STAR VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

HISTORICAL BOOKS INVENTORY DETAILS

1. Overview

Title; Hello from Valhalla: Newell Gardner

Author: Janet Osmun

Subject: Personal History

Publisher:

Publishing Date:

Number of Pages: 6

ID#: 356

Location: Website

2. Evaluation

Evaluator's Name(s): Kent and Polly Erickson

Date of Evaluation: November 2014

Key Words: game warden, Elkhorn Arch, Cottonwood Lake Dance Hall

Included Names: Blanche Baldwin, Parley and Stella Baldwin, Dell and KateGardner, Dr. G.W. West, Dr. Oral Beal

3. Svnopsis

Valhalla is the name given to the home of Newell and Blanche Gardner,located in Star Valley south of Thayne near Salt River. As a young man, Newell wasvery athletic and planned a career using his skills. A very cold night changed all ofthat for him. Circumstances resulted in a frostbitten lung. He married BlanchBaldwin, and they tried different occupations. He ended up as a game warden whoserved many years. One of their accomplishments was the installation of theElkhorn Arch in Afton

4. Other

^Attached to this article is an account written by Newell Gardner about hislife.

Hello From Valhalla

" |-^

•W'

Hello from Valhalla

By Janet Osmun

Newel Gardner has probably been called a lot ofnanfies in his 73 years, but In sociable circles friendscall him "sllvertip" or "pinky". Either of the nicknamesis a fair description of the ruddy-faced 6 ft. 2 in. retiredgame warden, the fellow who, along with his wife,Blanche, conceived and constructed Afton's "World'sLargest Elkhorn Arch", and organized the memorableGreys River feedground elk drives.

Newel and Blanche retired in 1972 after 38 years withthe Wyoming Game and Fish Department. They hadalready purchased "Valhalla", their 10-acre home offHighway 89 two miles south of Thayne, near Salt River.They refurbished and added onto the existing two-room home and settled into a life of grandkids,barbecues for friends and enjoying Greys River ontheir own time.

Newel attended high school in Logan, graduating in1924, while Blanche graduated from Star Valley HighSchool with the class of 1925. Their courtship was asummertime and winter holiday affair. Newel made thetrip from Lgan to Afton in one day at the cost of $4. Hetraveled by train from Logan to Cache Junction, thenon to Montpelier where he caught Joe Taysom's mailsleigh. Taysom changed horses at the Half-way Houseand entered Star Valley via Crow Creek.

Dancing was an infectious, all-season pastime andthe flee hop, Charleston, turkey trot, waltz andShumway shuffle were popular. Newel and Blanchejoined other Upper Valley couples for wintertimesleigh rides through the Narrows to dances in Thayneand Freedom. Five couples huddled in each of severalwide-box sleighs equipped with hay, quilts and woodstoves. It was a two-hour ride from Afton to Thayne. Ifthe dance was at Freedom, the horses were stabledand the young people spent the night with friends.Newel and Blanche remember opening night atCottonwood Dance Hall, an outdoor stage on piersover Cottonwood Lake east of Smoot. As a full moonrose over the silhouetted pines on the steep SaltRivers, the band played "When the Moon Comes overthe Mountain" and dancers paused to watch the silveryreflections shimmering across the water.

During his four years at Logan High Newel Gardner"concentrated on sports while the girls concentratedon his homework." As a fullback Gardnerwas all-statehis junior and senior years and one of the first sixathletes to run the 100 yards in 10 seconds. He playedcenter on Logan's basketball squad, making all-statehis senior year. With less than perfect eyesight,Gardner wore a mask to protect his glasses and wasknown on the basketball court as the "Masked Marvel".

Boxing was a passion with Gardner. He was named"best in school" as a 176-pound heavyweight at LoganHigh and continued to spar through one year atBrigham Young Collge (Logan) and one year at UtahAgriculture College (Logan). Dr. Oral Beal (whopracticed in Star Valley in the Twenties) was an avidfan of boxing and urged Gardner to turn professionaland train in San Francisco with Beal as manager.

In the meantime Blanche had completed a normalteachers training course (teachers prep) at Aftonunder Elvira Lee, attended the University of Utah (SaltLake City) for one year, and was teaching first andsecond grades in Fairview. For Christmas, 1927,Newel gave Blanche a copper-strapped cedar chestand broached the subject of marriage. The futureseemed exciting, promising, and Newel planned totrain in San Francisco in the spring.

Then, with, the mercury dipping below zero degrees,Newel Gardner and brother Ernest set off with team

and sleigh for Cokeville and the Quealey Ranch totrade a load of oats for much-needed coal. At sundown

the brothers reached Devil's Gate on the Idaho lineoutside Geneva Valley. The trapper's cabin they hadplanned to sleep in was locked—chained shut. Toocold to eat, the boys wrapped up in blankets and triedto sleep on top of the load of oats. Temperatures thatnight fell to 56° below zero.

When Newel woke next morning his chest and leftshoulder were prickling in pain. Both boys were stiffwith cold and they hitched the team and moved on,slapping their arms across their chests to stir thecirculation. At the Quealey Ranch the boys switchedcargo and agreed to spend the night, hoping theweather would warm. By morning Newel's breathingwas labored and he was weakened by the intense painin his chest. Still, he refused to stay behind and ErnestGardner urged the team along the sleigh trail towardthe south end of Star Valley. At the Summit Newelpassed out and the boys spent the night in a cabinthere, Ernest tending fire tDeslde his trembling brother.At dawn Ernest hurried the horses off the mountain to

Smoot where the roads were plowed. Newel wasrushed by car to his father's home in Afton.

Dr. George Washington West was called, but Westwas attending two critically ill pneumonia patients andcouldn't leave them. Dr. Beal was in Montpelier so JoeTaysom was dispatched to rush the doctor back to thevalley. It was 48 hours before Beal reached hispatient's bedside. The doctor heard Ernest's story ashe listened to the rattling left lung with his instruments.Beal realized that Newel's lung had been frostbitten

and Newel had developed pneumonia; 1hat pus wascollecting in the pleural cavity. Dr. Beal selected asyringe with a long thin needle and Inserted the needleinto Gardner's chest above the heart to draw off theaccumulating fluid. This procedure was performeddaily for some three weeks. Meanwhile Gardner'sfinger and toe nails turned black from frostbite. He wasbedfast for three months with Beal attending him dally.

Dr. Oral Beal was born in Utah and worked In Star

Valley as a general practitioner. He had practiced withthe Mayo Bothers in Chicago, specializing in bonesurgery, and had studied In India, England and France,serving In the European Theater In World War I. In thespring Beal sent Gardner to Budge Brothers Clinic InLogan for x-rays. The left lung had collapsed, shrunkaway. Some infection remained in the pleural cavity.With no antibiotics available (developed in WWII)pneumonia remained a threat and clinic doctors gaveNewel six months to live. But Gardner's condition

stabilized and wedding plans progressed despite thebleak forecast.

On July 12, 1928, Blanche Baldwm, daughter ofParley and Stella Baldwin, and Newel Gardner, son ofDell and Kate Gardner, were married in Paris, Idaho,the nearest county seat where couples could get alicense and be married the same day. The marriagelicense cost $3. No blood tests were required.

Mr. and Mrs. Newel Gardner moved onto the Dell

Gardner ranch, 360 acres west of Afton, and beganmilking cows as Newel convalesced. There were 14hearty holsteins to t>eaddressed twice dally and moremornings than not milkhauler Mllford Nield had to helpfinish the milking before he could get on his way to thecreamery.

In November the Gardners (along with several othervalley people) purchased silver fox, delivered to themfrom Port Island in Canada. Fox furs sold for apremium and the Gardners owned five pair. But inMarch the fox contracted distemper and all ten died.The loss totaled $10,000.

Next the Gardners tried raising grade pigs. A herd of200 squealing porkers—20 to a pen—graced andfragranced the ranch. At Thanksgiving time the pigswere shipped to market. When the bills were paid only$90 remained for months of work. "Farming didn'ttake." Newel recalls. "We thought the whole world wasagainst us."

In 1930 Dr. Beal sent Newel to Weimar Sanatorium In

the Sierra Nevadas of California, hoping the highaltitude and expertise of the tuberculosis clinicdoctors could Improve Gardner's lingering Illness. Adaughter, Patsy, had been born in November, 1929,and Blanche and the baby lived In nearby Lincoln,California, while Newel was treated at Weimar.Doctors there expressed little optomism. The rightlung was enlarged and the left lung had shrunk awayand "nothing protected the heart. You have a year tolive," the doctors said. But Newel continued toImprove and was released within a year to return toStar Valley. (This author contacted doctors at

University of Colorado's Webb-Waring Lung Instituteregarding the trauma of a frostbitten lung. Based ontoday's knowledge, neither enlargement of the rightlung nor absence of the left lung to support the heart,endanger life. But with no antibiotics to combat suchinfection. Newel had less than a 50% chance to survivebased on his youth and general health.)

From 1931-33 Gardner worked summers for the USForest Service under ranger Ona Harrison for 45<P anhour as fireguard, clearing trails and working on theGreys River road. In winter he worked for LesterBagley, Lincoln County game warden for $85 a month,seining white fish and counting and checking elk onGreys River.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Dept. sold "seiningpermits" for $4. With a game warden present,townspeople dropped an 80 ft. by 6ft. seine or net intothe Salt River anywhere between the Narrows and theSnake. The seine had sinkers on one edge and floatson the other and was used vertically to enclose fishwhen the ends were brought together or drawn ashore.White fish were not considered a game fish then and

the catch was divided among the fishermen whiletrout were thrown back in the river.

1934 Newel Gardner became a full-time employee ofthe Wyoming Game and Fish Department. He traveledto Casper to take written exams and confront an oralboard of six Game and Fish Commissioners plus twoattorneys, in succeeding years Newel and Blanchewould be transferred repeatedly. Newel attended thestate's Law Academy for one term and attended GameDivision training sessions every two years.

During his trainee days Newel was assisting CaseyKlein, Sublette County game warden. Gardner slept Inthe back of a pickup and Blanche drove over from StarValley on weekends. One Saturday night the couplestopped at a Big PIney hotel for supper. The Old Westlives on In Big PIney, and a figure of local color—DuckCreek Shorty—was milling around the bar and diningroom with a few cowboy friends drinking up the $300Duck Creek Shorty had won bull riding at CheyenneFrontier Days. The wiry cowboy eyed the young gamewarden and the tady dining properly at a nearby table."Ya know, I read In the newspaper." he crowed loudlyto a sidekick, "where a white woman had gone andmarried a game warden." The hee-hawing echoedacross the dining room and the Gardners smiled good-naturedly—and wisely.

From Star Valley and Big PIney the Gardners weretransferred to Rock Springs, Evanston, Kemmerer,Cokeville (where Blanche raised cutthroat trout),Pinedale, Jackson and back to Star Valley. Newelreceived full badge status in1940. In 1949 he wasappointed supervisor of the area (District One) andserved until 1956 when he requested a transfer back toStar Valley as game warden. He served until 1971, thenwas appointed Wyoming Game and Fish Dept.'s statelaw enforcement specialist until his retirement in 1972.

Throughout his wildlife management career NewelGardner's assistant and constant companion was his

capable wife Blanche. Underscoring this fact was acomment made at a meeting of Game and Fishpersonnel some years back. After presenting his fieldnotes, Newel rose and asked to be excused. "I've got astack of paperwork to do," he noted. A commissionerattending the meeting snorted, "The heck she has!" hereplied. It was true. Blanche knew Wyoming lawinside out and her skills didn't stop there. "Blanchecan skin a beaver in 15 minutes," Newel claims.Blanche raised a deserted buffalo calf in a corralbehind the Afton Game Warden station. The calfaccepted a diet of milk and wheat germ plus hay andwas freed on the Greys River feedground in the Fall.Blanche also played mama to a beaver kit saved from acannibalistic live-trapped mother. She bottle-fed thekit on a formula of boiled quaken aspen, birch andwillow bark, or milk with sugar added. The kit wasreleased on Smith's Fork when it was six weeks old and

quite healthy.

The Gardners owned a good dog while stationed in"Lady" was Samoyed, a granddaughter of Admiral

Bird's lead sled dog. with a real nose for poachers.Newel was fueling his pickup when Lady leaped fromthe back and began whining at the hubcaps of aPontiac across the gas pump. Sure enough, sagechickens hidden inside!

Lady wasn't available when Newel stopped a manand wife near LaBarge to check their fishing licenses.The licenses and catch checked out, but Gardnercould smell sage chickens somewhere in the oldchevy. "I'll have to search the car," he said. The mancrawled reluctantly out while the game wardensearched the glove box, the trunk, the hubcaps. Thewoman who was sitting in the back seat, refused tobudge and Gardner poked around her skirt checkingunder the seat. "You'll have to get out of the car,Ma'am." She refused. "Then I'll have to call a witness

to watch me pull you out." The woman finally crawledsullenly from the car. and one by one, three unskinnedlimp sage chickens slid from her undergarments to piletelltale at her ankles.

As mentioned before. Newel Gardner returned toStar Valley in 1956 and served as game warden until1971. During these years Newel and Blanche madetwo significant contributions to the community—theorganization of the annual Greys River feedground elkdrives, and the constuction of Afton's "World's LargestElkhorn Arch."

The elk drives began in 1956 when a handful offriends joined Newel and Blanche on horses to chasethe elk from the feedground eastward into themountainous summer range and calving grounds. Theriders returned to the feedground for a barbecuefurnished by the Gardners. Word was passed aroundabout how much fun the riders had. and Newel,realizing the public relations potential of the drive,made it known that "everyone was welcome to makethe ride next spring."

An ever increasing number of riders showed up forthe annual elk drive. The ride began at 9 a'm. on the

Sunday after Mother's Day and approximately 1,000head of elk were moved by a line of horsemen whocovered four steep miles in about 2-1/2 hours toemerge at Mill Hollow. Newel and Blanche workeddays in advance preparing barbecued beef andconfiscated game meat, or dutch oven stew andbiscuits, or hambergerswith all the trimmings. Friendshelped with the cooking and serving. In 1964 Fish andGame Commissioner Jack Gorsi prodded the Fish andGame Department into paying 50 percent of the cost ofthe food. Until then, all the dollars had come from theGardner's own pocket.

On the last elk drive in 1970 there were 640 riders and

1400 people were fed on Mill Hollow. "Horses weretrucked from California and other distant states,"Newel recalls. "I received letters from South Africa

from six people wanting to make arrangements tocome for the elk drive."

When the elk drives were over and the riders had

gone home. Newel and Blanche still had work to do.They rode the hills nearly every day for two weekspushing the stubborn elk back away from thefeedground before calving time. "If elk stay on thefeedground they become too domesticated andovergraze the pasture." Newel noted. Newel wasappointed law enforcement specialist in 1971 and theelk drives ceased because the event had simplyoutgrown itself. Still, many of us have memories of theelk drive and the free lunch waiting ahead, and haveNewel and Blanche to thank.

During Newel's yearsontheJackson andStarValleydistricts, he and Blanche collected and stored elkhorns from the feedgrounds. In 1956 Gardnerapproached Mayor Orson Treloar about constructingan elkhorn arch across Highway 89 in the center ofAfton, accented by twin miniature arches on eitherside of the pedestrian walk. Permission was grantedfor construction of the small arches in the spring of1956. Keith Robinson shaped two pipes for each archto serve as framework. The Cityof Afton furnished thesand and gravel and Owen Miles and Bill Englandmixed and poured concrete footings for theframework.

Meanwhile Newel and Blanche cleaned and paintedantlers from their collection with a mixture of linseedoil and varnish. They bought galvanized wire andhauled the horns from the game station to Main Street.Blanche selected right and left antlers while Newelwired each one to the pipe framework. In two weeksthe rustic twin arches were complete.

In June. 1958, the Afton Chamber of Commercereceived permission from the Wyoming HighwayDepartment forconstruction of the major arch acrossRoute89 at a height of 18 ft. The framework ironwaspurchased in Pocatello at a cost of approximately$2,500. With half of the giant framework laid out oneither sidewalk. Newel and Blanche wired one rowofspiked horns along the framework's center, then DonWoodTractor Company raised, bolted, and weldedtheframework into place.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department provided50 percent of the antlers for the major arch (trucked infrom the National Elk Refuge at Jackson), and theGardners furnished the remainder from their

collection. The Chamber of Commerce furnished the

galvanized wire. At dawn each weekday, Newel andBlanche, working with an employee and tractorfurnished by Don Wood Tractor Company, tediouslyand wirin place. Newel stood in the tractor scoop

bucket or clung monkey-style to the frameworkoverhead while Blanche selected 20 right antlers and20 left antlers which the tractor operator lifted toNewell in the bucket. When Main Street businesses

opened and traffic picked up, work on the arch endeduntil dawn the following day and the Gardners got onwith their game wardenin'. The large arch tookapproximately six weeks to complete. A total of 3,011individual antlers are wired to the major and twinarches.

Newell and Blanche Gardner have been retired for

seven years now. They often are asked to show theirexcellent wildlife movies to schools and clubs. Newell

makes neckties, belt buckles and key chains from elkteeth and antlers while Blanche sews clothing for hergrandchildren. "And we drive up Greys River almostevery day," Blanche smiles. Daughter Patsy andhusband, retired Air Force major Ben Boyce, oftencome from Ogden where Boyce is a school principal.The Boyces have one daughter and three sons, one ofwhom will soon complete a bachelor's degree in gamebiology.

Old timers claimed Star Valley weather was sixmonths of winter and six months of poor sleighin', butNewel and Blanche Gardner enjoy all of the seasons inthe valley. Their 10-acre home Valhalla (in Norsemythology, a place akin to heaven) offers a display offall color in maples and aspen and an impressiveacross-the-valley view of the 10,000-ft. Salt RiverRange. Elk can be heard bugling near Valhalla duringtheir fall rutting season, and migrating Canadian geeserest nearby. Three moose wintered there last year anddeer are present year round. A love and appreciationof the environment has underlined the lives of Newel

and Blanche. And now, retired in one of Star Valley'sprettiest spots, they say "Hello from Valhalla."

A Game Warden's Memories of Greys RiverBy Newel Gardner

The following series was prepared by Newel Gardner,retired Wyoming game warden, and told to Janet S.Osmun who prepared the series for publication In theIndependent. Gardner served with the WyomingGame and Fish Department for 38 years In variousresponsible positions of game management.

When contemporary game wardens count and checkelk wintering in the mountains they board asnowmobile or small aircraft and cover a lot of squaremiles in an afternoon. But back in the 1930's countingelk on the Greys River drainage meant spending threeweeks on webs pulling a toboggan loaded with

blankets and grub. In those days hay was stored insheas in the forest and game wardens used theirtoboggans to scatter feed when natural forage wasexhausted.

The National Elk Refuge at Jackson Hole wasorganized in 1912 to preserve the area's elk herd assettlement consumed winter range and blockedmigratory routes. In 1927 Dwight Davis, chairman ofPresident Coolidge's Committee on OutdoorRecreation, Wyoming Govenor Frank Emerson, plusrepresentatives of the Wyoming Game and FishDepartment and US Biological Survey, met to considerthe ongoing plight of the elk and decide on the numberto be wintered at the Jackson Refuge. The number wasset at 20.000 head. Since natural winter range on therefuge wouldn't support this number in the mostfavorable winters, supplementary feeding wasnecessary. (Today there are approximately 7,500 elkon the refuge.)

Representatives at that 1927 meeting realized asevere winter could destroy elk herds remaining in themountains, so in 1929 feed storage sheds were built inthe Jackson area, on the Gros Ventre, on the upperGreen River at the mouth of Roaring Fork, and at theforks of Big and Little Greys Rivers. Hay andcottonseed cake were stored in these sheds.

From 1931-33 I worked winters for the WyomingGame and Fish Department and counted Greys River'selk for Lincoln County game warden Lester Bagley.(At this time there was one game warden per county.) Ileft the mouth of Greys River about February 10thpullinga loaded toboggan, hand-made and mountedon waxed skiis. Except for an occasional night spent inthe luxury of a cabin I slept under balsam treeswrapped in quilts covered by a tarp. My snowshoeswere Tubbs brand, ordered from Maine, and I carriedextra rawhide to restring a damaged web. My menuincluded spoted pup (cooked rice with raisins) orcooked beans which I warmed over a fire. Bouillon

cubes or tea made a good hot drink. Foods had to benutritious, light-weight and easily carried.

In 1934 I was hired as a deputy game warden andPaul McNeel and I counted the elk on Greys River. Thewinters of 1935 and '36 I was accompanied by JessBaldwin and Ernest Haderlie. In 1935 we stayed at theForks and fed along Little Greys upriverto Bull Hollow.

We used toboggans to haul wire-tied bales andcottonseed cake from the Forks feed storage shed toscattered bunches of elk. In 1936 we did the same and

had two narrow escapes with snowslides—one atHigby and one at the oil well dugway on Little Greys.We also went up Big Greys to Sheep Creek andchecked the elk there.

Sheep Creek is unique In that it doesn't freeze over.The rocks are covered with moss and water plantswhich make winter feed, and the banks are bare andunfrozen several feet back from the water. I have seen

the banks dug up and all roots and moss eaten alongthe entire length of lower Sheep Creek. Rocky slopesare exposed by the wind, and snow slides (oftentriggered by foraging elk) clear additional feed.

In 1937 and '38 local game warden Charles Hanscumwas my companion on the elk count and check. Westayed at Young's Ranch on Deadman and checkedthe Deadman and Blind Bull areas. We moved on to the

Meadows ranger station, then up Black Canyon to theHIghline Trail and along the top to Sheep Creek. Wealso webbed through Little Greys and left bales of hayand cottnseed cake where there were isolated groupsof elk. It is interesting to note that the elk wintered inthe same areas each year, and in approximately thesame numbers.

The winter of 1939 game warden Charles Hanscumand forest rangers Lowell Woods and M.S. Markhamcounted and checked the elk on Little Greys whileJosh Schwab and I webbed along Big Greys. Schwaband I webed uprlver to the Corral Creek station wherewe were delayed for three days by a blizzard. We sleptout except for the three nights spent at Corral Creek.At Elk Creek we had to carry our toboggan and websand wade the river to skirt a snowslide. We spent 21days counting elk in 1939.

During the Thirties additional structures were builton the Greys River drainage to store hay andcottonseed cake. In 1932 game warden Lester Bag leyobtained forest service approval for a cabin and barn atthe mouth of Deadman Creek. These log structureswere built by the Works Progress Administration(WPA); the Wyoming Game and Fish Departmentconstructed a metal butler hut at the same location. In

1938 Connie Wilkes and I built an emergency feedstorage granary a half mile above the mouth of SheepCreek. And In 1939 game warden Charles Hanscumreceived forest service permission for a feed storageshed on Squaw Flat which Roland Call and I built.

In 1939 a small feedground was started on SquawFlat; it was later relocated to a site below the GreysRiver Bridge where the coal dump for the DeadmanMine was later built. Elks were fed here for several

years, then, in 1942, the Department bought theproperty (2,160.96 acres) off Highway 89 near Alpinenow known as the Greys River feedground. Thisfeedground (adjacent to the forest) has been a savingforce for the Greys River herd. A game range can onlysupport a big game population for which there issufficient winter forage, even though there is anabundance of summer feed. The Greys Riverfeedground supports a supplemental herd to beharvested each year.

In the 1950's the forest service insisted that all

buildings on the forest be removed. I moved thegranary form Squaw Flat to the Greys Riverfeedground where it has been used for feed storage.We burned the two log buildings at Deadman Creek;the metal butler hut had deteriorated and was disposedof. The metal shed at the Forks was turned over to thelocal wildlife club; members dismantled it and used thematerials to build the fish fry picnic shelter on SaltRiver. The metal building on Sheep Creek was given toa local rancher for salvage in return for his work incleaning up the site.

In 1956 thesnowfall was heavy on Greys River. IwasGame Dfepartment District Supervisor for the area andworked out of Jackson. Igot and okay from the Gameand Fish Commission to request forest serviceapproval to open the Greys River road to Sheep Creekwhere 350 to 400 elk had exhausted the natural feed in

the creek bottom. Bulldozers cleared a path wideenough for trucks to haul baled hay to the mouth ofSheep Creek where it was stacked and fenced withpanels.

Sam Young, Jr. was hired by the Department to feedthe elk. He stayed at his Box Y Ranch on MeadowCreek and traveled to Sheep Creek each day with anOliver "Cleet-Track".tractor to scatter skids of hay. Bythis time I had a Tucker Snowcat and traveled back and

forth to check the elk. We lost 12 hed on the SheepCreek feedground, which is to be expected whenhungry animals are put on feed. Large amounts werescattered so there would be enough hay for all and thestronger animals sometimes got more than theirsystems could utilize.

In the early days Greys River was hunted by localpeople who rode into the area with pack horses. Thefirst game law of the Territory of Wyoming was passedin December, 1869. It stated that "It shall be unlawfulfor any person to kill or offer for sale any elk, deer,antelope, or buffalo, between the first day of Marchand the 15th day of August, excepting it is not unlawfulto kill enough of the animals to supply their own want."All other months of the year were openseason but nonresidents were barred from all hunting. Enforcementwas the duty of stock detectives, sheriffs andconstables.

Wyoming was admitted to the Unionin 1890. Duringthose first years of statehood there were no gamewardens and no Game and Fish Commission. A fishcommissioner was appointed by the governor at ayearly salary of $1,500 with an additional $1,500 tooperate a fish hatchery and pay employees. Huntingand fishing licenses were unheard of and the onlydepartmental income came from fines leviedon gameand fish violators. Halfof this money was given to theperson furnishing the information on which aconviction was made. (Today all fine monies go toschool funds.) Elk, deer, moose, mountain sheep,antelope, buffalo, and mountain goats could be huntedfrom September 1 to January 1 to provide food forhunters and their families. No meat or hides could beoffered for sale and no animal could be taken by anypitfall or trap. The bag limit was no more than twoanimals per hunter per day.

The forest service started construction on the GreysRiver road about 1923, and completed it to the Forks.Further construction was slow and it was 1932 beforethe road reached the headwaters of the river. It was notpossible to make the "Greys River Loop" until theSmith's Fork Road (which closely parallels the oldLander Cutoff Trail) was built by the Civilian Corps(CCC) in 1933. The Greys River road made the areamore accessible and did much to decrease the gameand fish populations.

In 1915 a limited number of bull moose permits wereissued in Wyoming and 19 animals were killed. Thefirst moose season for North Lincoln County came in1947 when four bull moose permits were issued. In1963 the total state moose kilt was 734. In 1977,1,697moose were taken state-wide. Three-fourths of the

moose killed in the United States are taken in an area

comprised of Dubois, Pinedale, Jackson, Kemmerer,Big Piney and Afton.

In 1935 the Wyoming Legislature passed a lawgranting free hunting and fishing privileges topioneers, persons 65 or older who had lived inWyoming for at least 30 years. In 1939 a total of 3,140such licenses were Issued. By 1962, the total hadincreased to 10,828. In 1973 the Department begancharging $2 for a pioneer antelope or deer permit and$5 for an elk permit. Fishing licenses are still issuedfree of charge to pioneers.

In 1938, 3,959 elk and 1,637 deer were killed inWyoming. In 1963 there were 2,136 deer taken in theStar Valley area alone. The number of elk huntersincreased in this area from 167 in 1943, to 1,697 in 1963,a matter of 1,537 more hunters in the same areahunting the same elk heard. In 1977, 21,784 elk and79,687 deer were killed in Wyoming.

Our wildlife is a resource particularly vulnerable notonly to weather, but to our growing popular as well asour energy and recreational demands. It has been thepolicy of the Game Commission to favorably considerimput from citizens' groups. I urge you to maintain ayear-round Interest in the management of our wildlife.

Tribute to Gardners

Having read, with much Interest, the story of Valhallaand the Newel Gardners in the recent papers, broughtback many pleasant memories. We would like to paytribute to Newel Gardner for being one of the bestgame wardens we have ever had in this valley. Also tohis wife Blanche, who was his second pair of eyes andalways with him.

There were many good times, elk drives from thefedground and really good dutch oven dinners at thehead of Mill Holler, whiched was supervised by theGardners. They excelled in outdoor cooking. Peoplecame from miles around to participate.

We used to round up the stray elk from the east hillsabove our place, and drive the herd through 3-4 feet ofsnow from the canyons, sometimes down the highwayto the elk feedground so they could be fed during thewinter. This was done with airplanes, snowcats andhorses. What a sight! We could be nearly on thehighway with the elk and Newel was still battling withone ornery stray to get It to come. The one alwayscounted, and Newel Gardner always worked harderthan anyone else to get that one.

Newel showed his films on wildlife to any organizationthat was interested and if you haven't seen them youreally missed out. They are excellent.

He enforced the law, but also was broadmindedenough to help out in different situations.

Again we pay tribute to the Newel Gardners and haveappreciated so much our association over the years.May they continue to enjoy each others company andthe coicest blessing in life.

Sincerely,The Don Corsi's

1>.

Chief cooks Newel & Blanche had hamburgers sizzlingat Mill Hollow for the riders driving the elk off the GreysRiver feedground. On the last elk drive in 1970,1,400people were fed.

wmKTWm .

m

Newel with record deer head at Pinedale Station.

On the Cokeville district Blancheadopted a beaverkitsaved from a cannibalistic live-trapped mother. Shebottle fed the kit on a formula of boiled aspen, birchand willow bark.

During his four years at Logan High Newel Gardnerconcentrated on sports while the girls concentrated onhis homework. As a fullback he was all-state his juniorand senior years and one of the first six athletes to run100 yards in 10 seconds.

i I ^ M

r-

Blanche on the ^revs Riv^r with hnr first elk kill.

Newel and Blanche with their daughter Patsy, whenPatsy was May Queen.

Newel with Jess Baldwin and Ernie Haderlie on elk

count in winter on the Greys River.

In 1935 Newel Gardner, Jess Baldwin and ErnieHaderlie webbed through the Greys River drainagecounting and checking elk. They used the toboggan toscatter hay and cottonseed cake stored in a shed at thePnrlfc