Accordingly, on August 20, 1886, Captain Moses Harris with a troop of the first cavalry took charge. Detachments of soldiers were soon stationed at Norris, Lower and Upper Geyser basins, Canyon, Riverside, and Soda Butte. Old frontiersmen were notified to desist from their poaching activities; prowling Indians were ordered to stay away; forest fires were checked; and the tone of all departments of service and accommodation improved. The Hayes and Lacey acts granted the necessary authority in respect to leases, protection, and punishment. Captain Harris proved to be a forthright administrator. He established a system of patrols stemming out from the permanent stations. The patrolmen were instructed to not only follow the regular roads and trails but to occasionally visit unfrequented places.[306] The patrolmen were ordered to keep a sharp lookout for bear trappers, poachers, and forest fires. Persons traveling in the Park between October 1 and June 1 were to be viewed with suspicion: in fact, they were to be questioned closely and watched as they journeyed from station to station.
There were many frontiersmen who continued to ignore the Captain’s warnings about poaching. This challenge was accepted, and on August 19, 1888 a scouting party apprehended a trapper near the southern border. He gave his name as Andrew S. Page but later admitted he had been arrested the previous year as John Andrews. His horse and outfit were confiscated, and he was expelled from the Park.[307] In September of the same year Thomas Garfield was caught in the act of trapping beaver in Willow Creek. He was given the same treatment. Garfield made ominous threats to get even, and a few days later a forest fire was started by someone near Norris. In spite of occasional arrests the practice of poaching persisted. Trapping habits were deep-seated and penalties, too mild.
In the years that followed the cases of Tom Newcomb, June Buzzel, Jay Whitman, James Courtney, A. G. Vance, E. Sheffeld, Pendleton, and Van Dych were tried with various degrees of success.[308]
The most notorious case was that of Ed Howell of Cooke, Montana. Early in March, 1894, a party was organized to visit the winter range of the buffalo. Members were Captain George L. Scott, Lieutenant William W. Forsyth, Scout Felix Burgess, A. E. Burns, Frank Jay Haynes, Sergeant Troike, and two other noncommissioned officers. They traveled on skis, and when they reached the Canyon, Emerson Hough and Billy Hofer joined them. About twelve miles up Pelican Creek they discovered the cache of a poacher. Six bison heads were suspended in a tree. Several shots were heard, but as it was snowing the direction was difficult to determine. However, Scout Burgess was able to approach the poacher without being seen or heard, even by the dog. He got the drop on Howell, which was a good thing in view of the character of the man.[309] He had driven a half-dozen other bison in the deep snow and killed them.
The culprit was taken to Mammoth where the presence of the writer Emerson Hough and a representative of Forest and Stream gave national publicity to the case. Howell was quite a robust personality, and he responded to the limelight. “How does a poacher operate to avoid two troops of soldiers?” “It is the simplest thing in the world,” said Howell, “just wait for a snowstorm, enter the desired area, make a wide detour to check tracks of pursuers, if any, and go to work.” “Why did you do it?” “Well, bison heads are worth from $100 to $400 apiece.”[310]
The articles in Forest and Stream apprised the nation of the fact that there were less than one hundred head of bison left in the Park and that the government’s failure to provide real protection was threatening the extinction of all the larger animals. One side of the reaction was critical of the army administration. Said one observer, “I would rather have three good, intelligent, honorable men, inured to the life of prospector and hunter, in these mountains to watch the Park, than all the soldiers now there....”[311]
However, a constructive remedy was provided by legislation in the passage of the act of May 7, 1894. This measure positively prohibited hunting and trapping in every form, under heavy penalties. A clear-cut basis of jurisdiction was provided by the Vest Bill. A United States Commissioner was appointed, “who shall reside in the Park,” to issue processes and hear cases. An appeal from his decisions might be made before the Federal District Court for the District of Wyoming. Hon. John W. Meldrum was the first man to receive this assignment. He held the position until 1935 when he was succeeded by T. Paul Wilcox.
Within a year after the passage of the Protective Act, Captain George S. Anderson was able to report that a healthy effect was evident. That was not the end of poaching because it has existed in a slight and subtle manner to this very day. However, around the turn of the century, the poacher gave way to the road agent as the Park’s most exciting criminal.
W. S. Chapman
Poacher caught in the act.