The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1900-04-26

From recent issue of the Post Intelli
gencer we quote the following interesting
article about an industry which is alread,
OF considerable Importance in this count,
and bids fair to develop rapidly and be
source of large profit to those who engag
in it in business-like way:
"Wool growing is an industry which i
rapidly becoming one of the most i'm
portant in this state. East Of the noun
tains the fiocks aggregate half a million
and are sure source of profit to thei
owners. In Western Washington Their
is every advantage for successful shee,
raising and steady markets in the Scum,
cities and those of British Columbia fol
both wool and mutton. And vet. how
ever, but little Roadway has been mad,
by the industry in this part of the state
with the exception of the San Juan isl
ands, where there are now several large
! flocks.
I'm speaking of sheep raising i'm Wash.
ingtOn, VIM. +. Prosser, well-knowI
| citizen of Seattle and a recognized au.
thority on the subject, said yesterday:
Few men, as a class, have been more
successful In recent years than the sheep
ralsers. The wool industry has become
an important one i'm the state Of Washing
ton. The amount OF wool produced an
nually in this state aggregates about e.
OOO,OOO pounds. The sales of sheep and
lambs tor mutton are also large. One re-
suit OF prosperity of our sheepmen, how
ever, is that with the increase of their
fiocks and the settling up of agricultural
lands of Eastern Washington, to which
the sheep raising business has heretofore
mo- at.l nA el,o.,
being greatly reduced, and many OF them
are now at their wits end to find pastur-
age.
Excluded From Forest Reserves.
1.-The practical exclusion of the fiocks
from the forest reserves, which now
seems to be the settled policy of the gov
eminent, adds to their embarrassment.
The eastern slopes, and in the middle of
summer the SUBMITS of the Cascades,
have heretofore furnished excellent pas-
turage for more than half million of
sheep, but now large part Of this range
Is included i'll the forest reserves. Large
bodies of land in Eastern Washington.
also belonging TO the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company, heretofore part Of
the general range, are now leased by that
company to farmers, stock growers and
sheepmen, and the range in this way is
also being still further reduced. The re-
suit is that our sheepmen are looking
anxiOusly to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
and other states for a range, but here also
they find the country already well occu-
pied by mon in the same line of bust
ness.
I'm the meantime it would be well for
them to investigate the opportunities af
fOrded for sheep raising in Western
Washington. While there are no extern
sive ranges here, there are large numbers
~
raised successfully for IN IRE than half a
century. Fifty years ago the >teilacoom
plains We're used as sheep pasture by
the Huds ms Bay Company. Sheep were
brought from .Australit inany years ago
and burish..d on WILDLY, San Juan and
other islands of Puget Sound. On these
islands the rainfall Is moi as great As il is
at Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and further
south in the direction of the Columbia
river. The rain of Western Washington
is considered by the sheepmen of the
eastern section of the state to be Il serious
ObSt ,cle in the way of successful sheep
raising. because of the numerous set
tiers on the islands large fiocks could not
be easily maintained, but many small
ones could he kept with profit to their
owners, not only on the islands but also
in many localities on tho mainland,
where there is excellent pasturage.
Good Markets Are Plenty.
"This is particularly the case upon
logged-off lands, where fine pasturage
could easily be secured with little trouble
and expense. The cities of the Sound
and British Columbia afford splendid
market for fat sheep and lambs at all sea-
sons of the year. In fact, the demand is
so great from these cities and the high
prices offered for mutton so tempting
that sheepmen have at times sold off their
two 10 l,se LN.,k
sheep in these markets have brought as
high as $40 per head. The following ex-
tracts from a letter l recently received
from correspondent in San Juan island
are pertinent to this subject. He says:
~ have often wondered why it is that
the people of these islands did not pay
more attention to sheep and cattle raising
than they have heretofore done, for it
seems to me that this section is peculiarly
adapted to dairying and the production of
wool and mutton. The mutton produced
on these islands has a peculiar gamey
flavor and is the finest have ever tasted.
The islands being surrounded by broad
salt waters. the air is always sweet and
pure and of even temperature. Noun
famous in character, many springs of
fresh water burst out from the hillsides,
affording abundance of the purest fresh
water, and nowhere else have seen such
IA rank growth of wild clover.
THE grass and clover remain green
until late i'm the summer owing to the hu-
nudity of the atmosphere. Winters are
never severe, summers always cool and
pleasant, with less rainfall than at Port
Townsend, WhatcOm or Seattle. The
only drawback that l have heard men,
toned by those who have attempted in a
small way to put sheep on the islands is
the loss by "pOt hunters" who frequent
them in search of deer, and who kill and
carry off sheep when the deer are not to be
easily found.
"A rumor was circulated some time
ago that Blakely island had been pur-
chased by a company of capitalists with
the purpose of stocking it with sheep, but
nothing heard from it since. Orcas island
is more mountainous than any of the
others and is better watered. There is not
so much agricultural land on Orcas as on
San Juan, and hence l think it better
adapted to grazing sheep and goat raising
than any of the others, with possible ex-
ception of Blakely.
FlOcks in San Juan County.
"'Since the receipt of yours of the 1st
inst. I have interviewed the county as
SCISSOR of this (San JUAN county, and he
informs me that there are between 1000
and 10000 head of sheep on ,an Juan
island, principally Southdowns and Cots
wolds. He is the owner of a band Of 500
or more on his ranch in this neighbor
hood, all Merinos.
"'rhere is absolutely no drawback to
the raising of sheep on these islands
while everything is favorable. Nearly
every farmer or rancher on San Juan has
few head, and all express satisfaction
with the result. Few, If any, however
have means to purchase large tracts Il
devote wholly to sheep raising, hence
they are all confined to the limits of theil
immediate holdings. There are many
large tracts of land Old the mountain sides
and tops that can he obtained at fail
prices that are specially adapted to thi.