222 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



iifteiwaid close- herded by ]\Ii-. Scoby, the reputed owuer. These eat- 

 t\^ ranged south and east of the Challis herd aud south of Woodward 

 and Fye's herd, a public road being the dividing line between the three 

 herds. I could get no definite history of these cattle. Mr. Oahlan, 

 whose range was southwest of the Scoby cattle, states that 8 or 10 

 of the Scoby cattle died in the month of September; that the cattle 

 were sold and driven north toward Kingman County; the owner then 

 left Harper. I went to see one of the men who assisted Mr. Scoby in 

 herding the cattle, but could get no satisfactory replies from him, other 

 than that if I had money to pay for information he might tell me what 

 1 desired to know ; that he was paid by Scoby for the services he ren- 

 dered him. Some of these cattle were shipped to Kansas City, the re- 

 mainder were taken northwest by trusty uien who would not disclose 

 their destination. 



1 went to see Mi-. William A. Creighton, of Harper. He made the fol- 

 lowing statement: That he wintered 27 head of cattle. They were in 

 the stock yards at night with the Boyd cattle, aud ranged over the same 

 ground north of the railroad track with them several days. In the lat- 

 ter i)art of June they were driven out to L. M. Pratt's herd, passing 

 along and over tlie trail of the Boyd cattle; one of them, a bull, was 

 left at Pratt's for two weeks; he was then also taken to Pratt's herd; 

 he died five days after he entered the herd. None of the rest of the 

 27 died, although all were equally exposed to the Boyd trail. 



October 21, being Sunday, 1 remained in Harper. At the hotel 

 where I was stop])ing 1 met a gentleman from Linn County, who told 

 me that a Mr. Goss, of that county, lost 00 out of 70 head of cattle this 

 summer with Texas fever. I met also Mr. Donahue, of Atchison, 

 Kans., who holds cattle 4 miles east of Caldwell, Sumner County; he 

 lost 2 out of 14 head in the month of September. These cattle he 

 bought from Mr. Cox, who, it is said, lost a large number of cattle this 

 season. Having heard that hog cholera existed at or near Wellington, 

 Sumner County, and as you desired to secure virus for the use of the 

 Department, 1 therefoie took the night train for Wellington. I there' 

 made inquiries in regard to the truthfulness of the report, and w^as re- 

 ferred to the mayor of the city, Mr. Hamilton. He informed me that 

 a fatal disease had prevailed among the hogs on several farms south of 

 town, notably so on that of Mr. John Botkiu. I proceeded tp Mr. Bot- 

 kin's j)lace, located one mile south of town, found him at home, and ob- 

 tained the following history of the disease among his hogs : I\Ir. Smith, 

 a near neighbor, received some hogs last year from Missouri ; soon 

 after he got them home a disease appeared among them and many 

 died; soon thereafter, Mr. Botkin's hogs began to die, and he lost 

 nearly all he had. Those that remained well he sold in the fall, keeping 

 no hogs over winter. The hog p istureof Botkinadjoiusthatof Mr. Smith. 

 A lai'ge pond of surface water is inclosed in Mr. Botkin's pasture, and 

 the siu'face water IVom ^Ir. Smith's pasture flows into this 1)om(1. In 



