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. 216 s im p le g a b l e r o o f was one o f t h e most c o n s t a n t o f a l l th e form e le m e n ts o f t h e Mormon hay b a r n . V i r t u a l l y alw ay s a t a 4 5 - d e g r e e p i t c h , t h e r o o f was u s u a l l y q u i t e f l i m s y , con­ s i s t i n g o f v e r t i c a l p la n k s n a i l e d t o a framework o f w id e ly s p a c e d l o g r a f t e r s and p u r l i n s ( F i g s . 98, 9 9 ) ; o n ly t h e most p r o s p e r o u s fa rm e rs c o u ld a f f o r d s h i n g l e s . But t h i s r o o f , as le a k y a s i t was, a p p a r e n t l y came t o be t h e most im p o r ta n t e le m e n t o f t h e b a r n , f o r many f a rm e rs d i d away w i t h th e w a l l s and t h e s u p e r s t r u c t u r e i n f a v o r o f a r o o f p e rc h e d on h ig h p o s t s c r e a t i n g a c o m p le te ly open s h e l t e r f o r h a y . T h is l a t t e r d ev elop m ent i s h a r d l y a b a r n a t a l l b u t i s d e r iv e d from th e h ay b a rn an d i s a v e ry common f e a t u r e , e s p e c i a l l y i n s o u t h e r n U tah. The r a t i o n a l e f o r t h i s change was t o p r o v id e a t l e a s t m inim al s h e l t e r f o r t h e o v e r i n c r e a s i n g amount o f hay p ro d u c e d , b u t most o f t h e hay (e v e n thou gh t h e b a r n s c o n t i n u e d t o b e u se d ) l a t e r came t o be s t a c k e d o u t i n t h e open on t h e farm l o t s o r on t h e h o m e ste a d s. In view o f t h e l a t e r p r a c t i c e o f s t o r i n g hay i n th e o pen, t h e a c t u a l need f o r a l a r g e hay b a r n i n d ry Utah may be q u e s t i o n e d . a c tu a l need. I t a p p e a r s t h a t t r a d i t i o n p r e v a i l e d beyond Most o f t h e r e m a in in g o l d Mormon hay b a r n s a r e s t i l l i n u s e , s t a n d i n g as open s h e l l s w ith a l l p e n s o r bays and th e l o f t removed g i v i n g more s p a c e f o r hay s t o r a g e . E v i d e n t l y , Mormons to d a y p r e f e r some p r o t e c t i o n f o r t h e i r hay when a s h e l t e r i s a v a i l a b l e , a l t h o u g h t h e y r a r e l y b u i l d new hay b a r n s . Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.