Love One Another

Swans at Twilight

Ballet-like, they stretched their long, long necks forward and their long legs backward, as if trained to create graceful images. Their wide, wide spanning white white wings propelled them across their stage.  Backdrop for their dance was the oyster shell sky, tinged orchid by the setting sun's spotlight.  Honking more stridently than cranes or Canada geese, the swans provided their own overture as if to call spectators on the ground to their celestial performance. (By Afton Bitton)

Almost a Swan Song

A sight that can be seen in Swan Valley, but not Yellowstone. 
There were no successful nesting pairs in Yellowstone last year.

The namesake of our valley, the Trumpeter Swan was seldom seen in the first half of the 20th century.  In fact, they were nearly eradicated in the lower 48 states.  In 1920, there were as few as 450 trumpeters left and by 1935 there were only 73 total.  The Canada/United States Migratory Bird Treaty of 1916 didn't protect them because of weak regulations and a lack of agency to police offenses.  They were critically endangered, but a law protecting them wouldn't come until 1938, when State and Territory regulations were tied to the treaty.  Prior to 1938, there was a "No Bag Limit" on swans and you could shoot, trap, net, or snare as many as you wanted.  

Why?  You may think that, like eagles, wolves, or elk, they were a nuisance to farmers and ranchers.  After all, we now see them, sometimes 20 or more eating in wheat and potato fields. Leading experts say their feeding behaviors have made a noticeable change since 2005 and they have recently adapted to eating winter wheat and leftover potatoes from harvesting.  This didn't happen when they were nearly eradicated.  I cannot find in any text that they were historically considered a nuisance, as we often think of other large waterfowl, such as pelicans and geese.  They were here however, as is noted by some of the old timers.  Ralph Traughber remarked, "Our valley is hardly ever without a big, white bird.  It's pelicans in the summer and fall and swans in the winter and spring." (Trumpeter's Dell, pg 66)  

Alexander Rene'

Rather, they were hunted for their feathers and fine tasting meat.  By 1900, dramatic over-hunting had all but wiped out the species.  The Hudson's Bay Company sold 17,671 swan skins between 1853 and 1877, mostly from trumpeter swans.  They are larger than the tundra swans they share habitat with and are not as easily spooked.  Weighing up to 30 pounds, trumpeters are the world’s largest waterfowl and were more lucrative to hunt than the smaller tundra swan.  There was enough meat to feed a large family or have company and the hide could be sold or used to make decorations for clothing, hats, and housewares.  Alexander René, the namesake of Rainey Creek, and a trapper himself, lamented about the first fall he was in Swan Valley.   He wrote, "Mr. Carey, a trapper, invited us to come over and have dinner with them.  He killed a swan.  We went over and the swan tasted very good.  Next year, we and others saw 2 swans and we never saw any after that."


 After 1900, only a few flocks were able to survive, in some of the most remote wetlands in the rocky mountains.  At their most dismal time, in the early 1930's, the Red Rocks Lake (MT) flock was the last remaining group, only totaling 69 birds.  Civilization was responsible for the destruction of critical breeding and nesting areas, leading to dismal birth and survival rates.  

Red Rocks Lake, MT

We paved and shored up and put lawns where wetlands once provided a perfect nursery to raise cignets. Even now, with the recent restoration program (25 years), there are only 2 nesting pairs of trumpeter swans in all of Yellowstone, largely due to human impact on their nesting sites along the edges of pristine lakes and ponds, and predation by other protected species, like the bald eagle.  That's hard to believe, given the healthy flocks we enjoy seeing every day in the winter.  Swan Valley has several locals that have dedicated their time, money, and land to restore the wetland habitat for the swan populations here. 


The Trumpeter Swan Society, the Teton Regional Land Trust, and other organizations have

Biologist pushes a man made nest/raft.

teamed up to restore the trumpeter swan populations in the rocky mountain region.  Outside of Yellowstone, it has been working.  From the Red Rocks flock, eggs have been "grafted" to nesting pairs in other locations in the region, which have then migrated back to Swan Valley and have begun nesting here.  There are now over 11,000 trumpeter swans in the rocky mountain population.  You can report swan sightings at ebird.org.  The link is below.   

The trumpeter swan has not sung it's last song, not yet at least.  They are very vulnerable to unusual seasonal changes in the climate, so they haven't been delisted, but their numbers are beginning to reach a point where some would like to hunt them again.  I think we say the same thing about the non native humans that have moved to Swan Valley.  At this time, the swans are still protected from the fate of the dinner table and, the newcomers from the common sense and grit of the old timers.  The old timers are like the swans of our namesake too, protective, loyal, and observant.  Are we adaptable enough to help save another species, by changing some our own behaviors?  Will our swan song be next?  

eBird.org Report your sightings here

Other resources:

Trumpeter's Dell, Afton Bitton, 2011

http://tetonlandtrust.org/conserve/trumpeter-swan-project/

https://www.idahostatesman.com/outdoors/article216603335.html

http://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/trumpeter-swan-numbers-idaho-after-birds-learn-new-survival-skill#stream/0

http://explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-swan.htm

Merry Christmas 2018

"Most valley schools before the consolidation had many "fun time" activities in common.  One of these diversions was the annual Christmas program.  Up to a month before Christmas teachers would reserve time to firm up dialogue and music from purchased play books to make parents and neighbors proud.  Boys and girls would make trips into the forest nearby to drag in trees and evergreen branches to  "deck the halls."  Learners made popcorn, cranberry, and paper chains to adorn the tree.  Some students rode around on horses to visit homes and solicit funds for candy and nuts.  I remember being totally impressed when Edna Hopkins gave my partner and me an entire quarter (which would then buy at least ten times what 25 cents would today).
In several schools the night of the annual Christmas program was made even more exciting when the proper person lighted the little candles on the tree and Santa Claus appeared in red and white regalia with his "ho-ho's" and gifts.  Electricity came to Swan Valley and made the Yule tree much safer in 1939- and thereafter.  Nevertheless, some of the excitement and flavor of the original Christmas program has been preserved by District 92." (Afton Bitton, Trumpeter's Dell, pages 215-216)

My reflections:  As a student of District 92 well after the consolidation, I too had a personalized experience, due to the hard work of our local teachers like Marian Packebush and Barbara Poole.  They wrote several original plays for the school Christmas programs.  I know they worked very hard on them and took pride in orchestrating an original program every year.  I'm grateful they kept these traditions alive.  Marian shared with me a transcript of the last play I took part in, as an 8th grader in Swan Valley Elementary.  They wrote parts to fit our personalities.  Daniel Lundquist and I stole the show in a futuristic adaptation of "The Christmas Carol" (circa 1992).  I've asked the school if they would like to revisit any of these, but at this time it's not looking like it will happen.  For the last several years the Christmas program has been a showcase of musical talent.  This year will include skits performed by the students.  It's always a good time, nonetheless;  just to share in the joy and camaraderie of the holidays is a blessing we all enjoy. -Audi

Mabel Winterfeld's 1994 Speech

Notes used for the speech given at the "Old Timers Party"

July 30, 1994

I've heard so many people talk of "The Good Old Days".  When were those days?  Perhaps they were honorable days originating as a special time or period.  I'm going to speak of my parents and the old time, relating to an earlier period.  
My parents were both born in Illinois, dad at Mt Zion (1870). and mom at Springfield (1877).  Dad's name, Rufus Daniel, came from his grandfather, "Ru" Daniel Traughber.  My mom's maiden name was Nellie Francis Hillman.  "Nellie" came from her aunt Nellie Cooper.  Both of their families were to move to Kansas and then to Monette, Missouri before they would meet and eventually wed.  The year my folks were married, without warning to ordinary observers, one of the worst financial panics in the U.S.  passed through, "The Panic of 1893".  They weathered many a hard time together.  To their union, 12 children were born.  Eight lived to maturity.  

Front Row: Lena and Mabel

Middle Row: Nellie, Paul, and Clara

Back Row: Harry, Rufus, and Clyde 

(picture from "Trumpeters Dell", photo courtesy of Delbert Winterfeld)

In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead and Exemption law, an agreement to occupy and cultivate such land for 5 years in exchange for ownership.  It changed to 3 years in 1912.  Because of ill health, my dad wanted to move west..  He first went to Everett, WA but there was no work and dad didn't like it.  With an invitation from Mr. Charles Ritchey to homestead land as he had done, my folks sold their home and orchard and left Monette for Swan Valley, Idaho.   We stayed in Idaho Falls for about 2 months.  Dad caught a ride to Swan Valley with Frank Calderwood and bought 80 acres with a large 3 room log house from Joe Edwards.  It had been homesteaded by Joe, Alex Martin's grandfather.  
The spring of 1914, with joyful songs of the birds and pretty wild flowers, found the Traughbers settled in Swan Valley and very, very busy.  Dad worked with his 3 sons, 8, 10, and 12, to get timber for fences, barns, etc on Pine Creek Bench.  The road to Victor had a steep grade at the end of the bridge.  One had to rough-lock the wagon with heavy log chains get down with a load.  Paul and Clyde's jobs were to take turns handling a measuring stick or herding cows at home.  On June 12, Clyde went with dad and Harry to handle the measuring stick while they cut timber.  A few yards in front of them 2 others were cutting timber.  While taking his measuring stick to dad, Clyde caught his foot in brush.  He fell, catching himself by throwing his foot upon the tree just as dad's ax came down with a bang, cutting Clyde's foot off.  All but a piece of cord in the heel was severed.  Dad put a tourniquet on Clyde's foot with a stocking from his other foot.  With help from the other 2 timber cutters, they loaded Clyde on a wagon and drove him to Victor to see the doctor.  The next day he had to be taken to the hospital.  Dad and a neighbor took him in the neighbor's white top buggy and horses.  Clyde stayed in the hospital until the middle of September.  He wore steel braces for several years.  

No, we cannot forget the love of family and neighbors working together in times of sickness and depressing times.  

-Mabel Traughber Winterfeld

Water is life.

Farming on the upper and lower Pine Creek benches in the early 1900's relied heavily on water storage in cisterns and God's gift of flowing water to fill them with.  An early trapper, Bill Wolfe, who had trapped in the area for over 50 years, told some of the first settlers on Pine Creek bench that the freshwater spring on the upper bench had never been known to run dry.  Besides Bill Wolfe and Mike Spencer, another reclusive mountain man living up Pine Creek, Dan Jacobs and his wife Rebecca Jennie were the first white people to live on Pine Creek bench. They homesteaded some 640 acres in 1901-1902 and purchased another 320 acres from Larry Hanson shortly thereafter.  They had first pick of acreage because Dan offered to finance the development of a canal from upper Pine Creek to the benches.  (Our Turn in Paradise, pages 65-67)  It must have been obvious to Dan that the success of the farm, especially one of such size, was dependent on water.

Diverting the water from Pine Creek to the benches was a huge idea for the times.  In 1900, congruent to applying for homesteads, Jacobs, along with Dan Post and Larry Hanson, founded the "Pine Creek Canal Company Limited".  The canal was built along the south edge of Pine Creek, beginning near Pine Basin.  The rudimentary road flanked the north side of the creek.  The location of the canal on the south side required a trestle be built. It was built from pine logs and stood nearly 100 feet above the canyon floor.  The wooden aqueduct eventually rotted out and was replaced with a siphon, consisting of 2 large pipes that dropped off the south side of the canyon and back up the other side to the canal.  The canal must have been completed by 1910, when Mr. Jacobs sold the land to Joachim Kruse.  Frank Stoltenberg reportedly finished the construction of the aquaduct as part of the sales agreement.  In 1923, Hank Kruse had hired H.L. Wiese to "walk the Pine Creek Canal with a shovel patching 'rat holes'".  (Our Turn in Paradise, page 76)  By the 1940's the ditch had been abandoned.

Here's a photo of a drawing from "Our Turn in Paradise".