Charles Rich Lyman

• General Notes
  • Charles Lyman  sentenced in 2nd District Court
    Two year sentence for grand larceny
    Entered 6 July 1879
    Occupation: Farmer
    Weight: 185 Height: 6ft Eyes: Grey Hair: Sandy
    Listed as Native of Utah Territory
    Pardoned by Governor 14 Dec 1879
    
    Location of the Otto Farm
    
    The east half of the southwest quarter (E1/2SW1/4) and the southeast quarter (SE1/4) all in section twenty(20).  Also the southwest quarter (SW1/4) and the west half of the southeast quarter (W1/2SE1/4) of section twenty one (21).  All of said land being in township fifty one (51) North, Range ninety five (95) West o 6th P.M.  Consisting of 600 acres more or less according to government survey.
    
    28 Jan, 1916
    
    “C.R. Lyman one of the well known and substantial citizens of the Cowley country was in town the first of the week looking after some business matters.  Mr. Lyman has recently purchased what is known as the Stevens land on the south side of the Greybull River near Otto.  He is making arrangements to move there himself, as well also two of his sons. They expect to put in a large acreage of grain and alfalfa this spring and in the coming fall will clear the balance of the hundred acres and have it ready for planting another year.  Mr. Lyman is to be congratulated on securing this body of land, and the Greybull country is also to be congratulated on securing such citizens as Mr. Lyman and his excellent family.”
    
    From the Cowely Progress newspaper 13 Dec 1907
    
    Last Monday afternoon while pulling away from his ranch with a load of hay, C.R. Lyman had the misfortune to break both bones of his left leg just below the knee by the tipping of the load which threw him to the ground alighting with full weight upon his left leg.  Surgical aid was summoned at once and he is now getting along as well as can be expected under the circumstances.  This is a pretty tough dose and no one will feel it as keenly as Uncle Charlie him self.
    
    History of James Harvey Lindsay
    
    The following history is written in first person, as narrated by James Harvey Lindsay.
    
    In 1900 we heard many tales about the wonderful possibilities of making a fortune in the Big Horn Basin, or at least a good living. After talking It over with the folks and among ourselves, we formed a company: brother David and family, cousin Warren Lindsay and family, also his father and family, the Tippets, the Cozzins, Davis and my family-some I have forgotten. We left  Bennington, Idaho May 14, 1900. My wife drove a white-top buggy where many things were stored. I drove a team and covered wagon. I gave a horse and outfit to a nephew to drive my cows.
    
    The morning we left, we bid our loved ones goodbye, not dreaming this was the final parting in this life, but we were all of pioneer blood and knew we were going to a new adventure.
    
    The novelty of travel and camping out were fun for the young folks for a while, but soon wore off day after day in the buggy, Often times we would hear a baby cry and a young man started up a song which others joined in and made the prairies ring. Often my wife with the children would drive ahead with the buggy and I :would not see them until night when we all met at the camping grounds around a big fire if the wood, supply was enough. We had a great supper and talked over problems of the next day’s journey.
    
    Other times the children rode with me and some of Dave’s children rode with my wife. We often passed little towns which are now cities such as Thermopolis and Lander. We traveled through rivers, creeks, over mountains and dells, canyons and prairies to the land of the Big Horn, day after day with the covered wagon.
    
    We arrived in the Big Horn Basin June 14, 1900, brush was cut, we pitched our tents in the evening and I took the little coop where the chickens were kept and placed it inside of the tent because there were rumors of wolves and wild beasts and other families had lost chickens.
    
    A council was held and the people went to work on the Syden Canal so water could be placed on the bench here in Byron and brought to Cowley after working on the canal, the Railroad project came up. Supplies were low, so to the railroad we went to get a little dough, and help make the railroad we enjoy today.
    
    After working on the railroad for awhile, we went back to Byron and worked on the canal to get logs for a house and barn. We went to Priar Mountain and got sawed logs for the house and barn. I worked on the house as much as I could and my brother Dave helped me, as he was better at that kind, of work. I helped put up the stove the day before Christmas, and we moved into our new house on Christmas Day. It was a pleasure to move in as many of the people were still in tents.
    
    My older brother Dave and I went to work on the Yellowstone National Park Road to get money to improve our homes. The road was very difficult to build, as we did not have the necessary machinery. The Shoshone canyon is five miles long, and its sheer rock formation required a road to be literally carved from the side of the mountain, giving a national, editorial, true picturesque view of development of water storage for irrigation of Powell.
    
    The road was hard and difficult to build. It ran along the Shoshone River. I was working where the Cody Dam is now. Tunnels had to be built for the roads to run through. Men had to be let down on ropes to chisel away some of the overhanging rocks. Much blasting had to be done with powder. I did a great deal of this work.
    
    One day while I was loading a deeper hole, Mr. C. G. Anderson was loading the others a few yards away on a small dome. It was a very deep one I was loading. I fired the fuse and some of the sparks fell among some powder causing it to go off before I had time to run to safety. I was lifted into the air by the powder and fell in the Shoshone River, a distance of 50 to 60 feet with rocks weighing hundreds of pounds falling all around me. The workers who witnessed this expected me to be crushed to death. Falling in the water eased the fall a great deal.
    
    The men carried me to camp and they found a bad cut above my eye. Mr. Charles Lyman of Cowley offered to sew up my wounds, so they got a sack needle, the only one in camp. Jessie Ketchem gave me some silk thread and Mr. Lyman want to work. The men were very kind to me, as my whole body was bruised and sore. Many small rocks were dug out of my body and I always drug my right leg from the fall. It was over a year before I was able to work again.
    
    Later when doctors came to the country, they examined my scares and said they could not have done a better job with their equipment.
    
    Charley had a number of fine horses that he liked to race.  So a small racetrack was fitted up and many were the exciting times they spend, racing old Mollie and Dick after the days work was over.  But their joy was short lived, for tragedy came all to soon, to mar the beauty of it all.  One day Edgar, their oldest son, a mere boy, begged so hard to ride, that he was finally hoisted up.  His mother begged them not to let the boy go, but they strapped the sursingle tight around the horse and over his knees and away they went.  Some way or other he got his feet thru the sursingle and the horse bolted throwing the boy under him, held fast by his feet.  He was dragged and kicked to death, right before his father and mother, and the crowd from the mill, who were powerless to help him.”  13 July 1885
    
    From History of Iron County Mission-Parowanl, Utah by Luella Adams Dalton
    
    he notice of Charles' death in the Big Horn County Rustler dated June 4, 1922:
    
    "The Rustler regrets that it was not informed last week of the death of Mr. Charles R. Lyman, which took place in Cowley on Wednesday of last week, with burial at the same place on Friday.   Mr. Lyman was one of the big strong men of the Mormon Chruch, and leader in everthing in which he had a part, and a man who held the esteem of all who knew him.   For many years he lived in Cowely.   Later he moved to Otto, where he was undertaking to make a new home out of a big body of land, which he pruchsed some years ago.   Death came as a result of tick fever, from which he had been ill but a few days.   He was taken ill at Otto and taken across Country to Cowley, where he could have better care, but despite all that could be done death claimed him and he passed.   Charles Lyman had a host of warm friends all over the Country.   The writer knew him well, held his opinions in highest esteem and regarded him as one of his best and trusted friends.   Our sincerest sympathy goes out to his sorrowing relatives."
    
    William Edgar Holyoak and others left Parowan, Oct 23, 1901 enroute for Cowley, Wyoming.  They went by train with their wagons, farm equipment, and livestock to Green River, Wyoming.  Others in the party were Charles R. Lyman and Benjamin B. Smith and their families.  At Green River the wagons were loaded and preparations were made to continue the journey. Charles, son Clark and Ben Smith arrived in Cowely about 1 Dec 1901. The rest of Charles' family arrived in Cowley by train in early April 1902.
    
    Charles was called on a mission by President Willford Woodruff on 24 July 1889. Left to Great Britian on 9 Oct 1889 and arrived there on 24 Oct, 1889. He left for home on 26 Sept 1889 and arrived in Parowin 17 Oct 1891. He travel to his mission on the steam ship Arizona and returned on the steamship Wisconsen. During his mission his son Orion died.