CROOK COUNTY JOURNAL'S ANNUAL NUMBER.
9
and our horses went high both in price
and excellence. The writer can call to mitid
one case in particular wherein one of
our early settlers was the proud possessor
of 200 brood mares, and these animals
were easily reckoned to be worth $200 per
head around. Five years from that time,
the entire outfit would not have brought $15
per head. Edison, and a few more such peo
ple, had robbed them of the'r va.ue. With
out going into detail as to causes, the price
of horses continued to fall, and the decline
has never checked, until in a degree, per
haps, the past two years. Stock horses be
came a drug on the market at $10, at $5,
yes, as low as $2.50 por head. This state of
affairs led inevitably to an entire disregard
as to breeding them, and for years this
once highly prized domestic animal ran
wild and uncared for, yes, became detested
as a range destroyer, save a few for im
mediate use. Crook county can raise, how
ever, as fine a specimen of the horse as
ever made a track. It is a natural horse-
shearing, were herded into the high moun
tain ranges. Pretty much the same system
is yet followed, except the encroachment of
settlement upon the once open winter
ranges has made it necessary to confine
each flock to a much smaller territory dur
ing the winter. This state of affairs has
led to a substitution of alfalfa hay in a
great measure during the winter for the
grass that once grew upon the lands which
are now settled. In fact, it is claimed by
those who have tried the experiment, that
a good ewe will return a fair profit if fed
the year round on alfalfa in locations
where that variety of hay can be produced
without too great expense. Such being the
case, it will readily be understood how
this variety of feed can be substituted for
native grass for three, four or even five
months out of the year at a profit.
The prices of sheep in Crook County
during the past year have ranged as fol
lows: Ewes, $2.75; lambs, $2.00; yearling
wethers $2.50; two-year-old wether, $3.00
Alfalfa.
Alfalfa culture was begun in a small way
in the northern part of the county about
the year 1890. The abundant yield, together
with the quality of the hay, soon caused al
falfa to become quite popular as a product
upon lands lying along the small creeks in
different parts of the county. The popular
ity of the plant has continued to grow un
til thousands of acres are now seeded to
alfalfa along the Ochoco and Crooked river
valleys. The waters of Crooked river are
gradually being taken out in canals for a
distance of one hundred miles through the
center of the county, and are being util
ized for the purpose of irrigating large
tracts of alfalfa.
Although in a number of instances three
crops of hay are taken from alfalfa mead
ows each year, the most general and prac
tical yield for hay is but two crops, re
serving the later growth for pasture. In
this manner land sown to alfalfa is made
to yield on an average five tons of hay per
Li i ii" imi 'ii' jTii(iM- rtfW'i 'ianir' t fn-i i" y - , .i . . I,,... , .
T- S. HAMILTON'S THOROUGH-ERED RAMS ON THE RANGE NEAR HIS RANCH-
raising country. Its high altitude and dry
soils fit it especially for that purpose, and
if the market for horses ever becomes set
tled on a permanently paying basis, horse
raising will again be resumed here as of
old.
Sheep.
The raising of sheep has been the leading
industry of Crook County for a number of
years. In the opinion of the writer it is
destined to continue to be for years to
come. Cattle raising, as in the past, will
continue a close second. But the fact of
sheep yielding two crops per annum wool
and mutton will continue to give them in
the future, 'as in the past, the advantage.
The topography of Crook County fits it
especially for raising sheep. The raising of
sheep here, however, is undergoing a de
cided change. Under former conditions,
little preparaton was made for them in the
way of winter feed. They were ranged on
the low lying hills and valleys during the
winter months, and, after lambing and
per head. Last season's lambing was the
largest ever experienced in the history of
the business in this county, averaging near
a hundred per cent, of lambs. Usually about
seventy per cent, is realized. The wool
product of last year was also the heaviest
ever raised in Crook County, averaging
about ten pounds per head. What wool
has been sold during the present season has
averaged about 13 cents per pound. The
average loss among the flocks of Crook
County is growing less each year, owing
to the greater amount of feeding and care
during the winter. Notwithstanding the
heavy drain upon the flocks of the county
by Eastern buyers during the past three
years, the number of sheep have about
held up in the aggregate.
What the future has in store for the
sheep industry, no one knows. It is fair
to presume, however, that its future may
be judged by its past. The price of its
products will continue to vary, but not
crash, as in '93, let us hope.
acre, as well as an excellent pasture for
fall and early winter purposes.
Not until the past season has the price
of alfalfa hay fallen to a point low enough
to justify it being used for fattening stock
for market, except in the extreme northern
portion of the county. But during the
present winter, stock is being fed fo.'
spring market all along the Ochoco valley,
and it is evident that the advent of alfalfa
culture is destined to change to a great ex
tent the present farming areas of McKay,
Ochoco and Crooked river valleys into a
stock feeding region where large numbers
of cattle and sheep will be fattened for
late winter and spring markets.
This new addition to Crook County's in
dustries is destined to increase the aggre
gate products of the county very largely in
the future. Heretofore, this vast region
has been utilized entirely as a stock rais
ing country, but it is evident th?t the ad
vent of alfalfa rult"re is destined soon to
add stock feeding to the stock raising in-