IRRIGATION AGE. 



THE GRAZING LAND PROBLEM. 



It is a fact generally conceded that the 

 grazing lands of the Northwest have been 

 overstocked and that there is a marked 

 decrease in their stock-raising capacity. 

 The lack of water has been a potent fac- 

 tor in the destruction of the grasses, as 

 the cattle have gone back and forth in 

 search of water until the forage growth 

 has been trampled out. F. Lawson-Scrib- 

 ner. agrostologist, suggests that this could 

 be remedied, at least in some sections, by 

 building reservoirs to hold the water of 

 melting snows and rainfall, instead of 

 allowing it to run to waste as at present. 

 Statistics show that, while the number of 

 large ranches are decreasing, small farms 

 and stock ranches along streams and 

 water courses are increasing in number. 

 By irrigation the forage-producing capa- 

 city is increased many times, and in sec- 

 tions of Wyoming, where formerly only 

 sage brush was produced, there are now, 

 thanks to irrigation, excellent yields of 

 oats, wheat, rye, timothy, red top, alfalfa 

 and clover. 



An article treating upon this subject ap- 

 peared in the September Forum, under 

 the title of "Our Public Grazing Lands," 

 and was ably handled by the author. 

 Frederick Y. Coville. As an introduction 

 he quotes from a Colorado paper an ac- 

 count of a stampede of sheep by cowboys, 

 in which 3.800 sheep were killed and the 

 sheep herder seriously injured. " 'Inci- 

 dents' such as the one above described," 

 he then says, ' 'happen on the public lands, 

 and are the outcome of the present public- 

 land laws, which Congress has made and 

 which congress alone can unmake. 



The writer traces the course of the graz- 

 ing industry from the time of the passing 

 of the Homestead act in 1862, by which 

 the settlement of pnblic lands was ex- 

 tended westward and the thousands of 

 acres of hitherto valueless land made 

 profitable as grazing lands for cattle,to the 

 present decadence of the cattle industry, 

 due to the lack of forage growth. The 

 lands have been used again and again un- 



til the grasses have been eaten out or 

 killed by other vegetation which cattle 

 will not eat, until in some sections "large 

 areas which were once fine grazing-land- 

 today will not support one steer." The 

 net loss to the state of Wyoming from 

 1896-1898 in capital invested in beef, cat- 

 tle and sheep is about $11,000,000. 



Mr. Coville asserts it is his belief that "if 

 the laws governing our arid lands remain 

 unchanged, lawlessness will continue, the- 

 destruction of private property and human 

 life will go on, the prosperity of commun- 

 ities will be lessened, and one of the rich 

 resources of the nation will be wasted."" 

 To transfer the public grazing land from 

 governmental to private ownership is a 

 remedy advanced by many for this evil,, 

 but it has serious drawbacks, first and 

 greatest is that the land is apt to be monopo- 

 lized by a few men, while the second and 

 economic objection to the immediate dis- 

 posal of this land is that we do not know 

 the real value of it. "The present classi- 

 fication recognizes only three kinds of 

 public lands mineral, timber, and agri- 

 cultural. Before the government can dis- 

 pose of grazing-lands, it must determine- 

 which portions of the land now lumped as- 

 agricultural are really such, and which? 

 portions are fit for grazing. Especially- 

 must such areas of arid land as are cap- 

 able of irrigation, and which, therefore,, 

 are really agricultural, be segregated from 

 the areas not capable of irrigation, and be> 

 classed as grazing. It is only by the act- 

 ual application of engineering and hydro- 

 graphic methods that the exact location 

 and extent of the irrigable portions of the- 

 arid lands can be ascertained ; and. in the- 

 natural course of events, this would re- 

 quire many years. Clearly it would not 

 be to the interest of the government to- 

 grant patents, as grazing-lands, to large 

 areas really irrigable, and worth, there- 

 fore, five, or perhaps, twenty times as- 

 much. Furthermore, the economic condi- 

 tions and the trade relations of the W est 

 in general have not yet become sufficiently- 

 well established to indicate the true value 



