Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-01-29
SHEEP AND CATTLE MIN
How Best 10 Prevent CIashing and Friction
Between Them.
TROUBLE COMES FROM mIsFIT LAND LAWS
state Engineer Mead of Wyoming Says
Lsastne OF Lands WIN Terminate
PerpIexing Difficulties.

$500 HA'hu, tnt Ftute tnBiHetI Vi
wyoming, read n paper on How Best
to Prevent Clashing Between Sheep
and Cattle Men on the Ranges" In
part he sald:
The friction between sheep and
cattle men grows out OF their attempt
70 use the same land at the same time
IL mas its origin in mlsiit land laws
when make OF the grazing land an
open common. A land system perfect
~ suited to the Indian. but out OF place
when he disappeared, has been retained
through the indifference and ignor-
ance OF the humid Fast. There is only
one way to end these troubles and that
y by removing the cause. The open
ranges mark transition from bar
pnrism to civilization. 1t follows the
lhoian and precedes the settler. | do
not peiieve II can, survive the latter's
coming. The five hundred million acres
OF grazing land In the arid West are
OF TOO great value to be left as an open
common Without come friction result
ing therefrom. So long as there was
nuch land, but with n few men to use
IT, the open range was Il success The
trouble which confronts cattle men
ana sheep men now is that settlements
are becoming too numerous and too
large. The quarrel of Abraham and
LOT was ended by one going to the right
ana the other to the left There was
plenty OF unoccupied country. f4Il
The cowboys of New Mexico have
saiuted the encronching sheep herders
with such warmth that an occasional
funeral has resulted In Idaho. Neva-
da and Wyoming dead lines have been
drawn to mark the limits of the range
or sheep and cattle and the aid of the
legislature has been invoked. Settlers
are claiming the moral right to the ex-
elusive use OF the grazing land border
n N use.r. .1x... Nss
right TO retain control of the range they
first occupied. Both have objected to
any measure to end the open range or
10 paving for the privilege they wish
the exclusive right to enjoy. Both the
laws am the dead lines are based on
Tue iuea That we can by force, or by
state laws, control the use of property
belonging to the general government
ana wholly under its control.
IN many sections overstocking the
range is steadily impairing its value and
n continued, must end In the destruc-
ton OF the native grasses. When a
range Is eaten off, new one has to be
found. To prevent continued removals,
range stockmen are taking steps to OBJ
tain exclusive control of particular dis
tricts by securing ownership of water
front. During the past two years the
hiring of men to file on the land around
springs and water holes has been a
conspicuous feature of this contest. The
buying out of the settlers to get possess
sion of the water front along streams
has been another. Along many streams
settlers have either bought out, or COM
PEELED by loss of outside range to move
out and thousands of acres of land once
irrigated have gone back to aridity. The
settler is giving way to the man who
values the water front for the control
1t gives of the public grazing land and
instead of development We have decay.
Many ranchmen must have the use of
contiguous grazing land in order to
live. Unable TO secure II by legal
methods, 1t Is Illegally fenced. Millions
OF acres OF public land are thus in
closed and have been for many years.
Where exclusive control cannot be had.
the search for new and fresh pastures
leads to continual Entertainments on
ranges already occupied. There has
been much complaint that these nom
adic fiocks pay little taxes. but this is
of small consequence to the injury in
flicted on settlers and resident stock
men along the line of their march.
Some Wyoming sheepmen have
be neighbors with the settlers of Routt
county and incidentally divide with
them the use of the range in that re-
glon. visited that section something
over year ago. On the stage was n
package said to contain twenty-five
WlntneSterS. we crossed u ueuu-Ilne
marked by row of stakes beyond
which 1t was said sheep could not cross.
When came back the flocks were on
the other side OF 1t and no one had been
killed. / regard 1t ms a signal tribute
to the law-abidng spirit of that region
that the counsel of forbearance pre-
vailed and the Winchesters were re-
served for a better use. Whether we
like IL or not more settlers are coming
to occupy the irrigable lands and more
focks and herds will each year dispute
for possession of the pasture lands.
The man with family and irrigated
fields liz fixture.
now my conviction that the open range
has In itself the seeds of its destruction,
that we must sooner or later choose
between giving II up or seeing the
grass, which grows on it. destroyed
I'm the first place / want to see the
every acre which can be reclaimed. In
the next want the ownership of the
irrigated and the use of the pasture
land divided up among as many people
as possible. II is better for states. for
communities. or for the future prosper
ity of Western stock interests to have
one hundred settlers each owning 1000
sheep than one settler owning 100000
sheep. The grazing land required to
support a steer will. when irrigated.
support a settler, his family, and a
dozen steers. The arid land on which
light-footed and laborious sheep earns
a precarious living viii, when reclaimed,
support 100 in opulent plenty. The
pasture land can be most effective aid
In extending the reclaimed area. The
objection to the open range Is that 1t
discriminates against the settler. In
saying this I must not be mfsunder-
stood. SO long as there Is no manage
f,aat Nv. II - Ia.