North Cascades

MARKETING THE WILDERNESS: DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES

Ranching: West Side

Both sheep and cattle were periodically grazed on the western side of the Cascades. The sheep grazing activity, however, originated on the east side, the herds being brought down from the summits to feed on the moist western slopes. Cattle were grazed in the upper Skagit region for a few years beginning in 1915, when a Mr. Truedell grazed his stock in the national forest. [40] In 1916 cattle were grazed on Jack Mountain, east of Ross Lake. [41] In 1917 the USFS noted that "a small portion of range up the Skagit River is being used by cattle belonging to settlers in the Skagit Valley," but in general, demand for rangeland in this region was not great. [42] Even during World War I, when the number of animals grazed in the national forests increased (in an effort to protect the United States meat supply), demand for rangeland was low. Furthermore, government funds needed to open driveways for the animals were not available. By 1921 not a single permit was issued for grazing cattle on the west side of the divide:

The reason for this lies in the fact that there are no stock animals to be grazed . . . [T]he small farmers residing within reach of the Forest keep a small herd of dairy animals but do not raise beef stock that might be profitably grazed during the summer months on National Forest lands. . . .Failure to use the grazing privilege is entirely due to the class of farmers who live near the Forest and their preference for small dairy herds is governed by the necessarily small amounts of agricultural lands in any one locality. [43]

The 1940s and 1950s did see a renewed interest in grazing on the west side at Jack Mountain, Fisher Basin, Monogram Lake, and Hidden Lake. [44] On the east side, sheep were grazed in the high country of today's park until the 1950s when the USFS changed its grazing policy. Today, on both sides of the Cascades, only backcountry hikers can be found using the meadows that once provided animals with feed.