Seminole cattle ranching and New Deal relief programs at Brighton
Summary
In his comprehensive study of the Florida Seminoles during the Great Depression, historian Harry A. Kersey Jr. documented how federal New Deal agencies revived commercial Seminole cattle ranching in the interior prairie country adjoining Highlands County.[kersey-1986-seminoles-depression] Following the collapse of the traditional plume, pelt, and alligator hide trade in the Everglades by the late 1920s, federal intervention through the Resettlement Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps–Indian Division (CCC-ID) between 1935 and 1938 acquired the 30,000-acre Brighton Reservation, constructed boundary fencing, and stocked it with a foundational breeding herd of western beef cattle that launched modern tribal cattle operations.
Federal land acquisition and the western starter herd
Following a 1935 meeting in Florida between Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, and a delegation of Seminole elders, federal authorities expedited the purchase of cutover prairie and marsh acreage in Glades County along the Highlands County border.[kersey-1986-seminoles-depression]
The Resettlement Administration, a New Deal agency created under Executive Order 7027 in April 1935, financed the land acquisition and purchased a starter herd of western beef cattle pastured on the new reservation. While popular traditions conflict on whether these animals originated in Arizona, New Mexico, or Dust Bowl drought-relief programs, Kersey’s examination of Bureau of Indian Affairs records confirms that the Resettlement Administration supplied the western breeding pool directly to the Seminole Agency.[kersey-1986-seminoles-depression]
Infrastructure and the Cattlemen’s Association
Under the direction of agricultural extension agent Fred Montsdeoca and agency livestock specialists, individual Seminole families purchased cattle from this collective breeding pool on credit to establish their own private herds.[kersey-1986-seminoles-depression][nrhp-red-barn] To manage roundups, pasture rotations, and tick-eradication dipping, the Brighton Cattlemen’s Association was established.
Simultaneously, the CCC-ID employed dozens of Seminole men in heavy range improvements:[covington-1981-ccc]
- Erecting hundreds of miles of four-strand barbed wire boundary and cross fences.
- Excavating artificial water holes and drainage canals across the muck soils.
- Constructing coral complexes, including the 1941 Red Barn complex.[nrhp-red-barn]
These relief wages provided critical cash income during the late 1930s, sustaining Seminole households while the cattle herd matured into a self-sustaining commercial enterprise. By the late 1940s, this cooperative ranching model was extended south to the Big Cypress Reservation, transforming the cattle owners into the most economically prosperous segment of modern Seminole society.
References
- kersey-1986-seminoles-depression — Harry A. Kersey, Jr. The Florida Seminoles in the Depression and New Deal, 1933-1942: An Indian Perspective. 1 October 1986. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol65/iss2/5
- covington-1981-ccc — James W. Covington. The Seminoles and the Civilian Conservation Corps. 1 October 1981. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30148560
- nrhp-red-barn — Carrie Purkerson / Seminole Tribe of Florida THPO. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Red Barn. 2008. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/798b8268-fb3b-4364-8af7-c89b5bffbaf2
Where this comes from
- Evidence
- corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
- Review
- unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
- Rights
- society
Sources
- Harry A. Kersey, Jr., The Florida Seminoles in the Depression and New Deal, 1933-1942: An Indian Perspective (1986) · secondary
- James W. Covington, The Seminoles and the Civilian Conservation Corps (1981) · secondary
- Carrie Purkerson / Seminole Tribe of Florida THPO, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Red Barn (2008) · official
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