, 1885-07-16
M0NTANA'S WEALTH.
THIRTY THREE VARIETIES OF GRASS
GROWING ON THE PRAIRIE.
Extent OF Available Grazing Land, for
cattle-fhe sprInE hoand-up-Brand-
Ing the C~sives-sh~sp Growing
started Horses -ylgiiantes-

Fort k~ogh Oor. San Franriscp Chronicis
When your correspondent first came 10
Montana. some years ago. the vast plains
and ~raires. carpcied knec deep with Ink
uriant but. alo aud bunch grass were H.
orally covered black with thousands upon
thousands Of buffalo | remember once
travelling through II single herd north Of
the Missouri river for three days. and
never once. during light. being out Of
sight OF bison These PLANES aud prair.
les. which proved 10 be such excellent
grnling ground for buffalo. were Ger
tainly as good for domest C animals. and
as soon as the country was freed of hos
tile Indians the white mon anne pouring
in from every side. driving their aocks
and herds before them
n the prEiries OF Montana grow no
less than thirty.three varieties Of grass
aud clover grass, among which are TO be
found a kind Of blue aftermath of clover.
similar TO the famous blue grass Of Ken
lucky. numerous meade W foxtaiis. orch.
ard grasses. timothy. and above all. the
rich, Juicy. succulent buffalo grass. which
can be found Q erywhere In the greatest
abundance the year round. and which
cures on the ground without rotting. No
wonder that the cattle thrive and become
fat. Such feed is better than gra Il for
beef cattle. and the wild plains Of Mon
lhud, NltIt NhAliC hAC luIutu iooot 70
rustic and receive 10 further attention
other than two s%emi.annual round.ups
for the branding Of calves and cutting out
OF marketable becves. actually make bet.
ter beef than the stall fed cattle of the
states. The wild thyme. mingled with
the native grasses. gives a peculiar flavor
10 the meat, which no other section Of our
country can boast Of.
The available grazing land in the terri
tory mot counting the Indian reservations.
which number nearly %, 90. 900 acres OF
beautiful, fertile lnnd) can be set down at
about so, 600. 900 acres. Less than 10,
900 Indians control 2s. 600. 900 acres.
which gi, es an average of 1850 acres TO
each buck. squaw and pappoose In every
tribe. or n little over two and a half
square miles to each individual. II u
white man wants that much land he has
to buy H. 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 800 range cattle
in the territory today more than l.000,-
900 are scattered over the hills and
through the va leys
As I said before. the spring round.ups
arc for the purpose of branding calves and
the fall round ups for The cutting out OF
marketable bee Is. l was an amused and
interested spectator At tho Miles City
stock yards a day or two ago, when a
cattle King Of this section was branding a
number OF young calves that had been
dropped during the winter months. rs
well as n new lot OF importations Just re
ceived from Iowa for stocking n new
range. AS is usual in such cases the tally
men for the buyers and sellers kept nc
count of the cattle according to their
brauds when they were driven through
H.. aN..N w.t.-. a.. -. -. -
on the animals The cattle were driven
from section to section OF the yards. until
they reached the narrow branding place.
into which they walked in single file, A
hot fire was burning on the outside and a
dozen branding irons were kept ready TO
impress the mark Of the owner Upon the
sides of the ANNA 3. When about a dozen
were imprisoned the branding iron was
applied between the rails OF the shute TO
the shoulder Of each animal They
kicked aud squirmed vigorously on feel
ing the rcd-hOt impression. but In about
ten minutes the operation was entirely
over and the prisoners were released and
ran quickly from the lire to another por-
ton Of the yard.
sheep growing was started a few Year,
ago as an experiment 1t Is an G peri
ment no longer. The high. dry ant
healthy climate OF Montana seems TO be
particularly favorable to this industry,
and the fiber Of the wool produced Is said
TO he far better than that IA ised in Wyo.
ming. Colorado and Nebraska. On the
divide west of Livingstone, a settler
named Nelson has q flock Of about 10
AnPora goats grazing in the Middle Creek
valley. Its the only stock of that class
ia the country Their hair Ia long and
white and soft as six Some Of the bucks
nre very large, with enormous horns. sim
lar TO The famous sheep Of the Zig Horn
mountains and are rs gentle and docile rs
kittens.
Horso-ranching is also one of the prin
cipal industries Of Montana our
English cousins who come 70 Montana In
search Of health and wealth generally un
dertake the rails ng Of horses in preference
to investing their capital in cattle. The
profits, however. nave never been so large
with the equincs ns with the Lovincs. ow
ing TO the sncce sful operations Of the ex
traordinary large bands of horse. thieves
that infested the country last year. The
vigilAntes strung up no less than tfty-nine
between May aud October Of last year