Gordon Griswold Papers

The Gordon Griswold Papers is evenly divided between papers concerning Griswold's business interests and his involvement with state and national stockmen's organizations; there is very little personal correspondence.

Griswold's business interests are well documented in this collection through several types of documents, including correspondence, grazing permits, invoices, receipts, deeds and other sale agreements, and inventories of property owned. Griswold's first company, the Griswold-Henderson Livestock Company, was jointly owned; in 1932 Griswold purchased Henderson's interests and renamed the company the Griswold Livestock Company. Papers documenting this transaction are present, as are many deeds and agreements for additional land purchased or leased over the years. Not all of the grazing land utilized by the company was owned by Griswold; several thousand acres were accessed through grazing permits from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Grazing permit applications provided interesting details as to the extent of Griswold's stock and land holdings (both quantity and quality).

Another substantive source for information on the financing of Griswold's operations is revealed in the files of the Nevada Livestock Production Credit Association, of which Griswold was both a member and director. Many ranchers and farmers must borrow funds to finance their yearly operations; the documents filed by Griswold with the Association for operational loans reveal many particulars of his businesses, including inventories of his land (both owned and leased), stock, equipment, other loans or mortgages, and cash assets.

Griswold also acted as a broker for several eastern wool merchants, buying fleeces from Nevada ranchers on behalf of the merchants and arranging for their shipment to the east coast. Correspondence from these firms was concerned with the wool's quality and prices obtained, and market conditions as reflected by world events such as World War II.

The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 brought under federal control all public domain lands in the United States. Griswold was a member of the National Advisory Council which oversaw the Act's administration; he also sat on the Nevada State Grazing Board which served in a similar capacity at the local level. Files of both organizations provide some minutes of meetings, bylaws (of the Nevada board), extensive correspondence (especially with Senator Pat McCarran) about matters such as the appointment of new Secretaries of the Interior, and reports on proposed amendments to the original act. All serve to illustrate how powerful interest groups may influence public policies and policy implementation.

As previously mentioned, Griswold served as a director for the Nevada Livestock Production Credit Association. [Association regulations permitted a certain category of customers/investors to serve as directors.] His Association files consist mainly of correspondence providing specifics of how the organization functioned.

Several files in this collection contain very rough notes created by Griswold as coordinator of Operation Haylift of 1949. This rescue operation was assembled hastily to transport feed to snow-bound ranches in eastern Nevada, where snow hampered transportation routes to the point where all roads were closed for several days. Griswold's notes document how this multi-agency effort worked with civilians to airlift feed to stranded livestock, utilizing the military, the Department of Forestry, and the Bureau of Land Management. Also included are rough notes for, and copies of telegrams sent to and from U.S. Senators from Nevada who worked in Washington to speed aid to the stricken area. Most of these notes consist of rough scribbles on scrap paper, clearly conveying the sense of urgency necessary to meet the emergency.

Without a doubt, this collection provides important and extensive information on the livestock industry of eastern Nevada and on the influence Nevada livestock businessmen such as Griswold had on legislative and administrative matters affecting their industry, both nationally and in Nevada.