Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1886 — ROTTING ON THE PRAIRIES. [ARTICLE]

ROTTING ON THE PRAIRIES.

The Number of Cattle That Perished on the Ranges Duiing the Recent Cold Weather Said to Be Far in Excess of All Estimates. [Emporia (Kan.) special.] The loss of cattle in the ranges in Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado by the terrible cold weather is beyond almost any comparison heretofore made. A report receiveed here a few days ago makes au estimate of 25,000 head as being large enough to cover the losses. In a trip from Emporia to Syracuse, sixteen miles this side of the Colorado line, your correspondent is positive that he saw dead bodies apd hides enough from the car windows to almost make that amount. In one place a bunch of one hundred were found together, all dead, while from the railroad track in the hollows passed, where the snow has been heavily drifted, hundreds of horns, heads, and parts of bodies could be seen protruding from the snow as it was being rapidly melted away from the carcasses. And this is not all, for thousands of animals may be seen tottering along, partly frozen, and so thin and gaunt that it seemed the wind could almost blow through them. Cattlemen are evidently desirous of making as hghtpf the matter as possible, but, in the language of a citizen of Western Kansas, “there will be a big stench when warm weather comes.” *