Pay Rent or We Drive the Flocks Elsewhere: Sheepmen Balk at the Railroad's Grazing Leases
Dan Goodman tells a reporter that if the Northern Pacific charges for pasture, whole bands of sheep will be pushed off its line — while the company says the leases exist to keep outside herds from eating out the range.
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.
The question of renting land for grazing purposes from the Northern Pacific company is coming forward again this year. Dan Goodman stated to a reporter Monday that he thought it would be much more desirable if the company would let the sheepmen graze their flocks on their land without charge, as, if they were called upon to bear the extra expense of land rents, many bands might go elsewhere. H. and A. Wilson, he said, had two bands of sheep near North Yakima and W. H. Puntross another, which they wanted to turn over [to] the Northern Pacific, but that if they were to be taxed for grazing privileges they would drive them to other lines.
As we understand the matter, the company has been endeavoring to lease available pasture surrounding winter feeding and watering grounds to sheepmen permanently located along its line, thus giving their bands protection against those coming in from elsewhere, and over-crowd and eat out the pasture. It is the endeavor of the company to foster and encourage the sheep industry, and no doubt the protests of the sheepmen will be carefully and justly considered, and that they will decide the matter for the greatest good to the greatest number, we have no doubt.
“If they were to be taxed for grazing privileges they would drive them to other lines.”
The Northern Pacific was the largest private landholder in the Yakima Valley, and access to its range land was the difference between a viable band of sheep and a wiped-out operation. Ranchers here still depend on leased ground — from railroads, timber companies, the state and the federal government — and the price of a grazing lease still decides who stays in business. The argument Goodman makes is a familiar one: tax the user and the user moves on.
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