Eh Gag James S.BRISBIN
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THE BEEF BONANZA;
OR,
HOW TO GET RICH ON THE PLAINS.
BEING A DESCRIPTION OF
CATTLE-GROWING, SHEEP-FARMING, HORSE-RAISING,
AND DAIRYING
IN THE WEST.
BY
GEN. JAMES §8. BRISBIN, U.S.A.,
=
AUTHOR OF “ BELDEN, THE WHITE CHIEF,” “LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT,”
“LIFE OF uv. A. GARFIELD,” “LIFE OF GEN. W. S. HANCOCK.”
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
. LONDON: 16 SOUTHAMPTON §8T., COVENT GARDEN.
1881.
4 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
MILLIONS IN BEEF.
PAGE
An Interesting Letter from One Who Knows—A Generous
Offer of a Fortune—Just what can be done with Money
and Brains—Figures that Tell . ‘ i 7 ‘ . 69
CHAPTER VI.
GREAT LANDS IN THE SOUTHWEST.
Texas Cattle-Kings—Who they are and what they own—
Mammoth Ranches—Letters from Cattle-Owners on the
Plains—Cattle-Grasses ‘ 2 é : a F . 7
CHAPTER VII.
MORE ABOUT CATTLE-LANDS.
Interesting Letters—The Testimony of Generals Reynolds,
Meyers, and Bradley, Edward Creighton, Alexander
Street, and Governors McCook and isaac Fu-
ture of the Plains. c j - F 2 - 81
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST.
CHAPTER VIII.
GREAT OPPORTUNITIES,
The Raising of Sheep—Where it is Done—The Wool Crop
of the \igupaiasens Haga of the Plains—A Fortune in
a Clip. a 8 : . “8 - 98
CHAPTER IX.
GREAT PASTURE-LANDS,
Where Sheep can be best Raised —Who the Sheep-Owners
of the Plains are—How the Ranches are Managed—Letters
from Sheep-Raisers . é : s ; ‘ 3 . 106
CONTENTS. 5
CHAPTER X.
A SHEEP-RANCH,
What Kind of a Ranch to select—Profits of Sheep-Growing
—Mr. Post’s Herd—Letters from Hon. William D. Kelley,
Senator Conkling, and Hon. J. B. Grinnell : é 119
PAGE
HORSE-RAISING IN THE WEST.
CHAPTER XI.
HORSE-RAISING IN THE WEST.
Who the Horse-Raisers are—How they Manage their Herds
—Profits of Horse-Raising under Favorable Conditions—
Horse Notes é : : : ‘ ‘ . 148
DAIRYING OUT WEST.
CHAPTER XII.
THE GIFT OF THE COWS. "
The Growth of the Dairying Business—Butter and Cheese
produced in the United States—Letter from a Dairyman—
‘What can be made in the Business . . . 5 . 151
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST.
CHAPTER XIII.
MONTANA.
A Great State—The Chances for the Emigrant—Farmers of
Montana and what they own—A Stock-Grower’s Letter
and Experience . : my ee . = : . 163
APPENDIX.
CatTTLeE-RaIsine IN CoLoRraDo . - : 3 : . 197
i
ca
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Herd of Steers on the Prairie . . . - Frontispiece
A View from Safe Quarters . : . ae . 28
Rounding Out the Calves . . . rs . . 61
Branding Cattle . : . . ‘ . 3 . ‘74
Washing and Shearing Sheep . . ‘ é ‘ - 120
Lassoing Horses . ‘ . . . . : . 148
Waiting for the Fog to Clear . . i . F » 175
A Quiet Inspection . : P . . ‘ . . 193
INTRODUCTORY.
On the atlases of thirty or forty years ago, when the
stock of information concerning the territory now com-
prised in the flourishing States of Kansas and Nebraska,
and in Eastern Colorado and Dakota, was exceedingly
limited, the whole of it was represented as the “ Great
American Desert.” The boy who studied geography
then conceived an affection for this desert, a fact which
did honor to his patriotism. His country had the
highest mountains, the greatest lakes, and the largest
rivers in the world, and it flattered his national pride to
see on its map a desert which rivalled in size anything
the Old World could produce in the same line. There
was one-natural feature of the Eastern Continent which
humbled his pride of country somewhat. This was
the terrible Maelstrom on the coast of Norway, that
furious whirlpool which the Western World had
nothing to match. But he has lived to see that un-
matched whirlpool robbed of its terrors. It is almost
surveyed out of existence, and in its present condition
it does not greatly outrank the late Hell Gate in New
York harbor. With the disappearance of the hated
Maelstrom, however, he has had the mortification to see
his favorite desert vanish from the map. That barren
terra-incognita of his youth is now one of the finest
9
10 INTRODUCTORY.
grazing regions on the globe, and a large portion of it
is yielding excellent crops to the agriculturist. This
ancient desert has been for a long time the favorite
pasturing ground of the buffalo, and it doubtless now
contains more domestic cattle than it ever did buffa-
loes.
The eastern boundary of the old desert was the Mis-
souri River, and it is fresh in the memory of many that
when settlement began on the west bank of that river
it was supposed its natural limit would be in the imme-
diate vicinity of the stream. Gradually the desert was
pushed westward a hundred miles, as far as the Big
Blue, which was fixed upon as its eastern boundary.
But the farmers did not stop here. They continued to
plough up the eastern edge of the desert until it was
moved another hundred miles west, to Fort Kearney,
where it was supposed it would forever remain. This
frontier was about in the middle of the desert as origi-
nally laid out by Lewis and Clark, and it was thought
that here at least the spirit of innovation would be satis-
fied. Nevertheless, the farmers continued to push
westward, and now the occupants of the remaining
portion of the great waste are viewing with alarm the
persistent demonstration of the fertility of their desert
domain. The great cattle-kings claim that the country
is utterly unfit for cultivation, to which the farmers
reply by ploughing up a strip on its eastern edge every
year some ten miles wide, and raising good crops.
The cattle-kings fear the utter destruction of their
fine ranges in prospect unless something can be done to
establish their desert character, They need have no
INTRODUCTORY. 11
cause for alarm. There is an American Desert in the
far West which can never be used for any other pur-
pose than the raising of great herds. It is of these
lands and the cattle upon them the following pages
treat.
The plains of the West, instead of being barren and
worthless as early geographers supposed, have become
one of the richest parts of our public domain. The
vast beef reservoir they contain is now the fit subject
of an interesting volume.
PREFACE.
THE NEW WEST.
I HAVE been a resident of the West for twelve years,
and my official duties have called me during that time
into nearly every State and Territory between the
Missouri and the Pacific Coast. Almost every valley,
hill, mountain, and pass of which I have written has
been ridden over by me on horseback, and I have
observed everywhere the unbounded capacity of the
West, not only for stock-growing, but farming, mining,
and manufacturing. To me the West is a never-ceasing
source of wonder, and I cannot imagine why people
remain in the over-crowded East, while so many lands
and chances are to the west of them. The West to-day
is not what it was yesterday, and it will not be to-
morrow what it is to-day. New discoveries, new
developments and improvements are constantly being
made, and a new West springing up.
The West! The mighty West! That land where
the buffalo still roams and the wild savage dwells;
where the broad rivers flow and the boundless prairie
stretches away for thousands of miles ; where new States
are every year carved out and myriads of people find
2 13
14 PREFACE.
homes and wealth ; where the poor professional young
man, flying from the over-crowded East and the tyr-
anny of a moneyed aristocracy, finds honor and wealth ;
where the young politician, unoppressed by rings and
combinations, relying upon his own abilities, may rise
to position and fame; where there are lands for the
landless, money for the moneyless, briefs for lawyers,
patients for doctors, and above all, labor and its reward
for every poor man who is willing to work. This is
the West as I have known it for twelve years, and
learned to love it because of its grateful return to all
those who have tried to improve it. Its big-hearted
people never push a young man back, but generously
help him on, and so, by being great themselves, have
learned how to make others great. ‘Where had I best
settle?” ‘Where can I buy the cheapest and best
land?” “ Where will I be safe?” “Where can I
raise the best stock?’ These are questions asked every
day by people all over the East. In vain do they look
into books and newspapers for answers to their inqui-
ries; they are not to be found; at least, not truthful
ones. I do not suppose I can supply all the informa-
tion required, but I can give my impressions, which
shal] at least have the merit of being honest. I believe
Kansas and Iowa are the best unsettled farming States;
Nebraska is the best State for farming and stock-raising
combined ; Colorado is the best State for sheep-growing,
farming, and mining; Wyoming is the best Territory
for cattle-growing alone; Montana is the best Territory
for cattle-growing and mining.
It does not matter where the emigrant settles in the
PREFACE. 15
West, so he comes; and he will almost anywhere soon
find himself better off than if he had remained East.
When I visit the Eastern States, it is a matter of
astonishment to me to learn how little is known of
the advantages, resources, and interests of the West.
The masses do not seem to understand what is west
of them, and cling to the hilly, stony, and unproduc-
tive lands where they were raised rather than move
to an unknown country. Often I hear city young
men in the East say, ‘If I had only come here twenty
years ago, I might now be a rich man. Land then
sold for a few dollars a foot, while now it is worth as
many hundreds or even thousands.” So, too, the
young farmer exclaims, “Land is so high, I can never
afford to buy a farm. When my father settled here
and bought, it was worth only $10, $20, or $30 per
acre, and now it is held at $100, and were I to buy a
farm, and pay the purchase-money down, I could not
more than raise the interest on the balance; therefore,
I can never hope to own a farm of my own.” Every
one East seems to think the days for speculation are
over, and they regret a hundred times a year they had
not been born fifty years sooner. To the discouraged
let me say, be of good heart and come West, for what
has been occurring in the East during the last two
hundred years is now occurring in the West, only with
tenfold more rapidity. “Young men, when your fathers
bought the homes and land which they now own, and
on which you were raised, there were no railroads, and
emigration was necessarily slow. Their property has
been thirty, forty, or even fifty years in reaching its
16 PREFACE.
present value. Not sothe West. Railroads are every-
where, and ten or twenty years at most will do for
you what it took your fathers fifty years to accomplish.
Millions of people are pressing westward, and settle
where you may you will soon find yourself sur-
rounded by neighbors, not in twos and threes as were
your fathers, but by hundreds and thousands of new-
comers. The growth of this West of ours has been
the miracle of the nineteenth century, and its improve-
ment has as yet only fairly begun. The Old World
annually pours myriads of people upon our Western
‘shores, and to these we add hundreds of thousands
from our native population, who find new homes each
year. The increase and development of the West is,
therefore, not to be wondered at, for it has the best
facilities of any land in the world. In one year 390,000
foreign emigrants landed in the United States, and
these did not include 30,000 Chinese and 2000 Cana-
dians. When the emigration from foreign sources,
which has been interrupted by domestic war, shall have
been restored to its natural flow, the influx will proba-
bly reach the following figures: Landing at New York,
350,000; at San Francisco, 100,000; at Philadelphia,
50,000 ; at Portland, Oregon, 10,000 ; at New Orleans,
10,000 ; at Galveston, Texas, 10,000; total, 530,000.
Of these fully 300,000 will come West, and the re-
mainder scatter through the South and East. Add to
the Western emigration 200,000 from native sources,
and we shall have half a million people annually seek-
ing homes in the West. It will not be very long until
the annual accessions to our population will equal the
PREFACE. 17
whole number of inhabitants living in the United
States at the time they achieved their independence
from Great Britain. The course of Prussia toward the
German States, in consolidating them into an empire,
and creating an emperor by dethroning kings who
were the legitimate rulers of their people, and in ap-
pointing over these people distasteful governors, has
caused thousands of wealthy Germans to seek our
shores, and will cause many thousands more to come.
When a people lose their country they do not often
care for their homes, and the Germans feel that they
are no longer Germans, but Prussians, who would
prefer rather to be Americans. The Chinese, after
being walled in for two thousand years, have at last
found a place to emigrate to, and, unless prevented,
millions of them will eventually come to the United
States. The sympathy ever manifested by our people
for Ireland’s starving millions will reinvigorate emi-
gration from that unhappy country to our shores. The
result of all this will be to settle up the West and
double our population, large as it is. Young men who
have polled their first vote will live to see the day when
the United States will contain 100,000,000 of people.
What must be apparent to every one, and what ought
to be impressed on the minds of men, both old and
young, is the fact that there will soon be no unsettled
West. Several lines of emigration have already pene-
trated across the continent, and settlements are rapidly
spreading from the right and left of them until they
intersect each other, and when the West is settled, what
then? Then, indeed, will the young men have cause
é 2%
18 PREFACE.
to say, “If we had only been born thirty years sooner
we might have become rich.” There will then be no
unoccupied lands; no homestead laws ; no West to seek.
The country, one vast sea of cities, towns, villas, and
farms, will stretch out from ocean to ocean, and in
America, as in England, the highest claim to wealth
and respectability will be the proprietorship of the soil.
Do you ask who will live to see the country settled ?
I answer, thousands of men and women who are now
in middle life; and even old men may yet live to see
the day when those rich prairie lands of ours, now to
be had by living upon them, will bring $50 per acre.
The veteran grandfather who will come West can live
long enough to see towns and cities spring up, and farms
dot the land all over where now only the wild Indian
and the buffalo are found. Why stick to the rocky
and unproductive hill-sides of the East, when the best,
rich, level prairie lands and beautiful homes can be had
for $10 per acre? Or, if the emigrant is too poor to
buy, he can take up one, two, three, or four hundred
acres, and if he will but live on them for five years,
they are his and his children’s after him forever. A
great deal of sport a few years ago was made of Horace
Greeley for so often repeating his advice, “Go West,
young man; go West and take a farm, and grow up
with the country.” But after living in the West twelve
years, I can safely say that never did any man give
better advice to the youth of a nation. No industrious
man can make a mistake in moving West, and if I had
a son to advise, I should by all means say to him, “ Go
West as soon as you can; get a good piece of land, and
PREFACE. 19
hold on to it.” Of the subjects concerning which I
shall write in the following volume, I can only say
they do not by any means embrace the best interests
of the West, large and lucrative as they are in them-
selves. Farming may be set down first, mining second,
stock-growing third, and manufacturing fourth among
the great advantages of the West. Of these subjects
only one—stock-growing—will be written upon by me,
and it is my hope some abler pen will write up the other
great resources and interests of the mighty and unknown
Far West.
JAMES 8. BRISBIN,
U.S. Army.
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST.
21
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST.
CHAPTER I.
THE LAND TO THE WEST OF US.
The Great Grazing-Lands of the Plains—Increase of Population *
and Decrease of Cattle—Cattle-Kings of Nebraska and
Wyoming—The Herds and Where they Graze.
THE increasing interest felt among all classes of
people East regarding stock-growing in the West and
the profits to be derived from this occupation induces
me to offer the public information gathered at various
times during a residence of twelve years on the Plains
among the herds.
Let me premise by saying that in the whole world
there are but five great natural grazing-grounds, located
in Central Asia, South Africa, South America, Austra-
lia, and on the plains of America. The first is larger
in extent than all Europe; the second is as great; the
third half as much; the fourth as large as South
America; and the fifth, the boundless plains of the
United States, contain 1,650,000 square miles with
over a billion of acres.
These pastoral lands of ours have never been under-
23
24 THE BEEF BONANZA.
stood or appreciated. The day will come when the
government will derive more taxes from the grazing
country than the best agricultural regions. These arid
plains, so long considered worthless, are the natural
meat-producing lands of the nation, and in a few years
30,000,000. of people will draw their beef from them.
All the figures I have seen published have rather
understated than overestimated their capacity.
In 1869 the whole of the live-stock in the United
States was estimated to be worth $1,500,000,000. In
1840 the average number of cattle in America to every
100 persons was less than 100 head, and in 1850
only about 75 head to 100 people. In 1860 the
States and Territories had the following ratio to 100
people: Alabama, 81 head; Arkansas, 126; Cali-
fornia, 387 ; Connecticut, 48 ; Delaware, 51; Florida,
274; Georgia, 95; Illinois, 87; Indiana, 87; Iowa,
79; Kansas, 81; Kentucky, 72; Louisiana, 73;
Maine, 59; Maryland, 37; Massachusetts, 22 ; Michi-
gan, 71; Minnesota, 68; Mississippi, 91; Missouri,
98; New Hampshire, 81; New Jersey, 34; New
York, 50; North Carolina, 69; Ohio, 70; Oregon,
292; Pennsylvania, 48; Rhode Island, 22; South
Carolina, 72; Tennessee, 68; Texas, 579; Vermont,
115; Virginia, 65; Wisconsin, 66 ; District of Colum-
bia, 1; Dakota, 30; Nebraska, 100; New Mexico,
108; Utah, 100; Washington Territory, 259. The
stock-producing region of Wyoming was then unknown.
If we consult the tables it will be observed that if
cattle-breeding in the United States was stopped for
five years all the cattle would be eaten up. Since 1860
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 95
four States and Territories have increased their stock,
five have stood still, and thirty have decreased in com-
parison with the population. The rapid increase of: our
population will soon require that more cattle be raised,
or we shall have to pay higher prices for beef. The
number of people is increasing much faster than the
number of cattle. The receipts of cattle in Chicago in
1867 were 334,188, as against 324,599 in 1868, show-
ing a decrease in one year of 9659 head brought to
market. Since then the cattle product of Wyoming has
done something to relieve the Chicago market, but the
number has not kept pace with the increase of popula-
tion in that city. In 1863 cattle brought in Chicago
$4.80 per hundred; in 1864, $7.52; in 1865, $8.46;
in 1866, $7.72; in 1867, $8.02; and in 1868, $8.10.
In 1867 the value of meat consumed in the United
States was $1,396,643,699, and in 1868, $1,337,111,-
822, showing that notwithstanding the increased value
of stock there was a decrease in the total value of
$59,531,877. Since then we have no accurate reports,
but the ratio of annual increase of stock in the country
is about 1? per cent. So we must raise more catile, or
in a few years pay higher prices for beef. This view
of the case-is most encouraging to the stock-growers,
and shows conclusively the importance of the cattle
trade. For ten years at least yet the stock-growers need
have no fear of overstocking the beef market.
As before stated, the great pasture-lands of the
country aggregate over one million square miles, and
are located principally along the Rio Grande, Neuces,
San Antonio, Guadalupe, Colorado, Brazos, Trinity,
B 3
96 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Main Red, Washita, Canadian, Cimaron, Arkansas,
Smoky Hill, Saline, Salmon Fork, Republican, North
and South Plattes, Loup Fork, Niobrara, White Earth,
Big Cheyenne, Little Missouri, Powder River, Tongue,
Rosebud, Big Horn, Wind Rivers, Yellowstone, Milk
River, Musselshell, Marias, Jefferson, and Missouri.
The length of these streams is over twenty thousand
miles. The small streams on the eastern slope of the
Rocky Mountains are the Blue Water, Cold Water,
Hill Creek, Raw Hide, Muddy Willow, Shawnee, Slate,
Sweet Water, Ash, Pumpkin, Laramie, Carter, Cotton-
wood, Horseshoe, Elkhorn, Deer Creek, Medicine
Bow, Rock Creek, Douglas, Lodge Pole, Big Laramie,
Little Laramie, and north-south forks of Platte, Horse
Creek, Beaver, Pawnee, Crow, Lone Tree, Big Beaver,
Bijou, Kiowa, and Bear Creeks, and Cache-la-Poudre.
The Plattes are the best grazing-grounds east of Mon-
tana, and the Cache-la-Poudre and Big Thompson rank
next. The grazing-lands on these two streams alone
are put as high as 12,000,000 acres. The Cache-la-
Poudre is famous for its fine vegetables as well as its
grazing. I have myself seen cabbage-heads raised there
that weighed fifty pounds each, turnips twelve pounds,
and potatoes three pounds, The climate in the grazing-
country I have described is fine, the temperature in
summer averaging from 45 to 75 and 90 degrees, and
in winter 30 to 32 degrées. The mean temperature for
the year is 50 to 55 degrees. Out of the 365 days in
the year 275 are clear. The snow-line in the east, on
the White Mountains, is fixed at an elevation of 7000
feet; on the Alleghanies at 7200; and on the Rocky
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. oT
Mountains at 12,000. Vegetation ceases on the White
Mountains at 5000, on the Alleghanies at 5500, while
in the Black Hills of the West, at Sherman, at 8200
feet high vegetation is rank. Strawberries grow on the
tops of the mountains, and evergreen-trees flourish at an
elevation of 11,000 feet. There is little difference be-
tween the climate of the Plains and the Atlantic Coast.
The rainfall on the Plains has greatly increased of late
years, and the average is eighteen inches per annum,
divided as follows: spring, 8,52,; summer, 52% ;
autumn, 3,90; inches. The snowfall is also about eigh-
teen inches. Later in this volume I shall present a
theory for the prevailing high winds on the Plains, and
also give letters from Sir Roderick Murchison and sev-
eral army officers relative to the cause of the mildness
of the climate in such a high latitude, but I have said
enough about the climate for the present, and sufficient,
I think, to convince any one that the Great American
Desert is not such a bad place to live, and indeed no
desert at all.
CHAPTER IL.
GREAT LANDS AND GREAT OWNERS,
Ranches along the Platte River—Herds in Wyoming and Ne-
braska—Their Increase and Profits—Cattle-Kings—The Great
Stock-Drivers, who they are and how they Operate.
I visrrep the herds of the Plattes and made careful
inquiry as to the number of cattle, names of owners,
and profits to be derived from cattle-breeding.
On the Laramie Plains I saw the finest cattle, and
one herd in particular pleased me, a drove of 1500 cows,
with 2300 calves of various ages. First we came upon
a few stragglers, or warders, guarding the herd, who
seemed to be sentinels over the calves. Next we found
families of two, four, and six, in groups, then bunches
of a dozen, and lastly the great body of the herd.
The cows were Texas, bred to large Durham bulls,
and the calves bore strongly the impress of the male.
Nearly all had thick necks, sturdy bodies, and seemed
very healthy. I saw one enormous bull, and near him
a cow with three calves, one a two-year-old, one a year-
ling, and one about two weeks old. It was a grand
sight, this herd of 1500 cows, 50 bulls, and 2300:
calves. They were much scattered, covering the prairie
for miles, and seemed an endless mass of beef for one
man to possess; yet I was told that the gentleman who
28
A VIEW FROM SAFE QUARTERS.
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 99
owned this herd had three larger ones. I saw a little
calf just taking his first steps on the prairie, and stopped
to observe him. The cow ran away at my approach,
but immediately came back and stood resolutely and
defiantly by her young ; indeed, so wicked did she look,
that the driver whipped up his horses and got away as
soon as possible. These Texas cows are dangerous if
approached too closely, and, from the fire in the beast’s
eyes, I am sure she was going to charge.
It is a study to observe the habits of the prairie
cattle. They run in families like buffalo, the cows
keeping their calves with them sometimes until they
are three or four years old. It frequently happens that
the mother has under her protection sons and daughters
larger than herself. The cow watches over her off-
spring, and when they disobey punishes them with her
horns, to which they tamely submit, like well-trained
children. In the middle of the day the cattle leave
the high grounds and go to the river bottoms for water,
and about nightfall return to the high grounds. In
travelling back and forth to the water they march in
single file, using the same paths as the buffalo, and, like
them, wear deep ruts in the earth. The cattle fre-
quently go four and five miles to water, but, having
slaked their thirst, nearly always return to the same
ground from which they started out. The following
are the names of some of the principal cattle-owners in
Wyoming Territory and Western Nebraska. In Lincoln
County, Western Nebraska, near North Platte, a station
on the Union Pacific Railroad, the following owners
keep the number of cattle set opposite their names:
23*
30 THE BEEF
Reith & Barton .
Coe, Carter & Pratt .
Bent & Evans
Russell & Watt .
Webster & Randall
D. W. Baker
Major Walker
George W. Plummer.
8. P. Lang. :
Arnold & Richie
Ed. Welch.
George Burke
Charles McDonald
Blake & Lyford .
Jack McCullough
J. E. Evans
BONANZA.
6500
4000
2000
1800
1000
500
400
1000
500
900
650
500
200
300
175
70
#
In the vicinity of Ogallala, Nebraska, another station
on the Union Pacific Railroad, the following herds
graze:
Lonergan Brothers .
James Boyd .
Paxton & Sharp
Bosler & Irving
Bosler & Lawrence .
J. H. Bosler
Searle Brothers
L. M. Stone
Bradley, Ten Broeck & Co.
Sheidley Brothers
George Green .
Wild Pete
G. W. Barnhart .
Walrath Brothers .
John Lute -
Millet & Maybray . ;
Pratt & Ferris , .
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 31
On the Republican River, about seventy miles south
of Ogallala, there are a number of small herds and one
or two large ones. The following are the names of
some of the owners:
Bolles & Doyle . . 5 . ‘ : F - 800
J. H. Jones 3 ‘ 5 - , , 3 ‘ . 400
Beauvals . 2 ‘ é ‘ 3 ‘5 ‘ 3 . 275
Mr. Ross. é : : : ‘ : ‘ é . 1300
Near Julesburg, Union Pacific Railroad, the owners
are:
Edward Meagee . . . . : : . « 175
Captain Coffman . . . . r . ? - 1900
Keline & Son . . . . . . : . - 2500
C. McCarty : ‘ : ‘ . . 7 : » 125
James Wear. 7 . . . . . _ 2 70
Harkinson & Griffin . : r 7 . . . 609
Broughton & Tassal . - 7 7 . : . - 8000
Grady Brothers (cows) . - . i> ae - 60
Wheeler & Merchant 3 . FI . a : - 1200
Tusler Brothers . . : . : . . . - 1800
Charles A. Moore. ‘i ‘ . . . . - 2000
D.B. Lynch. : 3 5 ‘ . A : . 450
R. C. Howard . : . . . . , ‘ . 660
Tom Kane. 3 5 F 3 . . . . - 1000
Harry Newman . i 5 : é : . . . 550
Callahan & Musherd . : . . : 7 ‘ + 200
John Coad & Brother : . . . 3 ‘ . 3000
Adams, Reddington & Co. 7 F . : . - 2000
Foley & Center . E : - . . ‘ . - 160
Frank Wright . : 4 F . : 2 ‘ . 110
J.D. May . 7 : . a ‘i . . : . 120
Hungate & Co. . : : a . é . 7 ; 70
Mr. Borgynist (cows) . f . : : : ‘ 60
32 THE BEEF BONANZA.
The great headquarters of the cattle-men of Wyoming
Territory is Cheyenne. The herds are scattered over
a wide extent of land. Here are fhe names of the
principal owners:
Stout & Stewart, Horse Creek . ; . - 7 . 100
A. M. Rogers, Crow Creek . . : . ‘ » 120
A. H. Reel, Pole Creek. : . é - é - 860
W. Rowlands, Muddy Creek . , F i 3: ‘ 80
W. W. Sawyer, Clingwater Creek . : ‘ . 270
D. S. Shaw, Horse Creek . : . - - ‘ . 850
R. G. Strause, Richard Creek . ‘ 5 ‘ ‘ . 160
J. Phillips, Clingwater Creek . 3 : 3 4 . 150
J. Leoniwan, Sibil Creek . ° é ‘ ‘ ‘ . 250
F. M. Phillips, Clingwater Creek . Fi . : - 1400
Lomis & Trimble, Horse Creek . - 2 . - 900
H. N. Orr & Co., Horse Creek . 3 ‘ Fi : . 700
David Lannen, Pole Creek . . . 7 - . 850
Maynard & Co., Horse Creek . . i : - 1500
B. A. Sheidly, Horseshoe Creek . . : 3 - 8000
F. Schwartz, Pole Creek . 3 . 5 . - 150
Swan Brothers, Sibil Creek 7 ‘ 3 ‘ 3 . 1800
Snyder & Wolfgen, Sibil Creek ‘ 7 . . 1500
George A. Searight, Horse Creek . ; i : . 1200
Sturgis & Goodell, Fir Creek . : ‘ : : . 1500
D. Trevitt, Cheyenne Creek . , . : 3 . 140
C. H. Terry, Lone Tree Creek . s . é - 180
D. C. Tracy, Pine Bluff Creek . . 7 - i . 1400
‘W. H. Wirkman, Horse Creek . . r : F 180
J. M. Wooliver, Bear Creek . 5 é ‘ . 800
R. Whalen, Clingwater Creek . . 4 " . 280
Jack Abney, Crow Creek . F x 2 : é ‘ 60
Alfred Bishop, Crow Creek . : A - 100
J. Arthur, Bitter Cottonwood Crete ; : Fi 600
M. A. Arnold, Crow Creek . : . é . 1400
John Boyd, Richard Creek . . E : : . 210
C. Culver, Horse Creek . : a ‘ : . 1000
B. B. Bishop, Crow Creek ‘ 5 f . i . 180
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 33
W. R. Blove, Bear Creek . ‘ 5 < ‘ ‘ - 400
Creighton & Co., Horse Creek . : . . 2 - 6000
C. H. Clay, Clingwater Creek . : ‘ . : - 150
M. V. Boughton, Bear Creek . : . < - . 1800
Colonel Bullock, Bear Creek . “ . : ‘ - 1000
Harvey Clayton, Horse Creek . ‘: 5 2 F . 200
Kent & Gueterman, Sibil Creek ‘ : ‘ : . 1000
D. H. Russell, Sibil Creek. : : ‘ : . . 200
R. Layton, Horse Creek . : F ei . A . 110
D. J. Lykins, Horse Creek F . : . ‘ - 400
McFarland & Co., Clingwater Creek : : . 450
Linderman & Co., Crow Creek . . . , ‘ . 800
F. J. McMahon, Horse Creek . ‘ F . é . 90
J. M. Carey & Brother, Crow Creek . : qi - 6000
Hi. B. Kelly, Clingwater Creek . : : : . - 1800
L. Davis, Horse Creek 5 F : . . . 180
M. F. Jones, Sibil Creek . : 4 7 i 7 - 900
William Dolan, Muddy Creek . : : a . . 110
H. Jackson, Horse Creek . J 7 ‘ 3 . . 100
J. A. Dial, Crow Creek . . J i : : . 60
A. W. Haygood, Crow Creek . : : : ‘ . 150
Mrs. F. C. Dixon, Pole Creek . : ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 70
E. Harkness, Pole Creek . . a : : 7 . 120
Durbin Brothers, Horse Creek . . . - . . 1800
Hunter & Abbott, Clingwater Creek. a : ‘ . 820
Dawdell & King, Pole Creek . ‘ ‘ F - . 850
O. P. Goodwin, Bear Creek : 7 , ‘ : - 100
Daniel Fallen, Muddy Creek . : : - é 60
L. George, Richard Creek . ‘ : s a‘ . 2650
M. Tagin, Horse Creek . - : : é » 150
J. Freil & Brother, Horse Credk 5 - . : . 100
J. W. Tliff (deceased), Crow Creek . ‘ : F - 7000
Webb & Coffey, Horse Creek . . . ‘ : - 1100
E. W. Whitcomb, Crow Creek . : é . 7 . 1000
Mrs. E. E. Whitney, Horse Creek . : . . c 60
Thomas Hall, Laramie River . . 3 . . . 200
-Ecoffey & Cuney, Laramie River. . . 3 . 1800
There are many other small herds of 50, 100, and
¢e
34 THE BEEF BONANZA.
200 head, but these will suffice to show the great cattle
business that has grown up on the Plains within the
past few years. The oldest of these herds has not
been breeding fifteen years. J. W. Iliff, now dead,
Joseph M. Carey, J. H. Bosler, and John Creighton
have been recognized as the great cattle-kings of the
Plains. These men count their herds by the thousands,
and will soon count them by tens of thousands.
CHAPTER III.
ESTIMATED FORTUNES.
Profits of Cattle-Raising in Nebraska—Manner of Managing
Herds—Some Notable Ranches and the Profits.
In the last chapter I informed you who the great
cattle-owners of the Northwest were, and in the present
one I shall try to show the increase of their herds and
the profits they are supposed to derive out of their busi-
ness. Mr. R. C. Keith, of North Platte, began raising
cattle in the fall of 1867, with 5 American cows. The
next year he bought 200 American cows, and in 1869
put in 1000 two- to six-year-old Texas cows. In 1870
he was joined by a partner, and they put in that year
on their ranch 1000 more Texas cattle. In 1872 they
bought 720 Texas steers, cows, two-year-olds, and year-
lings; and also put in later another lot of 250. In
1873 they bought 35 American and 200 Texas cattle.
The total cost of cattle from 1867 to 1873, inclusive,
was under $50,000. This did not include expenses of
ranch, herding, etc., which, however, were small, as they
had no land or timber to buy. They were fortunate in
having old railroad-ties for the hauling, and their ranch
did not cost when finished over $1000, which otherwise
would have cost them fully $2000. They had several
employés. Their men cost $50 per month and board.
35
36 THE BEEF BONANZA.
They used their men for other purposes as well as herd-
ing. They employed one man with the first 1000 head,
and got an extra man with the second 1000 head. They
were obliged to have two men, as one would not stay at
the ranch alone. Mr. Keith could not give any very
close figures, as his partner kept the books, but the ac-
count of the ranch stood nearly as follows :
Cost of cattle and ranches from 1867 to 1875, inclusive $55,000
Sold on hoof, 1000 head, mostly cows, which aia
net. . 2 - 88,000
Butchered, 1000 lisa’ whieh Proughi é . : « 80,000
Total . F : r F A ‘ - $63,000
Deduct actual cost of cattle . : ‘ - . - 61,000
Balance. ‘ é . ‘ Fi F - $12,000
CaTTLE REMAINING ON HAND.
1400 improved calves, worth $12 each . ‘ , - $16,800
1200 yearlings, worth $18each . .. : . 21,600
800 two-year-olds, @$25each_ . 5 ‘ A . 20,000
800 three-year-olds, @ $30 each . . . A . 9,000
200 bulls, @ $50 each . ‘ 7 : : ‘ - 10,000
1800 cows, @ $25 each . ij - ‘ ‘ * - 82,500
Total value of stock on hand * ‘ - $109,900
These figures I can indorse as substantially correct,
except the value put upon old cows, which I think isa
little excessive. Mr. Keith keeps now only one herds-
man. This man, when questioned aside from Mr.
Keith, said it would be perfectly fair to put the value
of the whole herd—old, young, good, bad, and indiffer-
ent—on the ranch at $18 per head, or $93,000 for the
lot; and he thought they would bring that figure if sold
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 837
in open market. Making every allowance for exagger-
ations and mistakes, evidently Mr. Keith’s cattle opera-
tions have been enormously profitable to him.
The next establishment examined was a combined
dairy- and stock-farm, near the Union Pacific Railroad,
in Wyoming Territory. The returns showed as fol-
lows :
1871.
April, 1871, bought 50 dairy cows, @ $50 each . - $2500
es fe “ 2Qbulls. 5 ‘ 500
Expended on ranch and iin ieowemvents . . : - 1500
Total capital invested . g ‘ ‘ . $4500
Expenses of labor . a é - is $1500
Return of butter and milk sata i a ‘i ‘ . $1500
47 calves sold . é : ‘ ‘ 4 é ‘ qj 500
Total ; : ‘ ‘ % ‘ é - $2000
Deduct labor . ‘ : | . . . 2 - 1500
Profit, 11 per cent. . os ere Ge ous . $500
1872.
Original capital brought down ae. it 28 - $4500
Bought 30 cows, @ $50 each . a i . ' - 1500
Bought 320 acres of land. : . . . : . 800
Expended on improvements . . . . . - 1000
Total capital . : ‘ : ; a - $7800
Expenses of labor . ii ‘ 3 é $1000
Returns of butter and milk sald ‘ . ‘i ‘ . $2500
Increased value of 47 yearlings - 2 5 F 5 500
62 calves . : A . . 7 7 . . . 500
Total . : 2 - . . . . $3500
Deduct labor . . : 5 : . . : - 1000
Profit, 834 percent. . . -. . - $2500
4
38 THE BEEF BONANZA.
In 1872, 35 mares, at $45 each, 34 mixed cattle, and
some furniture were added to the ranch. For the pur-
pose of forming a partnership it was then valued at
$15,000, and stood as follows :
October, 1872, dairy ranch as above : . . $15,000.00
ee ‘bought wu herd of mixed cattle, at
average prices, comprising 242 yearlings, 336 two-
year-olds, 294 three-year-olds,537 ae 879 cows,
and 16 horses, at . 7 : . 27,381.94
April, 1873, bought two sunaiies . : . : 950.00
Improvements made inthe year. . : . 2,410.31
Total capital . ei ‘ ‘ 5 - $45,742.25
Labor and expenses . Fi ‘i j . $7,200.00
Less portion of labor expended on tdipeo gehen s 1,900.00
$5,800.00
Returns of beef and beef cattle. 5 ‘ ‘ . $10,834 65
Returns of butter. ‘ ‘ F s ‘ . 2,424.82
Returns of milk 2 fs . 5 . ‘ 217.43
Returns of sundries, hides, dios, , . . é 423.39
Totalreceipts . . . . .- - $18,900.29
Deduct expenses. : - 2 . . - 5,800.00
Profits . . ; : < . - $8,600.29
The total stock remaining on hand was valued at
$47,054.86, from which should be deducted
$45,742.25, and we have left to profit account . $1,312.61
Add as before stated . i P ‘ ‘ P 8,600.29
Total profit, 21 per cent. . ‘ : - $9,912.90
The estimate of profit in this case is, if anything,
rather too low, but shows most satisfactory results.
Thomas Lonergan lives at Ogallala, on the line of
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 389
the Union Pacific Railroad, and about 342 miles west
from Omaha. He is a cattle-driver, and thoroughly
understands his business. His practical experience in
cattle, especially of the Texas breeds, is as follows:
1000 head three-year-old bullocks, @ $8.50 each . - $8,500
1000 “ two-year-old “ @ $6 a ¢ - 6,000
1000 “ yearlings, @ $3.25 each . é 3 r - 8,250
1000 “ cows, @ $7.50 each . 2 3 7,500
Expenses 25 horses bought in Texas and aised for hend-
ing, @ $40 each . ‘ - 1,000
First cost of 100 horses bought i in Texas ‘aed resold - 4,000
Wages of two foremen, at $150 per month each, four
months. ‘ 1,200
Wages of 26 deters, with tod, $170 pet month ‘eae,
four months . ‘ P 4,420
Eight months’ herding on the ee, swith asin depenaes
for branding, etc., at the rate of $1 per head peryear. 8,334
50 bulls, fair to wary fine ca = on an average
$50 each ‘ F . 2,500
Interest @ 10 per cent, for one eae $41, 704 . . 4,170
Total expenses on herd of 4050 head. « $45,874
Returns, 100 horses sold @ $80 each, a loss of 25 per
cent. : $3,000
Amount of Snvestnent at end ‘of one — : : . 42,874
Herding six months, from Aprill to October1 . - 2,500
Interest, half-year @ 10 per cent. . : js . . 2,148
Total. : . ‘i . $50,517
October 1, six months after ‘nvestnentt, ‘cat returns for
sale of 2000 beeves, at an average of $20 each . . 40,000
Net capitalaccount . . : . $10,517
Stock inventory in October, six months afterinvesumont,
and after sales were completed: 1000 old cows, 500
three-year-olds past, 200 two-year-olds, 1850 calves, 50
bulls, 800 two-year-old heifers; total cattle, 3400
head ; horses, saddles, wagons, etc., sufficient for use,
40 THE BEEF BONANZA.
October 1, 1872, six months after eee capital
account Broughs down. ‘ ‘ . ‘ . $10,517
October 1, 1873, expenses for one aoe . ‘A ‘ - 5,000
a *« one year’s interest, at 10 per cent. » 1,251
Total . . «© « «© « « « $16,768
October 1, 1873, sales account, 500 bullocks, four-year-
olds, at $25 each, $12,500; October 1, 1873, 100 old
cows, $22.50 each, $2250. A . - $14,750
Balance in capital account, October, a: inventory
three and a half years from date of purchase of herd of
5000 head :
1800 old cows, valued at $15 each . 3 : - $27,000
Graded stock, 400 two-year-olds, valued at $12. 50each. 5,000
275 two-year-old heifers . " . r ‘ - 8,300
675“ ‘¢ bullocks . F : r : - 8,300
75 bulls, @ $50 each a s ‘ i . 8,750
1500 yearlings, @ $8 each 5 . 7 F . 12,000
1850 calves (lot) : é : ‘ . . - 9,000
Total r ‘ i 4 . $68,350
Add as profits above outstanding capital: seven . . 982
Balance to profit, exclusive of 10 per cent. interest - $69,332
The only fault that can be found with this statement
is the price put upon old cows. Mr. Lonergan might
sell them at $22.50 each once or twice, when the de-
mand was great, but I think $17 would be quite suffi-
cient as an average per head upon this kind of stock.
Mr. Lonergan’s estimate, however, may be relied upon
as substantially correct, and from it we learn that on an
investment of $60,000 in the course of three and a half
years the capitalist withdraws all but $4000 of his
original capital, receiving in the mean time 10 per cent.
interest, and at the end of the above time finds his stock,
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 41
exclusive of horses, wagons, saddles, fixtures, etc., worth
$68,359. This is doing an admirable business, and is
very encouraging to those who think of investing their
money in cattle ; but to succeed like Mr. Lonergan one
must have patience, shrewdness, and self-reliance, with
any amount of energy and capacity, and above all good
luck. An Indian raid, a storm, sickness, cattle-disease,
or a dozen of unforeseen accidents may arise, whereby
all the profits may be cut off, and the capital destroyed.
If all goes well there are large profits in driving cattle
as well as raising them; but it is rarely all goes well
for a year, and while a few makea great deal of money,
many make very little, and some lose. To succeed well
one must understand the markets, know when to buy
and when to sell. Driving is distinct from raising, and
it is rarely we find a great driver also an extensive stock-
raiser. It may be interesting to know who are the
principal drivers as well as stock-raisers in the North-
west. The yearly drive is about as follows:
J.Hilsen . j : ‘ . - 3 : : - 7000
J. Chisholm’ : ‘ A 3 7 : ‘a 7 . 6000
F. Turksley . ; : ‘i . é - 2 . 1500
Mr. McKidrick . ‘ r 5 = 3 « ‘ - 1000
S. Jones. 5 7 . . . . . = . 2000
J.B. Martuns . P . ° . 5 , : . 1500
C. C. Cooper . : . . . 7 3 . 2000
A. W. and U. Black . ‘ i . . “ : . 1500
J. Hart : L s 5 = F F - . 1000
W. Wilson . é & F a 3 ‘ 3 * - 800
J. B. Henderson. 7 F . : . . ‘ . 1600
W. Forsyth . : : . F . : . 1500
C. C. Campbell . : : . : . ; : . 38000
H. Martin . 3 , é 5 . F is , .- 1000
Rk. Wyte . : 5 ‘ ‘ ‘ é P . 1500
4*
49 THE BEEF BONANZA.
S. Goldston F 3 F ‘ - 6 . . 1500
J. Anderson ‘ ’ ‘ ‘ x ‘ ‘ ‘ . 1500
Anderson & Little . 3 a ‘ > 2 . . 1500
J. Patterson ‘ F ‘ ‘ é . . 5 . 8000
Judge Cary o * e « » ww » w % 8000
C.F. Reynolds . . . . oe . . . 6500
C. Goedwight . a . : f A 3 é . 6000
M. Cavin . ‘ : 5 3 ‘ ‘ ‘ . 1200
There are many smaller drivers, whose names are
not given, but the above are the principal movers of
stock. Most of the cattle are driven from Texas,
but every year the drives will become smaller, as the
herds there are gradually diminishing, and the people
of Texas are turning their attention more and more
from stock to agriculture. The whole number of cattle
brought North in a year is about 100,000 head. Of
these perhaps 20,000 go to Montana, 8000 to Utah,
8000 to Nevada, 9000 to Wyoming, 10,000 to Califor-
nia, 11,000 to Idaho, and 30,000 to Kansas and Colo-
rado. The amount of capital required to transfer this
number of cattle is about $1,500,000.
At Abilene, Kansas, a few years ago, 200,000 head
of cattle were handled in a single season. In one
month—September—60,000 head were transferred, and
in another month—October—75,000 head were shipped.
The cattle-trade required 100 cars per day, and asingle
bank in Kansas City handled during the season
$3,000,000 of cattle-money. Both the Abilene, Kan-
sas, and Schuyler, Nebraska, cattle-trade has greatly
fallen off, as Chicago and St. Louis buyers now go
direct to the herds and purchase, instead of as formerly
sending agents to the cattle-centres. A few years ago
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 43
27,000 head changed hands in one season at Schuyler,
and a bank in Omaha handled in three months $500,-
000 cattle-money. General R. A.Cameron,who operates
in Colorado, says: A herd of 5000 cattle will require
about eight herders, at an expense of $900 per annum
for two, and $600 each per annum for six, including
their food ; total, $5400. Allowing $2100 for inci-
dental expenses, including teams, horses, saddles, and
shanties for the men, the grand total expense would be
$7500, or $1.50 per head. Again, allowing one year
for breeding, and four years for the growth of the calf,
a full-grown four-year-old steer, worth $20 to $30,would
cost the breeder $7.50. A Texas yearling can be bought
for from $7 to $10; a two-year-old for from $12 to $15,
and acow for from $15 to $25. The difference is partly
in quality, but more in the time and place of purchase.
New stock, just driven in, is always the lowest priced.
A two-year-old heifer brought from Iowa or Missouri
will bring $35, and the same grade of cows from $45
to $55. Excellent milkers will bring even more; a
two-year-old Durham bull, three-fourths thoroughbred,
ranges from $60 to $75, and a full-grown thoroughbred
will bring from $200 to $500. In cattle-raising in
Colorado, General Cameron puts the profits at 50 to 55
per cent. per annum on the capital invested, over and
above all expenses and losses of every kind. Mr. J.
L. Brush, a reliable gentleman of Weld County, Colo-
rado, says: “I commenced eight years ago with a capi-
tal of $400, and I now own, as the result of the increase
and my own labor, 900 head of fine cattle, besides hav-
ing made considerable investments in lands from money
A4 THE BEEF BONANZA.
taken from the herd. I think the average profit on
capital invested in cattle will not fall short of 40 per
cent. per annum over and aboveall expenses.” Mr. R.
Stolls, who lives ten miles east of Colorado Springs,
says: “I began with cattle in 1861, and have owned
them ever since. They do well in summer and winter
in Colorado without feeding. I have just sold cattle
to the amount of nearly $6000.” The purchase of this
herd cost $1100 three years since, and $500 two years
since.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MONEY TO BE MADE.
An Investment of $25,000 for Six Years and the Probable Profits
—The Same for Five Years—The Cattle-Supply.
I HAVE often been asked what a given sum of money
invested in cattle would produce to the owner in a term
of say six years. Of course we might answer, that
would depend very much upon the skill of the man-
ager, and so it would; but taking it for granted that
good business management was displayed, then a herd
ought to yield an annual increase of at least 25 per
cent. per annum.
It is a remarkable fact that a large portion of the
money invested in cattle is borrowed capital, and upon
this a high rate of interest is paid. A gentleman who
understands the cattle business two years ago made the
following proposition to the writer, with a view of
buying a herd on joint account:
We start with a capital of $25,000 cash, and assume
that of all three-year-olds, one-half by the next spring
are cows, and the balance four-year-old steers or
“beeves,” also that 80 per cent. of the cows have calves
that mature. We buy high-grade Durham bulls, and
put them with Texas cattle that have been wintered on
the Arkansas River (driven from Texas the year before)
and delivered on our range in July.
45
46 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Estimate oF Prorits oN AN INVESTMENT oF $25,000 IN
CaTTLE.
In July, 1879.
100 yearlings @ $7. : . . . . : - $700
200 two-year-olds @ $11. . : < s : . 2,200
600 cows @ $16 tj - . . . . . « 9,600
600 three-year-olds @ $16 . 3 i . . - 8,000
100 four-year-olds @ $23 ‘ % rs % - 2,300
250 calves (thrown in)
1750 $22,800
The above is about the grade an average herd would
tally out, and it is cheaper to buy out a herd than to
pick. The calves are thrown in, and those born on the
drive up are usually killed, thus reducing the number
below the ordinary 80 per cent. of increase.
Expenses.
Two herders @ $35 per month and board, say $20 per
month, $660 . : - - $1820.00
One foreman @ $50 and board, $20 3 5 ‘ - 840.00
Nine horses @ $75 ‘ i 675.00
Grain for horses at 8 Ibs. per day @ 1} chs, for the ae 328.50
One wagon, $125; two mules and harness, $400 . . 525.00
Ranch . : . s . ~ « «200.00
Mower, horse-rake, and lout . e - 7 - 200.00
Incidental expenses 5 s . 7 . : - 1000.00
$5088.00
We sell in November and December :
100 beeves, average 1100 Ibs., @ 8 cts. per Ib. - - $8300
100 cows (old), average 900 Ibs., @ 3 cts. per lb. . - 2700
Add surplus of capital . : . . . 2200
$8200
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 47
This leaves us $3111.50 new capital reinvestment,
and we buy 200 two-year-olds @ $15 per head,—$3000,
—which leaves $111.50 for “odds and ends,” or inci-
dental expenses. The purchase of two-year-olds cost
more on account of “ picking them.”
Second Year, 1880.
We have on hand:
Yearlings (last year’s calves) . : . js ‘ - 250
Two-year-olds (last year’s yearlings) . - « « 100
Three-year-olds (last year’s two-year-olds) . 7 - 400
Cows (half last year’s three-year-olds) . . . - 750
Beeves (half last year’s three-year-olds) . F . . 250
Calves (half-breeds), 80 per cent. increase . os - 600
2350
Expenses.
Same as first year (two herders) . : . . - $1820.00
Oneextraman . . . . . E 7 - * 660.00
Same foreman . . . . : 7 - 840.00
Grain. : . . . 3 7 - - 828.50
Incidental stiles 5 ° . . . - 2000.00
$5148.50
We sell in fall:
250 beeves, average 1100 lbs., @ 8 cts. per Ib. - « $8250
50 cows, average 900 Ibs., @ 3 cts. perlb. . A - 1350
$9600
Leaving $4451.50 new capital for reinvestment, and
we buy 250 three-year-olds @ $18 per head,—$4500,
—and reduce our “odds and ends” fund $49.50 and
will drop it. It would be a better investment to buy
yearlings or two-year-olds, but the herd would wander
too much with so many young cattle.
48 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Third Year, 1881.
We have on hand:
Yearlings (last year’s calves) . . . . . - 600
Two-year-olds (last year’s yearlings) s 7 . . 250
Three-year-olds ve year’s two-year-olds) . - - 100
Cows . . : : - 900
Beeves (last year! s Siete idhcousyediceids) : . . 154
Calves (80 per cent. of increase) : . ‘ + 720
¥*2724
The calves are all one-half to three-fourths Amer-
ican, and we have assumed that of the last year’s pur-
chase of 250 three-year-olds 100 are steers and 150
heifers. The 600 yearlings are “ half-breeds.”
Expenses.
Same as second year, say . : . : - $5000
We sell 150 beeves @ $33 per hen é : - $4950
100 cows @ $27 per head. . . ‘i . 2700
— $7650
Balance : : F 7 . ‘ oe os $2650
Leaving us $2650 new capital for reinvestment.
We buy 140 three-year-olds . $18 . : ‘ . + $2520
Odds and ends account . : : . 3 5 130
Fourth Year, 1882.
We have on hand:
* Underestimate, viz.: cattle on hand July, 1881, 2850 head;
sold 800; balance on hand, 2050 head; bought 250; increase,
720 = 970 X 2050 = 8020 head, instead of 2724.
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 49
Yearlings (half-breeds) . : , - : ‘i . 720
Two-year-olds (half-breeds) . . . . . . 600
Three-year-olds (half-breeds) . 7 ee . - 250
Cows (900 = 100 & 70 50) . . . . . - 920
Beeves ‘ 7 : zi : ‘ - 120
Calves (80 per eeu fnonancé} : : . : ‘ - 736
8346
Expenses.
‘Same as third year : ‘ $5000
‘We sell 120 beeves, cee 1100 ibs, , @ 8 cts.
per lb. F F - $3960
100 cows, average 900 Tbs @ 3 has er Tb. . . 2760
—— $6720
Leaving us $1660 new capital for reinvestment. We
buy 80 cows @ $20 per head,—$1600,—adding $60
to odds and ends fund. (There should be one bull to
every thirty cows.)
Fifth Year, 1883.
Yearlings . 7 . : 5 . . : 3 - 736
Two-year-olds . : F . . ‘i . . - 720
Three-year-olds . i . ‘ ; . . is - 600
Cows (920 K 100 & 80) . . . : . F - 880
Beeves A * . . . - 250
Calves (80 per cent. inerease) a ne 8
¥*3890
Expenses.
Sameasfourth year. . . « « «~~ $5000
One extra man . ‘i - < . . . 660
Extra incidental expenses . . ; . ij 340
— $6,000
* Underestimate again, viz.: cattle on hand July, 1883, 3346
head; sold 220; leaves 3126; bought 80 cows; increase, 80 per
cent., = 784 & 3126 — 3910, instead of 8890.—AUTHOR.
c d 5
50 THE BEEF BONANZA.
We sell 250 beeves, average 1100 lbs., @ 8 cts.
per lb. ‘i i 7 1 . $8250
150 cows, average 900 ‘tha, @ 3 cts. per Ib. - 4050
‘ —— $12,800
Balance . . P . : : 5 3 . . “$6,800
Leaving us $6200 new capital for reinvestment.
We buy 200 three-year-old heifers @ $18 per head. « $3600
150 three-year-old steers @ $18 per head. r % . 2700
$6300
Siath Year, 1884.
We have on hand:
Yearlings . - 5 . : é 5 . . . 704
Two-year-olds . 7 z . . < é . - 736
Three-year-olds . : ‘ F ‘i . . 720
Cows (880 = 150 x 200 x 200) oe. Ss - « 1280
Beeves . ‘ . S 5 . 450
Calves (80 per went ineronsa) S- oh Bt a - 1084
4924
Assume now that a settlement is desired and the
account closed, an inventory taken, and a closing-out
sale effected. The yearlings are five-eighths American,
the calves are seven-eighths American, and the two-year-
olds are one-half American. We have but 100 of the
original cows on hand, and they are the best in the lot,
as the cows that have been sold each year were the old
ones or poorest to breed from. The beeves are mostly
one-half breeds, will weigh more and bring better prices
than common Texan cattle.
Expenses.
Same as fifth year . . : : : j P + $6000
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 51
Our inventory for closing-out sale would be as fol-
lows:
Nine horses @ $50 ‘ : 3 . S ° - $450
Wagons, mules, harness, etc. : F P : . 875
Ranch and good-will of range. 7 : : i 1,000
704 yearlings @ $10. te ; . . : 7,040
736 two-year-olds @ $16 é me ‘ . - 11,776
720 three-year-olds @ $24 . . . e . - 17,280
1230 cows@ $26. . . . . . «81,980
450 beeves @ $38 . r . . . . . - 14,858
1084 calves @ $7 . . 3 : . 3 . ‘ 7,588
$92,237
Original capital . . r - $25,000
Five years’ compound dubeeoet @ 7 nee cont. . - 10,061
$35,061
Balance . - é 3 3 < 3 ‘ . $57,278
Deduct six years’ piciatiees : i . F ‘ 5 6,000
Balance*# . . 3 . . . «$61,278
The interest on original capital is compounded each
year and reckoned at 7 per cent. The average annual
loss by death or straying, etc., is less than 3 per cent.
The per cent. of cows that bear calves that mature is 84
per cent. Grain has been estimated for saddle-horses
for entire year, while they will not require it over one-
fourth of the time. All estimates of amounts paid out
are liberal and greater than they would actually be.
The cost of bulls is omitted in the estimate, as the grade
* Though not altered by me, it will be seen my friend was
wrong in his calculations in cows and beeves, and also in his
general result of net profits.
52 THE BEEF BONANZA.
(Durham) would not cost over $50 each, and they could
be had for that price any time. They are generally
purchased in carload lots from farmers in Illinois or
Iowa, and shipped West when yearlings. We have
taken great pains to show the above estimate to cattle-
breeders, and several of them said it was rather under
than over what they would expect to realize from a like
investment. It should be observed that in the fore-
going estimate the increase is just beginning to show,
and in ten years the profits would be much larger, and
each year exceed the original capital. It should also
be remembered the larger the original investment or
original capital put into the business the greater ratio of
net profits would be. If $100,000 were invested in
cattle placed on suitable ranges it would easily double
itself in five years, besides paying an annual dividend
of 10 per cent. Again, if $200,000 were invested in
Texas cattle it would double itself in four years, and
pay a semi-annual dividend of 8 per cent. I disagreed
with my friend both in his calculations and method of
handling cattle, and in reply to his proposition for an
investment of $25,000 on our joint account, sent him .
the following :
EsTIMATE OF PRrorits oF 4 CasH CAPITAL oF $25,000 INVESTED
In CATTLE FOR FIVE YEARS.
August, 1879, First Year. '
Buy 500 yearling steers, @ $7 i F ‘ : - $8,500
500 two-year-olds, @ 12 . . . ‘ - 6,000
500 three-year-olds,@ 20 : ; $ - 10,000
Expenses: horses, camp outfit, ranch, and incidentals » 5,500
$25,000
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST.
August, 1880, Second Year.
On hand, two-year-olds . .
three-year-olds
beeves . .
Sell 500 beeves, average 1000 lbs., e 3 cts. per pound
Expenses
10 per cent. atone on caplet
Buy 1000 yearlings, @ $7
$3000 surplus capital funds
August, 1881, Third Year.
On hand, two-year-olds .
three-year-olds .
peeves .
S 11 500 beeves, ch $30 .
Expenses . . .
Interest . é . 5 a
Buy 800 two-year-olds, @ $12
$400 to surplus capital fund .
$2500
2500
. . $2500
. ; 2500
August, 1882, Fourth Year.
On hand, three-year-olds
beeves . .
53
500
500
500
1500
. $15,000
5,000
$10,000
7,000
$3,000
1000
500
500
2000
. $15,000
5,000
$10,000
9,600
$400
bererenigay
54 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Sell 500 beeves, @ $30 per head $15,000
Expenses and interest 5,000
$10,000
Buy 500 three-year-olds, @ $20 10,000
August, 1883, Fifth Year.
On hand, beeves 3 z 3 : 3 2300
Sell 2300 beeves, ® $30. : F $69,000
Expenses . : - $5000
Interest . 2500
a 7,500
$61,500
Deduct original capital . oy he e 6s 25,000
Net profit in five years . ‘ ‘ $36,500
This would leave a capital to ee new with greater
than the original, besides the ranch, horses, etc., still on
hand ; the $3000 surplus capital fund could have been
invested in cows to hold the range. The above estimate
is based upon the supposition that $25,000 capital had
been borrowed for four years at 10 per cent. interest.
Buying yearling steers and selling beeves keeps the
capital more in hand, and a class of cattle that can be
forced on the market with better results to the seller ;
and if yearlings or two-year-olds can be bought in lots
to suit the purchasef, this kind of trade will show enor-
mous profits. A herd of
2000 yearlings, @ $7.50
2000 two-year-olds, @ 12.00
2000 three-year-olds, @ 18.00
6000 will cost, say $75,000
Expense of herding . ; ‘ z 6,000
Interest, at 10 per cent. - . : 7,500
End of first year 4 3 $13,500
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 55
Sell 2000 beeves, @ $30 . . A ‘ é F $60,000
Deduct interest and herding . . an ce ‘ 13,500
Balance . ‘ ‘ i ‘ . . , $46,500
Buy 2000 yearlings, @ $7 ‘ . . . . 14,000
$32,500
This gives at the beginning of the second year, first,
the same number and grade of cattle; second, 10 per
cent. interest on original capital; and third, $32,500
net profits. This will more than double the capital in
three years, besides paying 10 per cent. interest, all
losses, and expenses. Ina few years it will bea difficult
matter to find a vacant range in Wyoming, Nebraska,
or Montana suitable or capable of sustaining 5000 head
of cattle. The water-courses are fast being taken up or
squatted upon by small herders or branches of large
herds.
If $250,000 were invested in ten ranches and ranges,
placing 2000 head on each range, by selling the beeves
as fast as they mature, and all the cows as soon as they
were too old to breed well, and investing the receipts in
young cattle, at the end of five years there would be at
least 45,000 head on the ten ranges, worth at least $18
per head, or $810,000. Assuming the capital was bor-
rowed at 10 per cent. interest, in five years the interest
would amount to $125,000, which must be deducted ;
$250,000 principal, and interest for five years, com-
pounded at 25 per cent. per annum, would only be
$762,938, or less than the value of the cattle, exclusive
of the ranches and fixtures. I have often thought if
some enterprising persons would form a joint-stock com-
56 THE BEEF BONANZA.
pany for the purpose of breeding, buying, and selling
horses, cattle, and sheep it would prove enormously
profitable. I have no doubt but a company properly
managed would declare an annual dividend of at least
25 per cent. Such a company organized, with a presi-
dent, secretary, treasurer, and board of directors, and
conducted on strictly business principles, would realize
a far larger profit on the money invested than if put
into mining, lumber, iron, manufacturing, or land com-
panies. Nothing, I believe, would beat associated capi-
tal in the cattle trade, unless it would be banking, and
stock-raising would probably fully compete with even
banking as a means of profit on capital invested in large
sums.
Such a company should buy Texas cattle, locate them
on ranges, placing 5000 head on each ranch, then breed
them up for the market, increasing quantity and quality
as fast as possible, selling all beeves whenever mature,
and cows as fast as they become too old to breed from
or were not suitable for breeding purposes. As fast as
beeves and cows were sold the first three years the
money realized should be used, or at least a good part
of it, to fill up the herds with good young stock.
The ranches and ranges should be located with a view
of ultimately buying the land or securing control of it
for a long term of years. The company should operate
and secure, to as great an extent as possible, the
monopoly of government contracts and furnishing the
Eastern markets with beef. It should aim to grow to
be a controlling power in all that affected beef, and
eventually, not only packed beef and pork, but tan
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 57
hides and manufacture wool into cloth. It is not gen-
erally known that one-third of all the woollens used in
the United States is sold west of the Mississippi River;
but such is the fact, and the principal cause of this
great consumption is because the climate of Colorado,
Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, and indeed all the
Plains and Rocky Mountain country is so cool woollens
are worn nearly the yearround. ‘The climate is admir-
ably adapted for it, and there is no reason in the world
why the largest pork and beef packeries, as well as tan-
neries, should not be established in the West. The beef
business cannot be overdone. The census of the United
States will probably show a population in 1880 of not
less than 47,000,000 of people, and the cattle-raising
does not keep pace with the rapid increase of popula-
tion. In the Eastern and Middle States for the last
ten years there has been a rapid decrease of cattle, and
in a few years the West will be called on to supply
almost the whole Eastern demand. Land worth over
$10 per acre is too valuable to be devoted to stock-
raising, and farmers can do better in cereals. It is for
this reason our Eastern farmers are giving up the cattle-
breeding and devoting their lands to raising corn, wheat,
rye, oats, and vegetables. They cannot compete with
Plains beef, for while their grazing-lands cost them $50,
$75, and $100 per acre, and hay has to be cut for win-
ter feeding, the grazing-lands in the West have no
market value, and the cattle run at large all winter, the
natural grasses curing on the ground and keeping the
stock fat even in January, February, and March.
Much of Montana, Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and
58 THE BEEF BONANZA.
nearly all of Wyoming can never become an agricul-
tural country, and the government will soon be called
upon to put the grazing-lands into market, so that our
stock-raisers may establish permanent ranches and buy
their cattle-ranges. It will very soon be cheaper to
fence than to herd stock. The time, I believe, is not
far distant when the West will supply the people of the
East with beef for their tables, wool for their clothing,
horses for their carriages, ’busses, and street-railways,
and gold and silver for their purses. Horse-raising and
sheep-growing have proved to be successful enterprises
in Wyoming and Montana, and the profits are enor-
mous. Oregon mares can be bought at $30 per head,
blooded stallions at $500, and these bred to Oregon
mares yield a profit of 25 per cent. on the capital in-
vested. Sheep-farming is still more profitable, and an
investment of $5000 can be made to pay 35 per cent.
the first year, 47 per cent. the second year, and 60 per
cent. the third year. Of these two interests I shall
speak in detail further on.
CHAPTER: V.
MILLIONS IN BEEF.
An Interesting Letter from One Who Knows—A Generous Offer
of a Fortune—Just what can be done with Money and Brains
—Figures that Tell.
ContTrvutne the subject of what can be made out
of a given sum of money invested in cattle-growing
out West, we cannot better estimate the increase of a
herd than by submitting a letter written by a gentle-
man of means to his brother in the East, whom he
wished to put into the cattle business on their joint ac-
count. The letter, which I am permitted to copy, reads
as follows:
Dear BrorHer,—I have bought a cattle-ranch,
and as you have long wished to engage in business out
West, I do not know of a better thing you can do than
raise cattle. As you have no knowledge or experience
in breeding, I will tell you what I think, with proper
care, we can make out of it. The ranch is twenty-two
miles from a railroad, and contains 720 acres of land,
600 acres of which is hay or grass land, and 120 acres
good timber. The meadow will cut annually 2} tons
of hay to the acre, and there is a living stream on the
land. The timber is heavy, and will furnish logs for
59
60 THE BEEF BONANZA.
stables, corrals, and fuel for many years to come.
The hills in the vicinity afford the best grazing, and
we can have a range ten miles in extent. There isa
little town nine miles off, and a school-house four miles
‘distant. The valley in which the ranch is located is
well settled, and there is no danger from Indians.
The cattle would be grazed in the hills, and driven to-
and froni the ranch every day. The three great requi-
sites for a good - ranch are wood, water, and grass, and
‘these we have in abundance. If you can sell out where
you are and bring $5000. West with you, I am sure you
will never have a better opportunity to engage in a
lucrative business. I will make you a proposition, as
follows: you can put in $2500, and I will duplicate it
and add $1000 for bulls. For $5000 we can get 400
head of Texas cows to start with, and I will add a suf-
ficient number of Durham bulls to breed them. I will
erect all the necessary buildings, purchase machinery,
wagons, horses, ete. I will own the ranch and fixtures,
and you be at the expense of taking care of the herd
and give me half the increase. With your two boys
to help as herders, it would only be necessary at the
beginning to hire one man. The hay you could get
put up at a cost of $1 per ton, or by hiring an extra
man in haying time it would cost you 50 cents per ton.
I would put in say 200 head of Texas cows, and you
200 head. I might add, on my own account, 100 or
200 head, but if I did it would be at no expense to
you, and make no difference in the division of profits,
you having half the increase and gain of everything.
It is likely if we started with 400 head in 1877, I would
lh,
%
i
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 61
in the spring of 1878 add 100 Texas two-year-old
steers, and in the following spring 100 Iowa milch
cows. I know what a good, thrifty, industrious soul
your wife is, and you may tell her for me if she comes
West I will buy her 100 fine cows for a dairy, and she
can market all her butter and milk at the railroad,
twenty-two miles distant, and get rich on her own
account. It is the custom in the West not to put up
hay or build shelter for stock in winter, but I do not
believe in this. Cattle can generally be grazed out all
winter, but there are some winters very severe, and not
unfrequently dreadful storms, during which cattle die.
Herds slip through two or three years all right, but in
the end lose heavily. The loss from one storm would
be more than it would cost to cut hay for ten years.
Besides, my idea of a ranch is “home for man and
beast,” and I would rather be at some extra expense
than to have the cattle suffer. The heavy timbered
bottom will give all the shelter necessary, and the
meadows will yield 1500 tons of hay per year, which
will be all that we need to insure us against storms and
hard winters. Now let us see what we can do with a
herd of 400 Texas cows, worth $5000, to begin with.
At the end of one year the cows would have 400 calves,
each worth $7. I count full yield, for in cross-breeding
there is not one cow in a hundred barren, neither is the
loss over one per cent. of calves dropped where hay
and shelter is provided, and proper care taken. Our
first year’s profit is 400 calves, $7 each, $2800, divided,
$1400 each.
6
62 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Second Year.
400 calves (old cows) @$7 . $2800
Increase value on last year’s calves, ‘they Tn half Din.
ham, @$5each . e ‘ . a . - 2000
$4800
Divided, we each have $2400.
Third Year.
400 calves (old cows) @$7each . . » + $2800
Increase value on first year’s calves @ $5 etl a - 2000
ee ‘second year’s calves @ $5 each . - 2000
. $6800
Divided by two gives us $3400 each.
»
Fourth Year.
400 calves (old cows) @ $7 each . ‘ - 4 - $2,800
Increase value on first year’s calves @ $5 each . - 2,000
a ‘e second year’s calves @ $5 each 3 2,000
te ‘¢ third year’s calves @ $5 each . : 2,000
First year’s calves, half of which are heifers,* now come
in with calves, and add 200 to the herd, worth . 1,400
. $10,200
Divided by two gives us each $5100.
Fifth Year.
400 calves (old cows) @ $7 each . ; i : - $2,800
First year’s heifer calves 200 @ $7 : 5 . 1,400
Second year’s heifer calves 200 @ $7 . . . : 1,400
Increase on first year’s calves @ $5 each . ‘ i 2,000
ce second year’s calves @ $5 each . : - 2,000
te third year’s calves @ $5 each . : - 2,000
ff fourth year’s calves @ $5 each . . . 2,000
a last year’s heifer calves 200 @$5each . 1,000
$14,600
* The heifer would probably breed the third year, but it should
be prevented as far as possible.
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 63
This year we also make our first sale, and have 200 steers
to sell, worth $80 each F ‘ : ; ‘ 6,000
Increase and cash, grand total . 3 a - $20,600
Divided by two, cash each ie in staat $7300,
making e : : . ‘i 10, 300
We now have on our — ihe following stock :
First year’s cows . . p F . $ : 2 . 400
ee calves . . . . . 2 ‘ . 400
800
; Second Year.
Old cows . , 3 « é . ‘: : . . 400
First year’s calves. c P : . : - - 400
Second fe 3 ‘ 3 * ; ° s . 400
1200
Third Year.
Old cows . . . . . . . . . - 400
First year’s calves. : . . . . . - 400
Second as : : . : p A Fi - 400
Third 6 3 s - is . . : - 400
1600
Fourth Year.
Old cows . . * ‘ . . . . ‘ - 400
First year’s calves , . : . . _ ‘ 3 - 400
Second ae : - . é A . < - 400
Third “ ‘ s E ‘ 3 < F - 400
Fourth ee F a A x “ . p . 400
Heifer calves . - . ‘ A . ‘ a .- 200
2200
Old cows . . P . . . . . - . 400
First year’s calves. $ 7 ‘: . F * . 400
Second 7 . 7 2 ‘ 5 - “i - 400
Third “ é . - ‘ ei ° ‘é . 400
Fourth es ° 5 = . . A é . 400
Fifth et a. 8 F s «© « ws « 400
64 THE BEEF BONANZA.
First year’s heifer calves (yearlings) . ee 2200
te is just dropped . : . - 200
Second “ ue ie a ah tae se 3200
3000
Less 200 steers sold, leaves 2800 to winter. If we
sex the cattle, which is the only way to get at their
value, we shall have:
First Year.
400 cows, 200 heifer calves. Total females ‘ : - 600
Bull calves . . , : Z ° . ‘ - - 200
800
Second Year.
400 cows, 200 yearling heifers, 200 heifer calves. Making
atotal of females . é ‘ ‘ ‘ . 800
200 bull yearlings, 200 bull calves 5 . F c . 400
1200
Third Year.
400 cows, 200 two-year-old heifers, 200 yearling heifers,
200 heifer calves. Totalfemales . 1000
200 two-year-old steers, 200 ial a 200 bull alles.
Total males. . - ‘ - 600
1600
Fourth Year.
400 cows, 200 three-year-old heifers, 200 two-year-olds,
200 yearlings, 200 young calves, half of heifer
calves, 100. Total females. 1300
200 three-year-old steers, 200 feeuaien-illl, 200 weetlties,
200 bull calves, half heifer calves, 100. Totalmales 900
2200
Fifth Year.
400 cows, 200 four-year-olds, 200 three-year-old heifers,
200 two-year-old heifers, 200 yearling heifers, 200
calves; also, 100 heifer calves (yearlings) from four-
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 65
year-olds, 100 from three-year-olds, and 100 from
four-year-olds just come in for the second time.
Total females . : + 1700
200 four-year-old steers, 200 three-yéarsolda, 200 vere
olds, 200 seatiaes, 200 bull calves; alsé, from four-
year-old heifers, 100 bull wenelines and 100 bull
calves; also, from three-year-old heifers just come
in with their calves, 100 males. Total males. . 1800
8000
Deduct 200 steers sold, leaves 2800 head to be kept
on hand. It will be observed that our business is just
established and beginning to pay. It takes five or six
years to establish any good business on a firm basis,
and our ranch is now thoroughly “set up,” as frontiers-
men would say. After the fifth year the profits will
be enormous. Let us run it the sixth year, and the
account would stand something like this:
Siath Year.
400 old cows, 400 old cows’ calves,—this being their
sixth dropping, and the last; 200 five-year-old
cows, 200 four-year-old cows, 200 calves from five-
year-old cows, 200 calves from four-year-old cows,
200 calves from three-year-old cows. We would
brand 1000 calves the sixth year worth $7 each, or
$7000. The increase in value on our stock would
stand as follows :
The sixth year, 400 old cows’ calves, worth . : - $2,800
600 five-year-old, four-year-old, and three-year-old
cows’ calves, worth . . : 4,200
Increase in value on 200 ere cows . ° . 1,000
ag te ‘« three-year-old cows f 7 1,000
a Ke ‘four-year-old steers 5 : 1,000
a “ “three-year-old steers i 1,000
e 6*
66 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Increase in value on 600 two-year-olds . A ‘i . 3,000
+ te 800 yearlings » 6 + « 4,000
$19,000
Sell 200 beeves, @ $30 each . . . . : . 6,000
$25,000
Add 200 calves, @ $7 each . 5 1,400
Divided by two gives us ai $3000. in zach and
$12,500 in stock.
As our herd would now be getting too large for our
ranch we would have to cut it down, and for that pur-
pose we would sell:
400 Texas cows, full blood, @ $15 per head . 3 - $6,000
200 half-blood Durhams, five-year-olds (cows), @ $22
perhead. és 4,400
200 half-blood Trhgnsg, fiir ear las (cows), @ $15
perhead . : 3,000
200 half-blood ieee wba, @ $25. per Heat . i 5,000
$18,400
Divided by two gives us $9200 each more in cash,
to which we must add cash realized from sale of four-
year-old steers, $6000 = $24,400 or $12,200 each in
cash the sixth year. These figures may astonish you,
but I assure you they are rather under than over the
usual estimate, and many herders on the Plains have
done better. Of course, to show the real profits, it will
be necessary to make up the expense list. It will stand
something like the following:
Ranch . Fi a . : i - $5,000
2 yoke cattle, $75 ed yoke 5 . : . . 150
Studebaker wagon . : . : . . is a 100
Mowing-machine . é . . : 5 ‘ ‘ 125
$5,375
CATTLE-GROWING OUT
Add cost my share cattle the first year .
Expenses ‘ 5 . . .
Your share of cattle first year . .
4 herd-horses, $125 each . A ‘
2 dogs, $30 each. : “8
Add my expenses . . . . .
First year, grand total . =
First year, increase of cattle . . .
My share
Deduct 10 per asa for lis of eadfle
‘Wear and tear of machinery, etc. .
My actual profit first year
Your share
Deduct 10 per cent. “for ies of aatele
Hire of Indian herder, $10 per month .
To putting up 800 tons of hay
Your actual profits first year
Second Year.
Your account—Increase of herd
Expense of herder .
1000 tons of hay .
Loss of cattle, 10 per cent.
Your actual profits
My account—Increase of cattle
Expense, wear of machinery, etc. .
Loss of cattle, 10 per cent.
My actual profits .
WEST.
$3,060
7,875
$10,985
$2800
1400
340
$1100
1400
660
$740
68 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Third Year.
Your account—Increase of cattle .
Expense, 2 herders. ‘ s : .
Loss of cattle, 10 per cent.
1500 tons of hay
Your actual profits . . . .
My account—Increase of cattle . .
‘Wear of machinery, etc. ce
Loss of cattle, 10 percent. . .
My actual profits
Fourth Year.
Your account—Increase of cattle .
Expenses, 3 herders . . 3
2000 tons ofhay . . . . .
Loss on cattle, 10 per cent.
Your actual profits : . . .
My account—Increase of cattle
Expenses, wear of machinery, etc.
Loss on cattle, 10 per cent. . . .
My actual profits
Fifth Year.
Your account—Increase of cattle . ;
Sales of beef . . Z 7 . &
Expenses, 4 herders 3000
—— $10,300
Expenses, wear of machinery 7 : $ $200
Loss on cattle, 10 per cent. . . : . 1030
— 1,280
My actual profit . : ‘ ‘ . ‘ * - $9,070
As Toriginally put in $7875, in five years my annual
income is greater than my original investment ; but you
have done still better, for having originally invested
only $3060 your income from it annually is $7290, or
more than double your investment. If we undertake
to keep down the herd and not let it increase, the profits
will double again. What business on earth is there that
can equal this? In my estimate I have said nothing
about taxes, but as they are trifling, and I would pay
them, they need not enter into ouraccount. At the end
of six years, if all went well in our business, I would
propose a change. We could safely count on realizing
from sales $10,000 a year, and certainly $8000. The
first year after the sixth we would erect better buildings,
and the second year (eighth after beginning) we would
buy land and add to our ranch. The third year (ninth)
we would buy blooded-stock cows, and the fourth
(tenth) blooded horses and mares. The fifth year we
would close out all our common stock, and keep nothing
but blooded animals. This year, also, I would sell out
to you the ranch, stock, fixtures, and everything, you
to pay me $10,000 a year until all was paid up. You
have often said you wished me to put you into a good
business and show you how to make some money, and
now, sir, 1 think I have pointed you out the way toa
70 THE BEEF BONANZA.
fortune, and the good wife too. In eleven years you
can, by care, be at the head of a blooded-stock farm
worth $100,000, and very soon afterwards its sole owner.
The above letter is remarkable, inasmuch as it is
written by a gentleman to his brother, who is already
in business, and advises him to come West and engage in
cattle-growing. The writer of the letter has made a
gréat deal of money, and takes this method of helping
his brother toa fortune. Itis likely the business-man
gave the whole cattle-trade a careful investigation be-
fore advising a brother with a family to leave his com-
fortable farm in the East and engage in ranching cattle
out West. There are some singular features about the
letter, and I asked the author after reading it how he
could possibly expect to get more for old Texas cows
than he originally paid for them. His reply was, “I
would buy young cows, say two-year-olds, and they
would grow. I would fatten them and sell them for
beef. Iam doing it every year.” I asked him, “ Why
would you not allow the first lot of female calves’ to
breed at three years old?” He replied, “I think the
stock would be better if the heifers were not let get
with calf until after they were three years old; at all
events, I wished my brother to try it and see.” ‘“‘ How
would you prevent them from breeding?” “ Bulls
should always be kept in a separate pasture, and not
allowed to run with the herd. The cows should be put
in to them at night. A good bull will serve five or six
cows in asinglenight. The Durham bull puts astrong
impress on his calves, and the first cross with a Texas
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. val
cow will produce a calf nearly two-thirds Durham.”
“In the commencement of your letter you say you
would in 1879 add 100 two-year-old Texas steers to the
herd. Why do you dothat?” “Soas to realize sooner
from the ranch. In two years they would be full-
grown beeves, and sell, at $30 each, for $6000. IfI
could put in 200 three-year-olds it would be still better,
for then we could realize on them the very next year.
On my brother’s account, he being poor, I wish the
ranch to begin paying as soon as possible.” “ Why,
then, do you make him buy herd-horses at $125 each,
when ponies can be had at $40 per head?” “Because
he should use mares and raise colts. I would give him
a stallion, and with five good Kentucky mares, which
he could bring out with him, he could soon havea fine
lot of colts. Ona stock ranch everything should be
made to increase and multiply. Why, even the two
dogs, one should be a bitch and raise shepherd pups,
and those raised on the ranch would be far more valu-
able for herding than imported dogs.” “ You say you
would buy 100 Iowa cows and have the women start a
dairy?” “Yes. The way to get rich is for every one to
work. My ranch is twenty-two miles from the Union
Pacific Railroad, over which every year butter is shipped
to the Pacific coast. Why, do you know, as many as
five car-loads of butter were shipped from Omaha to
California in one day. This butter comes from Iowa,
and I don’t see why the people living west of Iowa
should not supply the California market. But there is
a better thing to do with butter than to send it to the
Pacific coast. There is Fort Hartsuff, Fort Russell,
72 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Bridger, Laramie, Fetterman, and Sidney Barracks, and
the soldiers want good butter. The officers and com-
missaries send all the way East to Ohio, Pennsylvania,
and New York, in order to get the best butter. Now,
the lady I propose to give the Iowa cows to isa butter-
maker, one of the best, indeed, in the country, and I
shall advise her to pack and ship to the forts, where she
will always find a ready market for all she can make.”
“T notice you propose to use Indians as herders; are
they good for that purpose?” “The best in the world.
The Pawnee Indian is a natural herder, and if I had a
million head of cattle I would place them all under
Pawnee herders; half-breeds if I could getthem.” “In
your sixth year’s estimate you speak of adding 200
calves. Where do you get them from?” “ You forget
that we have been in business six years, and our second
generation, or three-year-olds, are coming in with
calves,—that is to say, a cow that has a female calf.
Now, in three years the calf will have a calf. In
cattle-raising the herd doubles up and dovetails so
fast it is with difficulty we can compute increase, but
I guess you will find my figures about correct.” This
gentleman was so very clear and intelligent in all his
answers, he satisfied me entirely that he knew what he
was about, and not only understood the cattle busi-
ness, but mining, sheep-farming, horse-growing, and
many other businesses common to the West.
CHAPTER VI.
GREAT LANDS IN THE SOUTHWEST.
Texas Cattle-Kings—Who They Are and What They Own—
Mammoth Ranches—Letters from Cattle-Owners on the
Plains—Cattle-Grasses.
I HAVE often been asked to write something about
the great cattle-herds of Texas. As yet we have but
few herds in the West, the business being too new.
An owner with 10,000 or 12,000 head in Wyoming or
Montana would be donsidered a large grower, but such
a person in New Mexico or Texas a few years ago,
when I was there, would have been called but a small
herder. JI do not think the herds South are as large
or numerous now as they were five years since, and the
business is gradually drawing off North to the Plains,
which are the natural homes of the future cattle-kings
of America, Texas, in 1867, had 2,000,000 of oxen
and other cattle, exclusive of cows. In 1870 it was
estimated the number had increased to 3,000,000, ex-
clusive of cows, and of these there were 80,000 in the
State returned by the county assessors. The enor-
mous total of 3,800,000 cattle in one State may well
excite our astonishment. Of these, one-fourth were
beeves, one-fourth cows, and the other two-fourths
yearlings and two-year-olds. The increase each year
was 750,000 calves, and of the older cattle there was
D 7 73.
74 THE BEEF BONANZA.
on hand at: one time 1,900,000 young: cattle, 950,000
cows, and 950,000 beeves. These cattle were scattered
along the Nueces, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Colorado,
Leon, Brazos, Trinity, Sabine, and Red Rivers.
Colonel Richard King, on the Santa Catrutos River,
was one of the largest owners. - His ranch, known as
the Santa Catrutos ranch, contained nineteen Spanish
leagues of land, or about 84,132 acres. The Santa
Catrutos River and its tributaries water this immense
ranch, and on it were grazing 65,000 head of cattle,
10,000 horses, 7000 sheep, and 8000 goats. 1000
saddle-horses and 300. Mexicans were kept constantly
employed in herding, sorting, and driving the stock.
The number of calves branded annually on this ranch
were 12,000 head, and the number of beeves sold about
10,000. Near Golaid,‘on the-San Antonio River, is
located Mr. O’Connor’s ranch. Some years ago he
had 40,000 head of cattle, and branded annually 11,700
calves: The sales of beeves amounted to from $75,000
to $80,000 per year. . Mr. O’Connor commenced cattle-
raising with 1500 head, for which he paid $8000, in
1852. Mr. Kenneédy’s. ranch on the Rio Grande and
Nueces contained 142,840 acres. A fertile little penin-
sula ‘jutted into the Gulf, and was surrounded on three
sides by water. The other side was closed with plank,
the whole line of fence being 30 miles long. Every
three miles there was a little ranch by the fence, and
a house for the Mexican herders. - On the ranch there
were 30,000 head of cattle, besides an immense number
of other. stock. “There were many other Jarge ranches
on the Rio Grande, Nueces, Guadalupe, San Antonio,
“HILLYO ONIGNVU
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 75
Colorado, Leon, Brazos, Trinity, Sabine, and Red
Rivers. Mr. John Hitson had 50,000 head of cattle
ona ranch in Pinto County, on the Brazos. He drove
10,000 head North annually, and employed 300 saddle-
horses and 50 herders to take care of ‘his cattle.
Twenty years ago he was working by the day on a
Texas farm. John Chisholm had 30,000 head; Mr.
Parks, 20,000; James Brown, 15,000; Martin Chil-
ders, 10,000; Robert Sloan, 12,000; Mr. Coleman,
12,000; Charles Rivers, 10,000; and many others
from 8000 to 20,000 head. These were some of the
cattle-princes of Texas. Of the 1000 men who owned
3,000,000 head of cattle, it is said not one hundred
commenced with large means. Texas is fast becoming
an agricultural State, and in a few years more most of
the great herds there will be transferred to the Plains
of the West, the natural grazing-grounds of the nation,
Among the great drivers North are John Hitson,
who brings up from Texas to the Plattes every year
7000 to 8000 head; John Chisholm, 6000; James
Patterson, 8000; George F. Reynolds, 5000; Charles
Goodnight, 5000; John Anderson, 3000; W. P.
Black, 2000; C. C. Campbell, 3000; Robert White,
2000 ; Samuel Goldstone, 2000; Henry Martin, 2000 ;
and many others from 1000 to 4000 head. The whole
number of cattle driven North from Texas annually
cannot be less than 100,000 to 150,000. The superior
advantages of the Northern climate over the South for
cattle has become so generally known as to need no
comment. I will not, therefore, give my own opinion,
but those of men more competent to judge.
76 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Dr. Latham says: “ All the country west of Omaha,
on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad, as far as Fort
Kearney is in the belt where twenty-five inches of rain
falls yearly. West of Fort Kearney, extending to the
Sierra Madre, on this railroad line, including the Black
Hills and Laramie Plains, is the belt where twenty
inches fall annually, with the exception of a small
portion of country in Texas, called the Staked Plain.
These two belts include all the trans-Missouri country
west, from the Missouri and Mississippi to the snowy
range. This rainfall includes the snow reduced to
water measure, twelve inches of snow making one inch
of water. This water falls mostly in the spring in
gentle rains, during the month of May, which is the
rainy season of the country. In the month of May
the rain gives our grasses their growth, and by June
1st to 15th they are fully matured. Our rains then
come in short showers, and the fall for the summer is
small. Our grasses begin to cure, and by September
1st they have become perfectly cured uncut hay. This
one fact alone is the key to the great superiority of this
country for grazing. Our grasses cure instead of de- .
composing, as there is neither heat nor moisture, both
of which are necessary for the chemical process of de-
composition.
“ As you leave the Missouri River you enter the belt
of country where two feet of snow falls. This belt
extends, like the first belt of rain, to Fort Kearney.
West of that point to the mountain’s foot is the belt
of eighteen inches. The snowfalls at a single storm
are very light, three inches being exceptionally large,
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. vive
and this amount being dry and light never lies on a
level ; in twenty-four hours from the time of fall the
ground is bare.”
Dr.- Charles Alden, formerly post surgeon at Fort
D. A. Russell, writes: “During the months of March,
April, September, November, and December, 1868,
the amount of snowfall was 4.37 inches, the greatest
being in March, 1.6 inches. The records of the year
1869 are more complete. There fell 13.56 inches of
snow during the months of January, February, March,
April, October, November, and December. The great-
est amount was in March, 3.97 inches; the least in
December, .13 of an inch. The snow in this vicinity
rapidly disappears after falling, and it is very rare that
there is a sufficient quantity or that it remains long enough
to give sleighing. During the winter season proper,
though the thermometer sometimes sinks to ten or fif-
teen degrees below zero, the weather is usually clear and
open and the roads good. ‘There are not only the
‘bunch’ and ‘gramma’ grasses, but a thousand other
species. Each valley has its complement of species.”
Dr. Corey writes: “During the summer of 1865 I
travelled northwest of Omaha, following up the Loup
Fork of the Platte, leaving which we crossed Niobrara,
north and south forks of the Big Cheyenne River,
thence following along the base of the eastern Black
Hills, thence still northwest across the Little Missouri,
and then down the Powder River to the Yellowstone.
Our route returning was along the base of the Big
Horn Mountains and the Black Hills, and down the
Platte. The grazing the whole distance of this jour-
7%
78 THE BEEF BONANZA.
ney, which was not less than sixteen hundred miles,
was good. ‘There is considerable land which does not
grow grass, such as some places in the Mauvais Terre.
Yet there is grass in all the country we passed over for
countless herds of cattle, sheep, and horses. Buffalo,
elk, antelope, and deer, in immense numbers, graze
here both summer and winter. Old mountaineers,
hunters, and trappers all told me that the winter
grazing was fine, and uninterrupted by snow. I have
been familiar with the winter grazing in that country for
six winters, and I am sure that stock will winter on the
native grass without shelter as well as they do in Jli-
nois with shelter and with hay and grain.”
J. W. Iliff (deceased), the great cattle-owner of Wy-
oming, wrote: “I have been engaged in the stock busi-
ness in Colorado and Wyoming for the past fourteen
years. During all that time I have grazed stock in
nearly all the valleys of these Territories, both summer
and winter. The cost of both summering and winter-
ing is simply the cost of herding, as no feed nor shelter
is required. I consider the summer-cured grass of
these plains and valleys as superior to any hay. My
cattle have not only kept in good order on this grass
through all the light winters, but many of them, thin
in the fall, have become fine beef by spring. During
this time I have owned over 20,000 head of cattle.
The percentage of loss in wintering here is much less
than in the States, where cattle are stabled and fed on
corn and hay. The cost of raising cattle here can be
shown from the fact that I would be glad to contract
to furnish any quantity of beef, from heavy, fat cattle,
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 79
in Chicago at seven cents, net weight. My experience
in sheep has not been so extensive as in cattle. I think,
however, that the short, sweet grass and the dry climate
here is especially adapted to raising sheep. I am con-
fident, from my experience, that this trans-Missouri
country can defy all competition in the production of
wool, mutton, beef, and horses.”
Alexander Major says: “TI have been grazing cattle
on the Plains and in the mountains for twenty years.
I have during that time never had less than 500 head
work-cattle, and for two winters, those of 1857 and
1858, I wintered 1500 head of heavy work-oxen on the
Plains each winter. My experience extends from El
Paso, on the Rio Grande, to one hundred miles north
of Fort Benton, Montana. Our stock is worked hard
during the summer, and comes to the winter herding-
ground thin. Then it is grazed without shelter, hay
and grain being unknown. By spring the cattle are
all in good working order, and many of them fat enough
for beef. I have often sold as high as 334 per cent. of
a drove of work-oxen for beef that were thin the fall
before, that had fattened on the winter grass. During
these twenty years the firm with which I was connected
wintered many cattle in Missouri and Arkansas on hay
and corn, and I am sure the percentage of loss of those
wintered in this country in all the valleys of the trans-
Missouri country is less than it was in the States with
food and shelter. From my twenty years’ experience,
I say without hesitation that all the country west of
the Missouri River is one vast pasture, affording un-
equalled summer and winter pasturage, where sheep,
80 THE BEEF BONANZA.
cattle, and horses can be raised with only the cost of
herding.”
James A. Moore, now deceased, said: “ I am familiar
with grazing for eleven years. I have grazed stock each
and every summer and winter during that time. I have
had experience with horses, sheep, and cattle. I have
found no difficulty in wintering stock without shelter
other than is afforded by the bluffs and in the cafions.
My loss in winter has been less than during my experi-
ence in stock-raising in Ohio. I have now 8000 sheep
which have been wintered well on native grasses. Since
bringing them to this cool and elevated country they
have increased in the quantity as well as quality of the
wool. I know of no disease which prevails among
sheep in this country. Out of 8000 head I have lost
only two this winter by wolves. I think this country
peculiarly the home of sheep. I can raise wool here
for less than one-half what it can be raised in Ohio or
other Eastern States.”
CHAPTER VII.
MORE ABOUT CATTLE-LANDS.
Interesting Letters—The Testimony of Generals Reynolds,
Myers, and Bradley, Edward Creighton, Alexander Street,
and Governors McCook and Campbell—The Future of the
Plains.
Tus chapter is a continuation of the subject-matter
treated in my last. I will proceed by giving an extract
from General Reynolds’s “ Explorations of the Yellow-
stone,” pages 74 and 75:
“Through the whole of the season’s march the sub-
sistence of our animals had been obtained by grazing
after we had reached camp in the afternoon, and for an
hour or two between the dawn of day and our time of
starting. The consequence was that when we reached
our winter quarters there were but few animals in the
train that were in a condition to have continued the
march without a generous diet. Poorer or more broken-
down creatures it would be difficult to find. They were
at once driven up the valley of Deer Creek, and herded
during the day and brought to camp and kept in a
corral through the night. In the spring all were in as
fine condition for commencing another season’s work as
could be desired. A greater change in their appear-
ance could not have been produced, even if they had
St 81
82 THE BEEF BONANZA.
been grain-fed and stable-housed all winter. Only one
was lost, the furious storm of December coming on be-
fore it had gained sufficient strength to endure it. This
fact that 70 exhausted animals turned out to winter on
the Plains on the 1st of November came out in the
spring in the best condition, and with the loss of but
one of the number, is the most forcible commentary I
can make upon the quality of the grass and the char-
acter of the winter.”
General William Myers, United States Army, writes :
“T have had some experience with stock on the Plains
and the mountains for the past four winters. Quarter-
masters’ animals, horses, and mules have grazed more
or less at the following posts each of the winters of 1866,
1867, 1868, 1869, and since, viz.: Forts Kearney,
McPherson, and Sidney Barracks, Nebraska; Forts
Sedgwick and Morgan, Colorado; Forts Laramie, Fet-
terman, Reno, Phil Kearney, Saunders, D. A. Russell,
Fred Steele, and Bridger, Wyoming Territory ; Camp
Douglass, in Utah; and Fort C. F. Smith, in Montana.
These forts embrace a country five hundred miles north
and south, and eight hundred miles east and west. I
am of the opinion that in consequence of the peculiar
nutritious grasses, and the lightness of the snowfalls in
all this extent of country, herds of sheep, cattle, and
horses can be grazed the year round with perfect safety
from danger in winter, and with great profit.”
General L. P. Bradley, an excellent judge, writes:
“T know the country on the east slope of the moun-
tains from the Big Horn down to the Republican and
Smoky Hill, which I prospected or scouted pretty
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 83
thoroughly. From the Smoky Hill, in about latitude
39° north to latitude 44° the country is very much like
that immediately around the Union Pacific Railroad,
with which you and the travelling public are familiar.
The character of all this country is rolling prairie, very
well watered, and abounding in good grasses to such an
extent that the assertion may be safely made that the
supply of grazing is unlimited. All the streams in this
range furnish some timber, and many of the tributaries
of the Republican, Powder, Tongue, Big Horn, and
other rivers are covered with forests of hard- and soft-
wood. All of the bottom-lands on the streams flowing
from the mountains are what would be called in the
East good, reliable farming-lands, fit to produce any
of the regular crops, except perhaps corn. The only
danger to the corn-crop would be, I suppose, the short-
ness of the season and the frequency of frosts conse-
quent on the extreme altitude of this section. North
of latitude 44° the country changes materially for the
better. It is better watered, having an abundance of
pure, clear mountain streams. The soil is richer, and
the grasses are heavier and stronger, and the climate
very much milder than that for several degrees south.
I think the valleys of Tongue River, Little Horn, Big
Horn, and the Yellowstone will produce corn, and good
corn, too. About the other crops, barley, wheat, pota-
toes, ete., there is no question. This, I take it, shows
about the maximum of soil and climate, for there is no
question about the value of a country that embraces
hundreds of millions of acres that will produce good
crops of cereals and grasses.”
84 THE BEEF BONANZA.
The valley of the Big Horn, five to twenty miles in
width by about one hundred miles in length, I regard
as one of the choice spots of the earth. Here the
climate, soil, scenery, and natural productions combine
to make a country I have not seen excelled anywhere
from Georgia to Montana, and equalled only by the
favored countries along the Ohio, the Cumberland, or
the Tennessee. The prevailing winds are westerly,
bringing the mild airs of the Pacific to these inland
slopes, and tempering the winters of latitude 45° and
46° to about the temperature of the mountain country
of Kentucky and Tennessee. The value of this country
for grazing may be estimated from the fact that good
fine grasses grow evenly all over the country ; that the
air is so fine that the grasses cure on the ground with-
out losing any of their nutriment, and that the climate
is so mild and genial that stock can range and feed all
the winter, and keep in excellent condition without
artificial shelter or fodder. The fact of grasses curing
on the ground is a well-known peculiarity of all the
high country on the east slope of the mountains, and
in this is found the great value of this immense range
for grazing purposes. The difference between grasses
which have to be cut and cured and those which are
preserved on the ground is enough to convince the
stock-raiser and herder of the value of these immense
ranges known as the Plains. I believe that all the
flocks and herds in the world could find ample pastur-
age on these unoccupied plains and the mountain
slopes beyond, and the time is not far distant when
the largest flocks and herds will be found right here,
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 85
where the grass grows and ripens untouched from one
year’s end to the other. I believe there is no place in
this section of the country, from latitude 47° down,
where cattle and sheep will not winter safely with no
feed but what they will pick up, and with only the
rudest shelter. In the mountains or in the valleys of
the mountain streams they would find ample shelter
from storms in the frequent cafions and ravines. The
mountain ranges are peculiarly adapted to sheep-rais-
ing; the range is unlimited, the grasses are fine, and
the air is pure and dry,—conditions which insure
healthier stock and better wool than the climate and
soil of the low country. I have said that the climate
about Big Horn was very mild. As an indication of
this I will state that the average temperature in the
valley, latitude 45° 30’, was, in December, 1867, 32°
above; in January, 1868, 30° above; in February, 40°
above; and in March; 55° above. In August, 1867,
the mercury was as high as 107° above. Coal, iron,
and fine building-stone are plentiful in the mountains
of the Big Horn ranges. Fine clay and limestone are
found in abundance, and the mountains furnish good
pine timber in fair quantity. Nature has provided
most liberally for the wants of civilization in this
favored region, and when it is opened up to settlement
it will attract a large population, and will prove to be
a great producing country.”
Edward Creighton, the great millionaire cattle-owner
of Nebraska, wrote, not long before his death, as fol-
lows: “ My first grazing in the country was in the
winter of 1859; since then for many winters I have
8
86 THE BEEF BONANZA.
grazed more or less stock, including horses, sheep, and
cattle, in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana.
The first seven winters I grazed work-oxen mostly.
Large work-cattle winter on the grasses in the valleys
and on the plains exceedingly well, and are in good
condition for summer work by the first of May. The
last four winters I have been raising stock, and have
had large herds of cows and calves. The present
winter I have wintered about 8000 head. They have
done exceedingly well. We have lost very few through
the whole winter, and those lost were very thin when
winter commenced. We have no shelter but the bluffs
and hills, no feed but the wild grasses of the country.
We have had 3000 sheep the past winter, and they are
in the best of order. Many are being sold daily for
mutton. Like the cattle, they require no feed nor
shelter. The high rolling character of the country and
the dry climate, and the shor®, sweet grasses of the
numerous hillsides, are extremely favorable to sheep-
raising and wool-growing. I have been interested in
stock-raising in the States for a number of years, where
we had tame-grass pastures, and tame grass, hay, and
fenced fields and good shelter for the stock, and good
American and blooded cattle, and an experienced stock-
raiser to attend to them, and after a full trial I have
found out that, with the disadvantage of the vastly
inferior Texas cattle, and no hay nor grain nor shelter,
—nothing but the wild grass,—there is three times the
profit in grazing on the Plains, and I have, as a conse-
quence, determined to transfer my interest in stock-
raising in the States to the Plains. There is no pros-
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 87
pective limit to the pasturage west of the Missouri
River. All the wool, mutton, beef, and horses that the
commerce and population of our great country will
require a hundred years hence, when the population is
as dense as that of Europe, can be produced in this
country, and at half the present prices.”
Alexander Street, of Wells-Fargo Express Company,
says: “From an experience of over twelve years in
wintering stock on the Plains I am satisfied there is no
country better adapted to the purpose than Wyoming
and Colorado Territories. I have wintered herds of
my own and others in Wyoming repeatedly, and the
percentage of loss is less than wintering in the States
on corn and hay. Here we feed nothing, but herd our
stock on dry grass. ‘During the last winter I had charge
of 2000 head of cattle belonging to Wells, Fargo & Co.
These cattle were worked very hard during the sum-
mer and fall in transporting government supplies to
the Powder River country, and many of them were not
turned out until the Ist of January, and were so poor
that they could scarcely travel to the herd-ground, some
forty miles. They had nothing all winter but grass,
not a mouthful of hay nor grain, and yet we lost but
about 30 head out of the 2000. Many of them were
fat enough for beef in March and April, and by the
1st of May nearly all were in good working condition.
From long experience I am fully satisfied that the
gramma or bunch grass, which abounds in this country,
is far superior to any of the tame grasses of the States ;
drying up in the fall without any rain upon it, it re-
tains all the nutritious properties through the winter.”
88 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Speaking of the advantages of cattle- and sheep-grow-
ing in Colorado, General McCook writes : ‘‘ The grasses
throughout the whole Territory are so abundant and so
nutritious that stock-raising is destined to be one of the
most essential elements of our permanent prosperity.
The natural increase of sheep in the Territory is 100
and of cattle 80 per cent. per annum. And as there is
almost no limit to the pastoral capabilities of the country,
so there should be no limit to the increase of stock.
The natural grasses of our hills or valleys are equal in
nutritious qualities to the Hungarian or other culti-
vated grasses of the East, and their abundance is such
that the herds of a dozen States could here find pastur-
age; and the winters are so mild that shelter or hay is
unnecessary.”
Governor Campbell, of Wyoming, in a message to
the Legislature of that Territory, said: “ In the chosen
home of the buffalo and the other graminivorous ani-
mals, which have for unnumbered years roamed over
our Plains and subsisted upon their succulent and nutri-
tious grasses, it would seem superfluous to say anything
in relation to our advantages as a stock-growing country,
or the wisdom or propriety of passing such laws as will
give protection to herds and flocks, and thus encourage
our people to engage in pastoral pursuits. Inaclimate
so mild that horses, cattle, and sheep and goats can live
in the open air through all the winter months, and fat-
ten on the dry and apparently withered grasses of the
soil, there would appear to be scarcely a limit to the
number that could be raised. There is an old Spanish
proverb that ‘ wherever the foot of the sheep touches
CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 89
the land turns into gold, and the dry, gravelly soil of
our Plains is peculiarly adapted for raising sheep, for
while it produces the richest of grasses for their con-
sumption, it is of a character that preserves their feet
from the diseases most fatal to the flocks. As it is well
known that the finer wools are grown at great altitudes,
we should be able to supply the world with almost un-
limited quantities of the best wool. While it may be’
justly deemed a reproach to the country at large that
the United States has been for years past an importer
of wool to the average amount of 50,000,000 pounds
per annum, it is a source of satisfaction to us to know
that there is a ready market at our doors, among our
own countrymen, for so large an amount of all that we
can grow. It is not sheep alone of the wool-bearing
animals that can be made so profitable on our Plains.
Our mountain ranges are in many respects reduplica-
tions of the country in which the most valuable and
delicate varieties of the Cashmere and Angora goats are
raised, and those flocks which browse on the shrubs
growing at high altitudes in the rare high atmosphere
of the mountains invariably produce the largest and
finest fleece. The importation of these goats into our
Territory should be encouraged. Unnumbered cattle
must be raised and fattened on our soil, and with the
cheap railroad freights which we have a right to expect,
the herdsman of our Plains, while advancing his own
fortune, will prove a benefactor to the laboring classes
of the East, by bringing the price of the best beef within
the limit of their means.”
Many other letters and documents from persons
g*
90 THE BEEF BONANZA.
capable of judging about “ Cattle-Growing out West”
are before me, but these will suffice. Highly as Ne-
braska, Wyoming, and Colorado have been spoken of
for herd-lands, still, if I was engaged in the business, I
would not go to either place, for I think I know a bet-
ter cattle-country. Montana has undoubtedly the best
grazing-grounds in America, and parts of Dakota stand
next. The Yellowstone, Big Horn, Tongue River, and
Powder River regions contain the maximum of advan-
tages to the cattle-grower. Except on the Upper Yel-
lowstone few herds are yet located in Eastern Muntana,
but in the future the O’Connors, Kings, Kenuedys,
‘Hitsons, and Chisholms of the West will be found on
the Yellowstone, Big Horn, and Powder River countries
of Montana.
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST.
91
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST.
CHAPTER VIIL
GREAT OPPORTUNITIES.
The Raising of Sheep—Where it is Done—The Wool Crop of
the World—Sheep- Walks of the Plains—A Fortune in a Clip.
SHEEP love a high and dry climate, and the higher
and drier the soil the better it is for them. The
countries which they mostly inhabit are Great Britain,
Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Aus-
tralia, South America, South Africa, the United States,
North America, Asia, and North Africa. Of these
countries Great Britain has a yearly production of
260,000,000 pounds of wool; Germany, 200,000,000;
France, 123,000,000; Spain, Italy, and Portugal,
119, 000,000 ; Europea Russia, 125,000,000; Aus-
tralia, South Atairien, and South Africa, 250 ,000, 000 ;
United States, 100,000,000; North American Poy
inces, 10,000,000; Asia, 470,000,000 ; North Africa,
49,000,000.
It will be observed that the European production is
827,000,000 pounds, and the annual yield of the whole
93
94 THE BEEF BONANZA.
world 1,706,000,000. The enormous value of this
wool is shown by the fact that in one year Australia
exported £30,000,000 sterling worth of wool, or about
$150,000,000 in gold, and for ten years past her trade
has been steadily increasing. Those unfamiliar with
Australia can never estimate the importance of such a
country and the effect produced upon it by an enormous
wool trade. It is the asylum for broken-down Eng-
lishmen, and in a few years they grow rich in sheep,
and generally return to the Continent to live at their
ease. Wool gives the principal prosperity to Australia,
and she now has cities larger than New Orleans with a
trade greater than Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Cleve-
land, Buffalo, or Detroit. Melbourne ten or fifteen
years ago had a population of 170,000 souls, and
Sydney was as important.
In the production of the world’s wool the United
States makes rather a mean figure with its 100,000,000
pounds, and it is most encouraging to wool-growers to
know we are oftentimes still heavy importers. In
1870 we imported wool and woollens to the value of
$49,229,385; and the year before, while we exported
$82,238,773 worth of breadstuffs, we sent out only
$315,881 worth of wool,—not enough to pay the duty
on our imported playing-cards. All our breadstuffs
cost three-fifths of their value to lay them down at the
sea-coast, and it may seem strange that our producers
do not raise more wool and less grain. This, however,
has its explanation in the fact that on small farms in
the East, where population is dense, farmers are com-
pelled to raise clover for animal food, and sheep are
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 95
utterly destructive to that kind of grass. They eat the
heart out of clover and the plant dies, so that the
most thrifty farmers who manure their land by plough-
ing down clover in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York
have almost entirely ceased to raise sheep, believing the
profit to be derived from them will not pay for the
injury done their lands.
The importance of wool as a source of natural wealth
is shown by its effect on the increase of population and
wealth where sheep are most raised. Roubaix, France,
rose from a population of 5000 souls and a manufac-
tory of 3000 pieces to 55,000 people and 400,000
pieces. Rheims began, in 1801, the manufacture of
merino, and in 1863 had 55,000 workmen running
170,000 spindles and 19,000 hand-looms, annually
producing 80,000,000 francs worth of cloth. Beda-
rieux, from a small village, has grown to be a great
city, and sends out annually 250,000 pieces of cap
cloth. Elbeuf, also, once a small hamlet, now has
24,000 workmen employed. Verviers, Belgium, from
5000 people has grown to 40,000 by the manufacture
of cloth. In one season she sent out 70,000,000 francs
worth. West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from
59,000 souls has increased to 1,375,000; Halifax, from
63,000 to 130,000; Huddersfield, from 14,000 to
38,000; Leeds, from 53,000 to 152,000; Bradford,
from 14,000 to 100,000. It is in Bradford that the
great English worsted-works are located.
“ Not guarded Colchis gave admiring Greece
So rich a treasure in its golden fleece.”’
96 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Sheep will grow almost anywhere, as is evidenced
by the fact that the following countries have raised and
exported wool to the United States alone: England,
Scotland, Dominion of Canada, West Indies, British
Africa, British East Indies, Australia, Cuba, France,
Brazil, China, Argentine Republic, Dutch West Indies,
Guiana, Mexico, Italy, Venezuela, Belgium, United
States of Colombia, Uruguay, Russia on the Black Sea,
Chili, Denmark, Danish West Indies, Austria, and
Turkey. These countries embrace almost every climate
on the globe, and the sheep is indeed a rare animal to
adapt itself so readily to all circumstances. The finest
merino wool is grown in Spain, France, Algeria, Cape
Colony, on the La Plata, and in Australia,
As observed at the commencement of this chapter,
the best climate for sheep is high, dry lands, where
little rain falls; and generally the higher the lands the
rarer the air, and the drier the climate the better will
sheep thrive.
In Asia sheep are grazed 15,000 feet above the level
of the sea; but, while this is true, we must not forget
that they also range in Holland below the level of the
sea. J am told, however, none of the diseases, such as
dry-rot, balling, scab, and foot-rot, so common in low
countries, prevail in the high latitudes.
The principal advantage of sheep land is in the fact
it will raise sheep when it will not produce cereals or
roots. The colonists in Africa, when they found they
could not farm, turned their attention to wool-growing,
and soon became thriving communities, The high and
dry plains of South America, where little rain falls for
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 97
ten months in the year, export 100,000,000 pounds of
wool annually. It is there the celebrated “ mestiza”
is grown, from which the finest cloth is made, and so
great is the demand for it that not over one-twentieth
of what is needed is produced. The whole of the
interior of Australia is a high table-land, where little
rain falls, and from thence comes the fine fibre me-
rino wool, from which French broadcloths and French
merinos are manufactured. New Zealand, much the
same as Australia, gives us the delainé wools. The
lower the lands and coarser the herbage, the coarser
are the wools, and the higher the soil and finer the
grass, the finer are the fleeces. “The Great American
Desert” is the natural home of the sheep. West of the
Missouri there are 1,000,000,000 acres of land on which
sheep can probably be grazed better and to more advan-
tage than any other country in the world. Commencing
at Grand Island, on the Union Pacific Railroad, one
hundred and fifty miles west of Omaha, the grazing-belt,
eight hundred miles wide, extends west over one thou- —
sand miles. On this enormous tract of land all the sheep
in the world might be placed, and still there would be
room for more. To attempt any particular description
of so large a country would be impossible, and only a
few of the largest ranges can be noticed. The North,
South, and Middle Loup Rivers are over two hundred
miles long, and flowing together, just north of Grand
Island, empty a short distance below, at the city of
Columbus, into the Platte River. I have been all
over this region, and never saw a finer one on earth.
Imagine a broad valley, green as the sea, a wide river,
E g 9
98 THE BEEF BONANZA.
fringed with trees, flowing down its centre, and here
and there an island covered with dense forest; little
green valleys that conduct silvery streams toward their
ocean home; distant hills, with bonnets blue, a glorious
canopy of bright and balmy skies overspreading the
whole. What scene could be more sublime? And
such was the North Loup as I saw it a few years ago.
At one point for fifteen miles I could look up the
valley, and the prospect was unbroken, except by fields
of golden grain and green waving corn. High bluffs
and deep ravines filled with timber flanked the wide
valley, while every two or three miles streams came
leaping from the hills, meandered fantastically across
the valley, and plunged into the broad river. No
sweeter or more picturesque landscape ever was pre-
sented to the vision of a painter than the North Loup,
the loveliest valley of the Plains. There were no
cataracts, geysers, or glaciers, but thousands of patches
of green earth, terraced by the hand of nature more
beautiful than art could possibly have made them ; quiet
vales, through which rivulets flowed on forever in
shade and sunlight ; groves by the side of crystal pools ;
and hazy, golden days nine months out of every twelve
in the year.
It was of this very country Bayard Taylor wrote:
“TJ am more than ever struck with the great difference
between the Great West region and the country east of
the Mississippi. There is none of the wearisome mo-
notony of the level plains, as in Illinois, or the swampy
tracts, as in Indiana or Ohio. The wide, billowy
green, dotted all over with golden islands of harvests;
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 99
the hollows of dark, glittering maize; the park-like
clumps of timber along the course of streams,—these
are the materials which make up every landscape, and
of which, in their sweet, harmonious, pastoral beauty,
the eye never grows weary.”
It is on the little streams which put into the great
valleys the fine sheep-ranches are found. For miles
and miles the hills stretch away, covered with a short,
soft grass, and on this the sheep keep fat the whole
year round. The soil is arid and sandy, and the air
warm and dry. All day long the sheep graze on the
sweet grass, and at night come down into the valley to
drink and sleep. Near Fort Harisuff, on the head of
the North Loup, there is a little valley surrounded by
multitudes of low, round hills that look like mounds,
and down the valley, over a pebbly bottom, flows a
brook of clear, cold water. Near at hand are deep
ravines, timber, and cuts in the earth where the hills
almost meet overhead. This is a natural sheep-range.
The round mounds, of which there are thousands in all
directions, are covered with buffalo and gramma erass. -
The pebbles in the brook clean the sheep’s feet, and in
winter, when the storms beat, the ravines, timber, and
caves give them natural shelter. The snow no sooner
falls than the winds blow it off the mounds, and no
matter how deep it may be in the valley, by going up
two hundred feet the animals can get all the grass they
want. ‘There is no need of shelter, for nature has pro-
vided corrals for tens of thousands of animals, and it is
unnecessary to cut hay, for the grass cured on the ground
and always at hand is better than any hay in stacks.
100 THE BEEF BONANZA.
The description of one valley will answer for hun-
dreds of others, as they are very much alike. Lodge
Pole Creek, 396 miles west of Omaha, has an elevation
of 8861 feet above the level of the sea, and is one of
the best ranges in the West for both cattle and sheep.
It is 190 miles long, and empties into the South Platte
River. For 180 miles it flows adjacent to the Union
Pacific Railroad, and the valley in this distance con-
tains at least 1,000,000 acres of grazing-land. The
grass is short, sweet, and nutritious, and the range in
every way suited to sheep-farming. On the bottoms
great quantities of hay could be cut, and in the whole
length of Lodge Pole at least 600,000 sheep could be
raised, yielding annually 2,500,000 pounds of wool,
worth $1,000,000. Horse Creek, 5000 feet above the
sea, is located near Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, and
empties into the Platte. It is a fine stream, 100 miles
in length, and has Bear Creek, 40 miles long, for
a tributary. At the head of Bear Creek is Bear Lake,
on the banks of which grow beautiful groves of cotton-
_ wood and box elder. Along the bottom of the main
stream is plenty of luxuriant grass for hay, and on the
uplands 6,400,000 acres of grazing, where half a million
sheep might feed the year round. Larrens Fork is
60 miles long, with hay-lands, uplands, timber, and
buffalo grass. Fox Creek is 30 miles long, rises out
of solid rock, runs south, and is a fine stock-range.
Box Elder is 25 miles long, empties into the Platte,
and has plenty of sheep-grass. Deer Creek is 40 miles
long and has good pasturage. On both Box Elder and
Deer Creek is found aspen, box-elder, and cottonwood.
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 101
timber. Chugwater and its tributaries — Richard
Creek, Wolf Creek, Spring Creek, and Willow Creek
—are each over 200 miles long, and afford good graz-
ing. Sabille Creek has also good bottoms, and is 40
miles long. The Big Laramie is over 200 miles in
length, and has bottoms 5 miles wide. It contains at
least 6,400,000 acres of rich grass-lands, on which as
many sheep could be grazed, and they would annually
produce 24,000,000 pounds of wool, worth $9,600,000.
In this one valley of the West could be grazed all the
sheep now in the great State of Ohio. As many as
500,000 sheep could be raised each year, and these for
mutton alone would be worth $2,500,000. The land
on the Laramie Plains is high and dry, and the air
pure. There is plenty of timber, and, taken all together,
this is a perfect sheep paradise.
All these pasturages are of easy access to the Union
Pacific Railroad, and many of them near cities and
large towns. The whole country west from Grand
Island to Green River, a distance of over five hundred
miles, is one vast pasture-field. The Sweetwater Val-
ley, many hundreds of miles long, and from four to ten
miles wide, affords rich grass, and would graze 1,000,-
000 sheep and cattle. I have been all over the Wind
River country, and it is an enormous belt of agricul-
tural and pastoral lands. The valley will grow wheat,
rye, oats, Indian corn, and furnish sites for beautiful
homes, while on the hills which ‘roll away for hundreds
of miles millions of sheep and cattle can graze without
other food or shelter than that furnished by nature.
Beyond the Wind River is the Big Horn range, of which
9x
1
102 THE BEEF BONANZA. .
General Bradley says: “ For stock-raising no country
could be finer, and the conditions are such as to insure
the minimum of expense and labor and maximum of
profits. The fine air and water insure health to the herds
and the pasture food all the year round. The country,
including and bordering on the Big Horn Mountain is
particularly fitted for sheep-raising. Sheep like the
high land and dry air of such a region, and these,
with the fine, rich grasses of the mountain slopes, would
produce fleeces not excelled in any part of the world.
Sheep-husbandry is as yet in its infancy with us, but
the time will come when the Big Horn country will be
as famous for its flocks and wool as any part of the old
world, perhaps as famous for its looms and mills too.”*
The climate of these mountains is admirably suited to
the culture of goats. The Angora, the finest goat in
the world, would grow and thrive here. His fleece
would be, too, a valuable addition to our wool market.
A Russian traveller, writing of this little animal, says:
“ His home is on the great mountain slopes, on dry soil,
and among feldspathic rocks. His fleece is white as
snow, and of dazzling purity, softness, and lustre. The
shearing is no sooner concluded than he takes to the
mountains, and there, above dew-falling points, he feeds
and flourishes on the aromatic plants and dry grasses.
* This country was for a long time closed to settlement by Red
Cloud’s hostile bands, but the Sioux war has opened it up to
civilization. Fort Custer is located in the very heart of the Big
Horn Valley, and Fort Keogh is only about one hundred miles
by land farther down the Yellowstone. The country will ere
long be as safe as Nebraska or Colorado,
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 103
There is no humidity in this climate; persons who lie
out all night in the open air will find in the morning
that their garments have not the slightest dampness
about them. The goats eat nothing except shoots of
vegetation and herbs, and it is this which contributes
to make their fleeces so brilliant.”
This climate is singularly like our own country along
the Big Horn, Wind River, and throughout the Black
Hills. Undoubtedly Angora goats would grow and
thrive along the whole mountain range of the “ Great
Rockies.”
Some faint idea of the extent and capacity of our
immense Western pastoral region may be obtained when
we consider that there is grazing-ground enough in
Wyoming alone for all the sheep in the United States,
Australia, and the Argentine Republic, which now pro-
duce an aggregate of 300,000,000 pounds of wool, worth
$100,000,000, annually. The United States, with an
area of 2,940,000 square miles, produces 100,000,000
pounds of wool, while the British Islands, with an area
of only 118,000 square miles, produces 260,000,000
pounds. In other words, with twenty-five times their
land, and five hundred times their pasturage, we pro-
duce less than one-half as much wool. Buenos Ayres
has 75,000,000 head of sheep, and these might be
driven into the great West and grazed without occupy-
ing one-eighth of our sheep-lands. Between the Mis-
souri River and the Pacific coast there are not less than
1,650,000 square miles of agricultural lands, and more
than one billion of acres of grazing lands, capable of
grazing conveniently 600,000,000 sheep. It staggers
104 THE BEEF BONANZA.
human belief to compute the extent and capacity of our
great West, and only those who have ridden over it on
horseback, as I have done for twelve years past, can
form any idea of its immensity. The valley of the
North Platte, from where it joins the South Platte to
its mountain source in the north part of Colorado, is
800 miles, making in the whole length 1450 miles of
Platte Valley. The two Platte Valleys, with their
tributaries, will average 40 miles in width, making
58,000 square miles, equal to 37,000,000 acres. Think
of two valleys and their tributaries out West being
larger than New York or Pennsylvania! Yet the
small portion of New York State devoted to pasturage
furnishes grass for 7,000,000 graminivorous animals—
horses, sheep, and cattle—valued at $575,000,000. “It
is only by comparisons,” says Dr. Latham, “the people
of the East can form any idea of the capabilities and
wealth of the West.”
Besides the great Platte Valleys just mentioned are
the Loups, Beaver, Shell, Calamus, and Dismal Valleys,
which average in the aggregate over 30 miles in width,
and have more than 10,000,000 acres of pasture-
land along their banks. The temperature in this re-
gion for the whole year is 50° Fahrenheit. The mean
temperature for spring is 47°, for summer 75°, for
autumn 50°, and for winter 25°. The annual rainfa!!
is 254 inches, divided as follows: spring, 8; summer,
12; autumn, 4; winter (snow, 18 inches), 1} inches
rain.
Dr. Latham, speaking of the country north of Grand
Island, on the Union Pacific Railroad, says: “The
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 105
Loup Forks and tributaries have 10,000,000 to 12,000,-
000 acres of as good and reliable winter grazing as is
to be found in Buenos Ayres, South Africa, or Aus-
tralia. Wool can be raised as cheaply in this country
as anywhere in the world. In other countries they pay
land and water transportation of thousands of miles,
sell their wool from 12 to 25 cents per pound, and
grow rich at that price. On the Loup alone there is
room for 7,000,000, and the best grass I have ever.
seen for graminivorous animals. Ohio has 6,500,000
sheep, which, considered alone for their wool, after pay-
ing the interest of capital invested in their pasture- and
meadow-lands, and the cost of feeding through the six
months of winter, do not pay one per cent. on the capital
invested in themselves.”
These 6,500,000 sheep of Ohio, if they could be
transferred to the Platte country, besides making room
at home for a paying investment, would pay 25 per
cent. profit per annum out West, where the only cost
of keeping would be herding.
CHAPTER IX.
GREAT PASTURE-LANDS.
‘Where Sheep can be best Raised—Who the Sheep-Owners of the
Plains are—How the Ranches are managed—Letters from
Sheep-Raisers.
To describe correctly the pasture-lands of the West
would require not one but a dozen chapters, and even
the most important regions can only have a brief men-
tion. The streams flowing into the North Platte on
its north bank alone are the Blue Water, Coldwater,
Slate, Sweetwater, and Sheet.
On the south side are the Ash, Pumpkin, Larrens,
Dry, Horse, Cherry, Chugwater, Sybille, Big Laramie,
Little Laramie, Deer, Medicine, Rock, and Douglas.
These streams with their feeders drain 40,000,000 acres
of pasture-lands; most of them have timber along their
banks, and afford beautiful sites for ranches and resi-
dences.
In the North Platte basin, east of the Black Hills,
are 8,000,000 acres of pasturage, with the finest and
most lasting living streams, and good shelter in bluffs
and cafions. These 8,000,000 acres of pasturage, if
taxed to their capacity, would feed all the year round
8,000,000 head of sheep, yielding 24,000,000 pounds
of wool annually, worth $7,000,000 to $8,000,000.
106
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 107
The Republican Valley is 250 miles long, and with its
tributaries embraces an area of 25,000 square miles, or
16,000,000 acres of land.
The whole country is divided into plain, bluff, and
valley, and there is not a rod of the 16,000,000 acres
that is not the finest grazing, and which is not covered
with a luxuriant growth of blue, buffalo, and gramma
grasses. The whole country is exceptionally well
watered by the Republican River, and the great stream
has among its tributaries on the north bank Hoickearea,
White Man, Black Wood, Eight Mile, Little River,
Red, Stinking Water, Medicine, Turkey, and Elm ; on
the south bank are Prairie Dog, Sappa Beaver, White,
Box Elder, Ash, Cottonwood, and North and South
Forks. No particular description of these streams can
be given, but they are mostly well timbered, full of
beautiful spots and natural homes for hundreds of
raisers and tens of thousands of herds. Here the buf-
falo were thickest, and only ten years ago it was esti-
mated that there were 1,000,000 head grazing on the
Republican and its tributaries. They have all gone,
and not 50,000 head of cattle or sheep have yet re-
placed them. What a field for the future stock-kings
of the West!
The Cache la Poudre, Big Thompson, St. Vrain,
Bijou, Kiawa, Bear, Beaver, Lone Tree, Howard, Crow,
Pawnee, Cheyenne, Little Missouri, Cannon Ball, Hart,
Belle, Fouche, and many other valleys are famous for
their rich grasses, and afford admirable ranges for both
cattle and sheep, but to describe these and a hundred
other rivers in the great West would require a volume.
108 THE BEEF BONANZA.
I have seen cabbages raised on the Cache la Poudre
that weighed fifty pounds each ; turnips, twelve pounds ;
potatoes, four pounds; and beets two feet and a half
long. I have also seen cattle in January on the St.
Vrain and Big Thompson so :fat they could hardly be
eaten. At one of our frontier posts is an official record,
made in March, complaining of the beef as “ too fat for
issue to the men,” and directing the butcher to select
and kill leaner animals. Thisis the West asa grazing-
country ; and if any one doubts let him come and see
for himself. He will not only learn the astonishing
fact that the natural grasses over-fatten stock, but he
can see fields of 10 acres from which 500 bushels of
wheat were cut and threshed, and if he will work he
can dig 500 bushels of potatoes from a single acre of
land. ;
The increase of the wool-trade has been most marvel-
lous. The wool industry of South America, South
Africa, and Australia does not date back more than a
quarter of a century, and now they export 250,000,000
pounds,
In England, thirty years ago, there were imported
74,000 bales of wool from Germany, 10,000 bales from
Spain and Portugal, 8000 bales from the British
colonies, and 5000 bales from other places, making a
total of 97,000 bales. In 1864 there were imported
from Ansivalia 302,000 bales; Cape of Good Hope,
68,000 ; South America, 99, 000 ; and from all other
sources, 919,336 ; in all, 688,336 bales. Australia now
supplies more than three times the whole amount of
foreign wool consumed in England thirty years ago,
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 109
and the production of South America exceeds the whole
consumption then.
Our own country is not without some remarkable
increases, as is shown by Iowa, which had in 1859
258,288 sheep, and in 1879 she had 2,332,241. If the
sheep-trade on the Plains increases as rapidly as the
cattle-trade has (and there is no apparent reason why it
should not), there will soon be in the pasturages along
the Union Pacific Railroad alone 1,000,000 head. The
cost of bringing sheep to Nebraska, Colorado, Wyom-
ing, and Montana from New Mexico is about $2 per
head. Shepherds can be hired at from $30 to $40 per
month, and one man can attend about 3000 head. Wool
has been carried by railroad from San Francisco to Bos-
ton for $1.10 per 100 pounds. Double-decked sheep-
cars, carrying 200 sheep, can be had from the base of
the mountains to Chicago markets for $150, thereby
putting fat wethers in market at 75 cents per head;
dressed mutton carcasses are delivered from the Rocky
Mountains in New York at $1.75 per hundred, car-
load rates.
The principal sheep-owners in the West, with the
number of sheep in their herds, are as follows: Moore
Brothers, Sydney, Nebraska, 15,000; A. M. Munson,
Greeley, Colorado, 5000; Mr. Bailey, South Platte,
3000 ; Hutton, Alsop & Creighton, Laramie, Wyom-
ing, 13,000; Carters & Co., Plains, 3000; J. W. H.
lliff, Colorado, 10,000; Amigo Brothers, Colorado,
50,000; Hollester & Co., Utah, 20,000 ; Willard Clark
& Co., Laramie Plains, 3000; Rumsey & Co., Laramie
Plains, 2000; E. M. Post, Cheyenne, 5000; Ballen-
13
110 THE BEEF BONANZA.
tine Brothers, Nebraska, 5000; Maxwell Estate, Colo-
rado, 20,000 ; Benito Bacco, Colorado, 40,000; J. 8.
Maynard, Colorado, 5000; A. M. Merriman, Colorado,
3000; Patterson Brothers, Colorado, 20,000; Keith
& Co., Nebraska, 2000;"Dr. A. W. Bell, Colorado,
1000 ; George Burk, Nebraska, 1000; Froman Bro-
thers, Nebraska, 1000 ; Alfred Way, Nebraska, 1200;
Alfaugh & Grover, Nebraska, 1500; Andy Struthers,
Nebraska, 1000; H. Coolidge, Nebraska, 300; A.
Stuart, Nebraska, 400 ; Coe, Carter & Bratt, Nebraska,
900; Theodore Bye, Nebraska, 200; C. Mylander,
Nebraska, 200; King & Lane, Laramie, Wyoming,
2000.
There are many large sheep-herds in New Mexico
and Texas, but as these could hardly be called Western
herds they are omitted from this chapter. The Amigo
Brothers alone own in the Southwest over 300,000
sheep.
Referring particularly to some of the herds above
enumerated, I may mention that of Willard Clark &
Co. It is located eighteen miles from Laramie City,
Wyoming Territory, on the Laramie Plains, and about
six miles from the base of the mountains. The soil is
coarse, gravelly, and formed of débris washed from the
mountain-side. The whole Laramie Plain resembles
the bottom of an old lake, and the basin, seventy miles
long, was no doubt once covered with water.
Near the mountains the streams are small, clear, and
cold, being fed by melted snows, but in the valley,
where they are larger, they frequently overflow and de-
posit a rich, alluvial soil along their banks. In the
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 111
Plain the grass is rank and rich, and on the slopes the
soil is sandy and herbage sparse. It is on these barren
uplands the sheep love to dwell, and where they seem
to thrive best, while the flat-lands are reserved for cat-
tle-ranges. ‘The atmosphere is very clear, and objects
ten miles off do not appear to be over two miles distant.
It would be impossible for any one to take a pulmonary
disease in such a climate, and it would be a very bad
case of consumption, indeed, which could not be cured
by a year’s sheep-herding on the Plains. Every one
sleeps out in the open air at night, and although the
thermometer often drops down below zero there is not
the slightest danger of taking cold or contracting rheu-
matism.
Mr. Edward Curly, of the London Field, speaking
of the climate of these Plains, says: “Snow will grad-
ually disappear while the temperature is constantly be-
low freezing-point. Place a saucer of anhydrous
sulphuric acid under a glass bell, with a little snow
around it, on a very cold day, and you can produce the
same effect on a very small scale in England, and from
the same cause. The boiled acid will make the air
within the glass so very dry that it will drink up the
snow, or cause it to evaporate without going through the
intermediate process of melting. Moisten a piece of
cambric and hang it out in the wind on the Plains ona
very cold day, and it will freeze quite stiff immediately,
and inashort time be quite dry and limp. The ice
within the fibrous threads has evaporated without melt-
ing, precisely as the snows of Wyoming or Colorado
waste away.”
112 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Mr. Clark has a substantial house, stables for horses,
and sheds for 4000 sheep. He keeps hay for his sheep,
and in so high a latitude such a precaution is certdinly
necessary. A mile and a half above the sea, he lives
as warm and comfortable in winter as the people of New
York, and never knows what it is to suffer with heat in
summer. The following is a statement of a portion of
Mr. Clark’s operations in sheep :
First Year.
Cost of ranch and implements . ‘ m ‘ - $4,350
300 tons of hay two seasons . & -% 650
May, 1879, bought 140 merino sheep, of lich 18 were
full-grown rams, and 3 ram lambs. Average net
cost for the lot F 3 : . 2,100
August, 1879, bought 2000 Ate ewes, tt $3 each . 6,000
Total. i . E . ‘ 2 . $12,100
Returns: Shearing of 1880, 9200 pounds wool; net
29 cents per pound é ‘ . . $2,668
Value of 25 pure-blood merino ram laitibs, aa $25 each. 1,125
Value 1515 common-blood lambs, at an average of $3
each é : Z 2 z : 3 z . 4,545
Teal 4 & & x wS & «98a
The data is too imperfect to fix a ratio of profits, but
Mr. Clark said in another year he would have his
herd and establishment clear, and if in three years one
can clear a herd and ranch worth $12,000, he would, I
think, be doing very well.
Mr. H. B. Rumsey has a flock on the Laramie Plains,
and the following is a return of his first three years of
sheep-growing out West:
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 113
, First Year.
Bought 650 ewes, at a cost of $8 each. ¥ 4 - $1950
‘© lranch, with sheds. 7 é . - . 1200
40 tons of hay, at $6 per ton . . : 7 : . 240
Team, wagon, etc. . F ‘ E ‘ ‘ é 260
Two horses for herding P ‘ : . 100
Total 2 3 . . . . . - $3690
Expenses: Labor for one year . . . . - $600
Board foreman one year . : : . - ; 100
Horse-feed . 7 z ‘ , . . é $ 100
Shearing sheep . . . ;: . . 50
Incidentals 2 ; a 100
Total . F Z F Fi . 3 . $950
Returns: Sold 3600 pounds wool, at 29 cents per
pound. : : : ci . : : $1044
On hand, 420 lambs, for which had an offer of $4.50, but
say $3 each : 1260
Total ‘ ‘ 2 i , ‘ : . $2304
Deduct expenses : é : ; 950
Net profit, equal to about 35 per cent. . . . » $1854
Mr. Rumsey, in his estimate for next year, stated :
1500 sheep, extra sheds, horses, wagons, fencing, hay,
improvements, labor on ranches, etc., total
about . : Pi P : F E : . $8000
Returns of wool from 1500 sheep, five pounds to the
fleece, 7500 pounds, at 25 cents per pound . . 1875
Increase, 70 per cent., 1050 lambs, at $3 each . ‘ . 8150
Total . : . . * . ‘ $5025
Expenses: Labor for one year i , : $800
Contingent fund i 5 : 7 3 500
— 1300
Net profit (exclusive of improved value of sheep, 464 per
cent. on investmeit) =. : . : 4 . $3725
H 10*
114 THE BEEF BONANZA.
The greatest possible difference of opinien exists
among sheep-owners as to the proper manner of breed-
ing. Some breed in, and others out; some say sheep
should be bred up to the highest point, while others
contend a cross is best. Without pretending to express
an opinion, I would, if handling a herd, breed up Cots-
wolds for mutton, and cross merinos with Cotswolds
for wool. A. great many owners say the French merino
is greatly to be preferred to the Spanish merino for
breeding in this country. ‘The Cotswold cross with the
merino gives a large-bodied sheep, and a good quality
of wool. ‘The cross between the Mexican sheep and
merino does not materially increase the size of the
sheep, but the wool is good. A lot of Mexican ewes
can be had at Denver, Cheyenne, or Pueblo for $2 per
head, but they are valuable only for starting a herd.
These ewes are very prolific, but they are small, their
wool coarse, and of little value. A well-known authority
on breeding says: “ While I fully concur in the desir-
ableness of the cross between the merinos and Cotswolds
for hardihood, large fleeces, and good mutton, I will
say that the Leicesters are to my view very similar to
the Cotswolds, and what is claimed for the latter in the
cross referred to may be equally claimed for the for-
mer.” The large bodies, good health, fine mutton,
rather than wool, is the principal recommendation of
the cross between merinos and Cotswolds. To breed
up a herd rapidly for profit take the largest Mexican
ewes and best Cotswold rams.
Mr. Merriman, who has his herd about six miles
from Colorado Springs, says: ‘At present I have
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 115
about 3000 head of sheep, a cross between the Mexican
ewes and the merinos, about two-thirds of the herd being
ewes. The cost of these is $2 cach, and of the merino
bucks $30 each. I keep two bucks to every hundred
ewes. My average clip is three pounds per head a year,
and I estimate the value of the clip at 35 to 40 cents
per pound. It required one man only to herd the
flock, and I pay him $45 per month, including board.
The bucks I keep in an enclosed pasture, commencing
May 1st and to be continued to December Ist of each
year. I divide my herd, putting the breeding ewes in -
a separate flock from the wethers and lambs, requiring
two herders, one for each flock ; but I think it pays to
incur the additional expense, and I shall keep it up in
the future. My average increase is about 75 per cent.
for the ewes, or 50 per cent. for the whole flock per
annum. In five years’ experience I have never fed
any hay or grain to my flock, and depend entirely on
the native grasses, with a few exceptions, as in cases of
sickness, or some fine-blooded bucks or ewes. I think
we can claim in Colorado to be entirely exempt from
disease incident to sheep in the States, such as foot-rot
and scab. I have never had the least trouble with
them here.” Mr. Merriman is a careful breeder, has
succeeded well, and his experience is very instructive
and interesting.
On the Laramie Plains considerable trouble was had
with scab, but a complete antidote and cure was found
in tobacco dip. A few pounds of tobacco boiled and
the juice mixed with water will dip many sheep, and a
souse each spring after shearing will keep them clear
116 THE BEEF BONANZA.
of scab. When large herds have to be dipped, a tank
ten feet square and two and a half feet deep, filled with
tobacco-dip, is put at the mouth of the corral, and the
sheep driven through it. A jump in and a jump out
is all they need for the year in order to ensure complete
health. If, however, I were going into sheep-growing
out West, I would not go so far north as the Laramie
Plains, but keep farther south, where the climate is
warmer.
Dr. A. W. Bell, who lives at Colorado Springs, has
about 1500 sheep, which he keeps nine miles north of
that place. His average yield of wool was four and a
half pounds per head, and brought in Denver 35 cents
and 40 cents per pound. Off 1000 sheep he cut $2500
worth of wool, being about twice the cost of herding and
keeping. The increase of the flock was 50 per cent.,
which, added to his sale of wool, gave him over expenses
an income of 60 to 65 per cent. on his investment.
Sheep are said to be most remarkably prolific in Colo-
rado, and more twins and triplets are born in that State
than anywhere else in the West.
Mexican sheep are very cheap in Colorado, and have
been bought as low as 75 cents per head, but the recent
demand for stock-sheep in the northern part of the
State, and the increased facilities for shipping wool, have
sent the price up, and I doubt now if they can be bought
for a much less rate than $1.50 and $2 per head. Mexi-
can sheep crossed with merino are worth $2 and $2.50,
and good graded sheep bred up bring $5 and $6 each.
Blooded bucks are worth from $30 to $200 apiece.
General Cameron, writing of the stock-grasses of
SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 117
Colorado, says: “Botanists, I believe, make out over
fifty varieties of grasses in Colorado alone. Some of
these so closely resemble each other as to be regarded
by the unscientific as one and the same. Not every
person growing stock in Colorado can with certainty
tell the difference between gramma grass, buffalo
grass, buchloé dactyloides, or sheep fescue (festuca
ovina). They are generally confounded under one
name, as gramma or buffalo grass, and while to the
scientific they vary, they are described by the practical
herdsman as one. They are the great grasses of the
Plains, and constitute the bulk of the winter pasture.
When not artificially irrigated they grow on the up-
lands from one and a half to two and a half inches
high, less rather than more, having a dark-green leaf,
inclining to curl, the buffalo more than the true gramma.
When ripened by the June sun they assume a brown
color rather than a straw or yellow, and give a sombre
aspect to the great Plains. When the new growth
commences in the spring it is not by new shoots but
an elongation of the old ones, carrying the brown hay
of the former years on the end of its green leaf. The
gramma grasses do not grow tall or produce seed un-
less irrigated, when they seed at about twelve to six-
teen inches in height, making most excellent hay.
There is only one other herd-grass deserving especial
mention, it isthe bunch-grass(festuca duriuscula). There
are many grasses growing in bunches, but this is the
one known by that name, and a great favorite to the
herdsman as well as to the cattle, both from its nutri-
tious quality and from the fact of its standing taller
118 THE BEEF BONANZA.
and stronger than the other grasses, and thus reaching
above the snow after a severe storm. It grows upon
the hills and in many places on the mountains, and on
the divide, but it is very difficult to find far out upon
the open plains; it grows with a stem at least a foot
high, and after the summer cure has a light-yellow leaf,
tinged with red. The bottom-land or hay-grasses are
altogether different from those of the upland plains,
and consist chiefly of a large leaf marsh grass, differing
from that of Illinois and Indiana by having a smooth
instead of a serrated edge; also a sweet stem, colored
blue, and with a red top. These prairie-grasses, always
looking dry and brown, strike the eye of the farmer
from the New England States very unfavorably. But
short, velvety, and brown as they are they are no doubt
the richest in the world, as they not only carry cattle
and sheep through the winter fit for beef (the markets
of Colorado never saw stall-fed beef), but actually ad-
vance the grade of all stock fed upon them.”
General Cameron is no doubt correct in all he says
about Colorado grasses, but I have seen gramma six
inches high in the Powder River country, and loaded
with seed on perfectly dry plains. The buffalo grass
there is also five and six inches high, and so soft and
‘dry it might be used for stuffing cushions.
CHAPTER X.
A SHEEP RANCH.
What kind of a Ranch to Select—Profits of Sheep-Growing—
Mr. Post’s Herd—Letters from Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, Senator
Conkling, and Hon. J. B. Grinnell.
Tue three conditions of a good sheep-ranch are
wood, water, and grass. E . 64
©. Etherington . . . . . . : . - 62
S. M. Fitzgerald . 7 7 is 5 . ‘ 7 - 99
Wm.-Fly . : . : . : : : : . 200
David Fratt . - ‘ F - . . - . . 240
J. A. Farrall ‘ ‘ : ‘ é 3 F - . 70
John W. Grannis ‘ 5 ‘ E . 157
J. H. Gallup : . . . r % . 130
H 15
170 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Owner.
H. N. Gage .
G. L. Condon
L. B. Galter.
James Green
M. V. Harris
Francis Harper
Henry Heebe
Hutchinson Brothers
John Harvey
J. O. Hopping
Tritt & Kountz
James Uhler
Wm. M. Wright .
H. J. Wright
Frank Wells
J. R. Wilson
A. D. Weaver
G. W. Wakefield .
John White .
James White
It will be observed that most of these owners are
new beginners, and have as yet but small herds.
The
immense profits to be derived from stock-growing in
Montana are just beginning to be understood, and every
ranchman who can get together a few head of cattle,
sheep, or horses is going at it.
Among the owners
of horse-ranches in Gallatin County I find the names
of the following gentlemen:
Owner.
Nelson Story
Henry Heebe
George Gardes
C. Ethrington
D. M. Murphy
G. H. Campbell .
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 171
Owner. Number.
‘W.M. Cowan . - F F ‘ . F - 182
V.A. Cockrell . 3 3 3 . : A d . 70
Martin & Myers ‘ . . p : A : 91
These are also new beginners, except Mr. Story.
Horses do so well in Montana that the growing of
them is rapidly becoming one of the settled businesses
of the Territory.
There is a famous range for cattle on Sun River,
in the northern part of Montana, and over 100,000
head are grazed there } Among the owners of herds
are the following:
Owner. Number.
Jake Smith & Brother . . . ; . ; 200
Samuel Ford . é e 5 . . ‘ : 400
Frank Goss’. : i : 3 * ‘ , 200
Clarke & Elen ‘ A : ‘ 5 . A - 10,000
Con Korrs * ‘ i é ‘ ‘ ‘ . .- 6,000
Flory & Cox . * ‘ 7 : . ‘ ¥ - 6,000
Wm. Mulchaey . é a é F - 700
Mrs. N. Ford . é Fs z 4 2 : ‘ ‘ 800
Robert Ford . 7 3 ‘ 3 . 3 . - 8,000
O. H. Churchill . . 3 j 5 a . 6,000
Matt Furnell . i A E . . 4 . - 400
Burnett Murray. . . . - ‘ : : 400
Robert Vaughan . . ‘i : : ‘ : : 300
Samuel Bird . ‘ : : e : é g : 600
Mane & Dennis 2 ‘ é ° * ‘ 3 s 500
James Gibson . A ‘ - 3 5 ‘ F - 600
T.J.Stocking. . . «© «© «© «© « « 8,000
M. W. Wyatt . a . a : a ‘ : 500
Isaac Kingsberry . : : . . 3 : 600
Rufus J. Harding . . : : : : : 500
Lepley & Austin . F 7 . 3 7 ‘ . 2,000
Kipp & Thomas. j ‘ . 5 . 5 . 600
Sargent & Steele . ‘ a . : 7 ‘i 350
172 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Of the herds on the south side of the Missouri there
are 20,000; on Flat Creek and on Dearborne, 10,000 ;
and on the smaller streams fully 2000 head.
The governor of the Territory, Hon. B. F. Potts, is
one of the most successful sheep-growers in Montana,
and owns large herds. General A. J. Smith is also a
large owner of this kind of stock.
I have visited many of the stock-ranches and con-
versed with their owners, and all seem highly pleased
with their experience as stock-growers. They have
large expectations of future profits, and some of the
heaviest owners declared they would not exchange
their herds for the best gold-mine in the Territory.
The profit on herds is estimated at from 26 to 48 per
cent. on the capital invested, and, large as this may
seem, I do not think it too high for realization.
H. F. Galen, a practical stock-grower, writing re-
cently to the author, states :
“YT bought my sheep, in the fall of 1876, of Mr.
Calhoun, who drove them in from Nevada. There
were 3500 head in the flock. Jafterwards sold 1000
head to Mr. Hussey, who is a sheep-grower on Smith
River. In consequence of my inexperience, I leased
the remaining 2500 to the Smith Brothers, on Crow
Creek, who are worthy gentlemen. They, too, had
little experience in sheep, and the herd took the scab
very bad the first year and did not do well. We lost
half of the lambs by their being dropped in winter.
Out of over 1200 lambs we only saved 785. Of wool
we had only 7000 pounds. Last year we did not turn in
our bucks with the ewes until the 6th of December, and
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 173
then we dipped the sheep in a solution of strong lye
and tobacco, and they did well. I believe we will have
a better crop of both lambs and wool this year than ever
before, and we expect to clip at least four pounds of
fleece per head. I have a grain-ranch at Willow
Creek, Montana, where I keep my cattle principally.
I have let the ranch on shares, but my cattle are in my
own possession. I have 200 head. I cannot give you
much information about cattle, as I pay most attention
to horses. I have 75 brood-mares and 8 stallions, which
I keep in the stables for breeding purposes. I keep
the mares herded from the first of May until the middle
of August, when they are turned out and bred for the
balance of the year. The stable-stallions are well kept
and groomed. The mares are led out to them, each
mare booked, and her colt recorded. I endeavor to
improve the breed by putting horses to mares that are
no kin to them. I castrate and halter and break my
colts every spring, when they are one year old. At
three years of age they are put into harness or under
the saddle. I have sold but few horses or cattle since
I commenced the stock-raising business. If I were to
sell out, I think after deducting losses I could realize
80 per cent. per annum on my investment out of my
sheep, and 25 per cent. on my horses. My sheep are
mixed between Spanish merino and cotswold. I think
they are a very good lot, but suppose the Spanish me-
rino to be the best. I expect they will clip over four
pounds of wool to each sheep this year. I believe the
sheep I sold Mr. Hussey will do better than that. I
feed no hay in winter, except to my stallions and some
15*
174 THE BEEF BONANZA.
of my fine brood-mares. I think the Smith Brothers
feed a very little hay to such of their sheep as need
extra care. They have sheds to protect them from tlfe
storms. <
“T believe Montana is as good as any country in the
world for stock of any kind. It is peculiarly adapted
to sheep on account of the dryness of the climate... All
that is néeded is a good shepherd and experience to cure
sheep of scab, and the herd will thrive. The scab is the
only disease I know of prevalent among the sheep of
Montana. I have made no changes in either bucks or
ewes in my herds since I commenced raising. Mr.
Burt has bought all the sheep he could get afflicted with
scab, and cures them in a short time. It appears to be
a disease easily cured when one comes to understand it.
. “HA. F. Garey,
“ Stock Grower.”
Charles Cook, of Cook Brothers, who are very ex-
perienced herdsmen, writes to me:
“Our ranch is located on Smith River, in Smith
River Valley, eighteen miles from Camp Baker, Mon-
tana. We have been in business since July, 1873.
We have 1300 head, 900 of them ewes. They were
for the most part common, ungraded ewes and rams,
with coarse wool. I drove them from Oregon to Mon-
tana. We have made no additional purchases to the
herd since starting it, and have sold about $4000 worth
of mutton and wool, as follows:
‘t Old ewes R ‘ : 4 . r ; i - $1000
Graded rams . ; : : . ‘ : 5 . 1700
Wool . , . : ; i ‘ 3 F - 1700
WAITING FOR THE FO@ TO CLEAR.
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 175
“We have now on hand 6000 head of graded sheep.
In February, 1877, we purchased in company with an-
other grower 2500 head, and last March another lot of
1800 for new herds. Both these bands are doing well.
The rate of profit is hard to estimate, as that depends
upon economy, judicious management, and the grade of
sheep raised. A herd of 3000 head of well-graded
ewes ought to raise 80 per cent. lambs. We have raised
100 per cent. this year. Each sheep will clip from
$1.25 to $1.50 worth of wool per annum. Fifty per
cent. will herd and keep them, and 5 per cent. will
cover all losses. Our losses during the past year have
been less than 2 per cent. We have used nothing but
pure-blood cotswold rams in our flocks ; I believe they
are the best, and adapted to our climate. They seem
to stand our cold weather well, and in deep snows they
have length of limbs and strength of body to wade
through it and paw for food. They are very prolific,
and make excellent nurses. Their lambs are dropped
large, strong, and well wooled. The merinos are directly
the opposite in all these points. They are not prolific,
nor are they careful nurses ; their lambs are born small,
weak, and naked. Our lambing seasons are subject to
severe storms and cold nights. These are my observa-
tions in handling both coarse- and fine-wooled sheep.
Our graded sheep clip an average of six pounds per
head. ‘The original herd clipped only four pounds.
We have never fed any hay, and make no provision
for feeding further than to keep the winter range fresh.
For shelter we put up a wall of logs and cover them
with poles and hay, which makes a sufficient protection
176 THE BEEF BONANZA.
against all storms of winter. We have never lost any
sheep from severe weather in Montana.
“The only disease which sheep are subject to in this
country is scab, and I do not consider that indigenous
to the climate. When once cured they remain so, unless
they come in contact with diseased animals. The
remedies I use for curing scab are lime, sulphur, car-
bolic and hemlock dip with tobaceo, as it is perfectly
harmless to the sheep and the fleece, and a sure cure for
the disease if rightly applied.
“T consider Montana one of the best wool-growing
sections of the United States. Our ranges are extensive,
our grasses nutritious and abundant, while pure water
is found on every hillside and in every valley. Califor-
nia has its floods, droughts, and famines; Oregon its
leeches and scaly; Nevada and Utah their alkali plains
and brackish waters, which affect the wool of sheep as
well as their health. The soft alluvial deposits of
many parts of the West produce foot-rot. We in
Montana alone are free from all these, and I see no
reason why this:should not become the greatest stock-
and wool-growing region in the world.
“Cuas. W. Cooxk.”
It is, however, as a blooded-stock region Montana
takes the lead. Notwithstanding its remoteness, it
already has a larger number and better quality of
blooded horses and cattle than any State or Territory
in the Northwest. Of its blooded ranches I shall have
to speak in another chapter.
A visit to the blooded-stock farms of Montana will
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 177
convince any one that this distant Territory of the great
West is destined to become in the near future second
only to Kentucky for fine stock. It is astonishing, the
progress it has made during the last five years in breed-
ing blooded animals of all kinds. I have visited many
of the stud- and cattle-farms, and find them superior to
all others in the West. The careful breeding of Mon-
tana owners must in the end, if persevered in, give the
Territory a stock of horses and cattle that cannot be
surpassed by any in this country.
Poindexter & Orr have a fine herd of thoroughbred
cattle near Watson, Montana, which they imported from
Canada. In 1872 they commenced with five bulls and
eight heifers, short-horn Durhams. They are set down
in the stock books as follows :
BULLS.
1. Lobo Lad. Raised by John Zavitz. Recorded
vol. ii. Canadian Herd Book, p. 146, and purchased by
us May, 1872. No. 1661.
2. Bismark, Bred by Robert White, London Town-
ship, Middlesex County, Canada. Recorded vol. ii.
Canadian Herd Book, page 294. No. 2476.
3. General Napier. Bred by J. B. Lane, Dorches-
ter County, Middlesex, Canada. Recorded vol. ii. Ca-
nadian Herd Book, page 109. No. on herd book, 1467.
4. London Duke. Recorded vol. iii. Canadian Herd
Book; tried by Thomas Elliott, Arva Township,
County Middlesex, Canada.
5. King William. Sold to L. Born of Beaverhead
County, who has certificate of registry.
m
178 THE BEEF BONANZA.
COWS.
1. (Imported by Poindexter & Orr from Canada,
1872.) Cherry. Bred by Thomas Friendship. Re-
corded vol. ii. Canadian Herd Book, page 385. Red
roan. Calved May 9, 1867.
2. Victoria. Bred by Thomas Friendship, London
Township, Middlesex County. ~Recorded-vol. ii. Ca- ~
nadian Herd Book, page 815. Red and white. Calved
Nov. 5, 1867.
3. Daisy. Bred by Thomas Friendship, London,
Middlesex County, Canada. Recorded vol. ii. Cana-
dian Herd Book, page 410. Red roan. Calved Jan.
16, 1871.
4. Lobo Lass. Bred by Joseph Walker, London
Township, County Middlesex. Recorded vol. ii., page
603. Red and white. Calved Jan. 25, 1871.
5. Fanny. Bred by Thomas Friendship, London,
Middlesex County, Canada. Recorded vol. ii. Cana-
dian Herd Book, page 465. Roan. Calved March
20, 1871.
6. Cherry in the Forest. Bred by John Little, Ider-
ton Township, Middlesex County, Canada. Recorded
Canadian Herd Book, vol. ii., page 387. Red roan.
Calved Jan. 6, 1871.
7. Alma. Bred by William J. Hill, Dorchester
Township, County Middlesex. Recorded vol. ii. Cana-
dian Herd Book, page 332. Light roan. Calved Feb.
10, 1871. Twin.
8. Lily. Twin of No. 7; died 1874.
The produce from the above-named cows has been
as follows:
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 179
From Cherry.
Ist calf, bull Duke Beaverhead, calved Jan. 12, 1873.
2d “ heifer Imogene, “Dee. 1, 1873.
3d“ heifer Roan Cherry, “ Noy. 80, 1874.
4th “ bull Don Pedro, © “ Jan. 10, 1876.
5th “ bull (died), «Jan. 1877.
From Victoria.
Ist calf, bull Joachim Miller, calved March 10, 1873.
2d “ heifer Beatrice, a «19, 1874.
3d “ bull H. W. Beecher, “ Feb. 12, 1875.
4th “ Louisa Lorne, “March 14, 1876.
From Daisy.
Ist calf, heifer Nelly Grant, calved March 3, 18738.
2d “ bull St. Patrick, as « 17, 1874.
3d “ “ Telton, «April 5, 1875.
Ath “ heifer Daisy Dean, “ Feb. 23, 1876.
From Cherry in the Forest.
1st calf, heifer Phoebe Cozzens, calved April 3, 1873.
2d “ “ Minnie Myrtle, calved. March 28,
1874.
38d “ “ died in calving, March, 1875.
4th “ bull Gov. Hayes, calved Jan. 12, 1877.
From Fanny.
1st calf, bull Brick Pomeroy, calved March 16, 1873.
2d “ © Gold Hunter, «April 5, 1874.
8d “ “ Mounted Lad, “ March 80, 1875.
4th “ heifer Peach Bloom, “ April 8, 1876.
5th “ bull Humpy Dumpy, “ March 5, 1877.
180 THE BEEF BONANZA.
From Lobo Lass.
1st calf, heifer Annie Laurie, calved April 14, 1873.
2d “ “ Mary Queen Scots, calved March 28,
1874.
3d “ bull F. K. Moulton, calved April 15, 1875.
4th “ “ Fortune, «March 27, 1876.
From Lily.
Ist calf, heifer Orphan Lily, calved June 10, 1874.
From Nelly Grant.
Ist calf, heifer Beauty, calved May 10, 1875.
2d “ © Mountain Rose, calved March 3, 1876.
38d “ bull Red Cloud, “May 7, 1877.
From Annie Laurie.
1st calf, bull Rob Roy, calved May 1, 1875.
24 “ Bobby Burns, calved March 380, 1876.
8d “ “ Bruce, “« June 10, 1877.
From Phoebe Cozzens.
Ist calf, heifer Phoebe Jane, calved March 7, 1876.
From Imogene.
1st calf, heifer Euphemia, calved March 29, 1876.
From Fanny Myrtle.
Ast calf, bull Alexis, calved March 6, 1876.
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 181
From Beatrice.
1st calf, bull Prince Albert, calved March 10, 1876.
2d “ © Prince Alfred, “ June 1, 1877.
From Orphan Lily.
Ist calf, bull Bristow, calved March 25, 1876.
2d “ heifer White Rose, calved June 26, 1877.
From Mary Queen Scots.
1st calf, heifer Darchulia, calved April 12, 1876,
making an increase of 46 head from spring of 1873 to
1878. Some 8 or 10 calves are yet to come this season,
which will increase the produce from the 8 cows and
heifers brought to Montana in May, 1872, to about 55
head. It will be observed that in 1872 there was no in-
crease, being mostly one- and two-year-old heifers. Mr.
Orr says in a letter to the author, “I am convinced that
no more profitable or productive class of stock could be
brought to the Territory than short-horned thorough-
breds.” :
Speaking for the firm, he adds: “We are of the
opinion that blooded-stock breeding will eventually be
one of the greatest interests in Montana. With the
healthiest stock-climate in the world, the purest water,
and the best feed, there is nothing to prevent Montana
from taking the front rank in the production of fine
stock.
“ We estimate our herd of thoroughbreds to be worth
at least $12,000 to $15,000. In vols. ii. and iii., C. H.
B., and vol. xv., A. H. B., will be found most of our
16
182 THE BEEF BONANZA.
herd records. Our experience teaches us that half and
three-quarter breeds are as good ‘ wrestlers’ in winter
as ‘scrub-stock.’ We have been engaged in stock-.
raising for more than twenty years in California, Ore-
gon, and Montana, raising cattle, sheep, and horses, :
and we are convinced that Montana is far ahead of any
other section with which we are acquainted for stock-
raising.”
Sedman & McGregory’s blooded-stock farm is nearly
as extensive as Poindexter & Orr’s. They have,
among others, the following fine animals:
BULLS,
Kansas Clay, 8449, A. H. Book.—Bred by Charles
T. Redman, Clark Co., Kentucky. Calved May 4,
1869. Got by Burnside, 4618, out of Linda Clay by
Haverlock, 2598; Linda by Kansas, 3046; Almira
by Belmont, 242; Elvira by Prince Albert 2d, 857 ;
America by Locomotive, 92 (4242) ; imp. Lady Eliza-
beth by Emperor (1974); Elvira by Duke (1933), by
Wellington (2824), by Young Remus (2522), by Midas
(435), by Traveller (655), by Bolingbroke (86).
Ethelbert, No. 10,019, A. H. Book, vol. x.—Red and
white. Bred by William Warfield, Lexington, Ken-
tucky. Calved July 19,1870. Got by imp. Robert
Napier (27,310), 8975; Ist dam Eleanor Townley by
imp. Challenger, 324; 2d dam Miss Townley by Ren-
eck, 903; 3d dam Miss Nanny by Prince Albert 2d,
857; 4th dam Red Beauty by John Randolph, 603 ;
5th dam Hannah Moore by imp. Goldfinder (2066) ;
6th dam imp. Young Mary by Jupiter (2170); 7th
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 183
dam Mary by Saladin (1417); 8th dam Lucy by Meeks
Bull (2288); 9th dam bred by Mr. Holmes, of Otting-
ton, England.
Lord Lovell (17,574), A. H. Book.—Red roan. Bred
by Walter Handy, Mount Freedom, Jessamine Co.,
Kentucky, the property of Stedman & McGregory,
Nevada, Madison Co., Montana. Calved in Septem-
ber, 1870. Got by Vivian, 9272, out of Alba 2d by
Ben Nevis (6451); Alba by Minstrel, 5960; Winter
Rose by Valentine, 1060; Cherry by Bulwer, 300, by
Oliver, 2387; Nancy Dawson by Sam Martin, 2599 ;
Lady Kate by Tecumseh, 5409; Mrs. Motte by Adam
(717), ete.
COWS.
Inez 3d, A. H.B., vol. viii., page 383. Red. Calved
March, 1877. Got by Rama, 7158, out of Inez 2d by
Ben Nevis, 6451; Inez by Minstrel, 5960; Jane Grey
by Young Oliver (2441); Nancy Dawson 3d by Bul-
wer, 300; Nancy Dawson 2d by Duke of York (1941);
Nancy Dawson by Sam Martin (2599); Lady Kate by
Tecumseh (5409); Mrs. Motte by Adam (717); bred
to Vivian (9272).
Sallie Meadows, A. H. B., vol. ix., page 948. Red
roan. Bought of Walter Handy. Got by the Meadows
Duke, 9200; Nanny Goodloe by Duke of Argyll,
5539; Bellflower by Seaton, 4356 ; Susannah by Prince
Hal, 3302; Cranberry by Locomotive, 645; Mary
Tompkins by Comet, 356, by Accommodation (2907),
imp. White Rose by Publicold, 1348; Fanny by
Premier (1331), by Pilot (495), by Agamemnon (9),
by Marshal Beresford (415).
184 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Emma Kendall, A. H. B., vol. xiii., page 574. Red
and white. Bred by S. P. Kenny, Lexington, Ken-
tucky, the property of Sedman & McGregory, Nevada,
Madison Co., Montana. Calved March 3, 1870. Got
by Campbell, 9592, out of Ella by Duke Amelek
(6616); Minnie by Orontes 3 (8226); Mattie Wright
by Allen (2492); Pocahontas by Achilles, 2471; Ade-
laide 2d by Comet (856); Beauty of Wharfdale by
Brutus (1752); Adelaide by Magnum Bonum (2248) ;
Beauty by George (1066), by Lancaster (260), by Lan-
caster (360), by Wellington (680), by George (275), by
Favorite (252), by Punch (531).
Lizzie, A. H. B., vol. xiii., page 728. Red and white.
Bred by S. P. Kenny, Jessamine Ov., Kentucky, the
property of Sedman & McGregory, Nevada, Madison
Co., Montana. Calved November 12, 1869. Got by
Gratz (14,412) out of Lucina by Royal Arch, 7230;
Graceful by John O’Groat (1707); Magnolia by Don
John (426); Moss Rose by Eclipse (1494) ; Miss Points,
Jr, by Northern Light (1280); Points by Aide-de-
Camp (722), by Charles (127), by Prince (521), by
Neswick (1266).
In a communication to the author, Messrs. Sedman
& McGregory say, “‘ We have been in the business
nearly six years, and our increase from the original
number of thoroughbreds imported by us from Ken-
tucky (which number consisted of three bulls and
four cows) has been 26 head, of which 25 are living,
and the pedigree in brief form of these 25 head is
given below.
“We bought, in the year 1871, in Missouri, 156
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 185
head of yearling heifers (common stock). In 1872 we
purchased an additional number (206 head) of the same
kind, sex, and age, making our total purchases of com-
mon stock equal 362 head. We have sold and killed
about 200 head from the increase of the above 362 head,
and our herd now numbers 1500 head ; and by the use
of our thoroughbreds and grade-bulls we have improved
the herd and increased the value of the stock we have
raised from $2 to $5 per head, at the present low
market-price. From our thoroughbreds we have raised
25 head, of which 10 are bulls and 15 cows, and the
pedigree and names of these 25 head are as follows, to
wit :
“ From Ines 3d we have raised the following animals,
to wit:
“Alpha, got by Vivian, 9272, vol. xiii., page 448, A.
H. B. Prince Albert, 18,006, got by Kansas Clay,
8449. Inez Clay, A. H. B., vol. xiv., page 576, pot
by Kansas Clay, 8449. Inez Clay, 2d, A. H. Book,
vol. xiv., page 576, got by Kansas Clay, 8449. Fanny
Lovell, got by Lord Lovell, 17,574.
“From Alpha we have raised Alfaretta, A. H. B., vol.
xiii, page 438, got by Ethelbert, 10,019.
“From Alfaretia we have raised Ada, got by Ethel-
bert, 10,019.
“From Sallie Meadows we have raised Pocahontas, A.
H. Book, vol. xiii, page 558, got by Corporal, 7760.
Captain Clay, got by Kansas Clay, 8449. Lady Sheri-
dan, got by Ethelbert, 10,019. A bull calf, got by
Ethelbert, 10,019.
“From Pocahontas we have raised H. P. Napier, got
, 16*
186 THE BEEF BONANZA.
by Ethelbert, 10,019. Ex. got by Ethelbert, 10,019.
A cow calf, got by Captain Clay, 16,395.
“From Lady Sheridan we have raised a cow calf, got
by Ethelbert, 10,019.
“From Inzzie we have raised Champion, 16,451, got
by Kansas Clay, 8449. Stella, A. H. Book, vol. xiv.,
page 872, got by Ethelbert, 10,019. Don Juan, got by
Ethelbert, 10,019. Two bull calves, got by Ethelbert,
10,019.
“From Stella we have raised a cow calf, got by Ethel-
bert, 10,019.
“From Emma Kendall we have raised Ethelbert 2d,
17,057, got by Ethelbert, 10,019. Maud, A. H. B,
vol. xiv., page 708, got by Ethelbert, 10,019. Chance,
a cow calf, got by Captain Clay, 16,395; and one cow
calf, got by Lord Lovell, 17,574.
“ Our experience with our thoroughbreds has been
that low, heavy, compact, and square-bodied bulls of
the ‘ Booth’ strain of blood are the best to cross with
common stock. All the use and purpose of the impor-
tation of thoroughbred stock to this Territory at the
present time is to improve common stock and increase
its value.
“Our ranch is situated on upper Ruby Valley, on
Ruby River, in this (Madison) county, about twenty
miles south of Virginia City, and contains about two
thousand acres under fence, with good and substantial
dwellings, stables, barns, corrals, out-houses, ete., etc.,
and the range for grazing extends from our premises a
distance of several miles in all directions.
“Ruby River runs through our ranch, and is kept
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 187
entirely free from ice during the winter by water issuing
from the warm springs, which are several miles distant
from our premises.
“The raising of thoroughbred stock in this Territory
is as yet in its infancy; there has not been and is not
now that care taken here with them as there is in older
settled communities. Nearly all our thoroughbred
stock are turned into pastures, and remain there during
the whole year. During the severe storms of winter
they have access to straw-stacks and shelter, and they
keep in good order all the time.
“Our thoroughbred stock raised in this manner is
fully as good as that which we imported from Ken-
tucky.
“Our herd of thoroughbred stock is probably worth
about $4000. ; ,
“Tn conclusion, we would say that we now have some
1500 head of common stock ; that we employ from one
to two men constantly as herders; we cut and put up
one hundred tons of hay per annum, nearly all of which
we feed to horses and stock on the ranch.
“Among the stock on the ranch to which we feed hay
are included a number of dairy cows. Our losses of
common stock from eating poisoned weeds during the
spring, from exposure during the winter, and from all
other causes, excepting that hereinafter mentioned, have
not exceeded one per cent.
“Losses of calves that have been dropped during the
very severe storms of winter are not included in the
foregoing statement.
“Last season we raised 375 calves, and lost only some
188 THE BEEF BONANZA.
8 or 10 by their being dropped in very stormy
weather.
“As items of interest to you we would state that in
March, A.D. 1877, we had a calf dropped from one of
our common-stock cows that weighed one hundred and
twelve pounds when it was only thirty-six hours old,
and it was a healthy and well-formed calf. Also, that
in April, 1876, we sold to butchers a barren cow, the
meat of which weighed nine hundred and three pounds
net.
“ This was after a severe winter, and the cow had been
on the range all winter. This will serve to show you
the nutritious qualities of our grasses during a severe
winter.”
C. E. Williams, of Helena, Montana, has some fine
blooded horses and mares, among others,
Caribou.
Bay horse. Bred by A. J. Alexander, Woodburn
Farm, Spring Station, Kentucky. Foaled, 1870.
By Lexington.
Ist dam, Alice Jones, by imp. Glencoe.
2d “ Blue Bonnett, by imp. Hedgford.
3d“ Grey Fanny, by Bertrand.
4th “ by imp. Buzzard.
5th “ Arminda, by imp. Medley.
6th “ by imp. Bolton.
7th “ Sallie Wright, by Yorick.
8th “ Jenny Cameron, by imp. Childers.
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 189
9th dam by Morton’s imp. Traveller.
10th “ Imp. Jenny Cameron, by a son of Fox.
llth “ Miss Belvoir, by Gray Grantham.
12th “ by Puget Turk.
13th “ Betty Percival, by Leede’s Arabian.
14th “ by Spanker.
No. 1. Terlulia.
Bay. Bred by Major B. G. Thomas, Lexington,
Kentucky. Foaled, 1874.
By Melbourn, Jr.
1st dam, Varsouvienne, by imp. Australian.
2d “ Geneva, by Lexington. ‘
3d “ Grisette, by imp. Glencoe.
4th “ Fandango, by imp. Leviathan.
5th “ Imp. Gallopade, by Catton.
6th “ Camillina, by Camillus.
Tth “ by Smolensko.
8th “ Miss Cannon, by Orville. .
9th “ by Weathercock.
10th “ Cora, by Matchem.
llth “ by Turk.
12th “ by Cub.
13th “ by Allworthy.
14th “by Starling.
15th “ by Bloody Buttocks.
16th “ by Greyhound.
17th “ Brocklesby Betty, by Curwen’s Bay Barb.
18th “ Leede’s Hobby mare, by Sister Barb.
{90
THE BEEF BONANZA.
No. 2. Juggle.
Bay. Bred by Major B. G. Thomas, Lexington,
Kentucky. Foaled, 1874.
By Melbourn, Jr.
1st dam, Mary Hadley, by O’Meara.
9d 6c
3d ce
Parisina, by imp. Leviathan.
Marie Shelby, by Stockholder.
Patty-puff, by Pocolet.
Rosa Clack, by imp. Saltram.
Jet, by Haynes’ Flimnap.
Camilla, by Melzar.
Diana, by Clodius.
Sally Painter, by Evans’ imp. Sterling.
Imp. Silver, by Belsize Arabian.
by Croft’s Partner.
Sister to Roxana, by Bald Galloway.
Sister to Chanter, by Akaster Turk.
by Leede’s Arabian.
by Spanker.
No. 3. Artistic.
Chestnut. Bred by T. J. Montague, Lexington,
Kentucky.
1st dam, Maud Tauris, by imp. Yorkshire,
2d “
3d ifs
Foaled, 1874.
By Imp. Australian.
Rosemary, by imp. Sovereign.
Beta, by imp. Leviathan.
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 191
4th dam Juliet, by Kosciusko.
5th “ Blank, by Sir Archy.
6th “ Imp. Psyche, by Sir Peter Teazle.
7th “ Bab, by Bordeaux.
8th “ Speranza, by Eclipse.
9th “ Virago, by Snap.
10th “ by Regulus.
llth “ — sister to Black and All Black, by Crab.
12th “ Miss Slammerkin, by Young True Blue.
13th “ by Lord Oxford’s dun Arabian.
14th “ D?Arcy’s black-legged Royal Mare.
No. 4. Reply
Bay. Bred by H. P. McGrath, Lexington, Ken-
tucky. Foaled, 1872.
By Enquirer.
1st dam, Colleen Bawn, by Endorser.
2d “ Roxana, by imp. Chesterfield.
3d “ Levia, by imp. Tranby.
Ath “ Tolivia, by imp. Contract.
5th “ Diamond, by Turpin’s Florizel.
6th “ by Levis’s Eclipse.
7th “ Minerva, by Melzar.
8th “ by Union.
9th “ Kirtly mare, by Madison’s Milo.
10th “ by imp. Fearnought.
llth “ a thoroughbred mare.
There are, besides these, some fifteen other blooded-
stock farms in Montana of which I might give a par-
STOCK-GROWING OUT WEST. 193
between which and the main range lies the rich and
productive country embraced in Deer Lodge and Mis-
soula Counties; the Belt and Judith Mountains, sepa-
rating the sparsely-settled Muscleshell County on the
northeast and Choteau County on the northwest from
the rich mining regions of Meagher County on the
south, extending to the Missouri River, which is also
the northeastern boundary of Lewis and Clark County ;
the Bear’s Paw and Little Rocky Mountains, still to
the north; the Big Horn Mountains, extending into
Dakota, in the southeast, north and east of which lies
the unorganized county of Big Horn or Vaughan, em-
bracing the Yellowstone region, with Gallatin County
to the northwest, and Madison and Beaverhead lying
west and southwest; and the western spurs of the Wind
River Mountains on the extreme eastern border.
Coal of a good quality has been found in Montana,
and as rapidly as the country settles up and it becomes
necessary to develop this source of wealth it will, no
doubt, be found in great abundance, and perhaps of a
superior quality. Near Bozeman a fine vein: of bitu-
minous coal has been developed. Just above Benton a
promising vein has been opened ; above Bannock, and
also near Virginia City and on the Dearborn, veins of
from four to five feet have been discovered.
The inhabitants of Montana are a generous, open-
hearted people, full of life and activity, and noted for
that boundless hospitality which is peculiar to the
frontier. They change their places of abode readily,
build up a town rapidly and with little or no ceremony,
and abandon it as readily with no symptoms of regret.
I n 17
194 THE BEEF BONANZA.
Wherever mines are, there are theyalso. They believe in
themselves; take an immense amount of stock in the
Great West; do not object to “ whiskey straight ;” are
always on hand to assist a friend in distress; and take
kindly to theatres and saloons. It is not a good place
for ladies to come who wish to keep single. There are
so many bachelors a young lady finds herself sur-
rounded at once with suitors, and some of the ap-
plicants will not be put off. In many parts of the
Territory plug hats and store clothes are still the
abomination of the Montanian. A buckskin rig, in
the mountains, is considered the height of fashion, with
a broad-brimmed soft hat reared back in front.
APPENDIX. _
195
APPENDIX.
CATTLE-RAISING IN COLORADO.
JupeeE Davip W. SHERWwooD, of Connecticut, re-
cently wrote to Wilkes’ “ Spirit” :
“ Epriror Spirit of the Times,—In a recent issue of the
‘Spirit’? I see General Brisbin, U.S.A., your valuable
correspondent on ‘ Cattle-Growing out West,’ writes as
follows:
“¢T have often thought if some enterprising person
would form a joint-stock company for the purpose of
breeding, buying, and selling horses, cattle, and sheep,
it would prove enormously profitable. I have no doubt
but a company properly managed would declare an
annual dividend of at least 25 per cent. Such a com-
pany, organized with a president, secretary, treasurer,
and board of directors, and conducted on strictly busi-
ness principles, would realize a far larger profit on the
money invested than if put into any other kind of busi-
ness. Nothing, I believe, would beat associated capital
in the cattle trade. The ranches and ranges should be
located with a view of ultimately buying the land or
securing control of it for a long term of years.’
“T have for some time held the same opinion as your
correspondent, but it never struck me so forcibly as
17* 197
198 APPENDIX.
when on my ranch this spring. I saw so many ways
for improving the business and increasing the profits
with the use of capital that I came East with the deter-
mination to form a company and carry on the business
on a proper scale to realize the largest possible profits.
Everybody is satisfied that it is the business of the
future in this country, and capital is rapidly but
blindly turning toward it. Men of experience in the
business are needed to direct it successfully. I may
here add that I have dealt in stock, more or less, all
my life, and have been in the cattle business in Colo-
rado for the past six years. I propose to form a joint-
stock company, under the laws of either the State of
New York or Connecticut, with a capital stock of
$500,000, for the purpose of carrying on the general
business of raising, buying, fattening, and selling beef
cattle, and perhaps butchering and transporting by cars
to Eastern markets. Iam now, and have been for the
past six years, part owner of the cattle and ranch of the
Huerfano Cattle Company, situated on the Huerfano
and Apache Rivers, in Huerfano and Pueblo Coun-
ties, in Southern Colorado, about thirty miles south
from Pueblo City. This ranch extends along both sides
of the above rivers for a distance of eleven miles, and
controls the adjoining Government lands as a grazing
range. The title to this ranch is held by United States
patent. The cattle now number between 5000 and
6000 head, and are American improved from Texas
cows through Kentucky bulls. Men who have seen
our stock say that we have the finest cattle in the State.
With a view to forming this stock company I have
CATTLE-RAISING IN COLORADO. 199
arranged with the other owners of this ranch to turn
the whole business over to the company on a low cash
basis, placing cattle and land at the lowest possible
figure, and the owners taking large interests in the new
company.
“T have also entered into a contract with Colonel
William Craig for the purchase of his extensive ranch,
adjoining ours on the east, on the Huerfano and Cucharas
Rivers, extending along both sides of these rivers for
a distance of about seventeen miles. The title to this
ranch is also secured by United States patent. The
two ranches together comprise about 80,000 acres, se-
cured by patent and platted. They embrace a river
frontage of twenty-eight miles, and control a grazing
range of nearly 500,000 acres, well known as one of
the best grass districts of Colorado. Four thousand
acres are bottom-lands under cultivation, and irrigated
by ten miles of ditch. More than $150,000 worth
of improvements have been put upon these ranches.
Colonel George W. Schofield, major Tenth Cavalry
U.S.A., formerly owner of our ranch, says, ‘I have
spent the last ten years in Colorado, Wyoming, New
Mexico, Indian Territory, Texas, and other parts of
the West, and I have never seen a more favorable loca-
tion for stock-raising. It is the best cattle range I
know of in all the West, and for that reason I located it,’
“Tt is estimated that the range will graze over 20,000
head of cattle permanently, and I propose to gradually
increase the number to its full capacity. The capital
stock of the company will be divided into 5000 shares
of $100 each, and used as follows: For land with im-
200 APPENDIX.
provements, $325,000; for the cattle on hand ata low
market value, $75,000; leaving $100,000 for a work-
_ ing capital with which to increase the stock and con-
duct the business. I propose that the company shall
have an office in the East, where the books and accounts
shall be kept and always open to inspection by stock-
holders. The treasurer of the company should be an
Eastern man of undoubted character and responsibility,
to whom full returns should be sent from the ranch
every month or every quarter, as we now have them.
I have no doubt but that the business, properly man-
aged, on so large a scale will pay, including increased
value of land and cattle, as high as fifty per cent. per
annum. The profits are enormous, There is no busi-
ness like it in the world, and the whole secret of it is,
it costs nothing to feed the cattle. They grow without
eating your money. They literally raise themselves.
“General Brisbin, writing from the Plains, says,—
“