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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1888)
G12 THE WEST SHORE. realization of this fact, and are taking steps to pat an end to inch an anomalous and discreditable state of affairs. Several creamery companies have been in corporated, for the purpose of engaging in this busi ness on an extensive scale. At Colfax a creamery and cold storage association has been organized by some of the most enterprising and prominent men of the city, and the new institution will be ready for busi ness by the first of March. The same has been done in Walla Walla, where the business men have organ ized a company for this purpose. In BAer City and LaGrande companies have been incorporated to man ufacture butter on a largo scale. It is a noticeable fact that the prime movers in these enterprises are leading business men of the various cities, and not farmers or stock men, and it would seem as though oor producers were yet unable to comprehend the ad vantages of converting their products into more mer chantable articles than they now da This lesson has been well learned by the eastern farmer, and our western husbandman will acquire it in time. PROPAOATINO HALF-BREED BUFFALOES. NOW that the American bison has been practically exterminated, and the immense plains over which ho roamed are furnishing sustenance to mil lion! of domestio cattle, the efforts of a few gentle men to preserve tho bost qualities of that animal by crossing with the domestic bovine are of peculiar in terest Boveral gentlemen have embarked in this business, the most prominent being S. L Bedson, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, and C. J. Jones, better known as " Buffalo Jones," at Garden City, Kansas. Last April Mr. Jones started with a party of sev en hunters to capture tho only herd remaining on the great plains of Texas, lie calculated that he would find about one hundred head near the forks of the Canadian river, but ho was sadly disappointed. There were scarcely two score, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the hunters succeeded in securing fif. teen old buffaloes and seven calves. These were care fully watched until tame animals could be brought from Garden City, to bo used as guides in driving them, on the same principle that trained elephants in India are utilized for the capture of their wild breth ren. Mr. Jonea shipped from his ranch thirty-two domesticated buffaloes, and upon arriving at the spot where tha wild ones were corralled, the latter were turned loose among the tame ones. They speedily fra ternized, and after a few days the journey to Garden City was begun. The combined herd was driven by cowboys and dogs, as the common Texas steer is, and the whole lot waa safely ranched on Mr. Jones' place The ranch is one of the finest grazing sections in Southwestern Kansas, covering fifteen hundred acret well wooded and watered, and with abundant ranges on every side. The two hundred head of cattle and sixty-one buffaloes on this ranch, in winter and sum mer, roam over the surrounding plains. Xhia ia where Mr. Jones and his colleagues, for he has or ganized a stock company for the breeding of his buf falo cattle, intend to go into an enterprise that will eventually revolutionize the breeding of range cattle The domestic cow crosses with the buffalo bull admirl ably and the product is a large, hardy and superb meat giving animal, requiring comparatively little care, living almost entirely on the range, and strong enough in the characteristics of the wild animal to withstand the storms of winter. The domestic cattle, when i blizzard comes, turn their backs to it, and soon be. come exhausted. The buffalo cross-breeds face the storm and come out of it as well as ever. They need lees attention, grow fat and thrive on the ranges that the domestic cattle desert, and altogether present i field of enterprise that offers large profits. The meat is firm and juicy, and the average weight of the dressed carcass is over twelve hundred pounds. The price in any market is double that of the best ordi nary beef. The hide of the cross-breed is also a val uable article. It is a thick, smooth skin, with the soft hair of the buffalo covering it evenly, and can be readily sold for $50.00 each. On the Garden City ranch there will be placed one hundred head of Golloway cows, a sturdy breed, which, with the buffalo cross, produce the new cattle, and the day is not far distant when the epicures ball American cities will be able to indulge in the luxury of a table meat that combines the nutritive quaKtiei of a juicy buffalo steak with the firmness and tender ness of the best stall fed ox. Mr. Bedson's enterprise, near Winnipeg, is not organized on quite so large a scale, but his experience is even more extended than that of Mr. Jonec. From statements made by him, the following facts are gath ered as the result of his experiments: In 1879 h purchased five buffalo calves, one bull and four heif ers, for which he paid $1,000.00. From that start fcs now has thirty-three pure-blood bulls, thirty-five pure blood cows, eight half-breeds, six three-quarters, and has presented sixteen head to different persons. The half-breeds are very prolfic. The cows drop a calf annually. They are also very hardy, as they take the instinct of the buffalo during the blizzards and stonsi and do not drift like the native cattle. They remain npon the open prairie during the severest winters of that region, while the thermometer ranges from thirty to forty degrees below zero, with little or no food ex cept what they rustle on the prairie, and do sheltff