San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-08-10
THE CATTLE TRADE.
lis Rise and Progress on the Great Southwestern
Range.


railway at Abilene, Kan, has now
grown to immense proportions, and the
long horned, rangy steers OF a lew
wears since has given place to the
smooth.limbed and heavier steer pro-
duced by judicious crossing OF pure
Durham cattle with the native Texas
and Cherokee cattle OF Texas, the Pan
handle and the Indian Territory.
That immense and almost boundless
region of country in the Panhandle OF
Texas, Indian Territory and South
western Kansas, watered by the Great
Arkansas, Canadian, Cimaron, Chicas'
kia and Nimrescah rivers, and their
network of tributaries and branches, is
now used as the great southwestern
cattle range of the United States.
The territory embraced in the range
comprises some twenty-five counties IN
Southwestern Kansas, formerly known
as the Great American Desert, the
Cherokee strip, fifty.mile strip along
the southern border of Kansas, the rich
and fertile lands in the Indian Terri
tory known as the Oklahoma coded
lands, and the arid or dry lands en-
braced in the Panhandle of Texas.
A careful reference to the map OF this
section will show perfect network q
streams and water courses, all flowing
in a southeasterly direction, making an
abundance of water for stock during
the year. The large area of land COM
prised in the unorganized counties OF
Kansas has been found after repeated
trials to be only a potters' field for di'
versified farming, and hence all this
vast country has long since been turned
over to the stock raiser, and vast herds
of cattle now range on the rich and ex-
tensive pasturage. The lands further
south in the Panhandle and Indian ter
ritory are much the same In general
soil and climate, while the grasses are
lust as abundant and the waters as
good. The small beginning OF very
few years ago has developed into i'm
mense proportions, and the cattle kings
of the great southwest, the men who
own the immense herds in Southwest
ern Kansas, the Panhandle and the In
dian Territory, are now numbered
among the solid men of the country.
Messrs. Snyder & Drum now hold in
the Indian Territory about $4,000 head
of cattle; Tony Day 5000, Ewing
Brothers 5000, Hewins & Titus 5000;
this firm last season shipped 1000 car
loads of cattle to the st. Louis and
Kansas City markets. j. Bayara has
5000 head, Dickey Brothers 10000.
The Kansas City Company shipped
more than 5000 beeves to Kansas City
and eastern markets during the past
season, and now have upwards of $4,000
cattle on the range. Messrs. Quinlan
g. Crawford have 5000 head, B. B. @.
Campbell has 10000, J. Campbell
5000, Ben Miller has 5000 head, j.
Waters has $500. Messrs. Bates &
Beal, in the Panhandle of Texas, own
and control 10000 head; and still we
might enumerate further, but the above
is fair sample of the many herds now
covering this immense cattle range.
Buyers direct from the western mark
cts visit the range each year. Thous-
ands of head each year pass through
this city en- route for the eastern mark
cts, while other thousands are shipped
into this city from Missouri, Arkansas
and other points east, en- route for the
great range. A calf which costs $40
when it becomes 2-year-old is worth
at least $40, Large animals are always
in demand. Four-year-old steers
weighing 1,4OO pounds and upwards
are fattened almost exclusively for the
European market.
The cattle trade of this vast region
has become so large that the various |
great lines of railway are reaching out,
rivaling each other in their efforts to
compete for the traffic. The Santa Fe,
by reason of the Caldwell branch and /
its main line running through Dodge |
City, has for long time been able SUBJ
stantislly to control the cattle ship
ments of this section. But this mon
opoly cannot always last. The line of .