THE EARLY WESTERN RANGE 



27 



had his herd under his eye at all times, and could move 

 it to better feed before the animals became too weak 

 to travel. He also found out much earlier than did the 

 cattleman that buying feed against a hard winter was 

 money well invested. 



In many ways the sheepmen profited by the bitter 

 experience of the cattlemen, and avoided many of their 

 pitfalls. Thus the ranges were divided and in many of 

 the states, especially Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the 

 sheepmen gradually forced the cattle interests into the 

 background. 



Range Wars. Bitter range wars followed. All over 

 the Rocky Mountain region the conflicts between the 

 two interests have cost many lives, both human and 

 animal, together with great financial losses. Dead-lines 

 were drawn by the cattlemen across which no sheepman 

 could cross with his herd and not pay dearly for his 

 temerity. 



In Arizona the Tonto Basin war waged for three 

 years and cost more than thirty lives, besides keeping a 

 whole country in a state of terror in the meantime. In 

 western Colorado, especially in Routt county, the con- 

 flict between the sheepmen and cattlemen over the use 

 of the ranges has been a serious menace to both sides. 

 In the Blue Mountains of Oregon thousands of sheep 

 were killed by irate cattlemen, and in the Green River 

 district of Wyoming there have been frequent whole- 

 sale slaughterings of sheep. 



The sheepmen in turn swept across the ranges oc- 

 cupied by cattle, leaving a wide swath as clean of vegeta- 

 tion as if a fire had passed over it. Fierce conflicts fol- 

 lowed such action. Herders were killed, camps raided 

 or "shot up" and the sheep were taken from the herders 



