Ancient Illusions

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A dozen ranch owners filled the Telichpah Flat general store for a meeting with the county sheriff. Their ranches centered around the Salmon River which flowed through a canyon about five thousand feet deep and nearly two hundred miles long. When Lewis and Clark encountered the dangerous gorge in 1805, they turned away and headed north, following their guide, Sacajawea. Early fur trappers also avoided the Salmon River canyon, as did the nearby Tukudeka, Shoshone, and Nez Perce tribes. Not until the 1860s when the gravel bars of the river were found to contain small quantities of gold dust did prospectors move in to explore the area. Miners worked sluice boxes along the high-water line through the depression years of the 1930s until all the gold was mined out.

A few of those explorers and prospectors filed for homesteads and were given deeds to create small ranches. Ownership was grandfathered to them and their heirs when the area became protected from further development under the Wilderness Act of the US Congress.

Life was harsh for homesteaders in the remote, solitary land, and continues to be. Some say the Tukudeka or Shoshone-Bannock tribes were the first to use the name “River of No Return” since canoes that went down the Salmon almost never came back. Early Army Corps of Engineers guides who tried to find a path along it for a railroad, ended up declaring it to be the most difficult terrain they had ever attempted to cross in the US.

To this day, not only is there no railroad along the Salmon River, but no roads at all transverse the entire east to west journey of the river. Access to most of the ranches is only by small planes or horseback, and their power comes from small hydro plants, solar panels, and propane flown in by air. Satellite phones provide the main means of communication, and bush planes handle most of the US and private mail services such as FedEx.

But despite the difficult conditions and isolation of their lives, the residents found out about strange mutilations and deaths happening around them, and called for a meeting.

“You’ve got to do something, or we take this into our own hands,” Larry Pollack said. He was a big man with a florid face, bald head, clenched fists, and a Smith and Weston .44 magnum in his shoulder holster.

“And it ain’t gonna be pretty,” Wade Cox added, then crossed his arms and spread his feet wide as he sat in a teetering chair. He glared at the others in the room, and they all kept their distance.

“Calm down, guys.” Sheriff Jake Sullivan stretched out his hands, palms facing downward, trying to ease the tension. The Telichpah Flats location brought back memories of a couple of years ago when the general store was the eye of a media storm after the Boise State University group vanished.

“We know about all the deaths that took place out here a couple years ago,” Wade added, “much as those of you involved tried to keep it secret. And I swear, something weird is going on again. Something I don’t like one damn bit.”

“And we sure as hell ain’t gonna sit around and watch our neighbors get picked off one by one,” Larry Pollack added.

“Nobody is sitting around doing nothing.” Jake had to shout to be heard over the grumbling around him. “And none of your neighbors has gotten killed.”

“Yet!” A voice in the back spat out the word.

Jake spoke louder. “The county wants to find out what’s happening out there as much as you do.”

“Yeah, but it’s not ‘out there’ to us,” Wade said. “It’s ‘here.’ It’s home. You can’t deny things got bad two years ago because you were one of the ones lost.”

“I can’t deny things happened,” Jake said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “But a lot of what you heard was rumor and nonsense. You know how the press likes to sensationalize every little thing.”

“Like college kids and teachers on a field trip being killed?” Wade suggested with a disgust-filled smirk. Others nodded in agreement.

Jake knew this was a no-win situation, mainly because the ranchers were right to be worried. So was he. “Let’s talk about what’s happening now. How many of you have lost sheep or cattle, or have seen any of these strange mutilations?”

“Something killed two of my calves,” Penny Schmidt bellowed. She was a big woman, nearly two-hundred pounds of pure muscle. “And I know a wolf or mountain lion didn’t do it. I’ve lost sheep and lambs to them, and this attack was different. Ugly and different.” Schmidt was as tough as they came out here in a land filled with strong, rugged people. She had taken over the ranch when her father died, married one of the ranch hands, and together they kept it going along with their three sons. That day, her husband stayed at the ranch while she piloted their single-engine plane to the meeting.

Jake eyed her as she spoke and noticed she kept rubbing her hands hard against her jeans, almost as if she were trying to rub something off them.

“I also found a female hog torn up in ways that aren’t natural,” Don Grover said, then swallowed hard.

“A sheep, mutilated, on my land,” Wade Cox said.

Mitch Ivansen called out, “Two on mine.”

Johnny Adesso waved his hand and when Jake looked his way, he stood. “My cattle dog, Sadie, never came home. It’s not like her.” He became choked up and quickly sat back down.

About half the ranchers answered Jake’s question, but all of them were spooked. Jake did his best to calm them.

Ironically, most of the people there were upset because they feared Jake and the authorities wouldn’t believe that anything bad was happening, and wouldn’t help. But Jake believed them.

People throughout the area were growing increasingly agitated and upset. Not only were there strange mutilations of livestock, but fistfights were breaking out in town, and a couple guys tried to slice each other up with knives. Even he and Charlotte seemed to constantly bicker and argue with each other.

He didn’t know what was causing all the commotion, but his biggest worry was that the deaths and mutilations would move from livestock and pets to humans.