CHAPTER X. 



OTHER MAKERS OF WESTERN CATTLE 

 HISTORY. 



Another of the partners in the old Chicago Stock 

 Yards packing firm of Culbertson, Blair & Co. be- 

 came largely interested in Herefords, and was spe- 

 cially fortunate in forming a connection with one 

 of the best cattlemen America has yet produced. 

 The one was Moses Fowler, banker and landowner 

 of Lafayette, Ind.; the other 'was the late William 

 S. VanNatta. The co-partnership formed between 

 them in 1876 lasted for more than a quarter of a 

 century, and had a far-reaching and in every way 

 a wholesome influence upon the development of the 

 business of cattle breeding in the western United 

 States. 



Mr. Fowler had a large body of undeveloped land 

 in Benton Co., Ind., some 25,000 acres in extent, 

 which he wished to put to some profitable use. No 

 plow had ever run a furrow through the native 

 sod. The grazing of cattle was of course the logical 

 solution to this problem^ and Mr. VanNatta was the 

 ideal man to handle the practical side of the busi- 

 ness. Neither owned any Herefords at the time. 



Mr. VanNatta's Early Experiences. Mr. Van- 

 Natta was born in Tippecanoe Co., Ind., in 1830. 



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