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Show ANNUAL FARM GARDEN RANCH aren't out of the woods, they've been actively rehabilitating re-habilitating range, developing develop-ing and upgrading stock. Beaver County boasts some of the finest bulls and breeding breed-ing stock around. Few people would guess that Beaver County has more cattle than people, and more than any neighboring county, even though its the smallest county in Southern Utah, only about 20 miles wide by 115 miles long. And while there are only a few year around sheep herds left, and just about half the sheep there were just five years ago, several large sheep operations have winter range in Beaver County, and during the winter the sheep far out number the cattle by several times. Yes, Beaver County's fame may lie in mining, tourism, tour-ism, and a spot on the Union Pacific Railroad, but its fortune for-tune today, as with its first settlers, lies in agriculture. The agriculture industry is up to the job. They have roots, and aren't about to give up. They will survive, and each year, they will im -prove on last, just as they have been doing for hundreds of years. Since the first settlers came to Beaver inthel850's to graze their livestock on the lush Beaver River meadows, mea-dows, agriculture has played , an' Important role in the economy of Beaver County. Fort Cameron was built to protect these early set- tiers from Indians. Today the descendants of those early settlers are threatened threaten-ed by inflation, high energy costs, and bureaucratic regulations. But agriculture has made many strides since those early days, and today's farmer far-mer and rancher must be a highly technical businessman, business-man, with knowledge in many areas in order to survive. No longer does the cattleman cat-tleman need to worry about Indian raids, taking his cattle cat-tle to pasture each day, and returning them to safety at night. No longer does he make the annual trek to hay springs and yellow banks to put up grass hay for the winter. While Beaver, Adamsville and Greenville had their beginnings be-ginnings in agriculture, the same is not so for the rest of the county. Minersvllle sprang up from the need to smelt the lead ore from the Lincoln Mine for bullets and other uses for the Mormon settlement set-tlement of Utah. And while Arvln Stoddard, who first homesteaded Milford was farmer and merchant, Mil-ford's Mil-ford's real beginnings came with the 10 -stamp mill to process ores from nearby mines. And its real heyday hey-day came in 1880 with the railroad, and freighters hauling from Milford throughout Southern Utah, and Nevada and Northern Arizona. on the high Tushar Mountains, Moun-tains, and the highway for its existence. But in fact, Beaver, like Minersvllle, Adamsville and Greenville, are heavily into the Beef industry, with a smattering of sheep. And the dairy industry in-dustry in recent years has been expanded into one of the finest in the country. In fact they are a major producer pro-ducer for Highland Dairy, and Anderson Dairy, with much of the milk going into metropolitan Las Vegas. South Milford really entered en-tered the agricultural picture pic-ture after WWn with the coming of deep well irrigation. irri-gation. Seed potatoes was the number one cash crop, with alfalfa and grain used in rotation. In recent years, alfalfa has taken over as the number one cash crop. Farmers and ranchers are generally considered small business, and there was a day when they really fit that category. But not so today. Few farmers or ranchers have investments of under $100,000, and some of the larger operations run into the millions. Sophisticated equipment to bale or cube hay, antiseptic dairy operations, all cost a bundle. Modern technology has made farming big business. busi-ness. But they have no fancy board rooms with big desks to put their feet on while they oversee operations. No, you'll find them out in the field, milking, moving cattle on or off the range, shearing sheep or hauling water. The good farmer or rancher is right out on the job with his crew, often members of his family, working dawn to dusk to stay on top and pay the bills. .i . ' ' ' ' ''I , '' y I' ' jT ' i 1 . L , X A W. t ' ' 4 ' ' . r NfeCr-- " V X- - f C x - VX h - X rxX. s : -,o o X I ' i , ' . x x: , H THEY KNOW THEM ALL BY HEART: Milkers have to know each individual in-dividual cow in order to work most efficiently, and avoid problems in the milk house. This is part of the Pearson herd, waiting to be milked. Milford's agriculture community sprang up at Reed, 16 miles north, where the Beaver river provided fertile fields. But Reed was destined to become a dust bowl when Rocky Ford Irrigation District Dis-trict purchased the water rights and built the Miners -ville Reservoir, assuring adequate water storage for the Minersville Fields and South Milford. Beaver farmers were. just as busy tapping the streams, and building storage reservoirs reser-voirs and canals to supply Beaver, Adamsville, and Greenville. To the casual observer, Beaver would appear to be a tourist town, capitalizing Just the last few years have seen drastic changes. When this writer came to town there were just four cubers in the county. Now few bale hay, most operate from one to three cubers. Dairies were mostly cooperative co-operative operations. The Cow palace at Minersville, was brand new. Today, the Co-op's are still operating, but there are a dozen new dairy barns, with the latest equipment and so clean and efficient you can't believe it. And the beef industry hasn't been idle. Even though they've been in a severe depression for several years, and even with rising prices of the last year, still |