Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1872-04-10
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
CATTLE.IORDs OF TEXAS.
Their Floeks and Herds.


The St Louis Journal Of Commerc,
says: b.
Texas has been aptly designated 'ht
great cattle hive of North America y
More than half a century ago, under
inducements offered by the Spanisl
Colonial authorities in Mexico, the coasI
region from the Sabine 10 the Rio
Grande, a level and fertile belt from
thirty to sixty miles broad, was setl!:
by Spanish and American emiorants,
who brousht with them their native
breeds Of cattle, which, under remai ksbly
favorable circumstances of climate and
pa.turage, amalgarnated into common
stock, containing in large degree the
better point of the constituent breeds.
Up to Tie stlusgl. for Texan in1epend-
ence the increase 81 those herds was re-
markahly rapid In the di di;,albance and
social di-loca:ion which then ensuci, the
western PORTION Of this cattle region be
came almost depopu!ated, ard the cattle,
for lack OF Own r., r,laPsed into a
state of wilae:ress Social Gt1er was not
final, re-establisl ed till after the an
nexat III cf Texas to the United States,
and in the treaty of peace with Mexico,
in iS4S The cattle rising industry
then revived. The Wild he~ds were Ell
tier reclaimed iy rlir former owners,
or appropriated h. others Large nun
hers weie driven 10 Eastcin markets :;
hu: enough mained to stock immense
Iauc!.es on whic!. class If men of en-
tcrprise and resolnte character have since
orgaaiz.d very thrifty pas.ural indus
1y
During he late rebellion the T,1as
ca:r,a r giors w.re but slightly devasta-
ted bv the ravages of war. which on the
cornary, grady enchanced their pros
Ierity by Increasing the price Of Texas
le,f
la the co1 regions Of Texls a;e found
cllf'e la! ds whose animated treasures
surpass, in number and value, even .he
fllpcks and herds of The great men OF New
Yo,k. The Santa Cabrutus rancho, on
Ike Santa Cabru'us River, owned by
Col. Richard King, om5ia S4,l32
cres OF land, stocked with 65, 600 cattle,
10000 horses, 1000 sheep, ard S 600
goat. For the management of these
immense herds, 500 Mexican herdsmen
aud 1000 saddle horses are held in con-
slant requisition. Col King each year
brands $4,000 calves, and sells 10000
fat cattle, constantly investing the sur
lus proceeds in stock cattle O'Cor.
hers rancho twenty miles below Goliad,
IN The San Antonio river, in 1862 con
famed over 10000 cattle; during that
year on hi. estate, II 600 calves were
branded, and $4,000 realized by the
sa!c of cattle This cuterprize was in
sugurl.cd ten years previously with !,
800 cattle. Ro.deauX Ianche, between
the neuce and Rio Grande rivers, owned
hy Mr. Kennedy, is fertile peninsula
of Il2,s4) acres, juiting out into th=
Gulf CT Mexico, the isihmus being Sc
cured Ly thirty miles of plank fence,
guardCd at int, rvals of three miles by
herdmen's ranches. Ii already contains
$4,000 beef cattle, besides large numbers
of other stock. Other magnificent cat
lie herds might be enumerated. The net |
increase of cattle in this region has been
estimated as high as 25 per cent. per
annum.
Turning his animals loose TO Craze at
will over a range of country often fifty
miles square, covered with nutritious
grasses, in genial climate, in which
shelter is unnecessary, the Texas stock
raiser confines his care TO the identified
tiOn and marketing of bis animals For
the former purpose, the stockmen of the
neighboring ranches assemble semi annu
ally in considerable force, to scour the
country for the purpose of branding calv
&c, the ownership of which is determined
by the brand of the cows they follow or
suck. This stock business which has
thus grown from small beginnings, now
amounts to a magnificent industry. the
product of which reaches our most dis
tant markets
Its conditions, both economical and
productive, have been gradually chang.
ing with the growth of our resources.
The extension of crop raising agricul
tural settlements III the coast regions Sc
riously deranged the condition of cheap
productions of cattle by raising the value
of land and by restricting the range of
free pasture. The stock business was
then extended northward to the central
region of high, rolling prairies and even
to the plateaux of northern Texas, local
tiles scarcely less congenal to this at
tractive industry than even the rich plains
of the coast. They present large areas,
tolerably well watered, and sufficiently
well tmbered for the wants of the stock
raiser.
The climate is mild and salubrius, and
the prairies in their wild state are covered
with excellent grasses, and already feed
larpe herds of cattle hearing the baruds
of different owners.