The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1885-07-30
MONTANA'S WEALTH.
THIRTY THREE VARIETIES OF GRASS
GROWING ON the PRAIRIE.
Ettent of Available Grazing .LandS for
Cattio-Ths Spring Round-uP- Brand
ting the Calves Sheep Growing
Started Horses s-yigiiantes-

IFort Kaoyh Cor San francisco Chronicle
When your correspondent first came 10
Montana some years ago. the vast plains
and nrairies. Carleted knee deep with lux
ursnt bul al0 and burch grass were lit
orally covered black with thousands upon
thousands of luffalo | remember once
travelling through single herd north of
the Missouri river for three days and
never once, during light being out Of
sight Of bison. These plaincs and prajr
les. which proved 10 lie such excellent
grazing ground for bu alo. wee Ger
tainiy rs good for domestic snimals. and
as soon as the country was freed of hos.
tile Indians the white men came pouring
in from every side. driving their ticcks
and herds before them
tn the prairics of Montana grow no
less than thirty.three varieties Of gras>
and clover grass. among WI 'Ch are 10 be
found kind of blue aftCrmn n of clio er
similar to the famous blue Grass of Ken
lucky. numerous meadow fOAjaiis orch.
ard grasses, timothy. and a owe all. the
rich. uiCy. succulent buffalo grass. which
can he found erywhere in the greatest
abundance the year round, and which
cures or the ground without rOtting. No
wonder that the cattle thrive and become
fat Such feed is better than gra for
hecf cattle. and the wild pldius of Mon
tana, where cattle are turned loose 20
rustic and receive no further at ention
other than two semi annual round ups
for the branding of taives and cutting out
of marketable heeves. actually make bet.
ter beef than the stall fed cattle of the
states The wild thyme mingled with
the native grasses. gives peculiar !;avor
to the meat which no other section of our
country can boaSt of
The available graz ng land in the terri
tory (uCt counting the Indian reservations.
which number nearly $50 u,OOU acres of
beautiful. fertile landl can lie SET down at
about 81, 900, 200 acres Less than L..
900 Indians control %. 900. 900 acres.
which gi es an average of !, 80 acres to
each buck s9uaw and pappoose in every
tribe or little over two and q half
square miles to each indi, idual If II
white man wants that much land he has
TO buy it. Most of the available land is
eminent domain and supports at the pres
ent writing over 900 900 head of cattle
Ten years ago there were % range catt
in the territory to-day more than l,OOl.
600 are scattered over the hills and
through the va leys.
AS | said before the spring rOundups
are for the purpose OF branding calves and
the fall round UPS for the cutting cut of
ma kelable bee es, was al anu cd aud
interested spectator at the Mics ity
stock yards day or Two ago, when u
Catt.c king of this section was rrandin
number e Young calves that had been
dropped .l.ing the winter months as
well Us a i-~ lot of impOrtatious ust re
ceived from Iowa for stockin Il new
ran-c .As is usual in such eases c ta'ly
men for the buyers and sellers ke t aC
count OF the cattle according to their
bra ds when they were driven through
the shute where the new brand was ut
on the animals. The cattle were DIR vel
from section to section the yards unit
they reached the narrow branding place.
into which they walked in single me A
hot fire was burning on tie outside and
dozen branding irons were kept ready to
Inn ress the mark of the owner upon the
sides of The anma S. When about a do en-
were imprisoned the Branding iron was
applied between the rails If the shule to
the shou der of each animal They
Kicked and squirmcd vigorously on feel
ing the red.hOt IMPRESSION, but in aboIt
ten minutes the operation was entirely
over and the prisoners were released and
ran quickly from the fire 10 another por-
ton of the yard,
sheep growing was started a few years
ago as an experiment. 1t is an peri,
mcnt no longer. The high dry and
hea thy climate of Montana seems to be
particularly favorable 10 this industry,
aud the fiber of the wool produ ed is said
to be far bet er than that raised in Wyo
ming. oorado and Nebraska. On the
divide west Of livingstone, sc tier
named Ac,son has flock of about l.,O
Angola goats grazing in the Middle reek
valley. 1t is The onl, stock of that class
in the country Their ha.r is long aud
white and soft as six Some of the bucks
are very large, with enormous horns. sim
liar 10 the famous sheep Of the / ig Horn
mountains, and are as gentle and docile as
kittens
Horse-ranching is also one of the prin
Cipal industries of Montana our
English cousins who come to Montana in
search of health aud wealth geuerall uu
dertake the raising of horses in preference
to investing their capital in cattle The
profits. however. have never been SO large
with the equines rs with the Eovincs, ow
ing to the succe sful operations of the cx
traordinar large bands of horse. THE, es
that infested the country ast Year. The
vigiantes strung up no less than fifty niue
between May and October of last year.