Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-02-24
'rrespondence of the Inter-0cean.

a Paradise for Cattle and sheep
Raisers.
Correspondence of the Inter-0cean
MILES CRY, Montana. In 1876, after
the Custer massacre, General Sheridan
sent to Kansas for General Miles, the
Colonel of the Fifth Infantry, who had
a splendid reputation as an Indian
| fighter, to come up here and assist in
subduing Sitting Bulls hostile band.
He secuted over the country, and it
was finally decided to erect q canton
ment, as center of operations on the
Yellowstone, at the mouth of the
| Tongue river. 1t was called Fort ke-
| ogh, after brave captain OF the Sew
| enth Cavalry, who died fighting by
Custer's side. A large garrison was
placed here, and the fort was used as a
base of supplies for the long, and in
same respects, disastrous campaign,
which finally resulted in driving the
| hostile Indians out of Montana, and
opening up rich and beautiful coun-
try, four hundred miles of river bot
tom, and millions of acres of plateaux
and rolling prairie to settlement.
THE AGGRESSIVE PIONEER
followed the soldiers in and built his
cabin under the shelteripg prntec-
ton of the fort. A cluster of houses
was soon gathered, and town was or
ganized under the name of Miles City.
1t is at the head of navigation on the
Yellowstone, and is the metropolis of a
region that is becoming settled very
rapidly.
| find that the climate is the great
bugbear that keeps away many who are
anxious to come, but those who have
spent two and three and four winters
here tell me that the cold is not so Sc
we're as it is in northern Iowa and Min
| nesota, and a man who has spent the
greater portion of his life in st. Law
renee county, New York, says that the
atmosphere is more agreeable here on
the coldest days, and the thermometer
does not go so low as it does at Water
town. n. Y. When it is cold it is
almost invariably still weather, and the
bitter winds that are felt on the bord-
ers of the lakes or the sea are never
known. A Chicago gentleman, who
was compelled to leave the lake atmos-
phere because of bronchial at11iction,
tells me he has been entirely cured,
and during the two winters he has
spent here has never had Il cold nor a
sore throat. C&tarrh is unknown. and
LUNG DIFFICULTIES ARE CURED.
There is no malaria, and the absence
of moisture in the atmosphere, with its
purity and the abundant supply of
ozone which it contains, make it es-
pecially grateful to those who suffer
from pulmonary complaints.
FUEL Is PLENTY.
Coal seems to exist in exhaustless
quantities, and can be secured at one
half the prices we pay in Chicago. Tie
coal deposits in the Yellowstone field
are found to be admirably adapted for
working, in consequence of easy drain
age, afforded by their gentle dip
toward the Yellowstone river, which
flows through the center of the coal
field. The veins of coal thus far dis
covered in eastern Montana are those
outcropping in the cut bluffs along the
Yellowstone river and in the outlying
buttes. The thickest and perhaps the
best workable coal vein near Miles
City occupies position in the cut
bluffs near the surface of the water in
the Yellowstone river. The next best
vein for mining purposes lies about
seventy-five feet above the former in
the adjacent outlying bnttes.
THE CROPS.
At the last official report it appeared
that 81, ,403 acres of agricultural land
had been taken up under the govern
ment laws for cultivation in this valley,
and that last year 22,250 bushels of
oats and 10000 bushels of potatoes
were harvested that was practically the
first farming year in this region. Since
then the settlement has been so rapid
that the area under cultivation this
year must be ut least thousand per
cent. larger, and the crops have in
creased in equal proportion.
The great demand for local consump-
ton makes farming very profitable,
and vegetables and small fruits bring
the most exorbitant prices. New po-
tatoes when first in market this sum-
mer were sold for ten cents per pound,
and at no time during the summer re-
tailed for less than two and a half.
Turnips and cabbage brought as much
as three cents per pound, and cauli-
fiower-of which the finest possible
specimens are grown here-from ten
to twenty cents per head; celery often
! twenty-five cents a bunch, and beets,
parsnips, satisfy, etc, bring
CORRESPONDENCE HIGH PRICES.
Tomatoes, which are a somewhat more
uncertain crop on account of the posi-
BILE early frost, bring from ten cents to
as high as thirty cents per pound. OF
the small fruit there is a still better op-
portunity for money making. Straw
berries are never sold at less than 33s
cents, in large quantities, and the usual
| price is 80 cents per quart. Raspber-
ries 80 to 75 cents per quart, and for
the very first in market sometimes 81
is obtained. Currants bring so to 60
cents per gallon.
Experiments in wheat culture have
met with the most hattering results,
although as long as farmer can make
twice the money cultivating oats or po-
tatoes for the local market it will not
be largely entered into, unless some en-
terprising man should utilize this mag
DlUC6lt water pOHSI W 6TeCtluS Il
Touring mill.
STOCK RAISING
is and will be the idea in Montana.
There are %, 100000 acres of the finest
grazing land in the world in the basin
of the Yellowstone. The famous bunch
grass, which is the most nutrieious
upnn which cattle can feed, is found
here in its most luxurious growth, aad
As it cures early upon the ground, it
furnishes a supply of hay for winter
without the expense of harvesting.
The best cattle ranges are IN the hills
back from the river bottoms, the slope
being covered with bunch grass, which
the winds keep clear of snow In the
winter season. the intervening canyons
furnishing shelter from storms, and in
exhaustible springs of water abouuding.
Here the hardy native cattle range
the whole year without expense or
attention on the part Of the owner, ex-
cept at the annual "round up" In the
spring for the purpose of branding the
calves. The only outlay necessary Is
the construction of log cabin for resi-
dence aod a corral to hold the cattle
during the branding season Cattle
raising has been for years the staple in
dustry in western Montana, but Is only
in its infancy IN the Yellowstone Val