This story below was submitted by Jordan Higham.  He is the son of Charles W. Higham, the storyteller. Charles parents were Joseph Lawrence Higham and Katherine 'Katie' Marie Goettsche Higham. Joseph Lawrence was born in Conant Valley in 1891. Katie was born in Oklahoma in 1894.  They were married in 1916.

Joseph Lawrence Higham and 

Katherine 'Katie' Marie Goettsche Higham

 Below is a picture of the Higham brothers homestead in Conant Valley.

Joseph Lawrence's father was Joseph William Higham. He and his brother, Charles Richard (Dick) homesteaded in Conant Valley in 1876.  They came to Conant Valley with their father, also named Charles Higham, as young adult men.

Joseph William and Margaret Jones Higham

 

If you have a story or photos to share about Swan Valley, Grand Valley, Pine Creek Bench, Conant Valley, or the surrounding area, send us an email at svoldtimers@gmail.com.  Thanks- Audi

Horse Thieves in Conant Valley 

Told by: Charles W. Higham 

My great grandfather, Charles W, had two sons, Joseph and Richard(Dick) Higham. They did a lot of moving and homesteading. Homesteading means that the government would allow you to move onto some vacant land. If you built a home, a couple of corrals, a barn, took good care of the property and stayed long enough then eventually it became yours for free. Joseph(my grandfather) and uncle Dick went up to Conant Valley and decided it would be a great place to homestead. They built a log cabin, barn and whatever else they needed to do to make homesteading a sure thing for them. That's where this story begins. My dad, Joseph L Higham, was given the assignment to watch after the ranch up in Conant Valley. He was a young man about 18 or 19 years old. One day he was sitting on the porch of the little cabin they had up there. As he was sitting there, he saw some riders coming down the Stagecoach Trail into Conant Valley. There were 3 guys on horses and they were pushing the horses as hard as they could go. As he watched them he could tell they had about used up their horses because they were having a hard time running. When the riders stopped at the cabin the horses were completely tired out with their tongues hanging out in dire need of water. The riders asked him which was the way they needed to go, to go to Jackson, Wyoming. My dad pointed the way up the trail they were going on and said just keep going the way you're going. They got back on their horses and headed down the trail. About an hour after they left, a second group of about 15 horsemen came down the trail. This was the sheriff and his posse. A posse is a group of men the sheriff rounds up to try and help him catch someone who has done something wrong. The sheriff told my dad they were chasing some horse thieves and asked my dad if he had seen 3 riders come by here. He replied that he had and said they went that way towards Jackson. The posse left the cabin and took up on the trail after the 3 guys on horses and my dad never heard from them again. One day about a week after all that happened, he went for a ride to check on their cattle. A ways up Pritchard Creek he came across the horse thieves again. They were all there together in a row hanging from a big limb on a big tree. The posse had caught them and that's what they did to the horse thieves in those days. If they caught them they didn't give them a trial, they just hung them. He didn’t have a shovel with him so he went back to the cabin and got a shovel, took it back up there, dug a grave for them and put them in there. I really wish I knew where that was and if those men are still there.

 In the picture below, you can see the stagecoach trail cut across the hillside in Conant Valley.