6 SADDLE AND CAMP 



the semi-arid or forest lands that surround it in 

 a radius of a hundred miles or more. For the 

 most part the cattle ranges are smaller to-day 

 than they were ten years ago, but many of them 

 are still very large. The yearly shipment of 

 steers from Holbrook Station alone is between 

 10,000 and 15,000 head; of sheep, between 

 60,000 and 75,000; and the annual shipment of 

 wool reaches $1,500,000 in value. 



This region was the scene of many gun fights 

 in the romantic days of not long ago, and sur- 

 vivors of this wild period — the gun men of yes- 

 terday — are still to be met at every turn. In- 

 deed the majority of them have not advanced 

 beyond middle age. Even yet a new type of 

 rifle is examined with an eye to its qualities as 

 a "man getter," and back from the railroad 

 it is not uncommon to meet men with big 

 six-shooters hanging in holsters from their 

 belts. 



It was in Holbrook that the famous fight 

 took place between Sheriff Commodore Owens 

 (Commodore was his Christian name, not a 

 title) and the notorious Blevens-Cooper gang 

 of desperadoes, ending in the downfall of the 

 latter and the general discouragement of bad 

 men within the county presided over by Owens. 

 Fearless men, handy with the gun, were always 



