Diary, 1916 September 16-1917 February 28, 1917 April 8-April 30

File — Box: 2, Volume: 21

Identifier: II

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

In September, October and November Woodbury made lands inspections and boundary surveys near the Buffalo River, and in the Caribou and Dixie National Forests. He returned to Ogden to prepare land classification reports, where, on January 8, he was transferred to the Fillmore Forest as forest ranger. He was stationed in Oak City. Through most of January, 1917 he prepared the new headquarters and familiarized himself with the problems of the area. The greatest problem appeared to be conflicts with local grazers. Woodbury met frequently with the stockmen about trespassing and exceeding their permits. He also worked to organize stockmen's associations. Entries for the month of March appear in the next diary book.

21 January, 1917. "No official service. I did a little effective Forest Service advertising however. In church here at Oak City, the bishop asked me to talk and in the course of my talk I took occasion to explain the organization of the Forest Service and some of the aims and policies of the Service that affect their interests. After meeting a very cordial spirit prevailed and we discussed a number of phases of the work with the leading men of the town."
24 January. Woodbury discussed a possible trespass case with Mr. McCune. "He was quite beligerent at first, but after jollying him for a while, he got into better humor and we talked over the situation and the probabilities of trespass upon the Forest."
27 January. Woodbury rode to Delta to "get me a new Ford car."
29 January. Woodbury met with George Finlinson, one of the leading cattlemen of the area to discuss grazing regulations.
27 February. "I had it advertised in Church that I would hold a meeting with the stockmen tonight to discuss range problems." (There is no description of the meeting.)
10 April. "Met Supervisor Raphael [in Holden] and later, Mr. Welch, Millard County farm demonstrator arrived and he, Raphael and I discussed ways and means of consolidating the farmers and stockmen's associations, but could find no practical solution." Afterwards they attended a farmers' meeting.
11 April. Raphael, Welch and Woodbury attended a similar meeting in Scipio.
13 April. Woodbury and Forest Guard, Chase Trimble, met with W. R. Thompson and Carl Brown, members of the Pioneer Advisory Board from Scipio to discuss salting and herding. No agreement was reached.
14 April. Woodbury met with a committee of stockmen in Scipio to discuss dividing the spring and summer. After much discussion they agreed in principle to Woodbury's suggestion on fencing. But, "when we came to work out the details and provide for the fencing we found a stumbling block which we could not surmount." None of the stockmen were willing to assume the responsibility for collecting the funds necessary to build the fence and to pay a herder "unless the Service would back them up, which we cannot do until they are organized." The final arrangement, Woodbury wrote "was that each man would look after his own stock...I promised jocularly to make it as miserable for them as possible. The meeting adjourned at 11 p.m."
15 April. Woodbury talked with Marvin Hatch "for a couple of hours explaining our grazing plans and policies."
17 April. In preparation for a meeting with the grazers of Oak City, Woodbury computed how many permits and the number of stock from each of the towns surrounding Oak Creek Division. He put this information on the blackboard so all attending the meeting could see it. "During the meeting the Articles of Association were read, the blanks filled and certain changes made and they were then adopted. Officers were elected and the meeting adjourned." The newly formed association was not equipped to handle clerical work so Woodbury offered to type up the Articles of Association in the Forest Service Office.
19 April. "Telephoned Leland Kimball about protecting Yuba Dam and canals."
25 April. Woodbury visited the King Silver Copper Mining Co. and "looked at some of their workings with H. P. King."
26 April. "Talked with Ben Stephenson & his father about methods of handling the cattle business in this vicinity. Worked some on a paper for future use concerning improved methods of handling the grazing of cattle on the Forest."
28 April. "I held a session with Geo. Nixon Jr. and Ben Stephenson, a part of the committee appointed by a meeting some time ago to deal with me on the division of spring & summer range."
30 April. "Read mail including that concerning the collection of military information."

Dates

1916 September 16-1917 February 28
1917 April 8-April 30

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