By Carl Fleischhauer
Old and New
The folklorists, historians, and archeologists who carried out field research during the Paradise Valley Folklife Project documented a wide range of cultural phenomena, old and new. For example, one project researcher carried out an in-depth study of the valley's vernacular architecture, documenting not only turn-of-the-century stone, frame, and adobe buildings, but also newer tract houses, mobile homes, and metal pole barns. Activities on the ranches--especially harvesting hay, irrigating hayfields, and branding calves--also ran the gamut from old to new. Although this topic was not developed to the point of a definitive study, the photographs, audio selections, and video clips in this online collection offer a starting point for some comparisons.
Haying
All of the ranches the team visited from 1978 to 1982 made hay in very similar ways. First, the alfalfa or native grasses were cut and laid in windrows by a swather. Depending on how well the cut plants were curing in the sun, the crop might also be turned and windrowed again by a rake. Once cured, a baler bundled the hay into bales that were collected and stacked with a harobed, the local term for the Sperry New Holland StackCruiser. This equipment may be seen in photographs made on ranches operated by Bob Cassinelli, Jim Wallace, and Loui Cerri. Video footage made on the Ninety-Six Ranch documents the swather, baler, and harobed at work in 1982.
This new haymaking technology contrasts with the hay derrick that prevailed in the decades before World War II. Rancher Leslie J. "Les" Stewart's motion picture of haymaking on the Ninety-Six Ranch in the 1940s offers an unsurpassed look at a derrick in action, as well as the mowing machines, windrower, and buck rake that cut, conditioned, and gathered the hay before it was stacked. Stewart's footage indicates not only that haying technology underwent a dramatic transformation between World War II and 1982 but also that, in its day, the derrick was as sophisticated a device as the harobed. In an interview, "Mechanizing Haying and Reducing the Need for Labor", Stewart explains why the technology changed: in the postwar era, farm workers were hard to find and commanded significantly higher wages, thus justifying an increased investment in labor-saving equipment.
Irrigating
The team learned that the irrigation of hayfields in the valley was carried out in a far less uniform manner than haying, representing every stage in technology from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century. Hayfields were irrigated on the Ninety-Six by flooding, with the water directed through a system of ditches by wooden and metal headgates. This older approach was also seen on the DH and Fred Miller's ranch. Flood irrigation often employed what were still called "canvas" dams (actually coated fiberglass), typically secured by a mixture of manure and mud.
In contrast, some fields on the Mill Ranch had an elaborate system of arrow-straight ditches to control the water and rancher Bob Cassinelli used a landleveler to level some fields for more even water distribution. At Henry Taylor's Triple-T Ranch, water was carried to the fields in plastic pipes to reduce losses by evaporation and absorption. Other ranches, like Jim Wallace's and Frank Loveland's, operated elaborate and expensive pumping systems that dispensed water through rolling pipes or pivots. Keith Thomas's 7HL Ranch had a spring high enough on a hillside to push water through a pivot without an electric pump.
Four factors accounted for this wide disparity of method. The first factor was the size of the ranch. The production of hay from lower-yielding fields of native grasses demands more acreage and a small operation could not depend upon native meadows and would have to plant alfalfa, which requires a higher level of irrigation control. The second factor was the distance and terrain separating hayfields from stream or springs. The Little Humboldt River and its tributaries, chiefly Martin Creek, water the upper valley. Some ranches literally straddle the main system of streams, while others are on small creeks with much less water flow. The third factor was the ranch's water right. Like other arid parts of the West, water is dispensed from streams according to a strict order of precedence. Water rights are awarded more or less by order of establishment and the oldest ranches tend to have rights that provide the most reliable water supply. And, the fourth factor was the capital investment new equipment requires. All irrigation systems are costly, especially new, mechanized ones. In 1978, rancher Loui Cerri estimated that it would cost $50,000 to install an electric pump system and $4,000 per month to operate it.
Les Stewart explained in more detail why the Ninety-Six Ranch maintained meadows of native grasses in a relatively unimproved state and irrigated them by flooding. Native grasses, he said, are more resistant to natural disasters than alfalfa and will survive a three- to five-year drought without the need to re-seed. When there is excessive water from melting snow or rain, once again the native grasses will fare better than alfalfa. In addition, flood irrigation is cheaper than pumping, although more land is needed to produce the same yield. A rancher ought to make judicious improvements, Stewart counseled, but take care that the costs of large-scale improvements do not bring a ranch to the point of economic ruin.
Branding
Branding, like haymaking, was conducted in much the same way throughout the valley. Unlike haymaking, however, it was largely unmechanized. The work involved roping the calves from horseback and dragging them to a position where buckaroos on the ground held the animals and branded them. In addition to branding, the calves were earmarked and medicated, while the male calves were castrated. There were small variations in roping style: some buckaroos simply roped the hind legs, while others paired up to rope the calf's head and heels. Most ranches earmarked the animals in addition to branding, but opinion was divided about whether a third mark was needed, and, if so, whether it should be a wattle or a plastic ear tag. The Ninety-Six used an open, sagebrush fire to heat the irons while others used an electric iron or a propane fire. Squeeze chutes--devices that hold animals while they are treated--were generally reserved for larger animals since they might injure a calf. Loui Cerri used a squeeze chute in 1978 to re-brand some heifers he had just bought. This online collection includes extensive documentation of branding and branding technology in the valley.
Unmechanized branding may have typified northern Nevada in the period 1978-82, but calf tables were in use in many other parts of the West. The calf table stands at the end of a chute. A line of calves move single file down the chute and through a gate where each calf is fastened to the table--a platform on hinges--which is then tilted to the horizontal to permit branding, earmarking, and the other steps in the process. Although calf tables require less labor than horseback branding, this seeming increase in efficiency left Paradise Valley ranchers unmoved. In an interview, Les Stewart argued that the excitement of riding helped motivate workers and that roping was less likely to injure calves than the chute and table.
Rancher Henry Taylor, who had moved to the valley from California in the 1970s, reported that he had also observed this motivational effect. "If we used a calf table," he said, "we couldn't get any help." But when he passed the word that he needed a crew to rope and brand from horseback, he easily attracted twelve to fifteen volunteers. In their spare time, many of these riders participated in semi-formal, head-and-heel roping competitions and enjoyed practicing as they worked. Taylor estimated that fifteen volunteers could process 280 calves in half a day. If he, his two sons, and a hired man had worked a calf table, the 280 calves would have taken a day and a half to process.
Branding had a special place in the life of the valley. A good meal and occasionally a drink accompanied the event. It was social, recreational, and as a form of shared work took its place with the barn-raisings, bean-stringings, and molasses-boilings celebrated in the folklore of the East. Branding symbolized the cowboy for outsiders: no other image is so immediately recognized as a scene of a rider roping a calf or a group of men applying the branding iron. Pictures of brandings are the most requested from the Paradise Valley project's photographic archive. The valley's great affection for horseback branding suggests that the symbol held meaning for insiders as well.