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Show Civic Leader r r i j n . WALLACE B. MATHIS W. B. Mathis, Cattleman, Cattle-man, Church acid Civic Leader, Has Active Life By Mabel Jarvis The Pioneers were called to Dixie ostensibly to raise cotton and they made a fair job of it as long as the need existed, supplemented of course by other crops, and by a multitude of then minor industrial pursuits some of which became paramount, of these, none has perhaps per-haps meant more in actual wealth to this section than cattle raising. Practically every family brought a few head of cattle or sheep or both, and it was not many years before the town herds augmented by later purchases suggested an opportunity along this line, which was readily taken over by some of the older men and some of the boys. It is one of these boys, Wallace B. Mathis, a Dixie born son of a pioneer farmer, with whom we visit this week. John Mathis was born in the year 1830 and Barbra Bryner in 1832 in the city of Zurich, Switzerland, Switzer-land, where they became converts of the L. D. S. faith in 1854, emigrating to America in 1855 and coming right on to Utah. John and Barbra had known each other in Zurich and on the sea voyage and during the trek across the plains. They were married in the old Endowment house in 1856. They came to Dixie with the big caravan in 1861. Settle Town In February of 1862 St. George was laid off and the pioneers of the old "Adobe Yard" moved into the town proper on the lots which they had drawn. John Mathis drew the northeast corner lot of Block 6, Plat A, now Third West and South 200. Since a group of Swiss families resided on this block it became known as the Swiss-Block. And it was on their lot, in the rather pretentious home John Mathis had been able by that time to erect, that his youngest son, (Continued on page three) W. B. Mathis, Cattleman, Financier Church and Civic Leader, Has Active Life (Continued from first page) MaayBiii7hrMathiswasbor When Wallace was just two a? fel1 backwards into 't,0ftb0lllB wash suds and was burned so seriously his life was h"eg kinH?aired- f But throu rnn.hoi I minlstrations of his SttSi Jd a "f'Shbor woman who nffv k? ,h5r thf awful bums finally fin-ally healed, and though many of the scars still remain, he seems irom the injury. Both the Mathis and Bryner families were among the well-to-do financially in Switzerland, but with the true Swiss thrift had been taught that the actual wealth ot human lives was measured by the individual's ability to make skillful and worth while use of time an talents. John Mathis was a farmer and his wife was an excellent ex-cellent housekeeper and a skilled weaver. She had brought her own spinning wheel loom with her to Dixie and was soon weaving and spinning not only their own cotton and wool, but for many years did weaving for others, especially in the making of carpets. "Many a time," said Mr. Mathis, "when I was a small boy, I was called from my marble game or other play to wind balls of warp from the spindles." spin-dles." And people seemed always either coming to bring carpet rags to be woven, or coming to take the woven carpet home. Rarely has he known his mother to sit idle, and in their close companionship companion-ship which came as he grew to manhood, she taught him to love work and to live thriftily. As he became old enough he had to help with the farm work and care of the cattle, and his interest turned definitely to this latter pursuit. Attend School By the time he was old enough to attend school the four ward buildings were completed and he attended the old Second Ward school, Rosina Sylvester Jarvis being be-ing his first teacher. After completing com-pleting the work given there he attended the Academy in the basement base-ment of the Stake Tabernacle, when the late Nephi M. Savage and John T. Woodbury Sr. were the instructors. "I was never an outstanding student," declares Mr. Mathis. "I was one of the very mischieveous boys, and believe I helped to add a few age lines on the brows of those teachers. Between Be-tween George E. Miles, George Judd and Myself, we kept the teachers busy. And the punishment when we got it was duly merited, though even in the frequent required re-quired copying of poems, if I could get by with it, I made the same copy serve a second and third time. Another form of punishment was to have us stand or. one foot before the class until the teacher permitted us to return to our places. I am sure we deservod every chastisement given, and out of the long hours of practice writing writ-ing I did at least become a fairly good penman." In 1895 and 1896 Mr. Mathis attended the Brigham Young University Uni-versity and in 1897 was called lo serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The call for thh mission mis-sion came while he was home for the Christmas holidays of 1896, else he would have returned to the "Y" to finish out the year. The next two months were spent in preparation for the mission field, which for him included marriage. For some time he had been the acknowledged suitor of Hannah Marinda (Minnie) Miles, charming daughter of Samuel and Hannah Marinda Colborn Miles, who was born in St. George August 14th, 1874. Her parents were of English-German English-German rescent and came lo Utah from New York State where they had become converts to the Mormon Mor-mon Church. Her father was a member of the famed Mormon Battalion and married Hannah Colborn after reaching Salt Lake City in 1848. They joined the people peo-ple of the Dixie Mission m lbb! where Samuel Miles served many years as a school teacher, both in Price and in St. George. Thus the marrying of these two young people united two pioneer families. Three weeks after their marriage which occured in the St. George Temple in March, 1897, Wallace B Mathis left for his mission to Switzerland, his wife taking up her abode with his mother where their eldest child was born during thp first, vear of his absence. Goes On Mission Never having learned the Swiss language from his Parents this was the major problem of his mission. However, he was fortunate fortu-nate in being assigned to the 'City of Zurich and the suburb of Weidi-can Weidi-can where he labored for eighteen months meeting many of the people peo-ple who had known his parents land grandparents prior to their emigration. Here he visited the home where his mother was born and reared and had his picture taken in front of this building. It was this missionaries' Pleasure - to assure the people there that his , narents were truly happy and ! sat?sfied m this new land, despite . he hardships they had. endured. , and that they were again among fhose recognized as getting along Scially. He returned from his mission in 1899 and made his first Acquaintance with his eldest son. ?t was truly a happy homecoming, "immediately following his return he went to farming and in the vear 1904 he took up land in the Parashaunt Country, where he has maintained a cattle ranch ever S This was the section of country where the late Apostle nthonv W. Ivins had ranched, but hd sold out about 1895 to the ,ate Preston Nutter. "Wally ' Mathis had a few head of hLS own from calves acquired now and then as opportunity afforded, then he borrowed some money and bought a few more. Thus he has gradually built up an excellent herd and from his thrifty handling justly merits the commendation given him for owning one of the best kept ranches on the Arizona Strip. The location is ideal on the north banks of the Great Gorge of the Colorado River from which this section gets its name of Parashaunt, Para-shaunt, the Indian word, meaning "Much Water" or "Great River". No person visits this Mathis ranch without being impressed with the beauty of the place and the evidence evi-dence of excellent upkeep and splendid management. "My hobby, or one of them' said Mr. Mathis, "is to own good horses and keep up good places." Likes Horses When "Wally" Mathis, as he is always called, went out to Parashaunt Para-shaunt there were still in that section many of the horses that had previously been owned and ridden by Uncle "Tony" Ivins. He knew them by "their names. There were Hanse, Roxey, Casper and Bryner (two he had bought as colts from the Swiss Pioneer farmer far-mer Casper Bryner and named them for him). Then there was the saddlers Sorrel Johnny and Aus-teen, Aus-teen, the latter a real favorite and known as an excellent "cut" horse, and that means a story to cattlemen. cattle-men. Always, as long as the horses lived, when Mr. Mathis and Uncle Tony would chance to meet here or in Salt Lake City one of his first questions would be "Wally, have you seen my horses lately and how are they?" For that man loved the animals that had served him while he was a Dixie cattle raiser, and he wasn't ashamed to have it known. 'You know," said Mr. Mathis, "I always felt tender toward those horses, like I wanted to speak to them and be gentle with them because of Uncle Tony. And I think most of the boys who knew him felt the same." For some time after the Mathis ranch at Parashaunt was established, establish-ed, the Indians who used to live there had not entirely given up their claim to the land, the grass and the springs. Although they had been taken to the nearby reservations, reserva-tions, they still went back to their old haunts to hunt and to gather pine nuts. An when they saw the cattle and horses of the ranchers ranging through the country that had once been theirs without question, ques-tion, they would look on dolefully and say, "My grass" and "My water", not realizing that they had really been benefitted in the assembling as-sembling under peaceful conditions the tribes that had been constantly at war among themselves. They had seased to molest the white man or to steal his cattle, but to appease them the ranchers would generally give them a pony, or perhaps kill a beef and give them a portion of that along with other provisions. "This was cheaper than argument and bad feelings," said Mr. Mathis, "and always seemed to settle the bill until the next season. sea-son. Knows Men In all of his thirty years of experience ex-perience as a rancher, "Wally" Mathis has learned to look farther than the surface with his fellow-men. fellow-men. He has mixed with men from all parts of the country, employees of Preston Nutter, men whom he himself has hired, and many others. Men with such rough exteriors, ex-teriors, apparently, that one would be tempted to wonder if there could be good in them. "But often enough" states this cattleman, "I have found that these very characters charac-ters who on first acquaintance seemingly had so little to offer for commendation, were the ones who would go farthest with an employer or associate laborer, especially in times of trouble. They were often outstanding in their fine characteristics when one got to know them. I am happy through my long experience to find the good in people. It is living with them that proves the true worth of men. And I am happy to count among my friends many, men with whom I have met and learned in this way. Perhaps this incident will illustrate the loyalty I have found among the men with whom I have ridden the range. " One cold stormy night during the fall roundup several hundred head of cattle stampeded, and almost al-most the entire night was spent in the dark and sleet gathering the crazed cattle together and getting get-ting back some semblance of order among them. Finally we felt we had them all turned and began accounting for the riders. To our anxiety we discovered the junior member of the outfit was missing. He was just a boy in his teens, almost a stranger to that section of country, but had been raised to the saddle and the roundup, and when he came asking for a job we hired him. Fearing to cause a second stampede we did not dare call aloud for him, but as the cattle milled back gradually into the circle we did the best we could to try and locate him. We didn't know at first if he had been trampled in the stampede, but the best we could do was search. When morning came, still cold and drizzling, driz-zling, the search began in earnest. Gradually widening our circle we covered the many draws and coves. And finally we located him in a side canyon about three miles out from where the stampede had occurred, oc-curred, sticking close to his duty. All through that cold night this young lad had herded the group of around seventy-five head of cattle cat-tle he had followed as they made the break from the herd. We were plenty glad to find the cattle, but happier far to find the boy safe and commended him for his loyalty. loyal-ty. That boy was Jimmy Guerrero, still a resident of this part of the country, and I never think of him but I remember that night." ' Hazardous Experience It would be impossible to relate a tithe of the hazardous experiences experi-ences told by Mr. Mathis wherein tests have been made for the loyalty loyal-ty and richness of character as encountered en-countered in human lives where many consider not much is expected ex-pected except to saddle and ride a cow pony and follow the herd. There are few lines of work that demand more in actual hours and in strenuous duty. The many roundups spring and fall throughout through-out the years, the long drives to the railroad stations, the perils of storm, as well as other dangers of the open range country, bring men together, as Mr. Mathis states, " till you get to know each other and appreciate just how truly good your fellowmen are." Through the years it has been the custom of the local cattle growers to organize and pool their feeder cattle for sale, and for many years the late James Andrus was president of the Virgin River Cattle Cat-tle Association which comprised the herds ranged all through Washington and Kane Counties and the Arizona Strip. When Mr. Andrus resigned this position due to age and ill health, Wallace B. Mathis was elected to succeed him, and retained the position for many years. It was his duty to contact the prospective buyers, negotiate the sale of thousands of cattle at given prices pending approval of the cattle owners. And when the sale was finally made, and payment pay-ment collected it was distributed among the owners through the association. This has been an interesting in-teresting phase of his work as a cattleman and never has he had any trouble in making satisfactory and amicable settlement with owners own-ers after the sale. Customs Change "Nowadays," says the cattle grower, "the custom has changed. Every man drives and sells independently. inde-pendently. There are no more of the old roundups where men throw in together and eat and camp in one group and pool cattle for the sale. I don't just know if this custom cus-tom of today is better than the old way. I know in many ways we are progressing, but I often wonder if there isn't just a little greater chance for selfishness, just a little more opportunity for getting get-ting away from the idea of brotherhood brother-hood in the present day method." So much for the cattle business. Turning back to his wife and family, Mr. Mathis has enlarged his scope of life to enrich theirs. His wife has borne him seven children, three sons and four daughters, as follows: Gordon W. Mathis, Melba (Mrs. Frank Gates) Ogden, Utah; her twin brother Karl Mathis; Blanche, (Mrs. Robert McComb); Reid Mathis; Lillian (Mrs. Gar Andrus); and Norma Mathis, all of St. George. Still residing on the lot selected by his father in 1862, the very house that cradled Wallace B. Mathis at his birth has also been the birthplace of each of his children. child-ren. The old home has of course been modernized and added onto, and the grounds have been improved im-proved and beautified, keeping it still as it was in early days one of the more beautiful homes of the city. The granary built by his father is also standing, almost unchanged, un-changed, except for the space that used to shelter his mother's loom. Although other relics have been destroyed, he still has the wagon box, bought from Johnson's Army in which his parents came to Dixie. While the children were small, the Mathis family frequently spent a few weeks of the summer at the Parashaunt ranch, and from the time they could straddle a horse the boys were almost constantly with their father. But as they matured, desiring that their children child-ren might live more abundantly through community, social and educational activities, Wallace Mathis bought out the former Nelson Merchantile business establishing esta-blishing it as an employment center cen-ter for them as Mathis Market and Supply Company. In their turn each one of his children, both boys and girls have worked in the store Gordon, being the eldest, has for a number of years been manager of the store, but each of the three boys has his particular responsibility. responsi-bility. Civic Leader Today, Mr. Mathis' time is almost al-most wholly occupied with religious re-ligious and civic affairs and his three sons carry on the cattle, farming and mercantile business. It is a source of great pleasure for this man and his wife are still young enough to enjoy the social and civic companianship of their children. Mr. Mathis and Arthur F. Miles are in point of age the senior members of the local Rotary, Ro-tary, but closely associated with him in this organization is his eldest son, Gordon. In the meetings and social events of this group, they are fellow Rotarians just boys together, and their wives are likewise associated. This is the life he dreamed of years ago, as he traveled to and from the ranch, or followed the dust of the lowing herds from place to place. Among his hobbies, and they are all working hobbies, Mr. Mathis lists his Santa Clara Field Farm. He has purchased the former George T. Cottam land, the old Casper Bryner land, the old Frank Burgess farm, the Henry Atkin farm, the Isaac Hunt land and the Hayden W. Church pasture land. This gives him a farm that is one of his particular pleasures. He has always taken pride in owning own-ing and operating a good farm. It is here he grows hay, grain and silage, and feeds and fattens his cattle for market, and for their own handling. Here also are their slaughter pens and equipment. The surplus over their own needs are shipped by truck, 18 head to the load to the Los Angeles Market. Leaving the farm here at 4 p.m. they arrive on the L. A. market by noon the following day. This is working out nicely, one of the former for-mer problems of the long distance to the railroad in marketing cattle. cat-tle. Religious Worker In a religious capacity Wallace B. Mathis has been assistant Supt. of Y. M. M. I. A. under the late David H. Morris, served as a ward block teacher; and taught classes in both Mutual and Sunday School organizations. For a number of years he was junior member of the Stake High Council, when Edw. H. Snow was President with George F. Whitehead and Thomas P. Cottam counslers, and members William Gardner, R. A. Morris, Brigham Jarvis, John T. Woodbury Wood-bury Sr., David H. Cannon; David H. Morris, Joseph T. Atkin and Arthur F. Miles. Of the group only George F. Whitehead, Arthur F. Miles and himself are still living, but he has not forgotten the wisdom wis-dom and teachings of those older men. And as time goes on, it has been his privilege to serve with the sons of some of these men in this same capacity and to note with satisfaction the steadfast traits of their fathers exemplified in the lives of B. Jarvis Jr., John T. Woodbury Jr. and Walter Cannon. Mrs. Mathis has likewise been a religious worker, serving in the Primary association, the Ward Relief Re-lief society, and for several years in the Stake Relief Society board. She is now affiliated with the Genealogical organization and with the Daughters of the Pioneers. In a civic capacity Mr. Mathis was for two years President of the local Chamber of Commerce and is now a member of that organization organiz-ation and a Rotarian. He served for three terms as City Commissioner, Com-missioner, and is now Representative Representa-tive from Washington County to the State Legislature. Suggestive of his civic interest we mention the fact that he has erected three modern cottages, besides modernising modern-ising his own home, and sold them at a loss, but has no regrets since they serve a worth while purpose. Bank President This was one of the younger men who helped to establish the Bank of St. George in 1906 and became be-came a director of that institution in 1908, retaining that position until a few weeks ago when he was .elected Bank President following follow-ing the death of David H. Morris with whom he served as vice-president. vice-president. He served for years as a director of the St. George Building Build-ing Society, a local Mutual organization organ-ization which he helped to set in motion, and is now its president. He was one of the small groups of financiers who organized the Pioneer Protection and Investment corporation and has been its president presi-dent since its inception. He is also president of the St. George Clara Field Irrigation company. In the early spring of 1934 the Utah Livestock Protection Credit association was established with headquarters in Salt Lake City and Mr. Mathis was elected as one of the five directors to serve the southern part of the State and the Arizona Strip. This was organized to help cattle and sheep men and to secure feed loans to carry the livestock growers who had suffered suffer-ed in the years of drouth, disruption dis-ruption of credit, and bank closings. clos-ings. Since its establishment they have loaned about $3,000,000. throughout the State for these purposes. In the two subsequent elections Mr. Mathis has been returned re-turned to the position and is this week attending the regular bimonthly bi-monthly meeting in Salt Lake City. Now at the age of sixty, he and his wife are just in the hey-day of active living and the years ahead look as happy and hopeful hope-ful to them as the past years have been and are allowing them more time to enjoy the fruits of their : labors. All of their children but the youngest daughter are married and they are proud of eight living : grandchildren. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mathis speak feelingly of the great influence his mother, Barbra Bryner Bry-ner Mathis has exterted on his entire life. There was a mellowing of feelings as we chatted over the life of that good woman. "Mother was very proud always," he said, "but is was a just pride in the success that rewarded their honest and constant labors. Under a calm and dignified exterior she was the soul of gentleness, humility, and of deep and abiding faith. Most of my lessons I learned at her knee were taught in mildness and even in tears, for she wanted me to make my life useful and to be worthy of my hertiage and my opportunities. op-portunities. And I have tried to justify her faith in me." |