SUU Professor Co-Authors Groundbreaking Book on Western Ranching History
Published: June 20, 2025 | Author: Kierstin Holloway | Read Time: 2 minutes
Mark Miller, a history professor at Southern Utah University (SUU), and Jerry D. Spangler, executive director of the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance, have recently published their book Red Rock and Rawhide: Ranching in the Grand Staircase, Escalante Canyons, and Arizona Strip Country. This revealing and historical book combines environmental history and data on the local livestock industry with the voices of those who have lived and worked on the land.
“Red Rock and Rawhide is the first book to trace the unique and colorful history of the
[Church of Jesus Christ of] Latter-day Saints’ ranching industry and culture that developed in southern Utah and northern Arizona,” said Miller. “How it emerged and evolved in response to the scenically stunning, yet arid and difficult landscape; how it thrived through an ‘LDS’ communal herding period; and how it responded to the inroads of non-Mormon cattle barons, increased federal regulations, outside market forces, and demands of the modern environmental movement and related tourist industries.”
The book discusses many politically and historically impactful individuals including multiple presidents and more locally impactful people like Butch Cassidey, Brigham Young, and Buffalo Bill Cody. It also includes the perspective of many people from the region, who are not ranchers themselves but feel it is vital to keep cowboy and ranching traditions alive and fight to ensure that the culture and traditions will not die in the face of increasing opposition seeking to end it.
“I hope it will provide a nuanced historical study that will inform debates about public lands management and the future of ranching as part of an increasingly complex economic development picture in rapidly growing southern Utah--a region increasingly focused on tourism, real estate development, and non-agricultural related population growth,” said Miller.
Both Miller and Spangler grew up working around livestock in the American West, and combined their experience, passion, and professional expertise to provide a balanced perspective. Spangler was able to bring his expertise as an archaeologist and in analyzing government-generated data to the table. At the same time, Miller was able to bring his skills as a western historian with experience using oral histories to give life to the central players in the region's ranching history.
“I think one of the important messages that will resonate is to have people realize how difficult it was for indigenous peoples and early Mormon settlers to wrest a living and subsistence from southern Utah’s beautiful, yet challenging, desert environment,” said Miller.
Red Rock and Rawhide: Ranching in the Grand Staircase, Escalante Canyons, and Arizona Strip Country can be purchased through Amazon and Penguin Bookshop.
About SUU’s History, Sociology, and Anthropology Department
The Department of History, Sociology, and Anthropology is an intriguing blend of the old and the new. The dedicated faculty works hard to equip students with analytical and communication skills, which enable them to investigate past and present human cultures and societies. Students are taught to communicate their findings logically, scientifically, and effectively.
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Contact Information:
Brooke Heath
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