104 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



the standard of New Mexico sheep has not been very 

 high. They have been light shearers, bare-bellied and 

 small-bodied, but extremely hardy and excellent feeders 

 when placed under feedlot conditions. 



California, with its great mountain ranges for summer 

 grazing and vast desert ranges for wintering and early 

 lambing grounds, offered an ideal place for sheep-raising. 

 It did not take the early Spanish settlers long to realize 

 this fact, and they built up their flock with the very 

 best strains of Spanish blood, principally Merinos. As 

 the country settled up the more enterprising California 

 sheepmen pushed out into the deserts and country to 

 the east, crossing the big Colorado River into Arizona. 

 Here they found a virgin area similar in character to the 

 coast ranges. Drifting across the desert that lies along 

 the western border of Arizona, they worked their way 

 into the San Francisco mountain country, where they 

 established themselves permanently. 



Impress of the Merino. To this day the impress of 

 the Merino sheep, which the early settlers like the Daggs 

 Bros., the Clarks, Scotts, Campbells and other coast 

 sheepmen brought into Arizona, can be seen in the herds 

 of northern Arizona and Especially about the San Fran- 

 cisco mountain region. Their good weights, splendid 

 shearing qualities and hardiness make the sheep of 

 northern Arizona superior to the sheep raised in any 

 other portion of the Southwest. In the Northwest 

 the California sheepmen also left their imprint upon 

 the herds. A large portion of the original stock of 

 sheep in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana was 

 brought from the Golden State, and through careful 

 crossing the sheep of this region have become large- 

 bodied and heavy shearers. 



