Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-08-28
SHEEP
OF NEW M
LIKE ANCIES
Two Ends of Business Are as
Wall Street Compared to
Biblical Industries.
By FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

city is headquarters for one Of the
greatest wool-growing sections in the
world, and, incidentally, for one OF the
most picturesque of American industries.
The whole southwest is characterized
by a striking contrast between an old,
crude civilization which is dying out and
a new and modern one, which is almost
explosiyely alive.
This modern current of life has
triekIed in along the railroads somewhat
anonymously and with surprising re-
suits, like water let into a desert By
means of an irrigating canal.
But few miles back from the rail-
roads, the leisurely. picturesque life OF
the old Spanish Indian regime goes its
way little disturbed.
So Albuquerque is a thriving town.
much more metropolitan for its size than
similar town in the east, and as thor
oughly American as chewing gum.
But within a days ride of it are Mexi-
| can villages where witchcrafJ Is still
practiced and where they still thrash
| grain as in biblical times, by driving a
flock of goats around the thrashing
/ floor
! BUSINESS
| OF CONTRASTS.
! This contrast is nowhere better seen
| than in the sheep business.
| lLS commercial machinery -OL DuaAuK
and selling and insuring, centered here
| in Albuquerque, is as modern as Wall
/ street
1t is carried on by shrewd and worried
/ looking 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.
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
bred years ago.
For this work Mexicans are indispensa-
BILE, and their methods and habits are as
unchanging as the mountains.
The sheep range is most Of the state.
Part Of 1t is public land, part of it is
in the great Spanish land grants, and
part under the forest service, but alto
9
desert and mesa land, unfeneed, untamed
and untamable.
To realize the sweep and emptiness OF
it 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.
The sheep are ranged in the mountains
during the summer. and are driven down
to the barren looking mesa lands when
the first SHOWS come. !.
They are brought together once a year
for shearing and dipping at some head
quarters
The rest OF the time the sheep herders
/ (never called shepherds IN this country
follow theDa across the range.
1t is common for these men to be away
from home for six months. and they
have 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 virtue-they win
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
In the old days the peon who deserted
the sheep Jared badly
There was a whipping-post and cat
ef-nine tails waiting for MIN at best
and load from a musset at worst.
For practical reasons he would rather
die with the herd in a blizzard than
come home without it
Thus loyalty TO the sheep has become
almost q race trait with the Mexicans,
and one Of inestimable value to the
grigo capitalists who own the sheep anG
take down the profits.
The sheep herder gets his bacon and
! beans and perhaps $40 month.
ORGANIZED
LIKE ARMY.
The organization Of sheep outfit Is
as exact as that OF an army
The owner of all the sheep is known
to his employees as ell patron (the boss.
The sheep are divided into small herds
and In charge Of each three herds is
q sort Of superior officer or overscer,
who probably bears the title of cRporal.
In immediate charge of each herd Is
q chief herder known somewhat grandly
as the mayodomo, and he has an as
sistant herder known as the ayudante
and cook and packer called Campero.
Each OF these officers treats his i'm
mediate superior with a certain defer
ence. and is proud of his own authority.
The caporal is directly responsible to
the patron for the sheep in his charge,
und he in turn holds the mayodonos
directly responsible.
He accepts excuses no more than did
Napoleon.
When everything goes well 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 batting foolish creatures, who are
worth so much money and perish SO
easily.
Drouth wipes them out, storms over
whelm them, coyote, wolf and mountain
lion hang on the TANKS of the herd and
take regular toll.
Weather is their worst enemy, and
nowhere is the weather more incalcula-
BILE 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 a few years ago winter came q
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 caporal, who
had his herds several days drive into
the mountains, but who saw the storm
clouds coming, and started just before
the storm broke, with all three Of his
herds and all six of his men, in q des-
Doroko DIVA for safety