210 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Early History 

 of. the Sheep 

 Industry in 

 America 



Shortage of Raw Material — 

 fhe Demand Increasing 



By A. C. Bigelow 



President, Philadelphia Wool and Textile 

 Association 



Gentlemen, I want to express to you my appreciation of the 

 honor of having been invited to come here and address this meet- 

 ing. I have come 1,500 miles for that purpose; and I think you 

 will understand that I should not have made such a long journey 

 down here if I had not been impressed with the importance of 

 this gathering and the importance of that which I wish to present 

 to you in regard to the agricultural proposition, especially sheep 

 husbandry. 



It is probably worth while to explain to you briefly the de- 

 velopment of the sheep industry in this country. As you will 

 readily understand, it was natural that it should start in the 

 Eastern states, as the original Merino sheep came mostly to us 

 from Spain in the early part of the last century. The New Eng- 

 land states in the early days showed quite a rapid development, 

 and Vermont was at one time a large sheep producing state. In 

 that state the number of sheep were as follows: 



Vermont — 



The Herds- 

 man Moves 

 Westward 



Following the advance westward of population, sheep were 

 largely kept in New York State, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Dur- 

 ing the ten years from 1870 to 1880, there were close to 5,000,000 

 sheep in the state of Ohio. In 1890 the number dropped to 4,- 

 000,000, while in 1915 they were reduced to 2,100,000. Still ad- 

 vancing westward, and following the areas of cheaper lands, we 

 find that Texas had as follows : 



