Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-06-09
TaE cArrLE couNraY or had ruruRE.

THE CATTLE COUNTRY OF THE FUTURE. Year by year the grazing lands c Texas are being curtailed; the squstte continues to settle upon land, where can be had, thus pressing cattlemen wh
 have not secured their own land to g further west. Some of the central coun ties of Texas which but a very shor
 time ago were considered to be in the yer,
 heart of the cattle producing counties c
 Texas are now changed to agriculture
 but few cattle are left in them, and wha
 are left are mostly for farm use. IT. is
 question among many thoughtful men 1T
 Texas whether q mistake has not beer
 made Ill breaking ID the grazing land
 and planting it into grain, as 1t is not 6
 trst-class' farming country but was a
 hrst-class grazing country. But let thi.
 be as 1t may, there is DO help for It
 There Is no doubt, however, that as a
 strictly stock country it would have
 yielded more revenue than it does as an
 agricultural country, but it would
 have gone into the pockets of a few,
 while under the changed conditions it
 will be distributed among small farmers
 and give support to a much larger popu- lation.
 The effect Of this continued settlement and extension of agriculture in Texas siii ,as to force the cattle business west, and Tn time much of she capital now employed in Texas vill be transferred to New Mexico and ArizOna, neither of which are susceptible to such changes as are now going on in Texas. The farming lands of both Territories are found in valleys near water courses, and are not usually the best grazing lands. The high mesa, or table lands as we should call them in English, are not fit for agriculture, but produce the finest grasses; and being at an elevation of from one 10 three thousand feet above the grazing lands of Texas, the climate Is cooler in the summer season. conse- queutly cattle are more healthy, thrifty and prolific; neither are there any northers to interfere in the fall or win ter season as in Texas. In view of all these facts ID considering the future cattle producing country, Arizona must occupy a prominent position, and the ranges now almost unoccnpied, will be taken up and become very valuable. There eau be no doubt If this; we have the history of Wyoming before us, and for that matter all the States west Of the MississIppi. Thirty years ago, the cattle men of Illinois bought three and four year old steers in Missouri to feed and fatten for the eastern markets. 4 few years later Missouri began to fatten her own cattle and Illinois was compelled to go further west, to Kansas and Nebraska, for her supplies. Soon the latter named States 1 took to feeding their surplus corn crop to cattle. aud Illinois was again forced to | go further west, and now most of the | cattle fed in that State are procured | from Colorado, Wyoming and as far west as Montana. The population of l the country Is rapidly increasing, while | the grazing lands are constantly being l ancroached upon by agriculturist. Tins l being the case, it IS an easy matter to I see what it will lead to. Every foot of | available grazing land in this country | wiH b. occupied within the next ten | years. We know its value now: what | will 1t be then? There are many young men in Arizona to-day full of health, | and ambition, who are looking out for to engage in that will bring ! them a competence. What Is there, in all the country,t that offers better induce ments for investments than the cattle | in Arizona: There Is no better ield to operate in and the sooner such men engage in the business the sooner they will be on the sure road 10 prosper ty. "But," say they, i've have no capital; We can do nothing" That IS q great mis- .ake; of course young men without ,apitai cannot become "cattle kings in , day. Messrs. Msish and Driscoll, he Vails, the Rockers, the Whites, and other large cattle owners ot Arizona did not start put with their thousands some of them lad almost nothing They began on what they had and added to 1t from year o year. They did not spend their time n town-they were to be found on their anches, working with their men, in the addle or wherever duty called them. They are now rich. but they dId not make it without an effort nor without work. They labored hard, attended to business, aud ten years have brought | hem enough to last them lifetime l Don Sanford and many other cattle men ye could name have retired from the business with enough, and hereafter will take life easy. If young men with but a single pony and few .ows. they can make beginning. Soon heir herd will be doubled, their ranch IS we'll as cattle will increase in value, md before they are aware of 1t the fu- ure will open ont before them, and sue ,ess will crown their efforts.
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