Show cattle catth batth raising is is uintah basins M major or early pioneer industry ay BY LEE ltz altz SOWAHDS SOWATIDS in n the e year 1873 pardon dodds and jim huffaker uln aln tan tah county fitstpermanent fu strmanent white settlersirdrove settlers drove a herd of at cattle into ashley yalley balley this was thebeginning the beginning v J our first pioneer industry wdustry which latef laptef wa was to expand into al cattle cm em alre plre re comprising northeastern vt ina in& utah several thousand usand cattle were onthe anthe ranges including such early day d cattle catl men as the juhsisoaxv johnsons burtzos burtoos Bur uftbus toos and and tag the k&ah keah outfits on ona on1 blue mountain A fc& fco u th the e litile llftle aw cowtown cow 4 town of aa old 1a ashley had been established one of the few places inthe state that was pioneered almost exclusively exclusivelr exclusive lr by cown cowmen 1 alfalfa lor r fity1hfidnot hayhal hayhad hay had not come coniti into jinto ge gereral gcfierali gezeral zeral use at thate that time and rnostofihehome most othe home r ranches were located along ashley creek due io to the easy access of as irrigation water the landl land also seemedmore seem edmore suitable sAtable satablefor tor for wild hay 1 3 y meadows they were using t the he haykipri4cipally hay principally for work and saddle borses horeea 4orses and for a few milk cows cowd 1 lt k most of theairiitowmen theearly the early cowmen had ha migrated from idahoor 14ahoor Ida hoor wyoming they came look looking ing tat tot virgin rangetbat range that had more open wlnterswltha winters1witha milder climate diamond mt wr best rang dimnondtmouritain alamond dlamond mountalnfwas iwas generally conceded to i be the best cow tow range jari jlri hi the west matt warner famous k oldtime old time west wes erner said sald that diamond iiamond Iamond i mountain wpj1 walhemrange 49 b61p mae m0e be bad had ever seen teen and ana that thil included the area between canada and old a mexico 1 NS C continued a on an pa page go 8 a CATTLE RAISING IS UINTAIII UIMTAH BASINS PIONEER INDUSTRY continued from page 1 I although they had full use of ill the great winter range country kouth und east of ashley valley vnllcy hard liard winters did come and lo loss qs ts s were tonlet koiriftlmcg tonletimes imes heavy the 1 011 olit timers never hod had tile lie bene fit of the tile high protein concen concert trates guch such as cotton seed meal or harr haystacks stacks trucks higa hig1 highway or rat railroads 0 ad t to ship their catt cattle 0 ort t it was nearly lin posillo t to I 1 90t ft cattle out ut of the tile uintah D unsen unstn R sin in n the thp ohp anter winter time the main shipping point points IN avi wvi el green river wyo wye of or rifle colo most of the freight u all the mall mail came to old As ashley ashlcy cy over uver diamond mountain from green river wyoming b by Y mule train the type of cattle grown waa was excellent either red devon or shorthorn durham jersey and arid other kinds of dairy dalry cattle did not enter the tile vailexuntil valley until years ears later when they m mixed d and and had an adverse effect upon the beef herds calil cattle weigh halt half ton the old timers kept their steers teers until they were four or 0 five years old some of them weighing over halt half a ton II 11 it anyone had suggested that they sell their calves as early as they aie lie sold now they would have thought it ridiculous although the cow town of old ashley has disappeared the cattle cattie industry remains and due to the tremendous demand for beef during the second world war and after and the resulting increase in prices there hag been an upsurge in the industry the old time shorthorn has given place to the smaller and blockier ockler bl Il herford erford or whiteface during the last few years the qu quality lity of cattle has improved sires sirs has been successful not only must a bull have a pecil pedl bedl gree but he has to meet certain certai rf requirements requirement of beet beef con conforms lorma tion and type good markets although the basin is a long way from a major market we are in a position where we can ship successfully to denver or los angeles depending on which seems to be the better recently there has been renewed interest in the cattle associations this year the uintah cattle association a countywide organization put on a successful cowboy round up and barbecue held the first annual bull exchange day and sale they also sponsored a range tour of colorado and southern utah inspecting leading commercial cow outfits registered herds and experiments with the newer grasses the old time cattleman has passed on and the history of this area is a romantic and interesting te as any acres of the west most of the colorful early days have never been recorded note some of the familiar places named for those early cattlemen moseby mountain taylor mountain davis hollow doddi dodds hollow gibson ridge colton springs mckee draw green draw devonport devonpont devorapont Devon Devor pont apont lansing god son warren draws crouse canyon sears canyon etc all in all 1951 was a good year for the cattleman and its good to be in the business in the great uintah basin and to furn ish part of the beef to a growing and beef hungry nation |