Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-08-27
SHEEP RANGES
OFNEW MEXICO
LIKE ANCIENTS'
Two Ends of Business Are as
Wall Street Compared to
Biblical Industries.
MExICANS Do THE WORK
By FREDERIC j. HAsKIN.

most picturesque Of American industries
s The whole southwest is characterized
ny a striking contrast between an old,
scrude civilization which is dying out and
"a new and modern one. which is almost
sexplosively alive.
This modern current of life has
gtriekled in along the railroads somewhat
anonymously and with surprising re-
esults, like water let into a desert by
s4neans of an irrigating canal.
But a few miles back from the rail-
1oads. the leisurely. picturesque life or
abe old Spanish Indian regime goes its
bNay little disturbed.
p, So Albuquerque is a thriving town.
much more metropolitan for it's size than
"a similar town in the east, and as thor
soughly American as chewing gum.
But within a days ride of it are Next
can villages where witchcraft is still
spracticed and where they still thrash
grain as in biblical times, by driving
iock Of goats around the thrashing
floor.
BUSINESS
OF CONTRASTS.
This contrast is nowhere better seen
than in the sheep business.
It's commercial machinery OF buying
and selling and tnsuring, centered-he-e
in Albuquerque, is as modern as Wall
street.
3 It Is carried on by shrewd and worried
booking men who drive enormous dis
tances in high-powered cars. watch the
stock market with keen intensity, and
take frequent trips TO New York and
Boston
But the actual care of the sheep is in
The hands of Mexicans. who carry on
their trade as It was carried on for gen
erations before the railroads and the
gringoes came.
A change is coming slowly in this
end Of the business, too.
The tendency is to raise more food for
the sheep, build more shelters and more
fences improve the breed and take bet
ter care of the stock.
But this change is coming slowly. For
the must part, the sheep are still raised
on the open range as they were hun
For this work Mexicans are indispsnsa
BILE. and their methods and habits are as
unchanging as the mountains.
The sheep range is most of the state.
Part of it is public land. part of it is
in the great Spanish land grants, apd
part under the forest service, but alto
gether 1t is a stretch of mountain and
desert and mesa land, unfenced, untamed
and untamable.
To realize the sweep and emptiness OF
ii you must see It, There are many high
points from which you can look across
hundreds of miles Of wilderness and see
nothing that You can certainly identify
as the work Of men.
FOLLOWING
THE HERDS.
The sheep are ranged in the mountains
during the summer. and are driven down
20 the barren looking mesa lands when
the first SHOWS come.
Z They are brought together once year
Tor shearing and dipping at some head
quarters.
The rest OF the time the sheep herders
8never called shepherds in this country
follow thep' across the range
il is common for these men to be away
froio home for six months and they
tsve been known TO stay for eighteen
months
They are lazy fellows. but they know
Sheep as well as they know themselves
and they have one great yirtue-they will
stay with the herd.
These men are not usually inspired by
any great loyalty to their employer, but
they are inspired by a loyalty to the
sheep which is almost instructive.
They are of peon stock and no doubt
~ the old days the peon who deserted
the sheep Jared badly
There was a whipping post and caJ-
. q nine tails waiting for MIN at best
end load from musket at worst
For practical reasons he would rather
die with the herd in a blizzard than
come home without it.
Z Thus loyalty to the sheep has become
almost race trait with the Mexfcans,
and one of inestimable value to the
grigo capitalists who own the sheep ano
take down the profits.
The sheep herder gets his bacon and
beans and perhaps $40 a month.
ORGANIZED
LIKE ARMY.
The organization of a sheep outfit Is
IS exact as that of an army
The owner of all the sheep is known
20 his employees as Ell patron (the BOSS.
The sheep are divided into small herds
and in charge of each three herds is
sort Of superior officer or overseer.
who probably bears the title Of caporal
In immediate charge of each herd IS
chief herder known somewhat grfndIy
as the mayodomo, and he has an as
sistant herder known as the ayudante
and cook and packer called Camparo.
Zach Of these officers treats his i'm
mediate superior with q certain defer
enee, and Is proud OF his own authority
The caporal is directly responsible to
the patron for the sheep in his charge
aud he in turn holds the mayodonos
directly responsible
He accepts excuses no more than cid
Napoleon.
When everything goes we'll the life of
the sheep herder on the range, especially
In the summer, is not a hard one: but
all sorts Of dangers menace these troops
Of blatting foolish creatures, who are
worth SO much money and perish SO
easily.
Drouth wipes them out. storms over
whelm them. coyote, wolf and mountain
bon hang on the tanks of the herd and
stake regular toll.
WEATHERs
WORST ENEMY.
Weather is their worst enemy, and
nowhere is the weather more incsleula-
bic than in New Mexico
Throughout most of the state. for ex-
ample, It is safe to leave the herds In
the rich mountain range until October;
snow seldom falls before November.
But few years ago winter came a
month ahead Of time, and deep snow
fell like the hand of death on hundreds
Of herds that were among the mountain
tops, separated from the lowlands by
deep canyons, where the drifts piled up
higher than a mans head.
Most Of these herds that were more
than days drive from safety persisted
TO the last sheep
But there was one young caporaI, who
had his herds several days drive into