WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIVEE. 755 



ance given him by M. F. Greeley, Gary, Deuel County, who, in dis- 

 cussing the prospects and profits of Dakota wool-growing, said: 



Now, I have noticed that the dryer the season the better my sheep do ; the colder 

 the winter the thicker the fleece and the longer the staple. In fact, the more 

 trouble the "wheat man" has the more the "sheepman" prospers. My attention was 

 first called to the ease and perfection with which wool and mutton can be grown in 

 this region. Nearly twenty years ago, when scattered along the head waters of the 

 Minnesota, I found small flocks of sheep growing to perfection, remarkably healthy, 

 and yielding a strong, even staple of wool with almost no attention other than an 

 ample supply of wild hay and grass. Some years latei: I brought my own sheep 

 here, but was hardly prepared to find it so perfect a sheep country as it is. In 

 addition to this our cheap and unoccupied lands give many of us an advantage over 

 the East, with which they can not possibly compete, while the perhaps cheaper 

 ranges of the mountains have no such market for mutton as we now find it at our 

 door and which is constantly improving. It is usual for the Western farmer to com- 

 plain of high freights to Eastern markets, but in this business a little money goes a 

 great way. Less than a cent a pound puts our wool into the best of markets, while 

 50 cents a head will land our fat sheep in Chicago stockyards. This business simply 

 annihilates distance, and makes our lands devoted to this industry almost as valu- 

 able as though they were a thousand miles east. We regret that in showing up the 

 advantages of this business it is so frequently necessary to bring it into comparison 

 with other branches of farming. But next to the health and conveniences to market 

 which our location and climate insure, the fact that the business can be carried on 

 with less outlay for machinery and labor than almost any other farming is certainly 

 an item worth considering. The help required to care for 20 cows will handle 1,000 

 sheep, and were I to do it alone I would certainly take the sheep every time. 

 Another feature which strongly commends this business to the poor man is the 

 quick cash returns and the rapidity with which sheep multiply. If he can but once 

 secure a small flock he has not long to wait before he finds himself in possession of 

 a large one, with no additional outlay. But I would not have you infer that because 

 our climate is so well adapted to this business and our grasses so nutritious and 

 everything so favorarble generally, that a man may succeed in it without proper 

 care and management. A more serious mistake could not be made. So far as " pro- 

 tection" of this industry is concerned, I sincerely hope a reasonable protection may 

 be extended till every stony hill and every dry spot in Dakota becomes produc- 

 tive and populous. We certainly need the money for it hero in Dakota as badly as 

 England does. But the absence of protection can not destroy or cripple our in- 

 dustry. With our cheap lands and perfect climate we can throw our wool away and 

 still compete with any Eastern State raising mutton alone. 



One thing about the sheep-owners of South Dakota that augurs well 

 for the industry is the facility with which they form local and State 

 associations, and maintain them better than in any other State I have 

 visited in my investigations of the industry west of the Mississippi 

 River. If the interest in these organizations is maintained in the future 

 as well as it has been in the past, they will greatly aid the sheep-owners 

 of South Dakota to attain a higher degree of success with sheep hus- 

 bandry, and in a few years make it the leading sheep State of the West, 

 if not of the United States. My observation is that the lack of unity 

 and interest manifested by some sheep-owners in their common indus- 

 try is one of the discoura.ging phases of sheep husbandry. There is no 

 class of stockmen so indifferent to there own welfare as sheep-owners, 

 when they, more than all others, should be active and cooperative in 



