lass
he described as "hayseed farmers." He felt himself to be a kind of free continental aristocrat—a latterday baron whose "fief," a hundred square miles of billowy grass land, supported no serfs and owed no services. His capital was mainly in his cattle. The herds varied in size from a few score to many hundreds. The unit of value was the marketable "steer," usually a three year old animal, fattened on the range. It was estimated that the cost of producing such an animal, under range conditions, was between twelve and fifteen dollars. It would sell for fifty dollars.
Status of the "rancher "in commerce. Thus the owner of many cattle was a man of wealth. He could exert economic power which would be felt far beyond the boundaries of his unstinted "range."
The type met with along the historic trail in Nebraska and in Wyoming was the type of the rancher of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In those states, as elsewhere, he often assumed the role of the "big business "man in other ways than as a large shipper of livestock or a "cattle king." Sometimes he invested money in banks, in railroad stocks, or in city property. He had his rating in the commercial reviews, and could hobnob with bankers, railroad presidents, and metropolitan merchants. He perhaps made no display of religion or philanthropy, yet he often helped to build churches, or to endow colleges.
In politics. The rancher had a liking for politics. He attended party caucuses and conventions, ran for the state legislature, and sometimes defeated a lawyer
