The Saint Paul globe., 1901-07-14
CATTLEMEN TO co
sHEEP-RAIsING Now THE DoNn-
NANT INTEREST IN
WYOMING
CONFLICTS BETWEEN RANGERS
Dead Line Established by the Stock
mems and Ranchmens Protective
Association, and sheep Men
Ordered to Keep Of 1t.

L
| Richards prove to be true, cattle raising
in Wyoming, as an industry of it's pres
ent enormous extent, will soon have be-
come eliminated, says the Philadelphia
Record. 1t is only question of sur
Vival of the fittest. Wyoming is a bet
ter country for sheep than for cattle, and
| the cattlemen are beginning to realize
/ the fact. The question of the dispute
between the two interests will be settled
by the course of time.
The range war is, from the statement
OF state and government afficialS, q war
Of individuals. The impracticability Of
forces of any important number cIashing
prevents anything like an internecine
conflict, requiring the calling out of state
or government troops. So wide are the
ranges and so separated by distance are
the sheepmen from the catlemen, that
Wnen a conflict does occur it can be par
uclpated in only by a very small number
OF combatants, and usually it will be but
a fight between two individuals.
The present however, is the crucial
period. On the one hand the cattlemen
are engaged in their annual round-ups,
and the sheepmen are gathering in their
camps, engaged in making the wool clip.
Should the circles Of the round-ups cross
a sheep camp a conflict of serious pro-
portions might occur. The general con-
ditons, however, favor Q cessation for
a time at least, Of the hostilities The
dead line, which was established in the
Sweetwater district several weeks ago
by the catlemen, has been recognized by
the sheepneh, and is now being main
tAlned by mutual consent AS long as
This understanding exists any organized
raids or battles Of the opposing interests
are not likely to occur.
Within the Dest few days a dead line
has been established on the North and
nrlyc NP
the Stockmen's and Ranchers' Protective
association, an organization of cattlemen
BLOCK masters are warned to keep on the
safe side of the dead line, but, as it is
believed they will follow the example
OF the Sheepmen of the Sweet Water
district and accept the ultimatum no
dlllculues are anticipated for the pres
ent.
The Western ranges are Iimitess in
extent When a ranGher turns out his
catt-e in the fall, each bearing the brand
registered by himself with the proper
state officers, he may expo ct to fini
the cattle in the sp ing within ten miles
OF his own ranch, but he is more likely
to find them 100 or 200 miles away.
Rounding UP must therefore be conduct
ed upon a systematic basis. The fol-
lowing is the method of procedure:
Central points for the gathering of the
Cowboys are told off to make a circle of
the ranges over areas of eight to fifteen
miles. These cowboys drive in all the
cattle found on the hills in the canyons
or by the sides of streams to a common
center, from which point another division
of cowboys drive the gathered herd to
the next centering point This process
is kept up until the herds frequently ag-
gregate in number several hundred
thousand head.
The cutting out is the sepa- a ation of
the cattle into punches bearing milar
brands Thus if a herd passes in the
vicinity of some particular ranch, time
and labor is saved by that ranch 7 an
sending his cowboys among the herd 10
pick out and drive to his private corrals
the cattle belonging to him
The cowboys work in relays, using
day and night shifts The Gay shift
sllgrries over the p-airiss picking lp
the cattle and driving them to the vic.n-
ity of the camp whlch has been essah-
lished by the night shift and the camp
hands. The nigat shift then, in two
hour watches, keeps the herd intact un-
til the morning, preventing any effort Of
the cattle to stampede, and in the car
evening, if The locality is favo. able, per-
forming some cutting cut.
Each roundup party has its camp out
fit in charge Of a corps of drivers and
cooks, who move the camp each Gay to
the point agreed upon for the succeed 'ng
night, and Ly the time the wcar d cattle
drivers come up with the h,rI they hal e
collected during the day, their meals are
ready their tents up and everything s
arranged for the evenings sports and
the n gifts rest.
At the sheep camps but little, difference
is to be found from the methods in the
East, except in the enormous size of the
focks on the Western ranges. Fifty
thousand sheep to be clipped is not an
uncommon number, and this work re-
quires a large force of men. Corrals are
made from rails or wire fencing, in
which the great body of sneep can be
| retained and smaller corrals are con-
structed adjacent, in which a. few hun
dred sheep. can be handled at a time. In
these smaller CorTals is the wool gen
orally clipped, but a few ranchers have
large pens constructed into which the
sheep can be driven singly and in pairs.
The wool during the past two years
mas been sent to towns where storage
warehouses have been established. The
! largest of these is at Casper, where last
year 22000,000 poundsof wool were stored.
| This has but lately been shipped to the
Eastern markets. This year, however, a.
new scheme is be'ng tried, wool auction.
/
closed a week ago, over 100000 POUNDS
of wool being purchased at prices rang
ing from 10 to -121a cents per pound
On July Il a meeting will be held at
! New Castle, Wyo., to form another
storage warehouse association, the build
| ing to be located there.
| The enormous extent to which the
wool industry has grown in Wyoming
may be gathered from the fact that five
! years ago a sheep was almost an un-
known animal on the ranges, while last
year the wool clip aggregated over
25,0G0,OOO pounds This years clip will
range from S5,O00.0O0 to 100000 COO pounds.
! 1t can thus be seen that a combina-
tion of the sheep interests will have
immense power in the state and it is
this combination. already practically
complete, which is driving the cattle
men to seek ranges other than those of
wyoming The sheep owners were
themselves formerly cattle men, but find
ing greater profit in sheep raising
/ they have disposed of their cattle to a
large extent and put the money into
sheep.
Among the largest sheep owners not
only in Wyoming, but in the entire
West are Gov. Richards, United States
Marshal Hadsell and United States SEN
ator Francis E. Warren, whose possess
sions of sheep are really enormous.