Wyoming man offers clue to burro mystery
Wyoming man offers clue to burro mystery He says he freed 22 near Moreno Valley about 50 years ago. He had caught them
near Death Valley.
By Luis Bueno
The Press-Enterprise
MORENO VALLEY
In the early 1950s, Reche Canyon was covered with rattlesnakes and little else. That's why Ralph Bush says he picked the land north of what is now Moreno Valley to release a herd of burros he had roped north of Death Valley.
Bush and family members said he took 22 burros to Reche Canyon and released them into the rocky, unpopulated area.
About 50 years later, wild donkeys have become as much a part of Reche Canyon as the shrubs and trees that dot the face of the hills. The animals live on private land above residential neighborhoods. The land is owned by various people.
This year, a dry winter sent the burros down among the homes between Box Springs Mountain and Reche Canyon looking for food. Several residents have begun to feed the friendly animals to get them through the season.
Bureau of Land Management, city and Riverside County animal-control officials say the burros are not their responsibility, but the officials are puzzled by their presence in the area.
Most of the wild burros in California roam in Death Valley. In fact, BLM officials said there were exactly zero wild burros in Riverside County.
Bush, 89, who now lives in Wyoming, said he can clear up the mystery.
He owned a 15-acre piece of land in Rialto in the 1940s and '50s. He was a mechanic by trade, but he also raised horses. It was in his nature, he said. In his native Wyoming, he used to help his father round up cattle on the family ranch.
Bush enlisted with the military in 1942 and was assigned to March Air Force Base and then Norton Air Force Base. After the war, he got his piece of land in Rialto and settled down.
He never lost the urge to rope, and once he lived in Rialto, Bush and two friends, Buford "Jiggs" Olson and Newt Rich, would make frequent visits to Butte Valley and Panamint Valley, north of Death Valley, to rope wild burros and horses.
"All cowboys love to rope," he said from his Wyoming home. "We were no different."
Almost every Friday for about 12 years, the three would jump in Bush's Studebaker or Olson's Chevy and head to the wild country, driving through the night.
The mountainous terrain provided a blend of danger and excitement for the men. Rocks and boulders littered the land, while trenches and gullies carved their way through the valley floor.
"We were cowboys, partner," Bush said. "If we hadn't been, we couldn't have roped those burros."
And rope burros they did, countless burros -- and wild horses too. Many times, they would give the burros to families who lived in the area. Sometimes they'd sell the burros or horses to car dealers or amusement parks for $5 to $10 a head. Most of the time, they'd pack the burros in their horse trailers and take them back to Rialto, Bush said.
Bush's grandchildren named their favorite burro Pijo.
Waunita Neelans, Bush's daughter, said that in the 1950s her children pretended to be cowboys and Indians with the burros in Rialto.
"The kids loved them," she said. "They would follow them around like they were pets."
Neelans lived in Colton and later moved to Moreno Valley.
Local government officials eventually caught on and told Bush to get rid of the burros. He said he took some to Reche Canyon and others to Big Bear to set them free.
Officials say they don't know how the burros came to Moreno Valley. Local historian Viola Hamner said it has long been known that burros roam the hills above Moreno Valley, but no one knew how they got there.
In 1997, the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service had to remove about 100 wild burros from Big Bear. The animals had grown too friendly for their surroundings, and residents had overfed them. The burros became fat and were a hazard, BLM officials said.
Then, too, officials have been stumped.
There were theories about the burros' origins in Big Bear: They were leftovers from the gold miners of the 19th century; they had been used as feed for the fox farms of the 1920s and released when the Depression hit; or they were escapees from the annual burro races held during Big Bear's Old Miners Days celebration, which started in the 1950s.
Bush said he hadn't heard about the roundups in Big Bear, but he figured they were the descendants of the animals he had once let go.
"Big Bear, it was nice open, rolling country when we turned them loose," he said. "I don't think there were any burros down around there at all, until we brought them in."
After all these years, Bush hasn't lost the urge to ride 'em and rope 'em. He now spends his days roping calves and goats in Cody, Wyo.
He said if the burros are a nuisance, there's a simple solution.
"I guess if they don't like them, they can always remove them."
Luis Bueno can be reached by e-mail at LBueno@pe.com or by phone at (909) 656-3339.
Published 3/6/2000