The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-30
LITTLE TALK,
BIG BUSINESS
How B. F. Saunders, Salt
Lakes Big Stock Man,
Buys and Sells.
RECORD TELEPHONE TOLLS
HANDLES SHEEP AND CATTLE IN
EIGHT STATES.
RECORD TELEPHONE TOLLS

! North Temple street in this city, with a
| telephone within reach of his hand. r.
| f. Saunders. known to stockmen all over
the west as the best man in the bust
ness" buys and sells cattle and sheep by
the herd with the ease and complacency
that an ordinary man would exercise in
purchasing new hat or a grocer sell a
pound of sugar.
The biggest stock dealer between the
Rocky mountains and the Sierra Neva-
| das' is the way a cattle man describes
! him Nearly a life time in the cattle
business has made his name known wher-
| ever cOWpuncherS and SheepheTdeTS gath
! er to swap stories of the range
reputation for integrity and square deal
! ing established by long years in the
! trade has made him the trusted bus
! mess associate of the best stock con-
| Germs in the country, east or west And
remarkable storehouse of information
| concerning the ways of the range and
! the stock market has amassed for him
small fortune, of the size of which he
! does not boast or comment. and at which
! his friends can only guess
Mr.. Saunders has lived twenty-four
years in Utah-all but seven of that time
! In Salt Lake City. Although widely ac-
! quainted throughout the city the great
majority of his friends are probably un-
! aware of the vast volume Of business
which he transacts in the course of a
single year Figures often confuse. but
I little arithmetic would show that the
dealS carried on In Mr.. Saunders private
/ office run into figures really startling
An idea of the extent of his business
/ may be secured by a statement of his
! telephone bills for a single month An
ordinary merchants telephone bill for
! thirty days would be a poor thermometer
OF MS business. But in Mr. Saunders
case it is different Imagine q phone hin
running into three figures every month
/ inquiry at the telephone offices reveals
that Mr. Saunders pays more in telephone
told than any other individual or corpor-
alton in the city of Salt Lake
Hello, saunders!"
His office is equipped with two phones
/ one on each system. Through these he is
able to keep i'm touch with the chief points
in all the vast field covered by his trans
! actions. His agents are scattered
| throughout more than half a dozen states
| and territories They are i'm almost daily
! communication with their chief Through
! them he purchases, handles and delivers
! thousands of head of sheep and cattle
| He seldom sees the stock himself He ac-
| Cepts the word of his agents as to their
! general condition, and his own intimate
! knowledge Of the various ranges and the
| value or stock from day to day does the
| rest
The long distance lines radiating from
/ Salt Lake City, with their innumerable
! extensions and connections form a web
which covers ali the Rocky Wouptain
! section. and i'm the very center of the web
! sits this promoter and working genius
of the system, receiving reports and is
! suing orders. At one moment he will or
der the purchase of 1000 sheep in Arizona
and at the next he will be ARA ngfno for
the concentration of ten times that NUM-
| Der 800 miles away for immediate delivery
! to the coast.
His Talk Isn't Cheap.
This method of doing business naturally
entails vast amount of telephone com
munication, and as everybody knows
! telephone talk isn't cheap. Mr.. Saunders;
phone bill for month averages abont
400 and often runs above $500 or $500
! rms is bigger than the combined tele-
graph and telephone bills of an ordinary
newspaper office for the same length of
time %
Originally Mr.. Saunders was altogether
cattle man. In his younger davs he
'trailed' cattle in Missouri Kansas
| Iowa and Texas. He was a cowboy in
! the Panhandle country before he came
to Utah in the fall Of 1882 to engage i'm
BUSINESS on his own account. All told
/ he has spent forty years accommodating
I Knowledge of the western range which
| is probably not equalled by any other
mar IN the west His sheep operations
! extend over Montana. Oregon Idaho Ne
vada. Wyoming Utah, Colorado and New
Mexico. Last year he handled go 900 head
OF sheep, picking them up in every corner
of his widespread domain and selling them
under contract i'm the best market east
or west. A great many of his sales now
are being made on the Pacific coast. Ac-
NOiulilS 10 MS DIeSenL expectations he
will handle 100000 sheep during the nresl
en- year almost as many as during 1905
which was a banner year in the sheen
business.
His cattle transactions amount to more
than 10000 head each year. Down on
the Arizona strip. inst north Of the Colo
RADIO river, he has two big cattle ranches
both well stocked the year around Mr.
saunders returned last week from ten
days trip TO the south and found the
cattle IN that section i'm good shape and
the grazing along the line OF the Santa
Fe better than in many seasons
Holds His Contracts Sacred.
stranger making inquiries concern
ing Mr.. Saunders would readily discover
that he was on the trail OF an excep-
! tional character Those who have come
into contact with him and have followed
his career during the score of wears i'm
which he has been fixture in Salt Lake
cannot find words adequate to express
their admiration Of the man and his
methods.
| He has one undyins habit" said an old
acquaintance in speaking of him. That's
work. He is a marvel for work He can
ACCOMPLISH more i'm q ShOrtar Snoca Of