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Randolph

Robertson

By Bethany Lange
Herald Reporter

Evanston native Daniel Holderegger takes a selfie while he and fellow National Guardsman
and University of Wyoming student Freddy Schlabach kayak down the Mississippi River on
day 28 of their 53-day journey from Torrington to New Orleans.
(COURTESY PHOTO/Daniel Holderegger)

Achieving their dreams,

come flood and high water

(Below) Kera Comer hops ahead of Kallie Gibson in a sack

race on Saturday at the 29th annual gathering for the Bear
River Rendezvous. (HERALD PHOTO/Bethany Lange)

E VA N S T O N L e e
Fears worked on his
leather wares as a drumbeat pounded in the background and the tang of
black powder drifted on
the breeze at the 2016
Bear River Rendezvous
this past weekend.
Every year, people
congregate at Bear River
State Park to live a few
days in the fur trade era.
A wandering 21st-century
visitor is instantly transported to another world
upon entering the campsite, as re-enactors bustle
around in hand-tooled

RENDEZVOUS, A2

Daniel and Freddy hunkered down on

an island on the Mississippi River, dripping and stranded, as the winds whipped
the rising water into a frenzy. The two
adventurers were only three days and
less than 200 miles from their destination
when they ran into the historic Baton
Rouge floods a couple of weeks ago.
Evanston native Daniel Holderegger
(son of MRSI owner John Holderegger)
and Frederick Schlabach, Specialists in

the Wyoming Army National Guard and

students at the University of Wyoming
in Laramie, had set out a little more than
six weeks earlier, on June 26, from Torrington, with nothing but a tandem kayak
and their supplies.
Their goal was to paddle from Torrington to New Orleans a distance of
2,106 miles in less than 60 days, beginning their journey on the North Platte
River and heading through the Platte
River, the Missouri River and finally the

Tuesday
August 30,
2016

One dollar

SPORTS

Devils get
dumptrucked in
season opener

B1

YOU SAID IT

Bear River
State Park
Superintendent
Wade Henderson
on King, a 20-yearold bison who was
recently ousted as
the herd bull by
4-year-old Titan

DREAMS, A8

Pictured is Titan, a 4-year-old bull bison at Bear River State Park, and the new man of the
house after ousting the previous herd bull, King, recently. King has been seen in the distant
corners of the park, far away from the herd, after officials say the two bulls likely had a
confrontation in recent weeks. (COURTESY PHOTOS/Tammy Hoover)

Vol. 80, No. 7

Hes just
a big,
gentle giant. ... We
couldnt
have asked
for a better
bull.

Evanston native hits Baton Rouge floods as

he kayaks from Wyoming to New Orleans
By Bethany Lange
Herald Reporter

Woodruff

Twitter.com/UintaCoHerald

Bear River Rendezvous:

A vision of life as yesterday

(Above) Lee Fears, aka Hombre, the owner of Hombre Leather,

reflects on the freedom and simplicity of the fur trade era
at the Bear River Rendezvous over the weekend. (HERALD
PHOTO/Bethany Lange)

Urie

WEATHER

Sunny skies
with a high of
85. Low
tonight 49.
Full forecast on A2

INDEX
Bear River State Park Superintendent Wade Henderson crouches beside 20-year-old King,
who was recently kicked out of the herd by 4-year-old Titan (pictured at left).

Clash of the Titan

Viewpoints .......A3
Record .............A4
Community .......A5
Faith ................A6
Business ...........A7
Sports .............. B1
This Week in
Uinta County .... B8

4-year-old bull ousts beloved

King from state park bison herd
By Mark Tesoro
Herald Publisher
BEAR RIVER STATE
PA R K Ti t a n , t h e
4-year-old male bison
at Bear River State Park,
has ousted the previous
herd bull, King. Several regulars to the state
park have noticed King
off by himself, far away
from the herd, prompting
questions to state park
employees about whether

he was sick.
King is not sick, hes
just lost his status.
Titan is the new herd
bull, Bear River State
Pa r k S u p e r i n t e n d e n t
Wade Henderson said.
King, now 20 years
old, came to the state
park in 1999 at the age of
3. The next oldest bison
is a 12-year-old cow at
the park. King is way
past his prime, Henderson said, which opened

the door for the young

bull, Titan, who pushed
out King a little over a
week ago.
We knew it was coming, Henderson said,
we just werent sure
when.
One night recently
there must have been a
scuffle between the two
and King was ejected
from the herd. He was

BISON, A4

READ, REUSE, RECYCLE!

UINTA COUNTY HERALD

A2

News

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Evanston, Uinta County, southwest Wyoming and Rich County, Utah, news. Send your news tips and information to
editor@uintacountyherald.com, send us a tweet at @UintaCoHerald or message us at www.facebook.com/UintaCountyHerald.

Tuesday

EVANSTON 5-DAY FORECAST

Wednesday

Friday

Thursday

Saturday

EVANSTON ALMANAC
8/30 to 9/3

Today
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

Average High:
75
Average Low:
43
Record High:
90 in 1954
Record Low:
23 in 1962
Record Precipitation: 1.20" in 2008

86 / 50

85 / 49

REGIONAL FORECAST

Today
Hi Lo W
Big Piney
80 41 s
Casper
86 53 s
Cheyenne
79 52 s
Flaming Gorge Dam 82 53 s
Fort Bridger
83 52 s
Gillette
88 59 s
Green River
85 53 s
Jackson
84 45 s
Kemmerer
82 48 s
Lander
84 55 s
Laramie
78 47 s

Wyoming:

Tomorrow
Hi Lo W
80 44 s
86 55 s
78 52 s
82 54 s
84 53 pc
86 60 s
84 54 s
83 47 s
82 49 s
86 56 s
78 48 s

80 / 45

82 / 48

Today
Hi Lo W
Lyman
83 52 s
Mountain View 81 49 s
Pinedale
80 45 s
Rawlins
83 50 s
Riverton
86 54 s
Rock Springs 82 51 s
Sheridan
93 58 s
Utah
Bear Lake S.P. 83 49 pc
Randolph
84 44 s
Woodruff
84 48 s

Tomorrow
Hi Lo W
84 53 pc
82 50 pc
80 48 s
84 54 s
88 56 s
82 53 s
93 58 s
83 51 pc
84 46 pc
85 49 pc

near UT-WY state line

at Evanston
Above Woodruff Res.

66
39
29

75.0
61.0
40.0

near LaBarge
4.55'
below Fontenelle Res.
11.59'
near Green River
1.73'
Blacks Fork near Robertson 1.80'
Hams Fork near Frontier
2.78'

322
1,180
978
34
8.4

967
1,260
1,210
75.0
21.0

Green River

Flaming Gorge Res.*Inflow: 1605 *Outflow: 1805

*Cubic Feet Per Second

Recreation Forecast For Tuesday Through Thursday

BEAR LAKE STATE PARK

FLAMING GORGE RESERVOIR

Partly cloudy skies today with an east

southeast wind 6 mph. Partly cloudy
skies Wednesday with light winds.
Mostly sunny skies Thursday.

Sunny skies today with a southeast wind

5 mph. Sunny skies Wednesday with a
south wind 5 mph. Mostly sunny skies
Thursday with a slight chance of showers
and thunderstorms.

Highs: 70's and 80's Lows: 40's and 50's Highs: 80's Lows: 50's

UINTA MOUNTAINS

Partly cloudy skies today with a slight chance

of showers and thunderstorms, east wind 6 to
11 mph. Mostly cloudy skies Wednesday with
a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms.
Partly cloudy skies Thursday with a 40%
chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Highs: 60's Lows: 30's

Jocelyn Epperson looks at the camera as she and her family play (and sing) a river song at the Bear River
Rendezvous on Saturday. Her brother Ryland tries to keep the beat as well, although he is only 3 years old,
and Susy Epperson, Rebekah Epperson, Mark Preston and Mike Rudoff lead the song. The group camped at
the site over the weekend and regaled rendezvous visitors with songs calling up images of old days and family
play. (HERALD PHOTO/Bethany Lange)

RENDEZVOUS
from A1

leather clothing and practice

old skills such as archery,
black powder rifle-shooting,
knife-throwing, blacksmithing, woodcarving, leatherworking and more.
Several families camped
at the site over the weekend,
eschewing modern amenities
whenever possible. They built
fires every night, camped in
tepees and hide tents and built
a sense of camaraderie in their
pursuit of a simpler life.
A visitor walking to one
end of the grounds might
chance upon a weathered
man sitting in front of his
tent, carefully sewing a buffalo hide satchel with fingers
wrapped in tape.
Fears, owner and proprietor of Hombre Leather, currently hails from Norwood,
Colorado, but lived in Montana for 71 years. His shops
motto is Trample the weak
and hurdle the dead.
Fears is more than happy to
answer questions and tell stories about life lived long ago.
Despite the intimidating
motto and the impressive
array of animal hides, Fears
himself just enjoys the simplicity of the mountain man
lifestyle. He has been interested in the fur trade era for
30 years and has degrees in
both U.S. history and Montana history.
To him, the fur trade era is

a symbol of freedom, especially for young men, that is

unknown in modern life.
It was a perilous life, but
... it is really contenting to me
to be in a place like this, you
know? Fears said. Its not
what it was then, but its more
like it than you can probably
imagine.
The vision of life as yesterday, without the phone,
you know, without the phone
ringing, without the have to
be there, without the clock to
tell you when to be someplace
youre living absolutely
without time, he continued.
You know, the only way to
tell time is with spring, now
its summer, and trapping
again in the fall, and now
youve got to hole up for the
winter somewhere. You have
game and shelter and wood
for fire.
He noted that such a life is
a far cry from the modern life,
which is ruled by the clock
and where conveniences, such
as grocery stores and instant
communication, are paramount.
But the life ... of a mountain man couldnt have been
any freer, Fears said. He
had no crop to get in, right?
He had to live on his own
hoof. Whatever he ate, he had
to gather himself. He had to
shoot it. He didnt ... have the
ability to carry a lot of lead
ball with him, so he couldnt
miss.
A mountain man would

BUY ONE GET ONE

1/2 OFF

Second Entree
Every Day 7 Days a Week

*Equal or lesser value.

205 Bear River Drive

Evanston 789-3322

have to reuse lead ball when he

could, cross rivers, build fires,
make his own clothing unless
he could trade with or marry an
Indian woman to have clothing
made or mended for him.
Fears himself made his
own clothing, which is made
of white-tailed deer hide that
was brain-tanned.
A cloven-hoofed animal
has enough lactic acid in its
brain to tan its hide, except
a moose, he said. A moose
cant tan his own ass. But
a deer has enough brains,
enough lactic acid in its brain,

MOON PHASES

New
9/1

First
9/9

Full
9/16

Last
9/23

TOMORROW'S REGIONAL MAP

Thermopolis

Jackson
83 / 47

Stage Flow Normal

Feet *cfps Flow
4.21'
0.69'
0.78'

SUNSET
7:58 p.m.
7:56 p.m.
7:55 p.m.
7:53 p.m.
7:51 p.m.

Statewide Road Conditions 1-888-WYO-ROAD or 511

76 / 43

STREAMFLOWS

Bear River

SUNRISE
6:49 a.m.
6:50 a.m.
6:51 a.m.
6:52 a.m.
6:53 a.m.

92 / 59

Pinedale
80 / 48
Bear Lake
83 / 51
Randolph
84 / 46
Woodruff
85 / 49

Kemmerer
82 / 49 Rock Springs
82 / 53

Evanston
86 / 50

Salt Lake City

Flaming
95 / 71
Gorge Dam
Roosevelt
82 / 54
91 / 50

to tan its hide. Its soft and

supple. ... and its cool in
summer, warm in winter. Its
the ultimate of all clothing.
Brain-tan is the most comfortable clothing to wear. And its
caveman technology.
He said he believes trappers
learned a lot from the Indians,
although they had to live with
or marry into it to learn all he
could about the lifestyle.
And with what the fur traders learned about the land,
when the Gold Rush came
along, these men were a resource. They had maps of the
West in their heads and knew
how to survive in the West,
where to go, what water was
safe to drink, what food was
safe to eat, which tribes were
friendly and which were angry.
One of the saddest parts
about the fur trade is theres
not a huge amount of recorded
knowledge, Fears said.
The greatest of the trappers
could not read or write, and so
there is no written history of
the greatest of the adventurers
who kept maps of the West in
their heads and the Indians
who lived without recording
their history, save through
some symbols.
Fears loves living this
lifestyle as much as he can,
though, traveling to about
a dozen rendezvous every
year and sleeping at least 100
nights a year under canvas.
And rendezvous such as
the Bear River Mountain Man
Rendezvous are nothing less
than a way to reclaim the glory
of a simpler life that was full
of adventure, danger and
joy.

Buffalo
87 / 60

Riverton
88 / 56

Rawlins
84 / 54
Baggs
84 / 48

Craig
84 / 47

Casper
86 / 55

Laramie
78 / 48
Cheyenne
78 / 52

Drive sober or
get pulled over
Law enforcement to step up
patrol over holiday weekend

Labor Day weekend will be one of the busiest travel weekends

on Interstate 80, according to authorities. Wyoming and Utah law
enforcement will be out in force patrolling I-80, state highways,
county roads and city streets for drunk drivers.
From Friday, Sept. 2, through Monday, Sept. 5, Wyoming and
Utah law enforcement agencies will team up as part of a multistate, multi-agency DWUI enforcement operation, spanning Uinta
County in Wyoming and Utahs Summit County.
The high-visibility national enforcement campaign, Drive
Sober or Get Pulled Over, runs Aug. 19-Sept. 5. During this
period, law enforcement will show zero tolerance for drunk driving. Increased state and national messaging about the dangers of
driving drunk, coupled with increased officers on the road, aim to
drastically reduce drunk driving on our nations roads.
According to NHSTA, on average, over 10,000 people died
each year (2010-2014) in drunk- driving crashes. During the 2014
Labor Day holiday weekend (6 p.m. Aug. 29-5:59 a.m. Sept. 2),
40 percent of the fatalities in traffic crashes involved drunk drivers, which was the highest percentage over the five-year period of
2010-2014. And nighttime proves to be the most dangerous time
to be out on the roads: During the 2014 Labor Day holiday period,
83 percent of drunk-driving crash fatalities occurred between 6
p.m. and 5:59 a.m. as compared to half of all drunk-driving
crash fatalities throughout the rest of that year.
Additionally, 40 percent of crash fatalities on Labor Day
weekend in 2014 involved drunk drivers (with blood alcohol
concentrations [BACs] of .08 or higher), amounting to 162 lives
lost. And thats not just a little bit of alcohol, either. More than a
quarter (28 percent) of the crash fatalities that occurred on Labor
Day weekend involved drivers with BACs of .15 or higher almost twice the illegal limit.
This is important to remember: do not trust yourself when you
drink, said Lt. Matt Arnell of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. You
may think youre not drunk, but law enforcement will know you
are. Law enforcement officers skills in detecting and identifying
impaired drivers have never been better. They will spot you and
arrest you.
This will be a zero tolerance effort, so expect to see all Uinta
County law enforcement out there in force looking for impaired
drivers, said Uinta County Sheriff Doug Matthews.
We aim for zero tolerance and zero fatalities, added Evanston
Police Chief Jon Kirby.
According to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, there have been
76 fatalities on Wyoming roads thus far in 2016 as compared to
100 at this time in 2015. During the Labor Day weekend alone in
2015, Wyoming experienced 122 crashes resulting in 3 fatalities
and 45 injuries.
Agencies staffing the Uinta and Summit County Operation
include the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Evanston Police Department, Uinta County Sheriffs Office, Summit County Sheriffs
Office, Park City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.

WY
Steve White fires at the paper targets with a black powder rifle during the
Bear River Rendezvous on Saturday. (HERALD PHOTO/Bethany Lange)

Every

Thursday through
October 6

3 - 7 p.m. at Depot Square

Quilt Show this week

at the Farmers Market.

Thank you to the vendors, and

Joseph Carter for performing
New vendors always welcome.
For more information or booth
application call Leanne at 679-1278
or Barb at 679-1447
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