RANGE MANAGEMENT IN NEW MEXICO. 17 



disposal of such land. It was assumed when the existing land laws 

 were made that all land was about equally good and that 160 acres 

 of it was amply sufficient for the support of one man's family; that 

 if he wanted any of it he might have that much and welcome; and 

 that all of it would ultimately be given by the Government to its 

 individual citizens. 



It has since been learned that much of the land will not support a 

 family upon 160 acres, but that in certain places from 20 to 50 times 

 that area is necessary. Of course, the original lawmakers assumed 

 such land to be desert and therefore valueless. It has a certain value 

 as pasture land, however, and in order that its best use may be 

 secured it is necessary that it should be used to some degree in 

 severalty instead of in common. It being impossible to obtain legal 

 control of it in bodies of sufficient size to carry on stock raising with 

 profit, men were forced to control it some other way or not use it. 



The need of stock water is as great as that of stock feed, and the 

 pioneers in the stock business at once perceived that the water could 

 be controlled. So to-day throughout the region the permanent 

 watering places are all held under some kind of legal right, and it is 

 through the control of the water that the range is controlled. 



This set of conditions gave rise to the custom that men should use 

 and claim as their own the pasture lands surrounding their watering 

 places. Whenever a conflict of interests arose, the men concerned 

 had to settle it among themselves. Community of interests and the 

 desire for an amicable agreement have led to a set of customs that 

 have the force of unwritten laws. These differ to some extent in 

 different localities, mainly because of local conditions, but the basal 

 principles, being dependent upon the requirements of the business 

 itself, are quite uniform. The worst differences arose between the 

 cattlemen and sheepmen, because the methods of caring for their 

 stock are of necessity different, and hence their interests are strongly 

 competitive instead of parallel. As long as there was plenty of unoc- 

 cupied land to which the more venturesome spirits might move, 

 severe competition was only local and sporadic, but as soon as the 

 available range was all occupied, competition became more and more 

 strenuous. Competition is generally not vigorous between those 

 subdivisions of the industry of the same kind and approximately 

 equal grade. Thus a group of small cattlemen in a region get along 

 fairly well together, having only petty personal jealousies. Large 

 cattlemen recognize the rights of their equals in the business. 



On an open range it is, of course, necessary to have all water open, 

 and cattle and horses go where they will to drink, though they are 

 generally "located" in some particular region. It is the common 

 84972°— Bull. 211— 15 3 



