Whorlbd Milkweed 
5 
dead and others were sick. Only the old sheep that could eat 
were poisoned; none of the suckling lambs were affected. A 
thorough examination of the corral, which was about 2 acres in 
extent, showed that the only vegetation present was a few scrub 
pinon and cedars, one or two dried up sage bushes, and in one cor- 
ner a patch of milkweed about 30'x50' in extent. This milkweed 
had been about half eaten off, and it could not have been more 
than two or three inches high, so that a comparatively small 
amount was eaten by the sheep which were killed. 
Near Grand Junction, in August, 1918, horses which were 
being fed from a stack of hay cut from a new field were dying 
with typical poison symptoms. Other horses having the same 
care but which were fed from other hay were not affected. This 
particular stack of hay was found to contain large quantities of 
whorled milkweed, and an examination of the field from which it 
was cut showed that about one-third of the ground was infested 
with the milkweed. In all, six head of horses were poisoned from 
the stack of hay and when the milkweed was picked out of the al- 
falfa, or stock changed to other hay, the losses stopped. 
On a main sheep driveway near Cortez, Colorado, there oc- 
curred a series of heavy losses which have become historical 
in the records of the investigations on milkweed in Colorado. 
The place where these losses occurred has been named Death 
Valley by the stockmen in that section of the country. It is on 
the driveway along which at least 50,000 sheep are moved an- 
nually between the winter and summer ranges. It is situated 
close to water and to Cortez, forming an ideal place to camp, so 
that bands were often held there over night. These losses were 
all of sheep, although there is strong evidence that seven head 
of cattle were poisoned while being driven through this area. 
The first loss of any size at this place Was that of 30 head 
of sheep owned by Mr. Hiram McEwen, of Cortez, Colorado. This 
was in 1915. 
In the fall of 1916, James Gawith of Cortez, drove 1,100 
head of sheep from the summer range down thru Montezuma 
Valley to the winter range. This band was stopped at Death 
Valley, and held for a time. Within a few hours after leaving 
the bed grounds 576 head died. The symptoms were so nearly 
like those from strychnine poisoning that many people at that 
time suspected that the sheep had been deliberately poisoned by 
alien enemies. 
In early June, 1917, Mr. W. T. Fowler was driving a band 
of 1,100 sheep thru Montezuma Valley on their way to the 
