The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-28
NEW MEXICO sRREP sw1rr
Once a Year, at Dipping Time, and
Their Aouatics Are of an Heroic
Kind.
From the New York sun.

obdyiLlg III LIS et5dS IOf some DAYS IN
August" said the returned overland
tourist, gave me an idea of the i'm
mensiUy of the sheep industry in New
Mexico. Flocks Of sheep were forever in
sight, sometimes passing through the
town in long, dust-raising armies, filling
the straight, wide avenues, along which
they were driven by shouting. unkempt
herders and trained hybrid dogs; oftener
seen as brown. moving squares against
the green slopes that rise to the table
land east of the town.
1t was not long before I discovered
that the sheep driven southwark down
the Gallmas Valley wore their fleeces, in
which the natural white tint was dark
ened to drab-brown by the oil of the wool
and by dust, whereas those driven out of
town to the northward, eastward. and
southeast, had been sheared.
Las Vegas must be the great sheep
market of the world, | SAID to a citizen
as a flock. numbering perhaps 5000 sheep
was passing. You can't look to left or
| right at any time without seeing big
herds of these animals
It's that, you bet,' he replied with
that confident western local pride with
which he would as cheerfuIly have &C
knowledged the tribute of a remark that
| his town was the worlds center of art
and literature, or its chief emporium for
| elephant tusks and GolcOnda diamonds.
or the birthplace of Homer and Junius.
! But those sheep amt a-driVin' to be
sold. They're goin' to be sheared and
dipped
Haven't YOU seen the shearin' and
| dippin' works. he added It's one o.
| the sights of the town. It's a nice walk
! down there of fresh mornin' l don't
mind goln' along with you to see the sheep
| swim
Two and half miles below the town
| is the great sheep dipping and shearing
station built last spring by the Atchison
road. 1t is really worth going far to see,
! being probably the largest establishment
! OF the kind in the world. II occupies ten
acres of land on the east side of the
| Galinas river, where the railroad COM
! pany has a switch. It's plant COLI rises
| three great corrals, $50 feet square, and
some long sheds. Three focks, of per-
| haps $500 sheep each, were grazing
within sight of the station, held IN hand
| by ragged, picturesque ldeX;can shop
| herds and their dogs At the time we
| arrived the nearest flock was Just being
driven into the southernmost corral.
When they were all inside the fence and
the gates closed, several hundreds of the
! sheep were cut OUT from the rest and
driven into long sheds, in which were
slightly raised floors or platforms, smooth
and oily from the contact of myriads of
! fleeces.
Here they were taken in hand by fifty
or sixty lightly dressed, bare-armed
shearers, mostly sWarthY Mexicans, of
fierce and bandit-like appearance, bran
| dlshlng saYage-l0oking steel shears
Sheep after sheep was seized by one or
another of these men, thrown upon the
floor, and its fleece stripped from it with
the sharp, swapping shears working at a
speed that seemed marvellous. With a
| sudden motion the shearer released the
animal, and as it sprang to its feet and
| darted among its comrades he shot its
fleece through ar opening on the side of
the shed and turned to seize fresh vic
| tim.
For the sheared sheep the worst of
| their troubles was yet to come. They
were driven into the second corral, and
into narrow fenced passage, Just wide
enough for them to travel in single file
! Along this they promenaded those in
! front lneXorably pressed onward by those
| behind, until, reaching a certain point,
| sheep after sheep vanished from sight, as
If the floor had dropped beneath it, with
| the sound of plunge and splashing
1t was into vat that the sheep disap-
| peared-a deep, narrow channel filed
with a nOisome liquid whose chief COM
! ponent was manifestly decoction OF to-
bacco leaves, REINFORCED, as ! learned,
with lime, arsenic, and other malodorous
ingredients unknown, but in evidence
The fall headforemost, completely sub
merged the unfortunate animal taken
wholly by surprise. There was no room
for II to turn about in, as nose and ears
first, it came to the surface, shook it's
head, snorted franticalIy, and swan des-
perately ahead, sneezing and blinking its
smarting eyes, to the further end of the
vat.
The channel was as long as a rope
/ walk, there was no footing, and the New
| Mexican sheep is not aquatic in taste and
habits. but the vile liquid was highly
stimulating to exertion, and the long pro
cession padded onward without break,
to emerge, one by one, at the further end,
where an incline led up to tightly laid
floor.
Here the sheep were allowed to stand
while the liquid that dripped from their
! bodies ran back into the vat. A shOrn
sheep is a grotesque looking animal at
best, and the discolored sloppy animals
that crowded the dripping floor were
fOrlorn assem- blage indeed.
LAS soon as the sheep were quite dried
they were driven into the third corral,
where they were marked with the
owners mark, after which they were
turned out TO the shepherds, who drove
them upon the plain TO Craze. Their
recent severe experience aid not seem to
! QlmlulSu UuelF appetite lOf grass.
This heroic process kills the in
finitesimal parasite that produces that
cu.aneous disease of the sheep, the scab,
which causes the wool to fall out, often
leaving the animal bare in the dead of
winter. Unpleasant as the mode of its
eradication is, it yearly is an essential
proceeding for the common benefit of sheep
| aud owners.
Talking afterward with some of the
New Mexico sheep men about this innova-
ton in the shearing and dipping process,
| found them enthusiastic on the subject.
Before this year they have had todip and
shear their sheep on their ranches, where
it has cost them much more and the
! dipping has been less complete. BY the
| present method the sheep carry their own
wool on their backs to the shearing
station ami railroad market, and as they
Craze by the way, it costs but little more
to drive them than to herd them on the
range was told that 5000 sheep could
be dipped and sheared in day at these
works. Over 100000 sheep had been
sheared and dipped so far during the
summer, and a number Of large tlocks
were then on their way for that purpose
to Las Vegas
"A further development of the New
| Mexico sheep industry has been the
| building in recent years Of securing plants
in the territory where the oil and dust
add so much undesirable weight to the