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Show When Bill was dropped off after the third day's drive, the Captain said, "Well kid, ITm going to buy your rams. I'll need 225 head." Bill had previously told him the price was eleven dollars per head, and now he excitedly said, "Great. When will you be up to pick them out?" "Pick 'em out Hell! If they're as much alike as you say they are- and half as good as you say they are, you pick 'em out I And when they get here, I'll send you a check." After saying goodbye, he left. Of course, Bill was grateful for the sale but he had expected some cash to seal the bargain. He went back to the bank to tell the cashier wha*: he had done and to ask him if that pay arrangement would be all right. The answer was "That's fine. If he orders ten carloads like that, you ship them to him. He'll pay, for that's the way he does business." And he did pay. During the next four years, Bill sold Captain Mossman a thousand head of rams over the telephone- and he never once visited the ranch to pick them out. This story shows the emergency effect the depression years had on the Madsen purebred sheep business. With such low existing prices, the breeder was forced to seek out every possible buyer among range sheepmen to move his current crop of yearling breeding rams. Very few range men were able to undertake their usual trips to the ranch at the time. The depression years were rugged, but in the years before and after those hard times, many range men voluntarily 208 |