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-11- <br />sheep onto their range. As early as 1388, the ?feeker Hers-c <br />warne3 of an invasion from Utah. Cattlemen rushed to the <br />bor3et to try to stop the threat; but it never materialized. <br />It was not until the early 1900's that sheep actually did <br />24 <br />appear. The first serious attempt to bring sheep into the <br />region occurred in 1894 when Jack Edwards tried to bring sheep <br />into Routt County. He was turned back by a possee of cattlemen <br />from the Yampa Valley. Cattlemen were opposed to sheep because <br />they grazed to the roots and therefore prevented cattle from <br />grazing behind them and the range would not grow back. <br />Sheep wars broke out in [he early 1900's in Rio Blanco <br />and Routt counties. The violence included the murders of t•r•o <br />Mexican sheepherders at Dead Mexican. Park in the Routt A'ational <br />Forest, the rimrocking of sheep, including the famous Idoolley <br />Sheep r:assacre of 1911 in which several hundred sheep were <br />killed, the use of strychnine on sheep and other threats to <br />sheepmen. The violence culminated in the early 1900's when <br />the state militia had to be called in to quell the disturbances. <br />The Fighting came to an end in 1920 with the Yellow 3acket Pass <br />fight where sheepmen and cattlemen fought it out in a para- <br />25 <br />military engagement. <br />As if cattlemen did not have enough problems with sheep, <br />rustlers were certainly a major threat. The Yampa Valley <br />Cat[legrowers Association was the most notorious example of <br />group action designed to eliminate rustlers. This group hired <br />Tom Horn to kill known rustlers, a job he did with pleasure. <br />" He murdered Matt Rash, Isom Dart and several other knocan or <br />