CHAPTEE IX. 



GKEAT PASTURE-LANDS. 



Where Sheep can be best Raised — Who the Sheep-Owners of the 

 Plains are — How the Ranches are managed — Letters from 

 Sheep-Raisers. 



To describe correctly the pasture-lands of the West 

 would require not one but a dozen chapters, and even 

 the most important regions can only have a brief men- 

 tion. The streams flowing into the North Platte on 

 its north bank alone are the Blue Water, Coldwater, 

 Slate, Sweetwater, and Sheet. 



On the south side are the Ash, Pumpkin, Larrens, 

 Dry, Horse, Cherry, Chugwater, Sybille, Big Laramie, 

 Little Laramie, Deer, Medicine, Rock, and Douglas. 

 These streams with their feeders drain 40,000,000 acres 

 of pasture-lands ; most of them have timber along their 

 banks, and afford beautiful sites for ranches and resi- 

 dences. 



In the North Platte basin, east of the Black Hills, 

 are 8,000,000 acres of pasturage, with the finest and 

 most lasting living streams, and good shelter in bluffs 

 and caflons. These 8,000,000 acres of pasturage, if 

 taxed to their capacity, would feed all the year round 

 8,000,000 head of sheep, yielding 24,000,000 pounds 

 of wool annually, worth $7,000,000 to $8,000,000. 

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