Chapter XVII: 109

Conclusion 112

Appendix 113

INTRODUCTORY

The vast region of country lying between the Missouri River on the east and the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the west, an area covering nearly two-fifths of the surface of the United States of America, was until recent years considered an unproductive waste, suited only to occupancy by wild beasts of prey, the bison and the Indian. In the “days of ’49,” when an almost unbroken line of wagons stretched across the plains, and for a decade following, it was supposed to be forever set apart as the summer grazing grounds of nature’s untamed herds; to be the home of man--never.

About this time belated freight trains, drawn by hundreds of footsore oxen, were caught in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains by the early snowfall. Human nature revolted at the suggestion, but there was nothing left for the train masters but to get into such winter quarters as they could construct, turning the dumb brutes loose on the creek bottoms to perish or live on such herbage as they could find. Many a tender-hearted frontiersman was moved almost to tears at the thought of his faithful beasts being left in the wilds as food for wolves. What, then, was their joy when the springtime came and the cattle were found not only to have escaped the fangs of the wolves and mountain lions, but to be fat and sleek, ready for the onward march.

These revelations becoming generally known, and mineral discoveries being made in the mountain valleys that attracted a considerable population of gold seekers, adventurous cattlemen brought herds from the old states and from the grassy plains of Texas to supply the mountain markets and the military posts scattered through the Indian country for the protection of the miners and immigrants. These herds all readily adapted themselves to their surroundings, grew and waxed fat, thus demonstrating that the grasses of the plains, the valleys and the foothills were of the most nutritious character. Ascertaining that no preparation of winter food was necessary for the roving herds, the whole region was soon filled with cattle, the farmers of the states and the ranchmen of Texas were all called upon to contribute to the great herds being located wherever grass and water could be found in juxtaposition. These herds numbered all the way from one thousand head up to fifty thousand, and in two or three instances over a hundred thousand were claimed by one company. The price of beef ruled high on the Eastern markets, and for a time all the ranchmen made money rapidly. The cost of caring for or “running” a herd was lessened in proportion to the increase in numbers, and this necessarily led to consolidations by purchase or the formation of companies and the absorption of small herds. Large dividends were declared and a craze for cattle company investments was created in the East and also in the British Isles. Soon the bulk of the holdings passed into the hands of corporations and high-salaried officers took charge of the business, living luxuriously at the club houses in the various towns and trusting the real management of the herds and ranches to subordinates, sometimes with, but more frequently without, practical experience.

This was all very well while the markets ruled high and a thousand-pound steer brought, at the Chicago Stock Yards, sixty to seventy dollars. If expenses piled up and the output of ripe steers in the autumn was likely to prove inadequate for the meeting of current expenses and the declaring of the usual annual dividend on the stock, a bunch of two-year-old steers and the culls from the threes and fours, unfit for beef, were rounded up, shipped and sold as feeders, the proceeds going to swell the regular profits on the business and cheer the heart of the stockholder. This robbery of the herd was all right from the manager’s standpoint so long as it tickled the avarice of the Eastern or foreign shareholders and prevented a careful investigation of the methods employed. But it was wholesale robbery just the same, and sooner or later must be discovered and charged up to those responsible therefor.

Meantime the country was virtually overrun with cattle, the ranges crowded and the grass eaten until the winter food was too short to carry the stock through the cold weather.

The range cattle industry is based on the theory and fact that the grasses of the so-called arid region grow up in the spring, quickly ripen and cure in the sun, retaining all of the sugar, starch, gluten, etc., in a more or less crystallized state, thus affording a really rich winter diet for all kinds of herbivorous animals. So long as the requisite proportion of the growth was allowed to mature and properly cure, the cattle thrived in winter nearly as well as in summer--at least they remained strong and healthy during the stormy weather and quickly laid on flesh when the green grass came. With the range overcrowded the grass was largely consumed in summer and very little was left to grow tall and carry rich seeds for winter feeding. The winter range should not be grazed in summer.

This shortage of feed, coupled with a few exceptionally hard winters, caused an excessive mortality among all classes of cattle and reduced the calf crop fully one-half in all the mixed or breeding herds. Very soon this commenced to tell in the output of beef steers and greatly reduced the income of the company, so that more robbery of the herd had to be resorted to in order to pay a dividend and keep up the market price of the stock shares.

Then came a sudden and marked decline in beef values at the great market centers. The steers that had brought anywhere from fifty to seventy dollars at Chicago, now sold for from twenty-five to fifty, a shrinkage of nearly one-half as a rule. This decline was due, first, to the real falling off in beef values, and second, to the generally poor condition of the range shipments in consequence of overstocking and the resulting scarcity of feed.

Under these circumstances the company managers were forced to ship beef steers, dry cows and heifers, every fat, available two-year-old and sometimes the thrifty yearlings, in order to balance the expense and dividend account. But to these temporary make-shifts there must eventually come an end. Thus it is evident that the general managers of cattle companies found themselves in exceedingly hot water--between the devil and the deep sea, so to speak. Something had to be done; their integrity and financial reputation demanded action. Dividends were passed and shareholders demanded the reason. To explain that the herds had been systematically robbed of future beef steers in the shipment of unripe cattle would be to impeach themselves. To admit that the hard winters and overstocking of ranges had decimated the herds would not be in harmony with official reports rendered. Some other excuse must be found. Eureka, says one. “Thieves!” he ejaculated, and forthwith the cry echoed and re-echoed over the entire range cattle country. Of the evolutions following this remarkable discovery a description will be given in another chapter.

Cattle and horse stealing are old industries, older than modern civilization. Christ was crucified between thieves, and the books of Moses are not silent on this ancient and modern accomplishment. Cattle stealing on the ranges by means of changing the brands has been practiced to a certain extent by a limited number of disreputable people ever since the beginning of the range cattle industry, and it will always continue. The enactment of laws restrains but it does not prevent crime. As a matter of fact there is less stealing and less lawlessness generally on the plains of the West than in any other part of the world. However contrary to the general theory that our advancing civilization is elevating and refining it may seem, it is nevertheless true that with the increase of years and population there is an increased percentage of crime. The great mass of Wyoming’s population is made up of honest men and women, as the following figures from the United States census report of 1890 fully establish:

“While the Northeastern states, which are supposed to be most civilized and with the least number of criminals, have just 1,600 prisoners to the million of people, Wyoming has only 1,200 to the million--one-fourth less. The states and territories from Nebraska to the Pacific average 2,200 prisoners to the million; but Wyoming scarcely more than half this. Idaho has 1,700 to the million; Colorado, 2,200; California, 2,800--Wyoming has a remarkably small ratio--nearly three times as many. Nevada, with one-fourth less population than Wyoming, has 3,300, two and three-fourths times as many; Arizona, with about the same population as Wyoming, has 4,200, three and one-fourth times as many offenders as Wyoming.

“Geographical comparison is equally striking. Wyoming is larger than Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and the District of Columbia. While these communities had in 1890, 23,000 prisoners, Wyoming had only 74. Wyoming is larger than Maine, Pennsylvania and Maryland put together, yet while these old, well-settled states had 7,000 criminals, all that great region had but one-hundredth part as many. Even little Delaware had nearly double the number of criminals that Wyoming had, and little Rhode Island, about one-ninetieth the size of Wyoming, had over seven times as many. Massachusetts had seventy times as many; New York, 1,400 times as many.”

The few scalawags who live by plundering their neighbors are generally confined to the villages and towns where they can dispose of their ill-gotten gains. Considering the fact that the hundreds of thousands of cattle running on our plains and mountain sides are rarely seen by their owners, or herders, more than once a year, at the general round-up, when the calves are branded with the character or letter worn by their mother, the small loss from theft is not only remarkable, but a high testimonial to the good character of our people.

The live stock industry of Wyoming has been the leading pursuit for more than a double decade of years, and the stockmen have dominated the political and financial policy of the territory from its establishment in 1868 down to 1892. The Legislature has always been largely made up of live stock owners or local representatives of Eastern and foreign cattle syndicates, and until the last session of that body, in January, 1893, the laws have been framed to suit the manipulators of the stock interest. In 1872 the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association organized, the membership comprising most of the leading stock growers of the commonwealth and many citizens from the adjoining territories. This body was a strong, centralized power, and for years virtually shaped the territorial policy and socially controlled throughout the realm. Legislative enactments first assumed form in the councils of the Executive Committee of the Association, and through its social prestige were popularized with the masses, even before adoption as laws. Thus, through the agency of the Stock Association and the stockmen in the several legislatures, the stock-growing industry was in full command of the law-making department. Naturally they everywhere dominated. The people acquiesced because of the magnitude of the cattle interest.

About 1889 conditions began to change. The people became restless under existing policies and demanded a new deal in the interest of the masses. Settlements had formed along the valleys in the northern and central portions of the state, where water could be had for irrigation purposes, and comfortable country homes were already in existence, with the promise of many accessions in the near future and the making of prosperous and happy communities. The settlers by far outnumbered the cattlemen, and they, quite reasonably, thought they had some rights the cattlemen were bound to respect. More or less friction resulted, for which, in all human probability, some blame attaches to both parties. Notwithstanding this condition of affairs, the country continued prosperous in a fair degree, and new homes were being made along all the water courses. This was the situation up to the time of the invasion, the description of which appears in succeeding chapters.

For the better understanding of the general reader, it is perhaps advisable to explain more in detail the difference between the conditions surrounding the range cattle business in its early existence and those prevailing during the period immediately preceding and leading up to the time of the invasion. In the early days the country was open from Montana to Texas; the plains and foothills were well set in grass; the streams generally were partially or fully lined with brush and the cattle roamed at will, finding abundant food everywhere. When a blizzard from the north prevailed the animals headed south and walked until the storm ceased, sometimes going more than a hundred miles without stopping. When the storm was over the tired cattle laid down to rest. A few hours later, disturbed by the pangs of hunger, they rose, turned their heads toward their home range and quietly grazed on their way north. Did not a second blizzard interpose and drive them farther south, the warm days of spring would find most of the herd on its accustomed feeding grounds. Did the winter prove severe and storm follow storm in rapid succession, the cattle would be found hundreds of miles from their home range at the spring round-up, whence they would be sent back by the cowboys. Instances are of record where Wyoming cattle drifted during the winter three hundred miles, to the Arkansas River. The general round-up system in vogue all over the range country made the return of drifted cattle almost a certainty. Thus, the losses were merely nominal, and the herds were in good condition each spring.

During the latter period under review material changes had come about. The luxuriant growth of grass was found only in small areas; the brush along the streams was largely destroyed, so that browsing, that in the early days saved the lives of thousands of cattle, was no longer a resource; the homeseeker had squatted along the rich valleys, and long lines of wire fences obstructed the free movement of cattle before the storm; the railroad lands had been sold and largely fenced, thus more effectually hemming in the storm-pushed animals. A striking peculiarity of the range-raised cattle is that if you destroy the perfect liberty of action they at once become dependent--lose their will power and rustling qualities. Illustrative of this numerous instances could be cited where range cattle, drifting before a storm, came upon a fence that they could not pass through and in utter helplessness walked back and forth along the fence until they fell exhausted, one upon another, and died by the hundred.

With their ranges restricted and fence obstructions on all sides, it became evident to cattle owners that the open range business must soon be reduced to a matter of history, or the settlements in the country be discouraged and the obstructions removed. The paramount question was: “Which of these conditions shall be permitted to materialize?”

Stockmen complained bitterly of the failure of the courts to convict persons indicted or arrested for the theft of cattle and made this their rallying cry. There was a very potent reason for whatever truth these allegations contained.

Up to 1884 cowboys were chosen with an eye to their expertness in the use of the rope and branding iron. In addition to their regular monthly wages it was quite common for herd owners to pay the boys from $2.50 to $5 per head for all the “mavericks” they could put the company’s brand on, and “rustling for mavericks” in the spring was in order all over the range country. It is currently reported that one cattleman, now high in political preferment, raised the price to $7.50 per head, and in consequence made what newspaper men call a “scoop” on his brethren, who tarried behind in the $5 list.

This practice taught the cowboy to look upon the unbranded, motherless calf as common practice or public property, to be gathered in by the lucky finder.

Spurred on by the secret practice of a few cattlemen in advancing the price of mavericks to cowboy rustlers, the stock association prepared the “Maverick bill,” which was passed by the legislature in 1884. This law made it a felony to brand a maverick, save under direction of an appointee of the stock association, and then with the letter M, as the property of the state, to be sold each April in advance of their gathering, to the highest bidder for cash, certified checks being required to accompany the bids for the estimated amount of the purchase. The money went to the state and was used in paying the expenses of the cattle round-up and inspection. The law was declared unconstitutional by many of the leading lawyers, and deemed to be in the interest of corporations with large holdings.

It was directly contrary to the education previously given the cowboys, and juries made up in whole or in part of old-timers naturally hesitated in the matter of declaring a man a thief for doing what the law-makers themselves had taught the people to do. Hence, there was some trouble in convicting men for appropriating mavericks, but when branded cattle were stolen and proofs made, convictions followed.