(information courtesy of Richard F. Oyler from
LenoraJ. Phelan and Her Irish Ancestors)
When I was a young teenager Great Uncle John came from California to visit several times. Great Aunt Grace lived in Clarkdale then and she was his youngest sister so he could visit with her too. He always stayed with us in Cornville and was quite a talker, he was very proud that he had been a charter member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks in Kingman and was in their yearly parade. He always told me that BPOE stood for Best People On Earth. This being elk season brought the story to my mind as he told me that his group of Elk members were involved in trapping elk in the Williams area, loading them on a freight train and when they arrived in Kingman the men went horse back and managed to head them to the Hualapais Mountains on the edge of town. As far as they knew there had never been elk in that area before or else they had been hunted to extinction. Now my grandchildren benefit from these far sighted conservationists as there are limited permits issued to hunt these elk each year to keep the population under control.
This year some of the elk wandered into the city limits and had to be relocated, indicating that maybe there was a shortage of water, feed or possibly these young elk were driven away by the older, larger bulls.
by Barbara Ohlwiler 2012
Keeper of the Family 