Don Castor Interview

Jan 12, 2007

I was originally hired by the Skinner Brothers in 1988 as a wrangler and horseshoer. I had hunted and packed before with my Dad. I had always heard stories of the Skinners, because my mother’s sister was married to Quentin Skinner. My family stopped up at the Burnt Lake camp back in 1983 and my first impression was one of total chaos!

Well, in 1988, I needed a job, so I called some of my relatives and the Skinners were willing to hire me. I talked to Monte and asked him what should I bring? He said, “Just bring a goddamned pair of gloves, cuz you’re coming here to work!” That is exactly what he said too. They were a pretty rough outfit. You haven’t lived until you’ve set through a “Skinner Brothers Board Meeting”. When the brothers got together, it was total chaos, but in the end they always came together and supported each other. They’re a great bunch of people.

My first year with Skinner Brothers was a “Baptism by Fire”. Literally. The year was 1988, the year of the Yellowstone Fires. I started in the latter part of June. The summer camp with the kids was already started when I arrived. I began learning the country by going on the kids’ pack trips and doing spot packs (taking people and their gear to their destination and picking them up at their departure date).

The Fayette Lake fire started in late August on the afternoon of the kids’ departure. Lightning hit the canyon wall and we saw the smoke. We had a bunch of spot packs out. We had people scattered all over-at Leavell Lake, Barnes Lake and Bell Lake. Monte was over the divide on the Participation Pack trip with Dr. Tom Johnston, Dave & Mary Lankford, Jim & Laurie Latta, and Barbara Stephenson.

Ole was at the Burnt Lake camp. He said, “Maybe we oughta get those people out before the fire gets too bad.” At 4a.m. I started out with Ben and Jim. We took all the horses we could lead. We had 13 or 15 head in camp. We headed up to Horseshoe Lake and the fire was already topping Graveyard Ridge. We got to Horseshoe about four hours later. We split up to go look for people and agreed to meet back at Barnes Lake. I went to Leavell Lake where we’d left one guy, and couldn’t find him because he had moved his camp. He was at the other side of the lake, but I didn’t know that. The smoke was thick by then, so I left and went to Barnes Lake to find the people there.

We had one wild mustang in the pack string that we named “Black Beauty”. She was OK after she was packed, but getting her packed was an adventure in itself. I snubbed her to the biggest tree I could find close by. When I walked up to her with the pack, she pawed me on top of my head, splitting my head open, and temporarily knocking me out! When I came to I pulled out my pistol and said, “I’m gonna kill her”! The other guy said, “Don’t do it. We need her to get out of here.” We took our people and met the others in the Big Meadow below Barnes Lake. By then the smoke was so thick you couldn’t see over 100 yards and the ash was falling like snow.

By the time we got everyone gathered up and the horses all packed, there weren’t many left to ride, so most of the people had to walk. We periodically took turns walking and riding. When we got to where the trail splits to go to Burnt Lake or Lovatt Lake, Karen (Ole’s wife) called on the radio and said the fire had jumped Fall Creek Canyon and we would have to go out to Lovatt Lake in order to get out safely. This country was new to me! I’d never been there before! I didn’t know where I was going! Trees were exploding like dynamite. It was terrifying! But, we had to go on to try to beat the fire. By the time we made it to Lovatt Lake and started down to Blueberry Lake, we had crossed in front of the fire. I felt a little relieved to have made it that far and kept everyone safe!

Now I had to try and find one of the “famous Skinner trails” from Blueberry Lake to Sagebrush Flat. It was now getting dark and I had no idea where to look. I contacted Ole on the radio and he said, “Just let the horses have their head and they will find the trail.” Somehow, I had made a wrong turn, so the horses didn’t find the trail. We stumbled around for hours! Everyone was exhausted by then and just wanted to camp there. I continued to search for the trail and eventually stumbled on to it. I then told everyone that they could stay if they wanted, but me and the horses were going on to camp. We finally made it to Burnt Lake around 2 a.m. and had been on the trail for almost 24 hours. When we got to camp we were met by Ole, Holly and Mike. And boy, were we happy to see them! We had one hell of a celebration! After daylight, Ole got a plane and flew over the area and told Monte on the radio to get out and come down Boulder Canyon.

Miss Jenny was a mule, but I called her a lot of other things. I’d heard horror stories about her. I rode her three different times. Each time was worse than the one before. The last time was the wildest. Jenny knew she was a good pack mule, but she sure didn’t like to be ridden! She always knew when she was going to be ridden by the type of saddle you put on her. She just knew! The first time I rode her, she bucked from the hitch rail out through the gate before she stopped bucking. When we got to the creek crossing, my saddle felt loose, so I got off to tighten it and realized that she had torn the rigging loose by bucking so hard. So, I had to go back to camp and re-saddle.

In the meantime, several other wranglers had wanted to try to ride her and Miss Jenny successfully bucked them all off two or three times each. I came back to camp and they told me the stories. So, I said I could ride her again. This time she bucked all through the camp, but I rode her anyway. They were all amazed!

The third time I rode her was by far the worse. Monte had said we needed to go look for some kids that hadn’t returned from a spot pack trip. I told Monte I would ride Jenny that day. He thought if I got her rode a few more times, he would be able to ride her. I got Jenny saddled and she made two jumps, bucking and bellowing, and off we went. We were damn near to Graveyard before she quit. Along the trial Monte found a double-bit ax someone had lost and he picked it up. The kids radioed from camp that they were back, so we turned around. As we were going down a hill, Monte said, “This is where Jenny always blows up”. And about that time, she did! Jenny ran off with me towards camp going through the dead fall. It was SCARY! Monte rode up to me and was going to try and grab her halter, but she was running wide open. So he took the ax he had picked up and hit her on top of the head. It sounded like a baseball bat on a watermelon! She then started bucking again and jumped clean over Monte and Jake (the other mule). She cleared them, never missing a stride and loped on in to camp. Somehow, I was still aboard! This was my last ride on Jenny. The kids at camp said that it was the funniest thing they had ever seen, seeing me riding that mule!

Monte still thought he could ride her, if I just rode her a few more times. So, I decided that would be my last ride, so he wouldn’t get hurt trying to ride her.

After the fire, during hunting season, I had another late night ride. Roger Palmer, Ole and I left Horseshoe Lake to go to Halls Butte one morning. We arrived late that afternoon. Ole unpacked Johnny, one of the better pack horses in the string. He then tied him up with the lash rope (the rope used to tie the packs on), while Roger and I were unpacking the rest of the horses. The horses were acting restless. Ole hollered at them and that’s all it took. Johnny broke loose and took off and the remainder followed him! We were over four hours out of Horseshoe.

I took off running and the only one I could catch was “Blondie”, a half-blind appaloosa! I got to thinking there was a reason I was able to catch her and that reason didn’t make it too likely that I was going to catch the rest! I went on down the trail, and Johnny’s rope had gotten caught in the brush, so I got him tied up to a tree and I took off after the rest. I was picking up everything from Roger’s saddlebags, coat and peppermint schnapps. Leaving nothing intact. I then saw seven or eight horses at Pipestone Lake. They took off again. By dark, they’d made it to George Lake, which is pretty much close to being all the way back to Horseshoe lake before I got in front of them.

I got them caught and tied together. I re-saddled another horse for myself. I realized that I didn’t know the trail and it was dark. I waited for the moon to come up, so I could make out the trail. I forgot where I had tied Johnny. I couldn’t use my headlamp because it blinded the horses. The horses were getting nervous. I came to the top of a hill and saw two eyes! I thought it was a bear. I was going to shoot when the bear nickered! It was Johnny. It was 2 a.m. when I got back to camp. Ole and Roger asked me why I didn’t just stay at Horseshoe. I said, “We have hunters and they can’t hunt without horse, can they?”

This was a phone interview by Judi Myers