The Cowboy Lion Hunters of Rock Creek
Two local stockmen display frontier grit by lassoing a massive lion in the hills near Yakima.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
While C. S. Miller and B. N. Danskin were rounding up stock in the Rock Creek region, Washington territory, last week, they were startled by seeing a large lion crouched on a cliff near them. The boys at once concluded to lasso him, and finally got their lariats round the big brute's neck and hind legs. After many exciting adventures they succeeded in getting the animal alive to camp, where he was chained. He is estimated to be nine feet in length from the tip of his nose to the point of his tail. The cowboy daredevils who captured him are the heroes of the entire country about Rock Creek, and their names will go down to posterity in local history as the benefactors of the range for removing such a deadly enemy to young stock.
“The cowboy daredevils who captured him are the heroes of the entire country about Rock Creek.”
While mountain lion sightings are still common in the rugged terrain surrounding the Yakima Valley, the idea of lassoing one for sport speaks to the very different human-wildlife relationship of the 1880s. Today, these predators are more likely to be studied and monitored than pursued with lariats.
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