Omaha daily bee., 1885-01-28
MORE ABOUT MONTANA.
d. r.. Ferris Scouts Somewhat Indig-
nantIy the story that Montana
Cattle are Suffering More
Than Usual.
st. Paul Pioneer Press.

man house, st. Paul, is the owner of a
herd OF about ten thousand cattle, which
range uptn or ad jac snt to his ranch, some
forty NIL g east of Miles Cuy. in Non.
tsna. Referring to q letter from NJ les
City recently published in a Chic.go pA.
per, In which it was stated h Vt thu cat.
Is in that section were perishiug In la-qe
numb RS on account Of the cold weather.
Mr.. Ferris pronounced 1t a gross exag
gesrtion-in fact, q dosnright fslsehood.
He receives advites fe, IN h agents every
few day., and on Friday convtrs,d ii h
q well p, sted stockmsn direct from M les
City. Mr. Ferris says the cen iu,n o.
the cattle is as good as du log any
OF the winters of EQUAL severity in
the la't. q d there is really but
little suff ring among them As to
losses occasi ned by the cold, he asse is
they ave been comparatively few. III,
great body of cattle are back near the
h lis, where the grazing is ample to fu =
nish them with necessa y s~ustenauce.
he snow is not mo @ than eight in hes
deep, an IS d Y and light. The C tile
have no difficulty in getting at the grass,
even VIII re the sn W has not blown off.
During the summer and fall the cat le-
men w, re careful to keep their herds as
nea the rail Dads as possible, to est tn,
G ass and prevent the danger of its being
ignited by passing trains and destroying
the emit e range. This has res tied n
secu in{ plenty of grass near the foothills,
and the cattle are now there. Some have
strayed over to the rail DAD track, but his
men a g now engaged in driving them
back. Mr.. Ferr has no fear as to the
safety of his he d. He says if cattle are
gotten in eood condition during the sum
mer or fall tn y will W inter- all right.
Lat ARRIVALS.
He has personal knowledge ef cattle
bling sent TO Montsr a fir ,m the S ates as
c. nditi In-and they have stool the
winter just as well as the accl mated
stock. OF course, if cattle are in poor
c ndltion-be they pilgrims or natives
they will suffer during the winter.
There are, Mr.. Ferris says, about
200 900 cattle on bo,h aides of Mules
CT y, but the story thst there are great
swarms of them about the place suff ring
for food, he ella ms ia not true. There
are always some pilgrim cattle that stay
about the towns during the winter, but
the proportion is very small, inoe d.
Mr.. Ferris says the fact that the letter
in question was written by a tenderfoot
is shown by the statementthat wolves
and coyotes are playing h.vock with the
calves that become exhausted aad drop
down In the snow. Wolves do not oper-
ate ia that way, but prefer to attack a
healthy calf or yearllng. Besides. the
calf, if it be in good condition,
has mora strength and vital
ity than it's mother. AS to the general
condition of the cattle in ths section Of
which Miles City i, a center, Mr.. Ferris
ssys there ia no ground for alarm, and
the winter i, making no serious inroads
upon them. He asserts thst the un'ruth.
full req OTIS have teen sent GU by inter
ested parties, who hope to scsrs off ou'-
side stockmen who have their eyes di-
rected toward the Montana ranger.
MoRE IN DENIAL.
Wilbur Myers, a Montana cat ls man,
who was In st. Paul yesterday, denies
that there has been exceptional mortality
among the cattle on the ra. ches in the
Territory. He says that although he has
Il Ooth dD5Chb ul6 iabCu d uouGu Dc
hss kept himself thoroughly posted on
hs condition of the cattle in the terri.
tory, and that he Is informed by trust
worthy parties at M las City, Glendive,
Billings and Livingston that the cattle
are doing well. Very few native cat
tie had p rished during the season, and
the mo tality among pilgrims had not been
G eater than was naturally to be expected
in any ordinary season. He W of the
opinion, in fact, that the mortality among
pilg inns had been q little less this seas n
t an it was last. He had lost very few
cattle him elf, and tn losses of othe' he
considered as due pa thy to mismanage-
ment, such as to close herdi q. ri e i'm
cattle had also received bruises in t ans
portation, and, Will, they appeared to
h We recovered from these inju les, the
cold weather had probably ffected them
sooner than it would sound s. ok. He
did not regard the seaso, rs extraordina-
lily severe. The snow was six inches deep
at "iles City but he was info med upon
good authority, that it was deeper than
that at Helena and near the mountains.
He also intimated that the stories hat
the e had been ex essive mo tality
Wee put out by parties who had a sinis-
ter object in view.