The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-09-26
Cattle VS.. Sheep.

"The perennial fight between West
ern cattle men and sheep. men is |
study for both the psychologist and
the economist. AT first glance, the in
terests Of these great divisions OF the
live stock industry would appear TO be
in common. But, in truth, this can
never be. Cattle and sheep can no
moro occupy range in common than
oil and water can float coherently.
The cow puncher hates the shepherd
with hatred that is deep and ofttimcs
and the herder. begirts
himself with artillery and sullenly
stands on the defensive.
"Thc trouble between the cattle and
sheep industries mainly proceeds from
the natural differences between two
classes of live stock. Cattle are home
keeping in their habits. They are as
hard to lose as house cat, unless, per-
chance, the cheerful and unreckoning
rustler happens along. A range COW
naturally will run where she was
born. Her owner and his cowsboys
expect to find her within easily defin-
ed limits, usually along some certain
cattle trail that starts Eat a.watering
place and leads back to higher ground.
In ordinary weather, If water be easy
of access, about all the cattle will be
found some time during the day along
the creeks. in the shade or luxuriantly
hook deep in the mud. The night is
spent back on the feeding ground.
Drive the cow away, even hundred
miles, and back she will drift, though
her return be to feeding ground by
far the worse. Back home she will
come, though it be to starve and die.
"Sheep, on the contrary, ere ueces-
sarily nomadic. They are gregarious,
'bunching by instinct. One man with
his dog can care for even 900, though
only half that number is usually allot-
ted. A flock Of sheep is about as de-
vastating as prairie fire. Where it
has passed the grass is gone, even to
the roots, the sage brush is defoilated
and the track SO reeks with the sleeps
peculiar oder that cattle and horses
avoid the ground for weeks afterward.
And the herds in their ceaseless jour-
neying never follow one another. To
use pat military expression, they
come zen echelon,' in path parallel
to and abutting one edge of the strip
devastated by the preceding woolly
army. Thus, if one flock eat out o
half mile strip, ten focks will leave
barren area five miles wide. The bet
ter the feed the slower the rate of
travel. The flock moves on when the
grass is consumed. No diagram is
needed to show the effect of such
raid on cattle range. The rage of
the cattle men is not hard to imagine.
"a quarter Of century ago, when
the Wild West was virgin land and
pasture, there was plenty of room for
both cattle and sheep. But as the
country has filled up aud as she area
of untenantep or unclaimed land has
shrunk, the two branches Of live stock
have been driven in upon each ether
more and more, until they are now in
contention for possession Of the same
field. Little by little the herders and
punchers have been forced from the
plains up into the mountains. West
ern Kansas, Nebraska and the Dako-
tas, the western portion Of Oregon and
Washington, and all Of California,
which were once free ranges, have be-
come less and less available. Even
Colorado and Utah and portion Of
Wyoming, because Of the advance Of
farmers and miners, afford constant.
ly shrinking pasturage. Both sheep
men and cattle men have beer obliged
to seek the high and untenable lands
In the mountains, where the forests
aud the watersheds are the only Sec
lions that afford sufficient feed.
"The struggle between them, there
fore. is waged chiefly in what is. known
as the plateau region Of the continent.
From lower New Mexico and Arizona
and Western Texas northward to the
American boundary, and from the
Eastern Montana line westward to the
summet Of the Cascade Mountains,
the sheep men and the cattle men are
fighting for the control Of the remain
ing ranges. The sheep go into the
verdant meadows of the forests, and
the cattle men seek to expel them.
The cattle men occupy some section
where the grasses are succulent, and
the water plentiful, only to find the
sheep working into the same district,
cropping the grass to its roots, and