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Barbara Joy (Vanderwest) Atkin | Oral History
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Barbara Joy (Vanderweyst) Atkin was interviewed on February 2, 2005 in St. George, Washington County, Utah by Milton Hokanson, a representative of the Grand Canyon-Parashaunt National Monument Oral History Project. She related her experiences on the Arizona Strip, Mohave County, Arizona.
MH: You said your family moved [to St. George] when you were quite young. When was that?
BJA: I was in the fifth grade when we moved here. [1939]
MH: Where [did you move] from?
BJA: [We moved] from the northwest. [My family was involved in] road construction. We had [lived] all over.
MH: [Did] you finish school here?
BJA: I did, but I never finished college. I married after one year of college. Then I [became] involved [with] the Atkin ranching family, and from there on [my time] has been [spent] ranching. [Laughter]
MH: Was your husband [Rudger] Clayton [Atkin]?
BJA: Right.
MH: Your ranching operation is to the south on the Arizona Strip bordering [part of the Grand Canyon]-Parashaunt [National] Monument. Tell a little bit about when you first went out [to] the [Arizona] Strip.
BJA: The first time I went out on the [Arizona] Strip was to accompany a trumpet player [Greg Snow, who] was going out to attend church at Mt. Trumbull near Bundyville. We had a flat tire [on the way]. Clayton came by and helped change the tire. That was my introduction to the Arizona Strip!
MH: You met Clayton over a flat tire! [Laughter] What was going on, a concert at Mt. Trumbull?
BJA: No, just church services.
MH: You married Clayton and how many children [did you have]?
BJA: We have four sons. [Jerry, Brent, Doyle and Troy]
MH: How many of them are involved in the ranching operation? I know that all of them are quite successful.
BJA: They all started out [young] learning to drive a truck. The oldest one [Jerry] learned [to drive] by [the time he was] eight years old. The others thought they should too. Jerry drove the truck at eight. Jerry knew fairly early there was not room for all of them [at the ranch], so he started working in town. The second boy, Brent, was the one [who] had a great love and much talent with cattle. He [could] identify a cow [or] calf almost immediately ─ even when he was driving the big herd.
MH: That is a talent.
BJA: It is. That is a talent. It was his family that took over the ranch until his death. Now we are looking forward to his sons [who] want to carry on. Who knows what is ahead for them? [Laughter]
MH: [Inaudible]
BJA: Doyle is the next one, the third in line. He did not have to take the responsibility as early as the others. The youngest son [Troy] is seven years younger. He worked the ranch until he finally decided that Brent had enough ownership in it and that maybe that was not the way for him to go. He has been a great deal of help to me since Brent’s death because he knows the ranch [so] well.
MH: Was Clayton’s father, Rudger [Clawson Atkin]?
BJA: That is right.
MH: How did he get started on the [Arizona] Strip?
BJA: It started [with] the [two] generations before, his [grandfather William Atkin and his] father, Joseph Atkin, down at Atkinville [Washington County, Utah].
MH: [That] is now [Sun River].
BJA: [It] is now [Sun River] and [that is] where they started. They started moving toward the [Arizona] Strip with [each] generation. When we were [first] married, we did not have a big outfit. Rudger and his brothers, Anthony and “Joe” [Joseph], were partners. They split up soon after we married. Rudger and Clayton went one way and “Joe” and Anthony the other way. [There] were small ranchers, homesteaders, and we spent most of our lifetime buying different allotments until we felt like we had an operation that would support [us] and not [be] so big that we needed lots of help, but big enough that we could manage. There is a permit of about 1,500 [head of cattle year round].
MH: What breed of cattle are you running?
BJA: We started out with straight Herefords. Then we [began] doing some cross breeding with Angus and Red Salers. [There was] one thing that made quite a bit of difference in the operation. When Brent finished [college at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah County, Utah, he] spent quite a lot of time [living] in the sheep wagon calving heifers. He finally decided we [should] get some [Longhorn] bulls and breed to [those] first-calf heifers [to alleviate calving problems].
MH: [Do] you still have some Longhorns out there?
BJA: We do. It works well. We do not have to pull [help with the birth of] her calf. The [Longhorn breeds] little [calves] on those first-calf heifers. We [wean] them off by late April or early May [and sell them] for roping calves. That gives the young heifers the opportunity to [grow] out [and breed back without a calf to nurse].
MH: Do you run your bulls with [the] cows all the time?
BJA: No. We put them in when they need to be [there for breeding, about the first of May].
MH: How do you get your calves to market? Do you truck them in to St. George or do you have the buyer go out [to the ranch]?
BJA: We had several buyers that knew our cattle. They got to where they didn’t need to go look at them. We [would] just call them and tell them what we had [available]. We used bobtails [two and two-one-half ton trucks] to bring them out for a long time. As the business developed, we ended up with big [semi]-trucks. We had big trucks come from California to take them out. I used to get in the truck with them and take them out. Clayton didn’t want them to get lost [in an area] where they couldn’t turn around. [Laughter] It is a good country to run cattle in. We had lots of challenges with the drought. That will probably always be that way.
MH: I suspect it will. What was or is the Atkin brand?
BJA: We have had a number through the years. [Laughter] Right now we use a top hat to brand. We used J-T-A, LU, 44 and Flying Z. [Laughter]
MH: Do you still use horses to gather [round up] the cattle]?
BJA: Yes, we do. We do have a four-wheeler that we use. It saves lots of miles on [the] legs, especially in [that] country [in] the summer. It is more of a challenge to get into [the areas]. As big as the outfit is, 300 square miles, you have to have lots of good horses. [This range is intermingled with federal land permits, state leases, and private land.]
MH: [Do] you get [involved with] the horse end of [the ranch]?
BJA: I get [involved with] the horses, but not the running horses. [Laughter]
MH: Do you have a favorite saddle maker?
BJA: If you take good care of your saddles, they last a long time. We have a Gray Wilkins saddle or two. We have some [youngsters who] won saddles in high school and college rodeoing. Once in awhile, we have to invest [in one], but a good saddle lasts almost a lifetime.
MH: If it is taken care of.
BJA: Yes.
MH: Did any of your children ever attend school at the Bundyville School?
BJA: No. We never did [actually] live out there. We have always had a home [in St. George]. We [owned] the old [Frank] Childers’s ranch home that was built by the Childers family. When they first went out there, they lived in a cave underground. That would have been a challenge for me. The remains were still there when we bought it. The reason they left was [because] one of their sons shot himself out there. When we [bought] it, we re-did the floors and wallpapered the [walls]. Mrs. [Bertie] Childers would never come back, even after we fixed it up.
MH: She would not come back?
BJA: Now it has been torn down and the remains burned up. We [work] out of a location [in the] Main Street [Valley].
MH: Yes, you have a place [in] Main Street [Valley].
BJA: Yes. We had an old [place] that had just two rooms. We added on to it in the late 1960s. We had a couple, [C. R. and Linda Barbier, who were] working for us about ten or twelve years ago. We built a new home out there with water and a bathroom. Before that, all we had was the path! [Laughter]
MH: Do you remember some of the characters you met out on the [Arizona] Strip? Does anybody stand out in your mind, a particularly good cowboy or character?
BJA: We had an inspector [Henry Fergason] [who] was quite a character. He had advanced from horseback to a pickup. There were times when I was out there
with babies and little boys. [If] I had a sick boy when he came by to inspect, he would say “Wait another day or two, and if he doesn’t feel better then, ya’ better take him to town. Maybe he is getting the chicken pox or the measles.” He liked his beer and he usually came out with a cold beer, and he would offer [one]. Being [members of] The Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], we weren’t interested. [Laughter] He was a good figure that moved in there. I remember when one of the [boys] had the mumps. “Slim” Waring was headed to town and we stopped the pickup to visit [with him]. All of a sudden, Clayton said something about the mumps and he said, “I’ve never had the mumps” and away he went! [Laughter]
MH: [Laughter]
BJA: He did not want anything to do with the mumps!
MH: Did you know [Jonathon Deyo] “Slim” and Mary [Waring]?
BJA: Yes. Later, [Mary] was [living] down in the Flagstaff [Arizona] area. We stopped to see her there. You probably know [that] she died down in Texas.
MH: When was the last time people were permanently living around Bundyville and that area?
BJA: We do not go as far south as Bundyville. I can’t tell you for sure; I could guess. The only time that we had anyone live permanently on our ranch was when the couple lived there. I keep in touch with her all the time. Her husband was an old bull rider. You [could] take him to a rodeo and he would double up his fist and [ride] with every one of them. [Laughter] He died this last year and she is [living] with a son in Wyoming. [They were] good people [who] worked for us.
MH: Did your boys spend their summers on the [Arizona] Strip on the ranch?
BJA: Yes, [we were] out [and] back all the time.
MH: Have you seen some improvements on the roads over the years?
BJA: There has been. But it is like the Santa Clara [River] floods. There are times when you have a dust bowl to drive through and there are [times when there are] slick spots no matter what. They have improved with the spray [that] they put on [the roads], but it has its drawbacks too. We had a pickup with problems this year. If there is any moisture, it throws it up under the pickup. It shuts off the circulating system under the pickup and we had a $1,500.00 garage bill.
MH: That hurts!
BJA: We have a steam washer now at our feed-yard to keep [the truck] clean underneath. But that sealant [presents] an interesting [problem].
MH: That is something I had not heard [about]. Was anyone running sheep out there when you were there?
BJA: Yes. They had a regular designated trail out on the [Arizona] Strip up to Cedar Mountain [Iron County, Utah].
MH: When [was] the last sheep [to] come off [from] there?
BJA: The Atkin sheep came off while Clayton was in the [United States] Navy during World War II. I would guess [that] was six or eight years after I [went] out there. [We were] building lots of fences out there at that time.
MH: Was the store at Wolf Hole was gone by the time you [went] out there?
BJA: Yes.
MH: Did you see any of the wild pigs that were supposed to be out there?
BJA: [There were] wild pigs and wild turkeys on Mt. Trumbull.
MH: I have been told [that] there are [also] some around Black Rock.
BJA: That is where [Atkin] sheep were at one time.
[TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF]
BJA: I never had much to do because, by the time I was around, there was not any connection to Black Rock. I have a picture [painted by] Tom Featherstone Watson. He was herding sheep up there. Rudger came out [from town] to [Black Rock] with a new bedroll. Tom cut a piece out of that new canvas and painted [a] picture of Black Rock.
MH: On the canvas? You still have that?
BJA: Yes, I do. Clayton said if you knew our mules, you would know which one was in the picture. [Laughter]
MH: They [used] mules as well as horses?
BJA: They did evidently with sheep. They have not [used mules] since I have been there.
MH: Do you use dogs in your operation?
BJA: No. We talked about it. The boys thought about it, but no.
MH: Some people do and some do not.
BJA: That is right. A well trained dog is fine, but he did not want [to keep] dogs in town. If they were left alone out there, [that] was not good.
MH: Did you ever have trouble with predators like coyotes and mountain lions?
BJA: Yes.
MH: [Inaudible]
BJA: Yes. We lost a colt and a mare three years ago out on [the] west side.
MH: How long does it take you [to go] from your home in St. George to the ranch?
BJA: It depends if we are loaded or whether we leave from [the house] or the feed-yard. [It takes] forty-five minutes to one hour.
MH: That is considerably shorter than the first time you went out there!
BJA: Definitely! [The road] to the top of the Quail Dugway has been improved enough the last few years and the protective barriers they have [placed] there are a good thing.
MH: What was your funniest experience on the [Arizona] Strip?
BJA: I do not know if that is a fair question! [Laughter]
MH: [Laughter] There must be a personal family joke!
BJA: I could tell one. [Laughing] When we were out there, Clayton’s folks, especially his mother [Leona (Cox) Atkin], would come if she knew I was going to be there. Grandpa [Rudger Atkin] [would come if he] knew I was cooking a leg of lamb. He was still a sheep [inaudible] to that. They came out one morning with Ralph [Atkin], their youngest son. We were living at the Childers place and could see the truck coming south. All of a sudden, we could not see [the truck but] there was a big cloud of dirt in the air. He had tipped [the truck] over! They had a couple gallons of milk in the front of the pickup. You have never seen such a milky mess! [Laughter]
MH: [Laughter] No one was hurt?
BJA: No one was hurt. It was just a mess and we laughed! [Laughter] Grandpa!
MH: [Inaudible]
BJA: We had no communication [out there] for years until Brent married. He and his [about] two year old son [Brandon Atkin] did not come home one night. [Nanette, his wife,] called and was fit to be tied. They went out to hunt [for] them at night. They went as far as they could go and turned around and the lights hit on the pickup [that they were in]. They were just fine. They had no problem. They had bedded down in the pickup. There is a communication system now. There is a repeater out here on [Seegmiller] Hill and there is a radio system for us. Sometimes it does not work because lightning will knock it out. You have to be in the right spot to get through with a cell phone.
MH: They are spotty.
BJA: She demanded [but] I had [learned to] live with it. Finally, I knew there was not anything I could do about it so I [did] not worry. If something came up that they had to stay, they had to stay.
MH: Interesting. The history of the [Arizona] Strip can be written about the women who waited for the men and had to accept [life] as it was.
BJA: With four sons, it was not my nature to stay at home alone, so I worked right [along] with them a lot of the time when they were out of school. One fall, they were making movies here [in St. George], and there wasn’t [any] help available. Clayton and I would work all day, then come home and get the [boys] situated and [ready] for school. Then we would go back for the next day. We did all the gathering [rounding up] that fall. I enjoyed my family tremendously.
MH: Do you think that was a good place for the [boys] to grow up?
BJA: You know [it] was! [Laughter] That was a wonderful place. You never had to worry if they would eat what you put on the table. They were hungry!
MH: There wasn’t a restaurant down the street!
BJA: They learned responsibility early and were good help. We would pay them $1.00 for each of their years of age. At the age of six, they learned they [could get] $6.00 a day if they put in a big day, and they did [that] a lot. You put a young boy on a good horse and [he] can help you move cattle all day. Sometimes we would trade. We had a pickup [out on the range] with us and they would take turns getting in [the truck].
MH: If you start driving a truck at eight [years old] you are growing up fast!
BJA: Yes. I guess the scariest time on the [Arizona] Strip for me was when I had a runaway [horse while] on Grandpa Rudger’s big old red horse. Clayton had been riding the horse and [needed to] fix a cattle guard. He got off the horse and said, “Joy, why don’t you come and stay along behind the cattle.” I did not have boots on that day, but I got on [the horse]. He was one you [had] better hold [tightly]. Clayton warned me, “Do not let him get going.” I had to get up with the cattle. [He did get running but] I did not get thrown, but I shook for a whole week after that! [Laughter]
MH: Apparently you got him shut down!
BJA: Finally I just stood [up in] the stirrups and pulled on his mouth. He was not that bad of a horse. He just liked to run! [Laughter]
MH: Are your grandchildren spending time on the ranch?
BJA: Yes.
MH: [Are] any of them involved in high school rodeos?
BJA: You bet! [Laughter]
MH: Are they competing with the Bundy group? [Laughter]
BJA: Yes, our family grew up with high school rodeos. I helped as [an] adult supervisor for years. Brent’s two oldest children [Brandon and T. J.] are through [high school]. T. J. is competing [on the] college rodeo [circuit] this year. The next two [Kimberli and Conner] [compete in] high school rodeos, and then there are the two youngest ones [Tanner and Whitni who take park in junior rodeos]. Our youngest son, Troy, has a daughter [Dallen] that competes. He has two younger children [Austin and Haley]. One of them will probably be [competing] next year. Brent was the student president of National Collegiate Rodeo. Doyle competed in high school and college rodeo, but he has girls. The girls are some of the toughest competitors [but are not interested in rodeos].
MH: I was going to ask you about the granddaughters. Do they spend time out there?
BJA: Yes. Brent [has] one sixteen [year old] daughter [Kimberli] who has asthma and allergy problems, but she is feeding some show steers right now. Yes, they all take part. That is part of [being in] our family, learning to work.
MH: Cows [come] first! [Laughter] Now here comes the philosophical question. What is it about the [Arizona] Strip that people who [have] spent time there love it so much? It is apparent there is something special about that place.
BJA: It just gets in your blood [when] you live and work out there. How could you be closer to your children and your family? Many times, when we were waiting for the older ones and Clayton to come through with cattle, I would sit down with the [younger children] and help them make [play] corrals out of rocks and sticks. It is the quiet time together. You do not have interruptions. [Not] everybody would enjoy that type of life, but I did.
MH: Not everybody gets the chance to see it.
BJA: As things have turned out, it is probably a blessing that I was there with the ranching operation after losing a son [Brent] and [my] husband within six or seven months. They were the ranchers. I have been able to go along with the grandchildren’s desire to keep it going. Not that we have made all the right moves, but the grandchildren have learned some lessons. I have felt bad about [some] of them. [Laughter]
I think in this day and age, when everything [moves] so fast, it is still a place that you have to move at a cow’s speed. It is a time for children to learn lessons. Right after Brent’s death, we were gathering [rounding up] cattle. Troy took his family out; they all ride. They [had] the younger boy stay with the cattle and they fanned out to bring the cattle in. He dropped his bridle reins. He was just a small [boy]. He got off [the horse] but did not know how he was going to get back on. They have cell phones in their family and that is how they communicate. They did not have them out there at that time. By the time they came back in with more cattle, he had finally figured out how to get up on a big rock and get back up on that horse.
MH: He solved the problem himself.
BJA: Troy said, “Mom, it has been a while since I have been out here working. But today I realized that he had to think his way through it. He could not say, ‘Dad what am I going to do? Or Mom help me.’” Those are the values I think we see.
MH: That is a great answer. Now the next one I [inaudible] about. Given the fact that the [Grand Canyon-Parashaunt National] Monument exists, how would you like to see it managed and administered?
BJA: That is a tough one. I think it is because I see the problems of administering with the different entities involved. There is the [National] Park Service, the wilderness, the BLM [Bureau of Land Management and] the ranchers ─ it is a tough problem to solve. Even for the people [who] live [there]. If you are not supposed to do this or that in the wilderness [area] and they do not know they are in [a] wilderness, [it creates a problem]. I had a gentleman call me about the private land out there. A lot of our ponds are on private land. He wanted to set up a business of helicoptering people in to have a wilderness experience. He wanted to land right where there is one of our biggest ponds. That is all we need is a helicopter landing [when] the cattle are coming in to drink! [Laughter]
MH: Yes, [that would] scare and scatter them.
BJA: I understand people have an interest in [the] wilderness, but to me that would not be the answer. [There would need to be] a different means of transporting [them] into [the area]. The wilderness cuts off a lot of peoples’ [access] to the wilderness [areas]. The Arizona Strip [ranchers along with BLM and mining people] were probably the first area entity that got together to designate what they thought was wilderness by the definition of wilderness. It lasted for awhile but they [the environmental entities] have pushed for a lot more since then. A lot of people are not physically able to go into the wilderness. I suppose [there are reasons] for setting [the wilderness and monument areas] aside, and I do not fight it, but it is a problem.
MH: It is a problem.
BJA: Administering it is probably a bigger problem! [Laughter] I respect the BLM. They have lots of demands, [many probably] from a national [level]. I remember one [BLM person] saying when this wilderness monument [was set aside], “We are in the process of several projects. It may [cost us] our jobs, but we are going to finish them.” I do not know if that is quotable, but that is what was said.
MH: I suspect that is quite quotable. It has been a real pleasure and you have [given] a first class [presentation].
[END OF TAPE]
Description
Barbara Joy (Vanderwest) Atkin was interviewed on February 2, 2005, in St. George, Washington County, Utah by Milton Hokanson, a representative of the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument Oral History Project. She related her experiences on the Arizona Strip, Mohave County, Arizona.
Credit
NPS
Date Created
02/02/2005
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