Audio
Interview with Billy Keys Clip #2
Transcript
Billy Keys: When Bill McHaney came across there, 1874, with an Indian guide. And he came across that summit up there in Yucca Valley, and when he got on this side, he said their track was the only wagon track there was. He said there was big droves of antelope on each side of the wagon were curious...curious. And would run a little ways and stop to watch that team, and run a little ways and stop to watch that team for several miles. And they were curious animals. And seeing that team, you know...well they'd get frightened and they'd run a little ways and they'd look again. And, he said, the grass in the valley then waved like a wheat field.
Steve Smith: Then as things dried up...well, then...what, the antelope left? Do you know what time [inaudible]...
Billy Keys: Oh, they're gone. All gone. Surprise Valley and all the antelope country. Mm hmm.
Steve Smith: Were there antelope here when you were here?
Billy Keys: Nope. No, no, no.
Steve Smith: It was before you got here.
Billy Keys: There was no more antelope after they'd began to bring the cattle in.
Steve Smith: Oh, I see.
Billy Keys: In 1879, they brought the cattle in. There was no more antelope. They disappeared.
Steve Smith: I see.
Billy Keys: Yeah. They were killed and... disappeared. Gone. Like the Ibex. Yeah.
Steve Smith: Change of climate...
Billy Keys: Well, the mountain sheep is still here, but he'll be gone. His time is coming.
Steve Smith: They're becoming rare.
Billy Keys: Yeah.
Steve Smith: There's not as many of them around. They figured there's about 150 or so. Here now.
Billy Keys: Oh, is that so?
Steve Smith: Ralph Wells. [Transcriber's note: Ralph E. Wells, co-author (with Florence B. Wells) of Bighorn of Death Valley, National Park Service, 1961.]
Billy Keys: You know that... down here... that coming across that dirt road, there. That left a streak of dust there for a mile or more. That streak of dust would scare a mountain sheep, he'd go clear out of the country. Yeah.
Steve Smith: I didn't know that.
Billy Keys: Anything like that you know... unusual, well they'd be afraid of it and they'd leave.
Steve Smith: Mm hmm.
Billy Keys: Mm hmm. Yeah.
Steve Smith: Well, they're curious too... like the antelope.
Billy Keys: Curious animals. Yeah. When the Indians came up here from Coachella Valley... In 19... the fall... spring of 1911. I was milling here, and the sheep would come and stand on the rocks there and listen and look where those stamps are dropping. That noise. The Indians came here to hunt sheep, and the grass was thick all around here. They could stake their pony right here... And they shot the sheep and load those animals and go back to Coachella. Yeah.
Steve Smith: Uh-huh.
Billy Keys: Well they were welcome. I didn't care. It wasn't mine.
Steve Smith: Mm hmm.
Billy Keys: Yeah. Get all they want!
Steve Smith: Well, they have to live too.
Billy Keys: Six or eight sheep would stand there and they could easily shoot them.
Steve Smith: Oh, sure. Did they have firearms then?
Billy Keys: Huh?
Steve Smith: Did they have firearms then? Were they using...
Billy Keys: Firearms! rifles!
Steve Smith: Rifles?
Billy Keys: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they were well-equipped. And they had a pack animal or a saddle animal. They came up here for the purpose of killing sheep and taking the meat back. Mm hmm. Yeah. They gave me meat.
Steve Smith: Mm hmm.
Billy Keys: Sheep, it's a red meat. Very, very nice. And... as good as any beefsteak you'll ever eat.
Description
Mr. Keys describes what the area was like when the first Euro-Americans arrived.
Credit
Ranger Steve Smith, Joshua Tree National Park, National Park Service
Date Created
10/21/1966
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