The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-12-21
MISCELLANY
On the Cattle Ranges.

On the bcundles cattle ranges in the
western part of North Dakota and east
ern Montana the spectacular beef round
ups are and have been in progress
since early summer, and will continue
until late in the fall All is done with
the regularity of clockwork. System
and order are pre-eminent. Regular
circuits are drawn. A foreman su
perinte nds the whole. Central places
are designat, d, and here the COWBOYS
drive the herds, where all marketable
cattle are separated AID driven to the
nearest railway station and shipped,
while the defective and unmatured are
turned back to the hills.
How many cattle are in large range
herd2 Between 800 and 1000. How
many cattle are on the western ranges?
About $4,000 head. Within these
figures are history and romance. Here
is life in it's primeval state. The draw
ing-room man is not conspicuous by his
absence. Here the uncouth cowboy
revels in his element, and the crack of
the rifle makes sweet music to his ear.
But the glamour is rapidly passing.
The below and roar of trampling herds
will soon cease. Now ia all concen-
trated life and activity. No longer the
sun rises and sets on hundred scat
tered herds browsing contentedly upon
the plains. The desert splendor changes
anew and the Virgilian cowboys ride on
in the panoramic round-ups. Bronzed
faces glow and voices rise in ca
dence from morn to morn, from noon
to night. The wales are dark and the
hills are light. Around the appointed
mess wagons the exhausted sons of the
saddle eat the supper, smoke the pipe,
tell the story and drop off to sleep.
The bonanza cattle business is dying.
De Mores, who was recently murdered
in Africa, tried it to his finite pleasure
and infinite sorrow. His ranch is the
fixed star in the bonanza geography.
There is neither glory nor profit nor
the natural inducements TO make it a
success any longer. Energetic ranch
ers have been emigrating and settling
for the last ten years in the fertile
creek valleys and watering places, pre-
empting the richest places, fencing off
the best spring ranging grounds for hay
and otherwise restricting and debarring
extensive operations. But the harvest
has been golden and bounteous. For
twenty years the bonanza kings have
been unmolested; they have had their
princely Golfers filed to OVERLOOKING,
but their knell has been sounded and
their dream is vanishing.
Four kings WELD the scepter now,
but before another year passes there
may possibly be only one left, Pierre
| Wilbaux, Frenchman, who has about
20, 900 head of cattle. The other COM
binations are known as the "Three
Stevens" the "Ox" and the 'Seven-
Bar-Seven." Their com bined property
is valued at 100000. The last three
are closing out their herds, preparatory
to quitting the ranges. The Influx OF
the email rancher and sheep farmer has
given them their commercial death
sentence.
Where no heavy life loss occurs an
average profit of about $40 head on
steers is realized. When railroads are
extended in this region it will be par
adise for individual efforts. Montana
and North Dakota are noted for their
boreal mildness, and the natural shell
ter afforded by the coniguration of the
Bad Lands makes the wintering of cat
tie inexpensive and safe. What will
be the result of the departure of these
immense interests? Business depres-
sion, higher tax and progress tempori-
ally checked. But the future will profit
by it. A hundred small ranchers, own
ing hundred head each, and cultivat-
ing a certain defined territorial sphere
will change desolate Sahara to a
blooming garden.-New York Sun.