The St. Johns herald., 1898-02-19
THE SHEEP INDUSTRY. Northern ArIzOna Sheep in the
 Salt River Valley.


 The following facts and figures con. corning sheep from Northern Arizona. now win tering in the Sat River valley, is from an article published recently in the Phoenix RepGblicas.:
 A conservative estimate places the number of sheep in the valley ready to be sheared at 13o Ooo One sheepman places the figures at 14o. 900. and every one has his own figures Republican reporter visited mum Ser rOf leading sheep own es esterday, and obtaiued, as far as possible, .-- names Of those wno have bands here to ge CT s7tth he number of bands each has. This iA4.oEL.4.ioa f0lt,,-ss
 Winslow-cart $ Not4e iaur bands Flagstaff Campbell ,s Francis, seven; Wm. Campbell, three.
 Ash Fork-Joe Rice, three; Mir. Sterling. one 1; O. Hutchison, two, J. c. Adamson, four; Frank Evart, two MT. ReeRer, one.
 Show Low-Scott Bros, four; J. E. Porter one; Clarence Morrow, one; Cole Campbell, four; William Morgan, three; Mir. Longmore, three; John Nelson, three; A. $ B Schuster, four Lorenzo Baca, one: Archie Cameron, one; Amos Bros, two; J. D Houck, four.
 This gives total of fty-eight bands. A band of sheep contains from 1,500 to 2,5OO and no two bands have the same number in it. This makes it impossible to give the exact num- Der of sheep. The camps are located fifty miles north of Phoenix, in the foothills of the noun tains As soon as the desert grass begins to shoot up, the sheep will be taken out of the foothills and driven onto the desert near the Arizona canal
 Charles Goddard has received contracts for shearing from large number of the sheep own CTS covering in the aggregate 85,OO0 head. A second shearing camp has been established this year, where the balance of the sheep will give up their wool. A day shearlng numbers from 2,5OO to 5000 sheep, according to the men em- ployed and the facilities for doing the work. The contractor this year gets about cents a head for shearing and bringing the wool to Phoenix.
 A. Vandewart a well-known wool buyer from Boston, is here buying wool. To Republican reporter he said that the exact number of sheep in the territory at the present time is very near 5OO,OOO. He buys about 80 per cent of the wool produced by Arizona. This year he has con- tracted for 2,5OOOOO pounds. He figures that each sheep produces eight and one-haf pounds being the average of the aggregate yield. His deductions are as correct as it is possible to ob- taln, and all we'll informed sh. epmen in the city IT. Vandevart came nearer the exact number than they were able 10 give
 The price paid for wool this year will be be- tween 12 and l4 cents per pound. Lest year .he price was about 71& cents, al increase this year of about 100 per cent over r r. Last year the price paid for sheep ns.i fZ z. E2 5 per head it these figures 1Ql0O) E-re sol1 ID Arizona This vear the Dlices oi1 -ange from g t0 $350 per h-tt. Jt .s estimated thas s..4e luu10er of sheep will b. sold this gear as lastar5 e-o 903 will be retail ed to raise the bands tor the mar kets of 1893 There is great increase ill the number of sheep raised since the last shearing and this is evident everywhere ill the territory. The whole number brought here for shearing this year is probably 15 0tO more than last year. In fact, it is a better year all around, and the new season starts off in way that makes the sheepmen look or even better results at the next seasons close.
 The great number of sheep raised in Arizona demands the adoption of new plans for shearing 1 and handling wool: The delays of the old meth | cd have become unsatisfactory to sheep owners. 1 The Santa Fe, Prescott G& Phoenix Railroad com l pany has prepared plans of plant for shearing | and handling wool which will facilitate the | WorK to a great extent. The company will erect | a plant at Peoria immediately, which they will | hand over to shearing contractors ten days after the material for the construction of the plant ! arrives. It has been delayed by the tunnel &C., cident en the Santa Fe but is expected to ar l rive soon. The plant will contain forty shear ! ing pens, large dipping vault, and warehouse for the storage of wool Machine shears will be | put in each pen, and the old hand shears will be | relegate1 to place among the crude imple- ments of the old days The machines will be | the means of saving @ greater portion of the ! wool to the owners, as they clip much closer and cleaner than it is possible to do with hand shears. Sheepmen are enthusiastic over the &C., | commodations to be given them by this pro- gressive railroad They figure that they will save great deal of money b. having the shear | ing done at the railroad. in the cost of hauling the wool from the present location of the shear ing camps, which is no small figure.
 s. Price Behan has the matter in charge and | he will lose time in getting the plant in shape to handle large number of sheep at the con- ing shearing.