The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-08-05
sa0RT GRASS COUNTRY
Region Where Real Land Hun
ger Nay Be Seen.
SOURCE

Observation-Disclosures TRUE SOURCE
cattIemen Are Eager 10 Acquire
Governments Lands For Grazing
Territory-succes. OF settlers In
the Extreme western Plains RE-
sion = Irrigation Advance not So
Marked.
One cannot travel far In the short
grass country without getting some
new IDEAS regarding the real source Of
the much discussed land hunger says
the special correspondent Of the New
York Post, writing from Norton, Kan
The thousands Of registrations Id the
Nebraska and South Dakota rushes
have been less the result Of an eager
ness Of actual settlers for homes than
Of cattlemen for grazing land. Then
there i the spirit Of speculation the
hope Of getting ten thousand dolar
claim for nothing which animates d
large portion Of the land seekers.
TO understand the real land hunger
one should travel overland III the open
country that lies east Of the mountains
in Kansas Nebraska and South Da-
kota. Back thirty miles from the rail
way, on the high divides where the
raising Of crops Is out Of the question,
one may see scores OF little piles Of
earth or broken bits Of sod wall Then
there are scattered punches Of trees.
worn down BY winds and harassed by
prairie fires Here and there Is a great
square cut out Of the buffalo grass
sod, where Russian thistles and sun
flowers hold sway. Yagrant grass.
called By the natives .goback,9 be
cause 1t has gone back from the break
ing up process that was given By the
settlers years ago, IL seen All Of
these tell Of efforts to make farms.
Settlers have taken the land tried 70
make homes, failed and quit In their
places have come the cattlemen. who
occupy the sites Of the old homes of
settlers. The ranchmen 80 at the
business with far more intelligence
than did the farmers and settlers.
one ranch Of northwest Kansas has
100000 acres, Of which probably not
more than one-third il owned III clear
title All Of the remainder is owned by
the government or by eastern invest
ors. Included In the land are about
400 quarter sections Of 100 acres each
held BIZ tax titles. lands that have been
neglected by the people who loaned
money on real estate mortgages The
whole body of land, some Of ii fenced
and some of 1t open plain, is used ~
the ranchmans herds and focks as If
it were his own. No one else wants II
or cares what becomes of it, In Ne
braska are other ranches managed I'll
the same why, and the rush for the
disposition Of $40 acre tracts under the
order for the recent opening In that
state was largely Of cowboys employed
by ranchmen eager 70 obtain land for
range Hundreds Of such entries are
made. the cattlemen paying all the ex-
penses and putting the cowboys on the
places In sod houses to hold them for
title But IT seldom wins. for the cow
boy who will stay in one place five
years in order to obtain a claim viii
take one for himself and not for an
employer.
Settlers are doing we'll in the ex
treme western plains region, as they
have learned how to produce the right
kind Of crops and how 70 secure a
steady income. They refuse to be fro
zen out by the cattlemen. for they have
cattle Of their own and insist on their
rights as citizens. They compel the
cattlemen to take down fences from
government lands and pasture their
own herds where they please This
season they have had more rain than
III years before, and they will produce
good crops Of barley, alfalfa, Kaffir
corn and hay, with here and there
wheat and corn But their chief reli
ance is In stock, and the herds Of sleek
white faces that grow fat on the open
range tell of their intelligent effort in
this direction Some of these settlers
are taking land in the midst of great
ranches and calling on the government
to protect them. which 1t is doing gen
erously. Others are buying out par
TALLY improved places. Then there are
scattered through the west families
that have lived there for fifteen years,
the few who remained when the boom
Of the eighties collapsed
What of the future? Is there an op
portunity for the eastern investor who
has mortgage on some Of this far
western land to recoup himself Or must
be suffer permanent loss? II is Ger
tain that he need not in most cases
lose everything. He will usually find,
after O little investigation, that he Is
either in a position to appeal to set
tiers or to cattlemen. The latter arc
especially in the market for good lands
and are willing 10 pay reasonable |
price to add new range TO their own |
under good title, Only recently a large |
section Of range west Of here was ptr
chased by a local cattleman. He had /
been trying for months to get it. A
few weeks ago a quiet old man went |
out into the midst Of a big cattle ranch |
and found seven quarter sections lying |
along d creek The ranehman had In