Old Ephraim

Now and again I read accounts of lesser known people and animals in the annals of history, such that my mind is left in wonder and amazement (i.e. E.C. “Teddy Blue” Abbott, Bill Pickett, Clinton L. Smith, Roman Nose, Bonnie McCarroll, the dog Balto, the steer Old Blue, the bird Cher Ami).

One such animal was “Old Ephraim”, a 9’ 11” three-toed grizzly bear that terrorized ranches in Southeastern Idaho and Northern Utah. He’d been purposefully hunted for close to a decade but had eluded the best hunters and trappers. This famed bear was known for his cunning at sniffing out and setting off the steel jawed traps set for him and then being able to disappear into the vast wilderness. Old Ephraim was a sheep-eater and wreaked havoc on mountain herds. He is credited with killing 50 sheep in a single night, and in one year had killed 154 sheep owned by the Ward Clark Co.

A sheep herder, by the name of Frank Clark and employed by the Ward Clark Co., found that Old Ephraim enjoyed wallowing in the mud. On August 21, 1923, after seeing the remains of a sheep killed by a bear, Frank set a trap in a mud-wallow about a mile from his camp. He attached a 14 ft chain to a steel jawed bear trap and the other end to a log. Later that night the peace of the early morning was shattered by a deafening roar and sorrowful moan. In a few hours, Frank went for a look-see and found Old Ephraim with the bear trap clamped down on his right paw and the chain wrapped around that same arm. The trap was 23#’s and the chain would have been close to 75#’s. Frank said the bear waved that weight around as if it were nothing. All Frank had was a seven shot 25-35 rifle with ball ammunition, which was far too small a caliber to bring down a bear of this size. After locating Old Ephraim in a willow stand, and shooting five rounds into the bear, fear overcame Frank and he headed to Logan, Utah (the closest town 25 miles away). As he was headed down the mountain, he could hear the chain rattling behind him. Clark said that being filled with fear he could not move or react. He then found enough courage to turn and face Old Ephraim, who was now on his hind feet walking & blood pumping through his nose. Clark had one last shot and aimed below its jaw…the rifle’s lead round found its mark. He tells of being saddened at his having killed the famed bear.

Note: The skull of Old Ephraim was submitted to the Smithsonian Institute, after a time, it was returned to Utah and now resides at Utah State University’s Merrill Library, where it can be seen to this day.