My Time on The Drift
- Haley J. Clark
- Jun 19, 2020
- 2 min read
With over 100 years of history behind me and hopefully many more before, this is our journey on the Green River Drift in 2020.
Since starting this blog, I've debated on the type of content I want to include and share with you all. I believe that much of our western culture is somewhat lost as we are an echo-chamber at times. It is something we all in agriculture can work on and I hope to do so in some small way. Now please bear with me on this new adventure. My hope is to document each day in some way - photo, video, or a short note on what we did, why we do what we do, and a little history along the way. I'm not a self-proclaimed history buff by any means, but I have plenty of resources that I'll share that I pull from.
For the last week, we have been preparing to be away from the ranch for most of the day. We ride several days before our off-date on our Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Allotment through till about July 1 or 2. It's a long drive, but cheaper than hauling the cattle. Plus, a majority of our cattle get bred on the desert and on the drive up despite the long miles each day.
Thursday, June 18 - Day One:
Our common, or shared, allotment is 60,000 acres in the Little Colorado Desert. It takes about 3-4 days to gather before we start our drive north with the cows. Thankfully, they walked well even with good grass around them at times. We split up into three groups to cover as much county as possible.
If you ever drive the Burma Road off of Highway 351 near the New Fork Bridge, you'll find a little oasis of cottonwoods. This was the location of the cow camp where Rex Wardell lived during the summers for many years. The buildings there were unfortunately burnt down, but the corrals still stand.
These riders would move cattle around the allotment and eventually move them north for the ranchers. Eventually, they would sort and brand slick calves before heading to the mountain and moving to the next cow camp called "The Bend." This can be seen off of the road that takes you to Green River Lakes.
Our day ended by loading a crippled bull to haul home. I was thankful he cooperated as they can cause a lot of hate and discontent.
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