Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-07-28
THE CATTLE KINGS.
ONCE GREAT POWER IN THE WEST,
THEY ARE NOW DISPLACED.

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 Inflow the Bonanza
Cattle Outfits Made Enormous Profits.
The great cattle ranges Of western
North Dakota and Montana, where for
nearly 20 years, the bonanza cattle out
fits have held complete sway, and where
cattle have roamed the vast prairies at
will, like the buffalo a quarter of CEN
tury 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
q grazing land and driven the immense
herds of the bonanza cattlemen from
place to place, until there is no place
left for them to go. 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 CT cattle have been imported,
placed upon the ranges lat cost not to
exceed SIG 1 head for the 2-yearold
steers, allowed to roam at will for two
years, at all 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 I'M
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 20 years nearly vast region ly-
ing along the western part of North Da-
kota and the eastern strip of Montana
measuring 100 miles in width and $50
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 il the United States, has num-
bered his total possessions Of cattle at
900 head. The Berry Boice Cattle
company has owned and grazed each
| year net fewer than 80, 600 head, and
there are numerous companies that have
essayed to keep on the ranges an annual
| total Of from 10, to 900 head.
The vastness Of the business of these
cattle companies may be estimated from
| the fact tkat the annual shipments for
| the past few years have been from 5000
to 5000 head for each of the large Conf
panies. The annual profits of the larger
companies, after deducting the original
cost of the c:ttle and the cost Of thei1
maintenance upon the ranges, are from
| $75, 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 remembered that this broad region
which has been given up to the interests
Of tie cattle growers has not been in
tersected by IL fence, disturbed with O
pillow or graced with field of grain uI
to few short years ago-nothing fol
| miles but short nutritious grass, which
cured on the prairie, as clover in stack,
and served equally well 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 q
| 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-
ed. 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 a 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
ranohman is the man upon whom the
| market of the future must rely for its