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Cache, Supervision.
Part or Inspection Report on the
Cache National Forest by R. P.
Imes, Chier or Operation.
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Ma 3, 1909.
In Mr. Hodges' letter or January 30 to Mr . Robert
S. Spence, Evanston, Wyoming, extract or which is attached
hereto, he has complained that the HOdges Land, Live Stock
and Eilling Company has been systematically "educed from
year to year in the number of sheep they have been allowed
to graze on the Forest. In this respect it is only neces-gary
to state that this company is in the same position as
all other companies or individuals on the Cache National
Forest as the applications ror r-razing permits are much
larger than the capacity or the Forest. It is necessary
to make a systematic reduction, which has been done.
Mr. Hodges has made special complaints abou t the
permi ts issued to Ezra Howell, l!ephi Williams, Joseph It.o rfat,
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Quill Nebeker, aleo two of his sons, Joseph and Tom.
Mr . Howell owns ::'10 acres of land wi thin four miles
or the Forest. Has f,razed 150 head of cattle on the range
for twenty years. Last year he applied as a new beginner
for a permit to graze 500 head or sheep . The maximum
allowed new beginners last year was 600 head. The approval
or Mr . Howell's permit for 50-0- -head as a new beginner, can .....
not be questioned.
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Nephi Williams owns 160 acres of improved land
within two miles of the Forest. Pas used the range for
thirty years for cattle and horses and feeds one hundred
tone of hay. Last year as a new beginner he applied to
graze 500 head of sheep on the Forest. The approval of his
permit cannot be questioned. ?
CI
Joseph Moffa.t owns 173 acres of improved land wi th-in
four miles of the Fore st. He feeds his sheep on hjs home
ranch and has used the ranp:e for cattle and horses thirty-eil'"
ht years . Last yea.r he sold his cattle, bought sheep,
and applied as a new beginner to graze 4~0 head 0f sheep
on the Forest. The approval of his permit cannot be ques.-;>
tioned • .:
The Nebeker Brothers consist of John and Hiram
who are sheep ovmers and own individual ranches , and Frank
and Horace who are attorneys in Logan, Utah. The l'ebeker
Brothers, as a firm, own the property formerly o'llped by
their father which consists of six hundred acres of farminp:
land, and twen ty-fi ve hundred acres of fall I'razinp; land.
The firm of Nebeker Brothers bought the land from the estate
after their father's death. They sold the cattle and
bought sheep· They feed the sheep on the home ranch. Last
year as new beginners this firm applied to ~raze 15RO head
on the Forest. The maximum allowed for new bel'"inners was 600
Their permit was approved for this number and they secured
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from the state a permit to 8razo 9~0 head. It apnears
that the ri~ht of the Nebeker Brothers to have tMeir
permi t approved for the.)maximum allowed new hoe-inners
cannot be questioned ,7the fact that they secured a permit
to fraze 950 head of sheep on the state land has no bearin~
on the case as it is entirely within the hands of the
state officials .
In 1907 Quill Nebeker had a permi t for 1?00 head
of sheep on Forest land and 1500 on private lands . In 190r
he applied to graze 5000 head. His permit was approved to
rraze 2000 head on the Forest and 294!'i head ()n private land.
He actually owns 5000 head of eheep and has used the ranr:e
for aheep twenty yeara and ~ra7.ed from 2500 to 5000 head .
The fact that his permit was approved for a larger nt~ror
in 1908 than in 1907 i a explained by the fact that durin!'"
1907 he had sold off a large number of his sheep and had
since bought a better p,rade of sheep . He owns 1963 . 76
acres of private land in the Forest . He was !,"ranted in
exchange for the exclusive use of this land, permits for
sheep at the rate of one and a half sheep to the acre .
In discussing this question with Mr. HOdpes re stated that
he had no idea Mr. Nebeker was such a lare-e holder of pri-vate
l and within the Forest . On receivinr thia infornation
he apparently had no complaint whatever.
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The Hodges Land, Live Stock and l'ilUne; Company
during the season of 1908 apnlied to graze 3600 head of
sheep in the Forest· Their permit was approved to rraze 2709
in Forest land and 660 head on private land, total :'5:169 head.
Thi s fact shows that the company Vias granted a permit to graze
a larger number on the Forest than was Mr. Quill Nebeker against
whom he enters the most complaint. Had Mr. Hodees owned an
equal acreae;e of' private land within the Forest to !.II'. Nebeker,
his permit would have been approved in fUll.
It appears to me that there has been no diRcriminating
ar,a.inst Mr. Hodres in the matter of grazinr unless it
be that the area on whi ell they were allowed to (,raze does
not equal in quality and area that of other applic 'tnts.
It was of course impossible to secure any data on this fact
at this time of the year. I might state, rowever, that
the annual report of Guard Christensen stated the water was
scarce on the range which this company had and that feed
on the area allotted to them was not of the very best
quali ty .
In conversation with Mr . Hodges and hie son who
herded his sheep during the summer, I was infonned that at
the time they removed their sheep from the Forest there was
considerable feed on adjacent area s they could as Vlell have
us ,'d provided Christensen had allowed them to enter and use
the feed. They stated Chri s tensen olaimed that the area they
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desired was allotted to other nheep ~razers who were
cominr on the area l ater . The orricer in charre of the
district at the time or ~y inspection told me that in hi~
judgment there was no good reason for Christensen refUsing
to allow Hodges to Graze a portion of the aroa in question
as after al l sheep were removed from the Forest t.here was
a lot of feed remaining which could as well have been used.
I informed Mr. Hodges that Mr . Clark in Christensen ' s report
had record of the fact that his al lo tment was not
of the very best and assured him that the coming season
more attention would be paid to his allotment and an effort
would be made to furnish him good and SUfficient feed f'or all
sheep he was permitted to ~raze on the Forest. I have no
doubt that Supervisor Clark and Ranrer Phelan will rive the
subject very careful attention and feel confident that Mr.
Hodges will have no complaint to make the oomingl'"razing
season . I think no special action need be taken on this
matter by the Office of Grazing a t this timefurt~er than
to write a memo to be included in a letter to Senator Smoot .
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Ex:cerpt from 1<' t ter {):f 11. 1'. !.r (1[;en tf'
.:r~ ~tnbdr .. t ")f!A:-lce , :~H~:V1~ton, "' ~.r("';"' i r.,r- ,
(l.~te\"l ~T.·1, nUar~J n(" 1000.
a~ainst the men who are pretending to run this Forest Reserve
whi ch a ffeots me financially just as bad as the ruin of my lumber
business . It is a"hout how we al"e treated v;i tJ' repo.rd to the
e:razirg of' our Sheep on the iteserve. \':e fee l th!l.t we nave been
mistreated, and "hadly di scriminated again st in thi A matter , as
well as in the lumber business .
I must fi ret elCplain, however, that Vie as a family as
you already know, have organized ourselves into !1 60rporate
Company known as the Hodges Land, Live Stock and Milling Company"
The sharehclders are all members of my own family and all are
more than 21 years old, and have always cast a good solid Repub-lican
vote.
For Beveral years previous to the Forest Officers
taklng charge of the ranE'e , we ran about 4,000 breedine-, ewes .
The first year under their control we were allowed to run ~600
ewes by their permit which to/,"ether with the number Vie were
a] lovled for our rani'e land, which we have bought from the
State, equal led about 4 , 000 head, the numbpr we wanted to carry.
Everything went right until 1907 when we were cut dOVin to about
3,200 head besides a few which wcre allowed for our own range
land . This cut compelled ue to sell off some of our sheep, and
we were only able to run two I,erds in stead of three. J aet year
the Forest officers made another cut on us of about 500 head,
and only ~ave us a permit for about ?' , 700 head of sheep in Rddi
tion to a few allowed for our State land· You can see Brother
Robert, that this treatment is ruinous to our business and has
already damar;ed us in a large amount: but this is not all that
we have suffered. They have not allowed us enoue;h range for our
sileep , after having paid for it. Last year they confined us to
a small portion of' the range where th ere was no t much feed or
water after the month of August. Water was so scarce that the
herders could not keep the sheep together, and we lost 170 head
in one night, and never have been able to find them again , although
we had men looking. for them for a month at least. Conditions
became so bact that we had to move our flocks off the Reserve
one month before our grazinr privilere expired, and for
which we had paid .
This treatment from the Forest officers is the more unbearable,
because we know that most of our neighbors are not only
not confined to their original grazing privileges, but are having
them greatly extended in thi s neif,hborhC'od.
If the Forest records were examined it would be found
the following persons have net beer' curtailed, but on the ccntrary
have had their grazjng privileges extended:- Ezra Howell,
Nephi Willj.ams, Joseph Poffat , Nebeker Bros., Quill Nebeker ,
and two of my own sons last year, viz:-Joseph and Tom sold out
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their interest in our COJ11pany and rou['"ht land and wen t into the
sheep business on their own account , and each one of them was
allowed the personal pt'ovilege of grazing about l'"'or J'ead. Quill
Nebeker and Nebeker Bros. have been the IT'ost hie-hly lavoured
of anybo~ on this range . Indeed it is corr~on talk that the
Nebeker family own this Forest Reserve. We have never heard
of their being curtailed · Nebeker Brothers e:razing nrivileges
were greatly extended last year, and Quill Nebeker 'Pas allowed
to personally graze about 6,000 head of sheep last year, whereas
on no previous year did he ever ~raze more than about ~,OOO head.
As a family we organized into a company for the better
management and control of our property. There are eleven adults
who ovm an i.nterest in our sheep, and if they were equally divided
amon~ us , we would each own less than 400 head, and then
to he curtailed at the rate of about 500 head per year on our
herds as has been the case durinF the past two years , makes us
feel as though the parti es in control of thi:3 thin£' ,':ere determined
to ruin us, and we feel this treatment particularly painful
when we know of the p'reat privileres given to Quill Nebeker
and others. n * .r,. ~.
Regreening of Cache Valley
