Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-08-04
THE RIGHT OF MIGHT.
Regulates the Matter of Who
Shall Have Grazing Privi-
Ieges Out West.
OATLEMEN POSSESS THE ''MIGoP'
Using 1t Very Like "A Tyrant, While
the State Stands by and
Does Nothing.

Denver, Aug. At least a dozen
men killed, three times that number
wounded, G00,000 sheep, with an ap-
proXimate value of $2,400,0O0 killed,
and thousands of dollars worth of
sheep wagons, outfits, ranch buildings
and hay stacks burned by raiders dur
ing the last ten years is a conservative
estimate of the cost of the frontier
sheep war, which has now broken out
again more Virulent than ever. Ten
thousand sheep have been killed in the
last three months.
This fierceSt and most unique of all
frontier vendettas is growing in inten-
sity with each succeeding day, and I'M
less the general government soon takes
Il hand and enacts laws that will con-
troll the public grazing lands and eS-
tablish the rights of the sheep and cat
tlemen the sheep industry of southern
Wyoming and northern Colorado will
be thoroughly demoralized. Conflicts
between cattle and sheep men are be-
coming more frequent, and the Slaugh-
ter of sheep and killing of flock ten
ders are rousing the people to Il pitch
of fury that will result in n general
outbreak unless some relief comes
soon.
Cattle and sheep Won't Mix.
This odd conflict of grazing interests
had its inception in the natural an
tipathy that cattle have for sheep. This
antipathy is so strong that it extends
even to the land upon which sheep
have graZed, and the water, unless IL
be running. of which they have drunk.
Sheep are herded closely. in bodies OF
500 to 1000, and are usually moved
slowly in one direction. They nibble
nf n 50 flnSR
to the earth that even the roots are de-
stroyed, their feet trample what is left
into the earth, and as Il result the land
over which they have passed is left an
almost barren waste. upon which grass
will not reappear for several seasons.
The odor left behind by the sheep is
very offensive to cattle. and the latter
would rather starve than feed where
sheep have been.
Once There Was Plenty of Room.
When sheep raising on Il large scale
was first introduced into Wyoming,
when that region was almost eXclu-
Sively devoted TO cattle raising, there
seemed to he plenty of room for both.
Rapidly increasing fiOcks of sheep and
coincident decreasing of open ranges
brought about n clash between the two
interests that has never been subdued.
METHODS OF THE CATTLEMEN
Have for Their Basis the Motto might Is
Right"-State COwardice.
The methods practiced by the cat
tlemen in driving off the sheep and
the fiocktenders exemplifies the from
tier idea that fright is might and
might is right" Being the last COM
ers, the sheep and their tenders were
regarded by the cattlemen as trespasS-
4 l.. 4. 4,
accordingly Warnings to vacate. un-
needed by the sheepmen. We're fol
lowed by raids by the cowboys; sheep
were slaughtered by hundreds. outfits
We're destroyed. resisting sheepmen
were bound. kidnapped. wounded. and
i'm many cases killed outright. The
land belongs to the commonwealth,
and neither side pays cent of COM
pensation. Ethically speaking. the
sheepmen have as much right to the
land as the cattlemen.
There are two figures in this conflict
who arouse ones admiration. They
are Griff Edwards. now n leading
sheepman of eastern Oregon. the first
man to dare the cattlemen. and Mrs.
Nancy II. Irving. n former Chicago
woman. whose goat ranch was recent
" raided and 1000 goats slaughtered.
In the years from 1890 to % Edwards
was fiockmaster in Routt county.
For three successive years he essayed
to Craze his sheep on the public range
bordering the Colorado line. He disre
garded the warnings of the cattlemen
and lost his focks. County and state
authorities, fearful of the cattlemen's
influence. refused to back him up In
his fight for his rights. He gathered
n band of retainerS to defend his
focIls A larger band of cattlemen de-
feated his army, bound and gagged
Ghem, tied them to trees and slaugh-
tered the flockS before their eyes. At
last he became discoHra ged. and for
two years has not taken part in the
struggle. most of his interests now be-
ing in Oregon.
Mrs. Irving came out here from Chi
cago about year ago and established
n new industry-the raising of finely
bred Angora goats for the manufac-
ture of mohair. The goats were pas
tured on rocky land that the cattle
men disdained to use. But there were
plenty of yucca plants upon which
the goats subsisted well. They did not
encroach upon the stOckmenS pastures
nor interfere with them. but the out
law raiders swoOped down upon this
peaceful community. bound and
gagged the herder. Lloyd kellogg. and
killed large portion of the goats.
Now Mrs. Irving has placed an armed
guard at her camp on Pinon Mesa.
prepared to resist another raid. and
has notified District Attorney Mullen.
at Grand Junction. of her act and her
intentions. She has also appealed to
the Humane society for aid, contend
ing that the Killing of the goats is cru
city to animals. 1t is said that she
already has several deputies of the
Humane society among her guard. She
pluckily declares that she VIII resist
the raiders to the bitter end