OCR Text |
Show acreage covered several years of negotiations-and piece by piece, he accumulated 3300 acres there as he could afford to do so. The names applied to that area were Blind Hollow and Baldy Mountain, yet for John K's purpose it was all referred to as the Thistle Valley range, or the Spring Range. HE BUYS A RANCH When the west part of the Proctor Ranch (southeast of Mt. Pleasant) became available, John K felt that he should have it. He received title to 160 acres in January 1910, paying forty dollars an acre for them. He proceeded to fence the best part of the land into fields for raising alfalfa and the more rocky parts into brush and grass pastures. There were no primary water rights with the ground-only high water--but he managed to raise fair crops of alfalfa in the succeeding years. Under his direction one section of a large barn was begun the first year. It was added to each year until the completed structure measured 100 by 225 feet. Individual lambing pens helped prevent the high losses of lambs caused by freezing and wet weather, as in the past. Hay was stored in large haylofts above those pens. Twin Creek ran west along the boundary of the property and provided good drinking water for the sheep and horses in spaced corrals. The two-room frame house was moved from the State Street lot in town, and after renovati6ns it served as a ranch house near the barn area. 103 |