THE GRASS LANDS 147 



which had grown up in Spain, another country in which water 

 was scarce, and transplanted to the American Southwest by 

 the Spanish cattle raisers. 



The effect of this tradition was that as more people came 

 into the country, the ranchers who were already there hastened 

 by one way or another, fair or foul, to get control of all the 

 land supplied with water. But control of the water was not 

 enough. The great herds of beef cattle began to destroy the 

 grass. And when the grass had been graced to the point where 

 it would no longer support cattle, several years were necessary 

 before it was in condition to be again graced. In the arid West 

 the grass recuperates slowly. 



To add to this problem, sheep herders came into the range 

 country. Unlike cattle, sheep bite off the grass just above the 

 ground. Thus on overgrazed ranges the strain on the grass was 

 increased with the coming of the sheep. In addition to this, 

 once sheep had graced the already poor ranges, cattle could 

 not find enough left to support them. Sheep, on the other hand, 

 could find enough feed on ranges left by cattle because the 

 cattle did not crop the grass so closely. 



The cattlemen decided that since they were the first to oc' 

 cupy the range, they had a right to it. They attempted to drive 

 the sheep herders away. The sheep herders, on the other hand, 

 believed that they had as much right to the range as anyone 

 else, since the land belonged to the government. Thus began a 

 long bitter war in which sheep, cattle, and sometimes men 

 were killed. 



While this battle was raging, another group of land users 

 began to come on the range. These were the dry farmers. -The 

 railroads which had been given large areas of government lands 

 in the range area decided that to sell this land it would be 

 necessary to destroy the idea of the Great American Desert. 

 Their agents advertised this range land as the most fertile in 

 the world. A pamphlet called "Star of Empire" published by 



