Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-10-13
A MIGHTY SHEEP RANCH.


The ranch is the princely possession
OF John b. Bookwalter, Democratic
candidate for governor of Ohio IT il
located On Mission Greek. Pawnee
county, Nebraska, fifteen miles from
the Kansas border, and embraces 40, OO(
Of the choicest acres Of the best part Of
the great food belt Of the continent,
which lies between the fortieth and
forty second parallels. Ten miles from
its western boundary lies the Otoe res
ervation, where still linger handful
of this old branch Of DakOtas, and who
will in October next tumble their to.
pees and take the trail for the Indian
Territory. A well-wooded stream called
the Arteketa, after the hereditary chief
of the Otoes, 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
PIT up. 1t is an affair OF eight not
large but comfortable rooms, which by
no means limit the hospitality Of the
master of the house, which is something
noteworthy and unparalleled.
The Bookwalter ranch is devoted to
sheep raising, the focks numbering 49,
600 sheep, cared for on seven minor
ranches, located in different parts of the
estate. each in charge Of herder Cat
tie and not sheep are indigenous to the
far West, and SO the sheep-ranchers
have adopted the phraseology of the
cattlemen. Their hocks are herds,
their shepherds are herders, and theil
sheep folds are corrals.
At each of the seven ranches which
dot the Arteketa ranch Is flock Of
1900 sheep in charge Of herder. Six
sheds, each 100 feet long, are erected
to shelter the flock from the winter
storms, and a corral is provided in
which to shelter the sheep at night.
The herder has q pony and saddle and
sheep dog, and comfortable one
room house provided with the requisites
FOR his simple housekeeping. In the
morning, always mounted, he takes his
fiocks atield to the grazing ground,
lariats his sturdy little Indian pony, and
watches after his sheep.
At nightfall the peculiar cry of the
herder and the sharp bark OF the collie
float over the prairie as they ssbunch !"
that is, gather together-the flock for
the corral. Here the sheep soon settle
into a quiet, unbroken till morning.
Occasionally wolf gets into the fold.
The first intimation of trouble is the
bleat Of the stricken lamb and the quick
trampIing Of $4,000 sharp little hoofs.
The sheep dog and herder, whose vigi-
lance should have kept out the intru-
der, soon expel him, and the sheep. sink
at once into quiet.
The herder is veteran of the bush-
whacking type, clad in checked wooden
shirt and trousers, big boots and broad
sombrero. Hei is paid $28 per month,
and finds his own food, black coffee,
bacon and dubious bread forming the
staple articles. At Arteketa, as the
Aocks increase the herder has flock
intrusted to him on different basis.
He receives no wages, but half the in
crease 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 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
its safety at noon. At o'clock she
goes out and "bunches the sheep,
and sees the last one in the corral. She
was never trained to these duties, but is
born herder, inheriting from her
mother, an imported Scotch collie, the
accumulated knowledge of a famous
race of sheep dogs
Sheep shearing is now regular bust
ness in the Southwest, and there are men
who do little else for a living. They
stroll in bands from 1anch to ranch,
hunting sheep to shear. They cut a
fleece with marvellous rapidity. The
sheep Is first washed in the pool, and
before she has recovered from her sur
prise, the shearer has her across his
knee and her tumbled fleece lies in a
woolly heap at his feet. The cost Of
shearing is from three to eight cents a
fleece The wool is baled the same as
cotton is picked, and is then stored in
the wool-house. When the whole clip
In, it is sent to market.
Haynaking upon the ranch is another
Of the midsummer sights. The entire
harvest of the hay crop on Bookwalter
ranch is in charge Of city-bred young
man twenty three years old, who, two
years ago. was clerk in San 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 inn
proved machinery, and even then a
force of fifty men is required. Even the
stacking Of hay in ricks is done by ma
chinery. To see the great sweep, like
some hungry monster, grasp hundred
pounds of hay in its teeth and then
sweep through the air, pack it, and then
return for another mo1thful of half q
ton or SO fills the granger with delight.
Haying and grain raising for the
winter feed is also conducted on shares
the same as the herding, certain pro-
portion coming to the ranch by light,
and the ranch owner buying at market
rates the farmers share, SO that he re-
ceives a cash value for his labor. Several
farms of fifty acres are already broken
upon the ranch. and each year adds to
the number, as the needs Of the estate
increase.
The profits are variousiy estimated
after deducting every expense to be
from forty to seventy five per cent. per
annum upon the amount invested. With
$500 to 81, 900 In hand a suitable herd
can be started and ranch provided.
| The young sheep grower would have to
1 live 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