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Show 95 Comments on "San Juan: A Hundred Years of Cattle, Sheep, and Dry Farms' Hardy Redd Chas Peterson has done a delightful job collecting information, putting it together, and interpreting the result. I agree with almost all he says. I am particularly delighted by such expressions of his as "a few like Harv Williams became Mormons, and more located in Moab or in neighboring Colorado towns where most of them became the relaxed channels through which Texas and Mormon customs evolved." As a preface to my comments, I would like to relate what Chas has said about San Juan County in another essay, "Cowboys and Cattle Trails," published in 1979 in a companion volume to this book, Emery County: Reflections on its Past and Future. In comparing Emery, Grand, and San Juan counties, Chas writes: The village and cooperative pattern of settlement gave a distinct Mormon flavor to the San Juan area. The character of the Moab, La Sal, and Castleton district was more consistent with the general frontier. It was not that Grand County was without Mormons. Indeed, people who affiliated in some way with the church constituted a majority of its population. But taken with the other settlers they did not add up to a Mormon community the way the San Juan Mission did. With few exceptions Grand County Mormons had come unbidden, prompted by their own ideas of opportunity rather than by the mission call by which Mormon colonizing was so often carried out. 205 San Juan County From earliest times Grand County gave itself unabashedly to economic development. . By contrast to San Juan, Grand County was not selfconsciously involved with its own identity. Grand County was less clearly under attack from outside livestock interests, Indians, and the outlaw culture of the times, and thus found no real need to surround itself with a defensive identity. The Moab area had few heroes. Those it did have were successful businessmen or closely associated with the cowboy tradition. San Juan, on the other hand, was concerned with inner self and developed strong traditions of its uniqueness. To an amazing degree it was preoccupied with what may be called the Hole-in-the- Rock mystique. They had done their duty. Once on the San Juan many questioned the wisdom of staying. Survivors, however, assumed an-even more assertive position, that their work was unique and that they were a chosen community. . . . San Juan produced its own heroes like old Indian scout Thales Haskell. Uncle Ben Perkins, an illiterate shotfire from the mines of Wales, who blasted the road down the Hole-in-the-Rock. In Moab the figure of Bishop Jens Nielson, feet and legs twisted and crippled by frostbite, could never have emerged as the single dominant folk hero. But Nielson, Haskell, and Perkins all lent themselves admirably to the Hole-in-the-Rock mystique. Like the character of the community for which they became symbols, they were people apart, (pp. 82-84) Turning back to the paper on San Juan County, from this point most of my comments are where I take exception to the emphasis placed on some things, interpretations, and implications, or where I amplify. Quoting Peterson's: "The Hole-in-the-Rockers dug in at Bluff. They built diversion dams and water wheels, shoveled sand from washed-in ditches, worked in Colorado for subsistence, quarreled among themselves, and watched the river carry off their tiny farms." I say that they did not quarrel much. Mormon frontier communities were pretty close-knit, and Bluff especially so due to difficulties with the ditches and water and the threat of Anglo and Indian thieves. Ninety-nine percent of the time they worked in cooperation with each other building diversion dams, keeping the ditch free from sand and washouts. People who let their leader allocate 206 Comments scarce water irrespective of water turns were pretty united. "Hard pressed and divided by poverty, the Bluff Mormons . . . . " I would more likely say "united" by poverty, because poverty usually unites families and communities more than it divides. During a six-week period of protracted storms in Monticello in the 1920s, Will Brooks "met all the people of Monticello, the best class of people that I ever associated with in all my life." The enforced confinement to home and community put people into more contact with each other and they were living under adverse circumstances. This had the tendency to bring out the very best in them. "As county assessor, L. H. Redd was tireless in collecting taxes on transient herds, thus reducing the county's appeal to wintering Colorado cattle and generally enhancing the cause of the Mormons, who always controlled the county politically." The main purpose of tax collection was to raise funds for county government. Taxes fell equally on Mormon and Colorado cattle, giving no advantage to the Mormons. Pioneer Days Rodeo, Monticello, 1973- Photograph by Ken Hochfeld, USHS Collections. 207 San Juan County I am not sure "the large San Juan County ranches were a bonanza that made fortunes for absentee owners." It would be an interesting research project for a budding historian to find out if they really did make money. My comment is that the ranches did make money some years but in other years did not; on balance, they were similar to other agricultural enterprises - making money some years and losing in others, depending on prices and moisture conditions. The fact that many of the ranches in San Juan and western Colorado were sold in the late 1890s or early 1900s indicates they were not all that profitable. I agree that Mormons gradually expanded and took over the county for a number of reasons. Primarily, because they were better "stayers." A few years ago, I visited Boise City in the panhandle of Oklahoma. When I asked who farmed the land, one family was prominent. When I asked how they got so much land, the reply came: "During the depression and dust bowl of the 1930s, they stayed." In San Juan, the Mormons "stayed." J. A. Scorup came from Salina and worked under tough conditions that almost no one else would tolerate. He was enterprising and was willing to take chances and risks. He "stayed." There is a tendency among some writers and historians to assume that because some succeed in business and others fail, or some farmers and ranchers acquire more property and others sell, the survivor must use some nefarious or underhanded methods. While I do not doubt some of this happened, most of the time the survivors were just the better operators - more frugal, more careful of expenses, harder working, more foresighted, had more ability to plan and execute toward goals, did a better job with livestock, crops, fertilizing, irrigating, etc. Over time, most of us get what we deserve in economic as well as spiritual realms. Chet Smith is correct when he says that the men who worked at La Sal were as much a part of Redd Ranches' success as was Charlie Redd. Charlie had the ability to manage and get the best out of men. Anyone who knows Chet Smith 208 Comments knows that it would take a combination of diplomacy and toughness to work him. That Charlie was able to do this with Chet and Spanish-American sheep and cowmen such as F. R. Lopez, Merejeldo Valdez, Roque Garcia, and many other men is an indication of his ability to manage men. This should take nothing away from the men themselves; they were dedicated, hard-working, loyal, competent people who did the careful, painstaking work that makes or breaks a ranch. As a young boy I was greatly embarrassed by how harshly my father would speak to the men. I wondered why they liked him and why they did not quit after being spoken to so sharply. I think that because my dad was so vitally interested in the work and in improving their work habits and abilities, the men took it and worked even harder. Once my father visited Lewie Willson who was trailing cows and calves on Monogram Mesa. It was June; the weather was hot; it was painstaking and difficult work - hurry up and wait, taking care all the while not to miss a calf lying down under a bush, a dreary kind of work. My father came to the noon camp and berated Lewie severely for the way things were going and his performance in general. "But when your dad left," Lewie said, "he put his hand on my shoulder and told me, sincerely, that he had faith in my ability and knew I could get the catde to Summer Camp in good shape. He made me feel capable and a valued person. I felt ten feet tall and was determined to do the best job I could." Charles Peterson suggests arsonists set many of the fires on the La Sal Livestock Ranch during the 1930s and 1940s. Although the shearing shed fire near La Sal Junction was apparently set by arsonists, most of the other fires, I suspect, were caused by lightning or carelessness. An attempt was made to poison sheep in Lockhart Basin, but these incidents were exceptions rather than the rule. Most people, even cattle and sheepmen fighting over range and water rights, cooperated more often than they fought. I was bothered by David Lavender's quote that some of the homesteaders' children reached "maturity without enter- 209 San Juan County ing a church or sitting down before a white tablecloth. They never flushed a toilet or saw a railroad or stepped on a cement sidewalk." My immediate response is to wonder if these things measured a person. My father remembered that many of the Indian people and so-called "uneducated Anglos" were some of the finest in character, integrity, inventiveness, and persistence. They may have been somewhat unsophisticated and lacking in polish, but many of them were fine, generous, high-type individuals in spite of their lack of white tablecloths, flushing toilets, or cement sidewalks. Charles is correct in saying the La Sal homesteaders had a commitment to the better things in life. They just could not make a go of it in the arid desert without irrigation water. I am not so sure their "views were any larger" than those who stayed; rather, small farm dry-land homesteading in the La Sal area was not economically feasible. The shift from small to large farms, shown in the following table, was common in the United States settlement and accelerated in the arid West as homesteaders found that they could not live or support a family on 160 acres of dry land. Average Size Farm in Acres' Year 1850 1900 1940 1970 1975 1982 U.S. 203 374 429 Utah 51 212 354 - 1000 1000 The national trend, and particularly in Utah, has been toward fewer but larger farms. Those who were less efficient, less frugal, less well situated, usually left first. The number of Utah farms is illustrative: Number of Utah Farms2 Year Number 1859 926 1920 25,000 210 Comments 1936 1960 1970 1982 31,000 19,000 14,000 13,000 In 1900 it took one person to feed three; in 1982 one farmer fed seventy-five people. This has freed a vast number of people from back-breaking hand labor and allowed people to provide the goods and services that give Americans the highest standard of living in the world. I disagree that the "Mormon sense of manifest destiny that had guided the first generation of community builders did not extend to the second generation. Indeed, it would seem that both Charlie Redd and J. A. Scorup built ranches in the traditional sense. They were in effect more ranchers than Mormon settlers. For them the effective agenda was a money-making outfit, not a country held by the Mormons and congenial to their ways." I would suggest that one of those who started this transition was Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr., who came with the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition to San Juan as a young man and constantly expanded his operations. He set the stage for Charlie Redd and the La Sal Livestock outfit. I suggest that L. H. Redd's impetus and purpose to acquire land and ranges were an extension of, rather than a departure from, the San Juan mission. He realized that the sons and daughters of the original Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers needed room and employment, hopefully close to home. If the limited land resources in San Juan were held by non-Mormons, the increasing Mormon population would have to go elsewhere. Part of the reason the Gentile outfits were purchased was to avoid conflict between Mormons and non-Mormons, to avoid cultural shock, and to create communities with a good environment for the raising of children that could be somewhat controlled by a dominant Mormon population. L. H. Redd may have felt (or rationalized) that the San Juan mission had to be on a solid financial base, without which the purpose of the mission - converting Indians - could not be accomplished. 211 San Juan County It is interesting to note that, with the establishment of a solid financial base in Blanding, many are expending their time and effort in church leadership positions and missionary work on the Navajo Reservation. There is much more Indian missionary work going on now than when the San Juan Mormons were struggling to survive in Bluff and Blanding. The secure economic foundation now allows the descendants of the Hole-in-the-Rockers and Mexican refugees the leisure and wherewithal to make these efforts. Another reason the Mormon people stayed in San Juan, while those left who came here merely for profit, may be found in a comment made by a Nazi Germany concentration camp inmate: How did people stand it? I fear I must disappoint you. With regard to the purely physical aspect, not the young, the strong-looking boys survived best, but most shorter sinewy men. But far more important than the purely physical angle is the mental one. In all concentration camps we found that the death rate was lowest among political and religious prisoners who had suffered for their convictions, and highest among the tramps and petty criminals who were by far the strongest physically. It is also interesting to note that not the young people of college age were the best to survive, but the middle-aged group - those between 35 and 50. The explanation of this fact that simply the greater spiritual and ideological resistance offered by men whose character had matured. As a rule, a weak body with a strong mind survived. 3 The staying power of many San Juaners is illustrated in a Charlie Redd history of the La Sal Livestock Company: We got along very well until the fall of 1919 when World War I ended. A deep depression spread over the country, prices dropped, and cattle were very low for about 5 years and the major part of our livestock was investment in cattle. We sold cows for 2 or 3 years to the Holly Sugar Company, shipping them from Thompson, at from 11 to 13 dollars a head. The La Sal ranch had been bought on time, only part of the debts had been paid off, and the Monticello Store had gone into receivership just a short time earlier. We really had a time holding onto the property. It looked, for a number of years, like we would lose it. 212 Comments Bunkhouse at the La Sal Ranch. Photograph Copyright 1979 Steve Lacy Wild Bunch Photo. Prior to his death in 1923, my father (L. H. Redd, Jr.) told me, "I don't know what the end will bring, but I wish I could be sure of two things: that my debts would be paid and that my families will get along." I was deeply moved. The estate was very heavily in debt. He had borrowed money for the water and power systems for both Blanding and Monticello. His total debts, those he owed directly and indirectly, as I recall, totaled nearly $600,000. It was initially considered by our creditors that we were busted. We were advised to take out bankruptcy or go into receivership. I would not allow my mind to even consider it. For some reason, bankruptcy, failure to pay bills, was a very serious offense, almost like murder. I wouldn't allow anybody to tell me we were busted. I persuaded my brothers and creditors that I thought we could make it. We were lucky to be dealing with people who had confidence in us and who were fair minded. Cunningham and Carpenter were helpful in extending the notes. Continental Bank and Trust, with Mr. Walter Cosgriff as President, was very generous. Even then it was a struggle. When I was asked why I kept going when it looked hopeless, I answered, "I don't know how it will turn out, but I have a simple philosophy: I am working hard - harder than I ever have in my life. I'm doing everything 213 San Juan County I can to protect the property, maintain numbers, and look after it. I'm cutting expenses to the bone. Now if this thing does turn around, I will be able to hang onto the property and have something. If conditions continue bad and we finally go broke, I can look myself in the face and say 'Well, I did my damnedest; I did all 1 could.' "' As mentioned above, the reason some ranchers survived was their frugality. It is r e p o r t e d that Harv Williams of the Scorup-Somerville outfit d r ew only 25 cents of his wages one year and that was spent on cigarette paper which he wet and stuck to his lips so they would not chap and crack in the wind and sun. Charlie Redd's advice to his children gives a hint of his and his father's background and why their livestock operation survived: Sometimes I feel I've stressed saving and thrift too strongly. I still feel that it is a better part of wisdom to be thrifty, industrious and to waste nothing. I want you to know that the property is to be enjoyed, the income wisely spent for your joy and comfort. I'd like to see all of you do more traveling, spend more time reading, looking at beautiful things, and visiting with wholesome folks. Sometimes property makes people selfish and scrubby. Sometimes it makes spendthrifts, wastrels, and drunkards of them. I have confidence that you children will use it wisely, but I want you to give careful consideration to wise spending. I'd like to see you take trips; I'd like to sec you broaden your knowledge and experience, strengthen your culture. Money and wealth is valuable only as it adds to the happiness and growth of those who own it. I'm sure you'll all be modest and humble in your feelings about these possessions. I see no evidence of any of you being boastful and arrogant or feeling self-sufficient because of anything you have or will have. I don't need to moralize. I know you know the blessings as well as the evils that can come from material wealth. I would be very sad if I discovered my life's effort to build up an estate for each one of you was the means of your downfall. Having property means added responsibility. You must be a little more stable, a little more honorable, a little more charitable, a little more helpful, and a little more kind. Property is to be used and not abused. I hope you will always be humble about your possessions; to boast or brag or strut because of any possessions you may have 214 Comments is an evidence of immaturity and shallowness. You are acquainted with some of the get-rich-quick people who are so eager to advertise their wealth that they are not highly regarded, and they are very unwise. There is an old adage about "rags to riches and back to rags in three generations." Some families are so speedy that they can make the circle in two generations. My reward will be sufficient and all the sacrifice, worry, work, and strain involved in my 45 or 50 years at La Sal will be rewarded if you boys and girls develop into fine, solid, wholesome, and kindly men and women.^ NOTES 'Cultural Statistics of the Utah Department of Agriculture Report, 1981. 2Ibid. * Anonymous letter published in the Daily California!!, April 7, 1948. ^Minutes of Redd Ranches Stockholders meeting, August 4, I960, at La Sal, Utah, copy in author's possession. 'Ibid. 215 |
