Open to public research.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Briant H. Stringham papers must be obtained from the
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Briant H. Stringham, 1979.
Briant H. Stringham papers, 1938-1981. (COLL MSS 48). Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives department.
Stockman, conservationist, and reclamation advocate B. H. "Bry" Stringham was born in the Ashley Valley (Vernal) of Utah Territory in April 1889 to Philip and Caroline Crouch Stringham. As biographer L. Don LeFerve remarked, "though his birth went all but unnoticed" by those outside his immediate family, Bry's lifetime accomplishments and leadership would one day "leave a significant mark on the community, the valley, and the state" in which he lived.
B. H. Stringham received his early education from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-operated Uinta Stake Academy at Vernal. Afterward, he attended Brigham Young University in Provo. There he trained for a teaching position and, graduating in 1912, accepted a post in Storrs, Utah. He spent three years in this small Carbon County mining town. At the end of this tenure, he returned to the Ashley Valley to join his brother in the sheep business. Vernal became his permanent residence and stock raising his lifelong career.
His chosen vocation did not restrict his other interests, however. He devoted much of his life to public service. His political achievements includes four terms as a legislator in the Utah House of Representatives, two terms as state senator, and four terms as mayor of Vernal.
Stringham's civic contributions were not limited to elected offices. He was a member of the Board of Trustees for Utah State University; a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Utah, a member of the Board of Directors for the Utah State University Development Fund, and a member of the Vernal Lions Club and the Vernal Rod and Gun Club.
In addition, he was president, vice-president, and director of the Utah Wool Growers Association; chairman of the Bureau of Land Management's State Advisory Board; a member of the Bureau of Land Management's National Advisory Board; and a member of the Board of Directors for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District.
As a conservationist, B. H. Stringham aided in the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act legislation and other national grazing laws. His cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management facilitated the construction of fourteen stock-watering reservoirs on the range land of northeastern Utah. Overall, his contribution to range improvement programs in Utah merited him the Bridger Award, an honor bestowed by Utah State University for outstanding work in the field of conservation.
As an advocate of reclamation in the West, B. H. Stringham was instrumental in the development of the monumental Colorado River Storage Project. He also played a significant role in the development of the Central Utah Project, and he offered his assistance to the plans of such groups as the Colorado River Development Association, the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, the Upper Colorado River Commission, the Colorado River Water Users Association, the Uinta Water Conservancy District, and the Utah Water and Power Board.
On March 30, 1908, B. H. Stringham married Delpha Rolfe, but the marriage quickly ended in divorce. He later married Catherine Chipman of American Fork, Utah, in 1912. Their marriage of fifty-three years ended with her sudden death in 1965. In 1966, he remarried to Lottie Ward Hickenlooper. He passed away on July 13, 1983 at the age of ninety-four.
The Briant H. Stringham papers is contained in twenty-five boxes. Processing of the papers was undertaken in large part by Jeff Smith. In organizing the material, a topical arrangement was chosen to provide easy access to its information. All correspondence not directly related to a topical category was compiled as a separate category titled "General Correspondence." As with the topical arrangement, the correspondence is organized alphabetically and chronologically.
Photographs, other than those permanently attached in scrapbooks, were removed from the manuscript collection and can be found in collection P0365.
Subject files have a topical arrangement; the correspondence is organized alphabetically and chronologically.
Briant H. Stringham photograph collection
(For Uinta Water Conservancy District, see Water - Uinta Water etc; for Upper Colorado River Storage Projects see Water - Upper Colorado etc.)