HARVEY ORSON CROOK

HARVEY ORSON CROOK, (2) the tenth child of William Joshua and Harriet Jane Howell Crook was born in their log home 16 October 1900 in Smoot, Wyoming. His parents were early settlers in Star Valley. They had moved to Smoot from Garden City, Utah with their little family of four children Frances, William, Joshua and Ezra in 1888. They had taken up a homestead of 160 acres on Cottonwood Creek about two miles northwest of the present town site of Smoot. Seven more children were born to this couple after they moved to Smoot-- Seth, Vernon, Sharon, Ray, Rulon, Harvey(2) and Ella.

I was born in the family‘s log home and Sally Taggart was the midwife. My right shoulder was lower than my left, which was caused by an injury at the time of my birth. This has always bothered me. (However, Lee Schwab, the mortician told the family at the time of his passing that he was missing his right collar bone.) I was blessed 2 December 1900, by William Parsons in the new church, the same day as my friend Newell Peterson. Our mothers had each chosen the same two names Harvey or Newell, I was blessed first and was given the name Harvey Orson Crook. I was baptized 6 November 1908, by Charles H. Peterson.

When asked about his baptism Harve said, “ It was too cold to talk about. It didn’t wash my sins away, they were froze away. It is mighty cold weather in November.” I was confirmed 6 December by Thomas Walton.

My oldest sister, Frances was married to Herbert Schwab about six months before I was born and her first child Herbert was born about six months after I was. Three of my brothers died before I was grown. Seth died when he was seven months old. Sharon was 15 years old when he died from blood poisoning. Vernon was 28 when he died and then my sister, Frances, died a year later leaving eight children without a Mother. This was a difficult time for my parents and our family.

My earliest recollection is the time in 1902, when our Christmas tree caught on fire due to the little lighted wax candles that were being used for decorations. I remember Ezra, who was getting ready to go to a dance in his white shirt, grabbing the tree and throwing it outside. My brothers told me that Santa would not come because we didn’t have a tree. But I still believe in Santa, because I can remember the little red chair I received that year. The following summer my sister Ella was born on the 24th of July and our family moved into our new two story frame home that summer. I helped by carrying my little red chair and the thunder mug to our new home. My brothers laughed at me for carrying the thunder mug, which made me mad. One cold winter day, Ray didn't want to get dressed and so Dad put Ray and his clothes outside in the snow, Ray lay there on his clothes kicking and learned a lesson in obedience to his parents.

My school years were not as beneficial as they could have been, and reading was not my best subject. Parley Baldwin was our principal and taught penmanship and many became good penmen. Slates were used to write on. I rode a horse or walked to school. In the winter when the creek was frozen over I would skate and pull Ella on the hand sleigh up to the school in Smoot. I went to High School in Afton for a few months, but I was needed at home to help Dad, which ended my formal education. I enjoyed playing basketball but since the team had already been picked before I went to High School I didn’t get to play (even though I could make a basket with both guards on my arms!). My older brothers were all away from home and for several years my occupation was doing farm work.

Some of my early friends were Warren Staley, Leon Taggart, Bill Johns, and Newel Peterson. In the summer the ward would go up to Cottonwood Lake to have Sunday School outings and enjoy the mountains. Sally Taggart was also one of my Sunday School teachers. For entertainment in the summer we would go swimming, have a rodeo in someone’s cow corral riding calves, cows or bucking horses. We played baseball with teams from neighboring towns In the winter, racing our teams and cutting shiners was enjoyed. But my favorite sport was playing basketball in the winter time. Rulon, Ray and I along with Morg Taggart, Reuben Johnson, Joe Reeves and Clarence Erickson played on the Smoot team. We played other teams throughout the valley. I enjoyed watching a good game of basketball anytime. I went to a lot of the high school games in Afton when my nephews were playing. Also, I attended some college games in Logan. One exciting game that I enjoyed watching was one of the first games seen on television in Star Valley. It was when Vern Gardner from Afton played for the U of U in Madison Square Garden and won the NIT championship. Saturday night dances were held in Afton and we went to them by sleigh, horseback or buggy until cars came to the valley. I went to Provo and attended a BYU Football game one time with family, but thought it was mighty long.

When I was ten years old, I rode a horse and went by myself to Fish Haven to celebrate the 4th of July with my cousins. As a youth, I made several trips to Bear Lake Valley, once to bring home a piece of farm machinery.

Mother had a spinning wheel and we would pull the sheep's wool from the fences or the dead sheep and she would spin it into yarn to be used for socks, mittens and sweaters. She made quilts and when the frames were not in use they were raised to the ceiling with ropes.

We raised most of our food. For winter storage, Dad would plow a furrow and we put cabbages in it upside down and covered them with dirt, then in the winter we would dig them out and have fresh cabbage to eat. We would leave the shovel where the last one was dug out as a marker. Dad would go to Bear Lake to get our flour. When we had a good wheat crop, we had it ground into flour at the Gardner mill in Afton. Potatoes and carrots were stored in the cellar and we also raised raspberries, currants and rhubarb. Chokecherries and service berries were also gathered in the fall. Pigs were killed, soaked in salt brine and smoked. The hams and bacon were stored deep down in the wheat bins to keep them cool for use during the summer. We had an old coffee grinder that was used to grind wheat for cereal. We always had milk cows. In 1914, while Ray was in Logan going to college and Rulon was on his mission, we were milking quite a few cows. We had a cream separator in the kitchen and would get about a ten-gallon can of cream per week, which was worth about six dollars. Dad would give me fifty cents. The skim milk was given to the calves and pigs. It was also used to soak barley in and fed to the pigs. The calves were raised until they were about a year and half old and then sold to John Tolman. This money was used to keep Rulon on his mission and to pay the property taxes and the note (cattle loan) at the bank. Dad gave me a heifer calf and I traded my steer calves for heifers and started to accumulate a herd of cows. By the time I was ready to go on my mission in 1923, I had twenty-seven head of cattle. Dad sold them as needed to send me thirty dollars a month while I was on my mission.

When asked about what happened in his younger life, Harve’s reply was, “It was a rugged life. I did so d--- many things I don’t want published I’m not going to repeat ‘em.”

One of my most trying experiences occurred in the summer of 1918. Warren Staley and I were up to Cottonwood Lake cutting wood for winter when a call came from Perry Ashdown, a ranger. He needed help to carry an injured girl from Greys River to Cottonwood Lake. He and his sister had been coming from Snyder Basin to the Corral Creek Ranger Station when the horse she was riding fell and broke her leg above the knee. He rode on ahead about five miles to the station and called for help. Warren and I left from Cottonwood lake to help him, not taking anything to give the girl for pain. By the time we arrived there, he had brought her to the station and made a stretcher out of the flagpole. We put her on the stretcher with Perry taking her feet and Warren and I her head and we started up the hill. This was a long, tiresome night, carrying her as she was in so much pain and the hill was so steep in places. Near the top we were met by others who'd come to help, which was a welcome relief. Dr. West met us at Cottonwood Lake and set her leg. She was related to Crossley's and I was told later that she had been disappointed in love, which may have been the reason she had been with her brother.

Ray was in Ft. Deming, New Mexico with the National Guard where there were some problems with Mexico. When he returned, he worked in the coal mines in Kemmerer. World War I was declared with Germany in 1917. He was soon drafted into the army and came home for four days before being sent to France. He served there for fourteen months. Ezra was also drafted but spent his time in South Carolina working in a hospital caring for the wounded. Rulon was in New Zealand on his mission and stayed there five years as there was no transportation for him to come home, because all the boats were used for war purposes. So it left me to help Dad. I stayed on the farm with Mother, Dad and Ella until I went on my mission in 1923.

After the Armistice was signed in November 1918, many of the people in Star Valley were stricken with the flu, which was a worldwide epidemic. I went to the Lower Valley to help nurse Joshel's family and others. At the narrows, a man was guarding the road so that no one could go to the Lower Valley unless they'd had the flu. I just forced my team through. Upon arriving at Joshel's I found all of them sick and his cows had been in the barn for three days, without being milked. So I milked them and then went to Thayne to get Doctor Fink. I slept in the sheep camp, and their old dog came in and slept by me and gave me the flu germ. When I started getting sick, Eliza, Joshel’s wife, had me come in the house and sleep in the kitchen under the table. I recovered quickly after she treated me with her 'hot tautty'. “Moonshine” was used for medicinal purposes in treating the flu and it seemed to help. I was soon able to go out and do the chores. I also helped at other homes. (This was a practice Harve did all his life, assisting family and friends when there was sickness or death. Often leaving his own work and helping others.) While assisting the Hebdon family, I was watching a hawk chase a duck. The duck was flying low and hit the clothesline and was knocked out or broke its neck. So I ran out and caught the duck and finished wringing its neck. It was in the winter and meat was in short supply, so the duck was cooked and plenty of duck soup was made for those ill with the flu. Ras Jensen came down and took Joshel's family up to Smoot. I stayed and did their chores until they got better and came home.

During the summer of 1919, there wasn't much water, we finished haying even though it was a poor crop and had no hope of a second crop. Later that year I went to Cottonwood Lake with Leon Taggart, Joe Reeves and Clarence Erickson. We met some sheep-herders who said we could get a job haying in Big Piney. So we left from there for Big Piney which was a two-day ride on horseback and got a job haying. Leon and I ran the mowers and sharpened the hay knives, Joe and Clarence raked the hay and milked cows. Later I ran the buck rake and stacked hay which was miserable because of the flying ants. The horses we used caused lots of problems, as they were only used two months of the year and ran wild the rest of the time. Several had a run away with their team of horses. I earned $145 and gave Dad $100 to pay the taxes on the farm when we returned.

That fall we shipped two carloads of cattle by train to Omaha to sell. I went with Hugh Findlay and Orson Johnson. We stopped in Laramie and Grand Island to feed the animals. I had purchased a pair of high-button shoes in Montpelier and wore them two days until we got to Omaha and the next morning my feet had swollen so much I couldn't get them on so walked barefoot that morning. We also went by street car over to Council Bluffs. Joshel and Ezra had shipped their cattle and four horses to Nebraska to be wintered. The horses were fed such poor hay (foxtail) that they came back in the spring so thin that the horses didn't make it to the Lower Valley from the railroad in Soda Springs. They sold their cattle the next fall for less than they could have gotten that year. We usually took pigs to Montpelier to sell, however one time, I took a load of pigs in a wagon pulled by a team of horses to Idaho Falls.

The community of Smoot was first known as Cottonwood. It was organized into a Latter-Day-Saint Ward in 1889, with William Parsons as Bishop. Later it was called Belview. About 1900, a ward building was constructed on the south bench above Cottonwood Creek by contributions of the members and the name was changed to Smoot. (Located west of the Daugherty home across the street from the northwest corner of the block containing the Smoot Park). Prior to this time, school and church meetings were all held in a log building on the George Bruce ranch. This large, white, frame building had one large room and a stage. Wood burning stoves were located at each end of the hall to heat the building during the wintertime. It was a well-used building. For church meetings, curtains were pulled to make classrooms for Sunday School. The benches were moved to the side and onto the stage for basketball games and dances.

In the early thirties, members started to make plans to build a new chapel. The plans was to tear the old building down and build on the same site. I suggested to Bishop Hugh Findlay to purchase the lot across from the school (east of the Smoot Park) and build the church there and continue to use the old church until the new one was constructed. The men spent the winter working in the canyon getting logs out. Some would stay at Cottonwood Lake and go on the hill south west of the lake and cut and snake the logs out. Rulon was the cook for that group. After those in town had finished their chores each morning, they would drive up to the lake and help snake out logs while the Cutters were eating their dinner and then all would help load and the Haulers would return home. When the logging was finished, a hot basketball game was played between the Loggers and the Haulers at the old church. Services were first held in the new chapel 14 March 1937, and the building was dedicated 18 September 1943 by Apostle John A. Widstoe. After moving into the new church, the old hall was also used for roller skating and it wasn't long until the softwood floor was ruined for basketball, eventually the building was torn down.

Theda remembers being told:
One time when I (Harve) was hauling a load of logs down the canyon, I was sitting on the load with my new Christmas mackinaw coat beside me. A voice said, “Harve get off and walk.” I got off and walked along beside the load. We went around a curve, when suddenly the load shifted and tipped over into Cottonwood Creek. I had to wade into the creek to recover my new coat. I then realized that if I had stayed on the load I would have been killed under the logs.

Those who served as Bishops of the Smoot Ward:
William Parsons 1889-1904
Frank P. Cranney 1904-1913 Sports and Dancing
Charles H. Peterson 1913-1929 Called me on my mission
Was Counselor to Bishop Peterson after mission.
Hugh W. Findlay 1929-43 Building, depression, released day of Dedication
Dec. 1930 Membership 311
Lawrence Bruce 1943-1952 Genealogy
Elmer Lancaster 1952-1956 Welfare Military Discipline
Leon Taggart 1956-1960 Bought Church Farm
Lavere Anderson 1960-1967 Cemetery Dist. Finances
Donald Johnson 1967-1972
Stanley Reeves 1972-1980
Alan Stauffers 1980-1985
Gary Jenkins 1985-1990
Dale Barnes 1990-1995
Bart Kunz 1995-

I was ordained an Elder 3 Jan 1920, by Rodney Barrus and a High Priest 20 June 1926 by George F. Richards. I served in various church callings some of which were:
Ward teacher when I was old enough and throughout my life.
Counselor to Bp. Peterson 1926-29 three years and three months.
Activity Counselor to Jack Canning 1929-30. This was the first year we had the budget and it was a big help in the activities held in the ward--dances, old folks parties, sports, drama and programs.
President of MIA
Activity Counselor to Spencer Taggart
High Priest Group Leader 1966-68 (Genealogy classes)
Home Missionary and Stake Missionary several times.

Cottage meetings were held in the members’ homes where neighbors (members and nonmember) were invited. The Home or Stake Missionaries conducted the meetings where the gospel was taught and discussed, songs sung and refreshments usually served. Stake Missionaries were also the speaking companions of the High Councilmen when visiting the wards.

A new school with three classrooms was built in 1925 in Smoot, by the Consolidated School District #19. A small storeroom was later used as a kitchen and hot lunches were served at tables set up in the hall. An addition was added by the W.P.A. in the late 30's with a large kitchen and another classroom. There were three long tables in the kitchen where the children ate their hot lunch.

My older brother, Vernon purchased the Annie House homestead in 1913, when she moved to Idaho. It was located northeast of Etna. Vernon enjoyed living in Etna, especially playing baseball and going to dances. Etna was a boom town at this time. Then in the spring of 1918, he was injured (breaking several ribs) while branding and dehorning cattle. He paid little attention to it and kept on working. The inflamed part became infected, and he was operated on in the spring of 1919 and TB of the bone was found. But after suffering about two years, death claimed his life. I was in Salt Lake with him when he died. I always admired him.

A courtship started when a young school teacher Rosella Mallory came to Smoot to teach school for her first time. The first time I saw Rosella, she and Irene Johnson were walking home from school. She was a cousin of my friend Warren Staley. We started keeping company by going to the dances in Afton at Welch's Dance Hall, which had a confectionery, pool hall and barbershop in front. The next year she taught in Bedford, and I often traveled by team and sleigh, about a three-hour drive in the wintertime, to see her. (Often Harve told of his narrow escape from an avalanche one time when he drove his team through the narrows.) Sometimes, after going to a dance, I would put my team in Mr. Mallory's barn and stay overnight and come back the next day.

The next spring we went to a dance and I told her I had something to tell her and she said she had something to tell me. We had each received our mission call. Mine was to Australia and Rosella’s was to the Central States both leaving in June. So any marriage thoughts were delayed to serve the Lord. (Their example and encouragement has inspired the legacy of missionary work to continue in their posterity. All of their grandsons and one granddaughter have filled missions.)

We rode to Salt Lake with Mart and Mary Schwab, riding in the rumble seat of their 1916 Ford car. Prior to 1925, all missionaries when called on missions left from their homes directly for the mission field to which they had been assigned. The majority of them stopped for a few days in Salt Lake City on their way. As the church had no hotel facilities especially for the missionaries, the elders and sisters had to find their own lodging while in Salt Lake. A Missionary Training home was provided in 1925, at 31 North State Street. We went to the Salt Lake Temple, received our endowments on the 13th of June 1923, and we were both set apart as missionaries by Apostle Melvin J. Ballard and went off to catch the train. I put Rosella on the train going east and I ran to catch the train going to San Francisco. I sailed with four other Elders in a state room on the ship “Sanoma” to Australia, and home on the ship “Sierra.”

When Elder Parley Jensen and I landed in Sydney in 1923, there were only 17 missionaries and six branches in all of Australia and less than 300 members. In 1982, there were 16 Stakes and five Missions.(Eighteen years later in the year 2000 there are 100,000 members and soon there well be five temples.) In my first area, I worked on the first Latter-day Saint chapel in the city of Sydney for four months. One year was spent in Hobart, Tasmania, then to Melbourne for six months, and six weeks in Camperdown and my final assignment was in Ballarat. It took mail about a month to come from home.

In Ballarat, Elder Ence and I were each tracting alone, which was common practice and I came to this pretty little street and I knocked on a door. A lady answered the door and invited me in. We visited and I told her about the church and then she said to me, "When I opened the door, even before you spoke a word, I knew you had something for me, which I had been looking for all my life.” Sister Richie was ready to be baptized. This means more to me and strengthened my testimony more than anything else that happened to me on my mission. She and her daughter were baptized.

In 1950, one of my former missionary companion, Elder Edwin James from Rock Springs, Wyoming was on a building mission in Australia. He helped build the first chapel in Ballarat. At the dedication of this chapel, Sister Richie bore her testimony and thanked the Lord for the cowboy missionary from Wyoming who had brought the gospel to her. Serving a mission for the Lord is one of the great highlights of my life and I have enjoyed sharing my mission experience with my family and anyone who was interested.

After arriving home from Australia, I worked at the sugar factory in Tremonton, Utah, from October to December. I worked twelve hours a day at twenty-seven cents an hour, earning $200. On the way home I bought a set of harnesses for $50 in Logan. I bought a nice team of horses, Tug and Bolly from Dave Helm’s wife, Martha for $25 after he died. I should have bought more horses as she had to give them away because she didn’t have enough feed for them.

After returning home from my mission, I began courting Rosella again and we decided to get married. We went to Salt Lake in June 1927 to be married. As we were traveling in my model T car behind Rosella’s father’s car, Mr. Mallory’s rear wheel came off and rolled down the hill. The passengers were all right and after fixing the wheel, we continued our trip. We were married the 9th of June 1927, in the Salt Lake Temple.

We first rented and later purchased the Orson and Mary Crook farm, across the street from my father’s homestead, in 1929 for $3000. We had milk cows, chickens, horses and sheep. We also rented the Peterson ranch the summers of 1928 and 1931. We lived in the log house on the ranch from June to September and milked 22 cows that first summer. In 1931, there wasn't much water and so the crops were poor. The following years were difficult to get ahead because of the depression. I sold one cow and received $1.49 after the freight bill was paid. Later, our milk cows got bangs disease and they had to be sold. The government was paying us to kill them at $10 per cow and $1 per sheep and we had to slit the hide down the back so it couldn't be used.

Our first daughter Nola(1) was born 11 March 1932. John Mallory, Rosella’s brother had a contract with Mr. Rubey, a geologist, to pack and cook for him during the summer of 1933. John didn't want to go out for the summer, so he came and asked if I would like to go with Rubey. John put up my hay and Rosella's parents came and stayed with her and Nola. I spent the summer in the mountains on the Greys River drainage, being camp jack and cook, (every day he wanted boiled potatoes served with catsup.) I earned $50 per month. I also worked on the road when it was built over the Salt River Pass in the south end, with a fresno and team of horses.

My parents had a home built in Smoot next to Rulon’s home and moved there to be close to the church, store and school in the early 30's. A few years later, Dad had been riding a horse one day and chaffed his legs. He soaked them in hot water, a blood clot resulted and caused his sudden death in 1936. Mother was confined to a wheelchair for seven years with severe arthritis and passed away in 1938.

Our second daughter Theda was born 25 November 1935. During the summer of 1936, I drove an oil truck between Rawlins and Casper. Once I took a little white dog with black spots home to the girls, which Nola called Pally.

Up until 1938, the women in Star Valley still ironed their clothes with a heavy flatiron heated on a wood burning stove. The remoteness of Star Valley had kept it separated from major power lines. Afton had a small power plant. The REA was helping people across America form local power cooperatives. Funds from the REA made it feasible for the Lower Valley Power and Light to be established. Lyman Crook and I worked in the Greys River area bringing out poles to be treated and then delivering them throughout the valley where power lines were being built. Dangerous coal oil (kerosene) and gas lanterns were replaced by clean electric lights. Electricity changed lives forever. About this time it became quite the sport to seine for white fish, and it wasn’t uncommon to come home with a gunny sack full of fish that needed to be scaled. (Salt River beckoned Harve on the summer evenings and he usually came back with a mess of fish. He really enjoyed fishing.)

I ran the creamery in Smoot from October 15, 1941, to January 12, 1943, with 12 patrons. We made cheddar cheese and sold it to Krafts in Pocatello. Sam Walton worked for me and lived in the apartment in the creamery. The leftover whey from the creamery was fed to the pigs. Fluctuating prices for milk and cheese, and the consolidating of the smaller creameries in the valley, due to better transportation made it unprofitable to continue operating the creamery. In the early years there was a creamery in almost every community.

We used wood to heat our home, I would get it out of the canyon and let it dry for a year. Rosella's mother was not well in the early forties and she passed away 16 March 1942. Her father died in 1950.

Charles H. Peterson homesteaded his ranch in 1898. His family lived there for several years before they moved to Smoot. Chief Washakie often visited them and they were honored to have him in their home. I told Mr. Peterson if he ever wanted to sell to let me know. This farm had good deep soil and could be sub-irrigated with water from the Salt River. It had large fields with few ditches, and practically rock free. In the early forties he told me he had decided to sell the ranch as his son Newell didn't want it. Arrangements were made with the Federal Land Bank for an $8000 loan for the 200-acre ranch and a cattle permit. The ranch was located two and half miles south of Smoot on U.S. highway 89. The only building was a log house.

We sold our farm to Charles Crook in May of 1943, and moved into my brother Rulon’s home, as his family was living in Salt Lake City where he was working at the time. We camped up at the ranch during the summer months in a small-two room building with the bedroom having a canvas roof, which I had purchased from Bernice Rodgers, and had moved to the ranch. In the fall and winter of 1943, Dale and Verl Halls helped me get about 30,000 board feet of lumber east of Cottonwood Lake to build our home. I had the logs sawed at the Lake for $210 and we hauled the lumber down to Smoot and stacked it to dry. Josh Schwab sized the lumber with his planer. In the fall of 1944, Bill Helm helped me dig the basement using a scraper and horses. The next summer Dale Hall and E. G. Brown started construction. The cement for the basement walls was mixed on site with a little cement mixer. We also used as many rocks as we could find as filler for the concrete, so that we didn’t have to make as much.

While living in Smoot, our third daughter Evelyn was born 26 August 1944. We moved into our new home in the fall of 1946, at this time we were milking about 20 cows. We took them over on the hill to graze on the forest and milked them there using a gas engine to run the milking machine which often was a real challenge. Rosella was teaching school and along with the milk check we were able to pay the carpenters and buy building materials. An oil drilling rig was set up south east of our home in 1948. Drilling was carried on for 1-2 years, but was abandoned when no oil was found or reported.

We raised alfalfa and meadow hay to feed the cattle and sheep and barley to feed the pigs. A stacker and buck rake were used to harvest the hay, and a beaver slide for the meadow hay. A power buck rake was made using parts of an old truck and then driven backwards. It wasn’t used for long. Later a farmhand and then a bailer was used. I learned not to drink ice cold water as it would make me sick, so I always put the water bottle in the sun while we were haying. Having no sons I often hired young men of Smoot to work. Many have told about experiences they had with Harve. Methods in farming have changed with new machinery from horse drawn equipment to tractors. During haying season or when I was working in the field, Rosella would hang a white dishtowel on the corner of the house as a signal to me that dinner was ready. I never wore a watch until many years later.

Evelyn remembers one summer tragedy. Daddy had a bunch of red sows with babies. He had them in pens out in the barn. I think it was some that had been out and had their babies over in the pasture. One day one of Mama’s old red hens decided to go visiting the new babies. She was not a welcome visitor and the old sow ate the old red hen. But that is not the end of the story. The old red sow choked on the old red hen and died. So we had a bunch of orphans to feed. I think the hen had baby chicks. I am not sure who was the most up set Mom or Dad. They both had lost an animal that day.

In the mid-fifties we sold the milk cows and bought about 200 sheep and the reserve right on the Higbee, Snake River allotment on Greys River from Orson Johnson. Later we brought more from Am Linford. We would trail them from our spring range in Smoot to the lower valley taking about four days and go over the Stuart trail to Greys River, the first week in July. We purchased Edlunds place in 1954 that had 320 acres, then Elmer's 160 acre farm in about 1956, and 320 acres from Porter and then sold the 80 acres of hay land to Lynn Hunsaker later.
Most of this land was used for spring and fall range for the sheep. In the fall of 1967, I purchased 800 head of sheep and the Elk Mt. allotment from Art Robinson. We took them to the winter range on the Granger lease out by Little America. The sheep would eat the salt sage and other plants. If there was a lot of snow, we would have to take hay out to them. We would lamb, dock, brand, and shear the ewes on the spring range at Rabbit Creek west of Cokeville and later in the Fossil Butte area west of Kemmerer. Each summer we would truck them over to Greys River the first week in July.

I believed in branching out and accumulating property, it was worth what I lost in the sheep business to get the property in the south-end to give our posterity a place to come and camp and fish. Accumulation is more important than making a profit in the farming business. Make sure you have your business deals in writing. Get something of your own and don't depend on someone else.

I was on the Smoot Cemetery Board for a number of years, and tried to make worthwhile improvements that were needed such as map, fence and locating markers. I had known practically everyone who is buried there.

Nola remembers that with few exceptions, Dad spent his birthday in the mountains on Greys River, Jackson or near our home on a successful elk hunting trips with friends and family. Many stories were told of those happy times. The only time I ever went to Greys River with him hunting was in October 1954, Bob was in the service and on leave before going to Korea and he could purchase a resident license. We were on Higbee mountain, and Dad had gotten thirsty and eaten some snow and it made him sick so we were late coming off the mountain. This delay helped in getting two bull elk on our way to camp. Some of his nephews had gone to camp earlier and missed out on the fun.

Theda remembers that: Dad put my name in along with his for an elk permit on Greys River. I got a permit and he didn’t. So he had to take me. We slept in the wall tent. Before daylight we were saddled up and riding out. We never saw any elk so Dad sent me home with Dude Erickson. He came home the next day--No elk that year.

Evelyn remembers: One fall while I was in high school, Dad and I went elk hunting over on Greys River with the whole Dabel clan. Just before the 15th Red Dabel had flown over by the Blind Bull Mine and they had spotted a big herd of elk. When we went to bed I told Dad that I was going to leave my Levi’s on and he told me I would freeze. I just remember getting up and it was still dark. We drove up the draw and then walked and walked. He was disgusted with himself for letting some of the Dabel’s ride the horses. That is the only time that I can ever remember him hunting on foot. It seemed like we walked forever and ever. We found where the elk had bedded down for the night and fresh tracks but no elk. The men on horses followed the tracks up the hill and down towards Big Piney and out of the country. Dad always said they knew when the season opened and when to get out of the country and they sure did that day.

Dad had a good full head of hair which he never lost and was very fussy about the way it was cut and combed. He wore a ‘butch’ cut for a number of years. He did a lot of barbering in the mission field and also when he came home for neighbors and family. (often on Sunday Morning) But none of us were asked a second time to cut his hair! In October 1933, he had a major sinus operation in Salt Lake. About 1962 he ate some spoiled fish which caused intestinal problems for several years. The medical doctors couldn't help him so he went to Sundance, an Indian doctor and took his herbal medicine which helped and finally he got feeling better. He lost a lot of weight, from about 225 to 180 pounds.

Later in life Rosella and I spent two summers going to Jackson, Wyoming once a week and working in the L.D.S. Visitors Center. Here we explained about the early days of the area and the history of the Indians and the Book of Mormon. We found many people interested and gave away a lot of Book of Mormons.

We made arrangements to sell the sheep in 1975, to Verl Hebdon which gave us a little more liberty which we hadn't had before. So right after the first of the year we went to California, to see Rosella’s brother George who had cancer and was in a hospital. We wanted to be with Bea, (George’s wife) and help her what we could. I stayed with George in a double room at the hospital until he passed away 26 January 1976. His children Kay and Karen had been changing off staying with him at night. After the funeral we went up to Los Angeles and visited a few days with Rosella’s sister Ethel’s daughters, Marilyn and Doris. We went to the Los Angeles Temple a few times and also Disneyland. We also visited Yuma and Mesa in Arizona. While in Mesa we visited the graves of Rosella’s grandmother Caroline LeSueur and her baby. They were some of the first L.D.S. settlers to pass away in Mesa. She left six motherless children, Rosella’s father, Charles Lemuel Mallory, being the oldest.

We attended a Wyoming reunion in Mesa and saw many from Star Valley who were spending the winter there. After staying about a month in the sunshine, we came to St. George via Hoover Dam and Las Vegas and visited John and Gladys. He had just had surgery and we came home when he was feeling better the later part of March.

Our daughters and their families came and visited many times for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 1976, all the girls and families were here for Thanksgiving. These are some of our happier times when all of our family was together.

We celebrated our GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY July 1, 1977 with an open house at the Gardner Guest Ranch in the Forest Dell. Many friends and relatives came to honor us. All of our immediate family was present except our two oldest grandsons (Regan and Greg) who were both serving on L.D.S. missions. All the family helped make a beautiful quilt with each block depicting events in our married life. An open house was held on our 60th Anniversary and on my 80th birthday at our home. Many friends and family came and visited.

We went to Arizona for thirteen winters and enjoyed being out of the cold. We purchased a small trailer which was parked about a block from the temple and later we bought a larger one. We came home via Oakland once. We attended the temple a lot the first few years, sometimes four sessions a day for several years and then later when we were able. One of happiest times in our lives were those years when we had the car loaded and went to Arizona to spend the winter. We gained many friendships during the winters we spent in Mesa. The last winter we spent in Arizona was 1987-88.

We enjoyed going to the Senior Citizens Center in Afton for dinner and also for the association of friends, and meeting the new people of Star Valley. I enjoyed playing pool. Meals were brought to us by the Senior Center when we were unable to go to Afton. An excellent service was provided by the home nurses that came to our home and gave help rather than having to go to the Doctor. My eye sight was not as good as it needed to be to get a drivers license and on 17 August 1988 both Rosella and I had a right eye lens transplant.

All of the above are stories either from audio recordings of Harve, Rosella’s handwritten autobiography, family records or the remembrances that he has told family or friend.

Rosella died 25 November 1991, after 64 years of marriage. Harve has missed her greatly and spent his remaining winters at his daughters’ homes and generally stayed at his home in Smoot during the summer months. He continued to drive his own car during the summers until August 1994.

In August 1994, while at the Lincoln County Fair, Harve fell in the grandstand while at the rodeo and injured his arm and never got around as well after that. Shortly after this he went to his daughters’ homes. In the spring of 1995, Dad wanted to go home for the summer, and be in his own home. His daughters took turns staying with him. In August he needed oxygen to help him breathe easier. After some restless days, he passed away peacefully in his sleep early in the morning 28 August 1995.

Harve was survived by his three daughters along with their husbands, nine grandsons, four granddaughters, and 25 great grandchildren.

He was proud of his pioneer heritage, as all his grandparents had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England and had emigrated to America. His parents had come across the plains as children. His father was three years old when he came with his parents in a handcart and his mother was three weeks when her parents came to Utah with an ox team.

Few people are granted a long tenure of years and with them the physical and mental capacity for a rich abundant life. He called his mind his computer, he did have a very keen memory for dates and events all his life. He was particulary spry for a man of his advanced age after ninety years. He is best known for friendly manner and keen sense of humor. He loved to recount thrilling tales to his companions young and old.