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Show The Survey's Findings 57 The cultural resources of Grouse Creek are significant as an expression of the intersection of Mormon and buckaroo cultures in this remote section of the Great Basin. The community's identity is that of the Mormon cowboy, and its cultural context in its broadest and most holistic form may be stated as Mormon Ranching and Community Life in Northwestern Utah. The following list identifies the most important facets of this larger context and provides brief summary statements of the type customarily used by historic preservation planners. Context 1 Mormon Cattle Ranching, 1880s-1940 Grouse Creek was settled between 1875 and 1900 by Mormon farmers who quickly adopted the occupational traditions of the Great Basin range cattle industry. Ranching traditions developed and flourished from the 1880s until about 1940, when the closing of the open range and the events surrounding World War II significantly changed the pattern of occupational life. Resources Selected range land (natural features, buildings, corrals, other structures) Original ranch sites (dwellings, outbuildings, corrals, derricks, etc.) Outbuilding types (granaries, barns, tack sheds) Log corner-timbering examples Dirt-roofed buildings Family history narratives of the settlement period The East Grouse Creek irrigation system The original Etna dam Occupational calendar customs (spring round-up, summer haying, fall round-up, winter feeding) Traditional cowboy skills Traditional cowboy material culture Occupational narratives Context 2 Wartime and Postwar Mormon Cattle Ranching, 1940-present The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 ushered in a period of great change for Grouse Creek ranchers. The fencing of the range, largely accomplished after World War II, was accompanied by the widespread adoption of mechanized haying machinery and the stock truck. Ranching traditions were modified to accommodate changes in technology, but the continuing need to round up and work cattle on horseback ensured that many older occupational traditions were maintained. Resources Mechanized haying Fenced grazing allotments Contemporary cowboy occupational lore Contemporary cowboy occupational material culture Context 3 An Early Mormon Ranching Community, 1875-1890 The settlement of the community of Grouse Creek deviated from non-Mormon Great Basin patterns, in which ranches are more or less isolated from one another. Grouse Creek's "line village" of small ranches clustered near a church reflects Mormon beliefs and provides the structure for subsequent community development. The community's early domestic architecture reflected frontier conditions. Houses were constructed of log in relatively simple one- and two-room plans, often with dirt roofs. Resources The line village settlement pattern Early house types (hall, hall-parlor, double-cell) Log construction techniques Dirt-roofed houses Family history narratives |