722 - A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



Colorado the company owns 32,000 acres of land, 

 scattered over the range, solely with a view of keep- 

 ing the water open. Up to and before 1886 the com- 

 pany had a small herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle 

 ranging on parts of the New Mexico range, but it 

 was found that the calf crop was usually disap- 

 pointing and the herd was closed out. The com- 

 pany started with a capital of $3,000,000, half of 

 which was fully paid up and the remainder de- 

 bentures. After the dull times and low prices at 

 the end of the '80 's and the beginning of the '90 's, 

 the capital was reduced to about half of this sum, 

 approximately where it stands today. The com- 

 pany probably owns at this writing about 38,000 to 

 40,000 head of cattle, principally steers. 



Mr. Murdo Mackenzie managed this property for 

 a short time after Mr. Tod left, and in 1889 was 

 succeeded by James C. Johnstone, who held the po- 

 sition until 1906 when he returned to Scotland. 

 Speaking of the use of Herefords on this herd Mr. 

 Johnstone in writing to the author from Edinburg 

 in May, 1914, said : 



"During the years I managed the company I 

 purchased for the herd many hundreds of purebred 

 bulls, all Herefords, for I found that they were bet- 

 ter than any other breed for range purposes. I 

 bought my Hereford bulls principally in Missouri, 

 Kansas and Illinois, and for two or three years 

 bought all the bulls Mr. Kirk Armour bred on his 

 farm at Excelsior Springs. I remember at one of 

 the big sales of bulls in Kansas City I was passing 

 the auctioneer who was selling a bull which was 

 knocked down to a customer at $500. Kirk Armour 



