Sheep Ranching - Green River Valley Circa 1906

If you drive Green Valley Road today, you'll see some dairy cattle, horses, a few beef cattle and even the occasional alpaca.  Go back to the early 1900's and sheep ranching was big, particularly in the upper Green River valley just west of Lester. 

Photo courtesy of Washington State Historical Society, 1981.94.627.31, Bingham Waters photographer, circa 1906

Note the sheep herding dog and various pens used to separate sheep for sheering?  Apparently, railroad tracks served as no obstacle.  That's a whole lot of sheep.  Also in the background, the building appears to be that of the Green River Hot Springs resort (thanks Ken Jensen).  As we can see, the hillsides were pretty well denuded by logging by this time.  The Nagrom sawmill was located just a bit further west of here.

 

Comments

[Ken Jensen]

This photo and the one in the Diamond Mineral Springs Resort post are actually of the Green River Hot Springs resort near Lester in the Upper Green Valley. See http://wp.me/pDbRj-9T and http://wp.me/pDbRj-16B.

[Craig Goodwin]

Thanks Ken