The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916 Page: 377
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History of the Cattle Industry in the Southwest
thus obtained, and left my cattle to. roam wherever they pleased;
and my whole herd continued, despite my purchaser's efforts, to
roam as much on this very land as they did whilst I owned it."o
The farmers felt that the fencing laws worked great hardship
on them. They claimed that the fences had cost them more than
all the stock were worth.1" This was at the time when the cattle
industry was at its height, and decline soon followed. Cattle had
been brought from Texas, Utah, and in 1860 from Oregon, mainly
for slaughter. An estimate places the number of cattle in Cali-
fornia in 1862 at 3,000,000.12 At this date, however, we find
that the cattle-raisers were lamenting that the number of perma-
nent settlers was increasing to the detriment of their industry.
So much land had been fenced for grain that the cattle were
forced to live on such poor pastures that the loss by starvation
was considerable. Formerly the cattle had changed pasture with
the seasons. For example, during the rainy season they grazed
on hills and upland; when the rains were over they came into the
valleys. In this way the grasses were not killed out.13 The cow-
men did not usually see that they were to blame for overstocking
the land and thereby ruining their own industry. To be sure, it
was limited by the increase of permanent settlers, but if no set-
tlers had come it is probable that the grasses would have been
killed. These grasses are annual and must come each year from
the seeds scattered the preceding year. If no seeds are permitted
to ripen, the land becomes barren, which actually occurred in
certain districts during the early sixties.1'
While the permanent settler caused the open range industry
to decrease, he opened some new fields for the cattle industry.
Fenced ranches of small dimensions,-containing a few hundred
or a thousand acres,-were utilized for dairy purposes. As early
as 1857 we find that a 480-acre ranch produced 3000 pounds
10"Report of the Fair of 1861," in Transactions of California Agricul-
tural Society, 1861, p. 153.
"Flint, Wilson, The Fence Question in Transactions of California Agri-
cultural Society, 1863, p. 150.
"Census Report for 1880, III, 1030.
18Kellogg, A., "Trees and Shrubbery of the State," in Transactions of
the California Agricultural Society, 1864, pp. 146-148.
"Perkins, Jas. E., "Sheep Husbandry in California," in Transactions
of the California Agricultural Society, 1863, p. 139.377
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916, periodical, 1916; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101067/m1/404/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.