706 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



The seasons of 1883 and 1884 were prosperous 

 ones on the range, and this company, as well as 

 other properties controlled by Swan, showed excel- 

 lent profits, but a decline of prices came in 1885 and 

 1886. The summer of 1886 was a dry one. The 

 ranges were overloaded, cattle were thin r and values 

 declined severely. Prices for the Swan native steers 

 in these early years ranged as follows : 1884, $47.06 ; 

 1885, $40.24; 1886, $30.15; 1887, $29.43; 1888, $35.24. 

 The great bulk of these were strong in the Hereford 

 blood, many of them being first crosses on Oregon 

 cows. 



The Wyoming Hereford Co. This organization 

 had no connection with the Swan company proper, 

 except that some shareholders held stock in each. 

 The ranch upon which the purebred Heref ords were 

 carried comprised some 30,000 acres on Crow Creek, 

 just east of Cheyenne. George Morgan was engaged 

 as the active manager and made a number of im- 

 portations direct from Herefordshire, as has been 

 referred to in a previous chapter. One of his early 

 operations was the purchase of the entire herd of 

 Mr. J. H. Yeomans of Stretton Court, comprising 

 200 head which were shipped from Liverpool on 

 April 16, 1883. Another large importation was 

 made in 1884, including 186 bulls bred in England. 

 The herd numbered over 500 head at one time, in- 

 cluding more than 300 breeding cows and a sensa- 

 tional array of stock bulls, among which were Eu- 

 dolph by The Grove 3d, Lord Wilton 2d, Victor by 

 Winter de Cote, and Sir Thomas of G. S. Burleigh's 

 breeding. 



