24 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



crowding of the animals ; they slowly fed their way to 

 market, gaining flesh with every day's drive, seldom 

 making more than eight or ten miles a day and arriving 

 at their journey's end almost ready for beef. 



As the railroads forged westward the tide of emigra- 

 tion followed. Farms were taken up ; lonely stations 

 grew into towns and cities, and the cattlemen, seeking 

 constantly the unfenced open ranges and fresh feed for 

 the herds, moved westward with the end of the road. 



The Buffalo. The first Pacific railroad, with its 

 line of settlements, acted like a wedge in splitting the 

 great herd of buffaloes that covered the country in the 

 early days in almost countless numbers. Gradually 

 their annual migrations from the north to the south 

 and back again ceased until there were two distinct 

 buffalo herds : a northern and a southern. Each was 

 gradually exterminated through many causes, the chief 

 of which doubtless was the wanton and incomprehen- 

 sible lust of civilized man for killing. 



However, in the final analysis it was simply the sur- 

 vival of the fittest, and the cattle and sheep belonging to 

 the settlers were far more valuable as meat producers 

 than the buffaloes. 



The Stockman's Westward Advance. In the latter 

 part of the 70's the West awoke to the opportunities 

 offered for raising cattle and sheep upon the open ranges 

 that lay west of the Missouri River, from the Mexican 

 to the Canadian line. Great cattle companies were form- 

 ed in the East and also in Europe, whose promoters 

 went into Texas and bought thousands of long-horned 

 cattle and moved them north onto the vacant ranges. 

 Millions were invested in the enterprise and for a few 

 years millions were made, principally in speculation, 

 promotion, and on paper. 



