746 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



of John Clay, James T. XDraig and M. R. Johnson, 

 all practical western men. 



The Swan range in the old days extended from 

 Ogallala, Neb., to Fort Steele, Wyo. In a general 

 way the cattle ranged with many others over the 

 whole territory north from the Union Pacific Rail- 

 road (taking the p6ints named as the east and west 

 limits) to the Platte River. In round numbers this 

 was a terirtory 200 miles long and 100 miles wide. 

 Gradually this range has been encroached upon. In 

 1910 most of the cattle were sold. The company 

 had run quite a number of sheep previous to that 

 time, and now it is largely a sheep proposition. In 

 five years' time, at the present rate, the dry-farmers 

 will take all the public lands in Goshen's Hole, on 

 the Chug, Sybille and other streams. What thirty 

 years ago was purely a grazing area in a region 

 considered arid is now being taken up for farming 

 purposes. Up to date the dry-farmer has not yet 

 located on the higher altitudes of the Laramie 

 Plains. 



Al Bowie's Testimony. Mr. Bowie, so long 

 identified with the Swan company, has spent the 

 best part of his life upon the Wyoming range, and 

 is a willing witness in behalf of the value of the 

 Herefords under conditions there prevailing. He 

 says: 



"When in 1884 we purchased a large lot of 

 Shorthorns as well as several hundred Herefords 

 we were feeding the Shorthorns all the hay they 

 wanted. In fact, we had to in order to keep them 

 alive, while the Herefords ran to pasture and kept 



