One Colorado cattle baron held 35,000 head tended by only 40 men.

Evidence

The “Cattle King” of the State is Mr. Iliff, of South Platte, who owns nine ranches, with runs of 15,000 acres, and 35,000 cattle. He is improving his stock; and, indeed, the opening of the dead-meat trade with this country is giving a great impetus to the improvement of the breed of cattle among all the larger and richer stock-owners. For this enormous herd 40 men are employed in summer, about 12 in winter, and 200 horses. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 167

Categorization

• XREF: The labor arithmetic (40 men in summer, 12 in winter, 200 horses for 35,000 cattle) resonates with the extractive, thinly-staffed frontier labor of other Western accounts.
• SEED: Angle: how a handful of men could actually manage tens of thousands of half-wild cattle — the technology and logistics of the open range.