Around the turn of the last century, wild mustangs roamed the mesa top near Dead Horse Point. Cowboys looking for ways to capture the mustangs used Dead Horse Point as a custom-made horse trap, like a box canyon only in reverse. With sheer cliffs straight down on all sides and only a narrow strip of land for access, it made a perfect place to keep horses. All the cowboys had to do was herd the horses across the neck and out onto the "point." They would build a fence of pinyon and juniper branches across the neck and they had a natural corral. The cowboys could then sort through the horses, choose the ones they wanted and let the culls, or "broomtails" go free. According to legend, a band of broomtails was accidentally left corralled on the waterless point. There the horses died of thirst within view of the Colorado River 2,000 feet below. Hence the name "Dead Horse Point."