On April 1st, 1907 Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock by direction of President Theodore Roosevelt, that all fences on public lands must come down. These fences included enclosures and obstructions that were put up on public lands to mark off and protect the boundaries of cattle and sheep raisers who had been grazing their stock for free. Since the 1860's it was free to graze stock on public land, but custom not law determined who got to graze stock on the public lands. It was first come first serve. In 1885, laws were passed making the construction of fencing on public ranges illegal, but it was only sporadically enforced. President Roosevelt was determined to change this and urged Congress to "some such legislation" to "to preserve the great stretches of public grazing land". In short, Roosevelt wanted "[t]he unlawful fencing of public lands for private grazing" stopped.
Roosevelt was not against fences, in fact as I will explain he believed them to be necessary for the ranchers of cattle, sheep, horses and goats. What Roosevelt was against, was what he called "thefts of the public land" by the great Cattle Companies. By the 1900's, these companies had erected fences over much of the great west, excluding the actual settlers and home-makers from using the land for the summer grazing of their stock. Roosevelt wanted to preserve the public lands and protect the livelihood of the small rancher from the invasion of great cattle companies that were fencing off the public lands from them.
Prior to the 1860's, there was ample land for settlers and small ranchers, but with the advent of the transcontinental railroads, a new era of Cattle grazing began. Texas cowboys began regularly driving large herds of grazing cattle thousands of miles through federal lands to cities along the railroad like Abilene, Kansas where trains would carry them to markets in the east. The demand and high profits for live cattle created a boom in the Great plains with number growing well beyond 7 million grazing cattle. Water and grass became scare and competition drove ranchers to seek out more land. When sheep arrived in the 1870's the competition only intensified. Overgrazed land and diminished profits led to the breakout of "wars" among the ranchers, some of which were especially violent. In what is known as the "Johnson County War" of 1892, 52 armed men rode a secret train to Casper, Wyoming where they switched to horseback and continued their way toward Buffalo, Wyoming. Their mission was to shoot or hang 70 men named on a list of ranchers and cattle barons involved in a long-standing dispute. By 1897, Governor William Richards of Wyoming proposed that the state be allowed to control the public range and lease it out at low rates to grazers to end the range conflicts. Discussions stalled and nothing changed until President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and began urging Congress to pass laws that would allow the Federal government to control the public pasture lands of the west.
In Roosevelt's 1907 State of the Union Address, he made it clear that "[t]he Federal Government should have control of the range, whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine". Roosevelt explained that there were approximately 300 million acres of public land that were all "open to the free grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and goats, without restriction", but lacked any regulations over their use. Roosevelt did not condemn the fencing, rather he acknowledged that much of the land could not be used unless it is properly fenced. Fencing was the only way to keep the wandering ranchers from allowing their flocks to "roam hither and thither, utterly destroying the pastures". In doing so, these nomadic ranchers were "utterly destroying" the land from those ranchers who are trying to make a home and livelihood in the west. Furthermore, it wasn't the "home-makers" who were putting up the fences, it was the "great cattle companies". Roosevelt, plainly wrote, "the existing fences are all illegal" and many were hurtful by excluding "actual settlers, actual home-makers" from using the land. Roosevelt demanded that they all must come down even the ones that were beneficial. He wrote, "The unlawful fencing of public lands for private grazing must be stopped, but the necessity which occasioned it must be provided for".
Roosevelt continued, "[t]he only way to stop this unlawful grazing" was for "[t]he Federal Government should have control of the range, whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine". This plan was very similar to that proposed by Gov. Richards of Wyoming proposed 10 years early, but Roosevelt made it clear that the Federal government would remain in charge of public lands. With the Federal government in charge, gazing of the public lands would benefit from "legitimate fencing". In some cases, the tracts of land would be allotted to homesteads, and in other areas it would be granted via a temporary lease to large cattle operators. The amount of the lease should no more than the government needed "to permit of the efficient and beneficial control of the range." A portion of the lease would be provided to the county to cover the loss of tax revenue. Roosevelt reminded Congress, that "[t]he destruction of the public range will continue some such laws as these are enacted". Roosevelt closed, with explaining that his prime objective was "to secure the rights and guard the interests of the small ranchman". Roosevelt was looking out for the "small ranchman, this actual settler and homemaker". These were the people were here hurt the most by allowing what Roosevelt called "thefts of the public land".
"Some such legislation as that proposed is essential in order to preserve the great stretches of public grazing land which are unfit for cultivation under present methods and are valuable only for the forage which they supply. These stretches amount in all to some 300,000,000 acres, and are open to the free grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and goats, without restriction. Such a system, or lack of system, means that the range is not so much used as wasted by abuse. As the West settles the range becomes more and more over-grazed. Much of it can not be used to advantage unless it is fenced, for fencing is the only way by which to keep in check the owners of nomad flocks which roam hither and thither, utterly destroying the pastures and leaving a waste behind so that their presence is incompatible with the presence of home-makers. The existing fences are all illegal. Some of them represent the improper exclusion of actual settlers, actual home-makers, from territory which is usurped by great cattle companies. Some of them represent what is in itself a proper effort to use the range for those upon the land, and to prevent its use by nomadic outsiders. All these fences, those that are hurtful and those that are beneficial, are alike illegal and must come down. But it is an outrage that the law should necessitate such action on the part of the Administration. The unlawful fencing of public lands for private grazing must be stopped, but the necessity which occasioned it must be provided for. The Federal Government should have control of the range, whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine. Such control could secure the great benefit of legitimate fencing, while at the same time securing and promoting the settlement of the country. In some places it may be that the tracts of range adjacent to the homesteads of actual settlers should be allotted to them severally or in common for the summer grazing of their stock. Elsewhere it may be that a lease system would serve the purpose; the leases to be temporary and subject to the rights of settlement, and the amount charged being large enough merely to permit of the efficient and beneficial control of the range by the Government, and of the payment to the county of the equivalent of what it would otherwise receive in taxes. The destruction of the public range will continue until some such laws as these are enacted. Fully to prevent the fraud in the public lands which, through the joint action of the Interior Department and the Department of Justice, we have been endeavoring to prevent, there must be further legislation, and especially a sufficient appropriation to permit the Department of the Interior to examine certain classes of entries on the ground before they pass into private ownership. The Government should part with its title only to the actual home-maker, not to the profit-maker who does not care to make a home. Our prime object is to secure the rights and guard the interests of the small ranchman, the man who plows and pitches hay for himself. It is this small ranchman, this actual settler and homemaker, who in the long run is most hurt by permitting thefts of the public land in whatever form."
Following this address, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter to Secretary Hitchcock, requesting that a modification be made to the law to allow "temporary inclusure of portions of the public domain for grazing purposes on such conditions as the department finds compatible with the best interests of the actual settlers, of the small homesteaders, the home makers". Otherwise, despite that many "entirely honest men" requested that the fences remain, they must come down. Roosevelt's letter ended with the words. "The order will result in the tearing down of many miles of fences."
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Seventh Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/seventh-annual-message-4 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].The Rural New-Yorker , Volume 66. (1907). Rural Publishing Company, p.51.
Wyohistory.org. (2019). Leasing the Public Range: The Taylor Grazing Act and the BLM | WyoHistory.org. [online] Available at: https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/leasing-public-range-taylor-grazing-act-and-blm [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Wyohistory.org. (2019). The Johnson County War: 1892 Invasion of Northern Wyoming | WyoHistory.org. [online] Available at: https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/johnson-county-war-1892-invasion-northern-wyoming [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
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