Wildlife in Morton Valley

I was talking on the phone with my sister in Texas yesterday. She said cattle prices were out of sight there, but that it is unpredictable how long the high prices will last. If it is as dry there this summer as it was last summer, people will be giving the critters away by fall.

Lylia said the coyotes are really thick and brazen now. They have caught and devoured all 12 of her little guinea fowl that she raised last year.

We wound up reminiscing about the state representative who used to have a 1,200 acre farm about a mile from our homestead. Rep. Payton was very wealthy -- owned many oil and gas wells, and a company that provided natural gas to several large counties.

Payton was notorious as a big-game hunter. He was always going on safari in Africa and other places. His house was full of mounted animal heads and other trophies such as elephant-feetashtrays from his hunts.

The guy had a lot of cattle on his acreage, and he was always experimenting with importing other animals such as bison and water buffalo to crossbreed with his cattle.

I think he did succeed in crossing cattle and bison. I remember he referred to the crosses as his "beefalo."

Through the years, Payton brought in camels, antelopes, ostriches, zebras, and emus. Not all at once, but sort of sequentially. He even acquired a rhino that was always escaping and tearing up fences on other people's property. We were often participants in recapturing the aggressive creature, which was kind of scary sometimes.

Thankfully, Payton didn't mess with big cats and bears, but he did have a large fenced pit that he kept watered well with alligators in it. We caught a delinquent juvenile gator in my grandpa's pond once, but that was the only one we found.

We were all glad when Payton sold his animals, the gas plant, and the acreage, and moved to Dallas with the other millionaires.

-- Louis Houston is a resident of Siloam Springs. His book "The Grape-Toned Studebaker" is available locally and from Amazon.com. Send any questions or comments to [email protected] or call 524-6926. The opinions expressed are those of the author.