THE EARLY WESTERN RANGE 31 



The Curtailment of the Open Range. Within the 

 last eight years the inroads made by irrigation systems 

 and dry farmers have been serious, from the point of 

 view of the stockman using the range. Vast areas hith- 

 erto supposed to be fit only for grazing have been torn 

 up by the farmer's plow, and while not all of it has been 

 farmed, there is so much fencing on the ranges that por- 

 tions of the rest cannot be utilized successfully. This 

 is especially true in the Dakotas, New Mexico, western 

 and northwestern Texas and Colorado, where thousands 

 of cattle and sheep have been crowded from their ranges 

 and forced onto the market, owing to the advances of 

 "the man with the hoe." 



Still there are millions of acres that under no condi- 

 tions now known to civilized man can possibly be used 

 for any other purpose than for grazing stock. Hence its 

 preservation from destruction, that it may continue to 

 furnish its portion of feed for the western stockmen's 

 herds, is a most vital problem for this country. 



The New Era. The day of the "all-year-round" open 

 range business has almost gone. In its place must come 

 a proper utilization of the natural forage, supplemented 

 by the crop of the farmer when, through drouth in sum- 

 mer or pitiless storms in winter, the natural grasses and 

 forage cannot be obtained. There may possibly be few- 

 er but better cattle and sheep under these conditions. 

 There will be more wool to the sheep and a higher grade, 

 more weight to each steer and less waste in long horns 

 and legs, fewer cheap horses and more worth $150, and 

 more stockmen-farmers with great haystacks in the feed- 

 yards as an insurance against winter losses. 



This briefly is the history of the open range stock 

 business in the western United States. First came the 



