OCR Text |
Show UTAH SHEEPAND WOOL The year liM was a hard and trying one on the rsnge floekmasler. Winter tosses In eoin sections were seveie, nnd sheep In general came up on th. spring tause In poor condition The lamb crop wns fair, being perhaps a little lit-tle bettet than the previous year. The price of wool was higher un an average, but yot did not reach th. expectations of the growers', while sheep sheared leas than tn 1M1 During the aprlng of HM, a'mepman realised that they were gn'ng to have sorlous times during the sum-n sum-n er sasson. The long drought that prevailed In this suction tor many years had reduced materially, tho feed on tho ranges Irrigators had become very much exasperated and prejudiced against sheep, claiming they were the caute of the shortage In witer, through deatroylng the undergrowth on water-aheds water-aheds aai In forcsta, thus causing the flood season to come much earlier, resulting re-sulting ln a scarcity of water during the Irrigation season New forest le-serves le-serves had been created and the graz-Irg graz-Irg of sheep had been prohibits 1 oi re-structed re-structed thereon Idaho had passed bos. tile legislation toward sheep owned In that State and had barred Utah sheep by pretended sanitary me-Hsures The lutu.es of western Wjomlng were grcnil) overstocked. For the sheep owners there was but one wuy out of this dilemma, and that was to ship all the sheep poealble to leading live-stock markets The large corn crop In the East and the piospects for heav de-lnands de-lnands for feeders buo)ed up tho hopes of the wool-growers. Some growers became be-came discouraged nnd concluded to close out their entire holdings, while others cut down ns close ns possible. The consequenco was that sheep wile thrown wildly on the market, and the railroads ware so overcome with orders for cars that they were entirely unable tu move the stock when des'red Sheep were held around loading places for weeks, with little feed, and when placed on the market were poor, and wero sold at ruinous prices These owncrn who were fortunate enough to obtain cars, and thereby reach the market early with fat stock, realized good prliea while those who went on the market lute, were met with disastrous figures Prices received for lambs were loner than ever known before That Is, In brief, the history of the sheep and wool Industry ln Utah for 1902 The new )tar opens up with Improved prospects The reduction of flocks tho past )car haa left a better class of sheep, as not only were tho fat ones shipped, but nearly all Mocks have been culiel of old and poor sheep Tho outlook out-look for higher prices for wool the coming com-ing srnson. Is excellent. Old stocks ot wool, both domestic and foreign, which for jnirs had been hanging over the market, have been practically worked off Consumers will be obliged to rely more largely than for man) )enrs upon the coming clip In suppl)iug their needs Most lines of woolen goods havo been taken freely at advanced prices, nnd In recent mouths wools has gradually gradu-ally ndvanecd. The range problem Is )et a serious one. While sheep were reduced In numbers num-bers there are still nltogether too many In the country tor the .limited summer ranges The order of reduction from 200 000 to 125 000 sheep In the Ulntnh forest reserve, re-serve, unless modified, will create a great and unnecessary hardship upon the wool-growers this enr. A large number of tlockmnslers will be driven to desperation In trlng to obtain summer sum-mer pasturage, and another panic on the llve-stoek markets nnd further ruinous ruin-ous prices will be the result, That the sheepmen will protest against this reduction re-duction there Is no doubt, und errorts will be mude to have the forest reserves In Utah put under a resident superintendent, superin-tendent, one who Is not eireludlced against the wool Industry. The claim that sheep destroy forests In a myth. A leading Government expert ex-pert who wns out In this section admits this In traveling over a private sheep range last senson for one week, I could not discover one tree that was barked This range supported to the acre nearly three times the number of sheep that were allotted to the Uintah forest reserve re-serve last year, and sheep were grazed on It a longer period of time The statement that sheep cause the flood season to come earlier Is also a fallacy. This can easily lie shown by the streams that are located In Salt Lake valley. City creek Is a protected stream, no sheep or live stock bcltur allowed al-lowed to graze on Its watersheds; while Little Cottonwood and lllg Cottonwood ere unprotected It Is well known that the waters In City creek rise earlier In th. reason than the Cottonwoods, and Co down earlier. This always has been the condition, and still Is. If th) theories of the opponents ot sheep were) correct, these streams should change lelatlve positions The opponents of the sheep are mistaken, us shown by tho plain facts, which upset their theories. There Is no doubt on the part of well Informed persons as to the cause of thu shortage of water in Utah The director direc-tor of the weather bureau states In his report that the last sixteen years has been the driest period known In t'tih since Its settlement, and that tho last three yenrs has been the worst section of that period Lack of precipitation la the couw of low watar, and the sheep have no more to do with It than has the man In the moon. With the ranges adjusted nnd tho forest reserves Intelligently handled, huwever, there Is no reason why wool-growing wool-growing should not continue to be one of the leading Industries of this anl adjoining ad-joining States. R II CALLISTnil. Secretary Utah Wool-Growers' Association. |