Beehive History, Volume 2, 1976

'BEEHIVE HISTORY

2

BEEHIVE HISTORY

2

EARLY STEAM-DRIVEN MACHINE M R THRESHINGA - ~ ~ A - S E D ON - H ~ I HINCKW, MIUARD WVNTT, IN 1901.

.

JOHN C.WEBB FARM AT

Alfalfa, Lucerne, or Just Plain Hay

. b

I

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not suitable for other mops, To produe more forage on the same amount of land most alfalfa is now irrigated.

A peremid plant, alfa'sfia produces several crags each year. When alfalfa iscut, dried out in h e fields, and babd it is usually called hay. Many bales of hay are needed to feed horses, dairy CQWS, and even some range snimals during the winter months. As a member of the legume family, alfalfa is high in the pmtein needed by all animals. It is aIso rich in minerah a d vitamins.

Once Utah farmers started growing lage alfalfa crops, they began to process and ship a h l f a seed throughout t h s West: to Colorado in 14365, Kansas In 9869, Montana in 1890, Iowa and Missouri in 1900. Many states now surpass Utah in alfalfa produ~tionbecause d longer pouring seasons, better landsd and more farmworkers and machinmy. Nevertheless, no one can deny the historic importance of Utah to the spread of dfatfa in the west.

Mare than # percent of all the cultivated land in Utah is planted inalfalfa. Why is this mop SO important ta farmers and ranchers?

What pari did Utah pIay in the history of this forage plant in the western United States T The stmy of alfalfa begins in ancient Farsia (now Iran) where i f grows wild. From there the cultivation of alfalfa spread to Greece, Rome. North Africa, Spain, and northern Europe where it fed cattle and the war horses of m a t empires. Spaniards brought aLfalfa to South America in the sixtaernth century, and it was eventually carried northward into the American Southwest.

Utah's pioneer settlers brought alfalfa seed to U&h from the Bristish Isles, Switzerland. and Califurnia Pioneer john Parry from Wales planted the first known alfalfa mop in Salt Lake City in 1850. The pioneers called the mop lucerne, the Engli* and French name for it. Later the Spanishn ~-alfalfa e -became commonly used.

Alfalfa is especidy suitedto the climate and inUtah' f'he plant mots blnrate drg weathm, heat* deeply and cold, and soils with high minerd conbnt. At first alfalfa was 'dry-farmedo n land that was

S a m s of information for this article am R Clayton.

Bmu-gh, me mabic, DifiliM Of Alfdfa (bw: B~-~ young U n i v m i t y ~sprrtmsntd ~ p p h j , 29~3).Encycloyaedio Brifpnnka and Utah Science

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magazine,

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ARTIST PAT SMITH

Lona before the Tractor The h e r ' s year began in mud. Most people would have noticed that the winter was only a little warmer, but the fa~mer-back when he farmed with hafies-hww that now the real work was just starting-Ofcourse,farm Life in that l ~ sHta l f of

1it-;$ ,'

the nineteenth century was always hard and steady; but thg pace would pick up when the wet, sticky mud climbed up a man's leg and madewalkingsome~ingofanadvenfure.

The horse-farmerT$clock was different horn the one most of us use taday, R ww

PREPARING LAND FOR SPRING PLANnNG IN UTAH VALLEY. SEAGULLS ARE AFTER EARTHWORMS UNCOVERED BY HORSE-DRAWN LEV-.

marked off not in minutes and hours but in seasons. Everything on the farm was done in season. If the farmer's imaginary clock was season-long, his year was Lightning short. It began in the spriugwith countIess chores and ended when the last of the crops were picked-sometime near Thanksgiving. The working season began a t five in the morning and ended at dark. As spring marched into summer, those working days g e w longer and

But it was not mud or plowing or even the chirp of newly arrived birds that heralded spring forthe younger members of the family.

They aU had something much more important as their own officcia1 proclamation ofthe new season. AII winter, farm children had been imprisoned in a baggy, itching, dull grey woolen torment known as winter underwear, If never fit It always hung below the pant leg. It worked out beyond the shirt cuff.

No m?tk haw much the sun shone or how deep the mud was, it was never really spring until that b t gIuriuus day of escape from that clinging woolen torture when fresh and pleasingly cool air could be felt all the way up the pant leg and shirt sIeeve. Then, at last, winter was over.

With the fences mended, the animals could now come out of the barns and into the pmhres. Samething else came out of the barns, too, that was also apart of the season: manure. Nothing was ever knowingly wasted. In t h e kitchen, for example, what the family didn't eat (andthis was not much) the pigs did. T h e waste that had accumulated all winter in the bams was pure gold-if somewhat smelly--and manure was sp~eadcarefully over the garden and the fields as far as it lasted. There was not a farmer alive who would not have accepted all the manure he conld get his hands on. Manure made Wngs grow.

A farm during the nineteenth centmy always had at least one dog that Lived by the back door and was considered one of the working members ofthe family. Most farmers

longer.

Mud meant t h e fence-mending season had come. The constant trimming, filling, and washing ofthe kemsme lamps that kept the house and barn in warm yellow light all winter would man end. The mud announced that it was time to test the sned that had been so carefully set aside t h harvest ~ Morn. The family depended on this seed and could not fiord failure in eitkex the kitchen garden or in the field. It was also t i m e to grease t h e harness and work t h e stiffness out of the winter-cold leather.

The official and generally accepted beginning of the mud or spring season was the moment the first furrow was plowed. Plowing was done, not as we observe it today, when huge multi-bottomed plows literally make the dirt fly behind huge roaring tractors, but rather with one,thinh w at a tim behind a straining team of horses. The first furrow had to be straight, too, because therest of the field was patterned on it. There were many timeswhen a less-skilIed plowman had to take a few short furrows at the end to match up with the opposite fence.

6

who had livestock considered a good dog war& as rnn& as a hired hand. Those who kqst "worthless" pets around =re hoked upon with somethimg close to contempt.

Farm dugs wem hardy -mals. They slept in the bafn during the cold winbr and out by the back d o o ~of the house the rest of the time.

They were well frained, bad as much discipline as an old sol&er, and mdd start a herd of milling sheepfanwadbefore you knew it.

Spring was also sheep-shearing season.

Mast cE the time a professional was brought in to hancl-~ut the thick, greasy winter wool away barn the unhappy a n h a l t six to eight cents a sheep. A good man with the hand shears could f i s h qne anirnd in a b u t fifteen to twenty minutes. The wool was a cash crop far t h e family. It ww stored, tightly bundled, in a comer af the granary or in the attic waiting f o the ~ best prices. The shwp, now having made their contribution to the M y income, rkn bunched in the pasture, feeling perhaps just the same as the farm children after shedding their awn version of the winter woalen~.

Each season had its own c h m . Qn most nineteenth - century b r m self-suffici&ncy was apartof life and meant doingalittle bit of e~mything~ As litkle as possible was bougbt in town. The result of this independence was unending, unvarying ritual-night and morning. In addition to the regular legwork connected with "pailing" and herding the COWS, watering the chicBcens, slopping the hogs, gr&g the beef, Haying the h o r n , cleanfng out and bedding dmn, there seepled ta be unlimited handles and ma& allaverfhefarmthatjustfit d e m o f a b o y .

They all needed turning at soine time during the day.

T h e corn mi11 had a crank; the barrel churn,t h e milk separator, the coffee grinder, all had cranks. The fanning mill had a crank.

This device for cleaning seed was a box fitted at one end with afanthatrotated like the stern wbeel of a river boat. The crank turned both the fim and a series of screens of different sizesthat vibrated and seprakd mature seed from everything else that was not needed-such as chaff, weed seeds, leaves.

The grindstone d s o had a mad. Virtually e v q tool on the farm had to b sharpened at some t h e . The old saying "dull tooIs make hard work" was fully belimed bp all goad farmers who awned mower blades, scythes,

axes, h-S. shovels, scrapers, knives, planes. saws, and a rnulfihd~of ~tharspecialize8

equfpmmt.

What did not atn by, a c d ran by tmdmill,and it was a~joqmonsight ta s e e w @ + r h sbwp or the f a d 2 dug %tting WY on a malt version o( fbe horsepowwed -~~ umd in the Md. If mud mmu-mad the atrival of spfhg, $i@.&rt&m&# the arrival of summer. With wa% w&er, theslde of the barn and outWldings became black with flies hatched out &oA qgs h i d t h swan ~ before. !%KB pqsticih had not beep dqvelapd, other mmwm were use$ to.ma$rrlthe hmds af blak ÂŁlies. A fl-p betame standard quipmt. "Sticky paper" hung eyeqwhm in the h r n h u s e in long<golden curls;.and when an unlradq fly couns too clhse, it vrias caught in the sticky coating m d held.

Outdoors. a cone-bottomd screen bax h u g Aove a dish of sour milk. After feeding in the milk, &e flies would-risein& ~q cmoO It was zlat unusual at the end-oftheday VCxsepl a quart:offlies caught in such a trap. Even So, the flies were everywhet& To entm the hck dam during &e day, o m had to fan t h e arm with a hat or cmt Ed get the black ~caatingof flies ofÂŁ W s m m dmr and then duck quickly in though the smallest opening gassibre, Still fhc flies found their way inside

WIW HAY PERRtGK IN Maffn-IERrJ UTAH.

Farm animals su£€edmmi from the nies.

The animals were constantly swinging head

and taiI, hunching their backs,pawing, snartingy and sometimes d g b rid themsehos of the pests.

Junemeant cutting hay. Mowing and raking took place in the field a d wme sepacatq ~pxations.Getting the hay into the barn 'or stack was often a full M y affair. Mother and daughter drove the team of horses on ~e large fork that hoisted *the hay into the haympw. Some farmshadoutside stacks. and the tall wood b o r n of the hay de$& (called the "Mormonderrick") would be swung over and over, grabbing huge bi- a£hay from the hayrack with the Jacksonfork pulling it up into the air, higher and higher as the stack grew.

Haying was a summer-long job that often urought neighbarn bgether. Each helped the other complete the arduous task As the cnttings progress@ through the summer, t h ~ bay would came clase~and cl~ser to the roof in the bmn, while the e-dier hay stacked below ripened, dry and dusty. And, as gym-

tm. harder, and duller. The hot, sweaty men drank gallons of water mixed with vinegar and honey, which they said was the only drink h a t Auld quench theif thirst.

After the-haywas in stacks or tucked away in the b m , then came the wheat, with much tlx same pmcea all aver again:cut the grain, burrdb it togeder with twine, stand the bundles ingroups often orso [called *'shocks") in the field to await &E threshing crew. After the w h d came tbe oats, again with more of the same.

Bending over again and again, picking up what seemed to be thousands of bundles (sheaves) af grain, made the hardiest soul wish hrarest, whidcame qdyinthe form of

rain. There were tfM Ends of F&: good and bad. A badrain a c m dwhen the hay was on the ground waiting ta cwe, ar when the thresh5tg crew was h u t to begin. A good rain came just when the monotoxly of cutting or gathering or stacking was becoming unbearable: Then, rain meant a change of pace.

Then,all the little things that had trr be done got done: sharpening &B tools, working on

NEIGHBORS OFFEM WORKED TOGETHER TO GET BIG FARM JOBS DONEr THRESHING, DtGGlNG IRRIGATION C A M E , BUttblffi BARNS,

perhaps a person could even sit d m m d Iook.at a book w a magazine-but that was d rare day. T K m was always something praductive ED do m a farm.

As summer ended, the choice of what to eat would soon be limited. Mast farm families ate only what they grew. Tbe g a d e m mas basic, Vegetables were eaten h s h m M they were g m , hen they were dom without, R mt vege tables-p~takes, c m k , md tumips-were abuLtha only produce a d d able, Wing the Iuig *fwd These wem stored id a srjoall .stone h a w s d info theground zhd mverd with earth-& "raat celler ."'Cabbageand cauliflower wwe,stmed in a pit mvmed w i d &, but auld be eaten only czn t h o s ~days when the weather warmed maugh to allow ope to pry a portion loose from the fmzen earth. All winter the only ÂŁre& fiuit was apples. It waa a lucky child who, perhaps, got an mange for Christmas.

T h e cold days brought a new season. The first bee= meant that the potatoes cauldsmn be dug and the winter msat prepared. Beef could nat be butchered until the cold was intense enough ta keep the meat from spoiling. Thus, late falI was meat W e . Untd Th&giuing the must m m o n l y sewed meat was chicken. But in late Id1 steaks and roasts would be ready and welcome, T h e h ily hog would be groomed and fattened all through thewnter for a spring appearance as ham, bacon. and chops, Most of the winter was the season for M.

Winter was aIso the season for trip after trip b m t h e modpiEe to the hungry wood stave that was mvkr cold-unt il the mud season came again. The family woodpile reached unheli~vabb size each fall and s W with unbelievable speed. %re could never be enough wood. To save wood, same fanm had aprimi~ve form af insulatian built z o u i ~ dthe f&mhuuse: a Im fence a b u t a Fao-t-auvagfmmthewallswould be put up and h u m pfbd in the space. The heat fmm the decomposingmanure saved card a h r cord of precious mdd.

Thanksgivingmarked the end of t h e farm year, agear nine months long and into which was paeked an iacmdibh amount of hard work. Those nine months had to support the family through a11 twelve and, as a result, most farmers ~f that period were tough and s e E - d u d . They had little that could be sold fur cash and even less with which to barter. They rreeded a11 that was pr~ducedon their small acreage for their o w n use, Each family produced its o m wqubments and made use of everHhing that c a m to hand, They were never rich in money or possessions, but few ever had to go without the necessities. Fewer stiIl wanted it any ether way. Tbay prized their independence, lived honorably, were saving of everything they possessed, and loved their land and their counhy.

Mr. Kusson is dErsctor~uratarof the ~ o n a l d ~men .

Hisbri~alF m and Man and His B&d Musat Utah State University.

9

The English Sparrow Immigrates to Utah to ham h e feathemr! h m l b Walkex bcothes asked- the GitY

~vatnadmt

Ths..Bglishspamow fkst',miy~d UEall in the spring of 2837 whm the. W w

@&ts.

d nmcbjants, im-

council to pats an - o r & u mpm&cSLngthe

pmkd a hunctwd paiw ad re1-d &em into the Salt Lake City sky. -8 newsman reported that British-born settlers were p1q~ed at seeing ,&liar birds that emi in dad them "of old t h e s in the n a a t b m " As the birds ware freed, pmple were

ntswciirners. S@&Bpeople p d i ~ t i d h t the Sparrowswould do more gowd &mharill d would help conbd "the insm&th t upon the h i t trees in s u ~ ~ ~ e r . " A hzbn&ed years ago kw people understood ecology ar h e w why the deUci& $;aI-

br&tets. s u ~ & ll

10

ance ofplant and animal life in Utah could be

gu~sted.Instead. Territorial Governor Cdeb B. West ssigmd into law an act providing bounties for the destruction of certain animals and birds. The new law provided a reward of ane-qu~~ter of a cent for each sparrow head presented to the muntry clerk, Frustrated in the effort to eliminate the English sparrow. me anonymous writer to the editor of the Deseret News jokingly suggested a way ta turn this pest, along with the jack rabbit, into a,some af profit for citizens snares a d hipw= to elirnfnak the 65rds. of the tedtmy: kill the pests, can them, and This deed was encouraged by a small bounty. m cash reward, offered for each sparrow ship them to the eastern market far salem head. The boy who killed the largest n u m k On a serious Ievel, a number of s i of spamows was publicly recoo-d with a. en&& a d the commissione~of agriculhwe medaL But the birds were liked by %m. had hecome candnced of the significant These "friends of the nuisance" stapped the damage that the birds were doing to the destruction of the En&* sparrow in Salt &can agricultural industry. To prevent Lake City far a time, this happening again, they suggested naBy thy f d I of 1886 newggaper headline% tional legislationto wtrkt eimpartation of foreign birds an<E m a m d were annomcbg that "the sparrow must go." The United States Department aÂŁ AgYet, the English sparraw canthued to riculture had studied the lhglish sparrow flourish in Salt Lake Valley despite flippershooting boys. legislation offering bounties and found that dl dÂŁ ih habits were b d Tbe for its elimination, national hawk-~aining little,M~dshad not eaterr wmms aad insect pests as the importers had expected. Instead, programs, and other schemes. In fact, by the end of the nineteenth century Utah residents the s p m w has izacrebed and multiplied seemed to be somewhatreluctantly acceptiqg amazingly, and hagwaxed Eat and saucy,bdt the birds. The Deseret News in 2895 noted a not an a diet of w o r n . He has lived on grain and fruit to the great disgust and cost of the report that the sparrow population in New farmers and o ~ & s t sMurk . than this,the rark had been reduced to such a low level sparrows haw p v m the friends and prothat caterpillars, lightning bugs, and beetles tectors of the' iasecis, by driving away the we2e raising havoc. This moved one Salt birds which live on w o r n . & a consequence the in~eetpests ha-ve increased as Laker to respond that while Utah was net rapidly as thesparrows im d e &sb5& where suffering from a lack of sparrows if neverthe&e latter have IocaW. less had a surpIus of the same devastating insects that were plaguing New York. Fed by The gavmmeat proposed to m i n hawks to Utah grain and fruit, the English s p w ow had kill t h e mmauders. as much interest in the insect pests "as a Prablems with the English sparrhw were tramp does for a saw and woodpile--be not unique to the Wasatch Front. This spardoesn't disturb them except it be by accirow, Passer domesticus, had been Erst introdent." d u ~ e dinto the United States in 1850 in Naw Ynrk and. later, in a number of other cities.

Ms. Bewtm is a doctoral candid at^ in history at the The sparrow had Hourished. By 1880'it was Universif y of Utah. declared a nuisance in mmt areas of the country far wasting grain, driving away song birds. and for the way it ravaged green peas.

The Indiana State Horticulture Society, for example, passed a resolution at its annual meeting declaring the EngLish sparrow a nuisance and urging its externination, By 1880 the English sparrow had become the subject of legislation in Salt Lake City.

This was not a n ordinance for theit protection as t h e Walker bmfhers had originally reupset by the new arrivals. More importmt from the farmers' point of view, those who had impartedthe sparrow seemedignorantof its feeding habits.

Within ten yeas of the arrival of the &st spamws in Utah,.residents of Salt Lake Valley began to doubt seriously the vdue ~f the feathered immigrmts from England. By the spring of l a 6 boys were tmmd lowe with

ARTIST: JON BURTON

Oliver B. Huntington and His Bees

BY A. GLEN HUMPHERYS

Bees work for free and make honey. The other source of sweet flavor in Utah Territory was expensive sugar. Cane sugar was expensive in 1890because it had to be shipped long distances by sea and railroad. So,many Utah people kept a few hives of bees and traded honey with their neighbors. One of the beekeepers who lived in SpringviIle, Utah, was Oliver Boardman Huntington. He was to help all of Utah produce more sweet honey.

As a young boy, Oliver lived in Kirtland, Ohio, and in the state of Missouri. As a young man he lived in Nauvoo, Illinois, before he and his brothers came to Utah. He Iived on a small farm in Springville where he kept a cow, put up alfalfa hay, planted a garden, and kept bees.

Oliver made his own beehives-wooden boxes with a lid on top that could be removed.

Standing upright inside the box were wooden frames that had coarse wire in the center. The bees would use their wax to make honeycombs on the wire frames. Oliver put metal strips on the corners of the frames to keep them from breaking when loaded with honey. At the front of the box near the bottom were holes for the bees to enter the hive. He made his hives so thet warm air could easily flow out near the tap. On hot days the bees fanned their wings to move the air in the hive and keep the wax honevcombs from melting.

These wood hives were easy to open and remove frames filled with honey. Then Oliver put empty frames in the hive for the bees to fill again.

The German style of beehive used in the 1850s was made of waxed rope. 'The rope was coiled on top of the lower layers and waxed in 12

p h e until a c0~8shapedhive was made.

The rope Whine is w d mthe e d l e m of the 3eebiveSate. Whan the honey was removed ÂŁram the rope hive the bes were kiITd and th~~fipe ua$rsne, Thm the hamycombs were removed with a hnt knife that melted thewax.

Wooden box hives with a lid let frames of honeycomb be remved without killing the bees. This way the hive would keep warking all summer pmducing more honey.

As; a beekeeper Oliver Huntiugton not only gathwd honey but also sold s w a m of bees. In 1888he lamed six swarms of bees t b Levi Curtis who kept the hives of bees in Holtble Creek Canyon. After four years Curtis returned six swarms of bees aswell as half the honey these six swarms had produced. That same spring Christopher WeIcack of Price, Carbon County, purchased six swarms of bees that were shipped to him by milmad expmss.

The hives were cafefully m p p e d in cloth so the bees muld not =cape dwing shipinent.

Many people were &ping bes in all parts of the territory. But. a11beekeepers had problems with a disease that would bath kill an entire hive of bees and spread to other hives. This disease was MU& fauI brood because it killed the young bas while they were still in the comb. A bekeeper cauld stop the ~ S in aBhive by waiting until after dark when aU the worker bees had returned to &e Kive and &en moving the queen bee and ail the workers to a ~Zmnhive;If this did not work the infected hives w e e burned to prevent the disease horn spreading.

AU the beekeepers in t h area ~ needed to clean up +heirhives at the s a w time or the bees would b ~ m w the d i s e a s ~from nearby hives, When aI1 the bees died in a hive other bees would come to the unguarded hive and take both the honey and the disease back ta their o w n hive.

A beekeepers organization was needed to rid aU thohives of the disease. InMarch 1892 Professor A.J. Cook of Michigan Agricultural College and be&eperA.T. Root of Medina, Ohio, came to Salt Lalce City to help salve the

OUVER B. HUNTINGTON

each county to hire inspectors to look at all the beehives and destroy those with the fouI

brood disease After the law was passed and before the 1893 season started an important association meeting was held to tell beekeepers about the new law. A notice to beekeepers published in Salt Lake, Ogden, Manti, and Logan newspapers during k r c h 1893 told of the April 10 meetingin Salt Lakg City. The beekeep~rs met in the Brick and Stone Masons Hall over the Wedern Union Telegraph Office an Main Sbet. The president, Oliver Huntington, held several sessions of the beekeepers meetings on April 10 and 11, 1893. He bid the beekeepers ahout the new inspection law, how to get rid of the disease, and how to sell their honey.

Oliver Huntington was hired during the spring of 1893 a8 the bee inspector for central Utah County. For two years he inspected every swarm of hmey bees in Provo, Springville, Mapleton, and Spanish Fork. In 1893 he inspected 3,875hives and 4estroyed 247 diseased hives. In 1854 he inspecfed 1949 sw-, visited 211 owners znd burned 18 hives. Inspection had reduced the disease. In 1896 as bee inspector he took 30 days to inspect 2,970 hives, H e earned as insp-r $60 and sold bees and honey for $80; his t d cash income for the year was $14~.00.

disease problem. They organized for the territory the Utah BeeKeeprs Association.

Oliver B, Huntington ivas m e d president and R. T.Rhes became the swretary of t h e association.

The beekeepers association was able to get ther territorial legislature ta pass a bee inspectian law in 1892. This law allawed 13

Money was bad>n getin Utah and people often paid theirbillswit&fqngmd~~fcredit at a stnm. In1W-92S, T* ~ i s and h &mpm af Chicago, Illinois. bought h o ~ d y f h gdd coins from the beakeepe& ardmd Springville. Samuel J. Chapman hmn EhiP;a@ pafd fur the honey as it was lo&d 3n a r a i h d boxcar at Springville. Qliuar Kwtington supervised &e bading of bath exhackd honey and mmb honey,The b ~ x a was r see? offmNovesnWr 3,1B92,with Z2.0.00paunds of h e y .

After the Fist seasap1 of h e bwp.ectipns the amomit of hahey shippd fioh Sppingville, Prom, ~agthn, arid Bmwn increased. The m e >Chicag6 cmnp'fny&& a railtoad car to S p r m g d e a n &toha 5,1893.

Oliver Huatingtan who had jyst m e d 70 years old, ~ ~ ~ p ~ cm m k b ah o d n in ~~ the boxcar so t h comb ~ mtbe bmbq on the ride to Chicago. 5.T.Fsb and Cosnpany sold the Utah honey on Chicggo

?ad

market to peqpje in ewtern cities and in Europe, The amount of honey sold i~ l a 3 h m just m e part of Utah County W# 34,000 pun& bf whfcb 11,OW pounds was the

high-gde comb h ~ n e ~ .

Honey was animpmhnt business in U~ during the 4 85th.Although beet sugar eventuaUy h a m e the major source of sweets, beekeeping has continued as an indusky in

t r e . Clover honey from Utah is widely

k n o w as a favofit?honey. And Utah fzmers apprmi9C m&er vital bee service; as h i t trees and see.d crop.lncr&e bes are fn demand to pollinate the b1wsbn-t~It twob as if beas will remain important in the Beehive

st&.

Dr., Humpbesp is a asuIEant for the Salt Lake eml R m e a t l m mi the d e u e h p b n t of ~Wbgekr F-Brm,a m ~ m - h k ' t o r i cfamn of 1890-3910.

ComPtp P*

The Greek Sheepmen

At t h begianing ~ of tbis century many men and hys from G r m found work in Utah m j , ~ sand an r9ilmad gangs. They had come from a pastoral people w h spent ~ the grmtes p@ qf &B year driving sheep and goats tomoH-a&insfar sumher pasture and b ~IaizrSfar winter protection. They could not have S U W . ~ Vin~ ~their bmrm, craggy land without sheep to provide d ~ food m and wool for clothing, It was hard for the immigran$ to b m m e used â&#x201A;Źa&e lonely ten? wd r a i h a h a r . calonies on the plains of Utah sagsbrmh d to long shifts working in roam of cod, their shoes ice-encru~fedwater. The young men aIso missed theh native food; c h e e s ~made from goat's miLk. yogiurt [curdled d l k b and lamb, which they could afford ~ d an y Christmas n d Eastar in ihei~ native countq-if at dl.

A few of the wwkms took advantage of this longing wd bought jmmg farilhs that they raisad and killed bef&&they k a m e yezings. dong with We I&bs they kept goats to provide milk faa &@emtiking.

Their attantion, though, was centered on sheep bmause goats can survive on sparse rough fodder and require less cam.

of Utah

To the Greeks gheep are creatures ofGad: one afthe symbals fnr Jesusis the lamb. The Bible ttses 'the lamh to denote purity: Matthew 2 5 3 3 says "And he Oesus] shall set the sheep [the good] an his right hand ...".

Before killing a lamb, Greeks made the eign of the cross in payer for a swift. unhatched death.

Many folk crtst~mswere bmugh t to Utah.

Justas they had in G-e, the ken used tufts afclean Wa&I dipped ib the film h a t formed anIQg~ fgoat . chwm'tocbw out inÂŁecfian.A b a y injmd pe&on w s krapped in Phg pelt bf a fmMy Mlad sheep. On Easter the tmdit i o d mast lamb was eaten, and them& was follmd'by an older, respected man's "md$E" *he shoulder M a d ~ x a m i n i n gthe Eries md pjttisgs on the bane to divine what the year would bring. and mare Greeks came into Utah As to work Inthe newly openedmines in Garban County3Greek boardinghouses sprang up in each cod camp rand more meat was needed.

The men began riising larger herds in en-

SoofhId, Carbon County, and the Uinta Mountains. When these areas became overgrazed, they lkased rich land around Craig and Grand Junction, Colorado, but most of h m still lived in Utah, Familes spent the three months of summer "at sheep." Mothers and daughters

1

cooked fir muwds of men, canned enough fruits and vegabIes to last their families arid sheepherders until the fallowing season, and rolled nut dough into stacks of thin sheets ta he made into cheese pastries whenever needed. Sons cut alfalfa, worked aound the summer house, weeded the garden, and tqok sappiies to sheepherders in thdr m p s among the aspen. Older boys took thetr turn as sheepherders. The very youngest children had the job of bottlefeeding the "bum" lambs (orphmed,rejcted, or the weaker of Mns.] In September the children returned to town and school and waited impatiently far their fathers-turn from marketing the , sheep. Utah sheepmen usually sold their shwp in the Kansas City stockyards. Until t h e late 1930s owners traveled with their sheep in special cars,which had s t o v e s for cooking.

These autnmnjourneys are well described by Hughie Call in The Golden Fleece, a story about a Montana sheep family.

Children could tell if t h e price of lambs was high by the gifts their fathers brought #em. And if the price was not high, there was closures outside of the towns and continued d w ~ y the s excitement ( ~havisg f their fathers to feed them on h y . This worked well and at home for two monhs or so. (Sheep on the the meat suppliers ba~ame the mostprosp=- winter range were left in t h e care of ous of immigrants until the early 192Bs. shekpherders.)The fathers msfed and visited that time many G*ek w o r k s had b e ~ n coffeehouses where they met friends, disleaving the mines and railroad gang2 and c m s ~ dthe latest news in Greek-language using their savings to go into business. M e w newspapers, and drank Turkish coffee from Greek immigrants did not take their p l w ~ smalI white cups. Soon it was time for lambbecause the s a t immigration laws of f 921 ing when the newborn needed every protecand1924hostcutoff~eirentranceinfoth~ ti~nfromcddwinds,andthecyclebegan cornby. again.

With the clc~shg~ of many Gmk boardingThe depression af the 1930$,World War houses, the m-t suppliers decided to become 4, and the deaths oftbefirst immigrant Greek sheepmen in the real*me: breeding, raising sheepmen diminished the number of Greek hay for feed, sheafinginthe sprin&md seUshmp families. There are a few thirding their animals in &a fdlin Denver, Kangeneration Greek sheep familim, howewer. sas City,and Chicago.

Although they have not kept up Ule lore and Mow the sheepmen returned to the life cndams manacted with sheep, for them they knew best b m ckijdhood, although there is only one way of Ti f d e e p raising, now their sheep were gumbered in the thousands, not in the Pens and fmenties.They ~ r s PapanikoIas, . a member of the Board of state trailed their sheep fm summering into the Histov. has publish& m.any accaudi of immigrant life and wstom in Utah.

Oquirrh Mountains,the high country mound I I

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16

Science Conquers the Dc sert

the Flelds a Century Ago

Japanese Farmers in Utah

BY JOHN

S. H SMITH

ARTIST: JON BURTON

o the ~ Atlanth Gw$ h r n Jahmi.11e9 .FZorida, tg Boston, ~ S . ~ & I W V S . Bath 18pmse an'd Cavw$w-famnerspro'fted from salt% kdl% was eagerly saugbt by buyers d

sent prices h m H b g and plrt many pmpb out of wp~kacmss fhe nation. This keunWiic disaste? plus a drought in Sanp&e Gaunt$ turned the T a p m e experience SOW. The.once-thr~hing Japanesecommunity dispers~d, leaving local residents with memories of '"many queer and appetizing dishes" s e d at s-er picnics hosted by

tant m k e & . ' In 1937the Jqmnw~~Growera Associatian was organized in cwperation with the Sdt M e br~keragkhouse of'Smithand Hamock, h that first year, ei&t members ofthe aosaciation -with 125 acres in cadiflower - mceived $45,M30 as a p u p for their l a b

the Jmpamm.

AEtbaugh drought and depression drove

them hSanpete County, the Japaneseag-

rapanes~Earmers who had bought their land fee $200 sn a m w i p d out their indebtedness w i t h the pr0fi.h&om their m p , All his the

riculâ&#x201A;Źw&stehvhere in the state was more fortmate in keeping his farming hothold.

Despite WmM War II, relocation [which brought many West Coast Japaneseto Utah and to work on f m s as laborers). arid postwar adjustments, the communitgF nf h r i can farmem of Japanese descent bas .grown.

They have introduced new and pmfitable

Japanese achiewd through their sWI and Iong h o w bf work in the fields. CauMower and cabbage require cmstant care and waterk g and a trained and alert eye to guard qainst deslructiv~pests. Local newspaper rep~rtsthat Jnpanese fmmms were making big moneytalddy park of the stmy--the end result The good f0mnb of the Japanesefztmers lasted a d y until the Great &pmsion of the

horticulturaltechniques and have develop& improved mi~tiesof vegetabI~sand f n & for the nation's dinner tables. ~ r ~mith . is presmati~nbh~~an with the .state MstoriEal

23

urah

Dai,ryingin CacPs Valley

FARM CHILDREN HAD MAMY JOBS SUCH AS TAKING MILK CANS TO THE CREAMERY EACH DAY. THIS CREAMERY WAS BUILT IN RICHFIELD. SEVJER WUICTTY, IN 1876.

Lorenzo Hansen huilt a creamery in WellsviLIe in 1899 he wanted to buy just the milk produced by each caw instead nf mnfing the cow for the season. This separated the care, f~eding,and milking of cows from the making of butter and cheese at a creamery. At first farmers resisted selling milk to Hansen.

Farm families still made their own butter and sold any surplus to local stores, But within a few years more and more farmers began selling milk to Hansen at t h e wholesale price of 80 cents per 100 pounds rrf milk.

Another private creamery was built by Samuel McMurdie in Paradise during the 1880s. An immigrant from Scotland, McMurdie bought milk from the local farmers and sold bufter and cheese under the label "Diamond M." His wife, Sarah Anne Kay McMurdie, delivered the butter and cheese in a white-tap buggy to the Logan area where it was marketed.

As mare creameries were built, farmers changed their ideas about the family cow. For e milk hth%. f isltimak p p dY

pmduced by a cow. In a sense the cow's milk became a cash crop. The farmer then had a reason to keep cows other than to produce milk, butter, and cheese for his own family.

MiZking practices changed, too. Farmers used to let their cows go dry during the winter months. Winter dairying was nut practiced.

But Lorenzo Hansen wanted to run his creamery the year amund. That encouraged farmers to keep their cows producing milk all year.

Once commercial creameries were accepted by farmers, the profession of dairying began to grow. DuaI-purpose animals (milk and beef producers] were not needed in a specialized operation. Purebred dairy stock was introduced in Cache Valley in 1883 by JohnT. Caine. H e brought a highly bred Jersey bull to Logan to mate with some grade cows he owned. Dairy farmers bred their caws to develop greater milk producers. By 1900 the first cow-testing association in Utah was organized in Cache valley with the help of the Experiment Station at Utah State A&

rn

HORSE-DRAWN WAGONS DEUVER MILK CANS TO BORDEN CONDENSED MILK FACTORY IN 1912. COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY.

BUTTER CHURN OPERATORS AT UTAH CONDENSED MILK COMPANY, RICHMOND, CACHE COUNTY, IN 1907.

COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY.

ricultural ColIege. Milk was tested for butter-

the 19703have more than 100 cows, and some more than 900. h places the cooperative idea has returned. Farmers in Minersville recent1y pooled their cows and now milk more than 1,000 cows in a community miking parlor.

And with the organization of t h e Cache Valley Dairy Association in 1942,cheesemaking on a large scaIe returned to the area.

Dairying has changed many times in t h e years since 1847. A family cow no longer bellows in the backyard of most homes. The rich cream products that once were popular on dinner tables have been replaced by lowfat milk and "slim" cottage cheese for dietconscious Americans. Cooperative summer ranch dairies were replaced by many private creameries which were followed by a few large pra~essing plants. The s m d dairy farmer is gone. Although a few hobby farmers remain, hands that still squirt miIk into an echoing milk pail are truly rare.

fat content.

Another dairying development of the early 1900s was the building of the first condensed milk plant near Richmond. The Sego Milk Company began production at the plant on March 15, 1904. That same year Lorenzo Hansen organized the Cache Valley Condensed M l k Company with a plant in Logan. These two condenseries eventually closed all the small creameries in the valley.

The condenseries could offer a better price to farmers for milk than the creameries. In 1935 three condenseries in Cache Valley paid IocaI -en about $1,320,1000.Milk had become a major source of income for farmers in the area New technology has brought continuing change to the dairy industry, but dairy farms have changed even more than d a i r y processing plants. Fewer but larger dairy operations are the present trend. The average number of cows per farm in 1924 was 3.6,Many farms of

Mr. Willie is a recent graduate in history from Utah State University.

BREEDING COWS TO DEVELOP THE BEST MILKERS LED TO YOUTH GROUPS SUCH AS THE WASATCH COUNTY DAIRY CALF CLUB OF 1925.

"YOTIwesa o h n v m y gIadwhkn the chase newearners would become just as wild 9s tha was w s r , especkUy if yau had a nice twomygades--spooky, had to catch, and difyear-oldtied to a pinyon b e . The sati&'faction ficult tn confroi when caught. you felt was not merely awing to the $18.011 Rye Bptt told hnw m e night some cawyour critter would bring if you got it wt to h e boys put a bunch af mws thy had h e n -ding up inb a small mrrd tB hdd thgtn railroad, It was also the, hunger far victory that must have made those m k boys go until the nefi day. Sjnce them were a f a after the wild bars with nothing but a spear. wlld oms in the bunch, om &the cbwbys '&dothim& else mattered but getting your eritobjected when the boss told the men to tie-a muple.dnight hores to the corraI posts*The te."

Usually the &wbQys made rides fm wild boss replied c d p , 'That carral'is made of a t t h in tlib late w h k r ' o ~eajclysping when cdars. I built it myself. They won? get out of the cows had just come through the hard part there," Shortly after midnight wne of the af the y m and were a little weak. The m m night h q shook his saddle, T h ELMU d chaed the ,critters c3n s ht, grain-fed horses. the s&-mps%md other saddle,fittings was tw They needed this advantam for even so. it much fw&e had, an$ the corn stampeded, was buch and go whether a horse carrying a They went right though that cedar h c e , taking doS~VGA panels a @wphg4o-paund saddle and a man with baob ~d chaps could overtake a Iongear running free t h ~ e ecuws to d ~ & & tbv fled. Ordinary in the rocks and bees. range cattle might stmipde at night fm trivWinter also gave the cowboy two mare ial causw, bat wfld cattle inkeased the advantages he needed. First, it was easier m Likelihond. locate the animals by their tracks. More imCowmen tried to eliminate wild stnck by pedant, when a rider jumped a critter in taking all they could capture b market*This heavy snow, it had to break the trail, The was difficult. Not every cowboy could ,batch horse had much easier p i n g just following wild critters.Trr do so requimda spkiaZ E d almg. of cowboy,both gifted and reckless. He W h h e r chasing wild cows insnow or in have one of the tap ktwrses in t b country, sand, the cowboy had only m d e a beginning clever as well as speedy. The pony had ta have zhe whole business in his h d . There when he caught up with his critter. He then had to rope it and get the caw back to the was little time. for a rider to give dimtiam ranch and so to market. Raping was a tricky when mashing through the trees &er s business in the bees, as John D. Rogers exIuaga+ plained: Charlie R ~ d d who , built up Cmm-H Ranch in San JumCaunty, gave a lively account ofhedhase: "Justc&hing.up with the wild r;attte was a sort of victory d1 in itself.

Far a cowboy cwldnY bwin tn dodge all the bees in his way. He had to hit many of them and hit them so hard that he'd break the limbs. Both horse a d riderhad to have pretty fair judgment about how big a tree and how big a Limb would break. But they could never hesitate.

"You did it partly becaue it was pour job and yoor Iiveliband depspded an it, and as you set mt you usually ra&et hated ta find the wild calfla because you knew that when you did yuu were gahg to be in fm iwme heavy bruises. It was deadly earnest business, But once you got underway, both you and the h m e gat the fml of it, md then t h e excitement swept you along, and nothing but a crippling pile-up wuld stop you.

ARTIST: J. ROMAN ANDRUS

-

ARTIST: J. ROMAN ANDRUS

"You cauldn't ray that rope on in m y fancy way like these trick ropm in the md-sas because of the thick h m . Here's whe* a good fast tree horse e a r ~ ~ ehis d money. He'd get you right up them, bornpin' an the dm's heels where you could lean over and layyaur loop right aver his horns easy like, Then you'd bust him. When bis head whipped amund behind him and his belly went into the air,if youhurriad you wuld g ~ t ~ h ihogm tied before he even Med to get up.

"Of came, a cowboy was in luckif he got his steer hogtied in those few seconds, because any critter alder f i a a a catf 01p~din' m u 1d most likely get up full of fight. Oldm cows and steershnd long, s h p horns which were wicked and vicious, and a bull's strength md quickness could give you a scare. But a good horse would keep the rope taut and the animal stref~hedout. Widnut that perhaps yau*d just as weU sot try.''

Gradually the punchers worked out a routine for handling the wild animals, The first step after hogtying was to get rid ofthose murderous horns. Clarence Rogers described the technique this way: "Every puncher carried a small k~yhole 30

to his saddle, and a soan as he had a critter hogtied he'd cut of€ his h m with this saw, leaving only shart stubs, just long enough to keep a hehdrope from slipping off. Once he'd sawed off those horns and drawed up the headrope tight under the stubs, he'd tie a h o t around the nearest pinyon, not too tight but what the rope would slip 'round the tree when the animal circled it, and then untie the critter's Iags. Of course, the brute would fight the tree and rope, but the more he fought, the more tender his head became at the base of the h a m and the better ha was gentled for Imding out when the time came. UstdIy you'd Ieave your tied up for a day or two, but if it w& a bull or some other big stout animal, you might leave it longer."'

Cutkg o£€the critter's h m s and "gentlid him downq'were essential steps, hecause the next phase in the muthe was leading the animal off to a holding pen. John 13. Rogers explained this pat: "You didn't need to bring your k t horse 'cause most my horse could lead a steer if 4e b w hk business, He*d have to crowd the steer, wMch was snubbed right up to your saw in a scabbard tied

saddle horn. The steer would rear back, and push, and b y to hook, but you'd cut off his horns to pmvent that hookin'. He'd jump around, but the horse wadd keep crowdin' him. When the stem would break brua,why the horse w ~ u l d go with him,add when he'd stop and st& pImW again, t 4 e h m s w d d just keep crawdin' hhn.

"Of cdmse, a man and hi$ horse, got bruised aplenty by those stub horns, and the p u d ~ e r ' sright leg was black and blue clear downto his d e , But ifhis ho~se,hew when to crowd and when to give, he muld .gen&dly handlethe cdttew. We"dlead them doto where we had a IWe ho1hg cmyon fenced off under &a rim, They% find a lift113 grass and water in there, and we*dleave them in for a few clays and then if we'd gathered enough, we?dteach h e m to drive and take

am out to m.*'

What the crittershad to learnfar the drive into tom was to heed a man on a horse-to turn when he rode out i n h n t of khern. If a critter broke fram the hunch and refwd to turn a c o w b y roped it and led it back. Sametimes this happened five or six times, But gradually mast OF the critters learned that they had to turn for a horse. Then they were ready to be &vfin tn town.

The wild cows had been chased,roped. hogtied, dehorned, tied to a tree, led on a short ropa to a holding pen, and taught how drive. Despite dI &is, wh.en the bars were dropped m d the herd was headed fm town, t h e was generally some headstrong old antlaw that gut away.

Mr. Yousg is professor emerItuS nf &ngli%hat Brigham YoungUniwrsity. A 10m i o n of this dcle was publishbd in the mmmm 2964 issue d Utah Historical Qunrterfy.

ARTIST: J. ROMAN ANMU%

at Forest Farm

W S AND BW-S NOW WVER W E *SWFORESf FARM. THE OCD FAlWHOtlSE TO PIONEER TRdtLS STATE PARK, fS A REMINDER OF THE AGR1CUtTURAL ~ F U M E M T SOF B R l b W W N G AND OTHER EARLY UTAH FARMEW.

3

What kinds of %ts, vegetables, and other pIants can be grown in Utah? To answer this question, early settlers planted many kinds of seeds they had brought h m the eastern United States and fmm other countries. Brigham Young's Forest Farm in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake City was one pIace where large experimental plantings were made.

Forest Farm got its name horn the many trees that Brigham Young had planted there. Walnut trees lined the long driveway up to the farmhouse. Apple, plum, peach, apricot, pear, and cherry trees filled the orchards with sweet fruits. Ash and locust bees were grown to provide wood for furnitureand tools. And, in a famous experiment, 25 acres of mulberry trees were pIaated and an oriental cocoonery built. The mulberry trees were to feed silkworms imported from France.

Although some silk cloth was made, this experiment was not too successful.

Brigham Young was proud of the crops produced on this farm and brought visitors out to see how the experimental farm was run. Alfalfa, sugar beets, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables were harvested each year. At the 1860 fair sponsored by the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, Brigham Young won more prizes than anyone. His apples and strawberries took four awards. Prize vegetables included tomatoes, cabbage, celery, carrots, c a d flower, parsnips. onions, peppers, eggplant, squash, and kohlrabi. Two unusual prize-winners were Chinese sugar cane and chufa nut, an edible Ahican root.

Success at farming meant survival to the early settlers. The experiments at Forest Farm and an other farms in the territory proved that many hits, vegetables, and other crops could be grown in Utah's semiarid climate.

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