Settlers Declare War on Sheep Herders
Yakima County farmers organize to stop the 'wanton destruction' of range land and demand a new tax on foreign sheep.
According to a published notice in the county papers, about forty citizens met Saturday, September 12, at 1 p.m., in Cowan's schoolhouse on the Wenas Creek, to take into consideration the necessity of protecting the grazing lands in our county. Mr. George Taylor was elected chairman and Mr. Johnson secretary. A committee of five, consisting of Messrs. Morse, Chapman, Brice, Longmire and Sherman, reported resolutions. The resolutions state that the Wenas, Natchees, and other valleys once afforded immense feed for stock, but much of this is being destroyed by the depredations of sheep herders. The meeting condemned the practice of herders monopolizing watering places and rich grazing lands, and called upon the county commissioners to take action against this nuisance. A committee of two was appointed to wait on the commissioners to have them pass a law to tax foreign sheep $1 per head for entering the county.
“We will use our united efforts... if said parties do not discontinue these practices, we shall esteem them as enemies to the fair name of our otherwise prosperous county.”
This 1891 meeting captures the historic conflict between open-range settlers and itinerant sheep herders, a precursor to the modern debates over land use, grazing permits, and the tension between public and private interests on Eastern Washington range lands.
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