Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-12-29
DYNAMITING SHEEP.
Cowboys Throw Explosives Among tho
Huddled Animals They Hate.

Huddled Animals ihey hato.
The great secret Of the fortunes made
in the stock industry In the last few
years has been free range. Over a vast
territory, extending from the. open
plains of Texas up through Oklahoma,
Kansas, Eastern Colorado, Nebraska
and Wyoming to the states along the
northern border, reached unending
leagues of grass. Most of 1t even went
to waste because there was none to
take it. On this the herds and flocks
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
lands at the base Of the foothills--the
stocknan found that he was being linn
tied in his free pasture. He tried to
drive out the settler, but in vain, per-
Fsecutions and the destruction Of crops
were met by laws like the "two-mile
limit" statute, keeping the agricultur-
ist safe. The sheepmen 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 declared war
on the shepherds and sought to limit
their range. To some extent this has
been done; but the conflict is bitter
resulting In bloodshed and deeds OF In
tolerable cruelty-nor Is 1t yet ended.
1t is tempting for the sheepman to
move to new pastures at the risk OF at
tack, even though he knows that a cat
tleman has long been in possession and
will fight to maintain his place, for 1t
Is we'll understood that the range Is
open to all. .
A western authority says that In the
last ten years 100000 sheep have been
wantonly killed by cowboys, at loss
to the owners Of 100000. 1t Is also
estimated-no one can tell surely, for
all the tragedies Of the range do not
come to light-that five hundred man
killings have annually accompanied
the sheep killings. Sometimes the SET
tiers whose homes are threatened
make common cause with the cattle
men and join in the slaughter. Only
last July a band Of masked men
mounted, killed the herders Of several
thousand sheep in central Wyoming
and killed thousands Of the sheep. In
addition. $4,000 sheep, which were near
by were left without herders and were
scattered on the hills, resulting In fur
ther loss. Riflemen surround focks
and kill every sheep. driving of the
herders. A flock Of 5000 Angora goats
was killed in western Colorado in Au-
gust. The papers of Oregon describe
the terrible devastation produced Dy
dynamite thrown among the huddieo
bands of sheep. the explosion ending
the existence of whole flocks, ana
sometimes killing the shepherds as
well. The cattlemen throw these dead
ly explosives from some height, or
charge on horseback into the rr1gnt-
ened fiocks for their scheme or wratn.
Flocks have been driven into narrow
canyons and clubbed to death; tney
have been hurled over precipices ana
DESTROYED. One man fought the battle
for years, finally, after losing li,ooo
he contended.
The settler who "homesteads
claim in the edge Of the free range mas
one great terror-what II the hocks or
herds should come! He knows that
the crops so carefully tended would
go; the garden would be made desolate.
Ie has recourse through the law, 70
be sure, but in the wilder portion OF
the west 1t Is sometimes slow pro-
cess.
Recently the government mas issued
an order that the sheep must be Kept
off the forest reserves, the last refuge
of the wandering flocks and their wor-
ried owners. These were the only
laads on which the cattle were not
generally grazed, so the sheep were
turned in. But they destroyed the
shrubbery in their efforts to gain sus-
tenance, 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 hostill-
ties opened with renewed vigor. The
miners and campers and hunters try to
keep stock out Of the mountain parks,
and the boundaries constantly grow
less for the wanderings Of the f1ocks
and herds. The range Is becoming
thin, too. The grass Is overpastured,
and in the opinion Of expert stockmen,
does not today give more than half
the sustenance that 1t did a decade
ago. Various plans are proposed to re-
new It, but they are as yet In embryo,
and do not help the man with huge
fiocks Of sheep that must be fed. In
the end there must be more extensive
leasing or ownership Of the grazing