Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1884-01-03
MONTANA STOCK INTERESTS.
Plain Facts About Our Cattle and
Sheep.
Interesting Letter Prom General James
S. Brisbin.

The wear 1885, now nearing its close,
has been the most remarkable IN the his
tory of the Northwest, and the workers IN
! the development of this grand country
| have right to congratulate themselves on
| the progress made. The completion OF the
| Northern Pacific railroad opens wide
! field. and we have now but to extend lines
! to the right and left of the main trunk to
completely settle the country. The tide OF
| immigration has already followed along the
! advancing track all the way to Oregon, and
! thousands are prospecting the valleys more
remote from the main line, with view to
early settlement. Many curious features
have been developed by the settlement OF
| the Northwest, not the least OF which are
the shipment of cattle west, and the
! migration of people east. No sooner dld
| the iron rail reach the Pacific coast than a
! healthy emigration to the east set IN. 1t
looks strange every day to see two or three
cars of immigrants attached to the freIghts
going east loaded down with people and
their effects These are emigrants from
! the west to the east. They are mostly
Oregon California and Idaho people NOV
ing into Montana and Dakota. The other
day | saw two car loads from the west for
| Minnesota, Wisconsin and the States. Some
of them were even going as tar east as
Ohio and Pennsylvania. The motives
| which influenced these people | found to
| be so various it would be impossible 10 give
them here All were intent, however. and
each one, man and woman, thought he or
she had good reasons for what they were
doing. The probability is that we shall
for time have thing wholly unknown
heretofore in the history of the North
INSTRUMENTATION eastward. For years
people from the States going by the way
of the California overland route and by
the sea have been gathering in Oregon and
along the Pacific coast and have been
penned up for twenty years. The compile
ton of the Northern Pacific railroad opens
to them an easy way of egresS east
ward which they will not be slow to avail
themselves of in the future. The rich and
more sparsely settled Territories of Mon
tana and Dakota reach out their arms to
those people and invite them from the
densely settled seabOards of the Pacific, as
well as from the Atlantic States. The tides
of immigration flowing eastward and west
ward will meet somewhere in Montana
and Dakota and give to these Territories a
more rapid development and growth than
has been the good fortune Of any other
States
The shipment of cattle west is also
another strange development Of recent
times This year eastern Montana has sent
10 market about 24,G00 beeves, and has
received $4,000 head of eastern cattle-an
excess of 10000 head Of import over
export.
This is really wonderful Most Of these
cattle are Young and brought out to grow
up and fatten on the nutritious grasses OF
Montana, when they will be returned 10
the eastern markets as beeves. The east
ern cattle bought for western shipment are
purchased in Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, WlscOn-
sin and Minnesota. They are generally
young, one and twoyear elds, or cows,
brought for dairy or breeding purposes.
How this experiment of shipping eastern
cattle west to winter will come out l am
not prepared to say, but / think it Will
succeed if good care is taken of them the
first winter. Cattle become acclimated in
year or two, and then there is little or no
danger of their dying, no matter how
severe the winters are. A Montana calf
born and reared on the soil, cannot be
killed by severe weather any more than a
buffalo calf.
| have noticed that the hair of cattle
born in this northern climate is longer and
the hide thicker than that of eastern cattle,
so | suppose nature accommodates itself to
the latitude in which it has to exist. Our
stockmen, too, are becoming more careful
of their herds than they used to be.
Many of the more thoughtful now cut
and put up a good deal of hay for their
| ~ IL; thax lafp1V
A moving machine and little labor has
been found to be cheap insurance on a
herd. The great number of cattle shipped
and driven into Montana from other points
during the past year marks it as the future
grazing ground of the northwest. Three
wears ago we had less than 10000 head in
Custer county, and this year $4,000 head
are taxed These probably represent only
about two thirds of the number IN the
county, so that there are 100000 head OF
cattle in Custer county.
The sheep interests have kept pace with
the cattle, and 1ocks from the eastern
States, Oregon and California have been
driven in. Like the immigrants, they have
been moving both ways and centering on
Montana. A few years ago-loT7-the
first flock of sheep was driven down the
Yellowstone, and now there are hundreds
of flOcks numbering thousands OF head. l
have been somewhat skeptical about sheep
in Montana; | doubted if they would do
well in so cod a climate but | am begin
ming to think | was mistaken in my esti-
mate OF the climate, and am fast coming to
the conclusion that Montana is just as good
place for sheep as it is for cattle. The
cattle men of course are bitterly opposed
to sheep, for they eat off the range and de-
stroy it for cattle. In time, as the ranges
crowd, we shall have sheep and cattle wars
the same as they had in Colorado few
years ago, and then the foot sheep
will have to get out and the mounted herd
ers (cattle) will hold the ranges for then
herds The time is coming and is not faI
distant, when this question of ranges and
their ownership will have to be met by the
government At present every large cattle
, owner, and sheep owner for that matter
is a trespasser on the public domain. They
have no legal right to the lands they hold
and cannot retain them against actual set
, tiers.
The homestead and pre-emptlOn laws
| allow any settler to enter upon cattle OF
, sheep range and take up lands. There are
, a lot of men who make business OfannOy-
ing the cattle and sheep men by going
on their ranges and taking up land, not
, for the purpose of using it, but to be bought
; off. | had a man lay OFF a farm around my
, herder's house and quietly squat upon it
A neighbor Of mine had all OF his corrals
, and stables pre- -emptsd by an enterprising
settler The temptation to kill these raga