Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-16
DYNAMITING SHEEP.
Cowboys Throw Explosives Among the
Huddled Animals They Hate.
From the Outlook

From the Outlook.
The great secret of the fortunes made in
the stock industry in the last few years has
been free range. Over vast territory, ex-
tending from the open plain of Texas W
| through Oklahoma. Kansas, eastern Colo
! RADIO, Nebraska and Wyoming to the states
along the northern border, reached unend-
ing leagues of grass. Most of it even went
to waste because there was none to take
it, On this the herds and focks fed, and
there was plenty for all But the settlers
pushed further into the west oklahoma
added other areas of Indian land; irrigation
took from the land at the base of the foot
hils-the stockman found that he be-
ing limited in his free pasture. He tried
to drive out the settler. but in vain; perse-
cutions and the destruction of crops were
met by laws like the ''two-mile limit stat
ute, keeping the agriculturSt safe. The
Sheepman went on with his flock and took
the range as. he came to 1.-THE cattleman
could not follow. for the cattle would not
eat after the sheep. So the cowboys declar-
ed war on the shepherds and sought to
limit their range. To some extent this has
been done: but the conflict is bitter, result
ing in bloodShed and deeds of intolerable
cruelty-nor is it yet ended. 1t is tempting
for the sheepman to move to new pastures
at the risk of attack. even though he knows
that a cattleman has long been in posses
sion and will fight to maintain his place;
for it is well understood that the range is
open to all.
A western authority says that in the last
ten years 600GO0 sheep have been wantonly
killed by cowboys, at a loss to the owners
Of $2.COO.O00 1t is also eStimated-no one
can tell surely. for all the tragedies of the
range do not come to light--that five hun
bred man killings have annually accom-
panied the sheep killings. Some times the
of lnr yErbn th1aa cd IL
common cause with the cattlemen and join
in the slaughter. Only last July a band of
masked men. mounted. killed the herderS
of several thousand sheep in central Wy
oming and killed thousands of the sheep. In
addition, 5000 sheep, which were near by
We're left without herders and were scat
tered on the hills, resulting in further loss
Rifiemen surround locks and kill every
sheep, driving off the herders. A flock of
5000 Angora goats was killed in western
Colorado in August. The papers of Oregon
describe the terrible devastation produced
by dynamite thrown among the huddled
bands of sheep, the explosion ending the
existence of whole flockS, and sometimes
killing the shepherds we'll The cattle
men throw these deadly explosives from
some height. or charge on horseback into
the frightened f1ocks for their scheme of
wrath. Flocks have been driven into mar
row canyons and dubbed to DEATH they
have been hurled over precipices and de-
Stroyed. One man fought the battle for
years finally, after losing 1900 sheep, CIV
ing up the range for which he contended.
The settler who 'homesteads' a claim in
the edge of the free range has one great
terror-what If the focks or herds should
come! He knows that the crops so care
fully tended would go, the garden would be
made desolate. He has recourse through
the law to be sure but in the wilder por-
ton of the west it is sometimes a slow
process
Recently the government has issued an
order that the sheep must be kept off the
forest reserves. the last refuge of the wan
dering focks and their worried owners
These were the only lands on which the
cattle were not generally graZed the
sheep were turned in. But they destroyed
the Shrubbery in their efforts to gain susie
nance. and so the order went out to stop
such practice. There seemed to be no choice
but to try conclusions with the cattlemen
again, and hostilities opened with renewed
vigor The miners and cmpers and hunters
try to keep stock out of the mountain
parks. and the boundaries constantly grow
less for the wanderings of the focks and
herds. The range is becoming thin, too. The
grass is overpastured. and, in the opinion of
expert stockman. does not today give more
than half the sustenancc that it did a dec
ade ago. Various plans are proposed to re-
new it, but they are as yet in embryo, and
do not help the man with huge focks of
sheep that must be fed. In the end there
must be more extensive leasing or owner
ship of the grazing lands. and the rights of
possession must be obeyed. Until that
time comes the conflict for the free feed
ing grounds will rage.