Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1902-10-11
TO Try Grazing
Northern wisconsin

An investment of quarter of mil
lion dollars is to be made in the north
ern part of the state the coming spring
for the purpose of demonstrating
whether Wisconsin is adapted to COM
pete with the great cattle raising Sec
lions of the West. A tract of $4,000
acres of land has been purchased in
Taylor county to be used as grazing
land and herd of 10000 head of cattle
will be put there as an experiment to
prove the truth Or fallacy of the oft
repeated assertions that the cut-over
timber lands of Wisconsin afford better
grazing facilities for cattle than the
ranges of the West,
Shonld the experiment show that
cattle will thrive on this kind of graz
ing, it will mean millions of dollars an
nually in the pockets of Wisconsin far
mers and the development of a new in
dustry in the state, which will at once
create demand for the thousands of
acres of land which have been denuded
of timber and which have long been
regarded as useless for anything except
farming purposes. Should it be found
that cattle get along well upon this
land, undoubtedly the cut-over timber
regions of the state will be in great
demand and farmers and capitalists
will go into the cattle raising business
on an extensive scale.
James l.. Gates of Milwaukee is the
prime mover in the plan and interested
with him are several other capitalists
who are convinced that their invest
ment will prove paying one and that
they will be the pioneers in a new
movement for the development of some
of the dormant resources of the state.
Mr.. Gates has long been interested
in the land business in Clark, Eau
CLAIRE, Chippewa, Gates and Price
counties and is better acquainted with
the possibilities of this region than any
other man in Milwaukee. For years
he has been engaged in re-claiming
the cut-over lands and has induced
thousands of settlers to go north to
take up farms.
While the details Of the plan are not
fully completed. Mr.. Gates said that it
was practically settled that the exper-
iment will be tried and he himself is
confident that it will prove to be a pay
ing investment.
''We purchased the land some time
ago." said Mr. Gates, ''for the purpose
of undertaking this experiment and we
have no doubt but that we will be able
to get all the capital necessary to go
into the matter on large scale.
''The land is well adapted to grazing
purposes, and from my own experience
1 know that 300 pounds can be added to
a steer just by letting him eat the
grass that is going to waste in this part
of the state When the fact is taken
into consideration that cattle can be
loaded upon train at six CLOCK at
night in this part of the country and
the next morning they will be in Chi
cago, the practicability of such an ex-
pertinent is apparent. If it can be sue
cessfully demonstrated there is no rea-
son why Wisconsin cannot become as
great a stock-raising state as Iowa,
Nebraska or other western states. 1t
takes at least three days and three
nights on the road to transport cattle
from the average places in the West,
and this is bad thing as they are sell
dom in good condition when they ar
rive. Sheep have done well up there,
but l do not place so much confidence
in them as in cattle I know that the
cattle business can be successfully con-
Quoted in Wisconsin.-The Tomahawk.