Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-10-08
IN THE CATTLE COUNTY,.
Ranges Once Rich Are Now Con-
pleteiy Deserted.

Ranges Once Rich Are Now Coni-
plcteiy Deserted.
For ten years, more or less, say
from 1874 to 1884, and later than this
in the northern range, there was uni
versal prosperity and lots Of money; 10
be Il cow-man meant being a small but
powerful king with princely king
dom, the boundaries of which were set
by precedent and by the honor of Gus
tomas far as man on horseback
could see and by water-as firmly as
if corner-marked and title-deeded.
There WAS no rent and virtually no
taxes to pay. \ man might own a
hundred thousand cattle and not an
acre of land, though he claimed range
rights" to fifty thousand acres. and
enforced those rights with blood and
iron, says writer in the Century
Magazine.
Apparently this was a new sort of
free life in which man had risen above
the old slow rules of thrift. 1t was a
grass, and when money was needed,
round them up and sell them.
But the lucky dog sometimes has diff
fculty in enjoying his bone in peace.
LuTed by the stories of sudden riches
in the cattle country, other IIen as
bold and hardy as the first, flocked
in from all parts of the world, and be-
gan raising big and little herds. The
building of the railroads across the
cor -inent stimulated immigration; the
great Texas boom followed the Icom-
pietion of the Texas Pacific railroad
in 1888. At first the early corners wei,
coined the new rangers, sold them cat
tie at eXorbitant prices, chucklel at
their innocence, allowed them TO come
in on the ranges, and grew richer and
richer There were times when Texas
steers, big aud little, brought $25 each
on the range. But the tide swelled,
and the cattle continued to increase
enormously. Presently the first real
settlers, the "nesters" of Texas, who
wished to fence the land for farms. APP
peared in numbers, and the early com
ers. the original cowboys. began to
chafe who's elbowing me|' they i'll
quired, and there was prompt and eff
fective shooting and the wholesale cut
ting of the new fences.
Many good men lay down in the hot
sand, never to rise again. But that.
bad as it was, did not tell the whole
story of destruction. If cattle had
been killed instead of men, the trouble
might have been averted but the
herds went on Multiplying until they
covered all the range, givi..2 it no rest
winter or summer, Each cow-man
scrambled for all he could get: he
argued that if lie did not take the
grass his neighb0r would And who
cared a rap for the future, Life was
short and money tangible At first
there had been enough grass to sup
port one S4e':r TO every two acres of
land; in half a dozen years steer did
well to make his living on five acres
After that the ratio steadily widened.
So great was the struggle for new ter
ritory that whole herds Of cattle some
times went twenty miles or more TO
water and then back again. galloping
every step, and working hard between
times to get enough from the failing
ranges to keep life within their lean
carcasses. And to-day there are many
parts of the range that will not support
ten cattle to the square mile, one steer
10 every s'Xty-four acres, and it is a
good range indeed that Will feed
steer to every twenty acres. There
are whole ranges in Texas. New Mex
leo aud Arizona, once rich beyond be
lief, that are completely deserted and
given over to the desert.