AN ENTERPRISING ABERDONIAN.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 138, 2 March 1877, Page 3

AN ENTERPRISING ABERDONIAN.

Mr George Grant's Stock Hanoh at Victoria /Kansas, ajtd Haystack • Farm, Colorado. We take the following description of Mr George Grant's' American property from the Rocky Mountain News, which has kindly been handed us by a relation" of Mr Grant's in the Clutha district. The particulars will be interesting, a* showing how Scotchmen get on in other countries affording appropriate fields for their energy and enterprise. We may premise by stating that Mr Grant be longs to Aberdeen, which he left when a shop boy in a draper's shop. He then went to London, where he made a fortune at the business! As an instance of his smart; business ■ habits, we may mention that when the death of the late Prince Consort was announced, and knowing that .the whole nation would go into mourning, he at once started for Lyons and purchased every yard of black cloth that was to be had. The result of course was a fortune, to Mr Grant. A few years ago he purchased about 1000 square miles of land in America, which he employs as detailed below. Mr Grant lives chiefly on the Continent and in England, but spends a part of his time upon his American/ estates. Jdis iainer is a respectablff" farmer in Aberdeenshire. The special correspondent of the News writes from, Victoria, Kansas : — Many times, while my presenttrip into this vast western country was still contemplaied with no small degree of uncertainty, while I was yet in- the midst of the calm and phlegmatic life of that far-off eastern city which has gained the somewhat sarcastically applied title of the " Hub of the Universe," my staid New England senses were startled by stories of the extraordinary scale upon which agricultural and- stock-raising pursuits were carried on in this country, lying such a long distance outside the Emersonian influence which the atmosphere of Boston is supposed to impart. It was then, with a sensation akin to eagerness, that I responded to the kindly extended invitation of Mr Grant to visit his widely known ranch at Victoria, Kansas. H 1 had allowed myself to become prejudiced by my first sight of the great tract of laud, this letter would not have been an enthusiastic one. By far the most inferior portion of the vast area of which Mr Grant is proprietor, is situated just at the edge of the railway, and this fact will no doubt account for the unfavouraMe ideas that have been formed by those who have only glanced casually at the property from the windows of rapidly moving trains ot cars. The railway station at Victoria is a handsome two-storey edifice, .built of native stone, and is used as a kind of receiving house, where colonists ace cared for until such time as their own buildings are erected. Adjoining the station is a, corral where about thirty of the horses used about the ranch are kept The estate embraces one ot the largest tracts of land owned by any one man in America. For the 1 purpose of raising stock, a ! better place could scarcely have been selected. From the edge of the line of railway the land rolls off in gradual undulations, which to the imaginative, call to mind the, vast waves of the Atlantic, not chasing each other in wild confusion, but held ever in position by some controlling although hidden power. About five miles back from the station at Victoria, a handsome storie residence has been erected upon a high rising point of ground, commanding a superb view of the surrounding- country. Fifty miles to the westward, vast and black-looking 1 bluffs are dimly visible,, while at all the other points of the compass the distant horizon comes down upon the same great rolling prairies which exist at the point where me spectator is stationed. - The grayhue of the higher portions of the land, almost smoking under the rays of the noonday sun, is relieved by belts of rich green verdure, denoting- the courses of never failing streams 1 of pure spring- water. - A more delightful spot; for a summer residence, commanding' as it does a vast sweep of landscape, : wild and striking even in its sameness, and fanned day and night by breezes which cool the most fevered brow, cannot be, found, Ij believe,' in Western America. L The luxuriance of the climate fosters a kind of lethargy almost intoxicating in its effects, and one drinks in the soft aiy as eagerly, as' the 'thirsty man quaffs 'the' i most 'delicious beverage. •' °"'~" 1; ' < •Early on the morning subsequent to : mylarrival, Mr Grant organised a party i including several visitors and myself, . with a ; view ■ tio ■'irispectiori bf.Vfhe' most interesting portions of his, domain. A s'^vift rifle of a few' 1 miles: behind

thoroughbred Kentucky horses, brought us to a point oh. the bahks'of the ;Vicr toria 'river, where once stood a frontier government post, ; and' near which the old trail passed from the eastern 'slates to Denver and the west. At this*place, hemmed in on all sides by towering' and deep-hued cotton -wood and hickory trees, are still to be seen ; the ruins of Old Fort Hays, occupied in 186(5-7 by troops under the command of General Ouster. For our parry, in view of recent stirring events^ the spot contained elements of absorbing- interest, and we spent considerable time in- the contemplation oi what was once the scene, of. stirring incidents by flood and field. [The writer 'here gives a description of an adventure by flood from one of Ouster's 'articles in the Galaxy entitled. "My Life on. the Plains," but it is with Mr Grant and his " ranch " we have to ' deal. He proceeds :— ] The old fort has almost disappeared under the hammer and chisel of the artisan. , The stone has been used for the material in the construction of the north wall of an immense corral, which shelters , the younger and improved stock, the produce of Mr Grant's highclass imported bulls, from the north winds which sweep the great plains in the winter season. The main,, or northern wall of the corral as it now stands, is about 250 yards long and ten feet high, and on the side facing the interior of the enclosure, a roof some fifteen feet in width has been made, under which, . together with the remaining' shelter, 1500 young cattle may find most abundant protection .during- the excessive falls of snow which sometimes occur. From either end of the long stone wall fences run back down the banks of the Victoria river, which affords an ample supply of 1 water in all seasons, and which is densely wooded upou both sides, giving a plentitude oi covering to such of the animals as cannot fiad room under the sheds, or prefer the . natural shelter which abounds in the bed of the stream. ■At ano f her point upon the great VicToria ranch, not far from the site of old Fort Bays, Mr Grant has constructed a, sheep corral of the same vast dimensions by which his whole work is characterised. The corral lies at the foot of a bluff which breaks the force of the wind on one side, while the remaining exposures are walled in upon the same principle as the one observed in the main wall of the cattle corral which I have already described. Last winter, 7000 sheep were kept in this inclosure, which is . capable, with additional shedding facilities, of holding- 20,000 animals comfortably. The corral is so divided that the flocks do nob mangle in any way, and is supplied by gateways so that each flock, . numbering from 1,000 to 1,200 sheep each, is enabled to take its way out upon the prairie without conflicting in any way with the remaining animals. A ride of about five miles in a southern direction from the sheep corral brought us to the banks of the Smuky. Hill river, where we were shown six flocks of sheep, valuing in numbers from 1,000 to 1,200 animals each, counting in the lambs. These animals graze upon the banks of the Smoky during the summer season, and are brought into the corrals and cared, for during' the more severe months of winter. , One of the flocks contained about 1,000 young rams from graded merino ewes and high-classed Jong-wool imported rams, and will be offered the coming fall as tups, at the moderate price of 10 dols. each in bunches of not less than twenty, or singly at 20 . dols. each.. To all appearance these animals are the same size and shape, and are equal to the original imported stock, and I have no hesitation in saying that it would require an experienced judge to distinguish between them. Turning- our steps westward, we tollowed the course of the Smoky Hill for about six miles, at which point we found a flock of about. 3?o yearling cattle, the produce of Mr Grant's imported short horn and black - polled Angus bulls. When this was pointed out as a herd of yearling's, one or two of our party were incredulous, and insisted that they must be at least two years old. They were all very fat and, sleek, and their size surpassed that of any of stock of the same age I have ever seen. Still further up the river bank, we found another j herd of cows and calvey, numbering in all about 800 head. There were red cattle and drab cattle ; black cattle and " white cattle ; cattle with short horns, and cattle with no horns at all. Every imaginable variety was presented, and every specimen was in the highest possible degree of perfection. Mr Grant assured us that" for two years not one dollar had been expended in feeding them, ■ivinter or summer. They had gathereid their own subsistence all the year round from tne unpromising but, very nutrititious buffalo grass with which the plain abounds; To the inexperienced observer, the choice of feeding spots which the cattle makes is surprising to an extraordinary degree. The lower portions of the plains are covered' by 'luxuriant and fresh looking grass, and the ; uplands.. produce, a gray and p arched of vegetation. The cattle invariably select the latter. ' This grass, exposed to the utmost bqat of the sun, is | called buffalo grass, from the fact thdt the haative : buffalo; a's well as nearly all the g'rarnniyoraiisf.apimals. of the plains, feed- upon it in preference to any other, .and experience has demon-, stra ted 'beyond a doiiibt, with our

domestic stock, it is the most nutritious of ail wild g-rass. Mr Grant's.. herds feeding exclusively upon the buffalo grass, winter and, summer, are in a better condition than any number of cattle I have met. The high class bulls upon the Victoria ranch are ten in number, six of them being- short-horns, and four of .them blacked -polled Angus breed. The latter were imported from Scotland and are worth something^ over l,0u0dols: each. In the London Market, the beef of this variety of cattle commands a figure considerably in advance of that of any, other breed. They are black in colour, and exceedingly thick -set, and when' in 'motion -bear some resemblance to the wild buifalo of our country. They have proved themselves to be easily. fed, exceedingly hardy and, per-, haps better adapted to this climate and country than any others could have been. Many are cultivating- this breed both here arid abroad, in preference to the shorthorns. Of the shor:horn bulls on Mr Grant's ranch, the one called the <c Count de Bruno" is perhaps a fair example; This animal is said to be of the highest class and purest breed of any in the United States. He was raised by the Hon. Mr Cochrane of Canada, and was sired by the famous bull " Royal ' Commander," by the pure bred dam " Bright Lady." Besides the cattle I have spoken of, Mr Grant has at Philadelphia, waiting 1 for the exhibition, eight heifers and one bull, (all shorthorns,) the pick of her majesty's herd from the royal stock form at Windsor. Their pnesent proprietor has evidently a high opinion of their value, which fact is demonstrated by the willingness with which he sustains the necessary expense which is incurred in keeping them at Philadelphia. We were also shown two fine specimens of deer-hounds, which were presented to Mr Grant by her Majesty the Queen of England. The Victorian Colony is without doubt the most remarkable, in many respects, of any in America. In order to make it very select as regards the. class of people buying land, Mr Grant nas declined to sell less than 640 acres j (one square mile) to any one purchaser. The plan has been very successful, and the people who have settled in Victoria are in all instances chosen from the best classes. One of the colonists, Mr Walter C. Maxwell, who is a son of Lord Herries, has a farm of 2,000 acres at the colony, upon which he has erected a handsome stone residence, and where we saw one of the most advanced fields of corn I have seen between New York and Colorado. This demonstrates the fact that the land in that part of the country is nearly, if not fully, as available for farming purposes as for stock raising. After spending three days at Victoria, days which were full of pleasure and instruction to our party, we were invited by Mr Grant to join him in a I contemplated pleasure excursion to his farm in Colorado. Accordingly we took a late train via the Kansas Pacific I railway for Denver, where we were transferred to the Deaver and Rio Grande road, which brought us to Larkspur late on the afternoon of the day succeeding our departure from Kansas. A drive of about four miles in the full glories of thesetting sun, and we came in sight of Haystack Farm. From the summit of a little eminence perhaps a mile distant, we could discern a cozy, old fashioned farm house nestling among what appeared to. be numerous huge hay-stacks, but which closer inspection showed us were great towers of red sandstone.. On all sides the mountains, rock-ribbed, and capped with coronets of fleecy clouds, lifted their hoary heads as if in proi.d majesty over the luxuriantly clothed valley at their feet. Far oft' in the. distance we. could dimly see the snow topped peaks of the great range, while just below us the valley wound its way in and out among the foot-hills like a vast river of beautiful verdure. One finds difficulty in believing- that within so very tew miles of Denver, such rarely sublime scenery can be found, and not . be the j very day talk of almost the entire population. While' we were still held j enraptured by the grandeur of our surroundings, the black mantle of night settled down upon us, and we were forced to 3 r ield to nature by retiring. At the earliest opportunity next day, however, we started upon an exploring expedition up the valley.' For half an hour our horses toiled up steep inclines, then passed through a forest of pine, and emerged suddenly upon a scene, the equal of which I have never encountered. At our feet stretched out a vast slope of rich green turf, bordered on: the right by impassable rocks, in which the colours of red and white were plainly marked in 1 all kinds of fantastic shapes; To the left the valley was hemmed in for miles by a continuous chain of mountains, heavily wooded, as far as the eye could reach,; with towering pines. Far off in the distance could be seen great rocks in clusters covering miles of hill side, and which no very vivid imagination was required . to shape into buildings of marble and brick, forming a vast town. Between these two great walls the valley stretched uway, fresh and green, broken at lorig'intervals by groves of fragrant 'pine, the whole forming, a picture . of .absorbing and entrancing interest. Beside this spot, so, aptly named. Pleasant Park, the collected beauty of the Garden of the Gods— itself almost a. veritable

paradise— faded into insignificance. No tongue can dsscribe it; no. pen can do it justice,; it must be seen ..and felt, to be appreciated. To those of. my readers who find it difficult to believe tliat what I say is jstrictly within .the bounds of truth, I would recommend a day spent in this park. It is easy of access, and well worth the slight trouble incurred in visiting 1 its assembled beauties. The park is principally controlled by JVlr Grant and Mr Charles Perry, a. son of John D. Perry, of St. Louis. The lower portion,- comprising; 2700 acres or more, is fenced in by Mr Grant, and further up Mr Perry has surrounded nearly twice as much land by substantial fences. It is Mr Grant's intention, to bring 1 all of his pure bred stock to Haystack Farm for cultivation. Already its fields are dotted with many valuable milking 1 cattle. Many improvements are beingmade, which when completed will make this one of the model farms of the country. I went to Victoria somewhat prejudiced against Mr Grant and his farm, from the talk of some persons, whom I have since concluded were somewhat subject to the fatal disease of envy. In describing' what I have observed I have clung- tenaciously to facts, and facts are what tell the best story. After seeing what I have seen, both in the gig-antic nature of the enterprise and the great pains used in the way of improvement, to say nothing* of the enormous expense which those improvements entail, I find it impossible to reach any other conclusion than that Georg-e Grant has done and is doing- more to open up the vast resources of Kansas and Colorado, by his own unaided efforts, than any other one man, or ten men, in America.