St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-10
ON WESTERN RANGES.
Serious Cattle Questions Of
Interest to Twin City
Markets.
Growth of the Range Interests
From Experiment to Solid
Business.
Causes Which Unexpectedly
Led to a Good Winterlng
Of Cattle.
An Exhaustive Treatise Of the
Subject From a Local
Standpoint.

the advances Ill SctllSuClI huASh wv
Western homeseekerS have made in
these Northwestern states during the
past few years. The extensions of the
wool-growing industry have also made
some inrOads upon districts which were
quite recently almost entirely occupied
by large herds of cattle.
a question has arisen, probably more
frequently in the East than in the West,
as to how long the range cattle business
is likely TO continue in its present great
proportions in the western districts of
the United States. Or. rather, how
soon will the range cattle business show
a marked diminution and decline. In
considering this question the character
of the soil and surface Of the districts
which have been practically held for the
range cattle business is worthy OF some
attention.
Extending nOrthward through East
ern Wyoming and Montana is section
of country generally and aptly known
as the BAD Lands. Its soil is mostly OF
a porous nature. 1t abSOrbs the light
rainfalls of that region as readily as a
sponge. It's hillSideS, furrOwed or
wrinkled by the action of ram, snow
or wind, show the blended and bright
colors of their several strata. Its hills
are usually topped with a material OF
red color, which looks and feels like
powdered brick and which is generally
known as ''scOria."
Between these low hills OF the Bad
Lands are gulches or gullies and mar
row, unattractiYe valleys, wherein are
found small veins of poor kind OF coal
called "lignite." This coal takes fire
easily, however, and often burns
through long distances underground.
The smoke, curling up from the surface,
frequently tells the cowboy where he
can light his cigarette, and many a
camp fire has been started with this
! burning Ignite. Thus fire transforms a
valley into a corrugated mass. treach-
| erOuS to both horse ana rider, and the
gopher holes and prairie dog villages
| add their menaceS to both cattle handlers
and agriculturists. These features COM
bned make, in the major portion of the
| Bad Lands that strange, undesirable
! condition and cOnfguration which led a
prominent writer to describe the Bad
| Lands as a section that looked like
Hell. with the fires burned out.
Between the butteS of the Bad Lands
small, unimpOTtant streams make theII
way to the Platte, Belle Fourche. BIG
! Horn, Powder, Yellowstone and Mis-
souri, rivers. but these rivers drain IL
! this section a territory which is much
! larger than the aggregate area OF the
| New England states. Therefore
The Water Rights.
| to tempt and sustain general agricult-
ure, are comparatively few, and expert
| ments with irrigation which have been
made in Eastern Montana during the
| past ten years have not been really sat
| isfactory on account of the porous nat
ure of the soil. In few instances, as
| al Miles CITY and at Livingston, Mont,
| the fruits. vegetables and cereals
| grown on a small scale in favor
| able spots, with careful irrigation, have
been very satisfactory as to quality, bu
| they cost so much To raise that there
was very little, if any, profit left for the
! growers. Three miles from Miles City,
! near a small stream known as Tongue
river, Strawberries, watermelOnS, can
!
| potatoes and other vegetables, have
been grown as large and as fine as any
! one would wish for, but these garden!
| are few and far between In that district
| The cost of cultivation being so great il
| the valleys, how much greater must i
! be on benches higher up from the
streams, where the irrigation can only
! be accomplished by the use of expensive
systems of engineering?
| UNIFORMED or irjudlciouS land hunt
| ers, however, sometimes settle upOI
what they deem to be desirable spots
| without taking into consideration thu
more productive mountain slopes o
| Western Montana. Some of them ekt
| out an existence for time, and thel
pull ND stakes:" Others manage t.
hang on by doing odd jobs for thei
neighbors and the cattlemen, and few
| get along through favorable circum
stances, generally by joining in the liv'
stock industry. Another class of mel
lay claims to water rights and undertake
to hold them, awaiting offers from cat
tlemen to buy them out.
The western portions of the Dakota
are cut up by bad lands in much thu
same manner as the section above de
scribed.
Recent reports from Colorado ant
Wyoming show that the progress of set
Element is advancing with sufficien
rapidity in those states to considerable.
restrict the former range rights of til,
extensive catIlemen. In Wyoming til,
taking Of water rights has gone so ia
that the state is assuming quite an agri
cultural feature. Raids made by thieve
who claimed to be settlers, and misun
derStandIngS between the settlers il
general on one hand, ana the cattlemen
on the other, caused the serious and
Very Expensive Trouble
on the Wyoming range last year. 1t re
suited in draw, with the honest sci
tiers remaining in possession of thei
claims. The prospects seem to be tina
some of the large herds of cattle tina
are not moved from Wyoming north
ward will be divided into smaller hold
ingS.
The feeding of hay to Wyoming cattl
in the winter season indicates tina
smaller herds will obtain on thes
ranges in the future. A few years ag
large herds were the rule. cattlemer le
their herds rustic on the open range a
winter. Few of them thought of such
thing as feeding hay. On this subjeC
the leading stock journal of Cheyenn
now says. editorlally: "Cattle kept ia
and growing during the winter month
have their growth stimulated in
double degree. They reach a create
size, and they do it in about One-thlr
less time This gives better results an
secures the same with a great reductio
in risk. The proper thing to do, theI
is to raise all the hay you can, and re
duce your cattle holdings to such de
gree as to be able to provide winter fee
for each animal. When you do this tn
day of prosperity will have come I
t stay. There are several Thousand hay
fed steers yet to go forward from Wy
: oming points along the railroad line:
: and they are generally in good cond
) tiOn."
BY the way, reports from all parts {
the Western ranges show that the liz
T stock have stood the winter very we
7 and have suffered from no appreciate
, losses. excepting in parts of the DakC
taS where herds that were driven on n