Daily camera. [volume] (Boulder, Colo.) 1891-1928, 1900-11-06
HARD ON HERDERs.
Persecution Of Some Sheepmen on
the Western Ranges.
Even the Government Takes . Hand
in the OppPessiOn-Particu
Ut the Business Of Rails
Ing sheep.

The question is often asked: What
will be the outcome of this seemingly
ceaseless strife between the cat lemen
and the sheepmen? The eastern man
believes sheep rearing will eventually
be given over to the farmers. eaving
the cattle to roam the INDICATED. public
domain. The idea does not prevail in
the plateau regions of the west. writes
Capt James H. McCliniock. in AIMS
lees. Where there airs sheep the cat
te must depart. Sheep may exist in
propinquity with cattle. but the re-
verse is not possible. As before told.
cattle are stationary while sheep are
necessarily nomadic When feed is
short the sheepman moves his flock to
grass. The cattle owner. With his vic
and scattered property. may not 90
this. He thrives or he goes broke in
single locality. The cattleman is
handicapped at every point of the
struggle. His crop natures more SOW
| Ky. To secure the best +. su,ts he must
| wait three or four years n his product
| is ripened by age. In not over one year
| out of four will cattle accumulate any
respectable amour, of fat On The west
ern ranges. The price OF tne p:otuct
| depends much on the cord iiCn OF the
corn market. for range It. rare y il
ever goes to the beck direct. y >ii &c
| dry season means also no ia; CT growth
for cattle. and means also 30 incr, ase
for the succeeding year. The tales Of
rs 10 ho nj T.
! in the cattle business beng 10 the
| early days. when tie plain We're COW
cred with knee-d,er grass. with water
in every gully. At present thee is
| more money in the fattering of So srs
| than there is in the rearing Of ITEM
on the rargt. UnGcr favorable conGi-
tions there is money in The cattle
business. but favorable condi;iCIS are
| rarely present. The pat eau reg ION is
| now in its fourth successive year of
drought. Thus it comes hat the cat
| tleman is no longer 50 te,ermineG to
defend the heath he very reasonably
holds his own.
The sheep owner. to begin with. is
| at considerable expense, for be has to
| maintain a man vi 4 every = g., cad
| of his woo.ies. Bul he shea, C.. or
| twice a year. and at the prt sent pi ces
| for wool an average half-hreG n.tr no
will bring him annually from that
source alone Sl.2>. The increase Of his
fiocks is fully 40. per cent. per anrum.
| He need not wait several years. Ike his
enemy. the cattleman. for entrance to
market. His wethers at the pres
ent rates bring him $3.50 lean. anH FIVE
| dollars when in good condition. but
| spring lambs. four months old. are
rated in the eastern markets at even a
| greater price per head than is DaiG for
| matured muttOnS. II is a business OF
quick returns and ample profits. To
| be sure change in tariff woulG mark
| eGly influence the wool quotations..
| but were the value Of the WOO, a MIST
| to be destroyed. the sheepmen would
still be on an equality with the cattle
baron. The tenCprcy is emphatiraIly
| toward the rearing of cattle in COM
! pounds such as are found on the great
| Maxwell grant of northern New Mex
| leo. while he southwest ranges are be-
| ing given over to the sheep. \ few
| thousand head are annually fa1tened
| for exceptionally choice mutton on the
| alfalfa pastures of Arizona and south
central California. but the owners pre-
fer the lush spring grasses of the
| plains The result is the same and the
cost is far less.
1t cannot be denied that the life of
the sheep owner is far from a happy
one He is damned and prosecuted on
every side. and even the United States
government takes hand in the perse
| cution. The main trouble is with the
| forestry division of the interior depart
ment. 1t is generally conceded that
sheep have an injurious effect on the
western water supply. Of course, rain
falls upon the sheep as upon the just
and uniust-but the forestry expert
| generally insists. (a) That sheep eat
out all underbrush and even young
trees, destroying the natural checks
| to too rapiG evaporation. the conserv-
ators Of the snowfall. and even threat
| ening the future of the forests. de-
|
sheep pack the soil and clear away the
| grasses, thereby creating conditions
that deprive the soil of porosity and
render the run-off too rapid for the
| public veal; (c) that sheep herders.
with their campfres. are perpetual
menace to the forests and are pro-
| life cause of destructive fires. Sheep
owners deny these allegations specifi-
cally and entirely, yet the ideas are ad-
| hered to by the men who lead scientific
thought in this direction. Even now
! commission of eminent scientific ex-
perts is poking around in the noun
| tans of Colorado. New Mexico and
Arizona, attempting to get at the
truth of the matter. The sheepmen's as
socia tons are welcoming them with eff
fusion, and have contributed literally
toward their proper entertainment
and education.