The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-06
HERDER SUPPLANT COWBOY
ONE OF THE GREAT CHANGES ON
 WESTERN RANGES.

How the Men Settled Old Strife Be-
 tween Owners of Sheep and Cattle
 Easy Work of Herders Attracted
 COwbOys-Keeping Account of the
 FIOcks.
 Few people realize what a great | change has come over the old time cattle ranges of the West. says the Den yer Republican. Not until one jour- neys in Wyoming and Montana ,and sees countless focks of sheep where a few. years ago there roamed immense herds of cattle does he realize how steadily the sheep have grown.
 In the Powder River country of Wy l oming, for instance, many old time | catlement are now engaged in the | sheep business. And one will find many old time cowboys engaged as sheep herders, almost incredible as that may seem in view of the ancient an- tipathy of the cowpuncher toward the herder. The best trainer of sheep dogs in Wyoming is Big Jim Everett of Buffalo-and Big Jim was crack cowboy in the days of the big herds.
 "There is nothing in cowpunching any more," said Big Jim to the writer. "The big herds are split up. and the roundups are small. The sheep men have the upper hand, and they pay better wages for herding than the catlemen tdo for cowpunching' You get better treated, too, as a cowboy ys life is all hardship and a sheep herder or camp tender has it easy most or the time. We get more money and better fare, so why shouldn't the cowboys turn herders?"
 This is the philosophy generally ac-
 cepted throughout the cattle country to-day, and in consequence all the olo
 time animosity between the sheep
 herder and the cowboy has been wiped
 out The herders are no longer recruit ed from the ranks of the Mexicans, but lare mostly young, clean cut. lnteh- gent Americans. They fraternize free- :: ily with the cowboys, and puncher who finds himself far out on the range with no grub in his saddle pockets al- ways makes it a point to hunt up a s sheen camp and take pot luck with the herders.
 !: Indeed. on Crazy Woman Creek, a branch of the Powder River, the writer remembers seeing a roundup force s branding steers, while not stone. s throw away a lot of sheep dlpperS were putting a band of bucks throusi their bath of tobacco and sulphur. Ane . when it came time to eat, the sheep 5 men and the cowboys sat down anc !: shared grub in all friendliness of spirit S The cowboys told stories of their sheel herding days, and the sheep herder told tales of their days of COW punch 8 ing, showing conclusively that all bar i riers are down and there IS ohl' Q friendship between the employees O
 fba rival range interests. Probably tn ' prowth of the sheep industry at tn ss axnense of the catle industry has pee 'st 6ua to the phenomenal values and woe oL ih recent years and the correspondln ss' decrease in cattle prices. While LII or' sheenrnan have been revelling Tn tn lg, hest of times, the catlemen have pee 'e- farinr 1osss. Sheep owners have bee
 enabled to buy great tracts of grazln So- 1an6 and in every way they hay ne strengthened their position on LII l@S range. How long this VIII last hg problematical. There may come a ua ore in the not distant future when the ue
 mand for cattle will bring the cattI ay harons to their own again, but at pres US ert the sheep owners are in the asceN 'i dency. ,n
 nbera is much to interest one ln zen visit +o a modern sheep camp. One car of ,o+ travel many miles in Wyoming (
 Montana. the banner sheep state rt- without coming across camp. of white tents of the herders and tr CIV filled sheep wagon look inviting to LII the +,o weller and he accepts the rdtal II
 vitation to take pot luck A T d SUI
 nar of deliciously cooked lamb (for IT
 berder is always given the privilege he l-onnine himself in fresh rneat)' u m- -,,si+or turns in, and sleeps without he t,raak until morning, as the sheep al ide OleoN +haI, he'd ground and u ma herders do not have to turn out'
 | Rrea kfaSE n1dThcu o th- road on the well filled mess chest
 tbe herder, and when the meal wa over the sheep were set in motion 1'
 the feeding ground. With the dogs ra too ing hack and forth and oarKlng' al Try colored bunch made its way slo" ing down the benches leading to the cree
 Soon the foremost sheep were in u
 water, picking their way leisurely ar
 stopping to drink. The herder stel
 ped to a good point of vantage and b Ssz gan to count his flock. Sheep herde m Lhave novel method of taking stoc
 which they have to do several times
 day. One black sheep for every tt
 white ones, is allotted to every foe @ These black sheep are known @ markers" and they alone are count
 It would be impossible to count
 flock of nearly 5000 sheep while t
 animals were crossing stream, so | black sheep figure alone in the inve
 tory. If a black sheep is missing t.