My Farming Heritage

Reaching back into my family history, I wanted to find the most significant time period in which my ancestor's attachment to farming changed.  My family has always had a connection to agriculture, but during my life it has been on a very small scale in comparison to generations past.  So, I sought to find the time period when it all changed, and what was behind the loss in farming and ranching that my family first had.

Escalante Utah farm ground

Let me share with you the history of my family in relation to agriculture, in order to paint a good picture of their farming and ranching in the past.  My family were like many others in Utah, Mormon pioneers who moved and settled several communities during their days. The last time they picked up and moved my ancestors settled in "Potato Valley", a valley near the head of the Escalante River in south-central Utah in 1877.  The community that they helped pioneer became known as Escalante. Though my family arrived in the area to establish a sawmill, like any other pioneer family, they still had their own farms and livestock in order to feed their families.  The land proved very favorable for them to increase their herds and farm development.  Cool conditions on the mountain also favored dairying for my ancestors, and ample water at the time along with warm, long summers meant good crop production in the valley below.  The desert country to the south provided great winter range.  My ancestors mainly grazed sheep on this landscape, although they also had good sized herds of cattle and horses.

Sheep herd on Black Ridge, near Escalante, Utah 

For this assignment, I spoke with my grandfather, Marvin Porter, who still lives in Escalante today. Before choosing a time period to examine on the "Growing a Nation" Historical Timeline, I wanted to talk with him first to identify the proper decade to research. My grandpa stated that the first hit came around 1916-1917, as his father told him. Summarizing my grandpa's words, these were the years that the Spanish Influenza hit the area especially hard.  The sheep and cattle were on winter range that winter, and many of the farmers and ranchers in town were just to sick to make the trip down to the desert to move their herds, or they were bound to home to care for their families that were inflicted.  To make matters worse, that winter was especially hard, with very deep snow.  The herds were caught in the deep snow, and without anyone there to push them to safer ground, great numbers of animals in the herds perished.

An example of the rugged winter range country south and east of Escalante.  The Henry Mountains appear in the background.

Grandpa went on to say that recovery during the 20's started to look promising, but everything changed in the late 20's, but especially more so the 1930's.  This would be the time period when most of my ancestors left farming, or drastically reduced their lands and livestock.

Summer range, near "Hog Ranch", Boulder Mountain

So what caused this change?  Well, to start off with, one doesn't have to dig very deep to notice that the 1930's would be the time period of one of our nation's most notable historical events, the Great Depression.  When this came to my mind, I first had to ask myself if an community so small and remote would have really felt the effects of the Depression that drastically.  "Not really, from what pa said", my grandpa responded when I posed the question.  "People mainly still lived off of the land. Most people were poor enough that they never really saw much of a change as far as that goes".  

So I asked him what changed.  I honestly wasn't too shocked to hear that one of the biggest factors was drought.  Growing up in Escalante, I had seen drought years and how it effected people in town. Grandpa said the drought was so persistent that springs dried up, which never did really come back, which also hurt irrigation. Years of hard grazing also took its toll, and the range conditions themselves also began to change. When it rained, severe floods gutted washes and streams.  Grandpa also pointed me to a book containing history of the area called, "The Escalante Story".  This book states that in 1922 there were about 8,850 cattle and 23,200 sheep in the valley.  By 1950, after years of drought and deteriorating range conditions, the numbers were 5,073 head of cattle and 5,896 head of sheep.  By 1963 the sheep herds were gone, and 2,452 head of cattle remained (from table located on page 138).

Another example of winter range country just south of Escalante

In comparison to the "Growing a Nation" historical timeline, one can see that drought was in fact a national problem in regards to agriculture.  Of course, we also find the Great Depression also cut back on agricultural production, advancement, and economic growth.  The Taylor Grazing Act was introduced to address grazing practices and health.  The "Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act" was also established, which helps us see that erosion problems were not just an issue that plagued my ancestors, but also a national problem.

While my family did retain a little land and a few head of sheep and cattle, they never really considered themselves farmers after those hardships and loss.  Today, much of their farm ground in the area is dry ground thick with sagebrush.  It is hard to tell they were ever there. But I will always value and cherish that pioneer heritage.

Farming today in Escalante.  Most of the agricultural production still consists of alfalfa farming and cattle ranching.

Reference:

Woolsey, Nethella Griffin, "The Escalante Story" (page 138) Copyright 1964

"Growing a Nation, The Story of American Agriculture" http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1930.htm