Old Ephraim (also known as Old Three Toes by shepherds due to a deformity on one foot) was a very large grizzly bear that roamed the Cache National Forest in Idaho and Utah from approximately 1911 until his death on August 22, 1923.

The name "Old Ephraim" (or "Ol' Ephraim") had been a term popularized in the 19th-century American West to refer to the grizzly bear, and was used in frontier folklore to refer to specific animals.

Frank Clark (born 1879 in Cherry Creek, Idaho) was a part owner of the Ward Clark Sheep Company since his arrival there in July 1911. During his first summer in the Cache National Forest, Clark counted 154 adult domestic sheep that had been killed by bears in the area.

In 1914, Frank Clark set out to stop Old Ephraim. He set many traps in Old Ephraim's favorite wallows, but the traps were always removed, un-sprung, or flung away. Although Clark seldom saw the bear, dead sheep around the herd indicated its presence. Despite Clark's efforts, Old Ephraim killed more and more sheep without being stopped. He is said to have once killed 50 sheep at a time.

Though Clark had attempted to kill the bear since 1914, he did not succeed until 1923. On the night of August 21, Clark was awakened by the tremendous roars of Old Ephraim, which had been caught in a trap Clark had set earlier in a wallow just below his camp. Clark grabbed his .25-35 rifle (very small and underpowered for such a massive grizzly) and he and his dog set out down the ravine towards the wallow. Clark met the enraged massive grizzly with the huge bear trap on one of its front paws dragging the very large, heavy log which Clark had connected to the trap by a large chain. Clark shot five rounds from his rifle but the bear did not go down, so Clark fled further up the ravine back towards his camp. Clark's dog harassed Old Ephraim which Clark credited to perhaps saving his life. As the bear was so near his camp, wounded and enraged, Clark spent the remainder of the night with his dog on the side of the ridge above his camp. He listened as the great bear vocalized through the night and eventually fell silent. With the first morning light Clark investigated and found the great bear laying dead near his camp. Clark described killing Old Ephraim as "the hardest of them [the bears] all". He later expressed remorse for having to do it.

Old Ephraim was skinned, burned, and buried, but was later dug up by Boy Scout Troop 43. According to Clark, a pile of stones was erected by Boy Scouts over the bear's remains. Most of the remains were eventually taken by tourists as souvenirs.

Later, an 11-foot-tall stone monument designed, lettered, and erected by Max, Arthur, and Howard Jorgensen was placed at the grave site. This memorial was officially dedicated on September 23, 1966. Affixed to the monument are two plaques, one with a poem that reads:

"Old Ephraim, Old Ephraim, Your deeds were so wrong yet we build you this marker and sing you this song. To the king of the forest so mighty and tall, we salute you, old Ephraim the king of them all." — Nephi J. Bott

At the time of his death, Old Ephraim stood 10 feet tall and weighed 1,100 pounds. His skull was sent by the Boy Scouts to The Smithsonian, where it was identified as a grizzly bear. It was eventually returned and put on display in the Special Collections section of the Utah State University library in Logan, Utah.

Source: Wikipedia, accessed August 16, 2024