The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-03-27
NORTHERN CATTLE-RANGEs.
Hew the Peer RFRtes Driven from
Texas Suffer i'll the Blasts OF
a Montana Winter.
The Coyotes and Prairie Wolves on the Trail
Of the Struggling Herds.
A pitis=I and Painful Invasion.

northwest is unprecedented in the his
tory of the country, saysa Miles City
special to The Chicago Times. 1t is Sc
verest on the cattle, many of which
are Texas pilgrims, shipped or driven
in during the late summer and fall.
For the past fortnight the weather,
both day and night, has scarcely ever
been warmer than 40 degrees below
zero, and more often has it been in the
neighhorh0od Of 80 below, acCOmpa-
MED by most piercing winds and biz
yards from the north. Since Dec. |,
when the winter commenced in dead
earnest, there has been no break
in the cold, which has seemed to grow
stronger and stronger every day, until
it eliminated last night in the dread
full temperature of 50 degrees below
zero. Mercury thermometers are all
frozen up, and are of no use. The en-
tire autumn to Dec. | vas beautiful,
balmy weather-all that the cattlemen
could wish for-and saw promise of a
mild winter and a successful season for
the cattle. But since that date cattle
matters have put on a different aspect,
and unless there is a break soon in the
Arctic weather there is apt to be great
suffering among the cattle. Especial
ly will this be felt among the pilgrims,
or rather last seasons impOrtations, for
whom it requires at least one years
residence on the ranges before they
can become acclimated and hardened
to the cold plains of Montana. There
were shipped out of Montana, lastsea-
son, about $4,000 cattle, including
dressed beeves, while fully POO, 900
were brought in for fattening pUrpO-
SEES. Over so, 900 were imported by
rail. The majority came from Texas,
and were y~earlings. BY the end of
the second year, if living, they will be
hardy Montana steers, thoroughly ac-
climated, and able to rustic for them
selves. But the first year all new cat
tie require some attention and more or
less feeding. Hence it is that the
present cold snap is an unfortunate
thing, especially for the Texans. If
they weather this season successfully,
nothing except a very severe winter will
cause any material loss among them.
Reports from all over the territory
say that the cattle are suffering great
ly, both natives and pilgrims, and that
it is feared a u owe the ranges will
show heavy losses. In the northwest,
near Fort Benton, the snow is very
deep and the weather very cold, so
that the cattle cannot find sufficient
nourishment from the scant grazing,
and are therefore suffering according
". Near Missoula, west of the Rocky
mountains, and also in northern Idaho,
the snow is said to be from five to SIX
feet deep, and the cattle are coming
in from the prairies, driven in by the
protracted blizzard which is sweeping
over that section of country. In the
southwest, near Bohemian, in Madison,
Beaver Head, and Gallatin counties,
the same state of affairs exists, and the
suffering las extended to the bands of
sheep as well as to the cattle herds.
In the Musselshell district cattle mat
tiers have a rather gloomy appearance.
Late in the fall many rowing bands
of Indians, - Piegans, Crows, and
Blackfeet,-in their numerous maraud-
ing expeditions against each other,
stealing horses from the whites, and
running off stock whenever an oppor-
tunity offered, maliciously set the
prairie on fire and burnt efa the grass.
The Musselshell country was particu-
larly unfortunate in this respect, as
directly through it lay the roadway
over which the Plegans came south to
raid the Crows, and over which the
| Crows travelled north to get at the
PiegaAs. In consequence of these fire.
quent expeditions q great zeal of fine
grazing country was burned over, and
now the cattlemen of that section feel
the effects of that calamity. The last
great fire in the Sweet Grass hills
burned a tract ofscountry thirty-five
miles in width and twice as long, con
Stunning a number of haystacks put up
by the ranchmen for winters use. II
commenced about Dec. 9 and burned
five days. during which time an i'm
mense amount Of good grazing was
consumed, and many cattle in conse-
quence left on very short r~ations.
Cowboys have been going owe the
burned district and the country ada.
cent thereto gathering the cattle and
driving them to the foothills and shell
tered places, where they will fare
much better than on the open prairie
while the extreme cold weather lasts
All along the Northern Pacific
railroad in Montana and Idaho the cat
tie are congregated near the tracl
looking for shelter, and not seeming
TO relish the deep snow of the opeI
prairie, where blizzards + sweeping
with tremendous force. The poo
creatures are actually frightened, ant
don't know what to do with themselves
They get under the bridges, or# in thu
bitches on the sides of the track, o.
gather in knots and lunches in tn
willows, near streams, and don't seen
to care to Craze. The native cattle ap
pear TO fare badly also, but the creates
suffering is among the new cattle
who don't know what to do for water