12 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



is familiar to the Indians and fur traders of Canada. It ranges from 

 the region of the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone to the Eocky Moun- 

 tains, arid the high grounds adjacent to them on the eastern slope, and 

 as far south as the Rio Grande. Westward it extends as far as the 

 Cascades and coast ranges of Washington, Oregon, and California, and 

 follows the highlands some distance into Mexico. It is found from 

 Wyoming to California, though more abundant in the northern latitudes- 

 than in the southern. It appears to be more common in the Klamath 

 basin, between California and Oregon, and the Blue Mountains tra- 

 versing Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, than in any portion of the 

 Pacific coast. This vast area, traversed in every direction by mountaia 

 chains ranging from 4,000 to 10,000 feet in altitude, furnishes it com- 

 parative security and nutritious vegetation. 



When the first mission was established in California, in 1697, nearly 

 two centuries after the discovery of that country, Fathers Piccolo and 

 De Salvatierra found, says the former — 



two sorts of deer that we know nothing of; we call them sheep, because they some- 

 what resemble ours in make. The iirst is as large as a calf of one or two years old ; 

 its head is much like a stag, and its horns, which are very large, are like those of a 

 ram; its tail and hair are speckled and shorter than a stag's, but its hoof is large, 

 round, and cleft as an ox's. I have eaten of these beasts; their flesh is very tender 

 and delicious. The other sort of sheep, some of which are white and others black, 

 differ less from ours. They are larger and have a great deal more wool, which is 

 very good and easy to be spun and wrought. 



The animal mentioned in the latter part of the above quotation is the 

 Eocky Mountain goat; the other is the Eocky Mountain sheep, or a 

 species closely allied to it. 



An extract from Venega's " History of California" follows closely the 

 description given by Father Piccolo : 



In California are two species of wild creatures for hunting, which are not known 

 in old or new Spain. The first is that v, bich the Californians, in the Mouqui tongue, 

 call a Taye. It is about the bigness of a calf a year and a half old, and greatly re- 

 sembles it in figure, except in its head, which resembles a deer, and the horns very 

 thick, like those of a ram; its hoof large, round, and cloven, like that of an ox; it.s- 

 skin is spotted like the deer, but the hair thinner, and it has a short tail. The flesh 

 is very palatable, and, to most tastes, exquisite. The second species differs very little 

 from a sheep, but a great deal larger and more bulky. These are of two colors, white 

 and black, both well covered with excellent wool. The flesh of these is not less 

 agreeable, and they wander in droves about the forests and mountains. 



In 1803 Duncan McGillivray gave an interesting account of these 

 sheep and the hunting of them on the plains between the Saskatchewan 

 and Missouri rivers. They were found there in small flocks, and some^ 

 were killed of great size. A male measured as follows: Length from 

 the nose to the root of the tail, 5 feet; length of the tail, 4 inches; cir- 

 cumference around the body, 4 feet; the stand, 3f feet high; length 

 of the horn, 3J feet, and girth at the head, IJ feet. The horn was of 

 a circular form, proceeding in a triangle from the head like that of a 

 Merino ram. In appearance the animal was A compound of the deer 



