Intermountain Histories

Sheepherding on Fremont Island

2023-04-06T16:23:06+00:00

In 1859, two pioneer brothers from Farmington, Henry William Miller and Daniel Arnold Miller, began the first ranching operation on Salt Lake’s Fremont Island.

The storied explorer John C. Fremont and his traveling companions initially documented their foray onto the Great Salt Lake with incredible optimism. While paddling arduously in their small rubber craft in 1843, they observed that, “Several large islands raised their high rocky heads out of the waves; but whether or not they were timbered, was still left to our imagination…”. When they explored one of the aforementioned “high rocky heads,” they found an island populated with sagebrush, bunch grass, and a surprising lack of fresh water. After a day or two, Fremont dubbed his discovery “Disappointment Island.” While surveying the Great Salt Lake for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1850, Captain Howard Stansbury, perhaps to Fremont’s chagrin, changed the name of the formerly disappointing island to Fremont Island. Stansbury noted that the plentiful bunch grass and brackish water would be perfect for livestock. In 1859, Daniel and Henry Miller demonstrated their agreement by moving flocks of sheep and some cattle to the island, which the locals then recognized as “Miller Island.” Seymour Miller, the grandson of Daniel and Henry, recorded some of his experiences as a de facto ranch hand for the family ranching business on Fremont Island. They kept 2,000 sheep on the island and ferried themselves and their stock back and forth on the Lady of the Lake, a boat designed by Jacob Miller, Seymour’s cousin. Keeping the sheep on a relatively small island (4.60 sq. mi.) led the Millers to conclude that they did not need a full-time herder on the island. Instead, they let the sheep run wild for most of the year, confident in the confines of the island. The sheep quickly went feral and became “wild as a deer.” This provided the Millers with some market advantage because “The meat of this flock tasted more like venison than mutton and would always bring a fancy price on the market when ordinary mutton could hardly be sold.” Unfortunately, during shearing and lambing seasons, these wild qualities caused numerous problems for the island herders. They would sometimes go a full day or two during round ups without successfully driving a single sheep into the shearing pens. During one especially eventful drive, Seymour and his companions cornered some sheep on a peninsular part of the island and “Rather than be caught, several of them took off into the lake. The last I saw of them they were still going.” Unfortunately for the Millers, their ranching operation did not last past 1885, when local lawyer Uriah Wenner took an interest in living on the island and began legal procedures to oust them and their flocks. The Millers were forced to move their herds to the mainland, where they continually lost woolies due to the sheep’s feral nature that befuddled conventional herders. In his memoir, Seymour concluded that “we never got a dollar out of them.” After Wenner and his wife died, possession of the island changed hands without remarkable business or improvement until 2003. For a few years, Fremont Island underwent a small stint as a hunting ground for exotic livestock and then changed ownership until it landed in the hands of the State of Utah.

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Sugar Beets and Sheep: Hispanic Migrant Labor in Utah

2022-09-08T22:51:01+00:00

The migrant labor of Hispanics has been vital to the economy of Utah since the 20th century, but these workers remain one of the most vulnerable populations within the state, at one point making less than those on welfare. Their history here in Utah provides further context for current discussions on migrant labor and immigration.

In the beginning of the 20th century, Utah became one of the largest domestic American producers of sugar through sugar beet farming. The industry extended into neighboring states as well. The workers who planted and harvested those beets were mainly migrant Mexican and Mexican-American laborers. Migrant Hispanic laborers were also heavily involved with sheep herding and harvesting onions, potatoes, tomatoes, apples, cherries, pears, raspberries, and apricots. They made the backbone of the agricultural and meat industries in the state then and today, Latino workers (mainly of Mexican descent) continue to be vital to these industries. The history of Hispanic migrant labor in Utah demonstrates both their importance and their vulnerability that has persisted since the start of the 1900s.

Mexican migrant workers became integral to the economy of Utah starting in the early 20th century with the sugar industry, where many of the workers were concentrated in Garland, Utah. In 1918, reports from the Salt Lake Tribune detailed conditions of workers such as lack of running water, stoves, and toilets. Hispanic families nonetheless invested in the community by assisting in the construction of schools in Garland. Additionally, the wives of Hispanic families often worked for families nearby, further contributing to the economy’s function. Many of these migrant workers eventually left due to the lack of economic mobility and low wages, although others at the time incorrectly surmised that the workers’ departure was due to an inability to assimilate their Mexican-Catholic culture into the anglo-Mormon communities.

Poor conditions and treatment was a trend for migrant workers throughout the state. Accordingly, workers did not highly regard Utah. In the 1950s, Utah began an intense effort to attract more migrant workers. At the same time, the state created strict systems that would require those migrant workers to return to their country when the harvest was over. Despite these efforts to draw more workers to the state, many migrant workers did not return to Utah for a second harvest in response to continually poor conditions including lack of education opportunities for their children, poor housing situations, and no health care services. During that same decade, the Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City officially reported that violations of the housing codes, unfair wages, and labor abuses were being experienced by migrant workers throughout Utah. In 1957 the state created the “Annual Worker Plan” to oversee migrant labor in Utah and prevent bad treatment. New regulations by the state also lessened the number of children being employed in the fields, a practice that had been prevalent since the 1920s. Hispanic groups formed other programs on behalf of migrant laborers. In 1969, due to internal lobbying by Hispanics in Utah and nationwide labor movements, the Utah government started an official program called the Utah Migrant Council on behalf of migrant laborers of all races and ethnicities.

Despite these efforts, Utah continues to struggle with attracting enough migrant workers. In 1986 a research team found that disease and illness were most prevalent among migrant workers in Utah. They face low birth weight, high rates of infant mortality, tuberculosis, and measles. In 2010, the Utah Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Coalition estimated that workers entering the state earned an annual income of $7,500 per year. Migrant workers constitute the most vulnerable population within the state—the middle men between economic prosperity and economic disparity for Utah and who have little opportunity for educational, economic, or social advancements in the state.

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Ogden Union Stockyards

2019-01-25T05:49:28+00:00

The Ogden Union Stockyards, now being developed by Ogden City as a new commercial, mixed-use space, was the largest stock handling facility in Utah and one of largest in the Intermountain West.

The Ogden Union Stockyards were a significant part of the Ogden community during their operations. The stockyards were the feed stops for countless train cars containing cattle, sheep, and hogs. A good portion of these animals were sold or purchased at the stockyards. Some animals were even slaughtered and processed in the adjoining packing plant. The stockyards operated from 1916 to their eventual closure in 1971.
The initial construction of the stockyards in 1916-1917 was by the Ogden Packing and Provision Company which had greatly expanded since its founding in 1901. The new stockyards included a four-story building which housed offices and a pickling cellar. Plans for the building were drawn by the Packers’ Architectural & Engineering Company of Chicago.
In 1918, the stockyard managers put together a livestock show to help promote herds and to auction off livestock. In 1919, the Ogden Livestock Show became an annual event. (In 1955, the show was renamed the Golden Spike National Livestock Show.) By 1922, the expanded facilities included a coliseum used for the show and an exchange building to house staff for the stockyards and the livestock show. In 1926, an all new coliseum was built. In 1931, a new exchange building designed by Ogden architects Hodgson and McClenahan was built in the art deco style. It is currently the only building still standing at the stockyards.
The stockyards accepted every kind of livestock -- cattle, horses, hogs but more than anything else they dealt with sheep. The stockyards became the largest sheep center west of Omaha and, for a time, had the biggest lamb slaughtering industry in the country. The year 1945 saw the peak number of animals come through the stockyards. More than 300,000 cattle, 350,000 hogs, and 1.8 million sheep passed through the stockyards.
Ironically, 1945 also marked a steady decline in the number of livestock handled there. The yards were modernized in 1954 to accommodate increasing use of trucks to transport livestock. The outlook for the stockyards seemed to be improving during the 1960s. It was reported in 1966 that the stockyards were still feeding, watering and resting about 350,000 head of livestock en route by rail to other destinations.” However, the Swift & Co. meat processing plant closed in 1970 and the stockyards were sold by the Denver Union Stock Yards Co. to Ogden City in 1971
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Ranching and Success on Fort Hall: The Indian Stockmen’s Association

2018-06-08T03:06:17+00:00

During the 1910s, conflict and failure demarcated the relationship between the Shoshone-Bannock of Fort Hall and the federal government. To protest the government’s discriminatory policies and lack of economic opportunity, the successful Indian Stockmen’s Association was founded in 1920.

From the creation of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation until the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the reservation was controlled by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Without clearly understanding the cultural and physical needs of the Shoshone-Bannock, the BIA and on-site agents often made decisions that conflicted with local values and harmed the general welfare. For example, horses symbolized power, mobility, and strength to the Shoshone-Bannocks, who required at least ten steers as payment for just one horse. To the government, the horses were just obstacles in the way of progress. The final straw was in September 1920, when government agents quietly rounded up 1,200 horses and sold them for less than $6 apiece—to be turned into chicken feed.
Meanwhile, individual ranchers were successfully circumventing the reservation bureaucracy by communally sharing allotment lands for cattle grazing. In 1917, Thomas LeSieur, a Cherokee married to a Shoshone woman, sold his cattle for $8.45 a head, the highest price for range beef cattle in Idaho that year. Others on the reservation had also realized the economic potential cattle provided, especially Ralph Dixey and Pat Tyhee, both Shoshones. Dixey stated in 1917, “This is a cattle country; my people here are stock raisers.” Land-use policies under previous Indian agents gave preference to non-Native ranchers with the pretext that their herds were more profitable. Outraged by discriminatory policies, the loss of their horses, and the general poverty of the reservation, Dixey and Tyhee joined with other Shoshone-Bannock ranchers to form the Fort Hall Indian Stockmen’s Association (ISA) in 1921. The organization’s objectives were to protect the reservation range land, to raise better cattle and horses, to make the herds self-sustaining, to build a sales yard at Fort Hall, and to foment cooperation with white neighbors.
By the end of 1921, the ISA had about 5,000 head of cattle on the reservation. Local newspapers and ranchers were amazed by the quality of the herds. The ISA became so successful that the herdsmen built stock yards and feeders to expand the scope of their operation. Buyers came from as far away as Los Angeles to look at the cattle, but the ISA was insistent that the cattle first be sold locally. Partially, this goal would help offset costs, but it was also a useful tool to build bridges between Shoshone-Bannock ranchers and their non-Native neighbors. The cattle operation turned out to be a popular and very profitable experiment for many decades afterward and was subsequently copied by several other Native American groups in the west.
The Indian Cattlemen’s Association continued to be a powerful player in tribal economics and politics throughout the twentieth century, but today the ISA has been superseded by Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Enterprises.
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Basque Culture in Boise

2018-05-15T00:30:09+00:00

The Boise Basque Block is an entire city block dedicated to the culture and heritage of Basque in Boise and across the United States. Located along the entire length of Grove Street, this area features museums, restaurants, music events, and annual festivals. The historic block is home to one of the largest Basque communities in the United States with an estimated 16,000 residents.

Drawn to the United States by the gold rush of 1848, waves of Basque people arrived in the U.S. and settled around Los Angeles. After becoming established in southern California, their populations expanded and followed the discovery of gold to northern California and Nevada. By 1890 the Basques had moved into Oregon and southern Idaho, and by 1910 they had spread throughout the West.
Basque peoples focused their efforts on establishing themselves in the region through various economic endeavors, such as sheep herding. The Basque style of sheep herding is one of solitude in which the shepherd is out alone with only the animals that he cares for. These grazing practices helped shape the ecological landscape of the regions that were used. Furthermore, it drove the Basques to the regions and industries that they are currently in today. This is shown through their large populations in areas such as Fruitland, Idaho and Ontario, Oregon. These cities have long histories of Basque culture and deep ties to the traditions that they hold dear.
After months of this lonely schedule, men commonly rented rooms at Basque boarding houses that housed their fellow countrymen. These would be places to relax, court potential wives, and reconnect with their culture. A boarding house was the key factor in establishing what is today the Boise Basque Block. The Cyrus Jacobs/Uberuaga House served as a Basque boarding house in Boise from 1910 until 1968. Today it stands in the center of the block and is a museum dedicated to the Basque community.
With such an established Basque community in Boise centered around the Cyrus Jacobs/Uberuaga House, it was decided in 1949 to build the Basque center right next door. This place served as a location for gatherings and events as well as a location to preserve the heritage of the Basque people. Their influence began to spread throughout Boise as their population grew and various businesses and restaurants came up throughout the city.
The Boise Basque Block became such an influence on the community that in 1987 the festival of Jaialdi was held there. Jaialdi celebrates the patron saint San Ignacio of Loyola and is in an effort to educate the public of the Basque culture and be part of Basque activities. This is a festival that is held the last weekend in July every five years with an average attendance of 40,000 people. It has become a highlight for all of Basque people in the Pacific Northwest.
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Bullock v. United States: Radioactive Sheep

2018-05-08T02:41:55+00:00

The United States Nuclear Testing Program began in the 1950s and was conducted in the Nevada desert near local sheep grazing lands. The Bullock ranching family was heavily affected by the radiation in spring of 1953. Vera Bullock later recorded, “By June 4, eleven bomb tests had been conducted and our lives had been changed forever.”

It was an early, spring morning in 1953 in eastern Nevada when brothers Kern and McRae Bulloch were grazing their sheep. Just miles east of the Nevada Nuclear Testing Site, these brothers were witness to one of the largest nuclear tests performed by the United States government. Kern recorded the experience from that morning in his own words:
"I remember the day very distinctly. I was sitting with one leg cocked over my saddle horn, when I noticed some airplanes. I watched them come from the east and start to turn north over the Nevada Test Site. All at once there was a fire ball, I threw my hands over my eyes, it about blinded me, my horse darn near unloaded me, and the sheep all came together in a wad. They had dropped a bomb from the air less than 40 miles away."
Unnerved by the experience, the brothers sat talking until a convoy of military personnel traveled toward them. An officer addressed them saying, “You’re in a hell of a hot spot. Get these sheep and yourselves the hell out of here as fast as you can.” Kern and McRae moved their sheep, but with a whole outfit of supplies and sheep that only moved six miles a day, the process was slow. On the way back to Utah, the brothers noticed burns and sores on their sheep and horses.
After the Bullocks arrived at their lambing sheds in Cedar City, the sheep died in droves. Each morning, the Bullocks awoke to find more of their sheep dead than the day before. Other sheep ranchers who were in Nevada with them experienced the same strange symptoms of deaths, burns, and deformed lambs. The lambs that survived birth only lived for several hours. In total, the Bullocks lost 2,300 sheep. Local veterinarians were baffled and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was contacted. Kern was present when government scientists measured the radiation on the sheep with their Geiger counters and were stunned, “They’re so hot the needle’s about to jump the post.” Their final report was published and the cause of death determined: malnutrition. The ranchers were outraged.
The ranchers had not only lost millions of dollars, but their way of life. In 1955, Kern and five other ranchers determined to take the United States government to court. They asked that each rancher be compensated at current market price for each sheep lost. Kern’s wife Vera later wrote that before the trial an AEC attorney approached Kern. He admitted that the radiation killed the sheep, but that the AEC could never admit it because “every pregnant woman who lost a baby and every person who got sick would sue the government.” The ranchers lost the case in 1955 and the appeals case in 1982. McRae later told a newspaper reporter, “What I feel bad about is if they knew they were going to hurt us, why didn’t they warn us ahead of time?” Many families in southern Utah would ask the same question over the next several decades. Bullock v. United States was the first of a series of legal battles against the AEC for negligence
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