The daily sentinel., 1908-03-04

York Sun. a few days ago contained
feature story. written by one of it's
passage of 1.-The sheep army" whose
staff correspondents, regarding the
march through this section of Colo
rado was first detailed and an
nounced by The Daily Sentinel. 1t
is an interesting story and is well
worth reproducing. 1t follows:
(New York SUM-
For the cowman loves the sheep man
And loves him mighty we'll,
And the sheepman loves the cowman
He does-like hell!
The chorus to a song often heard
in the sheep camps of the West quav-
cred out on the crisp winter air of
the Rockies. 1t was sung by camp
cook-a man whose humorous cast
of eye and mouth was at variance
with the belt of cartridges about his
waist and the Winchester propped
against a tree near at hand. There
were other men moving restlessly
about mostly Mexican herders, and
all of them had full cartridge belts
and guns. On the surrounding hills
were men standing sentinellike. They
also had cartridge belts and Gu1s.
And all about were sheep and more
sheep, and the tinkle of sheep bells
and the "baa" of lambs filled the
air.
1t was the great sheep army NOV
ing from the summer range in the
Rocky mountains in western Colo
rado to the winter range on the high
plateau of eastern Utah. And the
cartridge belts and the guns and the
guards on the surrounding hills were
all evidences of the fact that this
great mass of $1,000 sheep was be-
ing trailed through a hostile coun-
try where the cowmen had sworn to
exact vengeance from any sheepman
who crossed the dead line
No such daring move has ever
been made in the history of the West
For years the unorganized sheepmen
have suffered depredations at the
hands of the well organized cattle
men. The country divided by the
Colorado-Utah line has been one of
the backgrounds between these con-
flicting interests of the open range.
Time after time when herders have
crossed the dead line drawn by
the cattlemen cowboys have visited
the camps of the offending herders
and have killed the sheep, burned
the wagons and driven the men back
with stern orders never to return.
The climax was reached in April
last year, when one night on Indian
Creek, young sheep herder was
murdered by cattlemen. Swanson
was accompanied by his brother and
a man named Gourley. These two
men were in camp with Swanson
when a band of armed cattlemen
rode up and called to them to sur
render. Gourley and Peter Swanson's
brother were bound hand and foot
Without resistance. but Peter Swan
son hesitated. But before the herder
had chance to draw a weapon he
was shot, one of the horsemen get
ting down out of his saddle in order
to get better shot at the herder
After shooting the man, the horse
men rode away in the darkness, leav-
ing two of the herders bound hand
and foot and the other fatally
wounded. Finally the men who We're
bound managed to get themselves
free and carried Swanson to the
nearest ranch house, but the Younger
herder died in a few hours.
Swansons killing aroused the
sheepmen of Colorado to frenzy. The
Western Wool Growers Association
offered 1900 reward for the appre-
hension of the slayers of the herder.
A strong organization was effected
among the sheepmen. and in Jan
NARY of this year, when it was de
termined to move the sheep from the
summer range to the plains where
they feed in winter, the sheepmen
decided to adopt strenuous methods
for mutual protection.
They feed in summer on the slopes
of the Rocky mountains. but in win
ter they are moved back to the
plains, where they find subsistence
until the spring suns melt the deep
SHOWS from the mountain ranges. 1t
is necessary to trail the sheep many
miles across a country where the
cattlemen are strong and where
many sheep killings have occurred
So the sheepmen hired one hundred
of the best gun fighters that could
be secured in all the Western coun-
try to act as guards while the herds
were being moved. The sheep were
divided in three divisions of 1000
each. Generally sheep travel in
bands of not more than 1000. The
massing of more than 10000 was a
sight not soon to be forgotten. The
divisions moved slowly down the
mountain road from Montrose to-
ward Grand Junction. Everything
was done with the utmost precision
and vigilance was not relaxed an in
slant. Guard mounts were changed
with military regularity. Scouts were
sent ahead and at night there were
armed watchers surrounding every
division to guard against surprise.
The camping outfit for the army
was of large proportions. Scores of
burros carried the provisions, tents,
etc. The packers, herders and guards
swelled the total number of men to
more than two hundred-and every
man was armed to the teeth and
ready to do battle to the death.
When. the sheepmen reached the