The St. Johns herald., 1886-06-10

tion is dry and water is fast giving out. He attempted a roundup on
 May 10th, but found the cattle so
 weak that he had to abandon it.
 He found as many as ten head so weak and faint that they had to be assisted to their feet. Rain is ex- pected in July and August, and when the grass begins to grow he proposes starting his herd to New Mexico. Many other large ranch men of that vicinity will also re- move their cattle to New Mexico or Arizona. In a short time he will start a large herd from New Mexi- co to Utah, which latter territory is the best COW country he has seen. Cattle suffered worse on the Ar kansas river in Colorado than in any other place he knew of. Tie ground was covered with snow for forty straight days. Half the na- tive cattle and all the pilgrims per ished. An acquaintance of his drove 4,000' yearlings into that country about December 1st. The opening of spring found fifty of the number alive. The worst suf- fering now is in the valley of the Pecos, A few days ago he con- versed with a MT. Dean, whose ranch is near old Fort Sumner, who informed him that in places on the Pecos half the cattle have already died, and if 1t does not rain very shortly the rest will follow in the train of mortality. Following the meanderings of a small creek a short distance a few days before leaving the country, MT. Dean said he found thirty head of his own cattle haggard and wrestling with death. The valley is covered thick with carcasses and utter ruin seems to hang oyer it.
 Rocky Mountain Husbandman: The recent report of the stock de- tectiVe force to the Montana Stock Growers association, shows that in- stitution to be a most efficient one and we'll worth to the territory all it costs. By reference to the report it will be seen that eighty-five thou sand dollars have been saved to the rightful owners at an expense of a little over eleven thousand dollars. This, it would seem at casual glance, would satisfy the most skep- tical that the law that created 1t was good one and ought to be sustained, yet it does not, and an effort will be made in the next leg islature to have the number of stock to be entitled to the exemp- ton increased to double or treble the present requirements, for while the detective system has thorough ly proved it's efficiency, it has de- veloped a woeful state of dishon- esty in the ranks of our cattle grow CTS, since the bulk of the eighty five thousand dollars worth of stock found in possession of men to whom it did not belong, was beef cattle en route for the Chicago mar ket. It is true a few horse thieves have been apprehended and quite a number of horses have been recov- cred from professional thieves, but there is no disguising the fact that the bulk of the thieving-if, indeed, we may call the marketing by acci- dent, carelessness, and a thousand and one other causes, of stock be- longing to some other person, by this name-is done by the cattle  growers themselves, and the small owner with twenty or thirty head of dairy cows, who never has car load of stock for market, feels that he is paying pretty dearly in order that the stock men may have protection against each other. We cannot see though just how the matter is to be remedied. Any man who raises beef is interested in keeping up an efficient detective force, as it is the only guarantee he has for the safety
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