972 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the Sierra Nevada mountains, where the snow falls some winters 10 or 12 feet deep 

 and mashes my fencing to the ground. 



I wish to say a few words about the wool interest. The objections to the business 

 arise mostly from the cattlemen and horsemen who oppose our buying up the land, 

 for while it belonged to the Government and the railroad company they used it, paid 

 no tax on it, and in the mountains they run their stock on our deeded land the same 

 as we do. As for sheep being hard on feed, my ranges are as good now as they were 

 eighteen years ago when I first saw them, and in the valley it is better. Some say 

 we burn the ranges. This is a mistake, as the brush is our best feed, and if we burn 

 it some of the best never comes again. I tell my men never to start a fire where it 

 can spread, and if they see a fire on the range go at once and put it out. The worst 

 of the fires start from hunters who are short of bedding and make a fire by a big log 

 in order to keep warm, then go off in the morning, and it will spread. Sometimes 

 they set fire to brush to run out a bear or other game. 

 Yours, etc., 



G. C. McCOY. 



Sucli letters can be multiplied by the hundred, from men scattered 

 along the Sierras from Mount Shasta to San Bernardino, who have in 

 years past and up to this date contributed vastly to the wealth of the 

 nation. Their rich products were gathered from the plains and moun- 

 tains of California, leaving the land richer for future use. They are 

 therefore certainly more deserving of credence than the squatter who 

 is holding a claim to sell at the first opportunity, or he who locates 

 upon the range, indifferent as to whether it is private property or pub- 

 lic domain. 



From Fresno southward a large proportion of the sheep and wool 

 industry is in the hands of a foreign element called Basques. As a 

 class they are described by their intelligent countrymen as " very igno- 

 rant about anything except their special calling, few of them being 

 able to read or write in their own language, and, in connection with 

 their business, suspicious, secretive, and determined to avoid giving 

 out any information, which they would assume, in spite of anything 

 which might be said, was intended to be used against them for pur- 

 poses of taxation." From an agent of the great stock-raising and 

 slaughtering firm of Miller & Lux I received the following outline of 

 their methods : They usually begin by associating in quartets, working 

 for wages. When by industry and extreme frugality the four have 

 accumulated a sufficient sum to purchase 250 ewes the investment is 

 made and the sheep are taken in charge by two of the four, the others 

 continuing to work for wages, all working and saving to increase the 

 flock. A few years generally bring the combined interest up to a point 

 admitting of subdivision; sometimes this is into halves, and sometimes 

 each of the four begins as an independent proprietor. The owner con- 

 tinues with his flock and hires an assistant when needed, generally at 

 $20 per month, where American s pay $30 per month. They hire pastur- 

 age only when they must, and are very close dealers when they do. 

 They are exceedingly adroit at getting every bit of free pasturage, and 

 do not, according to my informant, always confine themselves to what 

 is free to all. 



