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eful of human enterprise and human happiness。 It was much like the spawning rush of the salmon from the sea。 Many perish。 A few survive。 Certainly there never was more cruel injustice done than that to the sober…minded Eastern farmers； some of them young men in search of cheaper homes； who sold out all they had in the East and went out to the dry country to farm under the ditch； or to take up that still more hazardous occupationsuccessful sometimes； though always hard and always riskydry farming on the benches which cannot be reached with irrigating waters。
Strangely changed was all the face of the cattle range by these successive and startling innovations。 The smoke of many little homes rose now； scattered over all that tremendous country from the Rockies to the edge of the short grass country； from Texas to the Canadian line。 The cattle were not banished from the range； for each little farmer would probably have a few cows of his own； and in some fashion the great cowmen were managing to get in fee tracts of land sufficient for their purposes。 There were land leases of all sorts which enabled the thrifty Westerner who knew the inside and out of local politics to pick up permanently considerable tracts of land。 Some of these ranches held together as late as 1916； indeed； there are some such oldtime holdings still existent in the West； although far more rare than formerly was the case。
Under all these conditions the price of land went up steadily。 Land was taken eagerly which would have been refused with contempt a decade earlier。 The parings and scraps and crumbs of the Old West now were fought for avidly。
The need of capital became more and more important in many of the great land operations。 Even the government reclamation enterprises could not open lands to the settler on anything like the old homestead basis。 The water right cost moneysometimes twenty…five or thirty dollars an acre； in some of the private reclamation enterprises； fifty dollars an acre； or even more。 Very frequently when the Eastern farmer came out to settle on such a tract and to meet the hard； new； and expensive conditions of life in the semi…arid regions he found that he could not pay out on the land。 Perhaps he brought two or three thousand dollars with him。 It usually was the industrial mistake of the land…boomer to take from this intending settler practically all of his capital at the start。 Naturally； when the new farmers were starved out and in one way or another had made other plans； the country itself went to pieces。 That part of it was wisest which did not kill the goose of the golden egg。 But be these things as they may be and as they were； the whole readjustment in agricultural values over the once measureless and valueless cow country was a stupendous and staggering thing。
Now appeared yet another agency of change。 The high dry lands of many of the Rocky Mountain States had long been regarded covetously by an industry even more cordially disliked by the cattleman than the industry of farming。 The sheepman began to raise his head and to plan certain things for himself in turn。 Once the herder of sheep was a meek and lowly man； content to slink away when ordered。 The writer himself in the dry Southwest once knew a flock of six thousand sheep to be rounded up and killed by the cattlemen of a range into which they had intruded。 The herders went with the sheep。 All over the range the feud between the sheepmen and the cowmen was bitter and implacable。 The issues in those quarrels rarely got into the courts but were fought out on the ground。 The old Wyoming deadline of the cowmen against intruding bands of Green River sheep made a considerable amount of history which was never recorded。
The sheepmen at length began to succeed in their plans。 Themselves not paying many taxes； not supporting the civilization of the country； not building the schools or roads or bridges； they none the less claimed the earth and the fullness thereof。
After the establishment of the great forest reserves； the sheepmen coveted the range thus included。 It has been the governmental policy to sell range privileges in the forest reserves for sheep； on a per capita basis。 Like privileges have been extended to cattlemen in certain of the reserves。 Always the contact and the contest between the two industries of sheep and cows have remained。 Of course the issue even in this ancient contest is foregoneas the cowman has had to raise his cows under fence； so ultimately must the sheepman also buy his range in fee and raise his product under fence。
The wandering bands of sheep belong nowhere。 They ruin a country。 It is a pathetic spectacle to see parts of the Old West in which sheep steadily have been ranged。 They utterly destroy all the game； they even drive the fish out of the streams and cut the grasses and weeds down to the surface of the earth。 The denuded soil crumbles under their countless hoofs； becomes dust； and blows away。 They leave a waste； a desert； an abomination。
There were yet other phases of change which followed hard upon the heels of our soldiers after they had completed their task of subjugating the tribes of the buffalo Indians。 After the homesteads had been proved up in some of the Northwestern States； such as Montana and the Dakotas； large bodies of land were acquired by certain capitalistic farmers。 All this new land had been proved to be exceedingly prolific of wheat； the great new…land crop。 The farmers of the Northwest had not yet learned that no country long can thrive which depends upon a single crop。 But the once familiar figures of the bonanza farms of the Northwestthe pictures of their long lines of reapers or selfbinders； twenty； thirty； forty； or fifty machines； one after the other； advancing through the golden grainthe pictures of their innumerable stacks of wheatthe figures of the vast mileage of their fencingthe yet more stupendous figures of the outlay required to operate these farms； and the splendid totals of the receipts from such operationsthese at one time were familiar and proudly presented features of boom advertising in the upper portions of our black land belt； which day just at the eastern edge of the old Plains。
There was to be repeated in this country something of the history of California。 In the great valleys； such as the San Joaquin； the first interests were pastoral； and the cowmen found a vast realm which seemed to be theirs forever。 There came to them； however； the bonanza wheat farmers； who flourished there about 1875 and through the next decade。 Their highly specialized industry boasted that it could bake a loaf of bread out of a wheat field between the hours of sunrise and sunset。 The outlay in stock and machinery on some of these bonanza ranches ran into enormous figures。 But here； as in all new wheat countries； the productive power of the soil soon began to decrease。 Little by little the number of bushels per acre lessened； until the bonanza farmer found himself with not half the product to sell which he had owned the first few years of his operations。 In one California town at one time a bonanza farmer came in and covered three city blocks with farm machinery which he had turned over to the bank owning