Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-17
srocK-RAIsING IN THE. WEST.


 During the last few years newspapers and
 magazines have been turning public attention towards stock-raising in the West. Enticing stories of great fortunes quickly made have
 been told, and it has been made to appear that any man, with a small or large capital and some energy, could make the business pay large profits. As a result of this many young men in the eastern States are directing their thoughts towards stock-raising as the shortest road to fortune, and eastern capi- talists are investing in it.
 Of late, however, some of the information concerning the condition and prospects of the business has been of less tempting character. For instance correspondent of the New York Eoeniaag Post, himself a stock raiser, writes that everywhere on the ''round- ups" and in the ''cow-camps'' he is told that there are no such profits in the business as there used to be. The profits have been steadily decreasing for some time past, and will of necessity continue to decrease The great and rapid fortunes that have grown up from cattle raising have all been made by men fortunate enough to command consid- erable capital at the right time and shrewd enough to discover and occupy new range. Most of the grazing land in the United States, says the correspondent, is already oc- cupied, and he predicts that within two years, everywhere from the British to the Mexican border, all the ranges capable of sustaining large herds will be occupied, ex- cept, perhaps, districts close to Indian tribes. It is obvious, therefore, that the vast advan- tage of new range away from the annoyance and expense of intermingling herds will soon be @ thing of the past. He continues "The cattle business of the future will be in no sense 'bona1iza' After the migratory herds have spread northward to the very border of British America, late corners will continue to drive in fresh herds. The new corners will not have all the benefits which the older settlers derive from the ranges, and every influx will diminish the value of the older herds. It is understood, of course, that the cattle proprietors never own the ranges; all cattle graze together on government land. These new lands will, no doubt, un- dergo much the same course of changes passed The first corners will derive the largest profits the profits will steadily de- I crease with the increasing number of herds; the crowding of the grazing land will continue till some season of drought suddenly teaches by bitter lesson of loss that the country is overstocked Then the expansion of the business will cease forever; there will be no new worlds for cattle-kings to conquer"
 Another fact of great importance in esti- mating the future of stock raising is that the grass of the best grazing area has not the re- cuperative power of the herbage of moister regions. Continuous grazing of large herd of cattle on one spot kills the grass from the root. The tramping of many feet presses out the roots from the dry, loose soil, and every hour the grass supply is diminished. When only the buffalo grazed through the country their strong migratory instinct kept | them from feeding in large numbers on one spot successive years; and so the grass was given time for recovery; but it is not so with | cattle. They feed continuously on range until, as the saying goes, it is ''grazed out" Districts which now sustain vast herds few | years hence will barely support much | smaller number. Sheep destroy range l more rapidly than cattle.
 From these facts it would seem that stock | raising in the West has seen its best days, | that is, as means of getting rich quickly. | for the right men, and the busi- ness, as whole, is destined to grow to much | larger proportions than it has yet attained.