430 CHANGES IN RANGE CONDITIONS 



which was bound to extend to the sheep camps. But in the South- 

 west the assertion is commonly made that special help can be secured 

 because the liberal supply of provisions in camp afford an oppor- 

 tunity for the village loafers to get a good fill. And it is doubtful 

 whether laborers in villages receiving wages comparable with those 

 paid to sheep herders have as much to eat. In fact, it is well known 

 that they do not. Constant reference is made to the relatively simple 

 list of provisions which was furnished to the old-time herders and 

 comparing it with the list of to-day, provisions must cost several 

 times as much as they did in the early days. 



Greater Investment Required. Still another significant 

 change in range conditions is the much greater investment in im- 

 provements and equipment. The large tracts of land which owners 

 have felt obliged to purchase must be fenced at a cost of about 

 $150 per mile. In many places water has been secured at great 

 expense by digging wells or by building reservoirs. Because of 

 the rise in the cost of operation and in the value per head of the 

 sheep, buildings and corrals have been erected which were not 

 deemed necessary at an earlier time. Horses and machinery for 

 working the cultivated lands are now items of considerable cost 

 which at one time did not appear on the inventory. 



All of the changes enumerated above have been in the direction 

 of raising the cost of maintaining sheep in the West. But a few 

 changes have been made which either help to reduce the cost of 

 operation or to increase the returns possible from the sheep. 



Beneficial Changes. For example, railway facilities have been 

 constantly improving. As railways grew more numerous it was 

 easier to get both wool and sheep to points of shipment, and the ex- 

 pense of getting supplies and equipment to the range was consider- 

 ably lessened. In the earlier days of sheep ranching in the West, 

 mutton could not be of much importance, for facilities for getting it 

 to market were not developed. In very recent years little spurs of 

 railway have penetrated regions here and there which permit of 

 getting fat lambs out of the mountains to the great central markets. 

 As a practice, however, shipping sheep out of the West has been in 

 vogue for thirty years or more. 



The introduction of cultivated crops has made earlier lambing 

 possible in a number of places. This, together with the better feed 

 and improvement in breeding, has changed the lamb crops into a 

 better and more seasonable product. 



