The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-08
An Evolution That Has Come About
Slowly Through Simple Bus
mess Reasons.
MORE COMPLICATIONS NOW
WESTERN sTOCKMEN HAVE BECOME
ALLIES OF THE FARMERS.
More Brains, More Money and as Much
Drawn as Ever Needed I'm
the Business.

~ 0A NAI AL
CHICAGO. Dec. 6-Shortly after the Epis-
copal gathering in San Francisco a great
New York bishop journeyed eastward
across the plains in company with the
owner of cattle upon a thousand hills"
Those are mine," remarked the cattle
man to the bishop, pointing to a great herd
of cattle ranging in a Colorado valley. The
bishop looked with interest at the cattle.
"Ah." he said thoughtfully. Il don't see
how you get them ready for market" The
cattleman smiled. 1t was a long story 10
tell the bishop, and the cattleman. being
of few words, bided his time.
The next day the limited train was speed
ing through the beautiful farming region
of eastern Nebraska. The bishop was keen
ly alive to all ne saw. Great cornields
spread away for miles over the rolling
country and openings were dotted with
herds of fat cattle which looked prime for
the butcher.
These Nebraska cattle look much better
than your cattle in. Colorado" said the
bishop, lingering his eyeglass and turning
his kindly and unworldIy glance toward his
companion in an inquiring way.
Those cattle there are mine, too" said
the cattleman briefly. They. were back
there six months ago. and he jerked his
thumb towards the west to indicate Colo
RADIO. 1--WE grow 'em out there and finish
them in transit. They are on the way to
Chicago by easy stages, eating the corn and
hay Of the farmers as they go. They will
be in Chicago in thirty days ready for the
butcher. 1t takes six months or more to go
from the range to the market now. 1t used
to take six days"
And thus the bishop absorbed in a prac-
teal way. but without grasping it's full sig
~nihcance, the change which has come over
the range cattle industry since the days
when President Roosevelt was a deputy
sheriff on the banks Of the Medora river in
Dakota.
In the early times it took money, daring
and physical endurance to be a successful
range man. To-day it takes more money,
a liberal supply Of brains, keen business
instincts and experience to make a success
in the same line. The question of physical
endurance and daring spirit is not so I'M
portant, but as a rule the men who succeed
even to-day are of the big frame, indomi-
table spirit, venturesome disposition, and
prompt action, as of old, for the breadth
of the prairies and close contact with ma
ture in her widest flights of fancy seems
either to make that kind of men or else
she eliminates the others from her list of
favorites.
A CHANGE OF METHODS.
There were men present in the great cat
tie growers convention held in this city
during the past week who. twenty years
ago, rode the ranges warning the few
farmers in the country not to give any feed
TO stray range cattle driven by stress and
storm to the shelter of fences and ranch
buildings. To-day these same men are rid
ing the ranges buying all the hay they can
find, or making contracts with the farmers
to feed a certain number of cattle during
the winter.
Few and simple were the rules governing
the cattle business of the Western plains
as many as twenty years ago. Given a
herd of cattle, il was "A comparatively easy
task TO find a range for such a herd. Find
ing a range simply meant going to some
place not already crowded and turning the
cattle loose to rustic for themseles.
The trail herds generally arrived at a
given point during the summer some time,
and were allowed to scatter throughout
the country, and the natural topography
and supply of water influenced their subse-
quent movements. During the winter two
or three men were employed by the owner
Of these thousands of cattle to ride the
range. This range riding generally meant
an effort 10 keep the stock within a certain
district, the district being so large. how
ever, that it was a comparatively easy mat
ter.
In the spring there was a little more &c
tivlty at the home ranch, for when the
ground was soft and the grass had not yet
started to grow the cattle, hungry for the
first signs of green, got into mudholes or
snow banks, and, being so weak from the
effects of a long hard winter. many Of them
were mired down and unable to rise TO
their feet. Then the range riders were ex-
pected to dismount from their horses and
twist the tails of the mired stock until suf-
fcient ambition was aroused to induce a
scramble for dry ground. Many an old
range COW, not approaching the effort be-
ing made in her behalf, has turned with
terrible ferocity upon her rescuer and ex-
hausted her remnant of strength in the e.
fort TO horn her friend.
The few settlers in the West at that time
had small patches Of ground under fence
and a stack or two of hay surrounded by