Jensen, Utah, Dec. 23, 1919

Dr. Wm. J. Holland

Carnegie Museum

Pittsburg, Pa.



My dear Dr. Holland:-

Though I have tried to avoid it I am practically compelled to ask you to make an advance or extra deposit of $150 at this time. This is, in part, to save our mules. They have passed by the period of money value but, if well taken care of, they may last us through for our work around the quarry. They are 18 or 19 years old. On acct of the drouth here feed is worth about four times what it was four years ago and it is hard to get it at any price. I thought I had bought about enough hay to last through the winter, but I plainly see it will not last through until the new crop comes. Hay, baled, is selling as high as $40 per ton in Vernal. The hay here is going fast and I thought I would not be able to get any more near here but the boys on the next ranch have offered a few tons for sale. They ask $25.00 per ton. Some farmers expect to get $50 before spring. Earlier in the season I paid $20 per ton for the Museum and for myself. One of the mules is not doing very well. I think if we do a little dental work and give him ground feed he will probably be all right for a year or two. One reason why it requires so much hay I have not fed them grain regularly. When they do not work hard it does not require much. I have considered asking your advice about "executing" the mules and saving expense but it would probably cost more than the feed to get our work done and then we could not get it done when we wish. Then, too, when I consider that if I had hired a team all the time since we bought ours it would have cost us over $4000. Of course the feed would come out of this. Well I am running of a lot of seemingly insignificant details but I have not said much about financial conditions for a long time.