The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-01-11
THE CATTLE KINGS.
ONCE A GREAT POWER IN THE WEST,
THEY ARE NOW DISPLACED.

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ONCE A GREAT POWER IN THE WEST,
THEY ARE NOW DISPLACED.
Small Stock Raisers Have Driven Out the
Larger Ones-Big Ranges and Water
Holes Fenced In How the Bonanza
Cattle Outfits Made Enormous Profits.
The great cattle ranges Of western
North Dakota and Montana, where for
nearly 90 years, the bonanza cattle out
fits have held complete sway, and where
cattle have roamed the vast prairies at
will, like the buffalo quarter of CEN
fury ago, are passing out Of existence.
The deathknell of the large cattle
companies has been sounded by the in
Vulnerable settlers who have taken up
vacant government land in the great
grazing region, built "shanties" in the
vicinity of every natural spring and
water hole, fenced in thousands of acres
of grazing land and driven the immense
herds of the bonanza cattlemen from
place to place, until there is no place
left for them to CO. All the years that
the vast prairies of the west have re-
manned unsettled have been worth mil
lions to the cattle princes Hundreds Of
thousands of cattle have been imported,
placed upon the ranges at a cost not to
exceed $40 head for the 2-yearold
steers, allowed to roam at will for two
years, at an average animal cost not to
exceed So, and then sold in the market
at Chicago for an average price of $40
to $50 The free ranges offered by the
millions of acres of unsurveyed and un-
occupied government land have been
turned into millions Of dollars in cold
cash by the cattle kings, but the tide of
immigration to the. west has sealed
their fate and they are ready to go.
For 90 years nearly vast region ~
ing along the western part of North Da-
kota and the eastern strip Of Montana
measuring 100 miles in width and 100
miles in length has been entirely given
up to the interests of the cattle kings
Thousands of head Of cattle have been
grazed year after year, countless train
loads of beeves have been shipped to
market and millions of dollars have
gone into the pockets Of the cattlemen.
Pierre Wiebaux, the Montana stock
man, said to be the largest single owner
of cattle in the United States, has num-
bered his total possessions Of cattle at
$4,000 head. The Berry Boice Cattle
company has owned and grazed each
year not fewer than 80, 900 head, and
there are numerous companies that have
essayed to keep on the ranges an annual
total of from 10000 to $4,000 head
The vastness of the business of these
cattle companies may be estimated from
the fact that the annual shipments for
the past few years have been from 5000
to 6, 900 head for each Of the large COM
panies. The annual profits of the larger
companies after deducting the original
cost of the cattle and the cost of their
maintenance upon the ranges, are from
$50, 900 to $3.50, 000-all that from the
free ranges of the government, given
without taxation or any return what
ever
To understand the situation that has
existed up to the present time it must
be remem bered that this broad region
which has been given up to the interests
of the cattle growers has not been in
tersected by fence, disturbed with a
pillow or graced with field Of grain up
to few short years ago-nothing for
miles but short nutritious grass, which
cured on the prairie, as clover in stack,
and served equally we'll for food in dead
of winter as in the heat of summer.
Forth upon this vast area every spring
have been poured streams Of gaunt, i'll
shaped, long horned and lean ribbed
southern cattle. Left to roam at will,
they have thriven and waxed fat, until
in two years they have become sleek
and fat and comedy to the eye. During
all that period they have been as free
and untrammeled as were ever the buff
falo. But at the close of the maturing
period they have been rounded up,
driven to railroad stock shipping pens
and loaded upon the cars for a trip to
market Their places are taken by fresh
importations from the south. And SO,
year after year, have the processes been
repeated, until the profits that were
known to have accrued from the bust
ness have tempted thousands Of small
holders of cattle to settle in this region
and engage in the beef business on
smaller scale.
The presence Of these smaller opera
tors is the inevitable doom of the cattle
kings. Their vast herds are no longer
allowed to roam the ranges undisturb-
3D. The small ranchmen have built
fences and inclosed the water holes
The prairies have been made to yield to
the moving machine, and the former
free grass has come to be cut and stack
ed as hay, until the ranges in many
places are bare of feed for the herds Of
the larger companies. These conditions
are responsible for the closing out of
the cattle princes. There is no longer
room for their thousands of beeves. Fiji
teen thousand cattle, the property of
one of the larger operators, succumbed
to the severity of the weather for no
other reason than that the ranges had
been denuded of grass by the numerous
smaller ranchmen This was warn
ing that the most obstinate must heed.
And so the cattle companies that for
merly numbered their possessions by
the thousands of head may now number
them easier in hundreds The small
ranchman is the man upon whom the
market of the future must rely for its
beef. st. Paul Pioneer Press.