I remember in the summer of '75 or '76 Mr. William Cluster, my father and myself, then a boy, came down the Benjamin Gulch to the Pataha looking after our stock. We forded the creek about where the park is now, and a little way from the creek stood a little log cabin, and in the doorway stood Charles McCabe, then a young man. We inquired after our brands and marks, and came on down the north side of the creek, my father and Mr. Cluster riding along the road and I galloping back and forth from bluff to creek, scaring the cattle out of the grass so we could see the brands and marks. We took dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy in the old log cabin that stood for many years afterwards in the lower part of town, and while we partook of fried trout and other good things that the pioneer wives knew so well how to prepare the men discussed the Roan Shorthorns.
To illustrate what grass we had here in those days, I will repeat what Pearl Smith once said. He wanted to make a trip across the Snake River, and he had heard so much about the Alpowa he decided to go that way. He dropped down on the creek about where Vint. Gilbert's place is now and went on down. When he returned he was asked what he thought of the Alpowa, and said, 'Those hills reach from hell to heaven, with bunch grass from top to bottom.'
Garfield County never contained very large stock owners. Newt. Estes was cattle king with something like one thousand five hundred head. J. H. Walker owned the largest band of horses, and George Gibson was the largest sheep raiser. The Owsleys at one time owned 750 cattle and a good many horses. Mack Tatman at one time had 400 or 500 head of cattle, and Tom Burlingame 350.
In 1888 Mat Dixon, Moffat Williams and Dave Dixon bought and drove to Pataha Flat 512 head of cattle. This was the first large importation of cattle to this county.
About this time, or a few years before, most of the large holders began to cut down their herds, and some quit entirely. Among them were Melton, Freeman, Estes and Tatman, and, after a few years, Rafferty and Bill Kelly practically quit.
The horse industry of the country did not take much change from cow pony or cayuse till about 1880. A 1,000 pound horse was considered a good one, and a horse that wore an eighteen inch collar was a large one. Mr. Ford, who lived on the flat, bought a large Percheron, and a year later Tucker bought a grade Clyde, and our horses began to increase in size, and it wasn't long till the 1,000 pound horse and the eighteen inch collar were things of the past. The draft horse is here and as good as any county can boast of. We now have 6,581 taxable horses.
We didn't raise many hogs till the railroad was built to Dayton. Prior to that a few put up bacon and hauled it to Lewiston. After the road reached Pomeroy people began to raise more hogs, and according to the assessor's roll we have 5,254.
The sheep industry has held its own and we now have in the county 11,657, owned principally by Charles Dodge, Weller Live Stock Co., Clayton, Palmer, and J. O. Long. Part of the Palmer herd are assessed in Asotin County. The farmers are now taking up sheep husbandry on their own farms, and we look for sheep and hogs to increase, and horses to hold their own. The cattle industry is still on the decline, as the roll shows only 5,181 head milch cows included, and a thousand or more were brought in to be fattened. As our pasture land increases in value the people will discard the cow for the ewe and mare."
THUS MUCH FOR LIVE STOCK, AND NOW FOR SCHOOLS