It's RODEO Time in Scott Valley ............. Gail L. Jenner

It's Rodeo Time in our valley -- Scott Valley -- just a hop, skip and jump across the state line into California from Oregon. This year will have marked the 69th annual Pleasure Park Rodeo and it's an event that not only attracts locals from all over the area, it attracts visitors from around the north state and the West. It takes place every first Sunday in May, hence the big day will have occurred just "yesterday!"

P.S. I'm sure I'm dirty and exhausted and hopefully am fast asleep after a LONG day of fun and sun and dirt and dust! Horses put away.....?  Kids in bed....? Laundry piled up in the laundry room or on the back porch....?

You bet......

Although the Scott Valley Pleasure Park Rodeo started out as an entirely local activity back in the 1940s -- when a group of young men, looking for something exciting to do, were approached by an old cowboy who thought he could help them out. One of the young men had been playing horse polo at West Point and when he came home, he had gathered his friends together and introduced them to the wild sport. From there, it was only a matter of time that an arena was built!

From that auspicious beginning grew the roots of our county's most famous rodeo. At first it was only local cowboys and local "stock" but in a few years, the sport drew larger and larger crowds. It eventually became a professionally sanctioned rodeo. And now we have our May rodeo and the "Old Timers' Rodeo" in July....which is even more of a family affair. If you haven't enjoyed a rodeo, slip on your boots and grab your hat. We have a ton of fun...and everyone gets into the act.

Our oldest son and Doug -- saddle cow race just a couple years ago!

My husband Doug became an active participant; for more than 12 years, he rode bulls (he joined the college rodeo team for a time, as well). All in all, he emerged as a 3-time "All - Around Cowboy." In all that time, he was never thrown from a bull -- although at least twice he did "touch his hat" (and replaced it on his head), which disqualified him. I attribute his success to his amazing upper-body strength, developed while hauling hay (3-wire bales = 120 lbs each), sometimes as many as 1000 bales in a day.

He also participated in a number of raucous and entertaining "local" events, including the Packer's Race, Wild Cow Contest, Wild Cow Milking Contest, Cowhide Race, and even the Wild Horse Race. These events are some of the most popular on rodeo day -- always full of action and "mis-adventure!" Thankfully, he's "retired" now from bull riding, but he still enjoys getting into the action occasionally. But our sons and our daughter all have spent time in the arena, in the dirt, riding calves and steers, horses, and more. From drill team to competition, they've grown up around rodeo.

The annual May weekend begins with Saturday's junior rodeo, followed by a BBQ and dance downtown, and on Sunday, the annual Etna Parade. Everyone loves to see the Junior Pleasure Park horse drill team, the floats, the old cars, the kids, and horses, the Back Country Horsemen and Mountain Men Re-enactors (with their black powder shotguns that when they go off, everyone jumps!)....and more. 

The kids ride a manure spreader!

Re-enactors keep it lively when their black powder guns go "bang!"

Our family is often in the parade -- either with a vintage car or on horseback. The last couple years we've entered some of the Jenner grandkids (the two boys in front, on the left, are two of our grandkids): Mark and Collin. The others are grand nieces and nephews (but only a handful of them....there are plenty more!).

Granddaughter Morgan and friend -- running in high gear!

The rodeo begins with the "Kids'" events, including Mutton Bustin' -- which most of our grandkids have participated in at one time or another...

Dressed for riding his mutton!

Hang on, Buddy, okay????

A long - standing tradition, here is our youngest son Matt, when he was 6 years old young (23 years ago), wearing Doug's chaps from childhood. These chaps have gone through all of the kids so they are nearing 65 years old! Matt is also married now and is a father of two young kids. 

Mutton Bustin' -- for anyone who doesn't know -- is when kids get to ride sheep. They hang on, any which a'way, and try to last for as long as possible. Our grandson (above) won the winning buckle for TWO rodeos this year -- quite a feat for a six-year old...Our older son Nick and his wife Jenny visit with their younger son (6 years old) -- giving him some sage advice before slipping down into the chute?!

But the rodeo is made for little kids... what better place to get dirty and run around without fear?!

 

And, of course, the main events are the traditional ones: bareback riding, bronc riding, barrel racing, team roping, calf roping, and bull riding. Even now, when I hear the music start, and the announcer call out, "Bareback riders get ready; bull riders, pull down and start pukin'," I think of the number of rodeos I sat threw anxiously watching Doug behind the chutes, getting ready for his turn, grateful that in all those years, he never got hurt!

RODEO

It's a great time celebrated by our multi-generational farm and ranching family, and it's a community event that we all look forward to twice a year.

This photo, taken by a friend, is of a cousin -- not a professional cowboy, but certainly could be!

===========================

Gail Jenner is the wife of a cowboy-rancher- and former rodeo bull rider. Writing about life in the West and on a cattle ranch that has been in the family for 5 generations now (over 140 years) only adds greater inspiration to her stories. Author, educator, rancher's wife, she loves riding and gardening and spending days on the ranch with her husband of 45 years. She is proud that her children and grandchildren find this life as satisfying as she does! In addition, she and 6 of the Jenner "girls" have joined together to establish a retail sales business of 100% All Natural Angus (ranch-bred and raised) premium beef, called Jenner Family Beef!

For more about her, check out: www.gailjenner.com  or

http://www.amazon.com/Gail-Fiorini-Jenner/e/B005GHR47O
or Visit her on Facebook at Author Gail Jenner
or check out Jenner Family Beef!

Five Generations Strong....Ranching is What We Do.... By Gail L. Jenner

Although I've briefly talked about the ranch, I thought I'd delve a little more into its history. Several people have mentioned they enjoy hearing about the ranch. So here's a little more on the Jenner Cattle Company, three generations working together today, representing 3 of the 5 original generations:

L-R: nephew Frank; "Great Papa" Jack (91); brother-in-law John; son Matt; hubby Doug; son Nick.

 The Jenner Cattle Company, Inc., is one of the oldest ranches in Scott Valley, Siskiyou County, California.  For those who think California is the land of beautiful people and beautiful beaches and sun year-round, they have not visited the most northern quadrant of the state! Forty miles from Oregon, we are a rural (very rural) mountain community. We are surrounded by the Klamath National Forest, the Trinity-Salmon Alps, and the Marble Mountain Wilderness Area. The "valley" is perhaps 30 miles long and 6 miles wide. Originally the land of the Shasta, it is still the home of one of the largest tribes in northern California. Neighboring tribes include the Karuk and Yurok (further to the coast).

The first contact with whites dates back to Hudson Bay Company's beaver trappers and early mountain men, circa 1928-30. Stephen Meek, brother to Joseph Meek, is "credited" with putting Scott Valley (then called Beaver Valley) "on the map."  Interestingly, Stephen Meek lived for a time on a part of our ranch, and Old Pop used to recall how the Meek would hang his beaver pelts on our barn to dry in the sun (that would have been in Meek's later years -- around 1900+)... today the beaver are few, but they remain -- rather fascinating to watch how quickly they can build a dam. Only trouble is that we often try to plant trees along the slough and they saw them down very quickly! LOL...

The Jenners' entry into the valley goes back to the days of the gold rush (more on that in a future blog <g>).....the gold rush here followed on the heels of the Sierra Mother Lode "rush," but actually produced as much, if not more gold. Gold was first noted in 1848, but it wasn't until 1850 that the rush north into the Trinity region and beyond took hold. Even today, few people realize that the "northern mines" were as rich as they were, and the gold rush here lasted into the 1900s.

The Wagner Saloon in Etna

Part of the family’s ranching operation has its roots in the Wagner Ranch, purchased by Ignace and Mary Ann (Lichtenthaler) Wagner, both of Alsace, France, in March of 1874 (March 17, 1874). Although Ignace first went to mine in the area of Placerville (then known as "Hangtown" in the Sierras), he soon moved north, with a little bit of gold, as did so many gold seekers. He was a hard-worker and began to look around at how he could make a living for his family; farming and ranching was very profitable in the early days and he had come from farming stock. Later, at least one of his sons ran the Wagner Saloon in Etna. 

Another branch of the family included the Kapplers, who founded the original Etna Brewery--which has been resurrected and has won many micro-brewery awards since its "re-creation" in 1990! The Kapplers were also from Germany, arriving again as part of the gold rush. Settling in Etna, the Kapplers established the brewery and built an ice house and were the first to bring electricity to the town in 1898. Prohibition forced the brewery to close, although the beer did win a Blue Ribbon at the San Francisco Exposition in 1915.

The original farmhouse on the Wagner Ranch was built in 1859, but Ignace soon built a new home on the flat, opposite the old structure. The painting below was done by A. Cedro and stretches a good 4-5 feet across; it shows the layout of the Wagner Ranch in its "heyday."

Note the "horse barn" (still a beautiful and historic barn, on the right....).

The Wagners raised prized horses, including some magnificent Percherons; one even won a Blue Ribbon at the 1915 Exposition. They also raised hogs and apples. Today we still butcher hogs in the same way as did the first Wagners and we smoke our hams, bacon, sausage in the "old smokehouse on the hill." 

Our oldest son - note the "scrapers" to the left of the hog - 150 years old.

We also press cider in the 150-year old family cider press, made from a variety of apples on the ranch (many of which were planted later by my husband while in high school). Both are annual traditions that we have passed on now to the sixth generation. In fact, each Christmas our gift to neighbors, family and friends includes some of our wonderful sausage. Everyone looks forward to the gift!

NOTE: if anyone's interested in the historic and fascinating history of processing pork -- I could do a blog with photos...?

The first Jenner to arrive in Scott Valley was E.P. Jenner, who emigrated from Sussex County, England, in 1849 (again, because of the gold rush!), then founded the Union Flour Mill c. 1864, outside the town of Rough and Ready, now called Etna. With gold miners needing food and supplies, it was E.P.’s nephew, Frank S. Jenner, who followed his uncle to the valley and established a ranch on land straddling the “Island” (land between Scott River and Patterson Creek/slough) in the early 1870s, where rich bottomland produces good feed for cattle. 

This is the view from our living room window.

Today we still raise cattle on these rich pastures and native grasses – which adds to the flavor and nutrition found in our beef. It is 100% All Natural, with no hormones, no antibiotics, and it has a strong reputation as prime and superior beef.

The Jenner family, operating in its fifth generation, is centered around Frank’s original Island property, in addition to the Wagner Ranch, but we have also added to the family’s holdings and cow herd in the years since my husband and his brother joined the business (40+ years). And in the last 15 years, our two sons and nephew have joined the family operation/corporation. But "Grandpa Jack" (now 91) still works a good 8-hour day!

Today we run 1000+ cows and we've moved from raising Hereford to Angus-cross cattle. We calve in the late fall but since we have FOUR seasons (yes, temps drop to well below zero in the winter and we get snow that often lasts for days or weeks). With the valley floor at 2800 feet and the mountains around us peaking at 9,000 feet, we are a beautiful, green, lush valley. It's no wonder that so many immigrants from Germany and Switzerland made this valley their home.
    

In addition, the Island ranch features a lush, natural slough, with roughly 50 acres of ponds and four reservoirs. The area is maintained as a natural preserve where waterfowl and other wildlife congregate year-round. 

In winter, the geese often "skate" along the frozen slough....

We limit hunting in order to protect both wildlife and cattle, so it’s not uncommon to see hundreds, if not thousands, of ducks, geese, herons, even pairs of eagles (both Bald and American Golden) and other bird life, as well as beaver and/or otters, etc. The diversity is amazing and there is rarely a day I don't look out and marvel at the beauty and the fertility of nature. We love our cows, and for those who have wondered, cattle AND wildlife do cohabitate incredibly well. Cattle are natural recyclers; they are also natural fire retardants and can convert otherwise dry material into a powerful food source (like the dry hillsides that ignite in California every summer -- a shame they are no longer used to keep the fire danger down). 

Now that we have the sixth generation coming on, it's been wonderful having our rich family history to pass on -- not only the stories, but the actual "material" culture of a family that has lived on the same land for almost 150 years! And now, even the Jenner "girls" have expanded the family's enterprise; we've created our own business, Jenner Family Beef, which offers beef locally and regionally.

Just this year, Jenner beef is being featured at the new and exclusive Clove & Hoof butcher shop and eatery in Oakland, CA......along with an endorsement by San Francisco's Slow Food group. By expanding what we do, we feel that we can provide for our growing family. With four generations at work now and the next coming on, we hope to maintain our family's rich heritage!

========================================================================
Gail L. Jenner is the wife of Doug Jenner. She considers

her life on the ranch to be almost a dream-come-true!
Keeping the history of five generations alive is another
reason she collects and records local history, in addition
to writing historical fiction....
For more, visit: www.gailjenner.com
OR: http://www.amazon.com/Gail-Fiorini-Jenner/e/B005GHR47O
OR: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Gail-L-Jenner/207027702703732?ref=hlhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Gail-L-Jenner/207027702703732?ref=hl
She is the author of the PRP release of her WILLA Award-winning novel, ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS. Her stories have also been included in the PRP anthologies, PRESENT FOR A COWBOY, LASSOING A BRIDE, and COWBOY KISSES. She has also coauthored 5 regional histories, and edited and contributed to ANKLE HIGH AND KNEE DEEP, an anthology of Western rural women's stories.

A GLIMPSE OF LIFE & DEATH ON THE RANCH.......By Gail L. Jenner

Life is hard on a ranch, especially when calving season comes along. With close to 1000 head of cows, the season can be 24-hour duty when first calf heifers begin calving. Late nights, long days, cold weather all play into the drama that takes place each year. Although we calve in the fall, we do live in a mountain valley and sometimes the snow comes early....even if it's only a skiff, it can be discouraging.

For anyone who hasn't experienced life on a ranch, perhaps the memoir shared here will provide a glimpse into the struggle to protect and/or save the lives that depend on us each and every day. Nothing about taking care of livestock is taken for granted; would that more people realize the deep bond that connects man/woman and beast!

Sometimes it's a hard drama, especially when a heifer has trouble. The following (true) event occurred in the early years of our marriage, before I had experienced the frustrating and disappointing loss of a calf or even a young mother cow. The loss is not one anyone accepts easily.

I wrote about this episode a few weeks after it happened -- perhaps as my way of processing and letting go -- and revised it several years later, so I am thrilled to see this story finally "find its home" in the anthology recently released by TwoDot/Globe, entitled ANKLE HIGH AND KNEE DEEP. It's one of the four I submitted.

If I might add, as editor and collector of the anthology/ volume, I was thrilled that the editors/publishers at TwoDot/Globe Pequot also loved the piece.

Birth

Gail L. Jenner

“Oh, Doug, is it going to be all right?”

“I don’t know. It don’t want to come. Maybe the calf is turned.” My husband pulled off his long-sleeved shirt and dipped his hands into the bucket of soapy water before turning to her. His hands entered easily, but the cow resisted when he pushed his arms in up to the elbows. “Come on, Mama.”

As the cow strained against the nylon halter I held taut, I swallowed the bile that burned my throat. At the same time, a series of groans rose up out of her throat, then her legs, shaking uncontrollably, gave up beneath her swollen body. She dropped to the straw with an ominous thud.

“Is the calf turned the right way?” My words, barely spoken, tinkled like coins in the empty barn. I dropped the end of the halter. This cow wasn’t going anywhere.

Doug hesitated, brows drawn together, tongue moving across chapped lips. “The head’s okay, but one leg don’t seem to be.”

“But will it live?”

He grunted, trying to wipe his chin against his shoulder. “Not unless we get it out soon.” He withdrew his hands and stood for a moment. He glanced up at me. “We'll have to pull it.”

With bloodied fingers, he picked up the length of chain he'd dragged out of the pickup earlier. The links of the mechanical stretcher clanked noisily.

I frowned as he circled and fastened one end of the chain around a small pair of hooves barely protruding from the young cow’s enraged cavity. Still down and panting, she twisted her head back until that the white sockets of her eyes bulged.

I held my protest. I knew Doug was doing all he could.

“When I start to pull,” he ordered, handing me one end of the chain, “make sure it don't slip off.”

The hard links rattled as Doug pulled on the lever – once, twice; the sound sent chills down my back, reminding me of fingernails scraping against a chalkboard.

Doug yanked on the pulley again. “Hold it steady!”

The chain grew taut, but the calf didn't budge. The cow’s belly ballooned with another contraction and she gasped.

I shrank back as she bawled again. “Oh, poor Mama,” I whispered. Why was life such a struggle?

Disgusted, Doug dropped the pulley contraption and shoved his hands back through the slimy opening, leaning forward to negotiate a better hold on the buried calf. Pearls of sweat trailed down his lean cheeks and they shimmered in the lopsided beams of amber light provided by his old pickup’s headlights.

He scowled as he probed and prodded, pushed and pulled.

Night finally edged in, the darkness filling the barn like spilled ink. Dinner hour long forgotten, I could not have moved away from the young mother even if I’d wanted to.  I was still new to marriage and this ranching life, and I hadn’t realized how tenuous life could be.

“Hey!” Doug interrupted my thoughts. “Give me that hammer and chisel.”

“Oh,” I groaned, reaching for the tools he had brought – just in case. Then I turned away, unable to watch. Only in impossible situations did a farmer or vet choose to split a young cow’s pelvis.

Hopefully it would heal.

“I have to,” Doug whispered. I nodded, touched by his attempt to ease my discomfort.

The hammer hit dully; the job was done. Throwing the tools aside, he moved swiftly. He reached for the calf's hooves and tugged. Like a soft ripe banana, the bloody body of the bald-faced calf oozed out onto the damp straw.

Dropping to his knees, my husband wiped the afterbirth from the calf's nose and tongue, but the tongue dangled like a fat pink tube sock, and its eyes stared blankly into the empty night.

Taking a quick, deep breath, Doug pressed his mouth over the calf’s. Sealing both nostrils, he blew breath after breath into the limp body.

I waited, tears slipping unnoticed down my cheeks.

Time passed cruelly.

Finally Doug leaned back and frowned. His eyes reflected my fear. “Too late. Too damn late.”

No! I took a step forward. You have to live. You can’t die. I held my breath. I felt Doug exhale slowly, but he avoided my glance.

And the cow, exhausted, lay, panting, her head flopped over in the straw as if she'd turned away from the awful sight.

Doug dragged the calf aside, his own face dark with unspoken disappointment. Then he returned to the cow.

He rested one palm lightly on her hip, but she didn't move as he inspected her and cleaned her off; neither did she flinch when he gave her an injection of antibiotic from the small black bag he always carried with him.

But I couldn’t stop the tears. Turning slowly, I looked out at the stars scattered like fool’s gold across the black dome of sky. Life. Death.

I turned back to the young cow.

Doug was massaging her back and shoulders, mindless of the cold air against his wet, stained arms and hands, compassion written across his weather-stained features. “I'm sorry, old gal,” he whispered. 

Slowly he coaxed her to her feet and pulled off the halter. She trembled, but seemed to gather her strength in the next moments.

It was then his glance trapped mine.

I winced.

The cow bawled.

He smiled tentatively. There would be another birth, his eyes said.

Perhaps another death, I wanted to retort.

Perhaps. But always, life prevails.

I hope you have enjoyed this excerpt from the recent release, ANKLE HIGH AND KNEE DEEP.

For more on ANKLE HIGH AND KNEE DEEP, check it out on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0762792116/#_swftext_Swf

THE HISTORY OF MY VALLEY.....A Brief Introduction! By Gail L. Jenner

Tucked away between the mountains surrounding our rural valley in Northern Californa lay three smaller valleys that have contributed substantially to this region's mineral, agricultural and economic base since the 1850s: Scott Valley, Quartz Valley, and Seiad Valley. The three mountain valleys are home to approximately 8,000 people today. Historically, of course, this land was home to thousands more, including the local tribes -- the Shasta and the Karuk. This area is still considered a rugged region, with the Marble Mountain Wilderness, the Klamath National Forest, the Trinity-Salmon Alps and 45 miles away, the majestic Mt. Shasta (part of the Cascade Range). It is home to my husband's family -- now a fifth generation cattle ranch. I have been married to my cowboy/ranching husband for nearly 43 years.

Taylor Lake in the Salmon Mountains.

Russian fur trappers possibly entered the region as early as 1825, and Jedediah Smith reportedly crossed through the Trinity Mountains above the mouth of the Klamath River in 1828. But it was the Hudson Bay trappers Stephen Meek, Thomas McKay, George Aldophus Duzel, and sixteen other men – along with a number of horses – who discovered the area called Beaver Valley in 1836 (now called Scott Valley). Stephen Meek later declared that Scott Valley had been one of the best places to trap beaver and wild game he’d ever seen, and though he went on to hunt and trap all over the West, he returned to the Josiah Doll ranch in Scott Valley in 1871. Here he lived until his death at the age of 90, and when he died in 1889, he was buried in the Etna Cemetery. Today there are still a number of ‘potholes’ near Oro Fino that are supposedly remnants from the days when trappers dug out great fire pits. And until a few years ago, the remains of a two-story “sod house” could be found where the local high school football field is now. According to local historian Bill Balfrey, whose grandmother knew its original history, the structure had been an early “fort” for the Hudson Bay trappers.

Stephen Meek, brother to Joseph Meek, mountain man, trapper,

As with the rest of California, it was the great Gold Rush of 1849 that opened the doors to Siskiyou County. Harry L. Wells, in HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, credits the first mining in this region to Lindsay Applegate who traveled south from Jacksonville, Oregon, in 1849 to mine along Beaver Creek, the Klamath, and the Scott River. In June of 1850, however, prospectors from the Trinity River crossed the Salmon-Trinity Alps and found enough gold to whet their appetites. John W. Scott, from whom the valley and river later derived their names, discovered gold at “Scott’s Bar”.  

Within a year, the “northern mines” were drawing prospectors from every part of the world – perhaps as many as 20,000 – who, “like coveys of scared quail, scuttled hither and thither”.  Without roads, the only manner of travel was by foot or by mule train. Few stayed in one place long, though settlements throughout the region boasted booming populations at various times. Hamburg, for instance, a tiny spot on today’s map, swelled to a population of about 5,000. Somes Bar, at the junction of the Klamath and Salmon rivers, listed 500-1000 men in 1852, though by 1908, had little more than a store and hotel. Deadwood, a settlement established at the forks of Deadwood and Cherry Creeks, grew to such prominence that it vied for county seat. Yreka, today’s county seat, won its title by only two votes, while Deadwood no longer exists – except in the memories of a few “old-timers”.

The timber industry developed simultaneously in this part of Northern California and mills were established all over. Mining continued well into the Twentieth Century and even during the Great Depression, miners flocked to the region, staking claims and setting up temporary settlements in the national forests. Along with mining and logging/timber, of course, the region became a dominant agricultural area, in particular a livestock producing region. With these high mountain valleys, food crops are not sustainable, but livestock thrives. It continues to be an area dominated by livestock.

Cattle thrive in this rugged mountain valley, elevation 3000 feet.

My husband's family came with the gold rush: E.P. Jenner arrived in 1849 and the Wagners arrived in the 1850s. The Wagners began farming in the 1850s and the Jenners took up farming in the 1870s. Today the family is in its fifth generation with the sixth generation beginning to participate in life on the ranch. The ranch is a storehouse of memories and artifacts -- and I'll share some of those old memories and stories in future blogs! The inspiration it provides is part of the reason I continue to write and collect local history. It needs to be preserved!
A handful of my "own" ranching stories I've included in the upcoming ANKLE HIGH AND KNEE DEEP, an anthology of farm/ranching women's "voices" -- to be released in June by TwoDot/Globe Pequot. For a preview of the book, check it out on amazon.com: ANKLE HIGH AND KNEE DEEP -- coming in June 2014.

For more about my books, check out: www.gailjenner.com or visit my Prairie Rose Publications page at: http://prairierosepublications.yolasite.com/gail-l-jenner.phphttp://prairierosepublications.yolasite.com/gail-l-jenner.php