The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-06-01
the SH[ARERS' HARVEST.
Visitors frcyn California and New
York Who Will Be With
US for Six Weeks.
A Business and q Glass Of Men
Little Known by City
People.
They Travel al Over the Country, but
seldom Paw Railway FArs-Ths Profits
and the Record OF Frank M~oreland.

During the coming week the annual shear
ing Of the sheep of the state will commence.
II lasts about six weeks and furnishes en-
ployment to a large number of men who
follow it as a business. An old California
shearer told the writer the other day that
there we're 800 of his trade now in the state,
n he believed that number would be
ample to DO the work required. These
sheep shearers are a migratory SET, com-
PEELED 30 to be bv their calling. In Mon
tana the shearinR Is done by two classes-
Californians and New Yorkers. In the Pa
citic coast states there are two shearing sea-
sons-the first commences Feb. l INT ends
May l; the second commences Aug. l and
ends Nov. l. During each season the aver
cage shearer clears about $500, making
81, 200 in that state. When the spring shear
ing is completed in California the men
start east. 1t is seldom they pay railroad
fare, going with cattle or horses whom pos
sible, and when they oanno work their
way. they beat it. They work through Ore
gon and Washington, and get to Montana
about May 25. The shearers work in crews
of from five to twenty. under q fore
man of their own selection. This
foreman usually travels ahead of his men,
looks up work and notifies his men where to
meet him. The starting points in Montana
are Missoula, Helena, Cascade, Great Falls,
Manhattan, Miles, Livingston and Glendive.
They generally work in crews of five to
eight. and go from ranch to ranch. At one
or two points in Montana there are public
~corrals, to which the sheep to be sheared
are driven. This fast hands make about
RGN c1anr md on1oovpN RI "a Lo fho a m amt
back with them.
TIT average number sheared each day is
fifty, blu many of the men handle from 100
to $50. The best record known among the
shearers is that of Frank Moreland, who
sheared 276 sheep in eleven hours at Sprague,
Washington, last year. In Montana the
price per head runs from eight to 12115s cents,
the average being 10 cents. This, in almost
every case, includes board, though. in re-
cent years, some Of the shsepmsn have
been charging the shearers a nominal price
for their meals. In California the price is
eight cents, but the sheep there are much
more difficult to shear than the Montana
animal. In Oregon and Washington the
priceFper head is nine cents. The more
rapid a shearer the better the grower likes
it. In the first place, the work, is sooner
finished, and the fastest shearsr cuts the
sheep the least. The hand who only gets
over twenty or thirty a day is generally q
butcher. a~
The New York shearers are not nearly 80
in Montana as the Californians,
az they operate in the Dakotas. They are
not as expert, either, and when they come
into competition the Californian gets the
contract. AS a rule the Californians take
care of their money. and while there are
hard cases among them, the majority after
q few years become growers themselves.
Their profits average aoout 81, 500 annually
they learn to live economically. and it is
not many years before they are able to quit
the business.
In former years the price per head in
Montana Was 12111 cents. sometimes getting
as high as Is cents, but each year for the
past five the number of workers has in
creased and the price has gradually fallen.
Once in a while a crew will get a ranchman
at their mercy, and then there is trouble.
but this seldom happens, as the owners all
work together and the shearers find it best
to act as fairly as possible.