Ep 4 Chief Walkara 🪶 the Blizzard❄️ and Nikki🐍

The Journey from Nebraska to the Territory of Deseret was an adventurously long one. And in the early days of settling the Wild West, there was never a destination. The only place you could permanently call home was your final resting place. From Conestogas to Cavalry, from rivers to mountains, from Chiefs to Governors, from freezing winters to striking summers, from Sasquatch attacks to buried Mummies, from hidden treasure to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and from settling the Sanpete area to sipping sop with snakes. You wont want to miss this tale. Too true to be believed.

Characters (in order of appearance):
Orville Sutherland Cox
Elvira Pamela Mills
Charles C. Rich
General Kearney
Sylvester Hulet
Amos Cox
Loenza Philena
John C. Freemont
Orville Mills Cox
Chief Walkara, (aka Chief Walker or Joseph Walker)
Brigham Young
Isaac Morley
Towats
Adelia Belinda Cox
Almer Bingley Cox
DeLaun Mills Cox

Locations:
Elkhorn River, Nebraska
Sweet water River, Wyoming
Independence Rock, Wyoming
Territory of Deseret (aka Utah)
Salt Creek Canyon, Territory of Deseret
Mount Nebo
Sanpete Valley
Manti

Drinking Venom
https://insh.world/science/what-if-you-fell-into-a-pool-filled-snake-venom/

Reptile Oral Bacteria
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25921519/

Featured Voice Talents:
Macy Heaton

Transcript

Even with my limited means, at 32, and out of necessity, I became pretty decent at building covered wagons. One time I found a linch pin and thought out loud to myself “I’ll just make a wagon to fit that pin.” (Chuckling to self) And so it was with my two homemade wagons, two yoke of oxen, three yoke of cows, a box of live chickens, a pregnant wife and two children (ages 5 & 3), with bedding and food, the Mrs. And I….oh excuse me, I haven’t introduced myself yet…(clear throat) my name is Orville Sutherland Cox, (wife says “ehem”) oh…sorry dear, and this here is my wife Elvira. 

(Elvira) “Nice to meet you.” 

Now where was I? Oh yes, Our family left the Elkhorn River in Nebraska, Along with 130 other adventurer’s as part of the Charles C. Rich company, we headed into the wild wild west across the Great Plains, near the latter part of June 1847. Boy oh boy we did not know what we was gettin into. 

On July 27 as we were nearing Independence Rock along the Sweet Water River, we met an angry General Kearney and his company of battalion scouts. And to our surprise Elvira’s uncle, Sylvester Hulet and my little brother Amos were with em. They were 2 of 15 men selected as an escort for the General as he returned to Fort Leavenworth. We was so happy to see them, but that joy was quickly dampened, as i had to tell Amos the dreadful news that his 9 month old baby daughter Loenza Philena had died from the whooping cough the December previous. Just 3 days before Christmas. He had last seen the child when she was only 4 months old, before he answered the call to serve his country during the war with Mexico. And now she was gone. Oh Dear Heaven, Amos was so saddened, as was i to be telling him. We certainly mourned together.

We asked Amos where they were headed. Found out that they had with them an illustrious prisoner & and the G.O.A.T. path-finder by the name of John C. Fremont. Poor ol hapless Colonel Fremont had been caught in the streams of a 4 way political piddlin’ match between a commodore, a general, his father in law, and the president of the United States. And now Fremont, who would later himself be a presidential candidate, was on his way to a court martial hearing. 

 Weary and worn we arrived at our new home on October 2 of that same year. Just a few weeks later on Monday, November 29, a baby boy, by the name of Orville Mills Cox, was born to Elvira and me in the Territory of Deseret, now known as Utah. Little Orv was the first boy born in the new settlement who would live to adulthood.

 Two years later In the fall of 1849, Chief Walkara requested help to settle some land in the area now known as the Sanpete Valley, and to teach the Sanpits people how to farm. Walkara was the most influential leader of his day and had a reputation as a diplomat, horseman, warrior, and was known as an avid fisherman along the shores of Utah Lake. Walkara, later known as Chief Walker, could communicate in Spanish, English, and native languages. The Shoshone ancestry of his Timpanogo & Sanpete Band shared a cultural and linguistic heritage as part of the Numic (nuhm-ik) branch of the Uto-Aztecan (pronounced You-Tow AzTecken) language family. “Walkara” is a Shoshone name meaning “Hawk”. 

To fulfill Chief Walkara’s request, Brigham Young sent a group of 225 settlers, under the direction of Brother Isaac Morley. This group of 40 families, including ours, spent the next few weeks breaking new roads, fixing crossings, and building dugways. As industrious as we attempted to be, On some days we only moved forward 2 or 3 miles. There was One six mile stretch in Salt Creek Canyon that occupied us an entire week. We got a bit of a snow squall there before we skinned out. The trek was just over 120 miles as the crow flies. But what takes a modern day traveler less than 2 hours now, took our trailblazing group an entire month. Of course we weren’t just trying to make a B line for our destination, we were also preparing the route for future travelers that we knew were to follow. 

(Whispering) Can you keep a secret? Just between you and me, as we cleared that dreadful week of trailblazing in Salt Creek Canyon, and were crossing under the southern shadow of Mt Nebo, Chief Walkara pointed to an outcropping hill in the far southern end of the SanPete Valley and told Bro Isaac Morley that the hill was the site of an ancient Temple/altar that the "old ones" (as he called em) well they built the alters to give offerings to "Towats", (Towats is a Uto-Aztecan word meaning "The Lord.") He also told Isaac that there were caves under the hill that were very dangerous and admonished him not to go in them. I dont know what that meant, but i wasnt about to be the one to find out. I had a wife and children to look after. A fella cant very well care for his family if’n he’s dead. 

Over the  years there have been tales of mummies & ancient records, Egyptian writings, stories of Sasquatch attacks, and some other mysterious occurrences. Due to this and other experiences with them caves, Isaac Morley deemed the mount as sacred, believing this was (as he wrote in his journal,)"the very hill where an ancient people had lived and thrived.” He had accounts of how these people had captured a man enforcing priestcraft by the sword, and he was brought before their judge, found guilty, and executed… on that very hill. He said that an ancient temple once stood here, and here one day again would stand another in these modern days...This was, even as Chief Walker (Chief Wakara) said, “a sacred hill”, and so Isaac named the location after the name found from his ancient account of the area, today known as Manti, even as it was called in days gone by..."

 Our weary and chilled group arrived in the present day location of Manti, Utah on November 19…and it commenced to rain (rain sounds)…which in the cooler temperatures of nightfall then turned to snow… And it snowed, and snowed and snowed. Or as Chief Walkara would say “dakadua'ai-“ It snowed a LOT. In a short while that snow reached the unusual depth of 4 feet on the level. The “Mormoni”, as we were referred to by the Sanpit (San-pitch) people, were blamed for the a̲a̲i̲meaH daka (crazy snow) that first winter of 1849. And they were probably right, as we were there to show them how to farm and tame the land, so we were gonna need water to do that. And we got plenty of it in the form of snow.

 We had camped along the south side of the Hill for protection against the north wind, but our covered wagons offered very little shelter or warmth against the bitter cold.  It was agreed that there was no way to get into the surrounding mountains for wood to build cabins, so the only alternative was to dig dugouts in the hillside. I began digging in the hill of clay and shale behind our wagon. Adelia, age eight, and Al, age five, and even little Orville, almost two, helped push the dirt from the doorway and carry the rocks away.  It was definitely better to keep busy than to think about how cold and wet we were. 

(Orville SC) What in the Jack Frost…Its getting downright frigid, that wind aint helping anything either…You kids just rest inside away from the wind for a bit while i look this place over…There, that ought to keep the five of us out of the storm.”

Over the years I had obtained experience as a frontiersman, forester, lumberman, blacksmith, I had a knack as an engineer, and pretty darn skilled at hewing and squaring the logs with my ax. I wanted to make everything as comfortable as possible for our makeshift home.

“Now we’ll all go down to the ‘crick’ and cut some a those willows that’s growin’ along the bank.”

(“But Papa” Adelia protested. “The snows higher’n we are.”)

“What’s that Adelia dear? Oh honey i know the snows above your heads.”

“I’ll go first and push a path thru with my body, then you can follow along behind me.”

We soon found that because of the exceeding depth of the snow that Al and Orville were too short to bring any willows back even holding their arms above their heads as far as they could reach, and so we called Mama to come and help.  Mama had been kinda poorly ’cause we were expecting another baby in early spring, but she came and helped us the best she could. Thank the good Lord for mamas. What would we do without them. 

It took quite a spell but when we got all the willows up to the dugout, I wove them into another room in front. Smoke from a fire in there could escape through the willow chinks, while we kept warm and cozy inside the dugout.

During that severe winter, a measles epidemic broke out. Our new neighboring communities of settlers and Sanpits people shared between us our limited medicine supply and eventually our food. All winter long we had to help the cattle find feed by shoveling snow in the meadows. It was a long, hungry, cold winter, the snow lasting until May.  As soon as we could start clearing the land of sagebrush, the whole family went to work, except baby DeLaun who was born in March. It was now time for irrigation ditches that had to be engineered, surveyed, and then dug.  Then the usual labor of clearing, plowing, and planting. 

One warm rustling spring evening when Mama came from the field, a buzzing began as she drew near the willow room.  She retreated and it stopped.  Then she moved forward and it started again.  Cautiously she peered into the willows and there above the doorway was a six foot (tepitsi tokoa) a rattlesnake, its tongue flickering in and out of its mouth as fast as humming bird’s wings.  She screamed and the neighbors came running from all directions.  They killed it; and another and another.  Everywhere they looked snakes were crawling out of the cracks and crevices in the hill.  By the hundreds they killed them.  At first the boys cut the buttons off each tail, but by dusk the job had become too tedious. And still the snakes kept coming.

 They built fires so they could see, and threw the dead rattlers on them.  On into the night it went.  And one by one the children lay down around the fires and were soon dreaming of scaly, slithery, slippery, striking, snakes.  Some said they killed fifteen hundred that first night, but no one had bothered to count them.  No one dared or wanted to sleep in the dugouts for several days because we continuously found coiled snakes in our beds in our drawers, even in our dishes and kettles. Miraculously no one reported being bitten. 

 As that traumatizing spring eventually dissolved into a warm summer, little Orv, as we fondly called him, became listless and pale.  Mama was a trained midwife and healer and would feel his forehead for fever and have him stick his tongue out.  She made him a tonic by boiling sagebrush but he didn’t get better.  By mama’s own words “I was sure he wouldn’t, it was such foul tasting stuff”.  

One evening 2 year old Orville, who was still sickly, picked up his bowl of bread and milk and started toward the doorstep, to sit and eat it. 

“Oh, Orville,” Mama said, “Why don’t you stay inside tonight?  There’s so many mosquitoes out there.” 

“I want to feed my Nikki,” Orville whined, and started to cry.  So Mama let him sit on the step. She noticed him take a spoon full of bread and milk from his cup and stoop over and hold it down for a moment before eating it. Then another spoonful was held down, and another and another. 

“Whatever is the child doing to hold each bite down that way before he eats it?” She questioned herself. Then quickly she moved positions so that she could see his spoon as he held it down. And to her surprise and horror, Coiled up on the ground beside 2 year old Orville was a large rattlesnake. Orville would eat one spoonful and give the second one to the snake.  It would drink the milk off and Orville would eat the bread that remained.  

“Look at this,” Mama hissed (loud cautious whisper), and the whole family crowded forward. Mother now realized the cause of the child’s failing health. It was presumed at the time that there was a small amount of venom in the snakes mouth that made it onto the spoon each time. We now know that Venoms are generally not toxic if swallowed, and must be injected under the skin (by snakes, spiders, etc.) into the tissues that are normally protected by skin in order for the venom to be toxic. 

And in case you wanted to know, venom doesn’t really smell like anything. And if you happened to accidentally taste the venom, it would taste like a somewhat sweet, almost tangy version of water. However, it is NOT recommend to drink venom! 

So if venom isnt such an obvious culprit for little Orville, what was it? Well…..with modern science and medicine we now know that Bacterial infections secondary to snakebites and human pathogens have been linked to the oral microbiota (pronounced Micro-buy-ōta) of snakes and pet reptiles. Based on culture-dependent studies, it is speculated that snakes' oral microbiota reflects the fecal flora of their ingested preys. What does this mean, well…little Orville was getting low doses of Salmonella poisoning.

Needless to say I (Papa Orville) killed the snake without hesitation!

Poor little Orville…he cried into the night for his “Nikki”.  I finally consoled him by telling him we would get the buttons tomorrow, and then he could always carry his “Nikki” around with him.  Little Orville was up early the next morning to see that I did what I had promised.

Orville Mills Cox is a prime example as to why 43% of children in the 1800’s didnt live past their 5th birthday. It wasnt just the ailments and medical conditions, it was the wild nature of existence, the creatures (slithery and all), the hazards of being alive and being tossed into the ever churning circle of life, as well as the ever perilous atmosphere of carving out new portions of a growing nation. 

Yeah, Orville survived himself and the wildness of the kingdom around him, but even when he grew to be a big boy, he would cuff down the middle of the road, the dust raising about him, twirling those rattlesnake buttons in rhythm as he sang his little song-

“I had a pet

By the name of Nikki,

Shared my sop

And it made me sickly,

Papa killed it

Cause it was deadly

So ended my poor Nikki.”

And this wasnt the end of little Orvilles near death adventures, At the age of 6 he was kicked in the head by a horse. Luckily?!?…The force only grazed his head, but a large portion of his scalp was torn lose. His mother who was the skilled medic in the family, she remained calm and said “He will be alright.” She then proceeded to sew his scalp back into place while he was still unconscious. God Bless Mama.

 Here are my Takeaways:

Even though you might love them, some friends are bad for you. 

You dont have to get bit to get sick, There is often illness by association. 

And my personal recommendation? “Never make yourself sick just to try out the remedy.”

That first experience with Rattlesnakes for Pioneers in the Sanpete valley has left a lasting impression on the area. Indeed, one of the tallest mountain summits in the area at 8,612 feet above sea level… is named Rattlesnake Peak.

Just a modern day tidbit that sheds light on those hordes of serpents experienced that first spring in Manti…as Temple work began in April of 1877, the builders creating the western foundation for the structure, discovered an extensive network of caves and tunnels, obviously where the rattlesnakes used to nest in winter several decades earlier.

A final note about the hill in the Sanpit Valley which Chief Walker referred to as “sacred” and the place of an ancient temple…well in 1888 on that sacred hill in Manti Utah a new temple was completed. And it still stands today. Although hopefully with a much smaller population of rattlesnakes. 🐍 

Characters (in order of appearance):
Orville Sutherland Cox
Elvira Pamela Mills
Charles C. Rich
General Kearney
Sylvester Hulet
Amos Cox
Loenza Philena
John C. Freemont
Orville Mills Cox
Chief Walkara, (aka Chief Walker or Joseph Walker)
Brigham Young
Isaac Morley
Towats
Adelia Belinda Cox
Almer Bingley Cox
DeLaun Mills Cox

Locations:
Elkhorn River, Nebraska
Sweet water River, Wyoming
Independence Rock, Wyoming
Territory of Deseret (aka Utah)
Salt Creek Canyon, Territory of Deseret
Mount Nebo
Sanpete Valley
Manti

Drinking Venom
https://insh.world/science/what-if-you-fell-into-a-pool-filled-snake-venom/

Reptile Oral Bacteria
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25921519/

Featured Voice Talents:
Macy Heaton