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Show father. I learned too much about the obstacles overcome by him to disregard the fact that his life had written an important chapter in Utah history that must be told. For almost ten years, I kept notes as I induced Papa to tell about his early life by asking questions of him. Since he has been dead for over thirty years, it has been about forty years since I began my file of information on him, and I have consistently added to it during that time. John K was not a product of formal education, for such had been denied him by the very forces that shaped his life. He lived in the colonizing years when to live meant to work. Money was a scarce commodity and it was important that boys in their early teens should become self-supporting. They did so without much schooling in most cases. In Sanpete County the herding of sheep opened one door to work that earned money and John K turned to that-largely because it was available. Anyone who claims the life of a sheepherder, or a sheepman, to be an easy life has never worked with sheep himself. Seldom has it been a quick step from a wage earning herder to a manager on shares, and from that to a full-fledged sheepman. Some individuals have claimed that those steps were the general easy procedure in becoming a sheepman of substance. But they failed to take into account the required years of apprenticeship in loneliness, patience, experience, and tolerance for a rough and ready job, the acceptance of constant |
