John F. and Emily Porter Before 1909 JOHN F. PORTER EMILY PORTER My father, John Ford Porter, and his sister, Malinda Porter Smith, owned a 2200 acre ranch located on Cottonwood Creek in Mountain Green, about one mile east of the present Browning Arms property. The range land was located on the north side of Cottonwood Creek and the farm area on the bench south of the Creek. This niece of farm land had been originally homesteaded by Hyrum B. and Parley P. Parrish. The farm land north of the home was originally owned by Orrin Randall and Melvin Randall. The Randalls also operated a dairy located near the Cottonwood Creek road, near a spring. Noted Church writer and historian, B.H. Roberts, ralates in his book, "Defen¬der of the Faith," his experiences as a young man, 19 years of age, working for the Randalls herding cattle on the ranch and milking dairy cows. In about 1900 the Porter Stock and Dairy Company of Centerville purchased the Randall-Parrish property and also the range land on the north side of Cottonwood Creek. The Porters operated the ranch until 1912. At that time the estate of Nathan Tanner Porter (my grandfather) was settled and the land went to my father and his sister. My father owned two thirds and his sister the remaining one third. The ranch was leased to George Heiner of Morgan, the lease to terminate at the end of the year, 1916. The Summer before the lease was to terminate, our fam¬ily moved onto the ranch to construct a home. At that time there was my father, mother, (Emily Wright Porter) and my sister, Ruth. 249