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Without her, the expedition might never have accomplished the difficult task of finding their way to the Pacific Ocean and back. Sacajawea was born in 1788 and as a young girl was captured by a hostile tribe and taken into what is now Montana. A French Canadian fur trader (Toussaint Charbonneau) living with the Mandan Indians on the upper Missouri purchased her for a wife, and when Lewis and Clark came through there in 1804, he went with them as an interpreter. But his wife proved even more valuable to them as a guide--since the travelers were headed toward the land of her birth. She also served as go-between when they had to barter for horses here in the Lemhi Valley. The explorers could no longer travel by river and had to trek over the Continental Divide with horses. As fate would have it, the Shoshone Chief at that time was Sacajawea’s brother Cameahwait.

Later, settlers from the East came into this valley after gold was discovered in 1866 and mining camps sprang up. The town of Salmon was established in 1869 to serve the mining camps; the first pioneer ranchers sold beef to the miners.

The first settlement on our creek occurred when Lester P. Withington (from Apollo, PA) homesteaded at the mouth of the creek, building a home of cottonwood logs--a building that later became a stagecoach and freight-wagon stop. Our creek is named for him. The first homesteaders on what is now our ranch were Martin and Louise Chandler, who crossed the plains by ox team in 1877. They homesteaded 160 acres here in 1884, and cleared the fields by grubbing out sagebrush with hand tools. They had 11 children; three were born in the log cabin they built in 1885. My husband and I still live in that original log house, though it looks much different now, with more rooms added on.

A number of homesteads were established along the creek in those early years, but some of the land went back to the government and others changed hands often. It was difficult to make a living on traditional homesteads (160 acres) because they were too small to support a livestock operation. Some were sold for delinquent taxes. The homestead at the upper end of our creek reverted back to public domain and is now BLM land. The old ditches are still visible, along with the caved-in cellar and remains of log buildings. Farther up the creek a copper mine (the Harmony Mine) was operating during the 1920’s, but it too was short-lived.
Eventually the various homesteads coalesced into three ranches, all of which ran a few cattle and many horses. The horses stayed on the range, rounded up only when needed. But by 1955 most of the horses had been removed from the range; the BLM did not want grazing animals out there year-around.

The Dawsons (who lived on the Chandler homestead during the 1930’s, where our home is now) had a big round corral for Sunday rodeos, bucking out horses they rounded up off the range. The Johnsons, who lived on the small ranch farther up the creek, owned many horses also, and for awhile had an Army Remount stallion--a Thoroughbred named Cheyenne Chief, a son of Pillary. Pillary was the top money-winning Thoroughbred in America in 1922 and nearly won the Triple Crown.

Cheyenne Chief was an outstanding and versatile stallion; many ranchers in the area bred mares to him, including the Withingtons. They raised many good Thoroughbred horses. When my father bought a little ranch on the creek in 1955, he bought a young mare named Nellace from the Withingtons. Nellace was sired by Cheyenne Chief.

When I was a child growing up and learning about horses, Nellace was the smartest and most athletic equine I was privileged to know. She was a good cow horse, and later had 5 good foals for me, all by Arabian stallions. Those Anglo-Arabs were the best ranch horses I’ve ever had.

My younger brother and I enjoyed growing up on our little ranch, taking care of cattle, building fences and riding range. The summer I was 14, he and I were taking care of the place while our folks were away for a week, and while we were checking and moving cattle on the range, his mare Ginger lost a shoe. It was a crisis, because the next day we had to ride our horses the 28-mile round trip to town for our weekly 4-H meeting and drill practice. Our horse club was preparing a mounted drill to perform at the county fair.

I had trimmed a lot of horses’ feet, but Dad did all our shoeing. Necessity is a good teacher, however, and I’d been watching Dad shoe horses for several years. I figured I could do the job. In our shed, my brother and I found a used shoe that would fit Ginger, and I carefully nailed it on. Ginger made the trip to town the next day just fine. From then on, with pointers from Dad and my 4-H leader (who was a farrier), I shod all our horses, and I’ve been shoeing our ranch horses ever since.

Our Ranch Horses
We had several good horses as I was growing up, including a black part-Thoroughbred mare named Scrappy that my Dad bought from a high school boy named Lynn Thomas (whom I later married). Scrappy did a smooth, fast singlefoot instead of a trot. I was curious about her ancestry and discovered that her mother was a pacer.

Scrappy was one of my first 4-H projects and I raised my first foal from her in 1959--a half Arab filly named Khamette. That filly became a good ranch horse (cow horse, kid horse, pack horse) and though she is long gone--I had to put her down at age 25 due to severely arthritic knees--she had three grandsons, two of which are still on the ranch. My youngest grandchildren are now riding “Khamahn” (nickname “Veggie”) who is 24 years old.

My dad raised Hereford cattle. When Lynn and I were married in 1966 and took over the ranch and added the other two small places (including the old Chandler place, where our home is), we started raising crossbred cattle. Our homegrown composites are ambitious range cattle and very athletic--using our steep mountain pastures with ease.

We continued raising horses, since keeping track of cattle on the range requires good horses. For more than 40 years I rode nearly every day during summer--checking gates and fences (repairing fences when trees blow over them or elk tear them down), water troughs, etc. and trying to see all the cows and calves often. That way, if we have a problem we can fix it, or gather strays if someone leaves a gate open, or bring home a cow or calf that needs doctoring for pinkeye or footrot.

Our two kids learned to ride at an early age because they had to tag along with me riding range. Lynn was usually busy haying and irrigating and I was the range rider. The kids started riding old Khamette before their little legs were long enough to reach below the saddle pad (she could hardly feel them kicking, so they used a small switch to make her go.

At first I ponied her alongside my horse on a lead line; she led so well that I could chase cows with Khamette and kid in tow. She could walk, trot or gallop right beside my horse, or drop back behind if we had to wind our way through a narrow timbered trail. The kids gained confidence on her, since they had their own “reins” but mama was in control and the smart old mare couldn’t stop and eat grass along the way.

During the 1970’s we did some endurance riding with our ranch horses; they were already well conditioned for distance riding, from their regular cattle work on the range. We often rode 5 to 8 hours daily checking cattle, gates etc. usually at a trot to cover the distances involved. I did some endurance competition on Nikki (my good half Arab cowhorse out of Nellace) but even more on Fahleen and Ahmahl (full sister and brother to Nikki. The summer Fahleen was 7 she carried me more than 2500 miles--most of it riding range. Our kids did some competitive distance riding, too, when they got old enough. Daughter Andrea’s first competition when she was 9 earned her an award for being the youngest rider on the oldest horse (Khamette, who was 21 by that time).

I’ve always appreciated good ranch horses with willingness and heart--the desire to do whatever they must to get the job done. We often have to move or chase cattle in difficult terrain, so our horses must be agile and sure-footed as well as speedy, with the endurance necessary to put in a hard 12-hour day when we are gathering and moving cattle. This is why we like the part Arabs as ranch horses; they have the endurance to work hard, day after day.
And they put a lot of enthusiasm into their work. Like the time I was trying to head off a big horned Hereford bull on Ahmahl. The bull was trying to prevent his harem from being moved out of their pasture, and was racing me to the front of the herd. He turned on me and threatened to hit my horse with his horns. Without hesitation, Ahmahl put his ears back, reared up and struck the bull in the face with his front feet. It startled the bull so much that he backed off and gave ground, and we got him turned the right direction.

Nikki was probably my best cowhorse. She was a little high-strung and nervous, but if we were working cattle she was totally serious and all business; she loved working cattle as much as I did and knew exactly what to do, without any cues from me. And she was the most surefooted and agile horse we ever had. I could chase cows on her through logs and bogs, or full speed down a steep rocky slope, on frozen hillsides--and she always kept her feet.

Even in her older years when she was stiff and semi-retired, I could grab her out of the pasture in an emergency and use her when I needed a really good horse for a really tough job, even in mid-winter on ice and snow. Her son Nikkolis (3/4 Arab grandson of old Nellace, the Thoroughbred mare) was probably the next best cowhorse I ever had, with great heart and agility.

We’ve had a lot of good horses over the past 44 years, including Lynn’s QH mare Bambi, our son’s Appaloosa Brownie, many Arab-Thoroughbred crosses, and one Morgan. We are not fussy about the breed, as long as a horse has the ability and endurance to do the job, and can stay sound with miles and miles of hard use. Speed and cow-cutting ability is not enough; our horses have to be able to do it all in rugged terrain, uphill and down. That’s when you really appreciate an exceptionally good horse--one who gives you everything he’s got and enjoys the job as much as you do.

Our daughter Andrea’s Anglo-Arab mare Snickers embodied that kind of heart and desire and would go anywhere necessary to head a cow (just like my old mare Nikki). For instance, one fall when we were bringing home a few open cows to sell--and having a tough time working them down through the creek bottom in thick brush--one old cow ditched out through the brush and the only way to head her was to get through or around a big fallen tree. Snickers didn’t hesitate; she jumped the tree, even though the trunk and limbs were too thick and wide to jump. She landed on the thick tree trunk and pushed off again, making a spectacular double jump that cleared the whole tree--and was able to head off the escaping cow.
Daughter Andrea helped me train many of our young horses. Now, granddaughter Heather (age 19, our son’s daughter) is also becoming a good horse trainer. Our son and his family now use our cattle range and part of our ranch. They also lease several other ranches and have 350 cows—and 13 horses. They run cattle on two different ranges and also move cattle from ranch to ranch, so they have need of good horses.

Riding range is the very best way to train young horses. We may do some groundwork with them at age 2 or 3 and get them started in the basics, but we generally don’t do much real work with them until they are 4, and old enough to physically and mentally handle the work (no really hard cattle drives until they are 4 or 5 years old). But getting a green horse out there in the hills checking cattle and fences is the very best education for a young horse.
“Sagebrush 101” is the best teacher, as they learn about rocks and logs, hillsides and bogs, crossing creeks and gullies, deer jumping out of the brush and grouse flying up in their faces. They never get bored and sour (as can happen doing arena work), and they can see a purpose in what we are doing. This on-the-job training makes for well-educated, sensible horses. It’s a beautiful combination. The ranch needs good horses for the ongoing cattle work and range riding, and good horses need a place to be used--an outlet for their talents and abilities. We’ll always need good horses on our ranch, and our horses will always enjoy the work.