There was also fun in such sports as riding bucking horses and steers. In his brief history of Blue Valley for "Rainbow Views," compiled by Anne Snow, Andrew hunt quoted one such "bronc buster": "I once rode a big steer which bucked so hard and so long that by the time he got through everything was black and I was almost unconscious."

"We had an old burro that no one could stick. He was in the coral every Sunday, but was never conquered."

The death of Blue Valley came when over-grazed range lands cound no longer hold back summer rains. Then floods roared, with rolling boulders pounding, as the roily-red water surged through the fertile valley. The irrigation diversion dam washed out again and again and mud filled the canals and ditches.

Finally the river channel was a big open scar -- ragged, wide and deep; so deep the dam could not be replaced.

Without irrigation water the fields and orchards burned. Then followed the time of little food to eat and no money. In desperation the families one by one, packed belongings onto horse-drawn wagons and headed out over long dusty roads.