Norval “Red” Stevens (1913 – 1994)
Red Stevens was born in Central City, Nebraska and raised in Douglas, Wyoming. He served in the United States Army during the Second World War and earned two Bronze Star medals in Guadalcanal. An avid reader, Red was intrigued by stories about Tom Connolly, a rancher and big game hunter in the Ross River area. He wrote to Tom, got some information about the Yukon, and decided to move his family north in 1960.1)
Red and his wife, Glenn Poston Stevens, and son Gary lived in Lander, Wyoming before they moved north. They settled briefly at Ross River before moving to the Whitehorse area to start the Broken S. Ranch.2)
A fire had passed through the country around Whitehorse in 1958 but Red liked the land between the Alaska Highway and the Takhini River at Stoney Creek. He cleared forty acres and planted oats, but the first year without enough rain and no irrigation wiped him out financially. For the next fifteen years, he worked in Whitehorse and farmed at nights and on weekends. By 1983, he had 150 acres cleared with another sixty acres of bush waiting to be cleared. He expected to have 6,000 bales, his best crop ever, and by August he had already sold 3,500 bales. He said an advantage to be being a Yukon farmer was having a captive market with buyers coming from as far away as Haines, Alaska. Alberta hay was costing $8 a bale and he sold his for $5 if buyers picked it up at the farm.3) Stevens raised horses which he sold to outfitters, and for a few years he also raised cattle. In 1983, his challenges included the red tape in acquiring leases and title, the lack of a fraternity of farmers with whom to compare notes, the distance from suppliers, and a less than understanding banking community. At that time there were only 90 to 120 farmers in the Yukon.4)
Red Stevens was on the Board of the Yukon Agricultural Association from 1980 to 1985.5) Glenn Stevens died in 1980 and in 1986, Red married childhood friend Rose (Swede) Asnicar Atwood and they were inseparable for the last eight years of Red’s life. They retired from ranching in 1987 to spend the winters in Loveland, Colorado.6)