--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Frank R. Arnold collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 33 number: 10 published: 1930-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Frank R. Arnold, “On the Road to the Grand Canyon,” *Improvement Era* 33, no. 10 (August 1930): 674–676." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3310unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3310unse start_page: 674 end_page: 676 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1930-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3310unse publication_year: 1930 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1930, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # On the Road to the Grand Canyon On the Road to the Grand Canyon By PROFESSOR FRANK R. ARNOLD Of the Utah Agricultural College KANE county is the southern climax of the string of Utah valleys that, starting with Cache, make the central por- tion of the state so prolific and di- vide it into counties. You won't learn much about Kane on the train to Marysvale, for it will be mostly filled with homerolling waves of Sanpete and Sevier people, waves that have reached as far north as down-town hotels in Salt Lake and the Temple grounds. At Marysvale you see your first yel- low pines and by that token know the southern border is drawing near. You still have to climb up , to Panguitch where the Shakespear family is in high honor, where ! j: some of the cattle men have degen- erated into poultry men, and where ! In summer they have the best win- ter climate in the world. From Panguitch you climb up still higher , to the head waters of the Sevier. .Then over the divide . down through a forest of yellow pine and oak you descend into Long Valley, into Kane county, into the head waters of the Virgin, with the head waters of the Pahreah and Kanab creek not far away, into what Texas and Oklahoma cattle buyers will tell you is the only real cattle country left in the United States, because to them a cattle country is free range and a scorn for the sheep man, as well as cattle to sell. T^HE old road to Kanab by way -*■ of Alton branches off to the left in the pines, but you had bet- ter keep on to Orderville for your first stop. Glendale with its pear trees and its Swiss looking houses covered with mahogany patina will look tempting, but Orderville has all that and more. According to Kanab people Orderville is all gul- lies and bridges, all Carrolls and Chamberlains, but just the same if you want to get the evolution of this corner of Kane county you had better stop and talk to the chief of the Esplin clan. Although now in his seventies he has the same keen eye and far sighted intelligence he had back in the seventies when as a young man he was one of the di- rectors of the United Order which held sway for over ten years in Orderville and made of the valley one vast business enterprise con- ducted by brothers who showed that Christian brotherhood may be made to pay big dividends both spiritual and material. That is the first lesson you learn in Kane county, if you start your Kane in- vestigations by a talk with Mr. Esplin. It certainly was true fifty years ago for although, after the first, families lived and ate by themselves all the land was held in common and all the trades were practised for the benefit of all. "Never since," says Mr. Esplin has Orderville had such varied busi- ness, such prosperous farms." Early in the seventies the Order- ville settlers, who had come from the Muddy country in 1871, were joined by such men as the Carrolls from Heber City, the Gales from Beaver, and the Carlings from Fill- more, all lured by the idea of a brotherhood heaven on earth. R ^he Author RANK R. ARNOLD is not a Utahn by birth, and doubtless the residents of his native locality would object to his being called a Utahn at all, but he is one, in spite of it. A professor of English at the Agri- cultural College at Logan for many years, he has made interesting studies and observations concerning the people and conditions of this state which have been new to many who were born here. Mr. Arnold has the marvelous faculty of going into a place and finding there unusual features which others have missed; of meeting people and discovering traits which, lying deep beneath the surface, have been unsuspected. Incidentally Mr. Arnold himself is one of the most interesting of beings, and we are happy to number him among the friends of the Era. Farming and stock raising, then as now, were the chief occupations, but Orderville had also a cabinet maker, a blacksmith who kept three men busy, a tannery and four shoe makers who made, repaired and exported shoes; a saw mill; a woolen mill; a tailor for men; a community brick oven and bakery; a soap maker; and a school teacher. Mr. Esplin says they were the busiest people he has ever seen. Each family had its home but work was planned by the board and money, what little there was, was handled by it. There was no luxury, no jewelry and though hardly a dozen wedding rings were to 'be seen the marriages held fast. During the brotherhood regime often as high as 4,000 bushels of wheat were raised where only 500 are produced today. The thou- sand acres of ranches and close-in farms supported a population of 500 which has today dropped to 400. The only community serv- ants left are Church members and school teachers. No more famous tanners, bakers, weavers, shoe makers nor cabinet makers. Com- munity brotherhood made a good start then but evidently human na-. ture in its imperfect state fifty years ago wanted the incentive of private property ownership. And yet Mr. Esplin finds evidences that modern life is working toward the commu- nity welfare idea, if not toward ideal brotherhood. He very perti- nently remarks that modern business demands consolidation, that the free timber, pasturage, and game of pioneer days is now being regulated by a paternal government for the best good of all. Indeed the sheep men of Orderville and Kanab who winter their sheep on the Arizona strip wish the public domain might be so efficiently reg- ulated that they would not have to pay taxes in two states and that cattle and sheep grazing interests might not do each other harm. In fact Mr. Esplin has always seen the need of brotherhood in the world The Improvement Era for August, 1930 675 and rejoices that the government is making well regulated share- holders out of us, even if it is not propagating the spirit of Christian brotherhood which made Order- ville a unique Utopia for so many years. ^V'OU still have a hangover feel- ■ ing of being in central Utah in Orderville, but when you push south, climb the Mount Carmel dugway, traverse the mesas of cedar and sand where the wheels used to sink in to their hubs, when you descend into Kanab itself then you know in very truth that you are in the Colorado river country just as much as if you were in Moab.. All is red around you, red mesas, red fields, and red mud tracks on the snow in winter which make the sidewalks look as though newly beheaded chickens, dripping with blood, had besprinkled the entire town. You see red also figurative- ly when you think of the tourist possibilities of the town as a gate- way to the. Grand .Canyon country to the south, for Kanab sits at the parting of three ways and should profit by it. Arizona has prom- ised a new road down to the Lee's Ferry Bridge. Another road goes straight down to the north rim, past Jacob's Lake where a copper mountain as big as Bingham's and with a four times higher copper content is soon to be smelted down and exported by way of Cedar City. The third road winds across the Arizona strip to the west as far as Hurricane, halting at Moc- casin and Pipe springs and con- necting the new Utah settlers at Cane Beds and Short Creek with the mother of Arizona colonies on the north. And all the people who travel these highways want to stop in Kanab for a last luxurious meal before plunging into the primitive unknown, or for baths and hotel piazzas on emerging from the wilds of northern Arizona. They will find much more in Kanab in summer and autumn than in winter or spring. In summer the tourist smacks his lips over Angora goat chops which are often served to him instead of lamb and which he enjoys in his ignorance. One man when he got home to Chicago found he had short changed the Kanab restaurant to the amount of fifty cents and so sent on the money to the res- taurant keeper and spoke joyfully and feelingly of the Kanab chops on which he seemed still to be chewing his cud. Goats are nu- merous in the county for six herds of about 3,000 each are still browsing there and every man you meet is a goat herder, a sheep herder or a cattle man. Until this year Kane had twice as many goats but has recently sold many to men in Widtsoe or around Cedar City. TN winter the visitor to Kanab A soon finds that Kanab exists solely for home folks and does not bother to grow hot-bed onions nor lettuce for the stranger. He must go to the hotel with the cowboys and expect to live on meat. He will find a most entertaining lot of cowboys sitting around the stove especially at Christmas time when they come in from the Paria and even from the farthest eastern reaches of the county. A recent Christmas fell on Sunday and so the cowboys all went down to Fre- donia, seven miles away, for the dance that began Sunday night at midnight. In honor of the eigh- teenth amendment the Arizona authorities carefully searched all cars as they arrived. Another big event for that par- ticular Christmas in Kanab was the battle royal in the opera house. Kanab may be 130 miles from a railroad but the town had all mod- ern -improvements and devices. Ringside seats on the stage that af- ternoon sold for a dollar and a half. There were 39 of them. Orchestra seats were only a dol- lar. It wasn't exactly a Chicago Dempsey affair but everybody had a good time including the man- ager's wife and baby who had ringside seats. First came two ten year old Cousin Pughs who sparred in heavy winter underwear, then two older boys held the stage, then came the battle royal between three Piutes from Moccasin, each weigh- ing about 120 lbs., and two white men one of them, a goat herder about 25 years old who must have weighed well over 200; the other, a quick, nimble young fellow with much basket ball experience. Rounds lasted only two minutes, but by the fifth the white men had lost all breath and head work, but struggled on desperately for seven more rounds. All through the battle the Indians were noble Red- skins, as small and tough as Ja- panese wrestlers and far superior to the white man in breath, science, and above all in endurance. No wonder they carried home much bacon in the form of gate receipts. TRATTLE royals, however, are only Christmas incidents in Kanab. If you want to get at the heart of the county you must talk with stock-men, men who have. rid-, den the range as far east as the Col- orado, though much of that terri- tory is invaded by sheep and cattle men from Garfield county. In spite of the fact that up in such mountain valleys as Sink, Thomp- sons, Meadow and Skumpah the best potato crops in the state are grown, and in spite of the fact that east of Kanab lies a plateau of rich red soil 100 by 60 miles inexn tent which a higher rainfall would make a most productive dry farm wheat district, in spite of all that Kane is essentially a stock county. Notwithstanding a post-war break in prices and a six years' drought Kanab Meeting House with marble corner stone brought from Grand Canyon of Colorado. 676 The Improvement Era for August, 1930 many men in the county have stuck to cattle and have received good prices. There is B. A. Riggs, for example, who has been in the cattle business for 55 years and is still running 1,500 head on the Arizona strip. He is a typical cowman, professional both in rope work and in horsemanship. Many, however, have gone into sheep and it is remarkable that with all the Kane county sheep outfits there are neither Mexican nor Bascos, for the local men suffice as herders. Neither is there ever any need of a pack string, for the sheep men can get everywhere with a wagon. There is still dissension between sheep and cattle men but never as bloody as the western story mag- azines would have you believe. One of the McDonald brothers, who owns many sheep in the coun- ty, says the only way to make peace between sheep and cattle men is to have the government take all the public domain and handle it as it does the national forests. He thinks it would be much better if the sheep and cattle men could settle matters between themselves, but he regards that as impossible. pHARLES A. PUGH of the Ka- ^ nab Stake presidency thinks that local men could settle it with great advantage to sheep men and that the present range could sup- port many more animals if prop- erly regulated. He sees no reason why sheep should not be admitted to the higher parts of cattle ranges as cattle rarely graze far from creeks or water holes. He, himself, forty years ago took some sheep over to the west side of Kanab creek to the great horror of local stock men who wanted that side of the creek to be sacred to cattle alone. And yet President Pugh argued that there was much unuti- lized range, as the cattle were not feeding far from the creek. He maintains that better regulation laws would greatly increase the number of stock in the county. President Pugh holds one of the highest potato records for Utah, having raised 831 bushels and 25 pounds to the acre in Sink Valley during the last year of the war. This doesn't come up to Califor- nia nor to Scotland but it seems a big record to Utah people and by it President Pugh won the Church prize of $1,000, as he entered the contest through the Seventies or- ganization and Bishop Israel Chamberlain testified to correct measurements. He raised them on lucerne land that had already grown one crop of potatoes, ma- nuring the land heavily with barn yard manure from corrals. He at- tributes his success to the fact that he planted a prolific variety, the Green Mountain, (anything from Vermont does well in Utah) to the altitude of 7,160 feet, to the soil free from disease, and to heavy summer rains. He had a two acre patch but selected his prize acre from the center as according to him "potatoes like company and do better in the center than on the edge of the field." With his prize money he paid first ten per cent tithing, then gave $250 to the Seventies, and the rest just slipped away. Anyway, Mrs. Pugh says she didn't get a new dress out of the windfall. "C VERYONE expects Kane to be *-** a cow county, but potatoes are a surprise. The day of the tourist although beginning as far back as Escalante and the Crossing of the Fathers is as yet far from reaching the highest possible proportions. Just now Kanab with its meeting house set on a marble corner stone illuminated by geology and its pet- rified trees as turn posts in the road is a unique, self sufficient spot, but it has in it the makings of a summer tourist center that will equal Atlantic City or Tia Juana. It has historical interest, beauti- ful surroundings and sunsets to equal anything in their line in the world. The Kaibab Forest with its fascinating herds of deer and its- wealth of tree life is not far away, and is a part of the road to the glorious, blue-hazy Grand Canyon. And the best thing about it it will always be not canyons and live stock and scenery, but home folks of the Esplin, Riggs or Pugh variety. T HOSE who love Nature can never be dull. They may have other temptations; but at least they will run no risk of being beguiled by ennui, idleness or want of occupa- tion, "to buy the merry madness of an hour with the long penitence of after-time." The love of Na- ture, again, helps us greatly to keep ourselves free from those mean and petty cares which interfere so much with calm' and peace of mind. It turns "euery ordinary walk into a morning or evening sacrifice."- — John Lubbock. What is Sunday For? (Continued from page 673) several years ago, and he has con- firmed it many times since. Many others can testify to the same ex- perience. Miners who work on Sundays are always tired out. They have little time to cultivate the better part of their >.ioral or social na- tures. If they have families, they only board with their families. They do not live and associate with the children. The mother must work Sunday, if the husband does, to a greater extent than she would if he rested. Morally, the example of "Sunday work" is very injurious to the family. When "Sunday rest" is ob- served, the ordinary drudgery is dispensed with for the day. The parents and children are dressed in their best. The family affections are cultivated and encouraged. The miners rest and are better able to do their work. As an example of this we will only mention one case of the many that we know of. The case is a foreman whom we will call Mason. Mason had followed mining for twenty years in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Mon- tana, and New Mexico. He main- tained that the force he had in a certain camp averaged twenty-five per cent better than the same number of men in any other min- ing camp in which he had ever op- erated. It came out that "Sunday rest" had been observed at the mine where he had such good results, and in all the others "Sunday work" was the custom. HT HE writer is informed by sev- ■*• eral operators from different States, who have noted the fact for a period of years, that the actual "time off duty" because of illness, of the average miner, during the year, where "Sunday work" is the rule, aggregates more time than the Sundays of the year. And further, that the miner who works Sundays (other things being equal) does not have the health, energy or endurance of the miner who works six days in the week. It is also freely admitted that the general character of the Sunday miner, as regards drinking, gam- bling, and habits of vice generally is much inferior to the one who rests Sunday. Men are more sus- ceptible to temptation when physically exhausted.