In an earlier blog, “Early Stock Raisers in Southern AZ” I had written about a few sheep men in this area of Arizona. In an newspaper dated five years earlier from southern Arizona, The Arizona Citizen, August 19, 1876, I found more information about sheep men who were raising sheep for themselves or the sheep were in their care and owned by someone else. It was disappointing not to have how many sheep each of the men had with the exception of McGary and his brother, who went unnamed.
The headline was “Sheep Grazers Encouraged.” Governor Safford, Charles McGary, Pedro Aguirre and George Allison were the subject of this article. The article stated that between the men they had thousands of sheep. The sheep had arrived from California sometime in the past year. The article discussed the fact that theses sheep had arrived “more or less sick and many had died.” It continued “Perhaps some had not proper care but it is believed that fine California sheep must go through acclimatization with more or less fatality, before a permanent healthy growth is secured.”
The Governor had his sheep under the care of Mr. George Allison along the Santa Cruz. Allison also had his own sheep grazing here. Stafford was pleased with his sheep and those of Allison saying that “they look very thrifty and (he) fully believes they have passed through the necessary acclimatization and hereafter will be healthy, and says he has the highest hopes that they will prove very profitable.”
Nearly four thousand sheep of Mr. Charles McGary and his brother are on the Sonoita and have been been for nearly a year. They had lost many old and young sheep when a winter snow storm hit right after 1,500 lambs had been born. McGary told the newspaper the week of August 19, that the band was doing very well and he was satisfied with the care that they had given the sheep and hopes that with this care the sheep will “retain their present good health.” McGary believed that sheep should be sheared twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall.
Mr. Pedro Aguirre, for the past few months has been in charge of the fine sheep brought to Arizona by Larkin W. Carr, and now owned by Lord & Williams. He was in town this past week and reports that the sheep were in good health and were daily improving. He has not given any medicine besides moving them about and giving “them common sense care.”
Safford, Allison, McGary, and Aguirre all believe that they now have the experience needed to import sheep from California which will result in bringing them to a healthy condition much sooner. Further the newspaper reported, “They are all convinced that sheep will prosper in this county as well as any place they ever knew”.
One year later, in an article dated August 18, 1877, the newspaper, The Arizona Citizen, stated that the Governor had rented his sheep to Pedro Aguirre giving him 10,000 sheep in his charge. It seemed that Aguirre had a system in place that insured the well being of sheep brought into the territory. The article stated that Aguirre’s flocks were “almost constantly moving which gives the sheep a clean place to sleep and fresh feed all the time.” This may be the reason that Safford assigned his sheep to Aguirre. The newspaper account was unclear as to how many of these 10,000 sheep actually belonged to Aguirre as we know from the information above that Aguirre was taking care of the sheep that Carr brought into Arizona. It should also be noted that a week earlier, Aguirre had put an ad in the newspaper in which he stated he had many thoroughbred Spanish and French bucks for sale ranging in price from $10 to $20. Thus, some of those 10,000 sheep must have belonged to Aguirre or he was selling for owners.
One final piece of information from the August 18, 1877 newspaper, Mr. R. B. Campbell, a rancher near Crittenden, was on his way to California to purchase a minimum of 2,000 head of sheep. Campbell also believed that the pasturage in Arizona was the best where he was located and believes that the sheep will do well. He was going to ship the sheep as far as Yuma and then would trail them across to his ranch.
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