426 • CHANGES IN RANGE CONDITIONS 



Department of Agriculture. State and railroad lands in National 

 Forest areas were given over to the National Forest in lieu of equal 

 areas of government land located elsewhere. This amounted to a 

 double restriction of free land. Moreover, the National Forest 

 service made definite allotments on which only a stated number of 

 sheep were allowed for a specified time at a consideration of so 

 much per head. Often these allotments were situated so that 

 transfer from them to the plains was difficult. 



Added Cost of Ranges. — Because of the changes outlined above 

 it is impossible to run as many sheep in many sections as formerly 

 and obviously these changes have added to the cost of running 

 sheep in various ways, as follows : 



First, charges are made for all lands except public domain, which 

 is becoming more and more restricted. 



Second, the alternation of tracts of private lands withdrawn 

 from grazing with tracts of public and private lands rented to 

 sheepmen has raised the cost of maintenance by requiring additional 

 labor and has reduced the possible returns through lowering the feed- 

 ing capacity of the range. In eastern Colorado, where homesteaders 

 who have enclosed their lands are numerous, only alternate sec- 

 tions are open for grazing. Under such conditions the bands of sheep 

 have to be about half normal size in order to give the sheep in the 

 rear a chance to find feed. That is, the band does not have the 

 same opportunity to remain spread out while feeding as formerly 

 because of having to pass around the sections in the hands of home- 

 steaders. Thus, one sees that more labor per thousand sheep is 

 required in eastern Colorado now than in the days before the 

 coming of homesteaders. Then, it is impossible for sheepmen in 

 that section to get their sheep in as good condition as formerly, 

 even though the area per head remains the same, because they 

 have to travel so much more than they used to. Since, oftentimes, 

 owners of several bands can not secure all of their summer range in 

 one body in the National Forest more labor is required than when the 

 area of mountain range was not definitely fixed. It used to be 

 common for one tender to look after two or three camps in the 

 mountains, but now he is seldom responsible for more than one. 

 Allotment lines are generally irregular, making many corners and 

 pockets, which prevent radiating out from camp as in the good old 

 free-for-all days. On this account summer bands are not as large 

 as they used to be, 



