314 Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 
advantages, that the great supplies of American beef must be 
drawn for future exportation to England. For some years they 
have sent considerable numbers of cattle annually to the Eastern 
States. 
A special correspondent of the ' Chicago Tribune ' wrote 
from Colorado in December last, as follows : " It is only five or 
six years since the cattle men began to put their ' drives ' in any 
considerable numbers well out on to the pastures to graze ; and 
before that time very few permanent ranches were established. 
Now there are hundreds of herds, each numbering from 1000 to 
5000 cattle, and some running as high as 10,000 and 20,000, 
along the Smoky Hill, the Arkansas Valley, and the Laramie 
Plains. The Platte and Arkansas, far up to their very sources, 
the divide separating their head-waters, the foot-hills, and the 
parks in the very heart of the Rocky Mountains, have been found 
good pasturage. This business has increased rapidly." The 
same correspondent refers specially to some of the Colorado 
herds, giving their numbers and the names of their owners : — 
" J. W. Iliff, on the South Platte, has from 20,000 to 25,000 head ; he 
added 10,000 to it last year. John Hitson, on the Bijou, used to have 20,000, 
but he reduced his herd to from 3000 to 4000 ; Wilson Brothers, on the Big 
and Little Muddy, 3500; J. P. Farmer, Bijou, 3000; Lyman Cole, Big 
Muddy, 2000; Williams and Wetzell, Beaver, 3000; Charles Goodnight, 
Arkansas Valley, 5000; J. L. Brush, South Platte, 2500 ; Johnsons and Don- 
aldson, Evans, 4000 ; Crow and Randall, Arkansas Valley, 2000 ; William 
Beckwith, Wet Mountain Valley, 5000; Dickey and Brother, San Luis Valley, 
5000 ; William and Edward Clayton, San Luis Valley, 2000. This makes 
about 60,000 head owned by thirteen different cattle firms. There are a great 
many herds on the South Platte, Bijou, Box Elder, Arkansas, Purgatoire, 
St. Charles, Huerfano, and in the Wet Mountains ; Estes, North, South, and 
Middle Parks, running from 1000 to 2500 head each. There are probably 800 
to 1000 smaller cattle-owners, having from 500 to 800, or 1000 head each." 
The following is from the pen of the special correspondent of 
the ' Scotsman,' and dated Denver, Colorado, June 5, 1877 : — 
"The 'Cattle King' of Colorado is Mr. J. W. Iliff, of South Platte. He 
began cattle-raising on a small scale in 1861, and now owns close on 35,000 
cattle and nine ranches, extending to over 15,000 acres, and stretching for thirty 
miles along the north bank of the south fork of the river Platte. The State 
land grants, extending to about 650,000 acres, have not as yet .been located, 
and therefore the prairies of Colorado are all (or have been) subject to the 
Homestead and Pre-emption laws, which make it impossible for a man to buy 
up large tracts of land. Mr. Iliff obtained his large estate by buying out 
settlers, many of whom were his own cattlemen, who homes teaded or pre- 
empted most probably with the view of selling off as soon as possible. Mr. 
Iliff keeps from 6000 to 7000 cows, and uses none but shorthorn bulls. He 
has been using improved sires all along, and now he has probably the finest 
stock in the State. He buys his bulls generally in Illinois and Iowa, believing 
that animals bred in these States stand the change to Colorado better than those 
bred in more eastern States, and pays for each from $60 to $80 (12?. to 
His draft for this year, numbering fifty, arrived the other day, and these will 
