Our Pioneer Heritage
- Our Pioneer Heritage
- Volume 3
- Utah and the Pony Express
- The Pony Express
- A Tribute
- SADDLES: The saddles were made by the famous saddlery firm, headed by Israel Landis. They were light even to the stirrups. The saddle horn was short and broad and the entire saddle weighed about one-third of the ordinary frontier used saddle. A mochila or covering of leather was thrown over the saddle. Holes were cut in the mochila through which the saddle horn and cantle of the saddle projected. Four boxes of hard leather were attached to the mochila. The mail was put in these small containers which were secured with padlocks. At designated stations the keepers, who held the keys, opened the boxes. Thus it was unnecessary for the rider to change his saddle, only the mochila.
***************************************************
- Our Pioneer Heritage
- Volume 9
- The Sheep Industry in Early Utah
- Iron County
- Emigrant's Guide
- In the early 1870's James, Reuben, and Melvin Miller formed a company known as the Miller Brothers. This grew to be the largest stockraising company ever operated in this part of the country. At one time they owned about 30,000 head of sheep, branded about 1,000 calves per season, and raised many horses. Their ranches were at Scofield, Gordon Creek, Miller Creek and Huntington, where hay and grain was harvested. Farmers would borrow the horses, break them, use them a year then buy or return them, or obtain others on the same terms. Many took advantage of the arrangement. The cows were mostly Texas Longhorns. These were crossed with Durham bulls, which developed a better grade of cattle. In the early 1890's, the last two Longhorn steers were taken off the range, one with a horn spread of six feet two inches. Taken from the Cedar Mountain to the winter ranch on Miller Creek, they were fattened, killed and distributed among the sheepherders as beef. The heads were stuck between two posts in the corral and were used by the boys to test their armreach. Only a few could stretch from tip to tip of the big steer's horns. The corrals on this ranch were made of cedar posts placed in the ground with the butts as close as they could stand in a big circle, the tops tied together with rawhide. A snubbing post stood in the center. Miller Brothers held the range from Scofield to the Colorado River for about fifteen years, with little interference from other stockmen. Others came in and the range was soon overstocked. Finally the Millers sold most of their holdings as mining property. In 1877 Milo Molen brought cattle and horses into Emery County and settled on Ferron Creek. The town of Molen was named for him. Hyrum Nelson and the Bennion brothers came in 1879, and in 1880 John Loverage, all bringing cattle and horses. It was at about this time that Sam Gilson located on what was then known as the Oak Spring Ranch, between Emery and Salina. This was afterwards sold to Mr. Ireland and then to the Manti Live-stock Association, and is now owned by Landis and Wheeler as the M.& O. Ranch. One of the ten largest purebred ranches in the United States with some of the best sires that money can buy, their cattle are known throughout the West. Recently they sold 240 head of their registered heifers to George B. Cooke of Ellensburg, Washington. On May 29, 1903, the Manti National Forest was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt. This was a severe blow to the big stock-men as it became necessary to cut their herds to provide space for smaller owners, and especially to build up the range and protect the watershed. Twenty head was set as a limit. Within a few years about seventy-five percent of the livestock were moved from the county. Some stockmen sold out, while some kept their ranches and small permits; others took their stock and sheep to different areas. With the moving of the larger herds, the old-time "cow puncher" became a character of the past. -Flora Jensen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~