on the ground in i)erson. There was nothing to prevent the cowmen 

 from appropriating the range, arbitrarily laying oft' their range bound- 

 aries, and claiming them under their so called "range rights." The 

 first cowman who entered a given section established his headquarters 

 in some favored spot and claimed, uuder his range rights, everything 

 in sight. When the next cowman moved in, the two together divided 

 the range and each kept his herd on his own side of the boundary line 

 agreed upon between them. As others came, the range was further 

 subdivided until it was all fully occupied. Absolute good faith was 

 maintained, each recogui/ing the range rights of the other. There was 

 no need for one to crowd the other, for there was plenty, and to spare, 

 for all. They each and all recognized that with " free grass" the road 

 to wealth was an easy and certain one. 



SPECULATION AND OVERSTOCKING. 



With the entrance of the railroad into this pastoral region the 

 owners of the lands under consideration, or their agents, began to appear 

 with a view to looking up their properties. Then it was that the cow- 

 men began to realize that they could not longer depend on free grass. 

 The result was natural, indeed inevitable. Every man was seized with 

 a desire to make the most of his opijortuuities while they lasted. 

 W^hereas there had i)reviously been no rent to pay and only a minimum 

 of taxes, each one saw that this situation could not last. In consequence 

 every man who had a " range right" went into the market to buy cows 

 to eat as much of the grass as possible before he should be dispos- 

 sessed of his free holding. Soon there were more buyers than sellers. 

 Prices went up and a fever of speculation ensued. Range rights, herds 

 of cattle, and flocks of sheep changed hands at fabulous prices. Men 

 of every rank were eager to go into the "cow business." In a short 

 time every acre of free grass was stocked beyond its fullest capacity. 

 Thousands of cattle or sheep were crowded on the ranges where half 

 the number was too many. The grasses were entirely consumed; their 

 very roots were trampled into dust and destroyed. In their eagerness 

 to get something for nothing speculators did not hesitate at the perma- 

 nent injury, if not total ruin, of the flnest grazing country in America. 



From that day to the j^resent but little intelligent eftbrt has been 

 made to imjjrove the pastures and again cover them with the rich vege- 

 tation which the soil is capable of supporting. It is not yet too late to 

 remedy the evil, but no time is to be lost. There is need in the first 

 place of the enactment of more beneficent lease laws to govern the use 

 of county and State lands. Permanency of tenure is essential, for it is 

 only through such a condition that stockmen can be made to see that 

 it is to their own interest to improve the carrying capacity of the range. 

 There must be intelligent and concerted eftbrt, and it can not be expected 

 that stockmen will be different from other men if they decline to make 

 such eftbrt at range improvement when the results of their toil and 



