Diary, 1912 January 1-March 31

File — Box: 2, Volume: 11

Identifier: II

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Woodbury spent the entire month of January in St. George preparing the silvical report and drawing a new contour map. The work continued into February, interrupted by meetings with the stockmen and rangers. When Woodbury returned to Enterprise on February 9 he again spent much of his time meeting with local stockmen, encouraging them to join the association. Woodbury also spent several weeks writing the report on the Pine Valley Mountain Survey completed in the summer of 1911. In March Woodbury was transferred to the Pine Valley Ranger Station. After moving his family there on March 20, he met with grazers several times to discuss regulations. On the 28th of March Woodbury assisted Supervisor Raphael in closing down the Diamond Valley Ranger Station and transferring the files to Pine Valley.
9 January. In order to prepare the silvical report, "I borrowed a manual of Rocky Mt. botany and identified several specie of shrubs that are not given in the manual of trees."
1 February. A meeting in St. George was held between the rangers and the Advisory Board of the Stockmen's Association to discuss grazing. "The boundary situation was explained by Mr. Raphael and it was the sense of the advisory board that they did not want any of the present Forest eliminated but more added to it." They also agreed on the need to build more corrals and discussed ways to equitably handle the expense of the cattle drives.
2 February. A meeting of the rangers was held to further discuss the grazing situation. Woodbury noted that "a good many questions were cleared up regarding the administration, etc."
11 February. After church a meeting of Enterprise grazers was called by L. M. Terry of the advisory board of the new Stockmen's Association. There was considerable discussion among the grazers about joining the district association or organizing a local one. "It seemed to devolve upon me to defend the general organization." At the conclusion of the meeting a vote was taken, the majority favoring the large organization.
24-25 February. At the Enterprise Ranger Station, Woodbury and Benson made poisonous baits to set out for coyotes. The method for making these baits was to form pellets from melted lard and sugar.
8 March. Supervisor Raphael, returning from Ogden, stopped at the Enterprise Ranger Station to speak with Woodbury. "He explained a good deal of what had happened of interest at the office, such as the action taken regarding the bdry. line and temporary men for summer work here with the cattle." Raphael also informed Woodbury that he would be transferred to the Pine Valley Ranger Station.
25 March. Woodbury met with local grazers to discuss regulations.
26 March. Another meeting was held during which Woodbury helped to acquaint them with the range and with Forest Service procedure. Clearing the range in preparation for the round up occupied most of Woodbury's time during May and early June. Of course there were other routine duties such as issuing permits, seeding, repairing ditches and fences, and preparing reports.
4-6 April. Woodbury worked with the new forest guard, Wm. H. Kershaw. "I gave him a Ranger's notebook and diary book, pencils, papers, etc. [and] map of Forest..."
8 April. "Last night, Kershaw decided to quit. He thot that he could not stay with the work and make anything..."
17 April. "Today, I fixed up a promise card system and went through the special used and fixed promise cards to call my attention to the duties when reports are required."
7 May. Woodbury noticed that M. E. Bracken had not paid the fee on his agricultural lease. When Woodbury inquired why "Bracken said he simply did not have the money & also he did not think the corners were properly placed." Woodbury phoned John Raphael for advise. Raphael suggested that the fee on the lease could wait until Bracken could pay but that the grazing fee had to be paid at once.
10 May. The Santa Clara and Gunlock stockmen began to drive their cattle onto the range. Stockmen in Pine Valley felt the time was not right and Woodbury agreed that the grass was too poor to support the stock.
11 May. Supervisor Raphael and Woodbury "agreed on a course of action" to keep the stock off the forest until the feed was ready.
12 May. Rangers Benson and Woodbury informed the stockmen that the cattle would not be allowed in the forest yet. In the afternoon an informal meeting of the advisory board was held at Gunlock. Together with the rangers, the board agreed to a compromise.
1 June. Woodbury was not satisfied with the round-up because too much stock had been left. He "had a long talk with [the stockmen] and explained that [the Forest Service] would have to take more restrictive measures than we have done...that is the range would have to be cleared again before the cattle were turned loose."

Dates

1912 January 1-March 31

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.