Walter was one of the four McConnel brothers who homesteaded in High Valley. (See High Valley map) Walter and Harlan both received their homestead patents in 1904. Walter's son Harry wrote:
Walter H. and brother Arthur G. bought the 160 acres from Harlan B. They then formed a partnership and about this time they bought the Wm. Kingsbury herd and were known as the 'McConnel Brothers.'
Several buildings were built on this High Valley property. Besides a house, a real large red barn, with drive through, was built and the ranch became known as the 'Red Barn Ranch'. The barn is the only building still standing in 1984 . . . They also had a slaughter house with an outside windlass. During the construction of the first, or original, wagon road up the North Fork of the Payette River the McConnel Brothers had a meat contract for the construction crews. This consisted of some three or four carcasses a week, which they took over the hill with pack horses. They also constructed a reservoir for their private use to increase their hay crop, which was mostly timothy hay. A rustic zig-zag fence enclosed most of their property.
Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. - Thomas Jefferson
Copyright © 2009 - Sharon McConnel. All Rights Reserved.