Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-03-27
A National Cattle Trail .

have said that the annual drive from
Texas will probably be from 10000 to
100000 cattle. A large proportion of
these will be stock cattle-cows, heifers
and young steers. Where are these cat
tie to be held until fit for market? At
the Cattle Growers convention, held in
St. Louis, November, 1884, the Texas
cattle growers were unanimous in advo-
eating the creation of q national cattle
trail, six miles wide, and extending from
Texas to our northern boundary. The
northern grazers opposed the proposed
trail On the ground that the Texas cattle
were infected with disease known in
the business as the Spanish fever They
asserted, and truthfully, too, that the
driving of through Texas cattle along
the trail would infect their herds. The
Spanish fever does not injure Texas cat
tie; but, all native cattle, that is, all
northern stock, no matter what their
blood, catch the disease by grazing on
the ground over which thorough Texas
cattle have passed, and they generally
die. Here were two parties disputing
about fact that both knew to be fact,
both cunningly endeavoring to conceal
their real hopes and fears. There are
territorial and state laws in force in the
west that forbid the driving of through
Texas cattle on to mano ranges
A NATIONAL LAW
enacted for the purpose of providing a
cattle trail would override these local
laws, which many lawyers pronounce I'M
constitutional, and open the northern
grazing ground to the Texas cattle. The
southern stock growers want the trail Gre
ated so that they can drive young steers
that are strong enough to endure the Sc
we're winters of the northwest, through to
the bunch and buffalo grass pastures of
Wyoming and Montana in one season,
and so avert overstocking their home
range, which is secure from invasion of
northern herds, as no native cattle can
be driven ON to the grazing ground Of
Texas and live. The Spanish fever stalks
abroad there. The northern men assert
and reassert that the opening of the trail
would endanger their herds. They ig-
more the fact that the first heavy frost
kills the Spanish fever, and ends all dan
ger. They endeavor to conceal their real
reason for opposing the opening of the
trail, which is the danger of overstocking
the northern grazing ground if the Texas
men are allowed to drive their surplus
young steers there. They dread having
from 100000 to 100000 young steers
annually driven north to feed on range
that they all realize will, under the pres
ent land laws, be speedily overstocked
and eventually destroyed by the greed of
the cattlemen.
Underlying all talk of renting the pub
lie lands, or of buying them, and of any
and all schemes concerning the DISPOSE
ton to be made of the public domain
that emanate from the cattle growers is
the determined purpose to secure the
land and to place it under the control of
the cattle growing associations, and then
limit the number that shall be allowed
to Craze on it. The spectre that is ever
present to the northern cattle growers is
overstocking. All talk of their desire to
reserve the public domain is false. They
desire to secure absolute possession of
the range, and if they succeed they will
as surely stop agricultural settlers from
entering the arid belt to acquire low ly-
ing farms along the streams as if they
owned the land in fee simple.
The grazing grounds of great altitude
are the
GRAvEYARDS OF COWS.
For years the trails leading from Texas
to the northern ranges have been crowd
ed with stock cattle that were driven
north to be used in establishing ranches.
The number of cattle in Texas is SO
great and SO near the capacity of the
land to carry, that during the decade end
ing in 1880 from 10000 to 100000 cat
tie, old and young, male and female, we're
driven from the state annually. It is fair
to assume that in the past at least one
fourth of the Texas drive were females,
and young females generally. Where are
the COWS that have been driven from the
mesquite and gamma ranges of Texas
during the past decade? The business
of raising cattle on the northern plains
is not old. It is safe to assert that at
least 100000 female cattle have left
Texas for the northern grazing ground
during the ten years past. If a suitable
climate these cattle would have been
l.