Omaha daily bee., 1884-07-17
CATTLE IN COLORAO,
Men who from Very Small Begin.
nings Have Become wealthy
Valuation of Cattle in
Colorado at Present
and Five Years
Hence.
Denver Tribune.

SA'S 1hiDuliOs
1t has been admitted on all sides tina,
the losses of cattle by death during thu
past winter were about 3 per cent O,
those that grazed upon the public domain
within the state. The loss of sheep was
not far from 4 per cent. The flock owners
who had prepared with feed lost scarcely
anything. With range cattle there was
no preparation with feed, therefore the
loss. There is no denying the fact that
the last wassan unusually hard and long,
continued winter, but nevertheless the
herd and flock owners have come I'D
smiling, and the cattle-men have bought
more, n paid higher prices for young
stock than ever before. More than 200.
ooO cattle will come from arboad, and be
turned upon the great range. The west
ern half of the state, over beyond
the Continental divide, will double it's
live stock property. 1t was thought when
the spring opened that the extraordinary
price asked for stock cattle down in the
breeding country of Texas would stop
the beef-growers of Colorado and Wyo.
ming from buying. This has not been
the case. Every bullock offered for sale
mas found a purchaser. Money was plen-
tlful, n the men who had made 60 and
Az per cent. annually on cattle were not
afraid to hazard the risk of a decline.
Said Mr.. Scherrer, of the Cattle Grow
ers' association, who has invested heavily |
in yearling cattle in Texas: 81 cannot
believe that young cattle will fall off as
much i n valuation as they will put on in
flesh and size and numbers, So LONG az
the government furnishes me free pasture
l Will continue to buy young cattle, even
though l pay ST. or 50 a head more than
they are worth
There is no question but that the high
price of stock cattle is justified by the
price OF beef throughout the civilized
world, A good bullock that will weigh
900 pounds will bring $50 in the Chi
ago market or $125 in the market of
London. Now, from the time the brute
8 purchased at Sl7, as a yearling, and
Until he is 4 years old, need not cost to
'xceed So for herding and otherwise
airing for. Add So more for his death
isk, and you have an animal ready for
shambles that has cost but $28.
)harge him S. for his transportation to
lineage and he has cost you S33. If he
you $50 at the butchers block. he
as yielded $47. This calculation is based
pom the theory Of handling cattle in
ands OF from n thousand upward. A
IAN on these plains Mho has less than q
thousand head of cattle is considered
DOR indeed. 1t is Che finest business in
world.
The government furnishes the pasture
nd the hungry millions furnish the
'oney. Cattle grow and thrive and
lultlply while the husbandman sleeps.
sun cures the hay upon the ground, ]
the calf and the bullock gather it =
ithout the reaper. Z
mat there is great and increasing
ealth In the bovine needs no g~ainsaying.
o-day the cattle of the state are worth (
$1,000, 900, and are owned by from six =
eight hundred men. Now. If these
tile representing $50, 900, 600 be left
one i've years they will double their :,
luatlon, 30 That the men who to-day a
Q worth 500, 900, 900 will be worth .
100, OO0, 900 in 1889. =
"We can scarcely estimate too highly <
Q value of the great grass crop of Colo
Wheat and the other cereals are q
but secondary consideration. Says the O.
We Stock Record: "Grass in the past
'elve years has added a hundred mil
ms to the wealth of the state. To H.
strate what it has done for a few men oil
will mention the case of the Wilson u
others-Andrew, William j., and Rob- u
j.. Less than twenty years ago these ,
IN commenced grazing cattle on a lin e.
d scale, twenty-five miles from Den q,
r. in what was known as SIMPSONS ~
lch, in the Cherry Creek country. The NJ
lss was plenty, but the Wilson cattle 4,
re few. From the annoyance of In IL
ms their progress was low during the Gi
'lIer years, but they had a purpose and ~
steadily along. In a few years
y had accumulated a thousand head of o.
progress became more rapid. an
on they had two thousand-then three, L,
m i've, then ten, and at last they reck- "
their cattle by the tens of thou an
AT last the elder brother, Andrew, a
years since, retired from the bust. ST
with $500, 600; and now the second :,
thor, William j., closes a sale of cat -
and lands to an English syndicate for io'
oUO,OOO, while tho younger brother, II
is still in the field and fast an.
his elders in material wealth. :
lice i; to say the combined wealth Of 4;
w, Wilson brothers to-day will exceed H.