Southern Utah Folklore: Everett Ruess

"So tomorrow I take the trail again to the canyons south."

-Everett Ruess-

N.p., n.d. Web. <http://blogs.harvard.edu/cqtwo/files/2009/07/05utah600.jpg>.

In November 1934 a young man with 2 burrows wandered into the town of Escalante, Utah.  Little did people then know, this gentle wanderer would not only have an impact on the community and the area, his letters would also give a peek into their lives to future generations.

The story of Everett Ruess is a great piece of Southern Utah folklore that I have heard dozens of times since I was a young boy.  I can vividly recall trips down the "desert" south of Escalante (the Hole-in-the-Rock road), where as I drove my mind would imagine Everett alone with his burrows, leading them through that unforgiving landscape.  Where did he end up?  Did my ancestors speak to him when he came through Escalante?  I also tried to imagine where I would travel had I been him. Twenty years old and alone through 60 miles or more of the most remote country on earth, it is hard to put yourself in those shoes.

Retrieved http://old.seattletimes.com/ABPub/2009/07/04/2009419120.jpg

National Geographic has written an excellent article on the search for Everett.  For now however, I chose to take a look at Everett's experience in the small town of 1930's Escalante.  David Roberts of National Geographic paints a great picture of conditions in Escalante during that time; "The country had been mired in the Great Depression for more than five years, and no town felt the pinch of poverty more acutely than Escalante. Founded by Mormon pioneers 59 years earlier, the small settlement in southern Utah—then one of the most remote towns in the United States—had been stricken in successive summers by a plague of grasshoppers that ruined the crops and by the worst drought in nearly eight decades" (Roberts).

No doubt in this small, tight knit LDS (Mormon) community during such hard times, seeing a traveler arrive would have been very surprising.  For his young age, Everett was in fact, a very seasoned traveler, having spent the previous 4 years wandering alone all over northern New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Utah.  

Escalante circa the Great Depression

While the legend and mystery of Ruess focuses around his disappearance, as he made stops throughout the small communities of Garfield County, Utah, his letters to his parents offer a great look into farm and family life during those times.

From Bryce Canyon, Utah, Ruess describes time spent with a Mormon family in the area.  Ruess describes the family as having 9 children, their father being a ranger at Bryce Canyon.  From the book The Escalante Story we find that Ruess wrote, "This morning I rode out with one of the boys to look for a cow.  We rode all over the hills and stopped at an orchard to load up with apples.  Then I went to church, my first time in a Mormon church" (Woolsey).  It is very interesting that a traveler would spend his time helping someone find a cow, and gathering apples.  In such destitute times, agriculture and livestock would have been very valuable and important to people of the area.  Maybe it things were so bad that Ruess could see it, and felt inclined to help.  Or perhaps he was just that kind of person.  

Sheep herd near Escalante (Woolsey)

Ruess later writes his parents telling them of his trip over the mountains and into the town of Escalante.  I Escalante he described riding horses with the local boys, hunting for arrowheads, and even taking in the movie, "Death Takes a Holiday" with them (Woolsey, Roberts).  It appears that even in such times there was time for recreation, and just plain old "having fun".  Everett concludes his Escalante experience by writing, "Tonight I have been sitting by the campfire with two of my friends, eating roast venison and baked potatoes" (Woolsey).  Ruess sounded so pleased with his last night in Escalante, enjoying a couple of the main staples that the area had to offer.  The area was abundant with deer, and residents frequently filled their meat stores with venison.  Also, Escalante was once named "Potato Valley" due to the wild potato tubers that grew there, as well as the area's favorable conditions for growing potatoes.  

Davis Gulch near the Escalante River.  Near the last kown location of Ruess

From there, Ruess slips into legend.  Well, almost.  There were in fact 2 other men that saw him before he disappeared.  These men were sheepherders from Escalante that one week after he left town shared a campfire with him this time 50 miles south of Escalante.  It is also interesting that the sheepherders shared with Everett the main agricultural resource of Escalante at that time, mutton.  Well, they tried to share.  Upon offering Ruess a leg of lamb to take with him, he replied that he preferred to travel light and had plenty of chocolate and other concentrated food (Woolsey).  After departing the camp, Ruess was never seen nor heard from again.

Just as it appears that Ruess gained an attachment for the people of Escalante (and the surrounding area), it also appears that Escalante took an attachment to him!  In fact, the men of Escalante swore to his parents to, "search for him like he is one of our own" (Woolsey).  Although unsuccessful in finding him, they did find his burrows, and the inscription "NEMO" (for the Italian "no one") etched into a sandstone alcove.  Today Ruess is as deeply ingrained into the area as his etching in the sandstone.  Escalante now bears an art festival, "Everett Ruess Days" in his honor and memory.  

"Here in the utter stillness,

High on the lonely cliff-edge,

where the air is trembling with lightning, 

I have given the wind my pledge."

-Everett Ruess-

Works Cited:

Woolsey, Nethella G, and Nethella G. Woolsey. "Some Old Stories." The Escalante Story: A History of the Town of Escalante, and Description of the Surrounding Territory, Garfield County, Utah, 1875-1964. Springville: Art City Publishing Company, 1964. 414-419. Print.

Roberts, David. "Finding Everett Ruess - National Geographic Adventure Magazine." Adventure -- National Geographic. National Geographic Society, May 2009. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

Nothing Better Than a New Pair of Boots

There's nothing like a new pair of boots!  Within the last few months I bought a couple of new pairs of boots, a square toed (more of a dress style) pair, and a pair of new fire boots for my job.  There are striking differences between the 2 pairs of boots.  The square toed boots feature designed stitching, emblems sewn into the boot, and a heel and sole that are made of a composite material that also accent the boot well.  The fire boots are instead made for a functionality, to keep my feet safe in hot embers and ash.  These boots are made almost entirely of leather, with the exception of a "Vibram" sole which will not melt or burn when in direct contact with coals and embers.  These boots are more heavily sewn, but lack the flair and appearance of the cowboy boots.

Drews Boots. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016. 

One thing these boots do share in common is leather.  I also do a good bit of leather work in my spare time, building wallets, belts, and other items by tooling, staining, and stitching leather.  I love the many, many things that can be done with leather.  Products made of leather are found around us everyday, just about anywhere you go in the world.  Boots are no exception, they are extremely popular right now.  But how often does one pause and think about, just where did my boots come from?

As I look into this, I am going to use the fire boots as the subject of looking into that question. Firefighters have to meet very specific requirements when it comes to their boots, the main requirements being: all leather, Vibram sole, and 10" high top to the boot to protect the ankle and lower part of the leg.  Few manufacturers can meet these specifications.  The brand I chose is called "Drews Boots", located in Oregon.  Drew's touts a reputation of an "All American Made" product.  So as we trail the history of my pair of boots, we know now that they were hand-made in a boot shop in Oregon.  The leather that went into the boot was made in the USA.  While I cannot locate on their website exactly where in the USA their leather comes from exactly, let's look at the leather process in the US.

Tanned leather "side" "The Leather Guy." The Leather Guy, N.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.

Drews may do all the work to put together a great looking product, but they have to do some shopping themselves to obtain the leather to create their product.  Boot manufacturers seek out their leather from leather producers, often called "Tanners" or "Tanneries" where leather is prepared for the final product. A tannery such as "Horween Leather" turns an animal hide into, "tannages from our vegetable tanned Genuine Shell Cordovan to Sport Leathers and Footwear Leathers such as Chromexcel".  So just what is the role of a tannery?  The website "Leather for Us" states, "Leather is produced traditionally even today. The skin, discard  of the food industry, is "recycled" from the tanneries and processed  with advanced machinery and vast research, in such a way  to make it a  “noble” and fashionable material. There is a large number of tanneries, but the uniqueness of the result is given by the ability and the skill of experienced  craftsmen".  Just as was done in ancient times, tanners soak an animal hide, flesh it (remove all meat/flesh from the back of the hide), remove the hair, then go through the delicate process of tanning that removes fibers, grease, balances the pH levels to prohibit decay, and finally use chemicals and minerals that give the leather a desired texture and color, which will then be ready for say, a boot manufacturer.

We still are not at the answer of where the leather comes from.  The tanner receives a hide; where does the hide come from?  With the boot example, let's stick to cowhide although leathers come from various types of hide.  "Leather for us" states that, "Immediately after killing the animal, in order to avoid degradation processes in the tissues, the skin is salted, dried or refrigerated before the production process of tanning starts".  So we now know that immediately after slaughter, a cowhide is removed from the animal carcass and goes straight to a preservation mode to prepare it for the tanner.  While there is a lot of controversy about this part of the process, let's suffice it to say that cattle are slaughtered under requirements of the 1958 Humane Slaughter Act, which in it's most notable requirement calls for, " the need to have an animal completely sedated and insensible to pain. This is to minimize the suffering to the point where the animal feels nothing at all, instead losing a consciousness from which it will never awaken" (Wikipedia).  

Feedlot "Feedlot – Engorde a Corral." AGROadvance. Agroadvance, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.

From the slaughterhouse, we can trace the cow that produced the leather back to a feedlot where the cow was fed and conditioned prior to shipment for processing.  Before the feedlot these cattle arrived at such a facility from farms and ranches from all over our country.  It is really hard to say when it comes to leather if you are using a product of the small, family farmer, or that of more of a business farm or ranch.  With the mix of cattle that end up at the feedlot, there can really be no way to be sure.  

"Grass Finished Beef." James Ranch. James Ranch, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.

As I look into the process I have to wonder, how many people purchase a pair of boots and think about where the leather to make that boot came from.  Do they realize that agriculture provided the means for their fashion?  Do they realize that leather production is a very time consuming process, and that leather changes hands so many times from the farm, to feedlot, and from the slaughterhouse to the tannery, eventually to the boot manufacturer?  I would think that a detailed look into the process would sicken some people, especially when we look at the fate of the animal, along with the fairly gross process of processing a hide to create a leather product.  For myself, I find a lot of satisfaction knowing that very little (if anything at all) goes to waste when an animal is processed.  For me that hide provides comfort, safety, and style.  It gives me a whole new level of respect right down to the farmer feeding cattle on the range our in their fields.  It also amazes me that this ancient process of tanning hides and producing leather has changed very little over thousands of years, and we still use many of the same applications with leather today.  



References:

Drew's Boots | Boulet Boots | Winter Pac Boots | Drew's Boots. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.
Horween Leather Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.
"The Leather Production Process." Production Tan Leather - How Leather is Tanned for Handbags - Shoes - Clothes - Hide, Harness and Saddle - Production. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.
"Humane Slaughter Act." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.