FIELDING GARR RANCHAccessible year round. Many amenities are accessible to the physically challenged, and include self-guided tours, exhibits and rest rooms. Special events are schedules during summer months and holidays. There is no drinking water available.
Thousands of years ago, the area's native people inhabited Antelope Island; some of their prehistoric artifacts have been found at the ranch. In modern times, the ranch house is the oldest Anglo building still standing on its' original foundation in Utah. Other settlements and homesteads on the island soon followed, and by 1893, buffalo were introduced to Antelope Island from this ranch. In the 1920s, the ranch was home to one of the first mechanized sheep ranching operations in the western United States. The Fielding Garr Ranch has a long history of change. The Garr Ranch is located at Garr Springs, one of the strongest and most consistent of the 40 springs on Antelope Island. Both indigenous people and wildlife used this water source long before Fielding Garr built the ranch. Even today, bison and deer can be seen at the springs. Archaeological findings have shown that there has been human activity at the springs for at least 1,000 years.
The Mormon church operated the ranch until the mid-1870's. During this era, ranching operations encompassed the entire island. The church herds supported the Perpetual Emigration Fund, which assisted Mormon Church members from Europe in making the trek across the Great Plains. In 1869, the railroad came to Utah, and with it came the first federal surveys of the land. Because the only improvements on the island were around the ranch itself, the federal government opened the rest of the island to homesteading. By the turn of the century, most of the homesteaders had failed to prove their claims. John Dooly Sr., an enterprising businessman and rancher, purchased the entire island at a price of one million dollars, and it became the home of his Island Improvement Company. Under Dooly's management, twelve bison were introduced to the island at a time when the bison population in North America numbered less than 1,000 head. While some philanthropists amy have been working to prevent the extinction of the species, we think John Dooly was working to profit by raising the rare species for commercial hunting opportunity.
As you visit the ranch, watch for evidence of these many changes over the 150 years of history. Beneath this change, we think you will find the constant pulse of those things that define life for us here in the West. |
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HISTORY OF THE GARR RANCH
The first permanent structure at this site was a small log cabin built in 1848 by Fielding Garr. Garr had been assigned by the Mormon Church to establish a ranch on the island as a stronghold for managing the church tithing herds. Within two years, Garr had expanded the ranch compound to include the adobe ranch house and the stone corrals to the north. The ranch was continually inhabited from that time until 1981.
The ranch operation continued uninterrupted through several owners. Just after the turn of the century, the focus of the ranch turned to sheep. Under the direction of John Dooly Jr., the sheep operation expanded to more than 10,000 sheep to become one of the largest and most industrialized ranching efforts in the western United States. When sheep ranching became unprofitable in the 1950's due to the failing wool market, the operation turned again to cattle. The island ranch continued to function as part of one of the largest commercial cattle operations in the state until the island became a state park in 1981.