The suburban citizen. (Washington, D.C.) 1891-1902, 1900-09-29
CATTLE VERSUS SHEEP.
THE CAUSE OF A BITTER FEUD
IN THE WEST.

War OF the Herders-Persecutlon OF the
sheepmen Joined by the Government
"A FLOCK of sheep About as Devas-
tatIng as Prairie Fire.
Captain James II. McCllntock writes
as follows in Alnslee's Magazine:
'The perennial fight between West
ern cattlemen and sheepmen is a study
for both the psychologist and the econ
omst. At first glance, the interests Of
these great divisions Of the live stock
industry would appear to be in com
mon. But, in truth, this can never be.
Cattle and sheep can no more occupy
a rang in common than oil and water
can float coherently. The cowpuneher
hates the shepherd with a hatred that
is deep and ofttimes picturesque, and
the herder begirts himself with artil-
lery and sullenly stands ON the defen-
sive.
"The trouble between the cattle and
sheep industries mainly proceeds from
the natural differences between the
two classes of live stock, Cattle are
home-seeking in their habits. They
are as hard to lose as a house cat UNI
less, perchance. the cheerful and un.
reckoning rustler happens along. A
range COW naturally will make her
run where she was born. Her owner
and his cowboys expect to find her
within easily defined limits, usually
along some certain cattle trail that
starts at 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 luXurantly hook deep
in the mud. The night is spent back
on the feeding ground. Drive the
COW away, even a 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, are neces-
sarily nomadic They are gregariOus,
punching by instinct. One man with
his dog can care for even 1000, though
only half that number is usually al
lotted. - flock of sheep is about as
devastating as a prairie fire. Where
it has passed the grass is gone, even
to the roots, the sage brush is defo-
lated. ana the track so reeks with the
sleeps peculiar odor that cattle and
horses avoid the ground for weeks af-
terward And the herds in their
ceaseless jouIneying never follow one
another. TO use a pat military eX-
preston, they come zen echelOn,' in a
path parallel to and AUDITING one edge
of the strip devastated by the preced-
ing woody army Thus, if one flock
eat out a half mile strip, ten hocks
will leave a barren area five miles
wide. The better the feed the slower
the rate of travel. The flock moves on
when the grass is consumed. No dia-
gram is needed to show the effect Of
such a raid on a cattle range, The
rage of the cattlemen is not hard to
imagine.
"A quarter Of a 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 filed up and as the area
of untenanted or unclaimed land has
shrunk the two branches of live
stock have been driven in upon each
other 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 mount
aims. Western Kansas, Nebraska and
the DakOtas, the western portion of
Oregon and Washington, and all of
California, which were once free
ranges have become less and less
available Even Colorado and Utah
and a portion Of Wyoming, because Of
the advance of farmers and miners
afford a constantly shrinking pastur-
age, Both sheepmen and cattlemen
have been obliged to seek the high
and untenable lands in the mountains,
where the forests and the watersheds
are the only sections that afford suf
ficient 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 summit of the Cas-
cade Mountains, the sheepmen and the
cattlemen are fighting for the control
Of the remaining ranges. The sheep
go into the verdant meadows Of the
forests, and the cattlemen seek TO ex-
pei them. The cattlemen occupy some
section where the grasses are succu-
lent and the water plentiful, only to
find the sheep working into the same
district, cropping the grass to its
roots, and talnting the air with the
smell which the cattle cannot endure.
The closer settlement crowds in upon
the formerly unsettled lands the more
bitter becomes the antagonism FIRE.
quently it breaks out into brief shoot
ing matches, in which the cattlemen
generally prove themselves the more
expert More often it eliminates in
strained sentiments and press reports