St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-09
A GREAT RANCH.
The Territory of Wyoming Given UP
to Herdfng.
The Fattening Region for the South
ern Ranges.

Sherman Commercial Gazette.
Away here in the great West we laugh at
the opinion held of us and our territory by
the people OF the states. Our good qualities
seldom appear in print. A Iynching any,
where IN this immense territory. or muir
ger, is sure 70 appear in every journal of
note throughout the country Wonderful
gold-mlneS. to be got for few dollars. or
oil lands with lakes and streams of METRO
leum, have notice from the newspapers
just as wide. This exaggerating and mis-
representation has hurt US considerable
Our true claims to public favor are most
often passed over with passing nctj;e. In
the minds of many the name Wyoming sug-
gest region of Arctic winters. of ruffian
cowboys, where all sorts Of crime run ram
! pant and the siX-shooter is the court of last
resort. TO others, it is the region of myth
cal mineral wealth, of big lies and deceitfnl
land spectators, where no decent person
would think Of living save under the stress
OF dire necessity. There is real wealth
here, though, and comfort and security, too,
to life and property.
wyoming is fast becoming vast cattle
ranch. Despite its cold winters. it's mineral
wealth, its broken country, cattle-raising is
the main industry of the territory. There
is something in the climate and in the soil
peculiarly adapted to herding. Our cattle
are more healthy, are larger and the in
crease Is faster than in the ranges of Texas
and the southwest territories Our region
is used as great fattening range for the
| herds of the far south.
THE FATTENING REGION.
Every season thousands of Young cattle
from half year to two years old are driven
from the southern country hundreds of
miles north and distributed over our plains
to grow stronger and fatter before they ara
| shipped to the eastern markets. These i'm
| portations from the south are known az
'Doges" among the cowboys. Their most
prominent characteristic is their extent OF
horns. The cattle born and bred in this
| territory are generally of a superior quality.
| They all have Texas blood, but there is an
| improvement in the strain by the use OF
| blooded bulls. Herefords or Polled Angus,
| Every season the new calves to be branded
| show better beef qualities. Sometimes the
better blood has so changed the appearance
| OF the animals that it is difficult to recognize
even the most prominent traits of the Texa.
cattle. These Improvements are a neces-
sary consequence of the increase - com.
petition in the business the demand being
constantly for higher grade of stock and
better quality of beef. A demand has also
grown up in England for American beef,
and this has tended still further to improve
the stock of the plains, it being desirable to
retain and to increase this trade. The cat
tie, with regard to their habits and peculiar
tiles, are not objects of special interest; in
fact, they are decidedly stupid, and have
the Initiative faculty quite strongly devel-
oped. Their most troublesome REGULARITY
is habit Of 'stampeding'' or running away
III Wild panic at any unusual alarm, es-
pecially in the night, by which herd some
| times becomes scattered over district Of
country 100 miles square. Weeks some
times are required to collect it again.
THE FAvoRITE BUFFALO GRASS.
Buffalo grass is the staple food of the cat
tie. 1t is short grass that grows in abund-
| 1nce everywhere. 1t is probably the most
nutritive herbage that grows In the dry
| atmosphere of this region the buffalo grass
cures itself on the ground 1t is thus as
| good food in winter as in summer. Our
plains are from 5000 to 5000 feet above
the level of the sea Although the rains
are abundant in the spring and early sum-
mer the latter part of the summer and the
fall is dry. better hay climate could
hardly be imagined. At this time of the
| year the ground is covered with thick car
pet OF splendidly cured hay. Heavy, indeed
must be the snowfall that can prevent the
cattle from feeding. They have learned
| that there is always grass beneath the snow
| and will scrape the snowy covering away
| with their hoofs and feed as abundantIy in
one season as in another. Only when
| sleet OF snow occurs, accompanied by
rain, which freezes as it falls. covering the
ground with ice, do cattle suffer.
| no
yield before the blast and travel due south
sometimes for more than a hundred miles.
| Their unerring instinct leads them on be-
| yond the sweep of the blizzard, where the
| grass is not frozen and showed I'D beyond
| their reach.
| The cattle business, as / said before, con-
stitutes the wealth of this region. Under
| ordinary circumstances the money invested
is perfectly safe. The gain after the third
year may be reasonably put down at from
20 to 80 per cent. The loss seldom exceeds
per cent These losses come from sick
ness, exposure, straying thefts and deaths
OH the railroad tracks. The net profits.
may therefore, be set down as averaging
near 20 cent, not bad return for invest
ments anywhere.
HERDING AGAINST FARMING.
Cattle-raising and farming are incompati-
BILE. The two cannot exist side by side
Fences obstruct the range, and the habits of
cattlemen and farmers are so radically diff
ferent that the appearance of the latter in
any locality is a sure signal for the disap-
pearance of the former.
The conflict between the two industries
has just begun in this territory. Every day
it becomes more evident that the small cat
tie owner and the farmer are being pushed
to the wall. Cattleraising on a gigantic
scale is destined to rule in this territory
from now on for score of years until the
press of immigration compels a division in
the great ranges. The business promises to
be generally carried on by large companies,
having many thousands of acres of land and
unlimited supplies of money. There is now
practically no free grazing the water-fronts
being taken up whenever they are of any
value. and most of the land has been ,pought
or in some way appropriated by the great
companies. In addition to this fact, it is
certainly true that the companies having ex-
tensive ranges and large herds have a great
advantage over the small capitalists, from
the fact that the large business is carried on
at smaller per cent. of expense. Nomore
herders or horses are needed for 5000 cattle
than for 4. 900, and thus the large capitalists
will have greater per cent. or profit over
his less wealthy neighbor, who will soon be
driven out of the business.
PARK FLEMING.