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Show ') l ; . -, r ? . t : ... b . - .... f " t " -' - ' . i . - I- - , f' . i , I 1 . '" "'' v f ' " . "1 - i ' ' I K t I . " W Vi V V ; CLIFTON McCOY in 1924 handles the 'pack outfit' that follows the sheep. All food, cooking utensils, salt for the sheep, and whatever other products were needed to 'set up camp' was carried car-ried jn this manner. Sheep industry played important role in Basin Clifton Walt McCoy and Lois Martin McCoy were married in Vernal on Labor Day, 1929. Lois was born Oct. 20, 1904 in Manassa, Colo., and Clifton was born May 12, 1903 in Vernal. Clifton bought a partnership into his father's sheep business when he was 18 years old. Clifton's father, Walter McCoy, was one of the 50 original sheep business owners which began in the Basin. The sheep industry was the first industry in the Basin and responsible for building the city of Vernal. During WWI, the Walter McCoy Sheep Company ran close to 10,000 sheep throughout the various grazing lands in the Basin. Clifton bought into his father's business in 1924. The business was changed to the C.W. McCoy Mc-Coy Sheep Company. ; After the Taylor Grazing Act in 1938 the C.W. McCoy Sheep Company cut down their sheep numbers to 5,200. Prior to 1938, Clifton states that there were approximately 800,000 sheep herded herd-ed on Diamond Mountain. Clifton remembers his school boy days of tending sheep, "At the beginning beginn-ing of summer I would go up into the mountains and come home at the end of summer for school. Sometimes I didn't make it back on time for school. I lived with the sheep." During the shearing season of 1917-1918, John Bates, manager of the Basin's shearing corral located in Bonanza, reported to Clifton that over 148,000 sheep were sheared for that season. A low percentage of these sheep had been herded from out of the Basin area. Dogs have always been used by sheepherders to assist the sheep people in moving sheep; the dogs also help to keep the sheep "bunched" and under control. Clifton states, "In my early days the sheepherder walked. Dogs were trained from the ground. Dogs are worked much different now than they used to be. Now sheepherders ride horses mostly and its hard for the dog to keep up." When it was time to move the sheep to Green River, Wyo., railhead, Clifton found it common place to move 3,000 in a herd off the mountains. The trip took apprdximately 18 days. Three men would herd off the mountains. The trip took approximately 18 days. Three men would herd the sheep and one man would move the camp. Camp was packed pack-ed onto 3 or 4 horses. Clifton made over 18 of these trips. Clifton commented, "We always would take turns watching the sheep at night for predators." Loco weed, lightning, and predators weighted their heavy tolls on all sheep people. "There were sheepmen who lost more sheep to loco weed than I did. One season I lost over 100 suckling ewes to loco weed." He continued, "One night I had 97 sheep killed from lightning. It happened at night. The sheep were bunched bun-ched up to keep warm. The lightning hit the bunch and killed 97." Coyotes, lions and bears were predators which caused enormous loses for the sheep people. In 1920, laws were passed which allowed trapping and poi-soining poi-soining of predators. Bears were a large predator problem during the 1930's. "A bear would go through a herd swinging his big paws and sheep would fly; for the bear, it looked like little effort ef-fort was put in on his part to send even one of the bigger sheep flying. One time I lost 37 sheep to bears in one night," Clifton declared. Farmers would often spend their winters trapping predators to earn a winter living. Clifton added, "The farmers who trapped in the winter helped to offset the sheepmen's predator problems. It helped the farmer, too. The farmer could make a winter living helping him to have a permanent per-manent home in the Basin." The C.W. McCoy Sheep Company was sold in 1963. "I didn't sell out until 1963. This is when you couldn't get good labor and the poisoining of predators was stopped. Ten years after WWII you could not find an American who would work sheep. No one wanted to live in the mountains for long periods of time. You had to bring your laborers in from foreign countries. The sheepmen that are left are feeding a lot of sheep to the coyotes," concluded Clifton. .'..- ; ;, :. IN 1930, McCoy Sheep Company began using trucks to move sheep camps. Many roads were too rough to drive a truck on; when roads did not permit, the camp was moved by horses. This photo was taken in September of 1960 on Diamond Mountain f '. . . , f A ' - . - . .' " '" ' .r- A !:'-."'..- v .'' At A. ' - ' fr'; JENSEN BRUSH fire blackened fields within 40 to 50 feet ofth? Boyd Snow residence. The fire was detained by the Jensen FiJ Department. |
