Winter’s Toll on the Yakima Range
Deep snow and poor grazing conditions lead to mass livestock casualties as ranchers report dire losses.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
There is no question but what the cattle have suffered greatly this winter and that the loss is heavy. It was not the cold or the snow, but the poor condition with which they entered upon the winter. Had the grass been good during the summer the loss would have been light, but with no snow during the winter of ’88 and ’89, the range has never been known to be so poor before. The Chinook, which has been blowing most of the week, cleared away much of the snow but still left a coating sufficient to make feeding necessary. Joseph Baxter reports that from actual count he has lost ten per cent of his cattle in the feed yard and that at least one-half of the cattle left on the range have died. Mr. Baxter further says that his cattle have been fed and cared for as well as any and that his losses are no greater than those suffered by other cattlemen.
“The range has never been known to be so poor before.”
Livestock losses due to climate-driven forage depletion mirror modern concerns about how changing weather patterns and drought cycles impact Yakima Valley's agricultural viability.
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