| Show i ' command to move risht and then you’ve got pioneers' paid more for them wagons and giant animals tangled up bringing the 'Wrong'- -' whole immigration to the premised land to a great “Mormons preferred horses” For said “But the ' messy halt Ford said main body of the church was poor and simply could- So out of necessity the pioneers learned to walk n’t afford horses which were much more costly than alongside their oxen They could control them with a ' oxen” series of silent gestures with the whip Touching an ox : In the end providence provided and oxen actually an a back leg meant gee i ’d touching an ox on foreworked out better for the Mormons Ford said Horses leg meant haw The speed could also be controlled proved problematic for those on the long trail West The oxen would keep up with the walking drover If'-- ’ Oxen could eat dryer and rougher foods than horses so the walker stopped or fell downi the oxen would stop grazing was easier and jnui&h some grass ' “Horses had to be moved many miles to find good "They went days and months on the trail without grass" Ford said “Oxen could eat bark and leaves if shouting” Ford said “There are accounts of pioneers required”-- '' walking silently along hearing only the sound of the Three: Oxen were bigger than cows and bulls today wagons creaking” &Y Thie sort Ford said when the Mormons arrived in the Salt “The oxen were bigger because they lived long Lake valley they slowly turned their oxen into dairy cows or meat animals slaughtering them and breeding enough to be bigger “Ford said “Nobody these days has seen a bovine animal that lives past two years them for less mobile uses Slowly and quietly the silent tradition faded away until Ford resurrected it in They butcher them before they can grow and get mus- cular from years of work in the field Of course peo- the noisy fury erf the year 2000 pie think die oxen were huge They've never seen a Y The new barn called an “ox hoven” will house " ” oxen and their story when it’s completed Visitors to “ fully mature cow the center will be able to build yolks by hand and Conversations beyond the veil v drive teams wound the heritage center ensuring the Heritage Center Curator Rieese Summers is taken silent techniques will live on in some fashion ' Ford Not only has Ford donated over $125000 "V with ' This is Dixon Ford's Dream worth of living history to the center which is reason “1 wanted to have a place dedicated to preserving enough for the curator of a modest living history this tradition” he said museum to gush Summers knows Ford is a direct link to the history of the West Oxen fallacies exposed “I asked Dixon why he was doing this” Summers AsFord has researched the oxen story he has been said “It's almost on a spiritual level with him When able to refute several common fallacies about oxen he passes on to the next life and meets his grandfather This is part of the reason he is donating the hoven to he won’t be able to talk about and the Heritage Center He wants to clear away the cob- them with But he’ll be able to talk about computers webs and get beyond the mythos '' the oxen”' One: We will never know the true breed the Of course Ford was grinning when he told Mormon pioneers used for their oxerc Summers this but the idea of laying a foundation for ' Wrong conversations in heaven belies Ford's deep roots' ' “They used Red Durhams” Ford Said “The were “He is a gem” Summers said “With him we have a large and strong and relatively fast" direct connection to the past" Ford said the Durham become oxen could pull a Ford himself doesn’t talk about himself He talks loaded wagon 10 to 18 miles a day which was fast about his oxen But Ford's longtime friend and neigh enough when you consider the length of the wagon bor in Farmington Craig Cummings was able to train and all of the cattle and sheep the immigrants ' describe Ford in somewhat enigmatic toms’ brought with them (i TWo The Mormon immigrants preferred oxen and CONTINUED ON 8 ' ' of'" -- ' ' ! : great-grandfath- er - - s V - Ai’ i ' JH? ’I- : 5H& '"M J ' V i J f i CtoekwiM from top: is- Dale Baker left helps with 1' - f : ' anbther volunteer to secure a wall section as it is put into place " I 1 Many hands make light work another as wal frame is assembled Tools of the trade " v I I ‘ :s ‘ ' Tv 1 — to " f 0L - JohnSarge T works on a beam surrounded by wood yet to be used for the Oxen Bam w - tfniM" ? i Far left: Luke Waldron ” uses a pike '"91 pole to hold up while it is into put place a waH |
