i Oral History Program Jerry Anderson Interviewed by Tiffany Baica 9 April 2015 ii Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Jerry Anderson Interviewed by Tiffany Baica 9 April 2015 Copyright © 2015 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Ogden Union Stockyard was a key fixture in the largest livestock market west of Denver during its heyday from 1916 to 1971. The activities at the yard brought Ogden national attention as a livestock center; the rise of the livestock shows, auctions, etc. at the site spurred the local and regional livestock industry, physically shaping the development of the agricultural landscape both near and far. This project documents some of the stories of the stockyard workers and visitors. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Anderson, Jerry, an oral history by Tiffany Baica, 9 April 2015, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Jerry Anderson, conducted in his place of business by Tiffany Baica on April 9, 2015. Anderson discusses his knowledge and experiences with the historic Ogden Union Stockyards. TB: Can you tell me a little about your background with the Stockyards? JA: Well my dad took over the Weber Livestock auction in 1971. We lived in Sanpete County then. We moved up here in 1972 and Dad ran it until I took over in 1994 and we’ve had it since then. We changed the name to Anderson Livestock in 2004 I believe. TB: What were your father and your mother’s names? JA: Keith Anderson and Arleen Anderson. They had a partnership with Dick Widdison. He was with Dad all those years. Ran quite a few cattle back then, most of the cattle were Herefords, red and white face. Now we see mostly black cattle, as we don’t see too many Hereford cattle anymore. TB: Can you tell me a little bit about the traffic that came in and out of the Ogden Stockyards when you were there? JA: When Dad was back there, most of it came in on trucks, bobtails they were called. Two ton trucks and they came from Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. Now everything is on trailers. We don’t see any of that on semis now. Everything came on older trucks. TB: What did you do with your father at the Stockyards? Did you help him with the auctions? 2 JA: I worked outside in the pen and I helped Dick feed and sort. Then I penned after they sold them out and unloaded them out the back. TB: That sounds fun. JA: Yes. Well we always had several horses saddled up down there. We rode a lot of horses back then, we don’t anymore. We changed the alleys since we moved out here. The runs are shorter and everything’s done on foot now. Back then a lot of it was done by horse back. TB: Is that how you moved the cattle from one place to another? JA: It was such a big area. From where you unloaded them to where you penned them, sometimes it was a quarter of a mile to the back end of the old pens. TB: Oh wow. JA: It was a long walk. TB: Did you participate in the shows at the Coliseum? JA: At the old Coliseum. I showed one year when I was younger. I showed a 4-H calf and that’s the only time I did them. I remember when I was a little kid coming up with Dad. He bought a bull there back in the sixties and it was quite a place then. TB: How much traffic with cattle, pigs and sheep did you guys have? JA: Back then there were a lot of pigs and a lot of sheep. Most of it was cattle, but there was a lot. Anymore we sell very few pigs, still sell quite a few sheep, but nothing like the hundreds—five, six hundred every week like they did back in the fall. Back then there were a lot of pigs as I remember when I was younger, but it’s just nobody raises them in this country. In the time, they sold lots of them 3 when the railroad came in with cars with hundreds of pigs on them. That was before my time. TB: You said your dad ran the auction from 1971 to 1994. What were your memories at that time of the Ogden Stockyards when you were helping your father out? JA: It was a lot of fun. If we had to rope cattle around we’d go over to the old Coliseum and rope and we grew up there. It was a lot of fun back then. It’s quite a place and there were lots of cattle. Where there used to be fifty cows there are a hundred homes now in this country. TB: When the Stockyards shut down, did it have a personal impact on your family? JA: Oh yeah. It was hard because we’d been there for so long. When we left there it was hard, but it was getting old and we moved out here. There was a lot of memories there and it was hard. The whole family liked it because it was a family run business. TB: I understood that a lot of the customers and everything were like family also. JA: Oh yeah. They still are good friends. TB: Growing up there you must have seen a lot of hustle and bustle. It would be very exhilarating and exciting. JA: Oh, yes it was exciting. It was fun and just amazing. Back then how many cattle there really was around the country compared to now. So it was a lot of fun. TB: And then you told me earlier that you had a lot of people come from Wyoming? JA: Yes still do. They truck them in every week. We get people and a lot of cattle out of Wyoming. TB: Did anybody come over from California? 4 JA: We send a lot of cattle to California, have for years. Some of the feeder cattle used to go there in the fall and they go to big packing houses. So a lot of the hamburger animals went to California and they still do. A lot of them go east to most of the big feed lots now. Back then we sent a lot of feeder cattle to Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas. TB: Oh really? JA: We still do it. Idaho has some feed. Utah has very few feed lots. TB: Anything else you would like to add? JA: It was quite a place; I wish I could remember more about the old days, when it was really booming. The Union Stockyards was one of the bigger ones in the country. Years ago they used to trail the cattle in from local towns like Hooper. They’d trail them in and herd them right into the Stockyards. I don’t remember that it was all truck. TB: That is what I noticed too. A lot of the trains stopped running around the sixties and then everything was like you said. JA: Yes. They would haul them in from California and all over on the trains. Ogden was the resting point going to Omaha or wherever. They would rest in Ogden then probably load more and go. TB: That’s very exciting. JA: Yes. I wish old Dick Widdison was still alive. He worked there forever and was there back when they were all running the trains. TB: I think that’s all the questions I have for you. This has been extremely interesting and fun and I really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. Thank you.