| Show DIPPING SHEEP AT FISH CREEX James Jacobs 1052 Darling Street Ogden UT 84403 Senior Citizen Division First Place Historical Essay Dipping sheep at the Fish Creek dipping corral on the Mantl Forest in the summer of 1917 wasnoisy operation The frantic bleating of ewes hunting for their lost lambs the clanging of sheep bells men shouting and shaking their tincans-on-a-wire sheep scarers and the barking of the sheep dogs as they drove sheep into the corral chute were sounds that could be heard all up and down Fish Creek Driving the sheep through the chute wasspecialized job Many of the ewes had been dipped in previous years so they knew what to expect and resisted so vigorously that they had to be almost carried along the chut But the skill and energy of the corral workers and the efficlent sheep dogs forced the ewes through When they approached the sloping metal slide in the floor of the chute many of the ewes tried to jump across it But it was too long to jwp over so they always hit the slide then s1id sideways undercanvas curtain and plopped into the dip-filled vat The sheep swam to the far end of the vat and climbed upcleat-lined runway into one of the two draining pens These pens were made with leak-proof floors which were tilted so the dip solution that drained off the sheep flowed back into the vat to be used again and minimize the loss When one of the draining pens was filled with sheep the gate was closed and the sheep coning from the vat were diverted into the second pen while the first pen drained The pens were used alternately until the full herd had been dipped Then the sheep were turned out on the range where each ewe could find her lamb or mother-up as the sheepherders say My Job was to see that each sheep was fully covered with dip Most of them were immersed in the dipping solution when they s11d into the vat but the heads of some were still dry As they swam along the vatplacedlong-handled dunking tool over their necks and dunked those that needed dunking to get them wet |
