Morning journal and courier., 1881-09-12
A Mighty Sheep Ranch.

John w. Bookvalter of Ohio and his l Twenty Thousand Acres in Nebraska.
 From the Cincinnati aazette.l
 The ranch is the princely possession of John W. Bookwhlter, the Democratic candi- date for Governor of Ohio. It is located on Mission Creek, Pawnee county, Nebraska, fifteen miles from the Kansas border, and embraces 10000 of the choicest acres of the best part of the great food belt of the conti- nent, which lies between the fortieth and forty second parallels. Ten miles from it's where still finger 8 handful of this old branch of the Dakotas, and who will, in October next, tumble their tepees and take the trial for the Indian Territory. A well-wooded d stream called the Arteketa, after the heredi- tary:chief of the Otoes, 9 flows through the ranch.
 The mansion house of the ranch is one of those patent structures, built in sections and transported all ready to be put up- It is an affair of eight not large, but comfortable, rooms, which by no means limit the hospital ity of the master of the house, which is some- thing noteworthy and unparalleled.
 The Bookwalter ranch is devoted to sheep raising, the hocks numbering 13,OOO sheep, cared for on seven minor ranches, located in different parts of the estate, each in charge of herder. Cattle and not sheep are indi- genous to the far West, and so the sheep
 
 cattle men. Their focks are herds, their shepherds are herders, and their sheepfolds are corrals.
 At each of the seven ranches which dot the Arteketa ranch is a flock of 1,500 sheep in charge of herder. Six sheds, each 100 feet long, are erected to shelter the focks from the winter storms, and a corral is provided in which to shelter the sheep at night The herder has pony and saddle and sheep dog, and a comfortable one-room house pro- vided with the requisites for his simple housekeeping. In the morning, always mounted, he takes his focks a6eld to the grazing ground, lariats his sturdy little Indi- an pony, and watches after his sheep.
 At nightfaIl the peculiar cry of the herder and the sharp bark of the collie float over the prairie as they ''bunch"-that is, gather to- gether-the flock for the corral. Here the sheep soon settle into quiet, unbroken until morning. Occasionally wolf gets into the fold. The first intimation of trouble is the bleat of the stricken lamb and the quick tramping of 5000 sharp little hoofs. The sheep dog and herder, whose vigilance should have kept out the intruder, soon expel him. and the flock sink at once into quiet.
 The herder is veteran of the bushwhack- ing type, clad in checked woollen shirt and trousers, high boots, and broad sombrero. He is paid $28 per month, and finds his own food, black coffee, bacon and dubious bread forming the staple articles. At Arteketa, as the hocks increase the herder has flock in- trusted to him on a different basis. He re- ceives no wages, but half the increase is his, and half the clip of wool, and he is provided with horse, dog, house and sheds One of the pets at Arteketa is a highbred Scotch sheep dog Peggy. She takes out the man. sion house flock to the grazing ground in the morning, and comes in to report it's safety at noon. At 6 o'clock she goes out and ''bunches'' the sheep, and sees the last one 5ak Anofr kok k1a.a duties, but is born herder, inheriting from her mother, an imported Scotch collie, the accumulated knowledge of famous race of sheep dogs.
 Sheep shearing is now regular business in the Southwest, and there are men who do little else for living. They stroll in bands from ranch to ranch, hunting sheep to shear They cut fleece with marvellous rapidity. The sheep is first washed in the pool, and be- fore she has recovered from her surprise the shearer has her across his knee and her tum- bled fleece lies in 8 woolly heap at his feet. The cost of shearing is from three to eight cents fleece. The wool is baled the same as wool house. When the whole clip is in, it is sent to market.
 Haymaking upon the ranch is another of the midsummer sights. The entire harvest of the hay crop on the Bookwalter ranch is in charge of Q city-bred young man, g years
 
 Francisco. Twenty thousand tons of hay are cut and stored in the season, being stacked in ricks of from twenty to thirty tons. All the work is done by the most approved machinery, and even then force of fifty men is required. Even the stacking of the hay in riclzs is done by machinery. To see the great sweep, like some hungry monster, grasp a thousand pounds of hay in it's teeth and then sweep through the air, pack it, and then return for another mouthful of half ton or so, fills the granger with delight.
 Having and grain raising for the winter feed is also conducted on shares, the same as the herding, a certain proportion coming to the ranch by right, and the ranch owner buy ing at market rates the farmers share, so that he realizes a cash IvaIue for his labor. Several farms of fifty acres are already brok- en upon the ranch, and each year adds to the number as the needs of the estate increase. ! The profits are variously estimated, after deducting every expense, to be from 40 to 75 per cent per annum upon the amount invest ed. With $500 or $1, GOO in hand a suitable herd can be started and ranch provided The young sheep grower would have to lie out of his money about eight months from the | time of buying his herd then the wool clip would provide him with sufficient funds for all his wants until another clip came in Mean ! while his herd increases, the increase being | in the neighborhood of 80 per cent. The de- | lights and romance of ranch life are inexhaus- ! tible. Fancy the pleasure of making the ! circuit of forty miles, which form the boun- | daries of Aateketa ranch.
 | The fireguards and wallows strike the strangers eye especially. Each quarter sec | ton is divided from the other by space ot I ploughed ground twenty feet wide, which ! under ordinary circumstances, stops the course of the frequent prairie fires. These I guards in the Bookwalter ranch are each six | I, ! ing but two furrows day, one up and one | down.
 | The sloughs (s'slew, |" the natives call them), the dips between the rolling pillows of the prairie, are little ponds, some but few feet deep, and others thirty feet or more. Many | of these ponds seem to have grown out of I buffalo wallows, term used on the prairies to designate 8 sink made by the buffaloes f paving the earth for the purpose of obtain | ing smooth dusty surface to roll upon. 1 These form channels for the descending rains, l and in years the channels are worn down uu- | til veins of lasting water are opened and con- | stant flowing streams established. A chain
 of dozen of the wallows full of fish, and | fringed by rich grasses high as the pony's
 back, are not uncommon, and are the water I ing places for the herds.
 l MT. Bookwalter, who has drawn 8 good
 many of the prizes of life, values his western possessions Che owns besides Arteketa, 20 COG
 acres in the Loup country) above all others. He holds the most enthusiastic hopes of the future of the trans Missouri country, and en, l tertalns magnificent plans for it's future de- | velopment. His friends have always regard l ed his interest in the western country as
 kind of insanity. A good many people re- | gard rich man who has any thoughts or
 aspirations beyond sitting like Atropos, and
 forever clipping coupons, as she cuts the 1 thread of life, as
 Mad and fool, my masters mad and fool. MT. C. A. Hilbert, the gentleman in charge 1 of Arteketa ranch, and MT. Bookwalter's part
 ner in the sheep ranching, is Boston man. | who has spent eighteen years of his life in South America, teny of it as a wool mer-
 chant in Buenos Ayres, and eight years in the I interior at the sheep ranches. He naturally
 knows 8 few points about sheep. His wife l was Miss Wade of Minnesota lady not yei 30. who at the age of g was at the head ot | the schools of the Argentine Federation Both
 possess brilliant social qualities that, far from l being lost in the frontier, make the Mansion
 House at Arteketa place of pilgrimage fol
 friend and stranger whom the fame of it has reached.
 | Important.
 When you visit or leave New York city \ save h9poaOa axnreaaaoa and carria0a hira