The Tooele County Commission has approved a resolution declaring Friday to be Grant Gerber Day in Tooele County.
Gerber is the Elko County commissioner who founded and organized the Grass March Cowboy Express. He passed away Saturday at the University of Utah Hospital from complications that followed surgery for an injury sustained while leading the Grass March.
“The citizens of Tooele County benefited from Grant’s leadership on public land issues in many ways,” said Bruce Clegg, Tooele County Commission chairman.
The Grass March Cowboy Express was a group of western ranchers that rode horses coast-to-coast to deliver a set of petitions to federal government representatives that asked Congress to reign in out-of-control federal agencies.
Gerber patterned the Grass March after Mahatma Gandhi’s peaceful protest known as the Salt March, Clegg said.
The march left from California on Sept. 26 and traveled through California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia on its way to Washington, D.C.
On day 12 of the journey, while riding through Kansas, Gerber’s horse stepped in a prairie dog hole and fell. Gerber struck his head and was knocked unconscious. He was examined and released from a hospital in St. Louis.
Continuing with the march, Grant led the riders as they rode through the streets of Washington, D.C., on Oct. 16 with a police escort and delivered a mail pouch of petitions expressing grievances about the overreach of federal agencies to a group of congressional staff members.
On the return trip home, Gerber continued to feel headaches. He checked himself into a hospital in Cheyenne, Wyoming where a CT scan revealed hemorrhaging of the brain. Doctors allowed him to travel to Salt Lake City where he passed away on Oct. 25 after surgery.
“As a county, we have worked with Grant on issues pertaining to public lands, particularly protecting public use and access,” Clegg said. “Grant will be missed.”