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TheCaliforniaCattle- men's Association will cel- ebrate their Centennial at next week's convention. In honor of the event, a cof- fee table book with 106 ranch histories of CCA members has been pub- lished. I submitted the Willard - Barton Ranch history. The history of the Wil- lard Ranches parallels that of the sheep and cat- tle development in the Sacramento Valley and summer grazing in Lassen County. Beginning over 143 years ago, the sheep and cattle have carried many different brands: WI, HW, V, Lazy W, WB, Rocking B, and freeze brand TAR. One hundred miles of mountains separated the winter range east of Red Bluff from the summer range on Willard Creek, nine miles west of Su- sanville. In 1874 Charles Willard bought and pre- empted this land in Las- sen County. In the spring of 1872, Charles, wife Julia Au- gusta, and children moved to Lassen County. Af- ter spending one winter there, the family decided that was enough. In the fall of 1873, they trailed their small herd of cattle back and spent the win- ter at Mud Springs, west of Lyonsville, in Tehama County. The 1873-74 winter was recorded as severe with snow two to three feet deep. To keep the cattle from starving, Charles hauled hay from the "Cone Ranch" (now the Ed- wards Ranch). The hay was taken by pack horse through the snow. Even then, Charles lost about half of his cat- tle. After a couple of hard winters, the family spent these months in the An- telope Valley, east of Red Bluff, and ran the sheep and cattle on the open foothills range. Julia Au- gusta and Charles bought their first Tehama Co. land and cabin April 11, 1881. Great-grandfather Charles and his young sons Hillman, Chester, Ora and Cyrus became sheep men. My father Lyman said, "Grandfather changed from cattle to sheep when his young sons found their calves on the open range with someone else's fresh brand on them." He pur- chased a small band of sheep and leased 500 head from a widow. From 1874 to 2005, cat- tle and later 1000 ewes plus lambs were trailed (or shipped by truck af- ter 1938) to Lassen County in spring and to Tehama County in the fall. They were grazed on deeded land, USFS and private timber lands until the permits were given up in 2006. Charles died in 1883 at the age of 48, survived by his 37 year old wife, Ju- lia Augusta, and chil- dren Mary 19, my grand- father Hillman 17, Ora 15, Eliza 12, Cyrus 10, Chester 4, and baby Abigail born four months after her fa- ther's death. The land holdings grew. Julia Augusta, Mary, Hill- man and Chester filed Homestead claims. Many sections of Railroad land were bought at $1.25 an acre, and 791 acres of farm land were purchased in 1901. Soon after the turn of the century, the widowed mother and her daughters moved into Red Bluff to make their home. Hillman, the oldest son and first to marry, was fol- lowed by the marriages of Abigail, Chester, Ora and Cyrus. As each married, they took their part from the family operation in sheep and land. In 1902 Hillman mar- ried Laura Stiles, daugh- ter of a Lassen County pi- oneer, and they had three children. They lived in the two story farm house on the farming land, and it was here Lyman Wil- lard was born in 1905. The present house was built in 1926, where Lyman and his wife lived after their marriage in 1929. This is where Lyman's grand- daughter Kendra Barton McCluskey and husband Mike McCluskey now live, farm the Willard lands, and raise cattle with the lazy W brand. My father Lyman Wil- lard was 17 years old when his father died in 1922, and he assumed the ranch responsibilities when he finished high school. He and his mother continued a sheep partnership un- til she sold her interests to him in 1948. Lyman and Anne Stone were mar- ried in 1929, and in 1942, they started a commercial Hereford cow/calf opera- tion. The sheep were sold in 1966. In 1956 their two daughters married: Jean to Bill Barton and Marilyn to Robert Avrit. Lyman Willard was a member of CCA from 1942 till his death in 1981, ac- tive on the California Cat- tlemen's Transportation Committee for eight years. Past President of Te- hama County Cattlemen's Association and North- ern California Wool-Grow- ers Association. In ad- dition he served on the Tri-County Field Day Committee from 1951- 1968, was Director and Secretary-Treasurer of the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale Commit- tee for seven years, and named Honorary Direc- tor in 1968. In February 1961 he was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame where he was a charter member and contributor. Lyman's wife Anne was active in California Cow- Belles and served as a State Director from 1955- 56 when Freda Owens was California CowBelles State President, and also served as Chairman of the Cal- ifornia CowBelles State Loan Fund. On the local level she was named Cow- Belle of the Year in 1967. For 15 years she was di- rector of the local Make It With Wool Contest. In 1964 Bill and Jean purchased Angus cattle that were grazed in Te- hama and Lassen coun- ties with the Willard Her- efords. In 1966 the Wil- lard-Barton partnership was formed when Lyman suffered a stroke and the Bartons continued the tra- dition of cattle grazing the mountains in summer and the valley in winter. Husband Bill contin- ued the legend of commu- nity involvement, serv- ing as President of Te- hama County Cattlemen's Association from 1998- 99 and also CCA State Di- rector. He was honored as Tehama County Cattle- men's Association Man of the Year in 2010 and both of the Bartons were hon- ored as Farmer of the Year by Red Bluff Kiwanis. For 15 years he was a 4-H beef & horse leader and also served on the Tehama County Junior Livestock Auction Committee, where he was recognized for his leadership. In 1985-86 wife Jean was President of Tehama County CowBelles, went on to serve as California Cat- tleWomen President from 1995-1996, and gave eight years to the California Beef Council. In 2010 she was awarded the Ameri- can National CattleWomen Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year. Back in 2005 tradition was broken when both she and Joan Hemsted were announced Tehama County Cattle- men of the Year. Jean was also recognized as a Com- mon Threads recipient, an award that goes to out- standing women in ag- riculture, and in 2016 she was named Tehama County Farm Bureau Me- dia Person of Year. Today grandson Bryce Borror, the 6th generation, grazes his cattle on the range land, while his par- ents Linda and Kevin Bor- ror have their spring calv- ing Tehama Angus Ranch cows on Willard lands they own or lease. Going to the mountains contin- ues each spring, and they ship their fall calving cows to ranches they own near Adin, Lassen County. Thus the circle has continued, one generation to the next, each picking up where the other left off, each make improvements for the gen- erations to follow. JeanBartonhasbeen writing her column in the Daily News since the early 1990s. She can be reached by e-mail at jbarton2013@ gmail.com. JEANBARTON California Cattlemen to celebrate centennial beadadtoday. Take time to v i s i t w w w . f a t h e r h o o d . g o v CONTRIBUTED Bill and Jean Barton were photographed at a National Cattlemen's Beef Association convention in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 28, 1990. By Lee Reich The Associated Press Don't leave your soil nude this winter. Or, at least don't leave it nude and smooth. You don't see Mother Nature cavorting around in this manner, and she's always a good guide as to how to act in the garden. In the months ahead, the ground will be pelted by rain, frozen by cold, and occasionally thawed as it's blasted by sunlight. If the ground is bare, the rain will eat away at the surface, and the sun and cold will cause wide swings, daily swings, in temperatures. Roots do not thrive in such an envi- ronment. And even where annual flowers or vegeta- bles grew, the soil remains a year-round home to myr- iad beneficial creatures, such as worms, fungi and beetles, who also abhor such conditions. Coveringcropsfor clothing the ground One way to protect the soil in coming months is to sow seeds or plants that enjoy cool weather. Cover crops, as plants grown spe- cifically to protect the soil are called, do more than just that. They also keep nutrients from washing out of the ground, smother late season weeds and pulverize the soil. A lush, green blan- ket also looks nicer than bare soil. Plants typically used for cover crops include rye, oats, peas, and other grains and legumes. Legumes like peas and beans have the added benefit of enriching the ground with nitrogen for feeding the next sea- son's garden plants. Come spring, cover crops need to be killed by till- age or repeated mowing to make way for garden plants. Till if you must, but not too much Except in southern re- gions, it's too late now to get enough growth from a cover crop to be of benefit. But that's no reason your ground should suffer ne- glect. Actually, if you did totally neglect your gar- den and it's a sea of weeds, that's not a bad way to leave it for winter. Of course, next spring, you'll then have a big job of clearing those weeds and any off- spring they procreated be- fore winter set in. So another option would be to till the soil. Wait! Don't get out the rototiller to thoroughly churn every- thing up. Better — and easier — is to turn over the ground just once or twice with a shovel or garden fork, then leave it rough. That rough surface will easily absorb rainfall, and as those large clods al- ternatively freeze and thaw over the winter, they'll start to crumble apart. Come spring, just tickle the clods with the tines of your gar- den rake and they'll finish crumbling apart to make a nice seedbed. Mulch also can clothe the ground Turning over the soil by tillage does discombob- ulate it and expose crea- tures living in it to cold temperatures and dry air, so let's go back to clothing the soil. Mulch. A fluffy or- ganic material such as au- tumn leaves, straw, com- post or wood chips will in- sulate and protect the soil. These materials also in- crease the soil's humus con- tent to help plants feed and fight off pests next year. There is one downside to covering the ground with any of these materials: Just as they insulate the soil in winter, they will similarly insulate it in spring, delay- ing its warming. Delayed warming, though, is only a problem when you have annual flow- ers or vegetables that you want to get growing as soon as possible. And even in this case, the mulch could just be hauled over to the compost pile or pulled back for a few weeks in spring until the soil warms, and then put back. The best option for win- ter protection of soil where you're growing annual flowers or vegetables is to mulch the ground with compost. Compost has all the benefits of other mulches, plus two more: It's dark, so absorbs the sun's heat in spring. And you can plant right in it, so there's no need to wait for the ground underneath to warm up. 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