950 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



slicep for sometime aucl Jater tlie BLasom sheep, and tlieir descendants are now 

 owned by J. H. Glide. Tliese sheep -were from the French Government or Eam- 

 houillet flock. Years afterwards J. D. Patterson imported the Spanish Merino. 

 The third and next importation -svas by Jones & Eoctwell, of Middlebury, Vt., in 



1859 or 1860—1 am not ctuite snre which year. I shipped or imported nine sheep in 



1860 and 1863, all of them Spanish Merino. 



The business of sheep-raising and wool-growing had by this time grown to large 

 proportions and great importance, and from this time many engaged in the business 

 of importing sheep from Vermont. Large importations took place after the comple- 

 tion of the Central Pacific Eailroad, in 1869 and 1870, 1871, 1872, and 1873, by L. J. 

 Arcntt, George Hammond (son of Edwin Hammond), Severance & Peet, and many 

 others. 



Some of the latest shipments were by sheep-traders and were not from reliable 

 and well-bred flocks. Few unacquainted with the history of this business can real- 

 ize what an improvement was wrought by the infusion of this Vermont blood into 

 the flocks of the Pacific coast. The sheep industry made headway under many dif- 

 ficulties, among which were wild animals and hostile cattlemen bitterly opposed to 

 the sheepmen. Laws were passed prohibiting sheep from grazing upon the public 

 domain. Every obstruction possible was thrown in the way by the half-savage 

 cowboys, urged on by the cattle kings. Still the business had so much merit in it 

 that it has prospered and is a good business to-day. 



You ask my opinion as to the propriety of preventing sheep from grazing on the 

 mountain ranges. I think such prevention would be a great outrage. This opposi- 

 tion and hue and cry about sheep ruining the forests nearly all emanates from the 

 cattlemen. I took large bands of shepp into the mountains twenty years for sum- 

 mer grazing, and have been familiar with large sections of the Sierra Nevada Moun- 

 tains for the past forty-two years, and I can certify from actual experience and 

 knowledge that there have been less fires since the grass and undergrowth have been 

 fed off than before. And since roads and ditches have been made large and exten- 

 sive fires do not occur. The miners cut off the large timber in the mining section, 

 and now there are twenty young trees where there was one before, and less danger 

 from fires than formerly. Fires originate from hunters, prospectors, and city touj- 

 ists. 



It would be an outrage upon human rights to maintain a military patrol to look after 

 the forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It would require the entire Army, but 

 it would make nice positions for a lot of officers and men, and increase the taxation 

 of the already overburdened farmer and taxpayer. The sheep-raiser has already 

 been harassed in so many ways that many have gone out of the business, and mut- 

 ton chops are a scarce article in the market. Mutton is now worth from 8 to 10 cents ; 

 it sold here for years from 2i to 3^. 

 Yours, truly, 



Thomas McConnell. 



Mr. Whitney's letter was written at Pueblo, Colo., February 29, 1892, 

 and is as follows : 



Siu.: It is pretty hard for me to make an estimate on wool-growing. It was in 

 1855 that my brother went to Australia, and with myself bought 350 high-bred sheep, 

 which were Spanish Merino, but had a mixture of Saxony blood, according to the 

 plan of the particular breeder in Australia. Don't know who the sheep were bought 

 of. They cost me $50 a head. I got out thoroughbred Spanish bucks from Vermont, 

 which cost me a great deal of money, and began breeding on the Spring Valley 

 Ranch, near Eocklin, in Placer County, 20 miles above Sacramento, and have been 

 at it ever since. We only got 120 head safe in California out of our 350 which we 

 bought in Australia. We made money in selling bucks and good ewes. Land was 

 cheap and the business went slow for years, but after years sold hundreds of bucks 

 and ewes at from $25 to $50 per head. We worked up slowly, and in 1862 sold 



