QUESTIONS 15 



the edicts of the association. . . Our annual report shows that we have 

 slaughtered between 8,000 and 10,000 head of sheep during the last shooting 

 season and we expect to increase this respectable showing during the next 

 season providing the sheep hold out and the Governor and Oregonian observe 

 the customary laws of neutrality. In some instances the woolgrowers of 

 Eastern Oregon have been so unwise as to offer rewards for the arrest and 

 con\nction of sheep shooters and for assaults on herders. We have heretofore 

 warned them by publication of the danger of such action, as it might have 

 to result in our organization having to proceed on the lines that 'Dead men 

 tell no tales.' This is not to be considered as a threat to commit murder, as 

 we do not justify such a thing, except where fiockowners resort to unjustifiable 

 means in protecting their property." 



{Signed) Corresponding Secretary, 



Crook County's Sheep-Shooting 

 Association of Eastern Oregon. 



Conflicts over range territory continued until " dead lines " 

 were established, vi^hich, by mutual agreement entered into by 

 the livestock associations, were not to be traversed by cattle 

 and sheep. Only occasionally after the location of " dead 

 lines " did range wars of serious consequences occur. Many 

 bitter range controversies were also adjusted by the poHcy of 

 creating National Forests and by the leasing of pasture lands. 



QUESTIONS 



1. Why is meat an important constituent of the human diet? 



2. (a) What was the approximate acreage of the public domain in 1920, 

 including reserved lands, found west of the looth meridian? (b) How does 

 the acreage of grazing lands in the United States compare with that of culti- 

 vated lands? (c) What is the approximate acreage of unimproved land which 

 is used for the grazing of livestock? 



3. What is the chief cause of range and pasture abuse? 



4. What are the outstanding peculiarities and chief agricultural pursuits 

 (a) in the Great Plains, (b) in the Great Basin, (c) in the Southwest, (d) 



in the Rocky Mountain region? 



5. What relation, if any, exists between range abuse, free range use, and 

 range wars? 



6. Discuss the value of livestock organizations in minimizing the loss of 

 property and human lives during the period of range wars. 



7. Explain what is meant by a "dead line." 



8. What were the conditions that resulted in the establishment of "dead 

 lines?" 



