What is SHEEPSHOOTERS' WAR? What does SHEEPSHOOTERS' WAR mean?

Experience FAST and SECURE Internet browsing with The Audiopedia owned Android browser. INSTALL NOW - http://bit.ly/2Sm5bi0 What is SHEEPSHOOTERS' WAR? What does SHEEPSHOOTERS' WAR mean? SHEEPSHOOTERS' WAR meaning - SHEEPSHOOTERS' WAR definition - SHEEPSHOOTERS' WAR explanation. Source: Wikipedia.org article, adapted under http://bit.ly/yjiNZw license. The Sheepshooters' War was an armed conflict fought in central and eastern Oregon. Like other range wars in the Old West, the war pitted cattlemen against sheepherders. Because the cattlemen were unwilling to share the open range with the sheepherders, due to concerns about overgrazing, they formed paramilitary organizations with the goal of eliminating the flocks of sheep and anyone who attempted to stop them. Between 1895 and 1906, the Sheepshooters, as they were called, slaughtered at least 10,000 sheep. A few men were also killed during gunfights or related incidents. Since the cattle industry arrived first in Oregon, the cattlemen, or cattle barons, held a monopoly on Oregon's pasturelands in the east of the state. So, when they arrived, the sheepherders quickly became a threat to the cattle industry. Sheep were known to strip a valley clean of all vegetation, leaving it barren and desolate, while cattle ate only grass, leaving behind weeds, which held down the topsoil and allowed grass to regrow. Some cowboys even asserted that sheep stunk very badly and left behind smelly fields that cattle would not use. Water was also a concern, sheep polluted water holes to a point that cattle couldn't drink from them without becoming ill. The cattlemen weren't entirely guiltless themselves; even though the open range meant public land, the cattlemen were known for fencing off territory that didn't belong to them, in order to prevent sheepherders, or other ranchers, from using the resources. By the early 1880s, sheepherding was becoming more and more popular in Oregon, but the cattlemen and the newcomers seemed to coexist mostly peacefully until 1895, when the first Sheepshooters group was formed in Grant County. Calling themselves the "Izee Sheepshooters," the cowboys began attacking sheep camps and establishing deadlines, a type of border in which sheep were not allowed to cross. Because the Izee cowboys were successful with their campaigns, a "Sheepshooters Association" was formed in neighboring Crook County and another in Union County. According to the Insiders' Guide to Bend and Central Oregon, all of the sheepshooters agreed that "if a sheepherder was killed during a mission, he would be buried on the spot" and "if one of their own were killed, he would be brought home to be buried, with no mention of how he met his demise." Also, "if any association member was captured by the law and brought to trial, he was duty-bound to lie on the witness stand about his involvement with the group." Usually the sheepshooters would launch a surprise attack on a camp, capture the herders, and then shoot or club all of the sheep. Often the herders were beaten, but occasionally there were small shootouts. According to William R. Racy, a rancher interviewed by author Richard Negri, he met an old sheepherder who was the victor of one of the gunfights, though the story has not been confirmed. ...