind.

 

[Idaman]

Sorry about the image size it just wouldn't post after cropping.

This calf at Empire is showing the signs of having been picked up by an eagle. They always resulted in this pose. The pickup probably had occurred when the calf was a day or two old and since he is older than that here he has pretty much healed. They are hard to see but the scars are just behind the shoulder up near the top of the ribs.

There were major livestock predation problems at Empire and the three were.

1. Eagles. (the least problematic)

2. Bears (very problematic)

3. Ticks (exremely problematic)

I will go into the bears later but the tick issue was really a pain. These were paralitic ticks that could immobilze an animal and knock it right down. I believe that this variety of tick is only prevalent in the northwest. It only took one tick to do the paralizing but he needed to attach himself between the back of the host animals head and the top of the shoulders but only on a narrow line above the spinal cord. The tick when he attached would injest an anti-coagulant into the host so he could get more blood easier. In the miniscule amount of anti-coagulant was a substance that would paralyze the animal. When found if found the animal would be lying perfectly flat with its' eyes open but unable to move any thing connected to the spinal cord. They weren't killed by the ticks but maybe birds pecking their eyes out or the discovery by bears or coyotes. Only yearling cattle seemed to be affected. Cows and calves were immune although horses, dogs, deer, and humans were susceptible. Sometimes there would be a ball of ticks the size of you fist protruding out abou 1/2 inch from the animals hide. You only had to remove the offending tick, if could find out which one it was out of dozens, and the animal would get up immediately and be good as new.

At first we sprayed the yearling just as we turned out but the first little shower would wash them off and we had to gather the 15,000 acre pasture and spray after every shower. Next we heard of a pour on called Dursban which had a much longer useful life of protection. One treatment always seemed to be effective enough.

One small problem. Dursban was legal in Canada and the US but Canada forbade the importation in amounts greater than 8 oz. and a value of more than $40. This prevented the dealers from importing any so to get the stuff we had to buy it in the US and import it ourselves. We still had to respect the restrictions but several people figured out a solution. About a month before we needed to treat for turnout I would go down to the coast and check into a motel that was as close to a border crossing as possible. Then I would cross into the US and purchase a case of two of Dursban. Next I took those cases to an all night filling station also very close to the border crossing and ask them to allow me to leave the boxes there over night. I then would take out one bottle and head for the border cross legally and then take that one bottle to the motel and leave it and then head back across for another single bottle to do the same routine with. I usually did this at night when the border crossings weren't too busy and I could check through quickly because I had several trips to make.

One night I had just started the importation and there was an elderly agent checking me through, I noticed that he would always sit down in a chair and read the paper when I wasn't there. So he would have to get up to check me through. After 4 or 5 interruptions to his reading when I was crossing many times he said "Just how many more trips are you going to make?". I told him that I would cross 31 times more times during the night. He asked just why I only brought one at a time as he was getting tired of me. I told him what the issue was and that what I was doing was perfectly legal. After that he told me to just put the rest of the cases in my car bring them across and get the heck out of his otherwise peaceful evening. I did just as he suggested, he waved me through and the next morning I headed home.

Later we used rope wick oilers and built three sided pens and hung the oiler across the fourth side and then put the salt or mineral in the pen were the yearlings would have to go under the oiler to get any salt.
This really solved the problem for us anyway.

 

[KNERSIE]

Dursban is a current trade name for Chlorpyriphos that is used for scale in fruit trees, wonder what the active ingredient of the Dursban pour-on was?

 

[Angus Cowman]

Dursban is a current trade name for Chlorpyriphos that is used for scale in fruit trees, wonder what the active ingredient of the Dursban pour-on was?

Doubt it is the same as I don't beleive you can get the dursban that Idaman is talking about anymore
heck we used it as he did and we would also mix it in a barrel and dip the dogs with it
the stuff stunk to hi heaven and the dogs sure didn't like getting dipped but it would sure knock the ticks off
we always mixed it with diesel or Coal Oil when applying it to the back rubs and mixed it with water for the dogs

 

[Idaman]

A part of our current ranch is right along a river in a very hot area and the gnats and flies are so bad that we had to abandon leaving cattle there through the summer as the calves would come off very light because of the bug problem.

Last year we heard about spraying them every two weeks during the hot time with Ivomec mixed with some water and a little crankcase oil. This was so effective that we only had to hit them twice during the summer and the calves were back up to their normal weight.

The interval for those sprayings was 17 days so the residual must be pretty good.

We didn't saturate the cows but only hit them on the back as they ran through a gate. We only used a 3 gallon hand pump sprayer which was adequate.

 

[Idaman]

BEARS!

An every day phenomenon at Empire, as long as they were "out" we had them everywhere. Without a lot of entertainment such as TV or any social activities the hunting of bears became our favorite and most frequently enjoyed pastime.

The above picture is one of an unusually colored black bear that we took off of a horse bait near our main line cow camp called Yodel. The rope in the bottom right hand corner of the picture was part of the story around this bear.

The bears always took a toll on our cattle so it was mandatory that we try to get the offenders. We were actually killing two "bears" with one stone as we enjoyed the hunting and really needed to eliminate the cattle killers

Our native cow foreman, my kids, and I were sitting behind an old log about 150 yards up a hill from the bait. We were actually hoping for the grizzly that was living in that area but this bear came instead. I shot him and then we went down carrying the rope to drag him away, so that his dead presence wouldn't spook away any other bears that might be drawn to the bait, especially the grizzly. He was a pretty bear just out of hibernation so we took his picture. We then dragged him some distance to a steep bank that had been the old creek channel and tossed him over the 12 foot bank.

We proceeded back up to our lookout to wait for other visitors. The only thing that came that evening was one very skittish coyote. He was also a very curious coyote. When we first noticed him he was sitting just in the trees watching the bait. He then proceeded to move completely around the bait always sitting in the trees. Finally his curiosity got the best of him and he approached the horse but with GREAT caution. As he got nearer the bait he smelled our tracks and that of the bear and he sniffed everywhere to see who had been there and just what had happened. He kept stopping and cautiously looking around and several times he spooked himself and raced off into the trees but his curiosity always got the best of him and he came back to his investigation. Finally he discovered the track where we had dragged the bear and that was immediately his interest. He followed the trail by criss crossing it many times trying to figure which way we had gone dragging the bear. He finally settled on working his way toward the bank where the bear laid. He of course couldn't see the dead bear as yet so he worked his way right up to the edge of the sharp bank and looked over. Now the bear was right under his nose. When he discovered the bear I'll swear he jumped straight up in the air at least four feet and then when he landed he was already running at top speed and never stopped. It was as if he said "THERE HE IS, JUST WHAT I FEARED".

We were all laughing so hard that we couldn't have shot the grizzly even if he had come. However the presence of a grizzly can be pretty sobering and we might have sharpened up real quick.

 

[rocket2222]

Dursban is a current trade name for Chlorpyriphos that is used for scale in fruit trees, wonder what the active ingredient of the Dursban pour-on was?

Hope your not using it.
from 1982
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6175480

and later
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorpyrifos

 

[KNERSIE]

Dursban is a current trade name for Chlorpyriphos that is used for scale in fruit trees, wonder what the active ingredient of the Dursban pour-on was?

Hope your not using it.
from 1982
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6175480

and later
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorpyrifos

It is still being used widely today for the lack of a better product. Its only used in the dormant stage in combination with a mineral oil to make it more effective on the scale and to prevent run off. Every fruit farmer producing for the export market needs to be GlobalGap acredited so the use of toxins such as chlorpyriphos is done in a very controlled environment with the minimum effect on mother nature. Should the housewifes relax on what they expect their fruit to look like we can off course quit spraying chemicals like dursban for scale which only have an aesthetic effect on fruit with no harm to the eating or holding quality.

 

[Idaman]

We were told by other ranchers, not sales reps. or promoters, that the cause for the banning of the importation of Dursban into Canada was that several bulls that had been treated with it died the night after the application. These were reportedly dairy bulls that after treatment were penned up in a really small indoor pen and the lengthy exposure to the high levels in the air caused their deaths. At Empire we couldn't have duplicated those conditions if we had wanted to.

We switched from Dursban to the wick ropes because the ropes protected us for the whole three months of exposure to the ticks. Not for safety reasons.

 

[regenwether]

I was just wondering what wild game you would eat. Bear? What about fishing?

 

[Idaman]

A nice string from a lake near Relay.

I don't remember where from but somewhere near Relay.


We ate a lot of wild game at Empire over the years. The most was salmon. The native people that lived and worked on the ranch would go down to the Frazer river every night beginning in late June through the end of July and dip net salmon which were running up the river. This was as much a cultural tradition for them as was the catching of the fish. They would build a big bonfire and have a great time. The one doing the dipping would have a rope tied around his waist and then to a BEEEG rock and he would stand on a certain rock that stuck out in the river and made the water move faster flowing around the rock. He would dip using a motion that made the net go with the current so a conventional net would not work because the stream flow would push the soft netting through the hoop and prevent any salmon from entering. The best thing for the net material itself was chicken wire as it was stiff enough to not be swept through and get ahead of the hoop. We wondered at first why our chickens were always getting out at the beginning of the salmon run. We started buying a roll of new chicken wire just before the run and then laying the roll of wire right were the old wire had been missing. These people furnished us with so much wonderful salmon that the wire was the least we could to contribute to the program.

By law they could catch and use all the salmon that they wanted but they were forbidden from selling any or even giving it away. They however sure gave us lots and we really appreciated it. They brought so much to our door that in July we were beginning to look forward to the end of the run. It is a real insult to turn down anything they offer as a gift so we were saturated and probably smelled very fishy for a month. This giving of gifts and the need to accept them became a real problem when one of the girl who was close to my wife and very pregnant told my wife that when she had the baby she was going to give it to my wife. You can bet that this problem was discussed many times around our dinner table and often late at night. When the birth came the girl was busy and must have forgotten her earlier statement and after several months we relaxed a bit.

One of our employees really liked selling fish so every night after he had made his catch he would throw the fish into the trunk of his car and head for town to sell them. Needless to say that over time his car began to smell and in the heat of July it began to reek. He complained a lot about all the dogs following him every time he drove through the reserve. Several times he filled the trunk clear full of water and then put in some soap but to no avail. He even poured couple bottles of his girlfriends perfume in there but that only gave it a horrible sweet smell and ruined any effect the perfume might have had on the girl. In the end he had to abandon the car and wait until winter and then strip all the good parts from it.

Next in the food line was the consumption of venison which we used a lot. Empire was famous for it's' deer herds so we could stock up during the season and it would last some time.

Next was blue grouse of which we had quite a bit especially around the cow camps because they could be consumed before they spoiled. Our boys also spent nearly every afternoon after school hunting grouse. The younger son would go out every day with his BB gun and wouldn't say where he was going. We never thought much about it until one day when he returned to the house with a very large grouse. Talk about proud of taking a grouse with a BB gun.

Last was trout. We could catch them anytime but they were only good to eat in the early spring before the hot weather came and in the fall after it had left. In the summer the lakes in that area were so shallow that the fish got very soft and not edible. The ones shown above were caught right at the end of the good time and they were from a high mountain lake. The trout in the streams were firm all summer but the streams were glacier fed so the water was a gray color and the fish were OK but not really good.

The one exception to this in our area was a lake called Gaspard that was big enough and deep enough that the fish from there were always good. There were so many fish in the stream just below the dam that you couldn't cast a fly without catching a fish. They were small but delicious. There was a Gang cow camp near there and the cowboys left a bucket sitting on a cement wall just next to where the water was falling from a culvert that was the outlet for the dam. The bucket would be just at the edge of the water fall so that often fish who were trying to go up the waterfall would be flipped back and land in the bucket. This was a very simple and reliable way of getting supper. I was there lots of times and always the bucket would be just full of delicious trout.

We did not eat bear as I had tried it in Colorado when I was young and sure didn't like it. That time we gave what we couldn't eat to the dogs but the hair just came up on their backs and they growled and wouldn't touch the stuff. I know that if you do eat bear meat it is very important what they have been eating before you killed them. If they had just consumed a rotten old cow then they might not be really prime bear. But if you must, after the wild berries come on is probably the best time. I know that just skinning them was very different depending on their prior diet.

Moose and bighorn sheep were really great but we seldom got them. The moose were scarce and the sheep were very hard to hunt for trophies let alone meat. The natives got both and relished the moose.

 

[Idaman]

Some times the bear stories were funny and others they were sad.

One day while driving through Gang Ranch we were passing a meadow called bear spring. A bee man had put out quite a few hives there that were very visible from the road. It was evening but still very light.

As we passed the beehives we saw a young bear up on top of a hive. He was using his front claws to try to pry the top up off of the hive but the problem was that he was standing on top of the lid he was trying to lift. We nearly died laughing at the antics of this young bear.

On the sad or maddening side of the equation was one night at Yodel when two native cowboys were awakened in the middle of the night by the most awful but somewhat muffled sound they had ever heard. It definitely was a sound of agony and panic on the part of some animal that they could not identify. It really spooked them and they couldn't go back to bed and were too spooked to go investigate in the dark. They stayed up, built a fire and made some coffee. Actually they drank several pots worth. So much that they ran out of water but were panicked about going out and down to the creek to get more. Finally the older man braved up and headed out with a bucket. When he was almost to the creek he heard a noise behind him and he spun around to run for the cabin and ran smack dab into the younger cowboy who had not liked being alone in the cabin and had fetched his gun and followed the other man. After they got up and calmed themselves down some they talked themselves into going ahead and getting the water and heading back.

At first light they saddled up and headed out in the direction of the awful noise. They soon came on the seen that was causing the ruckus. A black bear had knocked a cow down and broken her back so she couldn't move but she didn't die. Instead she was bawling while partly submerged in the creek as the bear was eating her entire hindquarters with her alive.

The cowboys shot the bear and then the cow but even after they knew the bear was dead they just couldn't quit shooting him. They finally ran out of bullets so they headed out for a three hour ride to a mine telephone to call me and tell me the story. They also said that they needed more bullets and they were out of coffee too. I headed right out for the camp with several boxes of ammunition and more coffee but this time I only took decaf. When I got to the camp they were still bouncing around and chattering in a high pitch.

 

[Idaman]

Some people have been curious about the Carl Martin bred cattle out of Texas. Here are two bulls bred by him in the early seventies. They are of straight Lamplighter and Blanchard lineage. They were not certified Anxiety 4ths but were line bred very close to that line.

This is the bull we called 211,

Obviously another picture of 211.

This is bull 212.

212 again.

These were two of the four that we got from Carl. We earlier showed the picture of one of the other
bulls. Since we had been using an Anxiety 4th bull before and had many of his daughters we crossed these bulls on those daughters. Shortly after this time we bought two Eaton Becker bulls and were going to cross these two lines back and forth. These three bulls from Carl are in every pedigree of the cattle we now have so they must have done something right.

We couldn't continue this plan after the move to Canada as the Martin bulls would just not adjust to the climate although their daughters did just fine. Of course the Becker bulls did just fine being from Montana.

 

[Idaman]

Bears! If you live with them all around you really need a sense of humor for their antics. If not then they can really get you down and make your life miserable.

On the more humorous side and yet potentially disastrous side would be the following story.

Our neighbor and great friend in his younger days was quite a good roper and liked to practice on anything that came across his path. One day when he and a native man were riding to check the cattle they came across a medium sized bear out in the open where a good chase would be possible. He was on his best roping horse so he shook out his rope and went after the bear. The horse was very fast and the bear got a late start so Jack easily caught up to within roping distance and threw. The rope went neatly over the bears head but before it tightened the bear as he was running reached up and swatted it off of his neck but the rope tightened around his foot instead. Jack thought just as the rope was going over the bears head that something here is just not right. Then the rope tightened around the bears' leg the bear immediately turned around and started back towards Jack. Then it hit Jack just what it was that wasn't quite right. He had tied onto a grizzly not a black bear as he had thought he was roping. This fact brought on a whole new dimension to the saga.

Since Jack was on his favorite horse he hadn't wanted to carry the rifle on this horse so he had given it to the native man to carry. Jack and his horse spun around and headed back by the man carrying the gun with the grizzly in hot pursuit. As he went by the armed man and started making a circle around him he yelled for the man to shoot the bear that was very close behind and gaining... The native man yelled back "I can't hit a running bear. You'll have to stop." Jack then yelled "I CAN'T STOP. Just SHOOT the bear." Finally the man shot, hit the bear and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, especially Jack.

One of our irrigators was up in a meadow about three miles from the house moving some wheel lines. The upper end line ran up to some chokecherry bushes along an old creek bed. When he was working there on that line an older bear bounced kind of stiff legged out of the bushes right toward him woofing as she came. This spooked him some and he raced back to the trail bike he used to get around the hayfields and piled on with great speed. It was a kick start bike and he immediately started kicking the starter pedal. The bike just would not start and after frantically kicking it for some time he realized that he hadn't turned the ignition key on. When he did turn it on the bike started and he left the bear in a cloud of dust. He said that he had been kicking the bike so fast that it was turning over at least 2000 rpm when he discovered the key problem.

Later in the year our oldest son was up there moving that same line and again the bear bounced out and woofed at him. He tried his bike but it truly would not start and he had to run quite a ways. After he had gone about a mile he was able to catch a horse and ride on home with the use of a bale twine for a bridle. When he told my wife the story she immediately decided to go after that bear and end this nonsense. I was hunting grizzliesin the back country so she felt she had to do it alone. She took my lighter rifle and headed out with our boys in the pickup. When she got up to the meadow where the bear was the bear was crossing the meadow in the open and heading up a steep hillside. She jumped out, grabbed the 25/06, told the boys to be ready to reload for her and then started shooting at the bear. She hadn't wanted to get too close so the distance was 3 to 400 yards. I think she emptied the gun twice and although none of the three bears dropped she was pretty sure that she had hit at least one. It was a momma bear, the woofer, her yearling and her that years' cub. I got home later that night and she insisted that we go back up there in the morning to see if she had hit any of the bears.

When we got to the meadow we ran into the yearling and prepared to get it. She had started this hunt so she wanted to finish it so we let her have at the bear first. It was moving and her first shot creased it on the rear quarters. The bear sat down and started scooting along in a sitting position like a dog does sometimes. We were all laughing real hard until she shot again and downed it.

Later we found the sow dead very near where she had shot at it the day before and the cub, also dead, not far from there. She was quite proud of herself for her shooting and bear hunting.