Sports and Spurs, the Legacy of Richard Perkins

By Janet Wilcox
Contributing writer
In the early days of Blanding and Monticello, residents created their own entertainment. This included ball games, dances and church socials. Gold and Green dances were an annual event and wedding receptions often included dances.
Richard and EveLynn Perkins were two of the best dancers in town, along with Dave and Freeda Guymon. Rodeos and sports competitions were also popular and movies were often shown in the church as there was no movie theater.
Once Richard fell asleep at the movie and his parents didn’t notice at first, but after calling the bishop they retrieved him and took him home.
His dad died at 54 when Richard was 11 years old. The family first lived in Bluff, then moved to Blanding where they built a big brick and rock home (now occupied by Stan & Angela Hurst’s family).
When Hyrum – Richard’s father – turned 16, he attended Brigham Young Academy in Provo and played basketball there for four years.
Richard’s mother, Kisten Adams, was born in one of the first log cabins built in Bluff. She had also attended BYA. She also learned many sewing skills there.
Richard’s father was a cowboy and Richard often went with him to the ranch in Montezuma Canyon (which is still owned by the family).
They ran sheep there in the winter and in the spring, the sheep shearers came and Richard along with Hanson and Donald Bayles would skip school to help move the sheep and play in the wool!
Richard wrote his history, which was very useful when Gayle Shumway put together his life history. He learned to play the trumpet in band in 8th grade and he played duets in church with JB Washburn.
During these years he had several injuries caused by horses: he broke his leg twice and another time was pulled through the gravel when his foot caught in the stirrup.
In order to get a driver’s license in 1944, he and his mother had to drive clear to Salt Lake City! Just a few days later, he broke his leg again when his horse reared then fell on him.
This was the first of several horse related accidents, which interfered with basketball!
When Richard was 16, the San Juan High basketball team went to Salt Lake to play in the State Tournament for fist time.
Wesley Hughes was their coach and like today, Blanding fans followed the team to SLC.
As with all ranching and farming operations, there are highs and lows.
One year, Richard’s crew had moved their sheep and lambs to Rico, CO. The sheep were ready to sell, big and fat and looked good.
They were in a corral but the sheep herders’ dogs started barking and chasing them. The sheep ran over the banks into the river.
Even though it didn’t have much water in it, the sheep piled up and smothered to death.
They lost 150 head of sheep which were going to be sold the next day! It caused a financial disaster.
Richard ran 400 cows and 3,000 head of sheep. An oil company drilled a well, and hit artisan water near the ranch in Montezuma Creek, so their animals had water and they had what they needed to raise hay.
During lambing season, they always aways a few dogies (orphan lambs) which he would bring home of the kids to feed and they had fun doing that.
After he sold the sheep, he started a cow/calf operation. He’d often buy cattle in Cortez, or go to old Mexico and buy steers from traders along the border.
One year he bought mixed steers in Colorado. A couple of days after buying them, a snow storm hit and it was cold and wet and about 50 died because of the storm.
Another disaster occurred when he bought 1,500 head of steers. That fall, the price went down so he didn’t sell them. The next spring he sold his cattle and lost $200 a head on them, which broke him.
For several years, the cattle market was down. Those not involved in farming or ranching are seldom aware of the gamble it is when weather is factored in.
Around 1990, he hired Eric Bayles as his head cowboy. They ran yearling steers, usually buying 2,000 steers and selling them the following fall. They weighed around 900 lbs.
When sold and depending on the market or how dry it was, he may or may not make any money.
“Eric has been a good and dependable help to me,” said Richard. “He is a real cowboy, never takes his spurs off.
“He stays in the house at the ranch and in the summer stays in the cabin in Colorado. On weekends he comes home to Blanding.”
Branding, vaccinating, castrating, ear-marking and dehorning are all on a rancher’s “to do” list every year. Fall is shipping time. Steers have to be weighed and loaded onto trucks,
Richard suffered a heart attack in 2003, but his mind is still alert. Most of his cattle business has now been handed over to his son-in-law Lloyd Shumway, but thanks to his efforts in recording his history, his posterity and friends will remember his impact forever.