164 RANGELANDS12(3), June 1990

The Woodsman's Designs to Extinguish the Western Cattle- man and His Grass

Walter M. Koilmorgen

Considerthe remarkable similaritiesbetween the fates the RockyMountains. Withthis changing vision the Amer- of the American Indian and the western cattleman. At a ican cattleman found himself in retreat. distancethe Indian was extolled as a noble savage,a fine Historic pronouncementson the Plains, as well as set- expression of naturalman. Increasing proximity and con- tlementpolicies, give some importantclues regardingthe flictsover territory soon found him a brutal savage,deny- fate ofthe area. Descriptiveterms darkened the prospects ing the interlopers a share of their rightful inheritance. ofthe Plains, suchas "irredeemablesterility," "steppes of Conflicts increased and with the aid of mortal diseases, Tartary and Asia," "a land where no one permanently superior numbers, and arms, he was either destroyed or abides," "a land of restless and ferocious hordesof sav- expelledto smaller and smallerrefuges, usually areasthat ages," and the "Great American Desert." Lieut. ZebuIon promised nothing to the intruder. Finally he became an Montgomery Pike was the first American to enter the occupant on restricted reservations, his way of life des- Southwest, in 1806,and in his observationswe find all the troyed, and living in large measure on gratuitiessupplied ingredientsof adesolate waste. Thearea "may becomeas by his conquerors. celebrated as the sandydeserts of Africa, . . . not a speck The cattleman'sfate did not reach this extreme, but he of vegetable matterexisted It would be a means of survived on restricted areas that promised little to the restrictingthe populationto some certain limitsand there- challenger, the woodsman. When the cattleman first by insure the permanency of the Union, . . . incapableof made his appearance on the western horizons, he was cultivation"; white settlements must be halted near the hailedas an innovativeentrepreneur who would makethe borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, leaving the westerngrasslands the grazing landsand pastures of the desert to "wandering and uncivilized aborigines of the nation.With cattle and sheep hewould harvest the bounty country," Major Stephen H. Long, who came in 1819, of natureand contributeto the economy. By supplanting likewisecondemned the areaas a waste land and coined the subsistenceIndian hunters, he would pacify an area the term "GreatAmerican Desert." This negative term was knownfor conflicts with the natives. Then came increased now fixed for several decades and appeared in many proximity with anotherspecies of land user, the man with publications,including geographytexts. the plow, largely a woodsman. The imaginative Washington Irving also a great The woodsman's purpose was to turn the grasses threat in the largelyempty areas. They would be gather- upsidedown and cultivatethe land in small farm units. He ing places of displaced Indians, as well as lawless ele- brought fences and numerous homesteads that des- ments ejected by the Spanish and Americansettlements, poiled the wide open country. Conflict arose, often to the forming a marginal race of predators on horses who point of gunfire; space could not accommodate both would plunder the settlements. This negative image lin- intruders.The woodsmen not onlyoutnumbered the cat- gered in the minds of woodsmen, who even transferred tlemen, but were also tied more closely to Washington lawlessness to cattlemen. and legislators; so the conflict took on serious legal Several basic dates and developments reveal much aspects. about the changing image of the desert Plains area. In 1541 Coronado penetrated the Plains to central Kansas The Specter of the Great American Desert and later recorded "after havingjourneyed across these It is noteworthythat the cattleman's empire evolved in deserts seventy-seven days, I arrived atthe provincethey the Great American Desertof the Plains, a desertwhich call Quivira." When Jefferson,two and a half centuries never really existed in modern terms. To the woodsman later, purchased the Louisiana Territory, largelyto solve its treeless naturewas enoughto condemnit asagricultu- the Mississippi navigation problem, he found the boun- ral land. Earlyin theAmerican history it began beyond the dary "involvedin some obscurity"and settlements "separ- wide Missouri andextended tothe mountains and beyond. ated from each other by immense and tracklessdeserts." With westwardexpansion it was pushed to about central By the 1 830s thegovernment decided to solvethe eastern Kansas, or the 20-inch rainfall line. Then came the - Indian problem by theIndian RemovalAct which assigned makers and the weather modifiers who erased it east of them to the desert Plains so long as the grass grows. Thus, up to that date the Plains held no attraction for The author is professor emeritus,Department of Geography,University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1946-77. Past president,Association of AmericanGeog- settlers or cattlemen because there was no contest for raphers. space. After the 1820's and '30's, things began to stir in the RANGELANDS12(3), June 1990 165

Plains area. The Santa Fe and Oregon trails were estab- scores of investigators in pure meteorology who were lished and the Mormons and gold seekers began their seeking to solve the mysteries of the air and weather. treckswestward. New Englanders moved toeastern Kan- Most of them were also tied to prominent government sas inthe 1950'sto hold thearea against slavery, although offices and so commanded public attention,especially in local Indian tribes had not ceded the lands. Encroach- the West where settlers were sought. There landscape ment began soon along a wider front. meteorologywas fatal, directly, or indirectly, to the large ranchers. A New Meteorology Consider some of the names of the advocates of the The fate of the western cattleman cannot be under- new meteorology:George P. Marsh, F.G. Hough,Natha- niel and B.E. Fernow. These men all for stoodwithout recognizing thenew dimensions in thefield Egleston, qualified of which occurred the nineteenth Who's Who in America. The last three played prominent meteorology during roles in the office of Commissioner of and century. Up to this time weather and were of interestto concernedwith the used its publications to promote the -rainfall syn- primary physicians quality close It of air with relation to disease. Early in the century the drome, and, indirectly, settlements. was Marsh, Generalof the U.S. instructed the scores however, who providedthe basicbible ofthese advocates Surgeon Army his Man and of to weatherdata for the in Nature, or, PhysicalGeography as Modi- military outposts gathersample fied Human first in but fol- purpose of furthering the field of medical geography. by Action, published 1864, Several were to estab- lowed by moreprintings and new editions. In his service important publications prepared as in Marsh noted the ruins of civili- lish the disease-weather connection. Rather suddenly diplomat Italy, many zation the Mediterranean the 1840's, this fell into thehands ofJames bordering lands. He, as well as during activity the sourceshe cites, attributedtheir decline Pollard Espy, who was interested in the anatomy of many largely storms and the of the air. His famous The Philo- to deforestationand overgrazing. Apparently precipita- physics tion had also been reduced and the tree-rainfall sophy of Storms, published in 1841, made him world syn- renowned for his work on the role of moisturein drome is strongly implied. energiz- Marsh's work FranklinB. a ing air movements. He gave insight into the adiabatic strongly impressed Hough, of and air and its moisturehold- trained physician, statistician,and conservationist. As a process heating cooling member of the American Association for the Advance- ing capacity.He also becamethe first American to cham- ment ofScience, he a beforethat pion weather prognostication with the use of weather presented paper organ- zation in 1872which led to a memorialto Congress plead- maps. He was preceded in this work by William C. Red- of field, who firstnoted the natureof whirlwinds and storms. ing the case and their close relationship to climate and creat- After Espy, WilliamFerrel gainedalmost instant immortal- .Congress responded by a Division of in the Commission of ity by formulating Ferrel's Law. Elisas Loomis gained ing Agricul- ture office underthe of Mr. with fame by preparingthe first synoptic weathercharts dur- auspices Hough. There, limited funds, he a in which more ing the1830's. The fieldof meteorologywas fast maturing prepared long report and weather was established in the than 100 pages are devoted to "Connection Between forecasting officially Climate."This same U.S. of early in the 1890's. and topic was then labored in Department Agriculture the Division for the rest of the The above or weather men subsequent reports of pioneer meteorologists Nathaniel no threat to the cattleman of the West, but as fate century by Egleston and B.E. Fernow. Numer- posed ous similar articles also in the annual and would have it, another set of prominent professionals appeared spe- cial reportsof the Commissionerof General Land came forth afterthe Civil War propoundinga new set of Office, that the deserts and U.S. Geological Survey, and even in reportsof the Smith- meteorologicalconcepts challenged sonian Institution. of the Westand so placed large cattlegrazing intotal The new focused To the above apostles of we should add operations jeopardy. meteorology the name of a farmer on the landscape and only indirectly on the conditions Sterling Morton, pioneer and of the airs. The found who became Secretaryof Agriculture in Washingtonand processes meteorology impor- as of the tant enhancers in , the also served President AmericanForestry Asso- precipitation plow, managed ciation. His initiative us Arbor now electricity, and stored water. Thesecould all be supplied gave Day, recognized in countries. In a in 1887 he envisioned by man, making him an important rainmaker. Westerners many speech were with these and saw "gigantic groves andtowering forestsof wavingtrees" on especiallydelighted prospects thewestern and So firmwas the beliefthat unlimited homesteads in the West, including the grass- prairies plains. lands of the cattleman. trees would enhance precipitation that Senator Hitch- cock of Nebraska introduced a bill in 1872 that became It should be remembered that many of the new rain- makers were in the arts and in the Timber Culture Act of 1873. It providedfor 160 acres prominent professionals on the condition that 40 acres of trees be government, not secretive operators promising to end free, planted. The bill was Halde- droughts with smellingsalts, powers, and electricalgad- strongly supported by Congressman man of who asserted "To rain it is getry.These professionals werefar betterknown thanthe Pennsylvania produce literally true that a forest is as good as a mountain."The 'See WalterKoilmorgen and Johanna Koilmorgen "Landscape Meteorology in few the Plains Area," Annals, AAG,vol. 61, Dec. 1973, pp. 424-41. Act produced much chicanery, trees, and no precipi- tation. RANGELANDS12(3), June 1990

In such western states as Kansas and Nebraska, the electricity,and with moretrees increased electricalforces cattlemen were also far outnumbered by a complex of would influencethe local masses of vapor." At any rate, farmers, real estate agencies, money sharks, farm agen- he believed that precipitationhad decreased wherewoods cies, governmentagencies, and also railroad promotors. were destroyed. Land promoting agencies were established by state Other speculators noted that railroad and telegraph governments, but equally important were academies of lines were spreadingall over the frontier and these were science and agriculturaland horticulturalsocieties. These goodconductors and transmitters ofelectricity. Obviously latter groups hailedthe new meterologyand sawthe day lightning and thunderbolts had something to do with when petty yeomen would prevail to the Rockies and storms and so a greatercharge of electricity flowing over beyond. railsand wires seemed to assure morerain. H.R. Hilton of The Plow Topeka presented a morecomplex theory. He found that the and resultant in enhanced In the 1860's the tree was with another plow changes vegetation supplemented therainmaking potential ofupper moisture-bearing . powerfultool to erase the desertand thegrasslands. This surface was with little two Unplowed hard, hot, vegetation, important discovery must be credited to important andshed much ofthe precipitation.With increased soak- Nebraskans, namely, Samuel Aughey and C.D. Wilber. in came a thick cover of not in vegetation onlytransmitting Aughey joined the staff of the Universityof Nebrasla more moistureto the clouds, but also the insu- the hisclose friend and reducing early 1870's; collaborator,Wilber, lating blanketof hot air at the surface. Increased moisture was a promoter and real estate operator but also an in the surfaceair improved"electric courtesies"between and writer. observation and imaginative gifted Aughey, by surfaceand upper air, leadingto more precipitation. experimentation,found that plowed ground absorbed about eight timesas much moistureas unplowed ground Enhancing Atmospheric Moisture and Rain and this moisture not only sustained crops, but also fed Even while the of culturewere and rivers and the Hence more rain- prophets pluvial erasing springs even clouds. the desert, even in iso- fall. These results Wilberto coin the grasslands, irrigation developed apparent prompted lated places of the West. Suchprojects were underway in popular phrase "Rain Follows the Plow." This electric Californiaand Utah came to in which soon echoed from coast to did by mid-century, discovery, coast, the 1870's, and to the Arkansas Valley in Kansas in the not well for cattlemen in the augur grasslands. Why per- 1880's. An ambitious but largely futile irrigation project mit them to appropriate large tracts of grasslands when was initiated in the Arkansas in the 1880's. cultivators tree Valley Shortly and planterscould modify the elements? oneof theobservers that theseworks weremov- The of deteriorated with the reported reputation grasslands ing the rainbeltwestward, and even withsmall projects in advance of rainmakingideas. Even beforethe Civil War it western Kansas "there has never been of was discovered that created an almost any scarcity grasslands impen- rainfall." Even John Wesley Powell, the most noted name etrable sod—a questionableconcept. Vivid expressions associated with the drierwest, and a of werecoined to describethis such promoter irriga- situation, as, "vegetable tion, asserted that increased irrigation, as well as water canvas," as a "asphalt covering,""impervious cow-boy's storage, would increasethehumidity of theairand so the as a and "brick-like surface." slicker," "compact rock," precipitation.The result would be less and less reliance Hence rainfall, insteadof nourishing localvegetation, ran on artificial off in to the sea. The could serve as the watering. gutters plow A Mr. Hay developed the theory of moistureenhance- redeemer of this wasteland. Wilber in his uninhi- largely ment of the sky a step further. Not only did he approveof bited enthusiasm even dared to assert that all deserts are expandedirrigation works, butthe harvestingof much of only "temporary conditions of the earth's surface" and the runoff with thousandsof small artificial lakes. These "can by the industry and skill of man, be changed into would send columns of moisture into the air and fertileand fields." on theother trigger productive Indians, hand, necessary showers. "have been co-workers"with forces that maintain always Irrigation projects were at first modest because the desertconditions. Cattlemen, whom Wilberdisliked lust- would the But were as bad as the Indians. meteorology modify larger landscape. ily, periodic droughts appeared, created havoc here and Electrical Influences there,and then came theclassic drought of the late 1880's and early 1890's, which brought about a major abandon- was moreof a in the late 1800sthan Electricity mystery ment of newlysettled lands. The ranks of the rainmakers and to numerous to a role now, observersit seemed play were seriously depleted but the ranks of proponentsof in Joe S. who served as the Com- precipitation. Wilson, irrigation greatly augmented. Private and state projects missionerof the General Land Office in the 1860's, was failed, and so forces in the idea that usually powerful developed impressedby Marsh's report and promotedthe Westdemanding federal programs. The Reclamation Act the grasslands of the West could be salvaged for the of 1902 followed. cultivator. He other that tree surmised, among things, Of interesthere are the promises that broughtthis Act planting in the Westwould expediteelectrical forces. He into existence.No were viewed out that "a is a of longer irrigation projects pointed growing tree good conductor as islands in the desert, but as empiresof small, happy RANGELANDS12(3), June 1990 167 settlers. Little attention was paid to available water and omies in the country. In the absence of these subsidies, technology, and so estimates of irrigable lands ranged periods of hungerand starvation would be experienced, from 70 million to 600 million acres. All these figures just as in marginalfarming landsin Africa andelsewhere. meantmajor intrusions into thedomain of the cattleman if In these foreign lands, transfer of wealth is usually pre- we consider the appropriation of streams. Only in the cluded because of general poverty. most ruggedareas could he survive, and onlyif he could find water. Land AlIenatIon Laws Cost of projectswas also dismissed as nearly irrelevent, It should be clear by now that the proposalsand pro- mostly up to $10 per acre and $25 at most. Such small grams of the rainmakers, the irrigationists, and dry investments would soon provide land for millions of farmers, plus the deep bias against large land holdings small, happyfarmers whose land would be valuedat $500 and cattlemen,did not permitthe development of rational to $1,000 per acre. How could Congress deny such a land alienation laws. As the late Walter Prescott Webb bonanza? pointedout years ago: "There has never been written into Like the rainmakers, the irrigators harvested bitter Federal statutesa single law governing lands in the arid fruits. Costs were much higher than expected, most regionsthat meets the needs of the stock farmer or the settlersfound difficultyin finding suitablecrops, failedto ranchman." Important land alienation laws that were make repayments, and bankruptcy was common. Large designed mainly to multiply family-farm operationsand operators becamecommon on subsidizedprojects; migrant thus frustrated the stockmen numbered seven. These workers living under deplorableconditions did much of were, briefly: the work. In time, the entire West became dependent on 1) The Preemption Act of 1841,permitting purchase Easternsubsidies to finance larger and largerwater pro- of up to 160 acres at $1.25 per acre. jects. The extent to which cattlemen survived is the mea- 2) The Homestead Act of 1862, providing 160 acres sure ofthe failure ofthe Reclamation Act. At most, federal free, other than filing fees. irrigation projects amount to about 10 million acres, 3) The Timber Culture Act of 1873, providing 160 nearly all of them subsidized. acresfree, other than filing fees, and requiringthat part The Promise of Dry Farming of the holding be planted to trees. The Desert Land Act of 1877, While federal irrigation went forward from 4) allowing purchase projects of up to 640 acres at $1.25 per acre, and for 1902, it wassoon realized that water for irrigation was not calling available to areas some irrigation developments. large with terrain suitable for farming. The Kinkaid Act of Atthat timecertain cultivators the 5) 1904, essentially an enlarged discerned rudimentsof Homestead entries to 640 what becameknown as At first this was a Act, allowing up acres; ap- dry farming. plied only to the drier portion of western Nebraska, simple program of deep plowing, allowing good soak-in, but largelySandhills. fallowing was combinedwith it in places. But fallow- The did not in 6) Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909, permitting ing becomewidespread thePlains areauntil the entries to 320 acres. 1930's when subsidies. up encouragedby government Like The Homestead Act of other it from 7) Stock-Raising 1916, per- panaceas, passed through stages hyperbole entries to 640 acres. to a complex systemof land treatment. mitting up Althoughthese lawsdo show a to Beginningin 1907,a seriesof Dry Farming Congresses tendency enlargement, noneof them met the needs or expectationsof the stock- promisedto redeem nearly all the grasslands and much of the man, and, in many cases, not even of the family farmer. desertarea of theWest from the cattleman. Practically should all could be Texas, it be pointed out, did not cede its public crops produced by dry farming, including landswhen it becamea state and so did not share these corn, fruits, and garden products. Production would limitations. and even exceedthat of equal the cornbelt because the Notice that the land alienation laws deal with units of cornbelt hadtoo much in some really rain, certainly years. 160 acres and thereof to 640 acres. In the In fact, would make the western half of the multiples up dry farming western areas it takesfrom 20 to 40 acres to one United Statesthe moreproductive area ofthe Union. J.A. support cow-unit. Three hundred and twenty acres would there- Widtsoe, a champion of the new method, claimed that a fore support 16 cows under the 20-acre limit, about 11 conservative estimate of the area of land potential dry cows under the 30-acre limit, and 8 under the 40-acre amounted to 600 million acres. this farming Obviously, limit. If we expand the unit to 640 acres, the cattleman left little space for the cattleman. could support twice that number of animal units, or 16 Dry farming became more time, and complex through cows underthe 40-acre per-cow ratio. Obviouslywe are its introduction in the Plains area was generally encour- here dealing with pure fantasy. All of the enlargement aged by agricultural support programs. It did not prove a It laws were made in response to widespread bankruptcies panacea. was extended much too far into marginal and cattlemen for areas where pJeas by legal provision to achieve crop failures becamemore and more com- viable units. A stockman commented on the mon. Both this and on Eastern ranching program irrigation rely Kin kaid Act in 1905 that this Act "was brought about by capital and are now amongthe subsidized econ- highest people who believed that there were yet fools enough to 168 RANGELANDS12(3), June 1990 populatethe country and abandon it." ChangIng Image of Grass In 1957 Walter Prescott Webb an article in published It is gratifying to know that the image of grasses has titled "The American Harper'sMagazine West, Perpetual changed radically from pioneer days. Our remaining Mirage."It provides an image that continuesto haunt. He native are now one of our to the prairie grasses judged greatest points eight mountainand intermountain statesas resources. They not only support myriadsof forms of life, the true and perpetual desert. Bordering it east and west stabilize soils rain and winds, heal wounds are areas against open large into which the desert expands and con- wheregrass has been exterminated man or nature, but tracts with some Hence desert by irregularity. conditions have given us some of our most productive soils forward and backward. The result is that the by pulsate addingorganic matter. Efforts to expand them or even to annual of and is broken and cycle reaping harvesting replant them are carried out with some urgency.Over a longer cycles of incomeprevail, to which the local econ- million acres of abandoned has been re-seeded is not attuned—so the reliance cropland omy on outside support to nativegrasses in thestate of Kansas alone. Our forsurvival. This can also be toother desert largest image applied block of tall grass prairie is now found in the non-arable margins, conspicuously in Africa. Famines as well as Flint Hills section of Oklahomaand Kansas. Some rescue from outside sources are the result. This pre- help serves of the original , for edification of the suggestsa nomadicform of life, for man and animals. In have been this public, already established and efforts are light we may well pay our respects to the Plains underway toexpand this In a measure our who followed program. large Indians, the buffalo, who followed the image of grass has come full cycle for the benefit of which followed the . grass, present and future generations.

Innovation, Creativity, with Only One Leg Merritt "Bud" Parks

In the days before the governmenthad decided it was but a devastated landscape. wise to encourage soil and rangeconservation, an indi- Harrison lived through the homestead era. His actions vidual in Oregon stood out as an exampleof vision and in the aftermath period appear astonishingly insightful, foresight in coping with thesevere problemsof the time. and his ideasleft an imprint ona tremendous area of land. He was John H. Harrison, whose intellect and sense of Harrison was believedto be a native of Arkansas, had humor impressed everyonehe met. The 35-yearportion studiedlaw, and had come west to bethe Indian Agent at of his life spent on the OregonDesert nearFort Rock left the Klamath Agency. It was said that he did not like the an indelible mark on the land as a prototype and pointed ethics and principles employed at the reservation and, the way to the improvedconservation methods of later believing he saw an opportunity at Fort Rock, resigned. years. Arriving in 1908, he purchaseda state-ownedschool During the period of 1914 to 1917, when it became section,Sec. 16, (T25S, R15E)three and ahalf miles north apparentthat their situation was almost hopeless, home- of the village of Fort Rock, Oregon, and homesteaded steadersstraggled out of the Fort Rock Valley and the additionalacres. He had a house andoutbuildings to form Oregon Desert. With nine and one half inches of annual a rather impressive compound. rainfall, it was not farming country. After the homesteaders left, grazingin the valley was up Their hardships seemed to produce resourceful people for grabs as therewas no entity with authority to control who were ableto find productivelives elsewhere. Manyof the abandoned areas. The remainingstockmen cut fen- the homesteaders, writing of the experiences later, ces in corners where cattle might get trappedaway from thought of it less asthe disaster which itwas, but ratheras water, all thewhile trying to control some tracts with good a time of some adventure. fences where forage could be saved for use later in the The land they left behind had taken a severe beating. season. This situation continued for nearly two decades Mercifully, somefields reverted to sagebrush; but others, and resulted in appallingovergrazing and wind erosion. exposed to wind erosion, wore down to hardpan and Harrison did not participate in this devil-take-the- mineral earth where nothing has grown forover 75 years. hindmost operation. Rather, he rented or paid taxes on a For the few peoplewho remained, the grim struggle for huge blocked areaof abandoned land to establishsome survival produced widespread uncontrolledgrazing which, sort of legitimacy. He then removed interior homestead over the years, was probably moredevastating than the fences and built good outside fences enclosing large plow. When the homesteaders left, many of their houses areas. These were referred to as the North pasture, the were later burned, leaving little to show for their efforts 10,000 acre pasture, etc. At times he owned substantial