The Mountain Sheep and Its Range 



cattle-men, and Mr. Phillips considers it beyond 

 dispute that at that time they ranged from Sun- 

 dance, Inyan Kara and Bear Lodge Mountains — 

 all on the western and southwestern slope of the 

 Black Hills, on and near the Wyoming-Dakota 

 line — on the east, westerly at least to Pumpkin 

 Buttes and Big Powder River, and In the edge of 

 the bad lands of Wyoming as far north as the Lit- 

 tle Missouri Buttes, and south to the south fork of 

 the Cheyenne River, and the big bend of the north 

 fork of the Platte, and the head of Green River. 

 This range is based on reports of reliable range 

 riders, who saw them in passing through the 

 country. It is an ideal sheep country — rough, 

 varying from sage brush desert, out of which rises 

 an occasional pine ridge butte, to bad lands, and 

 the mountains of the Black Hills. There are 

 patches of grassy, fairly good pasture land. The 

 country is well watered, and there are many springs 

 hidden under the hills which run but a short dis- 

 tance after they come out of the ground and then 

 sink. Timber occurs in patches and more or less 

 open groves on the pine ridges that run sometimes 

 for several miles in a continuous hill, at a height 

 of from one to three or four hundred feet above 

 the plain. The region Is a cattle country. 



In 1893 and '97 fresh heads and hides were 



335 



