Charles Henry Alley

When we were kids we used to go up on a steep hill at the side of the ranch to herd sheep. And we had some Cotswold sheep around the ranch that were kind of pets. They stayed at the ranch all the time and we had those in with the rest of our sheep. And every time we'd go up on the hill, about 2:00 in the afternoon those darn Cotswold sheep would head for home and then they'd take a bunch of the other sheep with them. They'd go down and try to get in the alfalfa field. So we had a heck of a time to keep those sheep up in the canyon. This one day we were clear up on top of the ridge, on what we called the Old Pipeline Hill. The hill was so steep you couldn't hardly walk up the hill. So we got to thinking, "those old sheep will start heading down the canyon and we're going to fool them." We got some great big rocks. Oh! Some of them bigger than those old wash tubs we used to have and we got a whole bunch of those old rocks lined up ready to roll down the hill. We thought, "When we see those sheep coming we'll roll the rocks down." Because you could roll a rock down that hill and it would go down, bounce 50 feet in the air, and make some smoke where they hit the other rocks and then continue right down across the canyon and up the other side. So we got the rocks all ready. We saw the Old Cotswolds coming down the trail. We rolled two or three of the rocks, you know. But when they heard the rocks thundering down the hill, instead of turning around and going the other way, they started to run toward the house. Well, one of the rocks went right through the middle of about ten of the sheep and boy! wool flew through the air: sheep flew in the air! Boy! We were scared to death because we thought we'd killed them all but they all got up and went down toward the house. We went to bed that night and when we got up the next morning and went out with Dad to let the sheep out of the corral, there was one sheep laying on the ground and he was just as flat as a rug. Instead of being round like a sheep should b this sheep was just flat. Dad went over and he looked at that sheep and he said, "Man! I've never seen a sheep like this! I don't know what's happened to this sheep! I think every bone in its body is broken!" Well! We sure couldn't figure out what had happened to that sheep.

Charles Henry Alley Jr. by his son Russell Alley I remember when we were ready to put up the hay, we went to the hills to get the horses... Sometimes if they had been in the hills for a month or so, they weren't sure they wanted to work again. One of the horses was named Jiggs... I had him on my team. I hooked the team to a mowing machine, and gave the usual signal with the reins, but instead of going forward, Jiggs balked and went backward into the fence. I tired several times, but with the same results. Father was watching and he came to my rescue and said, "I will trade you mowing machines." I thought he was really going to give it to Jiggs, but he went to the granary and got a bucket with some oats, and then took off Jiggs' bridle and gave him the oats. Then he took off like he'd been mowing hay for months. When Father went past me, he just grinned; it was plain to ma that Father understood animals... He was very patient with the animals and could train them in a minimum of time.

From the Journal of Gerald I. Alley, his son: "My father had 3 brothers. He was the oldest boy. Next, was George Allison who loved to race and train the horses. He bought cattle in the early part of his life. He married a girl named Lizzie Bateman from Blooming Idaho. They had two redheaded daughters, Georgia and Jenny. Willis David was the third son. He was a great cowboy. Uncle Bill was fearless around horses, livestock and men. He especially liked to whip bullies. He had a small ranch on Bear River at the mouth of Rabbit Creek 18 miles south of Cokeville Wyoming and about 6 miles west of Sage on the western edge of the valley. He too loved good horses and took 40 horses to go start a livery stable in Canada; but didn't stay too many years. He died young having had several bad strokes. I really loved Uncle Bill as he was called. He teased me about the horses and especially one I liked and could ride. He had a son named Ralph who was a year or two older than my brother Russ. He had another son Burdette who was killed quite young on a logging truck accident in Oregon. They had one daughter, Adeline about six months older than me. Then Max, Harold, Glen and Wayne was the last boy. Their mother was Della Pugmire from St. Charles Idaho. My Father once told me that Uncle Bill was one of the princes of the earth. Uncle John S. was the last boy who was a doctor. He was the top of his graduating class in medical school at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester New York. He went to Austria, Vienna and Hamburg Germany where he specialized as an eye, ear, nose, throat specialist. When I had to have my tonsils removed in a World War II field hospital in Europe, they asked if I knew Dr. John S. Alley. They asked if I knew that he was the best eye, ear, and nose specialist west of the Mississippi River. On the ranch they raised horses, cattle and sheep. Horses were their main enterprise-- standard breeds, which made great saddle horses and buggy teams that were the pride of the valley. They also raised a lot of percherons, great and big draft horses; and they raised thoroughbreds. They family had purchased a horse at 8 months of age from Illinois for 1,200 dollars. He was a full brother to Greyhound, who later set world trotting records. The horse's name was Oakley Prince and he had several stocking legs. He was sorrel with a white strip in his face. Some of the best horses in Utah were raised on the ranch. They numbered up to 400 and were raised on the range. I took to the ranch life of my father's place on the east side of Bear Lake, called South Eden. I loved the horses, colts, lambs and calves as they came along in the spring. I loved the ranch and the ranch life. I was born to see the last of the great horse age and the beginning of the machine age. In 1921 or 22, the family had bought a Model T Ford. It wasn't much for mud and snow and stayed mostly in a little shed and we went to town in the light sleigh or in a buggy. It was 8 miles to Laketown and I generally preferred the ranch." © 2015 Microsoft Terms Privacy & cookies Developers English (United States)