The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-04-03
w. T. LaFollette, After Careful.
Investigation, Makes This
Statement.
WINTER NOT A HARD ONE
Interviews With stoekmen Living West
OF River Serve to Contradict Sen
sational Stories of Severe
Losses

" = 80
the loss OF live stock on the ranges
between the Missouri i've and the
Black Hills. Many of these reports
would lead people to think that in To-
.~calities the loss was SO or 60 per cent.
and in some instances total.
For the past two weeks this writer
has taken the trouble to Interview live
stock producers OF cattle, sheep and
horses with the purposes of getting the
facts concerning the losses between
river on the north and the Nebras-
of cattle and sheep have ranged win
ter n summer for the past eight or
ten years.
In December there was a heavy fall
of snow from Pierre south to the Ne
braska state line extending west from
the Missouri river fifty miles and about
the same distance east. Farther west
In the state the snow fall at no time
exceeded eight inches until the foot
hills of the Black Hills were reached
and there 1t was much deeper and re-
manned on the ground until very re-
Gently. Experienced cattle and sheep
men whose stock was ranging fifty and
SSSSA1SS "a AAi1ASo WSSl OF LIE MISSOURI
river when the snow fell in December
begun to make arrangements for get
ting their cattle n sheep to their
ranches, where they had more or less
hay, which they had cut the last season
and prior years. II there was not hay
and feed enough at the ranches to win
ter the cows and young cattle they
would eut$out one, two, three or five
hundred head and drive them east Of
the rivG1sEinfn. tho 70 rv,,i - ~ a ~ -: -
the state, where they purchased feed
to winter them. It is a safe estimate
to state that 10000 head of range cattle
We're Wintered among the farmers Of
Brule county alone, While others were
shipped to the eastern part of the state
or iowa.
Average Loss 8 to 6 Per Cent.
It is true that the loss on the Da-
kota ranges yearly among the cattle
vary from 8 to g per cent, and in some
instances among new beginners it will
exceed that, but those who produce
and handle northern cattle usually
nave a nominal loss. Among the reli-
able men who have successfully han
died range cattle west Of Chamberlain
in the White and Bad river districts
this Writer. quotes the statements of q
few for public information. Harry
Ham, OF the successful Ham firm of
thousand head mabas th,s o"n sesesai
we have been il the cattle hrsinass
here for fifteen years. Starting with
a small bunch in southern LYMAN
county, and / am sure our loss is Fighter
the past winter than it was six years
ago. We have fed the young stock and
cows in our bunch the past three
months out our 3 and 4-year-old steers
have run on the range, and the past
four weeks we have been riding all
the time and have seen hundreds of
head of our that look as well as they
did a yea ago. I do not believe our
loss will be greater than S per cent.
on the entire bunch. do know of one
or two men who brought in Young
Texas cattle late last summer and had
no feed for them and their loss will he.
heavy. One mar will probably 0 half
his bunch"
Henry Brodly. who owns several
hundred head Of cattle and about loon
head OF sheep that range near his
ranch 100 miles west of her,ain
said; .I had a letter from, nv ~ rtnar
at the ranch a short time ago and he
says il we have q drv AnriI o11r loss
will be no heavier this wear than any
other year. I do not believe orr loss
will exceed 5 or6 Der cent and the az
oerfenced cattIemen in thar section of
he range do not avrec+ 49, 49,
their usual loss"
"a TO u..a -. 90
Wy ''eau VT OF ~
=. =. OF the nrm Of Germ &
VINO own about SQO head Of
cattie, we nave 20 head Of cat
TIE at Y WINE river thus
iar we nave losI only two head. We
nave Wlrtered go mead in Brule county
with only q loss OF SIX head. We have
ABOUT 1uU mead OF 3-year-oid steers that
ron The +hn J bast ta ran nanEe az WINTER ana
there is not more than S or 6 per cent"
Major r. H. somers, Indian agent at
Lower Brule, said: myself, brothers
and cousins have several hundred head
of cattle that range south of white
river in Lyman and Gregory
and from the best information can
get our loss all around wont exceed 5
or 6 per cent
Martin johnson, a conservative and
successful sheep man. whose ranch is
eighty miles west Of this city, saws.
II own several thousand head or sheen
and my loss is lighter this year than
several other winters. The cattle men
in our section Of the country will not
have 5 per cent. loss. but on the Rose