Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-08

up North the small stockmen have taken
possession. When, after 6 few davs the
telegraph wires went down and stayed
down. it became evident that one side had
the sympathy of the ma iority up there. In
the end it would not be strange if this ma
iority should win, although long. indeed,
has been the fight il Wyoming between
men and money.
The Magnet of Rapid Riches.
To sketch the facts bearing on the present
situation ore must glance back 20 the incep-
tion OF the cattle business in Wyoming. In
1876 Crook drove the Sioux, Cheyenne and
Shoshone Indians from the North Platte
country and opened up vast new range for
the use of the cattle grazer. The latter was
not slow in seizinG his chance. From West
ern Nebraska, from Colorado, from Utah,
even from Texas, he rushed in his herds.
Cattle kings elsewhere transferred their
herds by the thousands to choice
spots in the new range. In 1887 the
Searight Brothers drove from Texas
TO Casper Creek Wvo., 14,000 head
The following year they brought up herd
OF IS 600. 4 score CT other large firms nearly
rivaled these figures. Lesser men shared in
the good fortune. Those who had been only
frontier scouts or ''Squaw men, laid claim
TO whole valleys, opened negotiations with
capitalists to range cattle on shares. and in
a short time were worth in land and cattle
500 900. so, 0eO or 100000. Tom Sun, for
instance, an illiterate Canadian halt-breed,
found himself in three years. after wander
ing about with his entire fortune in one
pony, the master of fine range and herd
of 5000 head. Later, the news of the
chances for a short cut to fortune brought to
Wyoming rich and adventurous young
blood from the East.
The Bold Briton on the scen-.
1t ran in the veins of the sons of bankers
and other capitalists, and they in turn, as
the country filled up with cattle, interested
men across the ocean in the sandy grass
land where growing beef paid regularly 80
per cent, and at times 50 or 90 annually. By
1881 the accents prevailing in the Cheyenne
Club, the headquarters of the stockmen,
were no longer Western; they were those
Of New Workers, Bostonians, Scotchmen
and Englishmcn.
Fortune alighted in more than one shape
on the lucky ones of the early DAYS Not
only did beet grow in Wyoming as it had
never grown in Texas, but beef in the
Chicago stock yards, to which Wyoming
shipped, doubled in price. The culmin-
ating point was reached in 1882 The aver
age steer On the range was worth $50 then.
IN 1873 it had been worth about SIS In
various ways the newly acquired wealth
promoted progress. The cattlemen living
in Cheyenne proceeded 10 rebuild the town
The typical white, sguatty, square frame
house OF the frontier town made way for the
Queen Anne style, and Chicago and New
York we're levied on for furniture. A fever
Tor diamonds seized every Wyoming cattle
mans wife. At the Cheyenne Club the
members drank $500 worth of champagne in
a single night.
Cattle Kings in the Legislature.
Among the rising millonaires were some
gifted with foresight. They, in a quiet way,
went into politics and took their cattlemen
friends with them. They went into the
Legislature in body, and, once there, had
practically no opposition. Through their
efforts there appeared on the Territorial
statute books list OF laws that favored the
occupants OF the ranges their heirs, assigns
eic., but were not in the least encouraging
to the new settler A new form of land
tenure giving ''posscssory rights" was for
first occupants, to the exclusion of i'm
pertinent newcomers. Actually, OF course,
all the land less perhaps a thousandth
part, belonged TO the United States, and
was supposed to De open to settle
ment under the land laws But there was
the rub. The Federal Government contem
plates the settler on the public domain as
iarmer, and not as a cattle ranger, and the
homestead, pre-emption, and timber culture
acts, under which land is taken up, ordina-