The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1903-07-25
THE STOGKMENS' WAR.
SHEEP MEN. AND CATTLE
MEN OF WYOMINGlIN
DEADLY FEUDS.

out in the Effort to .Perserve
Peace-Small Hope of
Settlement.
Butte, Mont, July 21.-A special
. to the Miner from Cheyenne, Wyo.,
says bloody battle was narrowly
averted in the mountains. six miles
south of Thermopolis today, when
Sheriff Fsnton transferred Jim
McLoud, the alleged Murderer of
Ben Minnick, from the city Jail at
Thsrmopolis to the county Jail at
Basin CITY.
Sheriff Fenton left Thermopolis
at 6 o'clock with his prisoner under
escort of the Basin Light Artillery
of 40 men and so picked deputies.
Scouts had been sent out at sunrise
and they had reported that a large
force of cattlemen and the friends
of McLoud were camped on the trail
near Cottonwood Creek, and, from
preparations being made, they in
tended to hold up the sheriff and
his party and deliver the prisoner.
Consequently, when Fenton left
Thermopolis, he went prepared and
expecting battle. Scouts rode on
ahead, and also in the rear and on
either flank, but, when the cattle
naen saw that the soldiers were alert
for battle, they quietly slipped away
and by making detour entered
Thernopolis: With them was Tom
O'Day, the notorious character, who
ia alleged to have been mixed up in
the killing of Minnick, and for
whom heSriff Fenton' has warrant.
McLoud was at once placed in the
cell formerly occupied by Walters,
the condemned murderer, who was
shot to death by mob Sunday
morning, and strong guard placed
about the Jail.
Helena, Mont, July 21.-The
range war in Northern Wyoming Is
. natural outgrowth of the setlle-
naene Of the country by small ranch
ers and the inclusion of large areas
lin forest reserves, both of which
tend 30 crowd the range cattlemen
and sheepmen to the wall. What
lis left naturally becomes a matter
of dispute between the latter two,
and as the cattlemen were there
FIRST, they naturally lsok upon the
sheepnen as intruders.
The cattlemen are particularly
sewers upon the sheepmen for anoth-
er potent reason. Range that is
once gone over by band of sheep
remains unproductive for years.
The cattle, on the other hand, can
range upon the same land year af-
ter year, as they do not pull up the
grass by the roots and devour the
whole plant, as do the sheep.
1t is only a few months since
that an earnest protest was sent to
President Roosevelt by the cattle
men of the Big Horn country. Buff
falo Bill, otherwise William F.
Cody. one Of the largest stoekmen,
personally carried this appeal to
Washington, and predicted to the
president that, if the sheepmen were
not restricted, bloodshed would re-
suit.
The experience Of Wyoming in
this respect is not different from
that of Colorado, whose Routt coun-
ty stockmen's wars are matters of
recent history. The same is true
of Montana; stockmen are gradual
ly being forced out of the state
across the Canadian border, and
only today there would have been
serious battle between sheepmen
and cattle raisers in the northern
part of this country had not sever
al county officials got wind of the
Intended raid upon sheepmen and
effected a truce.
The trouble in North Wyoming
has been brewing for some time and
it seems highly improbable that it
will end without the shedding of
even more blood. as the sheepmen
are weh organized and express
determination to avenge the death
of Ben Minnick, a prominent sheep
man, who was murdered at his
place near Thermopolis about six
weeks ago. The sheepmen assert
that his death was effected by hired
assassins, employed by the cattle
men, for some of whom warrants
are out, but as yet none of these
have been served. The names of
the catl1emen for whom warrants