, 1885-10-18
KICK.


Cattle IN Wyoming.
A gentleman writing from the upper
country says regarding the land and cattle
interests of Middle and Northern Wyo-
ming;
Your correspondent has ridden over
the ranges of Middle and Northern Wyo-
ming this summer and has discovered
some startling facts. The first thing
readily apparent is that the region is rap
idly being overstocked and can no longer
be a feeding ground for the thousands of
cattle which are annually driven to the
territory from Texas and Oregon. The
natural increase of the cattle would soon
cause the capacity of the country to be
reached, but this has been anticipated by
the addition of outside herds. Along the
streams and water courses the ground is
bare Of grass, for the cattle will stay in the
vicinity of water. Out on the high and
watcrless plateaus the grazing is fine, but
those places are so buried under snow
in the winter that cattle cannot exist upon
them. They will then be forced to the
valleys which have been grazed bare, and
unable to obtain food, thousands must
necessarily perish. This is the natural
result ofhaving the ranges overstocked-
Another thing which impressed the
traveller this year was the absence of l.
year-old steers, and particularly was this
noticeable on the ranges controlled by the
large cattle companies, whose blocks Of
capital stock are owned by non-residents.
Indeed, on many ranges but few Swear
old beef cattle could be seen. while on
some the 2-year old was about the only
representative of the beef output for the
year. The reason for this state of affairs
is plain, Last year the i-year-old were
3-year Odds, the 3's were IS and the rs
were yearlings. In order to pay dividends
and thus make good the representations
o. large returns upon investments the
managers of the companies were forced to
sell unripe cattle, and in some instances
the demand for dividends was 50 urgent
that calves were sold in order To pay non
resident shareholders the p, 80, or 70 per
cent which it had been alleged then in
vestments would bring. 1t Is well known
that no herd can be made a paying enter
prise when unripe cattle are sold, and 1t is
evident that some of the companies will
soon get to the end of their rope. About
the only thing that will save them will be
a severe winter, accompanied by
large losses ton paper, thus making
it possible for them to cvade the
shipment of cattle next year,
The land frauds are %glaring, and are
carried on openly. The large companies
are publicly obtaining hundreds of sec
tons under the desert act by hiring
persons to take up the land and paying
all the expenses; cowboys and their en-
ployers have their wages increased Tor the
pre- emptiop of land for the companies,
while temporary and shallow bitches
which were made to swear by, are used
as proof that desert land had been re-
claimed. Patents to miles. of land are
thus obtained.
The loose and uncertain assessment Of
range cattle has been tie rule rather than
the exception, but when it is considered
that each animal requires from ten 10
twenty acres of land for grazing, it will
be seen that the ownership Of land used
for range purposes must of necessity cut
a large slice out OF the profits in the shape
Of taxes.
Last year the territory sent to market
cattle valued at about 100000. thi,
year the beef product will not exceed, anC
conservative cattlemen think it will moi
equal. that sun. The business has be-
come a monopoly, aud a man with les.
than 5000 0 can hardly invest To advan
tage. As the cattle are now handled il
costs fully as much to handle 1900 as il
does to manage twice hat number, while
the expenses of a small herd are totally
disproportiOned to those of a large one.
A large per centum of the profits of tn,
business are sent out of the territory il
the form Of dividends, and as it is almos
the sole industry the effect is seen in thu
absence Of ready money! condition o
affairs unknown until the cattle compa
MES had a monopoly. Many old plains
men sigh for the days now departed. an,
all thinking people know that the cattl,
business Is steadily drifting to the unen
viablc condition into which speculation
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