1 00:00:04,567 --> 00:00:05,717 [Range War] 2 00:00:06,988 --> 00:00:08,138 (Gun shot) 3 00:00:08,559 --> 00:00:09,755 [Whit Deschner] 4 00:00:09,779 --> 00:00:11,185 (Gun shot) 5 00:00:11,209 --> 00:00:12,791 [Music by Galen Green] 6 00:00:12,815 --> 00:00:13,965 (Gun shot) 7 00:00:15,053 --> 00:00:16,204 (Gun shot) 8 00:00:16,229 --> 00:00:17,823 Mike: And all through this, 9 00:00:17,847 --> 00:00:20,505 every two or three months he'd call up and he'd say, 10 00:00:20,529 --> 00:00:23,450 "Don't you think we'd have a truce before somebody gets hurt?" 11 00:00:24,244 --> 00:00:25,641 And I'd agree with him. 12 00:00:25,665 --> 00:00:27,157 Yeah, I think we should. 13 00:00:27,181 --> 00:00:29,736 And the next thing I know, we're in trouble. 14 00:00:30,125 --> 00:00:32,459 Whit Deschner: When I first moved to the country, 15 00:00:32,482 --> 00:00:34,331 I thought I knew all about range wars. 16 00:00:34,355 --> 00:00:35,815 I knew about how they started. 17 00:00:35,839 --> 00:00:38,037 I knew about it because it was in my blood. 18 00:00:38,514 --> 00:00:39,666 My great grandfather, 19 00:00:39,690 --> 00:00:42,054 who ranched sheep on the open range out of Durango 20 00:00:42,078 --> 00:00:45,934 once engaged in a small dispute with some cattlemen, the Truebies. 21 00:00:45,958 --> 00:00:49,140 He was tried twice for murder and three times for attempted murder. 22 00:00:49,741 --> 00:00:50,891 He walked. 23 00:00:51,210 --> 00:00:54,130 And even with a hundred years padding of reconciliation later, 24 00:00:54,154 --> 00:00:58,563 the Truebies, what's left of them, still remain sensitive over the issue. 25 00:00:59,427 --> 00:01:02,982 My war started so innocently, I wasn't even aware it had started. 26 00:01:03,006 --> 00:01:04,831 I was too busy doing my chores. 27 00:01:04,855 --> 00:01:06,855 And taking care of my animals. 28 00:01:07,323 --> 00:01:09,514 Here's Delbert, my closest neighbor. 29 00:01:09,538 --> 00:01:10,804 Delbert's dead now. 30 00:01:11,323 --> 00:01:14,522 He loved to fight, and I always expected he'd die with his boots on. 31 00:01:14,546 --> 00:01:15,744 Which he did. 32 00:01:15,768 --> 00:01:18,522 The war didn't kill him, though. A heart attack got him. 33 00:01:18,546 --> 00:01:20,746 Thank God Delbert was on my side. 34 00:01:21,490 --> 00:01:22,640 This is Mike. 35 00:01:24,411 --> 00:01:26,418 And this is his son, Justin. 36 00:01:26,442 --> 00:01:28,950 My antagonists, akin to the Truebies. 37 00:01:29,339 --> 00:01:31,206 They live five ranches away. 38 00:01:32,109 --> 00:01:33,259 Here's Mike. 39 00:01:33,599 --> 00:01:36,288 Mike: So, I was minding my own business. 40 00:01:36,312 --> 00:01:38,607 And him and Delbert started it. 41 00:01:38,631 --> 00:01:40,242 (Gun shot) 42 00:01:40,741 --> 00:01:42,608 WD: Which is Mike's opinion. 43 00:01:43,132 --> 00:01:45,798 It really started when I hired Mike to dig a trench. 44 00:01:45,822 --> 00:01:49,127 Which he did, along with digging up my phone line four times. 45 00:01:49,530 --> 00:01:51,374 Mike: We [all the peace]. 46 00:01:51,784 --> 00:01:54,132 We were still friends somewhat at that point. 47 00:01:54,784 --> 00:01:56,577 So we moved down to Delbert's 48 00:01:57,719 --> 00:01:59,757 and these two kids pull in on a motorcycle 49 00:01:59,781 --> 00:02:01,266 and Justin had rolled up there. 50 00:02:01,290 --> 00:02:03,434 So these two boys pulled up there and said, 51 00:02:03,458 --> 00:02:05,871 "Hey mister, have you got any gas?" 52 00:02:05,895 --> 00:02:08,276 And I said, I don't have any, 53 00:02:08,300 --> 00:02:10,172 I said, not a thing. 54 00:02:10,196 --> 00:02:12,545 And they went to get back on their motorcycles. 55 00:02:12,569 --> 00:02:16,180 WD: That's when Justin steps in and says, "Gas? You need gas? 56 00:02:16,747 --> 00:02:18,548 I got all the gas you want. 57 00:02:18,572 --> 00:02:20,731 Just turn right up there at the mailboxes, 58 00:02:20,755 --> 00:02:23,025 go about a mile, and I'm the ranch on the left. 59 00:02:23,049 --> 00:02:24,222 Can't miss it. 60 00:02:24,246 --> 00:02:25,929 I got a green truck in the driveway 61 00:02:25,953 --> 00:02:28,778 and just go ahead and siphon all the gas you want out of it. 62 00:02:30,066 --> 00:02:31,280 The next thing I know, 63 00:02:31,304 --> 00:02:34,137 is two kids on motorcycles racing down my driveway. 64 00:02:34,161 --> 00:02:36,857 I was waist deep in my trench burying water pipe. 65 00:02:37,304 --> 00:02:40,022 They shut off their engines and one yelled over to me. 66 00:02:40,046 --> 00:02:41,831 "Hey man, you got a hose?" 67 00:02:41,855 --> 00:02:43,831 "What do you need a hose for?" 68 00:02:43,855 --> 00:02:46,369 "We're going to siphon gas out of that truck." 69 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:47,987 "The hell you are!" 70 00:02:48,355 --> 00:02:51,096 "No, we just talked to the owner, he said it was OK." 71 00:02:51,657 --> 00:02:54,117 "Well, I happen to be the owner and it's not OK. 72 00:02:54,141 --> 00:02:56,196 Who said you could have the gas, anyway?" 73 00:02:56,750 --> 00:02:59,100 "The guy up there, helping that guy on the backhoe 74 00:02:59,124 --> 00:03:01,977 told us this was his ranch and to take anything we needed." 75 00:03:02,325 --> 00:03:03,475 (Gun shot) 76 00:03:04,444 --> 00:03:07,412 Waiting until Christmas, I took an ad out in the local paper. 77 00:03:07,912 --> 00:03:09,491 There, I though. Score's even. 78 00:03:09,515 --> 00:03:11,060 (Gun shot) 79 00:03:11,084 --> 00:03:13,156 Or was, until I answered the phone one day 80 00:03:13,180 --> 00:03:15,671 and a voice wanted to know about all the free stuff. 81 00:03:16,728 --> 00:03:19,456 For the next week, the phone never stopped ringing. 82 00:03:20,046 --> 00:03:22,656 Mike: So at the end of the month, Whit gets a bill. 83 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:23,831 For the ad. 84 00:03:23,855 --> 00:03:25,260 That did bother him. 85 00:03:25,284 --> 00:03:27,482 And it was one of those moments 86 00:03:27,506 --> 00:03:30,576 where, he called them, he says, "I didn't place the ad." 87 00:03:31,101 --> 00:03:32,251 And the lady says, 88 00:03:32,275 --> 00:03:34,719 "Do you have any idea who may have done this?" 89 00:03:34,743 --> 00:03:36,196 (Gun shot) 90 00:03:36,530 --> 00:03:38,878 I said, OK it's time Mike moved. 91 00:03:39,950 --> 00:03:41,974 I had Delbert, who frequented Mike's ranch, 92 00:03:41,998 --> 00:03:44,376 take careful inventory of his equipment and herd. 93 00:03:44,704 --> 00:03:47,569 Mike: And I should have known, because he'd roll in here, 94 00:03:47,593 --> 00:03:49,473 and every day he'd have one question. 95 00:03:49,497 --> 00:03:52,697 He'd drive off the hill to ask me one question. 96 00:03:53,244 --> 00:03:55,664 It was the description 97 00:03:55,688 --> 00:03:58,704 of all my equipment and my cattle and everything was just - 98 00:03:58,728 --> 00:04:00,261 you just can't imagine. 99 00:04:00,927 --> 00:04:03,814 WD: I laid up an auction flyer, set the date for April first, 100 00:04:03,838 --> 00:04:07,393 printed a hundred copies that Delbert distributed throughout the county. 101 00:04:08,641 --> 00:04:11,331 On auction day Mike locked his gate and left. 102 00:04:11,355 --> 00:04:14,078 But word had even traveled to the sale yard, 90 miles away 103 00:04:14,102 --> 00:04:16,379 where the owner approached Mike and exclaimed, 104 00:04:16,403 --> 00:04:19,196 "You've got a lot of nerve auctioning off your place today, 105 00:04:19,220 --> 00:04:20,942 and you're down here buying bulls." 106 00:04:20,966 --> 00:04:22,117 (Gun shot) 107 00:04:22,569 --> 00:04:23,737 Coming home one day, 108 00:04:23,761 --> 00:04:26,254 a real estate sign was stuck in my driveway entrance. 109 00:04:26,278 --> 00:04:27,781 Hardly original, I thought. 110 00:04:28,260 --> 00:04:30,943 But three days later, an old rancher stopped me and said, 111 00:04:30,967 --> 00:04:33,782 "What's this nonsense about you and your marijuana farm?" 112 00:04:34,307 --> 00:04:35,699 "What are you talking about?" 113 00:04:36,133 --> 00:04:37,691 "That sign in your field." 114 00:04:38,069 --> 00:04:39,474 "What sign?" 115 00:04:39,498 --> 00:04:42,163 "The one that says, 'Vote Yes for marijuana'." 116 00:04:42,704 --> 00:04:44,101 Beyond where I rarely went, 117 00:04:44,125 --> 00:04:46,776 Mike had planted a four by eight plywood sign that read, 118 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:47,958 Vote Yes for marijuana, 119 00:04:47,982 --> 00:04:49,955 and painted a marijuana leaf beside it. 120 00:04:50,522 --> 00:04:51,974 (Gun shot) 121 00:04:52,712 --> 00:04:55,530 I loaded it into my truck and drove down to Mike's. 122 00:04:55,554 --> 00:04:58,466 His neighbor and his tractor loader raised me up in the bucket 123 00:04:58,490 --> 00:05:02,011 and I nailed the sign onto Mike's arch with every nail I had in my shop. 124 00:05:02,642 --> 00:05:03,792 (Gun shot) 125 00:05:04,741 --> 00:05:08,122 A week later, Delbert showed up with a flyer he found in our mailboxes. 126 00:05:09,145 --> 00:05:11,745 "Looks like nuclear war," Delbert said. 127 00:05:12,352 --> 00:05:13,879 Then Mike suddenly arrived. 128 00:05:13,903 --> 00:05:16,220 He apologized and wanted a truce. 129 00:05:16,244 --> 00:05:19,221 He said Justin and a friend had run off a pile of those fliers, 130 00:05:19,245 --> 00:05:21,738 got drunk and distributed them along the mail route. 131 00:05:22,260 --> 00:05:24,276 Mike claimed he had nothing to do with it. 132 00:05:24,300 --> 00:05:26,363 Delbert hoisted his eyebrows. 133 00:05:26,387 --> 00:05:30,090 Mike said, "Look, if this keeps up, someone's going to get killed." 134 00:05:31,148 --> 00:05:32,403 I considered. 135 00:05:32,427 --> 00:05:34,680 I thought about my great granddad. 136 00:05:34,704 --> 00:05:36,776 After his trial, the Truebies hired a killer 137 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:38,759 who put three bullets through his head. 138 00:05:38,783 --> 00:05:41,104 He survived, but he always remained edgy. 139 00:05:41,601 --> 00:05:42,868 I knew the feeling. 140 00:05:43,878 --> 00:05:46,283 Between worrying and planning out the next attack, 141 00:05:46,307 --> 00:05:47,974 I hadn't slept in months. 142 00:05:49,013 --> 00:05:51,013 Peace, I've discovered, is a good thing. 143 00:05:51,037 --> 00:05:53,156 Although occasionally I get this strange urge 144 00:05:53,180 --> 00:05:54,776 to call up the highway department 145 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:56,450 and have them make a sign for Mike 146 00:05:56,474 --> 00:05:58,696 and give him a section of highway to clean up. 147 00:05:59,303 --> 00:06:01,159 [Created by Whit Deschner] 148 00:06:01,183 --> 00:06:03,220 [The Delbert Boogie written by Galen Green] 149 00:06:03,244 --> 00:06:05,450 [Keyboards, tenor and soprano sax: Galen Green] 150 00:06:05,474 --> 00:06:08,114 [Bass and drums: Cody Rahn Engineer: Charlie Smith] 151 00:06:08,138 --> 00:06:10,271 [With thanks to: The Western Folklife Center] 152 00:06:10,295 --> 00:06:12,660 [Old West New West Video Taki Telonidis] 153 00:06:12,684 --> 00:06:13,835 [And to you Mike] 154 00:06:13,859 --> 00:06:16,709 [P.S. If you're watching this Mike, I copyrighted your face] 155 00:06:16,733 --> 00:06:19,357 [However you have my permission to go ahead and use it] 156 00:06:19,381 --> 00:06:22,595 Mike: I grabbed the phone and said, "Deschner, have you had enough?" 157 00:06:22,619 --> 00:06:24,105 There was like, dead silence. 158 00:06:24,722 --> 00:06:27,183 He was like, I'm going to kill you. 159 00:06:27,207 --> 00:06:29,666 (Laughter)