The Portland daily press., 1894-09-26
WHEN NEW MEXICO SHEEP SWIM.
1t is Once Year, at Dipping Time, and
Their Aquatics Are of Heroic Kind.

Staying in Las Vegas for some days
in August" said the returned overland
tourist, gave me an idea of the immen-
sity of the sheep industry in New Mex
leo. Flocks of sheep were forever in
sight, sometimes passing through the
town in long. dust-raising armies, filing
the straight, wide avenues, along which
they were driven by shouting, unkempt
herders and trained hybrid dogs;
against the green slopes that rise to the
table land east of the town.
at was not long before / discovered
that the sheep driven southwark down
the Gallinas Valley wore their heeces,
in which the natural white tint was
darkened 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 sh cared.
elias Vegas must be the great sheep
market of the world said to citizen
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.
"sIt's that, you bet.' he replied with
that confident Western local pride with
which he would as cheerfully have ac-
knowledged the tribute of remark that
his town was the worlds centre of art
and literature, or its chief emporium
for elephant tusks and Golconda
diamonds, or the birthplace CT Homer
and Junius. But those she amt a.
drivin' to be sold. They're goin' to be
sheared and dipped.
Haven't you seen the shearin' and
dippin' worksY' he added It's one o.
down there of a fresh mornin.' I don't
mind goin' along with you to see sheep
swim's.
"Two and half m lies below the town
is the great sheep dipping and shearin G
station built last spring by the Atchis-
on road. 1t is really worth going far to
see, being probably the largest establish
ment of the kind in the world. 1t oc-
cupies ten acres Of bottom land on the
east side of the Gallinas river, where the
railroad company has switch. Its
plant comprises three great cOrrals, each
$50 feet square, and some long sheds.
Three t1ocks, Of perhaps 2, 500 sheep each,
were grazing within sight of the station,
held i'll hand by ragged, picturesque
Mexican shepherds and their dogs. AT
tile time we arrived the nearest flock
was just being driven into the southern
most corral. When they were all inside
the fence and the gates closed, several
hundreds of the sheep were "cut outn
from the rest and driven into long sheds,
in which were slightly raised floors or
platforms, smooth and oily from the con-
tact of myriads of feeces.
Here they were taken in hand by fifty
or sixty lightly dressed. bare-armed
shearers, mostly swarthy Mexicans, of
fierce and bandit-like appearance, brand
lshing savage looking steel shears Sheep
after sheep was seized by one or another
oil these men, thrown upon the floor, and
its fleece stripped from it with these
sharp, swapping shears working at a
sped that seemed marvellous. With a
sudden motion the shearer released the
animal, and as it sprang to its feet and
darted among it's comrades he shot the
fleece through an opening on the side of
the shed and turned to seize another 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 inex2rably pressed onward by
those behind until reaching certain
point sheep after sheep vanished from
sight, as if the floor had dropped beneath
it, with the sound of plunge and
| splashing.
lit was into vat that the sheep dis
appeared--a deep, narrow channel filled
| with noisome liquid whose chief COM
ponnet was manifestly decoction of
| tobacco leaves re-enforcel as | learned
with lime, arsenic, and other maiodorous
| ingredients unknown, but in evidence
| Their fall, headforemost, completely
submerged the unfortunate animal taken