The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-27

~ AlUUQu0IXUSs 4Vs Ase mus -
This city Is headquarters tor one
Of the greatest wool growing sec
lions in the world, and incidental
ly for one OF the most picturesque
of American industries.
The whole southwest Is charac-
terized by . striking contrast be-
tween an old. crude civilization
which il dying out and new and
modern one which is almost ex-
plosiyely alive. This modern cur
rent Of life has trickled in along
the railroads somewhat incongru-
0usly and with surprising results,
like water let into q desert by
means of an irrigating canal.
But q few miles back from the
railroads the leisurely. picturesque
life of the old Spanish-Indian
regime goes its way little disturb
ed. So Albuquerque is q thriving
town, much more metropolitan for
Its size than q similar town in the
east, and as thoroughly American
IS chewing gum. But within q
days ride Of 1t are Mexican VIII
lagos where witchcraft is still
practiced and where they still
thresh grain as in biblical times
by driving a flock Of goats around
the threshing floor.
A Business of Contrasts.
This contrast is nowhere better
seen than in the sheep business.
Its commercial machinery of buy
ing and selling and insuring. CEN
tered here in Albuquerque, is as
modern as Wall street. 1t is car
ried on by shrewd and worried
looking men who drive enormous
distances 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 fol
generations before the railroads
and the gringOs came.
+ A change is coming slowly In
this end of the business, too. The
tendency to raise more feed fol
the sheep, build more shelter anG
more fences, improve the breed
and take better care of the stock
But this change is coming slowly
For the most part, the sheep arr
still raised on the open range a.
they were hundred years ago
For this work Mexicans are indis
pensable, and their methods ant
habits are as unchanging as tn,
mountains.
| The sheep range is most Of thu
state. Part of it is public land
part OF it is in the great Spanisl
land grants and part under tn,
forest service. but altogether it il
stretch of mountain and deser
and mesa land, unfenced, untame,
and untamable. To realize tn
sweep and emptiness of it 20,
must see it. There are many higl
points from which you can lool
across hundred miles of wilder
ness and see nothing that you Cal
certainly identify as the work Q
men.
Following the Herds.
+ The sheep are ranged in tn
, mountains during the summer, an
are driven down to the barren
looking mesa lands when the frs
SHOWS come. They are brought to
gether once year for shearin
and dipping at some headQuarter.
The rest of the time the shee
herders never called shepherds i
this country follow them acros
the range. 1t is common for thes
men to be away from home for 81
, months, and they have been know
, to stay for IS months. They ar
lazy fellows. but they know shee
as well as they know themselve,
and they have one great virtue
they will stay with the herd. Thes
men are not usually inspired
any great loyalty to their employ
ers, but they are inspired by a 10y
atty to the sheep which is almos
instructive. They are of peon stoc
and no doubt in the old days til
peon who deserted the sheep fare
badly. There was a whipping pos
and cat-of-nine-tails waiting fc
him at best and a load from
musket at worst. For practic,