Remains of levee built by Utah troops to flood a canyon so as to impede the march of Johnston’s army.
“She is worth sixty dollars,” he said, “but if you will jump off that fence on to her back and ride her, you may have her for nothing.”
“That is a whack,” I said; “I’ll do it.”
He told me to wait until they were ready to turn the horses out. It was not long before he said, “Now we are ready to see the fun.” He had no idea that I would do it. He thought the colt would throw me off at the first jump, and they would have a good laugh on my account.
They let down the bars and drove the horses around so that the black came near enough for me to jump off the fence to her back. As she came close I made the leap and landed fairly. Away she went out through the bars and down the street. Every dog in the place seemed to be after us.
We passed over the hill and headed towards Pond Town. Then we circled to the west towards Goshen. The band of horses we started with were soon left way behind and we ran away from all the dogs.
Some one ran over and told my folks that I was on a wild horse, that it was running away and I would be killed. Mother was not much worried, for she knew I had been on wild horses before. My brother, however, jumped on my pinto pony and struck out after me. When he finally caught up, the colt I had been riding had run herself down, and had stopped. He rode up and handed me a rope, which I put around the mare’s neck, and then got off to let her rest. After a while I mounted her again and with my brother drove her back to town. The stranger kept his word. I had won the black mare.
When we got back, all of the men that had seen us start off came up to look at us. Among them was a Mr. Faust, “Doc Faust,” they called him. He said that I beat all the boys at riding he ever saw; that he had a good many horses on his ranch he wanted broken and would give me fifty dollars a month to come and do it for him. When I told mother about it, she would not give her consent, for my father was very sick and she was afraid he would not live much longer.
We stayed in the neighborhood of Spanish Fork until about the first of August, then word came that we could go back home. The leaders had come to a peaceful agreement with the government.
We started back to our homes with a hurrah! and when we reached them, we all went to work with a will. I never saw larger crops than we raised that year. Wheat ran from fifty to seventy-five bushels to the acre. It was the same all through the territory. Best of all we received the highest prices for it. The army bought all the grain, hay, straw, and other products that we had to sell.