The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1926-09-09
STORY OF RANGE
is UNFOLDED IN
UNIQUE BOOKLET

Missoula, Sept. 3.-The story of the
western range, from the days of Cor
onado to the present time,, its marve-
lous resources in forage, how it was
stocked, the meeting of the herds of
the east and west, stock raising, past
and present, the causes of erosion and
range deterioration, and other prob
lens of the range and of range man
agement, are discussed in a publication
just issued by the department of agri-
culture under the title of "The Story
of the Range" This booklet is OBJ
tainable free, so long as the supply
lasts, upon application to United
States department of agriculture,
Washington, D. C.
THE Story of the Range" is based
on part of the hearings before the
committee on public lands and surveys,
of the United States senate, investi-
eating the grazing use of the public
domain landss, the Indian reservations,
and the national forests. 1t was writ
ten by Will c. Barnes, who for nearly
half century, has been in close touch
with range conditions throughout the
far western country, first as a practi-
cal western range stockman, and later
as inspector Of grazing and assistant
forester in charge Of the grazing work
Of the United States forest service,
which supervise and controls the use
of the national forest ranges by ap-
proximately 100000 head of live
stock.
Early History
The writer has delved deep into the
early history of this country as relat-
ed to livestock. Oddly enough, the
first beginnings of the industry were
at two widely separated points-on
the eastern coast of Mexico in 1921,
and few years later on stormy Cape
Breton Island, just off the peninsula Of
Nova Scotia. From these two points,
the livestock industry spread northeast
and southwest, and toward each other
until they finally met along the Rio
Grande in the southwest, and west of
the Rockies in the northwest. At
these points, the "long horns" from
the southwest met the better herd
stock from the east, and with the
merging of the breeds, the industry
began to develop materially.
The chapters covering the early
grazing history of the eastern colonies
bring out some surprising facts. Here
the booklet relates, Sin 1861 in Mary
land there were many bands of wild
cattle roaming in the woods about the
settlements; and again, speaking of
the Virginia colonies about ITS to
1885, it is stated that Gin the interior
much stock especially cattle and hogs,
ran wild in the woods"
Age Old Problem
Wild horses on the colonial range
were then, as today in the west,
problem for the stockmen. Beverley's
History of Virginia" alludes to this;
"There is another kind of sport, and
that is the hunting of wild horses
those having no mark upon them be-
long to him who first takes them"
With the advance of the homestead
err, the open range men were gradually
pressed back, first over the Alleghen-
les, then farther west until they reach
the great open plains of the arid
region; "the American desert" of the
early histories. Here, because of the
Indians, the arid conditions and the
lack Of transportation facilities, the
open range men held sway for many
years, but the advancing wave of set
tiers finally overlook them and they
were gradually lost amid the settlers
farms and advancing civilization.
Unappropriated Land
With all this, however, there still re-
mains over 1875 million acres of what
is known officially as the "unappropri-
ated unreserved public lands of the
United States" an area as large as
the state of Texas over which, as to it's
use, there is now absolutely no control
or supervision of any kind.
In this bulletin, the value of some
form of control over the use Of the
lands for grazing is clearly shown. No
particular bureau of the government is
indicated as the proper authority for
such supervision, although the success
of the forest service in handling such
areas within the national forests and
it's experience in having pioneered out
way along such lines is pointed out as
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