Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-08-26
SUFFERING CATTLE.
Killed by Hunger. Thirst and Cold on the
Great Southwestern Ranges.

Killed by Hunger. Thirst and Cold on tho
Great Southwestern Ranges.
Nobody can estimate the amount OF
agony which has been inflicted on cat
tie in the West In tho last ten or fifteen
years rs the result Of the mistaken no.
ton that all that was necessary to
bring in rich returns was to turn cattle
loose on the ranges and leave them to
shift for themselves. II five, ten, hf-
teen, or even thirty per cent. of them
died in the SHOWS of hunger and cold. or
were frozen s,iff in their tracks, II was
easy enough to send out reports TO the
contrary, and the skelcton-strcwn
plains are not often under tho eve of
any one who will take the troubfc TO
describe what he ha, seen. The cruel
~ to animals in the East, to suppress
which there ara two societies in all
large cities. seems so insignificant in
comparison with the wholesale barbar-
i,y practiccd In the West. in order that
few men may become rich, tha, it is
strange that no national movement
has evcrbeen started for its suppression.
Travellers on many Of the railroads
In the West and Southwest In spring
and summer will see from the car
windows hosts of whitening skeletons,
in some cases great piles of them.
They are the remains of cattle which II
few months ago found their way to the
railroad track rs the only place within
their reach that manifested signs OF
life. and there they stood furnishing
and freezing until death put an end to
their sullcrings. The greed of man
was responsible for all this. Trusting
to luck for food and water thou
sands OF these poor brntcs have
been turned out every year by
their owners TO experience the
most pitiful suffering and death. while
those that have survived have been
scarcely more fortunate. Last winter,
when the Kansas Pacific railroad was
blockadcd with snow. and great stccI
plows were attached to the locomo'
tivcs, it was frequently found impossi'
bic TO blunt" out the cuts, because be-
meath the mass Of snow were scores ol
cattle that had huddled together in
these places in the hope OF mitigating
in u small degree the iierccncss Of the
blasts. Some of these plows, after one
or two encounters with such obs,rrc'
,ions of dead cattle, ice and snow,
looked rs though they had been run
through slaughter hou'e.
In the early days of the stock indus
try the buffalo grass, which was then
plenty, was depended upon 10 keep the
cattle alive during the winter IL grew
luxuriantly. and after the first frost
became like hay in appearance and
ouitc as nutritivc. While this lasted
the cattle that could get to 1t were able
to survive the winters, IL they were not
too severe; but it is singular fact that,
with the disappearance Of the buffalo,
the grass to which his name was given
has gone also. and on none of the
ranges east of the mountains is IL now
TO be found in any quantity. II has
been succeeded by grass which is
good enough when green, but after il
has been touched by the frost, it is OF
no more value rs feed than COM
mon straw. Cattle driven to dcspcra-
tion will some times ill themselves full
OF this stun, but, rs il contains little
nourishmcnt, 1t generally hastcns the
distcmpcrs, which result in their death.
Approaching the situation now as
never before, number OF big COM
panics have come TO the conclusion
that If they are TO continue in the busi'
ness they must do something more
than turn few thousand cattle loose
OH the range to shift for themselves.
Where this decision has been reached
great barns have been built, or are now
in course of construction, which cover
ncyeral acres of land, and in which
thousands of cattle may be properly
housed and fed during severe weather.
Las Animas (Coi.) Cor. Boston Glo6e.