North Cascades

MARKETING THE WILDERNESS: DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES

Ranching: East Side

Ranching, specifically cattle and sheep grazing, was another agricultural activity which occurred historically in the North Cascades. Although the number of animals grazed in this region seems minimal relative to other ranching areas in the state, this activity had a significant impact on the forest lands of the North Cascades.

Most of the grazing activity in the North Cascades occurred on the eastern slope of the mountains. The 1880s brought an expanding wool-growing industry eastward across the Cascade Range as sheep herders vied with cattle ranchers for the rapidly diminishing public grazing lands. [32] Between 1890 and 1910, millions of acres in the Northwest were set aside as forest reserves, and the year 1898 brought a moratorium on all grazing activity in these newly-protected areas. The Washington Forest Reserve, established in 1897 and encompassing a vast region spanning both sides of the North Cascades, escaped this restriction. Grazing was permitted in that forest reserve on the belief that rainfall in the northwest was sufficient enough to withstand grazing pressures there. [33] After careful study and consideration, the federal government announced a grazing policy for the region which outlined the location and general restrictions for acquiring a permit. Sheepherders were allowed to bring their animals into the forest reserve in limited numbers and:

to enter that part of the southern portion of the reserve, in Okanogan County, which is bounded on the west by the Cascade Mountains, and on the north and east by the Stehekin River and Lake Chelan; but none to be allowed in any other portion of the reserve. [34]

Other restrictions included that the individual applying for a grazing permit be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Washington.

Permits were issued sparingly, for even though the government clearly authorized grazing, it was not a popular activity with some:

The grazing of sheep in such a region as this is much to be deplored and should be prohibited so far as possible. These animals crop the grass so closely that no other stock, with the possible exception of goats, can follow in a tract over which they have grazed and find enough to subsist on, and the roots of the grass are left so exposed that in the dry summers of this region much of it is destroyed. On the hillsides and mountain slopes the effects are still worse. There not only are the grasses cropped as closely as if devoured by locusts, but the sharp hoofs of the animals so trample the steep slopes that it takes years for a tract over which they have grazed to recover its original capacity to support other stock. [35]

The problem of erosion later became a consideration in allowing sheep to graze on forest lands. Trampled slopes associated with repeated grazing were prone to erosion by melting snows. But the government felt the erosion problem to be a "trifling injury compared with the irreparable damage resulting to the forests from the fires which follow the sheep herder and his omnivorous band as constantly as foam follows in the wake of a steamer at full speed." [36] The USFS also recognized the scenic value of the region and knew that sheep and tourists did not necessarily mix:

A large portion of the Chelan National Forest [created from the Washington Forest Reserve] at the northern end of the Lake, extending to the summit [Cascade Pass], should always be reserved for the use of campers. It is a great summer resort on account of the magnificent scenery to be found there and any effort on the part of the Forest Service to place sheep on areas which are the frequent camping grounds of the tourists would certainly lead to a revival of the agitation to have the whole Forest thrown into a national park with sheep grazing excluded. [37]

USFS grazing regulations chiefly controlled sheep not cattle. The latter were not a problem in the high country on the east side. Despite a generally negative attitude toward grazing, permits were issued and the local newspaper, the Chelan Leader, was full of references regarding sheep herds on the forest in the early part of the twentieth century.

Getting sheep into the high country was no easy task. The most expeditious way to get the animals from the lowlands into the mountains was to load them on barges traveling up Lake Chelan:

During the past two years [1916-17] a good deal of range formerly inaccessible has been opened up by use of the barge now operating on the lake [1918]. This barge in 1917 carried up and down the lake about 75,000 head of sheep . . . The sheep can be carried up the lake in a day, and a very difficult drive to the summit ranges is eliminated. [38]

From the head of the lake, sheepherders, many of whom were of Spanish or Basque descent, led the animals up the Stehekin River to Bridge Creek, Maple Creek, McAlester Creek, Rainbow Creek, and other drainages where the sheep were allowed to graze until fall. As winter approached, the sheep were herded back to the head of the lake for the barge ride downlake. Usually the sheep were in the vicinity of Stehekin only one or two days while awaiting the boat. [39]

Loading sheep at boat dock on Lake Chelan, n.d.
(NOCA-Stehekin photo file: L.D. Lindsley photo)