RANGE MANAGEMENT IN NEW MEXICO. Lig 
disposal of such land. It was assumed when the existing land laws 
were made that all land was about equally good and that 160 acres 
of it was amply sufficient for the support of one man’s family; that 
if he wanted any of it he might have that much and welcome; and 
that all of it would ultimately be given by the Government to its 
individual citizens. 
It has since been learned that much of the land will not support a 
family upon 160 acres, but that in certain places from 20 to 50 times 
that area is necessary. Of course, the original lawmakers assumed 
such land to be desert and therefore valueless. It has a certain value 
as pasture land, however, and in order that its best use may be 
secured it is necessary that it should be used to some degree in 
severalty instead of in common. It being impossible to obtain legal 
control of it in bodies of sufficient size to carry on stock raising with 
profit, men were forced to control it some other way or not use it. 
The need of stock water is as great as that of stock feed, and the 
pioneers in the stock business at once perceived that the water could 
be controlled. So to-day throughout the region the permanent 
watering places are all held under some kind of legal right, and it is 
through the control of the water that the range is controlled. 
This set of conditions gave rise to the custom that men should use 
and claim as their own the pasture lands surrounding their watering 
places. Whenever a conflict of mterests arose, the men concerned 
had to settle it among themselves. Community of interests and the 
desire for an amicable agreement have led to a set of customs that 
have the force of unwritten laws. These differ to some extent in 
different localities, mainly because of local conditions, but the basal 
principles, bemg dependent upon the requirements of the business 
itself, are quite uniform. The worst differences arose between the 
cattlemen and sheepmen, because the methods of caring for their 
stock are of necessity different, and hence their interests are strongly 
competitive instead of parallel. As long as there was plenty of unoc- 
cupied land to which the more venturesome spirits might move, 
severe competition was only local and sporadic, but as soon as the 
available range was ail occupied, competition became more and more 
strenuous. Competition is generally not vigorous between those 
subdivisions of the industry of the same kind and approximately 
equal grade. Thus a group of small cattlemen in a region get along 
fairly well together, having only petty personal jealousies. Large 
cattlemen recognize the rights of their equals in the business. 
On an open range it is, of course, necessary to have all water open, 
and cattle and horses go where they will to drink, though they are 
generally ‘‘located’”’ in some particular region. It is the common 
84972°—Bull. 211153 
