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In the early 1900's, disputes over grazing rights and stress inflicted on cattle herds <br />due to predators and rustling prompted the development of several cattle associations. One <br />of their major concerns was that with increasing numbers of cattle in the region, the wolf <br />populations grew out of control. By 1904, wolves were killing a quarter of the calf-crop <br />(Bury and Bury 1991:160). In 1902, the Brown’s Park Ranchmen’s Association was formed <br />to combat the grey wolves, and they offered a bounty of 20 dollars per hide (Athearn 1977: <br />81). The results proved unsatisfactory and the ranchers had to appeal to the U.S. Biological <br />Survey for help (op.cit.:160). As a consequence, government trappers were sent into the <br />field and kept continually on the job. <br />Inevitably, conflict arose over grazing rights, which led to the end of open grazing <br />(1860's to early 1900's) and legislation governing grazing rights. The large cattle outfits in <br />the region of the Little Snake River and Brown's Park fought to preserve the Open Range <br />policy in the face of incursions into their territory by homesteaders and, worse yet to them, <br />sheepmen. Terrible, violent range wars erupted with the first attempts to bring sheep onto <br />the open range. Sheepherders and their animals were killed or driven back to Wyoming. In <br />1911, the George Valley Sheep Massacre brought public sympathy to the sheepmen when <br />hundreds of sheep were driven over a cliff to their deaths (ibid.). This incident was just one <br />of many that occurred during the sheep-cattle wars that began in the 1890s. Cattlemen <br />staged numerous similar attacks in Parachute Creek, in Delta County, on Glade Park, in the <br />Plateau Valley, and in Gunnison County. Occasionally, the sheep growers retaliated but <br />never with the aggression displayed by the stockmen. Obviously, the conflict was, for <br />many, a racial one: cattle were usually owned and tended by Anglo-Americans, while sheep <br />were often run by Mexican-Americans or Basques (Mehls 1982:115). <br />Some pioneers of the Piceance Creek became involved in the cattle-sheep war that <br />engulfed western Colorado in the 1900's. Cattlemen feared the invasion of sheep because <br />the animals “grazed to the roots.” Groups were formed to stop or impede their introduction. <br />Shepherds were killed and thousands of sheep were slaughtered during this uprising. The <br />battle of the Yellowjacket Pass in 1920 marked the climax of the cattle-sheep war and <br />brought public focus and sympathy for the sheepmen (Athearn 1976:82). The combination <br />of small ranchers banding together with sheepmen and the creation of the National Forests <br />with their requirements of grazing permits broke the power of the big ranches. The result of <br />the conflict was the Rees-Oldland Bill of 1933, which was aimed at settling these disputes <br />by dividing the Roan Plateau ranges between cattle and sheep. Finally, the Taylor Grazing <br />Act was enacted in 1934, which regulated grazing on federal land and marked the end of <br />open grazing (Bury and Bury 1991:167). <br />A new round of settlement occurred in the early 1900's. It was made possible by <br />technological advances and better knowledge of scientific techniques in farming, as well as <br />increased rainfall (although variable), which lasted into the early 1920's (Church et al. <br />2007:115). Population of Rio Blanco County steadily increased between 1890 and 1920 <br />when it reached a height of 3,125. By 1930, however, the population had dropped to 2,180 <br />(LaPoint 1979:43). <br />44