The Railroad Barons and the Range Wars
Northern Pacific executives visit Yakima to defend their controversial new land-leasing system against local sheepmen.
A special train of seven coaches was sidetracked at North Yakima Thursday night, containing Mr. K. D. Adams, chairman of the board of management of the Northern Pacific; George R. Baker, president of the First National Bank of New York; President E. W. Winter, General Manager J. W. Kendrick, Land Commissioner W. H. Phipps, Chief Engineer E. H. McHenry, Assistant Superintendent W. G. Pearse, Division Superintendent F. W. Gilbert, Western Land Agent Thomas Cooper, and Assistant Secretary W. H. Gemmel. The officials were driven for several hours through the valley on Friday and expressed themselves as well pleased with the material progress among the irrigated orchards and fruit farms. In answer to an inquiry regarding the object of the trip, Mr. Phipps stated they were on a general tour of inspection. 'It may interest your readers to know that the company is considering the advisability of establishing an experimental seed farm in the Yakima valley,' said he. 'Mr. A. B. Leckenby, who is now in the regular employ of the company engaged in investigating the possibility of grass and forage plant culture in Washington, will have charge.' Regarding the company's new policy of leasing grazing lands, which has met with strenuous objection from local sheepmen, Phipps defended the move: 'The leasing system has come to stay. Experience has proven that it is the most practical method that can be devised. Before this system of leasing was adopted, conflicts between the various stock interests along the line were frequent, the sheep herds often encroaching upon the ranges of the cattlemen, and vice versa. Under our recent experiment of leasing grazing lands, over 300,000 acres have passed under the control of sheep and cattlemen, the result being that the lessees have respected one another's rights.'
“The leasing system has come to stay. Experience has proven that it is the most practical method that can be devised.”
The tension between corporate land control and local agricultural autonomy remains a central theme in the American West. Just as the Northern Pacific sought to impose order on the range through leasing, modern debates over public land use and grazing rights continue to pit federal and corporate interests against local ranchers.
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