The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-02-02
THE RIVER S.

THE RIV R PR S
favorably known as q sheep and wool pro-
ducing country, and there is annually a fall
of snow far beyond anything known in Mon
tana, ever at its worst. Sometimes q depth
Of forty feet is reached, and no winter passes
in which there is not double the snow that
has fallen here this winter. Perhaps the
most valuable lesson of the present season is
to demonstrate what this section OF country
is best adapted for, and that this lesson will
be followed there can be no doubt. We are
certain that the fine wool, which it has been
demonstrated can be produced in this section,
will stimulate men of capital to enter the field
and perhaps result in money being Withdrawn
from cattle, TO be placed in an industry more
easily carried on and more certain OF
profit. Even admitting that occasionally an
exceptionally severe winter like the present
will increase the cost of production some
what, we assert that it is positively the finest
sheep country in the world, not excepting
California or Colorado. These countries are
subject to almost annual drouths, more de-
s%tructive than even our present winter here;
and drouth is something to which Montana
will never be subject, owing to its number
less streams and the diversity Of its mountain
| system, which unlike the cactus plains Of
the two mentioned States, leaves no part of
it without its due share Of precipitation. And
stockmen may count on at least three winters
out of four in which they will not be required
to feed their sheep; a condition which no
other country can show, which it does not
offset by another and much worse.
Horses are getting On without trouble, and
we can find a crumb of solid comfort in the
reflection that whatever can pass through the
present season will thrive luxuriantly in an
ordinary winter. We believe an additional
crumb is to be found in this fact, because it
will destroy that false confidence which has
impelled so many into the cattle business, to
the exclusion OF every other industry, and by
diversitying them subtract SO many elements
Of disaster which is liable from an oyer-pro-
duction in a single direction, if not from one
cause, from another. It costs but little more
to raise a horse than a COW, unless is con-
sidered the greater capital required to enter
into the business of horse raising. The ma
tive stock is at once hardy, strong and 1.-the,
and a little of the Norman blood introduced
into it produces the best horse for all pur-
posesin the world. More attention should
be given to this matter, and we believe the
present winter. though it may result hard
with q few who are unprepared, will do more
for the benefit of the country, taken as a
whole, than anything that could happened to
it. No country is safe, no matter what its
climate or production may be, which depends
upon q single industry. Ireland with her po-
tatoes,, France with her vines, or Nebraska
and Kansas with their wheat, are examples
Of this evil, and it would be just as sensible
TO stop raising potatoes in Ireland, making
wine in France, or raising wheat In Kansas,
on account of occasional failure, as to stop
raising stock in Montana, because a single
season has subtracted a fraction of profit
which previously had been abnormally large.
But we can find many crumbs Of comfort If
we will look about US, and see, as we shall,
that we are not alone this winter in losses
which have resulted from exceptionally
severe weather. From Florida to Washington
Territory come accounts Of losses which are
more disastrous than ours. No part Of the
country seems to have been passed over. In
Virginia the mercury has been as low IS %
degrees below zero, and has destroyed al
most entirely the small fruit industry of the
northern portion Of the State, and rendered
difficult the production of other crops in the
South, especially Of fruit. In Florida and in
other Gulf States, the destruction of orange
and fig orchards has been total, and cannot
be repaired for many years-losses which
will aggregate much heavier than our own.
In Texas and Colorado cattle have suffered
from the winter fully as much as here, for,
although there has been a little less snoW,the
stock were much less able to stand the rigor
of the extreme cold which has burst upon
them without warning and without prepare
ton. In Oregon and Washington Territory
the snow fall has been wholly unprecedented,