NAF News

50 YEARS DEDICATED T0 4-H

Jay Hicks is an Ibapah, Utah rancher, wiry, tough and 96 years old. He has compiled a record as a 4-H leader few can equal. Amazingly, he is now approaching his 52nd year as the 4-H leader in that remote area along the Nevada, Utah State line. The young people he teaches mostly come from isolated ranches and rural vistas. While 4-H livestock projects including the raising of beef, lambs, hogs, and horses are major areas in which he instructs, he also guides in horsemanship and other categories including safety and leather craft. Parliamentary Procedure to Record Book Keeping, too, receive his attention. Although Jay lives in Utah it is very near the Nevada line and is in area 13, a Nevada 4-H district. His 4-H'ers are considered Nevadans.

Where's Ibapah? It is mostly a post office settlement with a school, church and some other structures situated close to the Goshute Indian Reservation and is 50 miles directly south of Wendover and about 100 miles north and east of Ely. Surrounding Ibapah are a number of ranches. It is located in Deep Creek Valley where Deep Creek runs and provides water to the ranchers and to the Reservation. Hick's 4-H Club is called the Deep Creek Club. People there don't tend to worry about traffic congestion, crowded malls or the hustle and bustle of busy city environs. Neighbors may be a few miles down the valley.

A year ago, November of 2003, Hicks received a 50 year 4-H Leader Award from the University of Nevada's Cooperative Extension with Karen Hinton, Cooperative Extension Dean, lauding his tireless efforts. A large silver and gold belt buckle accompanied the citation. Back in 1989 he was named Nevada's Oustanding 4-H Leader. During his tenure as a 4-H Leader, 13 youth he taught went to the National 4-H Congress held annually in Chicago. Hicks also attended the "Windy City" gathering of 1600 or more 4-H'ers and leaders from throughout the United States. Hicks tutored a national winner in the Record Book competition. Jay also took his club members to the State 4-H camp at south Lake Tahoe and certainly may again. "His record is one of high achievement," said Pete Mangum who coordinates the White Pine County 4-H program.

The Deep Creek, Pleasant Valley, Blue Mass country is where Jay Hicks has spent nearly all of his life and he knows the people and the land. He was born in Grantsville, Utah in 1909. He grew up there attending local schools. Most summers, once he had grown some, were spent on his grandparents ranch in the Ibapah area. There he learned the cowboy skills and gained knowledge about ranching that was to serve him well in the years ahead. It was in those early days that Jay first took part in running mustangs, an activity he came to love and later provided him income in the early years. He married wife Leatha, 1937 in Ibapah. Jay was able to acquire some acreage that was a part of his grandparents ranch. The acreage was called Horse Camp. It was here that he and his new bride began their lives together. "It was tough going," says daughter Lori Wines of Ely, adding "for their first 8 years they mostly lived on income from trading horses or selling them." She explained that he did things like trade horses for sacks of potatoes or other needed commodities and sold them for whatever he could get, sometime by the pound or by number. Besides chasing and roping mustangs, Jay also raised horses. Whatever, he managed to make a living doing something he really enjoyed. Jay says, "When I look back over the years I can't even count the thousands of miles I have ridden horse back."

Jay's grandparents were the first of the family to settle in the Ibapah vicinity during the late 1880's. Their initial ranch holdings were located on the desert flanking the Salt Flats. It was called the "Last Chance" ranch because it fit the name. When the grandparents decided to ranch there a friend, who thought them balmy said, "I'll eat every thing that you grow on that place." The grandfather had noted however that some of the sagebrush in the area had grown as high as a man's head, an indication of deep and fertile soil. Duane Hicks, Jay's son who is now operating their current ranch said,"after their first planting season, they had grown some amazingly large squash. Three of the largest almost filled a buckboard (horse drawn wagon). My great grandfather took these to town and told his friend, 'eat these and when your done, I've got 30 ton of good alfalfa you can start on.' " Some years later they sold the "Last Chance" at a profit to a millionaire Dunlap hat manufacturer from back east.

The grandparents later acquired the present ranch much closer to Deep Creek. It was the ranch Jay visited growing up and included the part called "Horse Camp" that Jay bought in 1937. A number of years later he bought out his grandmother Hilda Erickson and thus became owner of the whole ranch. He paid something like $7,000 for the property. During those times that was a lot of money. Hilda, who had come west in the 1850's with a LDS Handcart company lived to be 108 years old, a testament to her strength and durability. Those unfamiliar with LDS history may wonder about the handcarts. In the late 1840's and early 1850's, many mormons walked the 1,000 plus miles from what they called Winter Quarters near Omaha, Nebraska to Salt Lake City. They pushed or pulled two wheeled hand carts loaded only with minimum essentials over those many miles. The current ranch. is called the Hicks Ranch or is referred to also as the Pasture. They raise cattle, sheep and horses on the ranch and cut meadows for grass hay.

Jay and Leatha had four children, three girls and Duane. All went to high school in Grantsville with three, two of the girls and Duane attending what is now Southern Utah University at Cedar City. Daughter Lori opted to go to Utah State University at Logan. Jay got started in 4-H when his children were old enough to participate in the program. He formed the Deep Creek Club for all youth of that region who wanted to take part in 4-H. Lori recalls that the highlight of the 4-H year was the trip to Ely for the White Pine County Fair usually held in August. The 4-H Horse show was ordinarily held on the weekend preceeding the fair. Thus the Hicks family and other Ibapah 4-H'ers usually spent the week in Ely in order to participate in both events. "We called that our family summer vacation and really enjoyed it," she said. They participated in both the halter and equitation parts of the Horse Show and showed steers, lambs and hogs, along with crafts, at the County Fair.

Now this pilgrimage to the fair was not a trip of four or five miles to a rural town. It was a bit longer. The shortest route to Ely from Ibapah is Nevada Highway 32 (the old Lincoln Highway and path of the Pony Express in that area) that runs through the Goshute Indian Reservation across upper Antelope Valley to Tippets, Stone House and over Schellbourne Pass. It then runs into U.S. 93 and on to Ely. It is about 105 miles but 65 of those miles are over dirt road, considerably slower and much more dusty than surfaced highways. Jay Hicks and his caravan of 4-H'ers preferred to go north out of Ibapah, through White Horse Pass to U.S. 93 and then to Ely. The distance of this route was over 130 miles but only 17 of those miles were on dirt. Jay Hicks recalls some of his most fond memories as those connected with his 4-H leadership role. "I really enjoy the kids, working with them and teaching them. I hope I help them along in life. I think I do." There likely is a number of his former 4-H members as well as a lot of parents and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Agents that think so too. A.Z. Joy, County Agent in White Pine County for years would agree. -30-

Rancher and 4-H Leader, Jay Hicks is a mere 96 years old but is still teaching youth in his area knowledge and skills needed in accomplishing 4-H projects. He's been doing it for nearly 52 years. Not many 4-H leaders have such a record.

The University of Nevada at Reno Cooperative Extension honored Hicks on completion of 50 years service as a 4-H Leader in the remote Ibapah area. This was done in a 2003 ceremony in which he was cited for his achievments and given a silver and gold belt buckle.