Buffalo Island

           This week, my daughter-in-law took my grandsons to Antelope Island for an outing. The elder grandson was on break from school and looking for a bit of adventure. Had I not been attending a funeral of a wonderful ninety-something year old, I would have told them the story of Buffalo Island, the previous name for what is now known as Antelope Island. The following story was written by my grandfather, Jack or John E. Barker.

Isaac, ringing the chow bell in honor of Grandpa Jack

                "When I was fifteen years old I had the opportunity of working on Buffalo Island putting up hay. John Thornley and Burt Harris were managing the island at the time, however, a Fred DeShields owned two thousand acres and he was operating this. 

From gent to ranch hand, a transition in the making

             "It was spring and word came to as that Fred DeShields would meet us at Saltair and take us over to the island at an appointed time, 6 o'clock. Bryan Swanger and I gathered our packs together one afternoon and went to the Bamberger Station, in Kaysville and went to Salt Lake. There we took a train that went to Saltair. We tried to locate Fred DeShields but could not find him, the time was 6:25 P.M.  We waited and waited, but he was net to be found. We rode on the Dipper and had a good time at one thing and another until 12:30 A.M.  Finally we located Fred DeShields.

            "We went out to the docks at Saltair and Fred had a motor boat. He weighed 480 pounds and when he got in the motor boat it sank in the water quite a let. We went down the ladder and got in and Fred started the motor and we pulled away from Saltair. 

Saltair Pavilion, Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1900.

             "The moon was out in fall and the reflection on the salt water was beautiful. There was a wind blowing and the salt water would make what they called white caps. When the boat would hit a white cap it would cause quite a spray of water to go in the air and the boat would go up and down. By the time we got to the island I was sea sick. But it was quite a trip and I enjoyed it. We pulled into the docks at the island, where they lead cattle, ate, and we unloaded. Fred had a truck there and we put our packs in the truck and we started for the ranch house. We arrived at the ranch house at 3:30 A.M. We were told to sleep in a certain canvas, one room house, so we got our bedding, etc., and went in the bunk house.  We finally got to bad and soon after we aroused by something biting us. Soon it was daybreak and we got out of bed to see what was biting us. There were more bed bugs there than there are flys [sic] on the screen door waiting to come in when someone opens the door on the first cool nights.

            "Well, we decided to make our beds on the machine shed and sleep out there. We put a ladder up and took our bedding up and slept on the machine shed all summer.

            "When we got to the ranch house I was thirsty and there was water coming out of a pipe and I thought it was good old spring water so I had a drink. When I examined the water the next day I found it was water that the ducks had been swimming in.

            "Mr. Whipple was running the ranch house and he gave the orders on hauling the hay. We were told to haul hay and put it in a huge barn. It was not baled hay, it was loose, and we had to pitch it on and off the hay rack.

            "Well, we worked a half day and went in for dinner. I noticed Fred DeShields was there. He went out in the garden and got twelve large cucumbers and peeled them and put them on the table by his plate. He would eat the twelve cucumbers before he started on the dinner that had been prepared. Buffalo roasts, steaks, etc., were served everyday at the ranch house. The meat would keep about two weeks in the cooler they had.  It consisted of a wooden frame about four feet square and six feet high, Burlap sacks were tacked on the sides of the cooler, a tin top with sacks over the tin, a door on the front with sacks hanging down. A pipe from the spring furnished the water to keep the sacks wet. In this manner the food would keep cool. A breeze or slight wind cause the air to move would keep it cooler.

            "Every two or three weeks Fred would pack up or hook up to the buckboard and go out in the mountains by himself and bring back a buffalo calf.

            "There weren't any lights on the island so we had to go to bed with the chickens. We would go to bed when it got dark and get up when it became light. When it commenced to get dark up the ladder we would go on top of the machine shed. We would lie in bed and watch the stars come out. We would count the stars as they came out. After we had counted to about three hundred they would come out so fast we couldn't keep them straight so we had to give up counting them. We knew where the dipper was, the eastern star, the morning star, and many others. We watched the moon change from one-quarter to full moon. We learned that if the first quarter of the moon was in a position where it would hold water, it would not rain, but if it was in a position where water would run out, it was going to rain. It didn't rain all summer. We were not driven inside for shelter once. 

Antelope Island Horsemen, c1920

             "Well, the next day we got up as soon as it was daylight, went out to the barn and harnessed the horses. We washed our hands and face in cold water near the spring and went in the ranch house for breakfast.  We had bacon and eggs for breakfast. After eating we went to the barn and hooked the horses to the hay rack and drove to the hayfield. We pitched on a load of hay and took it to the barn. They had a derrick and we would put the hay into the barn through the roof and it would fall into the loft. After we put a load in the loft we would move it with a pitchfork out of the way to make room for another load.  This was the procedure all summer long.

            "One day we went out for another load of hay, and after we loaded up one of the horses wouldn't pull, it decided it wanted to quit the job. We tried everything to get the horse to pull, but it wouldn't. Finally, Bryan, the man I was working with, grabbed the pitchfork and jabbed it into the horse’s hind quarters and continued jabbing until it began to bleed freely. I couldn't stand it any longer, so I told Bryan not to do it again or he and I would have trouble. He believed what I said and he didn’t stick the fork in the horse any more. We waited for about half an hour and then told the horses to pull the load and they did.

            "Sometime later we were hauling hay and there was a buffalo in the field. That night at the dinner table we mentioned it to the man and they told us the buffalo was blind and didn't stay with the herd. Everyday the buffalo was in some of the hay fields.  One day we went out for more hay and the blind buffalo was coming toward us and when it got within a hundred yards of us it got frightened and went out into the lake. It kept going out farther and farther until all we could see was a spot about the size of a football. We thought it was going across to David County, but the next day when we went to the hayfield there was the blind buffalo. 

Buffalo on Antelope Island by Ray Grass for Deseret News

 "On Sunday me would saddle up the horses and go for a ride up north. We found a good place to swim in the lake and we would go swimming.

            "At that time there were about five hundred buffalo on the island, and it was known as Buffalo Island. Now I think the island is known as Antelope Island.

            "One Sunday as we were riding along, somewhere west of Syracuse, we came across a hard of old buffalo bulls. We inquired about this at the ranch house and we were told that the old bulls were driven out of the herd by the young bulls. They would leave the herd. Their way of fighting was to charge at each other with their heads. And the one that went down first lost the fight. And this is the reason there was a herd of old buffalo bulls.

            "As we were riding one Sunday we came across a few buffalo, and one of them stood and looked at us. Bryan had a .22 caliber pistol and he said watch me frighten that buffalo. He fired the gun and we decided the bullet hit the buffalo in the forehead. The buffalo shook its head and loped away over the mountain. The mountains on the island are not half as high as the mountains in Davis County. When we returned to the ranch house we examined the skulls of some of the buffalo that were around on the ground and we found that the bone in the forehead of a buffalo was twelve inches thick.

            "One Sunday we saddled up the horses and rode west from Saltair.  The other side of the island is about the same as the east side. Out in a distance is another island they call Bird Island. There are thousands of birds on this island. We saw a large herd of buffalo on the other side that is the west side of the mountain. Springs are few on the island. There must be some fresh water lakes back in the hills where the buffalo get drinking water. 

Garr Ranch House activities include roping and riding

              "Well, we finally got all the hay put up. There was a lot of it in the barn, but it was not full by any means. We were glad we were through with putting up hay. We were ready to go home. But, there was trouble.  Fred DeShields had gone to Salt Lake and they didn't know when he would be back. Some said he probably wouldn't be back till spring. We thought we would call John Thornley or Burt Harris and tell them to locate Fred and have him come and get us. We went to the ranch house to use the telephone, but when we got there they told us there wasn't a telephone on the island. 

            "What was the next thing to do? We didn't know. We thought we might be able to swim to Saltair if we started early in the morning. Then we thought about our clothes and bedding. If we decided to swim we would have to leave them. But then Fred could bring them later and we could pick them up at the Dooly Building in Salt Lake. They had Antelope or Buffalo Island offices in the Dooly Building.

Garr Ranch House, c1920

            "Days and nights passed. At night we were still counting the stars as they came. One day good news came. Mr. Whipple had driven down to Fred's ranch house and Fred had come back to the island.  In a couple or three days he would come and pick us up and take us to Saltair.

            "Our chins were touching our chests but when we heard the good news they came up to normal position.

             

            "Two days later good old Fred came to get us. We loaded oar bedding in the truck, Mr. Whipple and his wife went too. We all got in the truck, five to be exact, leaving Joe, Dan and Mike to take care of things at the ranch. After an hour riding over rough roads we came to the loading docks. We all got into Fred's Astor boat and we were on our way to Saltair. We arrived at Saltair at about five o'clock. From there we caught a train to Salt Lake. When we got to Salt Lake we went to the Bamberger station and caught a train to Kaysville. It sure seemed good when we got off the train in Kaysville. There was the old public school building, and Jimmy Proudfoot was at the station getting a load of freight to take down to Chris Burton's Store, where I later worked as a delivery boy. 

Bamberger Station at Kaysville

             "We picked up our bedding and clothes and started up through the school grounds. Dad's house was just west of Uncle George's house. Bryan Swanger lived just east of Leone Gardner. Both of these houses had been pulled down now.

            "Dad and Mother were both glad to have me home again and I was glad to be home again."

Note: Grandpa told about once seeing a white buffalo in the herd. A white bison or white buffalo is considered sacred by Native Americans. It was often visited for spiritual ceremonies and prayer. A white buffalo is rare, estimated as one out of every ten million births. Isaac, your grandpa Papa, went on a mission to the Lakota Sioux when he was a young man. They believe the white buffalo to be mystical and gives a message of hope.

Sources: 

1. "Buffalo Island" by John E. Barker © Permission is granted for educational and family history purposes with attribution. No changes may be made.

2. Photos taken from “Ranching On Antelope Island: An Information Guide to the Garr Ranch on Antelope Island”, published by Friends of Antelope Island and the Utah Humanities Council.

3. Photo of Bamberger Station taken from Kaysville City web site. 

4. Photo of Buffalo found online at Deseret News article by Ray Grass. "Annual buffalo roundup healing Antelope Island herd". November 15, 2007.

5. Photo of Saltair: Saltair Pavilion, Great Salt Lake, Utah. Detroit Publishing Co. no. 53809. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-18164 (digital file from original item). 1901. This photo is in the public domain with no known restrictions to use.