82 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



been grain-fed and stable-housed all winter. Only one 

 was lost, the furious storm of December coming on be- 

 fore it had gained sufficient strength to endure it. This 

 fact that 70 exhausted animals turned out to winter on 

 the Plains on the 1st of November came out in the 

 spring in the best condition, and with the loss of but 

 one of the number, is the most forcible commentary I 

 can make upon the quality of the grass and the char- 

 acter of the winter." 



General William Myers, United States Army, writes : 

 " I have had some experience with stock on the Plains 

 and the mountains for the past four winters. Quarter- 

 masters' animals, horses, and mules have grazed more 

 or less at the following posts each of the winters of 1866, 

 1867, 1868, 1869, and since, viz.: Forts Kearney, 

 McPherson, and Sidney Barracks, Nebraska; Forts 

 Sedgwick and Morgan, Colorado ; Forts Laramie, Fet- 

 terman, Reno, Phil Kearney, Saunders, D. A. Russell, 

 Fred Steele, and Bridger, Wyoming Territory; Camp 

 Douglass, in Utah ; and Fort C. F. Smith, in Montana. 

 These forts embrace a country five hundred miles north 

 and south, and eight hundred miles east and west. I 

 am of the opinion that in consequence of the peculiar 

 nutritious grasses, and the lightness of the snowfalls in 

 all this extent of country, herds of sheep, cattle, and 

 horses can be grazed the year round with perfect safety 

 from danger in winter, and with great profit." 



General L. P. Bradley, an excellent judge, writes: 

 " I know the country on the east slope of the moun- 

 tains from the Big Horn down to the Republican and 

 Smoky Hill, which I prospected or scouted pretty 



