Range Wars: a Deep West Video by Whit Deschner
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0:05 - 0:06[Range War]
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0:07 - 0:08(Gun shot)
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0:09 - 0:10[Whit Deschner]
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0:10 - 0:11(Gun shot)
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0:11 - 0:13[Music by Galen Green]
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0:13 - 0:14(Gun shot)
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0:15 - 0:16(Gun shot)
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0:16 - 0:18Mike: And all through this,
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0:18 - 0:21every two or three months
he'd call up and he'd say, -
0:21 - 0:23"Don't you think we'd have a truce
before somebody gets hurt?" -
0:24 - 0:26And I'd agree with him.
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0:26 - 0:27Yeah, I think we should.
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0:27 - 0:30And the next thing I know,
we're in trouble. -
0:30 - 0:32Whit Deschner: When I first
moved to the country, -
0:32 - 0:34I thought I knew all about range wars.
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0:34 - 0:36I knew about how they started.
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0:36 - 0:38I knew about it because
it was in my blood. -
0:39 - 0:40My great grandfather,
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0:40 - 0:42who ranched sheep
on the open range out of Durango -
0:42 - 0:46once engaged in a small dispute
with some cattlemen, the Truebies. -
0:46 - 0:49He was tried twice for murder
and three times for attempted murder. -
0:50 - 0:51He walked.
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0:51 - 0:54And even with a hundred years
padding of reconciliation later, -
0:54 - 0:59the Truebies, what's left of them,
still remain sensitive over the issue. -
0:59 - 1:03My war started so innocently,
I wasn't even aware it had started. -
1:03 - 1:05I was too busy doing my chores.
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1:05 - 1:07And taking care of my animals.
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1:07 - 1:10Here's Delbert, my closest neighbor.
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1:10 - 1:11Delbert's dead now.
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1:11 - 1:15He loved to fight, and I always
expected he'd die with his boots on. -
1:15 - 1:16Which he did.
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1:16 - 1:19The war didn't kill him, though.
A heart attack got him. -
1:19 - 1:21Thank God Delbert was on my side.
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1:21 - 1:23This is Mike.
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1:24 - 1:26And this is his son, Justin.
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1:26 - 1:29My antagonists, akin to the Truebies.
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1:29 - 1:31They live five ranches away.
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1:32 - 1:33Here's Mike.
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1:34 - 1:36Mike: So, I was minding my own business.
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1:36 - 1:39And him and Delbert started it.
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1:39 - 1:40(Gun shot)
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1:41 - 1:43WD: Which is Mike's opinion.
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1:43 - 1:46It really started when
I hired Mike to dig a trench. -
1:46 - 1:49Which he did, along with
digging up my phone line four times. -
1:50 - 1:51Mike: We [all the peace].
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1:52 - 1:54We were still friends
somewhat at that point. -
1:55 - 1:57So we moved down to Delbert's
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1:58 - 2:00and these two kids pull in on a motorcycle
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2:00 - 2:01and Justin had rolled up there.
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2:01 - 2:03So these two boys
pulled up there and said, -
2:03 - 2:06"Hey mister, have you got any gas?"
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2:06 - 2:08And I said, I don't have any,
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2:08 - 2:10I said, not a thing.
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2:10 - 2:13And they went to get back
on their motorcycles. -
2:13 - 2:16WD: That's when Justin steps in
and says, "Gas? You need gas? -
2:17 - 2:19I got all the gas you want.
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2:19 - 2:21Just turn right up there at the mailboxes,
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2:21 - 2:23go about a mile, and I'm
the ranch on the left. -
2:23 - 2:24Can't miss it.
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2:24 - 2:26I got a green truck in the driveway
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2:26 - 2:29and just go ahead and siphon
all the gas you want out of it. -
2:30 - 2:31The next thing I know,
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2:31 - 2:34is two kids on motorcycles
racing down my driveway. -
2:34 - 2:37I was waist deep in my trench
burying water pipe. -
2:37 - 2:40They shut off their engines
and one yelled over to me. -
2:40 - 2:42"Hey man, you got a hose?"
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2:42 - 2:44"What do you need a hose for?"
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2:44 - 2:46"We're going to siphon gas
out of that truck." -
2:47 - 2:48"The hell you are!"
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2:48 - 2:51"No, we just talked to the owner,
he said it was OK." -
2:52 - 2:54"Well, I happen to be the owner
and it's not OK. -
2:54 - 2:56Who said you could have the gas, anyway?"
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2:57 - 2:59"The guy up there, helping
that guy on the backhoe -
2:59 - 3:02told us this was his ranch
and to take anything we needed." -
3:02 - 3:03(Gun shot)
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3:04 - 3:07Waiting until Christmas,
I took an ad out in the local paper. -
3:08 - 3:09There, I though. Score's even.
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3:10 - 3:11(Gun shot)
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3:11 - 3:13Or was, until I answered the phone one day
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3:13 - 3:16and a voice wanted to know
about all the free stuff. -
3:17 - 3:19For the next week,
the phone never stopped ringing. -
3:20 - 3:23Mike: So at the end of the month,
Whit gets a bill. -
3:23 - 3:24For the ad.
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3:24 - 3:25That did bother him.
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3:25 - 3:27And it was one of those moments
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3:28 - 3:31where, he called them,
he says, "I didn't place the ad." -
3:31 - 3:32And the lady says,
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3:32 - 3:35"Do you have any idea
who may have done this?" -
3:35 - 3:36(Gun shot)
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3:37 - 3:39I said, OK it's time Mike moved.
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3:40 - 3:42I had Delbert,
who frequented Mike's ranch, -
3:42 - 3:44take careful inventory
of his equipment and herd. -
3:45 - 3:48Mike: And I should have known,
because he'd roll in here, -
3:48 - 3:49and every day he'd have one question.
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3:49 - 3:53He'd drive off the hill
to ask me one question. -
3:53 - 3:56It was the description
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3:56 - 3:59of all my equipment and my cattle
and everything was just - -
3:59 - 4:00you just can't imagine.
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4:01 - 4:04WD: I laid up an auction flyer,
set the date for April first, -
4:04 - 4:07printed a hundred copies that Delbert
distributed throughout the county. -
4:09 - 4:11On auction day
Mike locked his gate and left. -
4:11 - 4:14But word had even traveled
to the sale yard, 90 miles away -
4:14 - 4:16where the owner approached Mike
and exclaimed, -
4:16 - 4:19"You've got a lot of nerve
auctioning off your place today, -
4:19 - 4:21and you're down here buying bulls."
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4:21 - 4:22(Gun shot)
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4:23 - 4:24Coming home one day,
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4:24 - 4:26a real estate sign was stuck
in my driveway entrance. -
4:26 - 4:28Hardly original, I thought.
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4:28 - 4:31But three days later,
an old rancher stopped me and said, -
4:31 - 4:34"What's this nonsense about you
and your marijuana farm?" -
4:34 - 4:36"What are you talking about?"
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4:36 - 4:38"That sign in your field."
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4:38 - 4:39"What sign?"
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4:39 - 4:42"The one that says,
'Vote Yes for marijuana'." -
4:43 - 4:44Beyond where I rarely went,
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4:44 - 4:47Mike had planted a four by eight
plywood sign that read, -
4:47 - 4:48Vote Yes for marijuana,
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4:48 - 4:50and painted a marijuana leaf beside it.
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4:51 - 4:52(Gun shot)
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4:53 - 4:56I loaded it into my truck
and drove down to Mike's. -
4:56 - 4:58His neighbor and his tractor loader
raised me up in the bucket -
4:58 - 5:02and I nailed the sign onto Mike's arch
with every nail I had in my shop. -
5:03 - 5:04(Gun shot)
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5:05 - 5:08A week later, Delbert showed up
with a flyer he found in our mailboxes. -
5:09 - 5:12"Looks like nuclear war," Delbert said.
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5:12 - 5:14Then Mike suddenly arrived.
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5:14 - 5:16He apologized and wanted a truce.
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5:16 - 5:19He said Justin and a friend
had run off a pile of those fliers, -
5:19 - 5:22got drunk and distributed them
along the mail route. -
5:22 - 5:24Mike claimed he had nothing to do with it.
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5:24 - 5:26Delbert hoisted his eyebrows.
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5:26 - 5:30Mike said, "Look, if this keeps up,
someone's going to get killed." -
5:31 - 5:32I considered.
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5:32 - 5:35I thought about my great granddad.
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5:35 - 5:37After his trial,
the Truebies hired a killer -
5:37 - 5:39who put three bullets through his head.
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5:39 - 5:41He survived, but he always remained edgy.
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5:42 - 5:43I knew the feeling.
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5:44 - 5:46Between worrying and planning out
the next attack, -
5:46 - 5:48I hadn't slept in months.
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5:49 - 5:51Peace, I've discovered, is a good thing.
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5:51 - 5:53Although occasionally
I get this strange urge -
5:53 - 5:55to call up the highway department
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5:55 - 5:56and have them make a sign for Mike
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5:56 - 5:59and give him a section
of highway to clean up. -
5:59 - 6:01[Created by Whit Deschner]
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6:01 - 6:03[The Delbert Boogie
written by Galen Green] -
6:03 - 6:05[Keyboards, tenor
and soprano sax: Galen Green] -
6:05 - 6:08[Bass and drums: Cody Rahn
Engineer: Charlie Smith] -
6:08 - 6:10[With thanks to:
The Western Folklife Center] -
6:10 - 6:13[Old West New West Video
Taki Telonidis] -
6:13 - 6:14[And to you Mike]
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6:14 - 6:17[P.S. If you're watching this Mike,
I copyrighted your face] -
6:17 - 6:19[However you have my permission
to go ahead and use it] -
6:19 - 6:23Mike: I grabbed the phone and said,
"Deschner, have you had enough?" -
6:23 - 6:24There was like, dead silence.
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6:25 - 6:27He was like, I'm going to kill you.
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6:27 - 6:30(Laughter)
- Title:
- Range Wars: a Deep West Video by Whit Deschner
- Description:
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How a series of practical jokes escalated to the point of all out war between Whit Deschner and a neighbor who lives up the road in rural eastern Oregon. An Old West New West Video by Whit Deschner of Sparta, Oregon, in 2008.
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 06:35
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Range Wars: a Deep West Video by Whit Deschner | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Range Wars: a Deep West Video by Whit Deschner |