64 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



is available, and utilizing tanks and small surface lakes 

 whenever possible. The low ranges of hills that cross 

 the region furnish enough protection from storms, and 

 under ordinary conditions the herds winter on this sort 

 of feed and come out in the spring fat and healthy. 



Occasionally there will be a heavy fall of snow which 

 lies on the ground for some time, and if it lasts too long 

 severe losses result. Sometimes the snowfall is too great 

 to allow moving the herds, and if hay cannot be hauled 

 in to them from the railroads the herders are helpless. 

 Unusually wet winters, which make the deserts muddy 

 and soft, are also drawbacks which the sheepmen have 

 to face. Fortunately these conditions are the exception 

 rather than the rule, and generally the winters on these 

 deserts are passed with comparatively little loss. 



The Northern Range. Strictly speaking the ranges 

 of the Red Desert class should be included in the north- 

 ern ranges, as they all lie north of the latitude of Den- 

 ver, Colo., which may be taken as fairly dividing the 

 two regions. However, when the northern ranges are 

 spoken of it is generally meant to include those great 

 stretches of prairie and upland country lying in Eastern 

 Oregon, Washington, Montana, the Dakotas, western 

 Nebraska, large portions of Wyoming and Idaho, and 

 the whole mountainous regions of the Rockies north of 

 Denver. 



The grasses of these regions seem to have certain 

 fattening and growing qualities not to be found else- 

 where. The steers shipped there from the South seem 

 to spread out and gain in flesh more rapidly than if fed 

 the best of hay. 



The principal grasses are the bunch grasses of the 

 wheat-grass group (Agropyron), prairie June grass 



