and its immediate occupancy by the dominant race in
ranching, stimulated cattle prices far beyond what was justified by
the laws of supply and demand. The boom in live stock in the Southwest
which began in the early '80's stands alone in the market variations
of the last half-century. And as if to rebuke the folly of man and
remind him that he is but grass, Nature frowned with two successive
severe winters, humbling the kings and princes of the range.

Up to and including the winter of 1883-84 the loss among range cattle
was trifling. The country was new and open, and when the stock could
drift freely in advance of storms, their instincts carried them to the
sheltering coulees, cut banks, and broken country until the blizzard
had passed. Since our firm began maturing beeves ten years before, the
losses attributable to winter were never noticed, nor did they in the
least affect our profits. On my ranches in Texas the primitive law
of survival of the fittest prevailed, the winter-kill falling sorest
among the weak and aging cows. My personal loss was always heavier
than that of the firm, owing to my holdings being mixed stock, and due
to the fact that an animal in the South never took on tallow enough
to assist materially in resisting a winter. The cattle of the North
always had the flesh to withstand the rigors of the wintry season,
dry, cold, zero weather being preferable to rain, sleet, and the
northers that swept across the plains of Texas. The range of the new
company was intermediate between the extremes of north and south, and
as we handled all steer cattle, no one entertained any fear from the
climate.

I passed a comparatively idle winter at my home on the Clear Fork.
Weekly reports reached me from the new ranch, several of which caused
uneasiness, as our fences were several times cut on the southwest, and
a prairie fire, the work of an incendiary, broke out at midnight on
our range. Happily the wind fell, and by daybreak the smoke arose
in columns, summoning every man on the ranch, and the fire was soon
brought under control. As a precaution to such a possibility we had
burned fire-guards entirely around the range by plowing furrows one
hundred feet apart and burning out the middle. Taking advantage of
creeks and watercourses, natural boundaries that a prairie fire could
hardly jump, we had cut and quartered the pasture with fire-guards in
such a manner that, unless there was a concerted action on the part of