Sheep shearers line up with their charges. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Robert W. Edwards.
The Early Sheep Industry in Southern Utah BY W I L L I A M R. P A L M E R
M-OST OF OUR EARLY pioneers came from the shops and factories of foreign lands. T h e Americans among them were but little better prepared for pioneering. All of them knew little or nothing about sheep, and no one was available to advise them of the range conditions that their animals must face. T h e r e were problems of climate, of forage, and of Indian hazards that were different from anywhere else in the world. So, in trying to build u p their cherished flocks and During the 1940s William R. Palmer, then a member of the Board of State History, gave weekly addresses on Utah history over Radio Station KSUB of Cedar City under the sponsorship of the Bank of Southern Utah. Two of these addresses dealt with the history of Utah's sheep industry. They are ol such interest and importance that the Quarterly is happy to publish this article as it was originally prepared, without bibliographical citations. This article was compiled from the late Mr. Palmer s addresses by his son Eugene Palmer.
