Welcome to the John Ernest Steiner and Martha Luella Porter Family
Ranching life with the Naegles
John C. NAEGLE took the two small boys when the emigrants were being distributed. [His first of seven wives, Mary Louisa Kepple, took John Ernest to care for, and his sixth wife, Pauline Beck, took Walter.] They moved from Lehi to Toquerville, in the fall of 1875. Ernest was then 6-1/2 years old and Walter was 5. The house is still there except for a new front porch (1951). They lived there [until they were 20-1/2 and 19 years old when they] started for Mexico 7 Oct 1889, driving 307 head of cattle. The wagons left 8 Oct 1889, and the boys with the horses left 9 Oct 1889. They all arrived at Jacob Lake, Arizona at the same time.
Father Naegle had a ranch in the Buckskin Mountains where he had cattle and sheep. There was a spring there and it ran down the Mountain and disappeared in the ground. The boys would round up the cattle, taking a month, and driving them down the slide into the Gulch which was a box canyon about 20 miles long. Then when they wanted to get all the cows together, they went up and down the sides to the bottom and then they'd drive the cattle out.
They came down from Toquerville to Moccasin and Pipe Springs, down Kanab Creek. Just east of Kanab Creek and north of the Colorado River was where Walter had herded sheep. Just west of Jacob Lake and 40 miles southeast of Pipe Springs was where the ranch was located.
[Being driven out because of polygamy] they started for Mexico from the Buckskin Mountains with 100 head of loose horses, 4 saddle horses each in a different bunch, and 307 head of cows, with a few head of steer for beef on the road. Whenever they needed meat they killed a steer.
They went down off the mountains and across House Rock Valley to the VT Ranch where they watered the cattle and horses. It took them 3 days to cross the valley to Lee's Ferry (Navajo Bridge is 10 to 15 miles south of Lee's Ferry, now). First night out crossing the valley it was trying to storm and the cattle were almost crazy trying to get to shelter and it took 3 men to keep them in check. They rode hard for about an hour keeping them in check.
At Lee's Ferry they swam the horses across, then the cattle; a boat towed a mare and 3 colts following and the horses followed them. They forced the cattle in and the cattle milled around and piling. Someone fired 3 shots and the cattle went right ahead. They only lost 3 head.
Reuben Naegle went on across with the cook wagon. Ernest and Walter took pack horses across (ferried). It was pitch dark and narrow trail with deep canyons on each side of the trail. Next morning they looked back with field glasses (Willow Springs) and saw a camp and campfire--there was Walter's future wife, Mary Elizabeth Porter, with her family!
At Winslow, Arizona they camped near the railroad track and the cattle were stampeded by the train--they'd never seen or heard one before. On to Holbrook and east to Concho. The train would come by at night and scare the cattle. They lost 16-18 head. Next day Walter's saddle horse gave out and they took the pack off the pack horse for Walter to ride and put the pack on a cow and the cow bucked and tore around for awhile and then went along with the herd. Just a mile from Joseph City, Arizona, Walter's horse gave out completely and they had to push him off the trail. Next morning Walter went back but couldn't find him. He was a roan horse named "Hundred Mile".
They had to watch out for quicksand while crossing the Little Colorado River.
They stopped at Concho, AZ for 2 or 3 days. Father Naegle had a family there who had lived there for years. Here they left some weak stock. Occasionally a cow was weak and would fall down, so they had to get a horse on either side of the cow, hook a rope to her front quarters and lift the front up, then would lift the back up and as soon as the cow was on her feet, off she'd go.
They went directly east through Springerville, White Mountains and Deming, New Mexico where they camped for 3 days and got supplies.
From Deming to Boco Grande (Big Mouth) was the night drive to the next water. They crossed the line between the United States and Mexico just before Boco Grande. "It was here that I nearly ran over Porter's Camp and nearly ran over my future wife." (Walter Steiner)
Next was Ascencion, inspection or custom house. Everything was checked, cows, horses, luggage, everything. Patrick Hayne helped the people through as he knew the language.
Then they came to Colonia Diaz, 3 miles south of Ascencion. Walter was left alone at Pacheco to take care of things while the others went back and came through again for colonization.
At Corralitos was another custom house. Next was Colonia Dublan, one of the settlements of the Saints. About 3 miles from Colonia Dublan was Casas Grandes, a Mexican town. About 15 miles on to Colonia Juarez. They camped in Tanja Wash, just outside Juarez. They stayed 2 or 3 days. The wagons went on into town. New Year's Eve, 1889, some of the boys went to the dance in Juarez. Then on to Pacheco, 7 Jan 1890, their destination--just a forest then, high in the mountains. Porters and Heatons arrived, too. Took cattle on to Gavalan, 18 or 20 miles west of Pacheco. 1892 and 1893 winters, Father Naegle moved over to Oaxaco named after the state of Oaxaco.
After they'd been camped at Pacheco a few weeks they went to Sunday School at Corralles. The girls (Porters, Heatons, Scotts and Beacrofts) started picking out their beaus from the Naegles. Mary Elizabeth Porter picked out Walter first time she saw him.
They made cheese the first 2 years in Pacheco. Walter and Ernest made 2 cheeses by themselves. The cheeses weighed 57-58 lbs. each.
After riding herd on the cattle on the Gavalans all day, Walter and a Hardy boy saw a bear. Walter jumped off his horse and shot the bear. They skinned it and tied the hide on the saddle, and cut off a few chunks of meat.
There were 6 or 8 boys there for supper, also Bishop Jesse N. Smith, Jr. The Bishop said he wouldn't eat bear meat for anything. Walter hid the bear hide and baked bread and fried bear meat--tasted like fresh pork--everyone enjoyed it. Around the campfire the boys started joking about it and someone let it out that it wasn't fresh pork!
Orson Brown was their first Bishop in Morelos. He was curious and ate rattlesnake meat one time and said it was delicious!
They were driven out of Mexico in 1911 and went to Blanding, Utah where they built a barn and a "lean-to" where they lived until they built their brick house. Herman [Warriner (Walter Herman's son)] caught a chipmunk and trained it so it would come when he whistled for it. It would jump all over him.
In 1913, Walter and his son Herman drove teams down the San Juan River to Hole-in-the-Rock crossing to get well-drilling equipment to drill wells at Blanding.