460 
FOREST AND STREAM 
September, 1919 
DICK ROCK’S ZOO AT HENRY’S LAKE 
SPORTSMEN OF THE EIGHTIES MAY REMEMBER THIS INTERESTING OLD TIME 
HUNTER AND THE UNIQUE COLLECTION OF WILD GAME HE KEPT AT HIS RANCH 
By HENRY BANNON 
H ENRY’S LAKE is located in Idaho, 
about eighteen miles west of the 
Yellowstone National Park. A 
tributary of Snake River bears the name 
of Henry’s Fork. Irving, in Bonneville’s 
Adventures, is authority for the state- 
ment that Henry’s Fork is “called after 
the first American trader who erected a 
fort beyond the mountains.” As Henry’s 
Lake is not far from Henry’s Fork it 
would seem that the lake was named 
after the same trader. During the 
eighties and early nineties, Henry’s 
Lake was famous as the center of a 
big game region about which the wap- 
iti, deer, bear, antelope, moose and big- 
horn were abundant. In their spring 
and fall migrations the antelope passed 
just north of the lake so it was a favor- 
ite place for antelope hunters. Today 
it is well known for its trout fishing in 
the summer and duck shooting in the 
autumn. 
Even during the depth of winter there 
is much fishing through the ice at Hen- 
ry’s Lake, and a story is told of an old 
fisherman there who uses grubs, taken 
from decayed logs, for bait. During a 
severe cold spell, when the mercury is 
from twenty to forty below, these grubs 
freeze hard and cannot be put on the 
hook, so the old fisherman devised a sim- 
ple plan for keeping them warm and 
active. He keeps them in his mouth 
until they are needed! 
The postoffice bears the designation 
Lake, Idaho, and at the store where the 
postoffice is located there is quite a col- 
lection of antlers, mounted specimens of 
animals and birds, Indian relics and old 
photographs of western scenes. 
Two of the early settlers at Henry’s 
Lake were Dick Rock and Vic Smith, 
both being well known hunters. They 
came to the Lake from the Yellowstone 
River country about 1885, and before 
that time worked 
together as buffalo 
hunters. Smith 
doing the shooting 
and Rock the' skin- 
ning. 
Dick Rock built 
several corrals at 
Henry’s Lake and 
spent considerable 
time and effort in 
collecting 
specimens of the 
native game which 
he kept in captiv- 
ity in these cor- 
rals. 
He obtained two 
mountain goats 
near Darby in the 
Bitter Roots and 
brought them to 
his ranch. The 
time necessary to 
bring these goats 
Mountain goats at Dick Rock’s ranch 
from Darby to Henry’s Lake was at 
least from five to six days. A platform 
was built in the goat corral, and the 
goats much preferred even that slight 
elevation to the surface of the ground. 
These goats were considered by Rock to 
be more dangerous than any of the other 
animals kept by him. Rock finally sold 
them and in all probability they are the 
captive goats described by Dr. Horna- 
day in “Camp Fires in the Canadian 
Rockies.” 
R ock also had quite a herd of buf- 
falo. He collected several buffalo 
calves on Warm River, a tributary 
of Snake River, during early May and 
brought them on sleds along the western 
line of Yellowstone Park to Henry’s 
Lake. From this nucleus he formed 
quite a herd, some of the descendants of 
which are still kept in enclosures not 
far from Henry’s Lake. One of the buf- 
falo owned by Rock would permit him to 
mount his back and ride him; but one 
day, as Rock had often been warned by 
his friends, the wild instinct of the ani- 
mal returned and he gored and trampled 
Rock to death. 
Some of the descendants of a buffalo 
herd established by Dick Rock are still 
kept under fence not far from Lake. 
A few years ago the herd escaped end 
wandered about over the prairies and 
mountains without restraint. Employees 
of the Yellowstone National Park, learn- 
ing of the presence of some buffalo at 
large in the vicinity of the Park, con- 
cluded that they had escaped from the 
Park, rounded them up and drove them 
into the Park. But later it developed 
that the herd was privately owned so 
it was returned to the owner. 
While these buffalo were at large, Glenn 
Conklin took some photographs of them, 
two of which are quite characteristic of 
the buffalo. Incidentally, these pictures 
will illustrate certain habits of the buf- 
falo described by Audubon. In volume 2, 
at pages 36 and 124 of Audubon and 
his Journals may be found the follow- 
ing notes made by that famous natural- 
ist: 
“The buffalo, old and young, are 
fond of rolling on the ground in the 
manner of horses, and turn quite 
over; this is done not only to clean 
themselves, but also to rub off the 
loose old coat of hair and wool that 
hangs about their body like so many 
large, dirty rags When buf- 
faloes are about to lie down they 
draw all their four feet together 
slowly, and balancing the body for 
a moment, bend their fore legs and 
fall on their knees first, and the hind 
ones follow.” 
In one of the pictures taken by Mr. 
Conklin the dust 
created by the buf- 
falo in pawing is 
shown and also the 
head of the herd 
with all four feet 
together, the body 
balanced and about 
ready to fall. In 
another picture the 
same animal was 
rolling in his 
wallow, almost on 
his back, -and a 
shaggy foreleg in 
the air. 
Young antelope 
were frequently 
caught in the vic- 
inity of H e n r y’s 
Lake, but they 
could only be 
caught when a day 
or so old. An 
antelope mother 
Showing the head of the herd with all four feet together and body balanced, 
about ready to roll as described by Audubon 
