Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-08-26
rAlk WITH A CATTLE KING.
Hsw HI Business Pays I'm Texas -som'
Large+SIzed Ranches.
!. Louis ~P0st-DvPdtch.

LofBe~3iEe0 hoRonoes
s.. Louis Post Dispdteh.
Colonel J. P. Arlington, one OF the
largest cattle raisers Of the Southwest,
is In the city, and Is stopping ut the
Southern Hotel. In conversation VIII
a reporter this morning on the subject
Of the ~stock-raisiDg business in Texas,
he said:
we never complain. Last year our peel
cattle brought from $50 to $4l o head.
Now we are selling at about an aver
age of $50" a,
said the reporter.
NIn talking about it we generally say
that it is in the region about Gaines
willie. Texas, but it is not, because we
keen our cattle Just across the Red river
i'm the Indian Territory.
aThe herd occupies q territory OF
about 7T5 square miles, partly in the
territory ofthe Kiowas, Comanches and
Apaches. 1t is hardly lawful for white
people to 60 over into
The Indian Territory,
but we have an understanding with the
Indians and they I'VE trouble us, snd
we are not molested by any other au-
thority. Our headquarters are now
about sixty miles southwest OF Fort
Sill. There are ranches on all sides OF
ms. NV brother, Washington Adding
ton, is located just west OF me. he has
IS, 200 cattle; Z. G. Saggs On the other
side has Is, ZOO, and the Stones have a
large herd in that locality also"
"How many have you on your
ranche?"
aAbout 5 5000. We are selling the
steers all the time, but the herd con-
tinues to increase very rapidly, as
The Cows Are Never Killed
or driven away so long as they are
Young. The steers at three years old
are ready for the market, and we sell
dom keep any number of them over till
another year. We can get about three
and a half cents a pound live weight
for them at Gainesville, adrive ofabout
seyenty.five miles from the ranch.
We sometimes drive to Hopewell, Kan
sss, a distance of l6O miles"
"What breed ofcattle is raised mostly
in that country"
"The long.horned Southern Texas
cattle mostly, but we are constantly in
Producing new blood and experiment
ing on different breeds. The Here
fords and the Durhams have been ill.,
troduced quite largely and with some
success. The l%ong-horn is the steer for
that country, however. He can live
through
A Hard Winter
and come out as fly as a young colt In
the spring, and by the first OF June he
is as fat as butter and ready for market.
If bred toe highly they can't stand the
winter we'll and they will come out too
Door in the spring. The well-bred cat
lie are too tender and sometimes sicken
on the drive. l find that from one
Quarter to one.half Hereford with the
long-horn Southern Texas makes about
the best suited to that climate. These
lOng.horns were introduced OH the
coast by the Spanish POO OF 500 years
ago.. The climate suits them exactly
and they flourish down there"
How does your Southwestern BEEF
compare in the market with our llil-
rois and Missouri beef"?'
Last year we sold within a half a
cent of it on
The New York Market;
at present there is a greater difference.
We might place it ut from three-quar-
tiers to a cent, But we never look at a
trife like that. 1t don't count much in
our business. Our profits are quite sat-
isfactOry anyhow"
about what is the estimated cost OF
raising cattle in your locality"
"AlI told, 81 a head will pay the eG-
penses. We have no fences to build or
keep up; we have no buildings to speak
of; our herdsmen, about twenty in num-
Der, are tented in different places about
the herd, and they are about the only
expense"
amounts to something annually?"
"Yes, there is some profit in the bust
ness. We clear from S6O,0O0 TO 500, 900
every year, to say nothing of the in
crease in stock. We shipped to this city
for twelve or thirteen years, and did
very well, but now We find Chicago a
better market, and this year all our cat
tie are going there"
Have you been long in the busi-
ness".'
Eyes, some time. l went down to
Texas fifteen years ago and went to
work among the rancherS. In q short
time l won the confidence of Il of
them to such an extent that he sold to
me 200 cows on credit. lpaid him of
in four years and had the herd clear.
Now | have a pretty good herd of cat
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