398 



'RECREATION:, 



that is deadly. A Jack rabbit can scarcely 

 live on a tract of land that has been devas- 

 tated by a herd of sheep; and a cow, a 

 horse, a deer, an elk, or an antelope would 

 starve to death if confined to such ground. 



In these days sheep have developed into 

 mountain climbers, and will go almost any- 

 where that a goat can go. So, not only 

 the deer range and the elk range are being 

 turned into deserts, but the home of the 

 wild sheep is also invaded and laid waste. 



The big horn is driven from his accus- 

 tomed haunts. Not only this, but he is 

 contaminated by the scab, and is fast fall- 

 ing a prey to the influence of civilization, 

 even as the Indian is. 



As a rule I do not favor violence, but I 

 should delight in seeing the settlers of 

 Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Nevada and 

 California rise up en masse and drive out 

 from the game ranges and the cattle 

 ranges this pestilence of the West. 



As I have said, the sheep is a necessary 

 evil; but the bad effects of his presence 

 may be reduced to a minimum. The men 

 who choose to breed and handle sheep 

 should be compelled to keep them under 

 fence, on their own land. It is a well 

 established principle of law, that no man 

 shall exercise his right of property to the 

 detriment of the general public. Yet this 

 is what the sheep man of the West has 

 been doing for the last 25 years. He has 

 gradually encroached on the cattle ranges, 

 the horse ranges and the game ranges until 

 there scarcely remains a county anywhere 

 in the West that has not been overrun and 

 desolated by the cloven footed scourge. 



And now come reports that the sheep 

 men are deliberately setting fire to the 

 grass, in the foothills of the Tetons, and 

 burning millions of acres of timber in 

 order that there may be better feed for the 

 sheep next year! How long with the catttle- 

 men stand this? How long will the set- 

 tlers stand it? How long will the sports- , 

 men stand it? How long will the United 

 States Government permit this sort of 

 vandalism to prevail? The government is 

 expending millions of dollars in guarding 

 and caring for the forests; yet this incar- 

 nate devil drives his thousands of sheep 

 into the foothills and spreads fire over 

 these timber reserves, that his flock may 

 fatten next summer. 



There will come a retribution one of 

 these days that will be as fierce, as wide 

 spread and as summary as has been the 

 destruction wrought by the sheep man and 

 his herds. Blood will flow from every hill- 

 side and every mountainside; and it will 

 not all be the blood of sheep, either. 



LEARN TO RIDE, TO SHOOT AND TO BE A 

 SOLDIER. 



Do you want to be a Rough Rider and 

 with the Rough Riders ride? Do you 



want a year's training in the best military 

 school of its class ever established? Do 

 you want muscles of iron, lungs of leather 

 and a constitution like that of a bronco? 

 Do you want to learn to shoot on the 

 run? To mount your horse as he runs? 

 To pick up your hat as your horse runs? 



Well, you can learn all these and hun- 

 dreds of other useful, wonderful things in 

 the Rough Rider Military Encampment in 

 Colorado. 



And you can win an appointment to this 

 great cavalry school in a month. 



The camp will be in operation winter 

 and summer. Nominally its headquarters 

 will be in Colorado, but the Rough Riders 

 will dash into New Mexico, Arizona and 

 Utah on their hunting trips and forced 

 marches. Occasionally, some real work 

 will be given the young fellows of the 

 command, when some desperado or train 

 robber or some band of cutthroats takes 

 to the hills. Last winter Black Jack and 

 his band held forth in an arroyo near 

 Cimarron, N. M., after having held up and 

 robbed 2 passenger and express trains in 

 Colorado. The authorities trailed them a 

 long time, and then, in the fight that fol- 

 lowed, the bandits had decidedly the better 

 of the encounter, killing a deputy sheriff 

 and one member of the posse. Had there 

 been a band of several hundred Rough 

 Riders within summoning distance it is 

 probable that Black Jack would have 

 thought twice before holding up a train, 

 and that he would have moved to a less 

 dangerous locality to ply his trade. 



Many of the recruits who have already 

 joined the new school are college men, 

 who are in search of health and recreation, 

 and who believe that a year or so of the 

 rough life in the saddle will be their physi- 

 cal salvation. The camp will have accom- 

 modations for 5,000 men, and already 2,500 

 applications have been received. The 

 operations will be in charge of well known 

 military men, and the plan has received 

 the sanction of Governor Thomas of Colo- 

 rado and other authorities. Its successful 

 operation will do for the cavalry branch of 

 the United States service what the State 

 militia has done for the infantry arm. 



See announcement on page xxxvi of this 

 issue of Recreation. It tells you how to 

 win the scholarship. It will take some 

 hard work, but is worth it. 



Send for a package of sample copies 

 and sail in. You will never have anotheT 

 such chance. 



BACK UP YOUR GOOD ADVICE. 



In every mail I receive a dozen or more 

 letters containing reports of some slaugh- 

 ter of game or fish, some violation of game 

 laws or some exhibition of swinishness on 

 the part of would-be sportsmen. Those 



