Birth: Dec. 26, 1864

Tooele

Tooele County

Utah, USA

Death: Jul. 3, 1944

Ashton

Fremont County

Idaho, USA

Son of Samuel Washington Orme and Sarah Cross

Married Emma Jane Smith, 11 Oct 1894, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Children - Silas Cross Orme, John A. Orme, Laurence Orme, Amy Orme, Mary Orme, Katie Orme, Iva Orme

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 9, p. 605

Samuel Washington Orme came to Utah in 1856. He settled in Tooele County and immediately started in the sheep and cattle business. Following is the story as told by Lafayette Orme, a son, in which he tells of the family experiences raising livestock, giving much credit to his brother, Silas Cross Orme:

Silas, fourth son of Samuel Washington Orme and Sarah Cross was born in Tooele, Utah, December 26, 1864. There were four boys younger than Silas, one of whom died in infancy. At the age of ten, he, with the rest of the family, consisting of parents and seven sons, moved to Erda, some five miles north of Tooele, onto a homestead where they remained almost four years. The family was in the sheep and cattle business and also had a small farm near Tooele as well as the old home on Tooele Main Street.

During the winter of 1879 and '80 the family moved to the home in Tooele. This was commonly known as the "hard winter," and the Orme family lost most of their cattle, many sheep and horses. The next fall they tried to straighten up with everybody and had about 100 head of sheep left. All were discouraged, but Mother and Silas were the ones that insisted on holding onto those few sheep, and Silas was willing to go to the ranch to live alone and take care of this little handful of sheep during the winter of 1880 and '81, and each of the two following winters. The older boys got work elsewhere to help bring the family's income back to normal, build a new house, etc., but all worked as a unit.

In the summer season of '81 and '82, our sheep were put in the herd of the James Brothers to be cared for. During the springs of '82 and '83 Alvin and Lafayette cared for the sheep while Silas worked the farm. In August of 1883 we leased the herd belonging to Cyrus Bates who had recently died, and thus we had enough to take to the desert for the winter. While on Lake Side Mountain, my brother's sheep camp caught fire and a total loss was the result. Silas sent word home as to what had happened, and said he would bed the sheep out in a sheltered nook somewhere and then go to someone else's camp to eat and sleep. He felt determined to make the sheep business a success, so remained with them during the spring of 1884, and later with Lafayette as helper, went up in the nearby mountains. On the first camping ground many of our sheep took sick. Some would [p.606] wander in every direction as if blind, others were dying every day. It was something we had never seen before, but since, it is called "big head." This is the first time I ever saw Silas discouraged. He would not eat or sleep and things seemed to get worse. I went to Tooele to report, and my brother, John K., went back with me to let Silas come home for a few days, but anxiety was so great he could not stay away. However, on his return the turn for the best had come just as suddenly as it had started in the opposite direction, and the rest of the summer was a happy one for us.

The following summer, 1885, Silas wished to get into a bigger, more wide-open country, so he and Alvin took the sheep south to Sanpete Mountain, getting their mail at Scofield, Carbon County, being perhaps from 6 to 10 miles south of that point. The summer of 1886 Silas remained on the farm. In 1887 he was again on the trail to Sanpete. At the head of Big Salt Creek Canyon he suffered a sunstroke. Alvin sent word to Nephi for help, so one of Father's old friends, Langely Bailey, had him brought to his home until he could go home on the train. In the meantime, our brother Joseph took his place with the sheep. Silas had previously had a sunstroke when a very small boy. At this time he did not remain home, feeling it was better to be in a high altitude where it was colder, so he again spent a summer on Sanpete Mountain.

In 1888 we all agreed that it might be better to take the sheep east instead of south, so Samuel, Silas and I took them to the head of Provo River. Sam returned home, as we only needed two after we got the sheep there. We summered on the "Soap Stone." In 1889 we again made a new venture with the sheep, taking them across the Weber River up Chalk Creek to the Wasatch range near Evanston, Wyoming. Silas led the way because he had once gone with a shearing crew into the same country. He came home for a while and was here when Father died. Later, he and Alvin took the sheep to the head of Bear River.

In the early nineties, Sam and Silas traveled by buckboard into Idaho and covered much of the range, liked it, then our sheep range was in Idaho for summer and sometimes during the winter. Silas was in for a new venture anytime, so he and Alvin were the first ones to take the sheep down on the Snake River Desert for winter; the snow became deep, feed all covered, only a few cedar trees showing above the snow. They became worried. One morning Silas said, "I saw in a dream a place to take the sheep; the bank of the river is high and the snow blown off in streaks, and down next to the river is a small ranch with two stacks of hay. I am going to find that place." He got on a horse and found the place, not many miles distant, just like he had seen in his dream. They cut a cedar tree, dragged it through the snow to make a path for the sheep to follow and soon brought them from their snowbound condition.

In 1910 the Orme brothers bargained for the Highland Ranch at Squirrel, Idaho, and Silas, pioneer-like, was ready to go and supervise it in the spring of 1911. It was a new country, short season and everything different, so at first it was not the success we had hoped for. Later it was divided and Silas took a larger portion than any of us to work and pay for, and he made of it a great success. He often would spend a few of the winter months in Tooele, also made several trips to California, but the low altitude seemed to bring on asthma which would leave him when he returned to the mountains. In later life he made his home in Pocatello, but never felt happy in the city. The wide open spaces were where he liked to be. Farm work and caring for the family sheep were a thrill rather than toil to him because he planned and made those plans come true. However, material things were not the only things he thought of. He had a wonderful spiritual attitude also. On July 3, 1944, Silas died suddenly after a heart attack. — Gilbert C. Orme

Family links:

Parents:

 Samuel Washington Orme (1832 - 1889)

 Sarah Cross Orme (1833 - 1903)

Spouse:

 Emma Jane Smith Orme (1870 - 1953)

Burial:

Mountain View Cemetery

Pocatello

Bannock County

Idaho, USA

Plot: 12W, 12, 8

Maintained by: SMSmith

Originally Created by: Bill E. Doman

Record added: Oct 15, 2009

Find A Grave Memorial# 43131176