918 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



extenuating circumstances for imperfections of the past as well as the 

 present condition of the industry. 



It is unfortunate that there are 110 accurate statistics regarding the 

 early sheep industry of this Territory. We can only judge from the 

 well-known energy and scientific acumen of the old Spaniards that the 

 first sheep were brought to the present Territory of New Mexico toward 

 the end of the seventeenth century or the beginning of the eighteenth. 

 It is known that Santa Fe was permanently founded by the Spaniards in 

 1605. Andfrom a general knowledge and observation of the flocks during 

 recent years it is evident that the first sheep which the pioneer settlers 

 brought with them to this country from northern Mexico must have 

 been of good quality, since continued inbreeding for over a century 

 only reduced the wool of Mexican sheep to a quality appropriate for 

 carpet and blanket stock. It is only since 1855 that the better grades 

 of sheep have been gradually introduced to this Territory, until now, 

 when every sheep-owner, however small, usually endeavors to obtain 

 the best rams his means will permit. 



Eegarding the past history of the industry, Hon. F. A. Manzanares, 

 president of the bureau of immigration, and a sheep-owner, says : 



For over two hundred years the people of New Mexico have been more or less engaged 

 in the sheep business. It has ever been found profitable, and in former yesirs it was 

 only owing to the constant wars with the savages of the Territory that much diffi- 

 culty was experienced in caring for the sheep, not uiifrequently attended with loss 

 of life, more especially at the murderous hands of the Navajos, whose rapacity had 

 no limits, and whose favorite prey was the indefensive lamb. These Indians were, 

 as they are now, very industrious and great workers of wool, hence their cupidity 

 for the fleecy prey. The famous Navajo blankets are made by them, as were also 

 made by the Mexican people some elegant and durable blankets and wool cloth, 

 which created but a limited consumption of wool in the Territory. It was not until 

 our disastrous civil war advanced the price of wool to a fictitious height that New 

 Mexican wools found their way to the Eastern markets, and their high prices con- 

 tinuing after the war, became a great stimulus. The depredating Indians having 

 been permanently suppressed, the wool industry in the country has been successfully 

 carried on until the cattle began to supplant the sheep, a circumstance which has 

 resulted in more detriment to the masses, and especially the poor, than most of us 

 are willing to admit. Nevertheless, the fact stands of record and the vast impor- 

 tance of the sheep business and its encouragement will be plainly shown by the fol- 

 lowing statistical totals, in connection Avith the fact that when the sheep were more 

 numerous and generally distributed there was less want among the people than there 

 is to-day, when fewer sheep are owned in the Territory. 



From 1860 to 1870 there was a steady increase in the number of sheep, at which 

 latter year it is safe to estimate the number at 3,000,000 head, and it was about that 

 time that a general and urgent demand sprung up from outside the Territory and 

 continued for the ten years following, the result of which was decreasing instead of 

 increasing the number fas a natural consequence would indicate) of sheep, owners 

 as a rule selling freely to Colorado and Texas, so that in 1880 there were, according 

 to the census of that year, only 2,088,831 sheep. From that time, the heavy demand 

 having ceased, again an increase of nearly 100 per cent took place from 1880 to 1887, 

 when a fair estimate would place the number at about 4,000,000,000 head. 



Further information on this subject and about the early drives of 



