Well, there wasn’t much going on in the sheep business at least. This was the only article I could find in researching newspapers across the state for 1922. For those from the Buckeye, Arizona area, this will be of interest to you!
On September 19, 1922, The Arizona Republic reported that the Long Brothers were engaged in constructing a large and modern concrete sheep dipping vat. It was necessary because of the number of sheep they owned. The pit was to be 45 feet long with a 20 by 20 feet drain floor.
From talking with one of the descendants of the Longs, I believe that this vat was south of the present-day post office in Buckeye, Arizona. The Buckeye area was a winter sheep grazing location for many sheep families in the early to mid-part of the 1900s. It was still farmland and not with all the housing developments and warehouses that have sprung up in the last 10 years and taken over our precious farmland. We are losing farmland every day in the Salt River Valley and it was one of the reasons so many sheep ranchers sold out in the 1970s – 1990s among other reasons. Without farmland for winter grazing, the sheep had no place to go.
Friends have told me of the days up to the 1970s when they would be caught on road behind sheep being moved between one field to another. While they complained about it then because they were in a rush to get where they were going, they all have told me that they miss seeing the sheep grazing in the fields around Buckeye.
While there are not the large numbers of sheep grazing on the pastures today in the Buckeye area, one can still find pastures that still have less than 100 but you must be diligently looking for them.
And that is the story for this week one hundred years ago!
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