The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-01-31

NV less of life and limb, felt
a sentimental regret over
the passing of the cowboy
and the decline of cowboy wars. To-
day, the great range is again in fer
ment, and again is the cowboy called
upon to be quick with his gun. Which
may be interesting to those in the
eastern and middle states that read
of his exploits, but is demoralizing
the region where the lawlessness is
in progress.
Three factions are engaged in the
present warfare of the range, where
as in former days there usually eN-
listed but two, cattlemen against cat
tlemen, cattlemen against sheepmen;
the settler now, is an element to be
filed ''claim'' and is going in for
agriculture.
In the days of the big boom in the
cattle industry, many of the cattle
barons thought the governments
lands would forever continue bring
ing in to them large incomes, so much
of the land being considered unfit for
agricultural purposes, and sheep rails
ing not yet carried on extensively in
their part of the country. But the
high price offered for wool back in
the eighties sent fortune-hunters
scurrying into the sheep industry,
and then the cattle found their rights
tol Inv ho,1c Of 1ynn11Xr
intruders. Now both cattle and sheep
are finding a common enemy in the
shape of the settler. The settler,
who has come to cultivate his own lit
tie portion of land, it is needless to
say, is no friend to the free range.
Several influences have been at work
in attracting the homesteader to the
country under discussion. The pos
sibility of turning arid lands into
fruitful soil by means of artificial ir-
rigation has been much discussed, es-
pecially of late years; and has been
eagerly considered by the landless.
The dissemination of knowledge in
the way of other improved methods
of agriculture, also has had con-
siderable effect in this matter An
other influence has been the "boom-
en-" whose mission it was to adver-
tise the great undeveloped resources
of these regions uncrowded by hui
mans.
Not only have the plains of the
southwest (the southern portions of
Texas and Oklahoma, the eastern por-
ton of New Mexico and localities in
Arizona and Kansas) been great feed
ing grounds for the herds, but herds
and tiocks have overrun the grazing
regions of the northwest. Charles
Moreu Harger, writing in the Out
look, says: ''Ihe shepherd is in evi.
dence from the Rio Grande to the
mountains of Montana and Idaho, the
home of the blizzard. Over the vast
unoccupied reaches of Wyoming the
herders wander, in Texas they have
their home, and in Oregon they vie
with the cattle owners for the pos.
session of the range" The western
states, along the Canadian border
and Wyoming, Nebraska and Colo
RADIO to the south, have offered pas
turage for the hordes of wandering
animals, some of which wander clear
from the Pacific coast halfway
across the continent.
1t would seem, with such wide
territory, there need be little cause
to pick quarrels; but we quote some
figures which show the territory is
becoming narrowed, and that very
fast, the settler rushing into regions
once entirely given over to grazing
''The fact that something like 2OO,-
600 people moved into Oklahoma and
northern Texas last year, the immi
grafton of 100000 to the northwest
this spring, and the steady western
tide OF settlements from the middle
states to the territory of Kansas and
Nebraska, have been menace to the
cattlemen."
The cattlemen did not at first sub.
init tamely to the settlers encroach-
ment. With the lawlessness bred OF
their isolation and occupation, they
| endeavored to settle matters in a
high-handed manner, and without
waste of words OF time. They made
things hot for the newcomer and in.
vited him to leave, but the latter
stayed on. They prosecuted him with
all the skill in their employ, but still
the stubborn settler refused to de.
part. They destroyed crops, and the
pioneer farmer went on raising new
ones. Then the government stepped
in and provided protection for the
small farmer, the man who had gone
out to develop the country. 1t gave
him lordship over the acres on which
he had filed, and the cattleman at
last mad to recognize the fact that