The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1884-01-16
STOCK DEPARTMENT.
Contributions for this page respectfully solicited
from stockmen and others.1
SOMETHING ABOUT STOCK.
a Characteristic Letter from the Pen OF
Il. S. Tingley. a We'll Known
Cattle King.
FORT BENTON, Jan s, Is,

FORT BENTON, Jan s, 1884.
Editors of the River Press: u
| wish to say a few words about stock
and other matters through your valu-
able paper, as it is generally known that
within the last fourteen months / have
visited all the cattle ranges in the west,
from the Missouri river to the Pacific
ocean, and from Alaska to lower Mex
leo. My object was to find cheap cattle,
range, markets, etc. [ was much sur
prised to find the ranges west of the
mountains very limited. / have found
for a fact that about all the ranges we
have left are east of the mountains, that
country being between the 10th and 10th
parallels of latitude, and east to longi-
tude 101, which includes a small portion
of western Dakota, Nebraska, a small
strip of Colorado, probably half Of Wye
ming, and %two-thirds Of Montana. and
which, taking all together, is not much
more than half as large as the state of
Texas. Now as we have arrived at these
facts [ will further state that all the best
portion of that is now held by the In
terror department as Indian lands, for
the benefit, as they claim, of Mr.. Lo,
which every sane person knows is q
fraud. They don't care a continental
- AAA A1y1A NJ AS IL A1Oy AOlO
these lands as a reserve i'm order to force
the sale of other lands, now almost
worthless, but which will probably be
used by future generations when this
country becomes as densely populated
as China. Then probably some Of our
future generations will be we'll satisfied
70 settle on the peaks of the Rocky
Mountains. AS the old saying is, !" ne
cessity is the mother of invention and
custom makes laws" but there are
at present none of us stock men who
want to get out any patent for utilizing
the rocky peaks and deep, inaccessible
canyons belonging to Uncle Sam. At
this present age, all we want a patent to
is some land that has long ago been
abandoned by Mr.. Indian.
[ was at Washington CITY a few wears
ago when there was a bill brought up to
open certain Indian lands to settlement.
The bill was read and laid on the table
for consideration. That consideration
was OF course what amount our hired
men representing us there were going
to get to pass the bill. The land spoken
of was exceedingly fine, situated a good
distance from-Well, [ won't saw Helena
but the thing to be considered was.
whether the city would pay more to our
hired men to keep the land in reserve
than we would to have it thrown open.
The city got away with it. Now, read
ers, that is just the reason why we don't
get u lands in the market and oper to
settlement n Every one should
remember that he is a part Of the gov
eminent, and what we all want is what
the government ought to want. i am in
for representing ourselves.
There are some mighty fine locations
for ranches olt around the Sweetgrass
buttes and near the Bear Paw and Little
Rocky mountains waiting for the sons
Of toll, the tillers of the soil. and the
am going to invade. They will prob
ably say. "You can'tst That is what
they told me here when I came to Fort
Benton twenty-three years ago: but /
am here yet and still thing of staying. |
| expect to go down to Belle
Fourche for a while and punch some |
long horns from there to the Chicago |
market, and then I am ready to buy
cattle here in northern Montana at al
most any price. Cattle are cheaper right
here in Montana to-day than anywhere
else in the United States. Taking the
cattle as a class, the ranges and the facil-
tiles for marketing, it beats the world.
| would say to all men engaged in live
stock growing, that if they want to con
tinue In the business they cannot do
better than stay right here. There is no
class of live stock grown in this country
that pays less than Is per cent. Mon
a can boast of larger increase in her
herds and larger profits than any of her
sister territories. She even beats Nor
mondom, according to the last census.
r. s. TINGLEY.