29

 FARMING

Bishop Clark regarded his farm as more than just a source of income. It was the center of his family's living; it was the means by which his sons perpetuated the patriarchal order in which he, too, had been reared. The farm was the means by which his daughters learned to perform those household, farm, and cultural tasks required of frontier women to become attractive and capable companions to their brothers, parents, and future husbands. The farm fulfilled the Bishop's desires for community recognition and for self-reliance in meeting its challenges, not only to survive physically but also to thrive spiritually. The Bishop's farm served as his base of operations to support his travels and other interests. The farm, however, was both blessing and burden.

Initially, some static arose in  Wilford's acquisition of the Springdale property: 

"About the time Wilford was married (1885), he secured a government title to several hundred acres of land between Georgetown and the Bear River. The Georgetown residents* had previously used this land as a cattle range. When Wilford secured the title, of course, they felt crowded and gave him the cold shoulder for several years. However, he cultivated the land and shared it with his relatives (who made up a large part of the town), and good feelings with the townspeople eventually were restored."

- Amasa L. Clark, Wilford's younger brother, 1961. 

"At one time, the Clark family owned a ranch in Nounan Valley near Georgetown. This ranch adjoined the Church ranch, and some disputes arose regarding the boundary line between the properties. Wilford Woodruff was then the President of the Church, and the matter was brought up in a meeting of the First Presidency.  President Woodruff remarked that 'where the Clark family said the line should be is the right place, and that settles it.'"  

-Edward Israel Rich, a "nephew" of Wilford W. Clark, who was the grandson of Ezra T. Clark's sister, Laura Clark Phelps, 1962.

Notably, decades earlier when Elder Wilford Woodruff was on his mission in England, Timothy Baldwin Clark oversaw Phebe Woodruff and her child on the Clark farm in Montrose, Illinois.  Thus, a high regard had developed between the Clark and Woodruff families.