WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



971 



thus far pursued successfully this important industry in opposition to 

 prejudice, perjury, and lawlessness. Mr. George Champlin, of Red 

 Bluff, Tehama County, Cal., writes as follows: 



I keep 18,000 grade Spanish Merinos, giving an average of 9 pounds of wool each 

 at two shearings, selling at an average of 15 cents per pound. Get 75 per cent in- 

 crease on the ewes, bred at a cost of about $1 for all charges except for use of land. 

 My sheep are kept from early fall to some time in January on some 30,000 acres of 

 grain stubble and 4,000 acres of vineyard, eating the leaves and cleaning the vine- 

 yard and killing and destroying all insects and disease, saving a large expense of 

 plowing and. cleaning up. They are turned loose, with two or three men to look 

 after them. I dip with lime and sulphur, costing half a cent a head, and pay 5 cents 

 per head for fall shearing, and 6 cents in spring. Land values too complicated. 



I would like to say a few words in regard to the prejudice against sheep and about 

 th<- hue and cry that a band of sheep traveling over a country are as bad as a fire. 

 The law unfortunately is against sheep; while sheep have to be kept on laud bought 

 or Government land, cattle and horses are permitted to run at large. I drive my 

 sheep over 100 miles to the mountains, and I take all the pains possible to keep my 

 men from firing the country, for when a fire does get out, particularly in the fall 

 when the leaves are dead and dry, it destroys quantities of feed, burning up the 

 browsing which is our richest feed. If there are no fires lighted and the sheep are 

 fed over a country, they prevent fires from running by eating up the leaves and the 

 vegetation that would burn. There is a very strong prejudice against sheep, some 

 wanting large damage if sheep are even permitted to look at land, but by fair treat- 

 ment we are wearing that off, and hope to see the time when this will be gone. 

 Respectfully yours, 



GEORGE CHAMPLIN. 



The following letter from Mr. G. C. McCoy will be found of much 

 interest: 



I usually winter about 3,000 sheep. They shear about 3 pounds in the fall and 

 4 pounds in the spring. I mark about 65 per cent of lambs of the ewes bred. It 

 costs me about $1 a head to run my sheep, exclusive of the interest on the land in- 

 vestment. I run a sheep ranch for wool and mutton. You ask what are the dis- 

 advantages. None but prejudice of people who know nothing about the business, 

 and in some cases it is jealousy. I herd the year around; pay $25 a month and fur- 

 nish the camp. Cost of the shearing, 5 cents per head in the spring and 6 cents 

 in the fall. It costs me about 1 cent a head to dip, which I do spring and fall. 

 My ranch is worth $20,000. The prices I sold wool for are as follows: 



Those are my sales in Red Bluff for cash on delivery. I shear in the spring here 

 on the ranch, 10 miles from town, drive them 100 miles and summer on the summit of 



