The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-12-30
1t Is Fierce
CattIemens' and
Shepherds Fight

| renewal OF a war, which, except for a
| few Intervals, has ragged FOR the last half
/ dozen years as fercely as the fighting be-
tween the Beers and British in South At
RIGA, or between the Boxers and allies II
/ China. This is the war OF the herders
! and punchers or the sheep and cattle men
/ Of the west.
That a herd OF 5000 sheep were driven
over a pcecipice and nearly all killed
would seem to people who know little Of
the conteations between the cowmen and
sheep raisers, or Of life in the west an
act Of unparalleled barbarity. However
that may be, it was only repetition of
similar acts Of retaliation that has been
frequent since these two classes began to
come into collision on the western ranges.
The average person will naturally won
der why there should be spch aninosity
between two classes OF men engaged IN
similar p7z-suits in a country which has
always been termed the free and bound
less west where every man was sup
posed to have an equal chance with every
other, and where there was room for all
It must be understood that in the west
men had an equal chance if they were
possessed Of an equal prowess-if they
could shoot as quickly and as accurately
as others.
In the beginning there was plenty Of
room for all, but there came a time when
the settlers cut Up the country into
farms, and the land available for free pas
turage shrunk until there was only room
for the strongest.
But this was not the real cause Of con
tentions between sheepmen and cowmen.
It arose from the difference between the
two classes Of live stock Cattle stick
closely to their ranges, and. no matter
how they scatter, they can usually be
found within a reasonable distance of
home.
Sheep, on the other hand, are nomadic
and gregarious. They march across the
country in huge fiocks, as many as 5000
being cared for by one man and a dog.
But wherever sheep have fed the cattle
win not go. A flock Of sheep viii clean
up range, eating the grass down to the
roots, destroying the watering places and
leaving behind a woolly odor that cattle
viii not tolerate.
The sheep eat all the under brush and
destroy the young trees and the thous-
ands Of sharp little hoofs pack the soil,
so destroying its porosity that the grass
win not grow after they have passed.
A single flock Of sheep viii thus devas-
tate strip Of land q half mile wide; ten
hocks following one another in parallel
paths will destroy an area of grass land
five miles wide and hundredes Of miles in
length.
These facts. taken IN connection with
the constantly shrinking pasturage, sup
ply the reasons why the cattlemen hate
the slleepraisers and have tried to drive
them from the land. In their conten-
tons the cattlemen have always had the
best Of the fight, while the sheep herders
seem to have the better end Of the argu-
ment
IN days of the free range" when the
grass belonged to whoever chose to take
it, are numbered When the great west
ern plains country was virgin land and
pasture thre was room for all. Hundreds
OF vast herds Of cattle ranged I'D and
down the land. never conflicting and sell
dom meeting. In the summer they drift
ed from Texas to the northern boundary
of the country, and when the "northers'
began to blow. heralding the approach of
winter. the herds moved to the south be-
fore It
Then came the settler, and while he
was despised by the cowmen as a
"nester," open opposition did not appear
until he put barbed wire fences around
his place. As the settlers grew in num-
Der. the fencing off of the range became
a serious menace to the cowmen.
title by little the settlers encroached
until now the only fre ranges left for the
cattle are IN western Kansas and Nebras-
ka. the western portion Of Washington
and Oregon, parts of Wyoming Colorado
and Montana, a small portion of Utah
and the land leased from the Indians in
She Indian Territory. The great Texas
ranges are owned or leased by the cat
tlemen, as they are in many Of the west
ern states.
The feuds between the sheeDmen and
the cattlemeu are being waged chiefly in.
Wyoming and Montana. Before the
sheepmen discovered the availability of
the western plains for their business,
Ohio and Michigan were the chief wool
growing states.
But in 1871 herder took ZOO sheep to !
Montana which have increased since then |
to something like 100000. The sheepmen
took up claims along the water courses, |
leaving to the cowmen the dry land away
from the streams, which they had fenced |
OF from the cattle.
The loss Of the enormous free ranges IS |
gradually turning the cattlemen into |
farmers. who feed their cattle IN sheds |
in the winter-in the north with corn, IN !
the south with cottonseed-and is making |
mere farm hands out Of the once tree /
and independent cowboys.
The vast roaming herds Of cattle are
gone from the western plains forever and /
cattle-raising has become the prosaic bus
mess of turning grass and corn into meat /
However. where any free range remains. !
there may be found the last expiring ev-
licences of the former glory Of the cow
business"
The physical and mental differences be
tween the cowboys and the sheep herd
ers are as great as those OF their respec-
tive callings From the very nature Of
his occupation the cowboy is a wild. free
being
He breaks the savaEe and almost un-
tamable ponies TO the saddle and then
rides them His work IS swift and Wig
orous. and his charges are the great.
strong. free bulls and cows that have
never known the touch Of the human
hand. He lives and endures haraships
with others Of ms kind. and his pleasures
are rs fierce as his work. HIS is the
strenuous life.
The sheepherder. on the other hand,
pu~sues his solitary occupation afoot. his
only companions bens a dog and TIE
thousands OF stupid sheep, which have
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