
Utah’s Last King Of The North, Ol’ Ephraim
It is said that the king of the jungle is the lion even though they are not typically found in jungles. But in the north the true kings of the forests is the Grizzly Bear. The North American Brown (Grizzly) Bear or Ursus Arctos Horribilis is a subspecies of Brown Bears that inhabit the North American Continent. The name Grizzly was originated by Lewis and Clark calling them "Grisley" as a means of describing then as having grey tipped fur and/or fear inspiring. And while not the largest species of bear the Grizzly is a very large predator with some being able to stand almost 8 feet tall on their hind legs and weighing in at nearly 858 lbs.
Now a days The Grizzly Bear can be found from the arctic north of Alaska down to parts of northern Idaho and Montana, with a pocket population in Yellowstone National Park. But this species of Brown Bear used to be found as far south as Mexico, ranging all along the Rocky Mountains. Even today the Grizzly Bear is features on the California State Flag. And the most notable being Old Ephraim The last known Grizzly in Utah.
The Legend of Old Ephraim
As the story goes Old Ephraim, or (Old Three Toes due to a birth deformity) was a larger than life Grizzly that stood nearly 10 feet tall and weighed a full 1,100 lbs. Although with modern scans of Ephraim's skull, that is now in the special collections of Utah State University, he is estimated to have only been about 7 feet tall and weighed 550 lbs. His territory was mostly the Cache National Forest ranging from Soda Springs ID, down to Weber County in Utah. Ephraim was said to be an Outlaw Animal from 1911 to his death in 1923 and was known to hunt and kill livestock in northern Utah.
Frank Clark
Frank Clark not to be confused with the American Football player, Was a partner of the Ward Clark Shepperd Co. in Malad, Idaho. And in 1911 the company in one summer had lost 154 sheep to bears and maimed dozens more. Local law enforcement at the time where focused primarily on human outlaws and the problem of bears and other predators was left to the ranchers themselves. One bear in particular was a bear with 3 toes on 1 foot.
Old Ephraim was the hardest of them all. By July of 1912, I was pretty well acquainted with Old Eph and his range because of a deformed foot – he only had three toes on one foot – evidently having been born that way. -Frank Clark
The Final Encounter
For more than a decade Clack had been tracking the elusive 3 toed bear while taking down many others in the process. Setting many traps in known trails and mud holes that Ol' Ephraim frequented and for many years the bear was smart enough to find these traps and able to either avoid, disable, or toss aside the traps.
“From 1913 on to the day he was caught, August 21, 1923, was an everlasting battle every summer, but he was just too smart. In all those years I used everything that I could devise at his wallow and spring to get him into a trap. I never saw any sign of him at any other spring and this canyon and spring is still known as Ephraim’s Canyon." -Frank Clark
And then in August 1923 some 20 miles up Logan Canyon near Logan, Utah, Clark had finally been able the trap the notorious Grizzly.
“And now for the greatest thrill of my life, Ephraim raised up on his hind legs with his back to me and a 14-foot log chain wound around his right arm as carefully as a man would have done it, and a 23-pound bear trap on his foot and standing 9 feet 11 inches high. He could have gone that way and have gotten away, but he turned around and I saw the most magnificent sight that any man could ever see. I was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t raise my gun and he was coming – still on his hind legs – holding that cussed trap above his head. He had a four-foot bank to surmount before he could reach me. I was rooted to the earth and let him come within six feet of me before I stuck the gun out and pulled the trigger. He fell back, but came again and received five of the remaining six bullets. He had now reached the trail, still on his hind legs. I only had one cartridge left in the gun and still that bear wouldn’t go down; so I started for Logan – 20 miles downhill. -Frank Clark
After about 20 yards Clark was still being followed by the bear And as a last effort to avoid being mauled to death Clark lifted his riffle aimed for the head and fired his last round. The bullet found its mark, striking the bear in the brain putting him down for good.
The Significance
Since Old Ephraim was ended no other Grizzly Bear has been seen in Utah or in most of the lower 48. For many this encounter in 1923 marks the final taming of the American west. Even Clark remarked that he "felt sorry that he had to do it". A lover of nature himself it is almost like he could feel that the wildness of the west was lost at that moment.
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Gallery Credit: Ryan Antoinette Valenzuela