The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-12-28
for the HOLIDAY RIVER PRESS.
OUR SHEEP INTERESTS.
The Advantages Offered The Wool Grower
in Montana.
By g. D 2.

in Montana.
By q. r.
It has been the general opinion of people
ia the East that to assure success in hand
ling probably large bands OF. sheep, il
was necessary to lOcatein warm latitudes to
prevent the expense OF providing food and
shelter for several months in the yesr-Which
expense annually decimatedthe profits of the
business in the eyes of those who considered
100 per cent. a just compensation for their
enterprise and fortitude in establishing q
business in an untried climate and soil.
The experience Of practical men in the las
few years has forever settled any doubts
that may have existed concerning Montana
upon these points, and she stands today
without a peer in natural advantage s for the
development Of this great branch of industry.
A short comparison with some of the great
sheep countries of the world will fully sus-
tain this assertion. Australia with a climate
Of almost perpetual summer finds her vast
herds continually diminishing by long drouth
and disease. With the annual rental of pas
forage, reducing the time of probable profits
to the periods existing between these inevi-
table p~estilences, thereby producing q con-
slant doubt in the minds of capitalists as to
the safety of their investment. The great
plains Of South America are laboring under
the same disadvantages. Texas, New Mexi-
co, Colorado and Wyoming, with their i'm
mense area lack an abundance Of water and
grass, which is SO essential for the produc-
ton Of staple wool and fine mutton. While
Montana, extending from the Rocky Noun
tains on the west to the Yellowstone river on
the east and the British Possessions north,
with valleys Of unsurpassed fertility, traversed
by innunerable rivers and streams, is fed by
perpetual enoW-clad peaks Of the Great
Rockies and its epurs. Her foothills and
prairies are covered with a luxuliant growth
Of nutritious bunch and buff Ito grasses, sage
brush and herbs to supply the variety of food
essential to produce and maintain good health
in her herds with it's comprehensive wool
and mutton swept by the warm winds of
the Pacific slope, keeping the fall Of winter
snow from accommodating upon its ranges
and destroying its pastoral advantages. Dis
eese, such as fuke and f%ont-rpf, The great
scouTge of England and the Southwest, is
here unknown. Scab when once eradicted
is permanently cured, unless recontracted
by direct contact with diseased herds, which
the laws, in future, will in q great measure
prevent.
Railroads are rapidly advancing in our
midst, offering quick transportation for the
production of wool and mutton to all the
great markets Of the East, and for the latter
a direct market to the Old World, Offering
great inducements for q profitable invest
ment to e%nterprising capital, with the insur-
ance of shipping as fine mutton as can be
raised in any country. The Missouri river,
with the head Of navigation at Benton, will
forever prevent all m%onnpolies and excessive
freight rates, to the detriment of the pro-
Queer and shipper.
All breeds of sheep do we'll when unmo-
Tested by the Hon. Secretary of the Interiors
tender wards, the Indians, and their half
starved dogs) and the experience of most
practical breeders has been in favor Of a
cross between the Merino, Cotswold and
SouthdoWn, the former giving quality and
weight to the fleece and the latter d hearty
constitution, fine mutton carcass and greater
percentage of increase, breeding in all in
stances from the purest males, in whichever
strain chosen. To men of either large or
small means, willing to undergo the hard
ships of the life, and prepared to shelter, and
feed their herds at least two months in the
year, although the latter has been unneces
sary until the past winter Of 1880-81, as the
stacks Of hay aroundth the coralls OF their
owners in the spring will testify, will find
safe investment for their capital with hand
profits for their time and labor.
Ii reviewing the most severe test Mon
ana has ever had to sustain her reputation -
sheep country (the winter Of 80 and ,8I
We find ~manyoWners whose losses were very
amounting almost, in some instances
o their entire herds, but in every case of this
ind it was where the shepherd was wholly
lnprepared to care for his investment, hop
nc like others have done IN The past,to make ]
fortune in q few years, without any OUTLAY
or his protection and return home to enjoy