Capitol Reef Cultural Landscape Report

LAND USE

The climate, soils, water, and other physical attributes of Fruita provided an environment highly conducive to agricultural use by early settlers. Agriculture historically dominated use of the land beginning in the late 1880s, and many families settling in Fruita established orchards on their property soon after arriving. Most individual tracts during the historic period varied in size from about 35 to 65 acres. [12] Most of these early settlers worked to find a balance between subsistence agriculture and the production of market crops. Typically, individual tracts had a main residence, barn and associated outbuildings, an orchard, cropland, corrals, and pasture land. The orchards and fields were established in every arable tract, often falling in land pockets between the river meanders, early roads, and the steep canyon cliffs. Most of these soils were sandy, requiring supplements to increase water retention and nutrient content. [13] Traditional land use practices included a cycle of rotating entire orchard tracts, fields, and pasture areas to enhance fertility and production. Irrigation ditches were designed to feed from the Fremont River and, to a lesser degree, Sulphur Creek, and were communally dug to provide supply to every orchard and field. A field-ditch system was used throughout Fruita, where main ditches fed smaller laterals and smaller furrows in the fields and orchards. Main ditches were constructed to carry a relatively large volume of water and provided the framework for the system, while smaller feeder ditches were often modified to accommodate changing dimensions and configurations of individual fields. This system was integral to the agricultural development of the area (See Structures: Irrigation System).

Although Capitol Reef National Monument was established in 1937, there were no dramatic changes in the pattern of private ownership or use of the land for the next quarter-century. Only Alma and Emma Chesnut sold their property to the government prior to 1961, selling 64 acres in 1942. The remaining owners, whether old-timers (the Mulfords, Giffords, Smiths, Chesnuts) or newcomers, continued to devote most lands to agricultural uses. Some orchards were tenant farmed, often by families or workers associated historically with Fruita. The size, composition, and number of orchards fluctuated during this period, due to a general shift away from subsistence to market crops. Irrigation ditches were maintained or upgraded to maintain the viability of the system. Today existing land use activities in Fruita remain focused on agriculture, with NPS administrative facilities (offices, maintenance complex, and housing) and visitor services (visitor center, picnic area, and campground) located in concentrated areas of the district.

View of the Gifford Farm, looking east, 1993.

Of the approximately 112 acres in agricultural use in 1940, approximately 66 acres remain in agricultural use today. [14] The loss of 46 acres of arable lands reflects the impact of state road construction and NPS development during the 1960s. Eight acres along the north edge of the district were removed to construct State Highway 24 and another acre was impacted during improvements to the Scenic Drive. Four acres of open field were converted to a picnic area, 11 acres were developed as campgrounds, and 9.5 acres of remnant fields were used to site park housing. Over time an additional 12 acres of fields and orchards were abandoned to facilitate the protection and interpretation of archeological resources, or due to limited accessibility, lack of reliable water, and in some areas, the addition of underground infrastructure. [15]

View of old walnut tree in the Mulford Orchard, 1993.

In spite of these physical changes, historic land use patterns and visual qualities of the district as a whole remain remarkably intact. Several potentially intrusive developments in the district have been screened or echo historic character. For example, the park housing area is seasonally screened from view by a stand of cottonwoods which appear natural along the floodplain of Sulphur Creek reducing the visual impact of the development. The picnic area located north of the Jorgensen Pasture is an area which was historically open in character, with a few trees located around the site of Doc Inglesby's place. Today this area remains open and is compatible with its historic character. Perhaps most significant throughout the district is the overall agricultural use of the land and the stable proportion of orchards to fields. In 1940 approximately 59 percent of the agricultural lands were in orchards and 41 percent in field crop. Documentation indicates that today approximately 62 percent of the land in agricultural use is in orchards and 37 percent is in field crops, representing a small change of 3 percent more land in orchard and 4 percent less land in field crops than during the historic period. [16] In the context of historic land use practices, this slight shift is not inappropriate. While in some cases the cover crop in individual fields or the composition of individual orchards has changed due to contemporary horticultural practices and maintenance constraints, the open character and agricultural use of these areas has been retained and has integrity.