758 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



the late '80 's and early '90 's made their use in any 

 large numbers impossible for this ranch. Many low- 

 grade buUs had been put on the ranch in the late 

 '80 's, but each year a better class of sires was pro- 

 cured and after 1892 only purebred bulls were pur- 

 chased. "With cattle of such an ordinary foundation 

 and with grade bulls improvement was necessarily 

 slow. However, after the introduction of purebred 

 bulls, as was the case on the Matador and other 

 great Panhandle ranges, improvement was rapid, so 

 that when the cattle began to be dispersed on account 

 of sales of land in 1901 the herd for one of such 

 large size was of exceptional quality. At the sale 

 of the last cattle in 1912 it was, for all practical beef 

 purposes, a purebred herd. 



Purebred Bulls Purchased. — The Hereford bulls 

 to work this improvement were purchased largely 

 from William Powell, Channing, Tex., the Farwell 

 Bros., Montezuma, la., and the T. L. Miller Co., 

 Beecher, 111. The Aberdeen- Angus bulls came from 

 Farwell Bros., Montezuma, la., Anderson & Find- 

 lay, Lake Forest, 111., George Farwell, Mt. Morris, 

 111., and Arnold Bros., Hansford Co., Tex. The 

 herds of John D. Gillett, Elkhart, 111., and C. S. Bar- 

 clay, West Liberty, la., furnished the Shorthorns. 

 Besides these a goodly number of bulls were pur- 

 chased each year from individuals who would under- 

 take a contract of getting together a number of good 

 ones from the leading herds of the various beef 

 breeds of the country. In 1892 the company pur- 

 chased from the T. L. Miller Co. forty-four bulls and 



