Mary Jane longed for children but
never did have any of her own. The
family of Thomas and Ann Oakey came to Paris to live; they had eight living
children.
After having been married for
sixteen years and realizing now she could never have children of her own, she
gave her consent for her husband to take another wife, so on June 15th
1865 Sarah Ann Oakey, daughter of Thomas and Ann Oakey, became the plural wife
of William Wilson Sterrett, they were sealed in the Endowment House in Salt
Lake, and she became the mother of his four children. Joseph Kimball born 20 sept 1868 and Simeon
Ralph born 1 March 1870 were both born in Paris Idaho. Then the family were called with several
other families in the church, to go to Soda Springs, Idaho to help build up
that settlement.
Here Simeon’s father filed on a
quarter section of land, built a large Hotel called the Sterrett House, the
first Hotel built in Soda Springs; He also built a new home. Mary Jane lived in the home and Sarah Ann,
Simeon’s Mother lived in the Hotel.
Here in Soda Springs she had two
more children, Thomas Alexander born 9 Feby 1872 and Ada May born 25 Nov
1873. Sarah Ann was much younger than
her husband and his first wife, and difficulties arose so Sarah Ann left her
husband and went back to Paris to live.
So it was that Simeon, his two brothers, his sister and his adopted
brother were lovingly cared for by Mary Jane Crandall Sterrett. Simeon never saw his real Mother again until
he was a grown man.
Later in life his real mother, Sarah
Ann became a beloved Grandmother to Simeon’s children and fulfilled a rich and
serviceable life becoming the mother of other children than those she left
behind so early in her life.
Simeon
was one year old when the family moved to Soda Springs Idaho where he spent the
next six years, and much of the rest of his life. Here it was that Simeon’s father built that
large Hotel and he and his wife Mary Jane managed it. The town of Soda Springs derived its name
from the many mineral springs surrounding it, and had just been settled by a
number of families who were sent there by President Young. The area at this time was still in a wild and
undeveloped state. Buffalo roamed the
plains, Elk and Deer were plentiful in the hills, and some of the Indians were
still hostile. This had been a choice
hunting ground for the Indians, with its snow-clad mountains, clear streams,
abounding in fish, and choice grazing lands for the wild herds. These same advantages attracted the settlers
and later many sheep and cattlemen, who made the valley one of the largest
stock ranges in the West.
This was the environment in which
Simeon spent most of his lifetime, either in Soda Springs or the nearby towns
and ranches. His schooling consisted of
three months during the winter when the school was open, the teaching of his
parents and his own desire to learn. His
father and mother being very active in the LDS church, and knowing of its many
and varied opportunities for learning, and having taken advantage of these
opportunities themselves, instilled into his heart a desire for an education,
this together with his individual efforts made of him a self-educated man.
In 1877 his father moved his family
to Gentile Valley, about eighteen miles south and west of Soda Springs. Large bands of Indians still roamed the
country and would pass their homes, sometimes stealing what they could, and
often coming to the house to beg food.
While Simeon was still a small boy
his Father went to Montana to find work in order to support his family. The faithful mother left alone with her small
brood and fearful of the Indians, and ----- that they were camped nearby, would
gather her children together and would take them up to the attic. There she would make beds for them and pull
the ladder up behind them all. Then she
would sit all night guarding their lives with an axe in her hands. Life being all adventure to little Simeon and
his brothers, these times seemed to be a special treat.
Horses early became Simeon’s
greatest love. When only 11 he went to
work for Sol Hale receiving 50¢ a day.
The money wasn’t nearly as important as the lessons he learned in bronc
riding. Mr. Hale would strap him to a
wild horse and make him ride till his nose would bleed, but Sim loved the
chance to work with horses. When 13 he
herded horses for A.D. Young, son of Brigham Young. As years went by he became an expert rider
and broke horses for many big outfits.
The family had been living in
Gentile Valley, 18 miles from Soda Springs but in 1885 they returned only to
find the town had been over run by gold prospectors. In 1870 gold had been discovered in the
nearby Caribou Mountains and so now Soda Springs was the typical rough, lawless
gold town of the old west.
Fifteen years old and full of love
of adventure, young Sim turned his attention to mining. He drove stage and freight wagons, prospected
and mined. Here was a young boy through
the ages of 15 to 18 handling a heavy wagon drawn by 6 and 8 horses down the
treacherous mountain passes. He must
have learned a great deal about horses and exhibited fine skill to have been
entrusted with such an important job.
Although this road around Caribou Mountain did have its sharp curves and
dangerous dugways, where the slightest mishap could have sent drivers and outfit
crashing down the steep mountain side, it also was very picturesque. The divides and country around being covered
with beautiful wild flowers, dense underbrush, large quaking aspen groves, tall
stately pines; Then there was the many varieties of wild fruit which grew in
the valleys and on the mountain slopes, and it was not an uncommon site to see
the bears feasting on these fruits and berries.
But even the adventure of a mining
camp was not enough to hold the attention of this boy. Hearing of a murder in the vicinity of the
mining camp, he hired someone to relieve him of the duty of driving the stage
and went off with a friend to view the scene of the crime. They then decided to build a raft and take a
trip down the Snake River. They traveled
for two days passing through Brown’s Canyon and arriving at last at the mouth
of Cherry Creek, six miles from Idaho Falls.
They never forgot this trip which was a favorite story for his
grandchildren during the late years of his life. He would always add some spicy tales and
said, they called me slippery Sim, the Snake River Pirate.
At
nineteen he left the fading mining camp to punch cattle and ride broncs. He worked with many big outfits including the
“Warbonnet”, brand S-E outfit – one of the largest in the West during those
days. He was considered one of the best
bronc riders—and was still a young boy.
The Warbonnet outfit, an English
cattle syndicate, and the first big company to operate in the area near Soda
Springs came in the late seventies’ and established a head quarters ranch on
Grave Creek on the south side of the Blackfoot river. More than fifty riders were employed at the
ranch for the fall round up.
One of their riders, young “Sim
Sterrett”, many years later, wrote a letter to the local paper in which he
recounts some interesting facts concerning the Warbonnet Outfit. Among other this he says;
“Just a few remembrances of the
past. In the early eighties there came
to the rangeland north of Soda Springs a cow outfit known as the Warbonnet, or S-E
Outfit. Their summer camp was on Corral
Creek, known as the Bull Corall. Their
winter range was on the Fort Hall bottoms on Spring Creek, which emptied into
Portneuf River.
“This outfit had the largest
collection of “Williams” or “Bills” among their riders of any outfit in the
country. The Foreman was WF Mellick
–‘Nebrasky Bill’; his assistant was Bill Hannum-‘Cheyenne Bill’, who later
became foreman; Bill McDaniels-‘Bilious Bills, ‘Bill Edward‘, ‘Black Bill’,
‘Scaly Bill’; One just plain ‘Bill’, and ‘Wee Willie’ the cook. Then there were a lot more of various names
who made this outfit the biggest in the country. They ran about ten to twelve thousand cattle.
“When
they came to town everybody knew it.
They were wild and fearless.
Drinking, shooting and gambling were their hobbies. But they were a fine bunch of men to work
with; big hearted and true blue to each other.
“I went to work for this outfit
about the time Cheyenne Bill took over, and stayed with them two or three years
until they went north to Montana to the Milk River Country.
“(Signed) S.R. Sterrett”
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