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[edit] BirthRay F. Blair was born 1 Feb 1911 in Murray, Utah. Media: Blair_Ray_F_birthcert.jpgMedia: Ray_F_Blair_as_infant.jpg
[edit] ParentsHis parents were Franklin “Frank” and Myrtle Herron Blair. At the time of Ray’s birth, his father was working as an electrician. The family of six lived in a modern, brick home. While Ray was still a toddler, Frank moved the family to southeast Idaho to try his hand at farming. Several of Frank's co-workers had been accidentally electrocuted, and Frank was willing to make a complete change in their life to take up a different avocation...and it was a complete change. Media: Ray_F_Blair_as_toddler.jpg
[edit] An Idaho HomesteadRay spent most of his boyhood on his father's homestead (in Power County, Idaho)in the summer, where the children were expected to work...hard. In fact, the Blair children spent little time in play. Their summers were spent farming and taking care of the cattle. Ray's mother, a real worker herself, instilled in Ray the value of hard work. Ray's father, though himself a hard worker, took the time to read and learn new things. Frank Blair shared his love of learning with his children.The children's winters were spent in rented houses in nearby small towns, where there were schools for the children. Ray's parents made great sacrifices to give their children an education. Thus, as well as learning how to work, Ray valued learning itself. Both of those characteristics stayed with Ray his entire life. He attended high school at Lava Hot Springs High School, where he played football and basketball and participated in track. There, too, he met his lifelong sweetheart.
[edit] MarriageRay married Mary Amelia Godfrey on 29 Aug 1932 in Logan, Cache, Utah. Ray attended college in Pocatello, later switching to Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, Utah. He worked his way through school with a variety of jobs and still provided for his growing family. Media:RayandMaryBlair_marriagecert1932.jpg
[edit] US Forest ServiceAccording to family lore, Ray and a fellow classmate from Southern Idaho Branch of the University of Idaho in Pocatello were the first college students hired to be fire lookouts in the national forests. The story goes that their professor had connections with important people in Washington D.C. and suggested college students be hired. Ray worked three summers on the lookouts (Anderson Mtn. Lookout, Granite Mtn. Lookout, and Ulysses Mtn. Lookout) as well as mapping the Salmon River Forest.. He and his wife had three children up on the mountains with them. Ray also surveyed and mapped the Salmon River area for the Forest Service. He must have learned great walking skills in those years, because even a few years before his death, Ray's brother, Fay, said that Ray could still outwalk Fay (a marathoner) as well as Ray's sons when they all went deer hunting in the mountains.Ray and Mary raised eight children and one grandchild. During many of the years his eight children were home, Ray worked all week in his regular job and worked all weekend developing a dry farm on property he leased just above Little Camas Reservoir in Elmore County, Idaho.
[edit] Civilian Conservation Corps
[edit] Army Corps of EngineersAfter the start of World War II, the CCC was no longer needed and Ray was transferred to the US Army Corps of Engineers. He worked on several Idaho projects, including Boise River Flood Control and the later stages of the construction of Gowan Field Airbase in Boise, Ada, Idaho
[edit] In the Navy
[edit] Soil Conservation ServiceAfter the war, Ray spent over a decade working for the Soil Conservation Service as a Soil Conservation officer, based out of Mountain Home, Elmore, Idaho, serving ranchers primarily in the Mayfield, Elmore, Idaho area. His job was to assist farmers and ranchers get more production from their lands. He was later promoted to start up a new office in Glenns Ferry, Elmore, Idaho.
[edit] Dry Farming at Little Camas RanchWhile still working for the Soil Conservation Service during the week, Ray leased a dry-farm on Little Camas Prairie (Elmore County, Idaho), just north of Little Camas Reservoir. Before he could farm, he had to first develop the land by removing sagebrush and rocks. This was a weekend and evening project for he and his sons for years and it allowed him to put to use firsthand his skills as Soil Conservationist and make a little money for his growing family. [Map of Little Camas Reservoir with the ranch just above]
[edit] Developing a Ranch and Building a ReservoirIt was during Ray’s job in the Soil Conservation Service that he met Lee Trail, a rancher who lived nearby. When Ray encouraged Lee to build a reservoir to capture wasted run-off water on Little Canyon Creek near Glenns Ferry. Lee responded that he would do so if Ray became a partner in the project. Already in his 40's with his older children gone from home, Ray thus became involved in the development project the family called "Dusty Acres."The project was development of a Desert Land Grant through the federal government. To prove and obtain the land, he had to first bring adequate water to the completely dry section. He and the partner built a reservoir and a canal on Little Canyon Creek to take the water to the section of land they were developing. [Map showing the reservoir]Each of them had 320 acres of their section, which was situated about halfway between (and north) of the small towns of Hammet and Glenns Ferry in Elmore County, Idaho. [Map showing location of ranch.] The red dot in the center of the linked map marks the house. The ditch shown just above carried the water from the canal and to the fields below the house. Again, as at Little Camas, sagebrush and rock had to be removed, but Ray had plenty of practice at that. The building of the reservoir (and the rest of Ray’s life) is detailed in the privately published book, “Ray F. Blair: From the Ground Up”, the biography written by his granddaughter, R.L.Steinacker. Building the reservoir required huge earth-moving equipment, most of which Ray put together from Army surplus equipment. This reservoir is now known as Blair-Trail Reservoir (for he and the partner) and is a popular fishing and birding area. Media:Little_Canyon_Creek_Floods_in_1972.gif
[edit] RanchingRay eventually turned his ranch into a working cattle ranch, with 500 head of beef cattle."Dusty Acres" started out as a farming operation with a few cattle on the side but became a full-fledged cattle ranch as Ray purchased more and more beef cattle. In a few years, he had 500 head of cows and 30 bulls.In 1969, Ray and a group of other ranchers banded together to form the Glenns Ferry Grazing Association. They bought and ran a huge cattle ranch on Juniper Mtn., on the Idaho/Nevada border. Ray served as the association president for many years. The cattle stayed on the ranchers' home places during the winter and were trucked into the Juniper Mtn. ranch every spring, where they were watched over by several cowboys. Ray loved ranch life, even though it meant constant and year-round work for him. He spent long hours in the fields and with the cattle, but he always had time to chat with visitors. He also served as a leader in many ranching and farming organizations. After he had the cattle, Ray didn't often take a break to enjoy himself. When he did relax, he enjoyed watching sports on T.V. and enjoyed going to the mountains to fish. He and Mary began attending Glenns Ferry High School sporting events to watch their youngest son, Jim, play. They continued attending the football and basketball games, even years after Jim had left home, often traveling to other parts of the state during tournament time. Sports in Glenns Ferry were a community social event. Ray was a voracious reader and could talk intelligently on any subject from politics to fauna. Two times he ran for the Idaho State Senate, but both times he had to pull back from campaigning, once because Mary had a heart attack and needed his care. He would have liked to have been more involved in state politics, but he had the misfortune to be a democrat in a highly republican area. Ray was easy to talk to and thus made friends wherever he went. Perhaps having a large family taught him patience in the end, because few people ever saw him angry as he matured. Moreover, if someone spoke negatively about another person, Ray always came up with something nice to say. He didn't waste his time being angry, even with people who deliberately cheated him. As is often the case in the western states, more than once people stole Ray's irrigation water. Ray had to take one persistent man to court, but he didn't choose to do that with two others who stole water right out of his ditch. Ray wasn't a saint, but he was a fair man known for his integrity and honesty.
[edit] DeathAge didn't slow Ray down much. In fact, he worked right up to the end of his life. He fed his bulls Easter morning on 19 Apr 1987 and then went into the house for breakfast. While Mary was cooking breakfast, Ray sat at the table reading. He never did eat that breakfast, suddenly passing away of a heart attack, at age 76. Media:Blair_Ray_F_deathcert.jpgCategories: Anderson Ranch Dam, Boise, Idaho, United States | Blackfoot, Power, Idaho, United States | Boise, Ada, Idaho, United States | California, United States | Glenns Ferry, Elmore, Idaho, United States | Japan | Juniper Mountain, Idaho, United States | Lava Hot Springs, Bannock, Idaho, United States | Little Camas Reservoir, Elmore, Idaho, United States | Little Canyon Creek, Elmore, Idaho, United States | Little Camas Prairie, Elmore, Idaho, United States | Logan, Cache, Utah, United States | Mayfield, Elmore, Idaho, United States | Mountain Home, Elmore, Idaho, United States | Murray, Salt Lake, Utah, United States | Nevada, United States | Oxford, Power, Idaho, United States | Pocatello, Bannock, Idaho, United States | Power, Idaho, United States | Princeton University, Princeton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States | Salmon River National Forest, Idaho, United States | Snake River, Elmore, Idaho, United States | Featured Article | Well written narrative |
