Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-02-15
GOING ToGRAss.
Tho Cattle Hurrying PROM the Covered
Ranges.

Probable Eneot of the Heavy Faii Of snow.
The greatest hardship produced by the
heavy and extensive snow VIII with
out doubt fall upon the cattle men. The
Inconvenience OF interrupted travel
IS nothing small and the hindrance
10 almost every branch Of business
has been marked and will result IN
great loss, but all this Is small COM
pared 10 that which will grow from
the grassy ranges being buried deeply
from sight.
The loss TO almost all the cattle men
will be negative one, simply "a nom
production, and not positive melting
away ofactual property. 1t IL hard 10
estimate what II Will be, further than
that IL will be heavy, because in some
sections ii will be merely nominal and
in others such decided per cent as 10
make the owners Of flocks and herds
draw very long faces and sigh for
change which cannot be too marked
or come too soon.
In the vicinity Of Cheyenne and for
miles In either direction the outlook Is
the darkest. The snow lies on IA level
10 the depth of ten to twenty-five
inches an nnbroken waste. The cattle
on all that vast range cannot obtain
u Inorsal Of grass and there Is no im-
mediate prospect Of their chances bet
teriDg. if the wind had only been
Blowing 80 ss to keep the ground clear
~ spots there would have been no
difficulty. II the bowling waste Of at
nlosphere which was hurling itself all
over this part Of the country last week
had come at the proper time 1t would
have been, Instead Of a source Of pro-
fanity and chapped faces, boon and n
blessing. The barometer does not indi-
cate a recurrence Of these breezes, and IL
IL probable that before there Is n change,
crust will have formed over all the
snow over which the wind will slide
~ unavailingly as water over duck ~
back. The cattle are getting hungry,
ana with brute instinct turning to-
ward the south. II they travel fast
enough they may reach grass, but
lettering as they probably will many
vii lie down and die of starvation and
cold. Two years ago some stockmen
lost AS high s 50 per cent, and the
bones of the famished herds were
gnawed by cayotes from Cheyenne to
central Kansas. 1t will hardly be as
bnd this year, though the passengers
WI htl viz iiHfN itstillik iBiO btDN ti
from the east zee carsasses strewn along
the track in way suggestive Of that
seasons record.
Yesterday immense droves of cattle,
estimated OF 10000, passed southwark
three miles east Of the city, They
were moving steadily, though In stray
Cling herds, and looked almost like
u marshaled bovine host following their
leaders To food and water. Already
they were beginning to look gaunf. IL
In not safe to say from how far north
these cattle came, but they will not
STOP unless from exhaustion, until
the Arkansas IL reached and then they
will be safe
Among the cattle owners In this
city there Is much uneasiuess, but ~
one of them observed Inst night:
"Hhere IL no use to fret The instinct OF
ainct Of the buffalo always took
him to grass and the same instinct
III Just as marked In the domestic
animal The cattle passed yesterday
sere certainly from some distance be.
cause those near Denver are on ranges
enclosed by substantial fences.
Mr.. McIllhinny, u prominent cattl,
man, is now in the city and was seen
last uigbt In regard to the aspect ol
affairs. He IL not inclined TO take a
gloomy view not having heard from
the north where the prospects are SC
decidedly bad. He said that In tht
southern portion of the state around
Trinidad and Pueblo the snow was not
heavy aud where II had fallen til,
wind had been sufficient to cleaI
enough surface to afford grazing.
cattle further north could only get (,
thle'kooaiity they would be MI right
b,le there was danger that they woul,
nothing very improbable in the pas
sing south of 10000 cattle rs the.
would so to grass were there was an,
possibility of Il. They were merel
hmnting food and did not move iron
that presentiment with which som
dumb brutes rush from cold to NOR
genial clinies,
a passenger on the Burlington an
Missouri, which came In las
evening, reports the range ingood con
dition beyond Hugo, At Hugo ther
III about ak inches of snow on a dea
lcavel The cattle wander aimlessl
and YEARLY about, struggling untinat
" to the south. Aa the train al
proaehes Denver the snow Is deope
but still on u level, presenting a Dire;
~ impenetrahle sariAce to the shive
herds.
An ondeavor was made TO obtai
sotHe reliable estimate of probable 10
ses, but no one would venture one,
being impossible TO know how Ion
the snow Will stay or the severity
the weather continue But it will
heavy enough to suit the Veriest Gro