The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Documented federal and reservation inputs to Brighton cattle program, 1935-1940

Seminole ranching at the Brighton Reservation in Glades County was re-established in the second half of the 1930s under federal programs.[nrhp-red-barn] Published accounts identify federal livestock purchases, Civilian Conservation Corps-Indian Division relief work, range pasture, and Seminole cattlemen as the documented inputs to the early operation.[sievers-1985-seminole-ranching][thpo-cowkeepers-legacy][nrhp-red-barn]

The stock came from the West

The foundation herd was a federal purchase shipped east by rail. A 1985 article in Rangelands records that “Seminole ranching enterprises began rebuilding in 1936 when the United States Government shipped 500 head of drought relief Hereford cattle from Arizona to the Seminole Indian Agency,” with further losses on the overland drive to Brighton.[sievers-1985-seminole-ranching] The Tribe’s own historic preservation office gives 547 head bought from ranches ruined by the Dust Bowl.[thpo-cowkeepers-legacy] The National Register nomination for the Red Barn at Brighton gives a third figure again, 700 head from the Apache Reservation in Oklahoma.[nrhp-red-barn] The accounts disagree over the number and the place of origin, which is treated separately in the starter herd finding; they agree that the cattle were bought by the federal government in the western states and moved to Florida. A second purchase in 1940 brought two-year-old heifers from the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona.[sievers-1985-seminole-ranching] A contemporary account in The Clewiston News in September 1937 says the same thing of the breeding stock then on the ground: “A large number of pure-bred Hereford beef cattle were put on the reservation by the government and lately sevral head of Black Angus have been added to cross with the Hereford strain.”[clewiston-1937-09-03]

Range improvement and pasture

Range improvement was conducted under federal relief programs. Projects carried out with the Seminoles by the Civilian Conservation Corps-Indian Division on the Florida reservations between January 1934 and August 1939 included 46 miles of range fence, 21 wells, 15 miles of truck trails and 12 miles of road, and more than 1,200 acres of developed range.[nrhp-red-barn] The Tribe’s account describes the same work of windmills, sink wells, mineral boxes, fencing and improved grass, and a herd past a thousand head by 1939.[thpo-cowkeepers-legacy] A contemporary report in The Clewiston News announcing the October 1937 roundup described the reservation tract as “used largely for wild pasture land for cattle owned by the Indians.”[clewiston-1937-10-08]

Local cattle sales at roundups

At the October 1937 roundup, reported in The Clewiston News from the Moore Haven Democrat, “many head of young calves were sold by the Indians, several Herefords and Shorthorns being purchased by Moore Haven men,” with the county agent helping to sort the cattle for the show.[clewiston-1937-10-15]

The documented Highlands County connection

Fred Montsdeoca was the Florida Agricultural Extension agent for Glades and Okeechobee counties from 1930 to 1971 and worked with the Seminoles at Brighton on herd and pasture management.[fahof-montsdeoca] He also served as cattle foreman, taught pasture rotation and maintenance, and drew young Seminole men into the work.[tribune-2018-montsdeoca] His documented role at Brighton was agricultural extension and federal relief work.[fahof-montsdeoca][tribune-2018-montsdeoca]

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
single-source — One source. Treat as reported, not established.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Sievers, Ed; Tepper, Craig; Tanner, George W., Seminole Indian Ranching in Florida (1985) · secondary
  2. Seminole Tribe of Florida, Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Cowkeeper's Legacy - A Seminole Story (2023) · official
  3. Purkerson, Carrie; Seminole Tribe of Florida Tribal Historic Preservation Office, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Red Barn (2008) · official
  4. The Clewiston News, The Clewiston News, 3 September 1937 (1937) · newspaper
  5. The Clewiston News, The Clewiston News, 8 October 1937 (1937) · newspaper
  6. The Clewiston News, The Clewiston News, 15 October 1937 (1937) · newspaper
  7. Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame, Fred Y. Montsdeoca, 2004 Inductee (2004) · official
  8. Millar, Siobhan, Fred Montsdeoca: So much more than an Agricultural Agent (2018) · newspaper

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