The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-02-08

laborers, all of whom are now idle, ant
would give an impetus to all classes o
business. MAXWELL
Tiff, the Cattle King.
A COLORADO CATTLE RANGE ONE HUNDRED
AND F1FTY.sIX MILES LONG,
| propose to give some account Of tn,
cattle king Of tho West and the "bos.
ranch" of the country. The cattle king
is none other than j. w. llif, whose
ranch is in northern Colorado. This
ranch is 156 miles long and begins al
Julesburg on the cast, and extends to
Greeley on the west. 1t includes bottom
and upland ranges and has several camps
or ranches. The chief ranch is nearly
sonth of Sidney and ahnnt forty m,las
from Julesburg. At this ranch there are
houses and sheds, and some more than
two sections Of land fenced in. All the
cattle bough. by Mr. llilf were turned
over to him and branded at this place.
Here are his private stock yards, with
corrals, chutes and all the necessary con.
veniences for handling cattle. 1t is on
the South Platte river, and Of course has
fno watering facilities, while from the
bottom land adjacent plenty of hay may
be cut for the use of the horses employed
in herding. He cuts no hay for his cat.
tie. They live the entire year on the
rich native grass on his range, and, with
the exception of severe winter now and
then, the percentage of loss is not very
great, Mr.. Iliff is thorough cattle man,
and from his long experience has a per.
feet knowledge Of tho business lie has
bought and now owns some 10000 acres
Of lis present range, and will undoubt.
edly purchase more land as soon as it
comes into market He now owns 27..
600 head of cattle, and will have this
number after his sales for the present
year arc completed. The number Of
calves branded this year on his ranch will
be from $500 to 5000 head, and his
sales Of three and four.year. old steers and
fat COWS the present fall will probably
amount to about the same number. He
told me he expected to realize the sum
of S33 per head net on his sales this year,
At this rate 4 800 head would bring him
the snug little sum of $14S,500. TO
take care of this immense herd he en-
ploys from twelve to thirty. i've men
very few usually in the winter and the
largest number during the Ground ups"
in the spring. At the present time he
has twenty.four men employed and is
cutting out of his herd the four.year.old
steers and fat cows which he intends to
ship. While engaged at this work the
same men are gathering cows with un.
branded calves, which they put into the
corrals near by, and, after the calves are
branded, they arc turned loose with the
herd again. His herd IS rapidly being
graded up by the introduction or tiivl Gu eh
bred Durham bulls. In addition to the
cattle raised on his ranch he deals largely
in Texas and Indian cattle, and has now
advertised for 10000 head of Texas cat
tie to be delivered at his ranch in July of
this year. Mr.. Ilif estimates the in.
crease Of cattle from his home herd-out.
side OF purchases and sales to be about 70
per cent. per year, and about equally di.
vided as to gender. His shipping points
arc at Pine Bluffs and Julesburg on the
Union Pacific and at Deer's Trail on the
Kansas Pacific. Lest any one should
come to the conclusion that this business
is all profit and that the expenses and
losses do not amount to much let me fur.
ther state that Mr.. lifts policy is to
keep his expenses as low as possible, hav.
ing the keeping and safety of his cattle
constantly in view. Last year, | think
the expense of herding, etc, amounted to
less than S15, 900, and will amount to q
still less sum this year. But the losses
from thefts and death, some years, ere
Fl ightnIi. Tho wintvi or HOTTIE, L I
think, was very severe There were deep
SHOWS over his range that remained on
the ground long time, and the storms
we're incessant In the midst of these
storms Mr.. Iliff visited his ranch and
found his cattle literally dying by thou
sands. On the islands in the South
Platte river ho found and drove off into
the sand hills on the south side, after
great exertion, some 2,700 head, and of
this number less than half have since been
Their bleaching bones now
whiten the plains in the vicinity where
they were frozen and starved to death,
and those that were recovered were found
in two different states and four different
territories in the Union. More than
s2i, 900 were expended in trying to find
them. Nor was this all. 1t was impos.
sible to tell for number of years how
much the loss had been. His books
showed nearly 5000 head unaccounted
for. No trace of them beyond skeletons
could be found. and at last-in the
spring of 1874 | think it was-.this mum.
Der was charged to profit and loss ac-
count and the books balanced for new
start. This large number would proba.
bly, have averrg ged at least $40 per head
could they have been sold the fall previ-
Dus. and at this rate they would have
amounted to 100000 estimated his
capital in the cattle business at $780,.
300, and yet from its very nature he is
liable to lose half of it during the coming
season. Like other business ventures, If
a man goes into it Of course he takes the
nces-Ju2eSJarg Letter IN omaha
Herald.