TIMELINE OF CACHE VALLEY HISTORY
3000 B.C.:Valley inhabited by Shoshone Native Americans for nearly 5000 years
- The early Shoshone relied on the land as their source of food. They were hunters and gatherers primarily, but eventually they began to hunt buffalo, as well.
1824:Trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company traveled the Bear River until they reached Cache Valley
- The first white men to inhabit the valley were beaver trappers. They were on generally friendly terms with the Shoshone and kept mostly to themselves along the rivers and streams of the valley.
1855:First permanent white settlers (Mormon pioneers)
- The first permanent white settlers to come to the valley were a Mormon pioneer group sent by Brigham Young to begin a cattle ranch near the Blacksmith Fork River. The ranch was called Elkhorn Ranch.
2016:Present-Day Cache Valley
- Cache Valley today is known for its pristine beauty and agriculture, dairy farming, food processing, and so much more.
Cache Valley was once known as "Willow Valley" because of its abundance of trees and bushes.
THE SHOSHONE NATIVE AMERICANS
Before white men ever set eyes upon Cache Valley, it was inhabited by the Shoshone Native Americans and called Willow Valley for its abundance of trees and bushes. The early members of this people were nomadic hunters and gatherers, relying upon the land for their food. There is also some evidence that the people may have been tillers of the soil, as corn grinders made of volcanic rock were discovered beneath the surface of the earth. However, the main form of retrieving food shifted after the early 1700's when horses were introduced to the people, allowing them to hunt big game such as buffalo.
Quickly, buffalo became the main source of food for the Shoshone. The people even began to light grass fires in the valley to herd the buffalo and improve grazing land for their horses. Though clever and useful in regards to their purposes, these fires wiped out many of the trees and bushes that "Willow Valley" was known for, changing the look of the valley forever. The buffalo did not last forever, though, and according to Indian traditions, the buffalo disappeared rather suddenly due to an especially harsh winter.
A Shoshone Chief, Sagwich, told this story to the first settlers of Cache. He says that when he was in his fourth year, the snow began to come early in the fall to such a depth that the Native Americans began to move out of the valley into a valley to the west. By doing this, they saved their lives, because all winter the snow continued to pile up in the two valleys until even in Salt Lake Valley it reached the depth of about fourteen feet, and in Cache Valley it was even worse. In the spring when the Shoshone returned to the valley they counted only seven live buffaloes. They gave chase to these buffalo, killing some, while the others fled and disappeared out of the valley to the north.
After this loss of so valuable a source of food supply, life for the Native American in Cache Valley was not quite as pleasant as it had been. However, their habits were not essentially changed. With their bows and arrows as weapons, they migrated from place to place, sometimes following the game into the mountains in the summer and returning to the valley for the winter, or even taking longer journeys into other valleys, to the west and north, especially. Then came the white men.
The mountain men stored their beaver furs in the valley, earning it the name of "Cache Valley."
THE MOUNTAIN MEN
The first white men to discover Cache Valleywere men hunting for untrapped rivers and creeks where the beavermight still be found. Beaver furs were in high demand during this time period as theywere used to make the famous beaver hat; theskins bringing in six dollars a pound with the skins weighing about two pounds each.
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company, led by General William Ashley, came to the valley during the summer of 1824. They traveled through the South Pass to Green River that lead to the head waters of the Bear River, which they discovered and named. They then traveled down the Bear River until they reached the valley. It was here that they prepared to spend the winter. Within this company were many notable trappers such as Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, and Ephraim Logan, (whom Logan City was named for).
The trappers first called the area Willow Valley, after the manner of the Shoshone, but after they began to cache their beaver furs in the spring of 1825, the valley soon began to be called Cache Valley. It is said that Jim Bridger cached about $150,000 worth of beaver skins by himself.
The men mainly kept to themselves around the rivers and streams, and as a result, they were on generally friendly terms with the Shoshone. In fact, a trapper of the company by the name of James P. Beckwith told of the death of two men caused by a cave-in of a bank. The men were trapped and killed as they were catching their furs, and the men were buried by the Shoshone in their own fashion.
Byt the end of the 1840's, the styles had changed, bringing an end to the Mountain Men era. At the end of all of this trapping, the beavers of Cache Valley were nearly entirely wiped out.
THE FIRST WHITE SETTLERS
The first permanent white settlers of Cache Valley were Mormon pioneers sent by Brigham Young to establish a cattle ranch near the Blacksmith Fork River. They were sent on July 24, 1855, and they named the ranch Elkhorn Ranch because of the elk antlers that they hung over the main gate.
Initially, the settlers had plans to graze the cattle during the summer and then move somewhere warmer for the winter. Unfortunately, winter came early that year. Snowdrifts began to pile up to four feet deep in the valley and even deeper in the canyon. In a desperate attempt to save the 2,000 cattle, John C. Dowdle and William Garr drove them through the Wellsville Canyon to Brigham City during a blizzard. Only 420 cattle survived the trip and Garr lost both of his feet due to frostbite.
In 1856, Brigham Young sent another group of Mormon pioneers to settle in Wellsville. Peter and Mary Ann Weston Maughan were the first to the valley. It is said that Mary Ann scanned the lush, grassy valley that lay before her and said, “Oh, what a beautiful valley.” The first seven families settled at Maughan’s Fort in Wellsville on September 15, 1856. Only eleven days later the first snowstorm hit. Mrs. Maughan gave birth to the first child born to permanent settlers in Cache Valley.
Jim Bridger, known for telling tall tales, said that since it froze every month in Cache Valley that crops would never grow there. However, Brigham Young promised the settlers that Cache Valley would become the “granary of the West.” In only half a century, his prophecy came true. By 1915, more wheat was shipped from Cache Junction than any other town located along the Union Pacific Railroad route.
An aerial view of Logan and its rolling acres of farmland.
PRESENT-DAY CACHE COUNTY
Today, agriculture still plays a large part in the valley'seconomy. Cache County ranks as oneofthe highest contributorsofagriculturalproducts in the state, contributingbeef,milk,and cheese products fromvariousproduction and processing facilities.The2002 CensusofAgricultureindicated that there were 246,586 acres infarmsor ranchesinthecounty with anaverage sizeof207 acres and an averagevalueof$1878 per acre.The county had145,751acres in croplandofwhich 105,203were harvested and 83,945 were irrigated, and the valueoflivestock produced was listedat $96,600,000.
Cache County leads the state in barley production and has the largest inventory of dairy cattle.The county issecond in the productionof winter wheat, spring wheat,dry beans, corn for silage, apples, and beef cattle inventory. It also ranksthird in productionofalfalfa hay.
As for schools, Cache County currently has 26 schools in total; 16 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, and 4 high schools. This comes to a total of over 15,000 students with around 11,000 to 12,000 eating school lunch every day. This begs the question- where is all of that food coming from?
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