The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-09-26
STILL 1T rs TRUE.

In his speech at Butte Saturday night
Congressman Bynum is reported to have
said: 1.-THE largest herds of sheep
are being sold off; the farmer finds it an
Improbable industry to raise them"
That may do to tell in Butte, but in
Fort Benton we are not entirely pre-
pared to accept it. When it is remem-
bered that only the highest prices can
induce our sheepmen to part with their
fiocks; that nearly all the sheep sold
Dakota to parties who wish to embark
tana sheep is higher than it has been for
years past, and that the demand for
sheep is 80 great that 10000 or 10000 Of
them placed on the market would be
quickly bought up by sheepmen in this
We feel unwilling to indorse the state
ment of the learned gentleman from In
diana.-River Press.
Still it is true. Congressman Bynum
was speaking Of the sheep industry Of
the whole country and not of that in
any particular state or Of any particular
portion Of a state. 1t is true that in
Montana with it's almost boundless free
ranges, where sheep can grow and thrive
and fatten upon grasses which cost the
sheepmen nothing, and where the indus
try is pursued with but little cost, save
that involved in their care, sheep bear a
good price, especially this year. This
advance is due, however, not to the
value of their ~fieeces, but to the value Of
the sheep for mutton. The Chicago
market quotations for the Ord inst. tell
the story. They read:
Market slow, lower.
NatlVe ewes. .S3.0O04.oO
Mixed and wethers .......... 4.6O@5.1O
Westerhs.
LamDs
With meats of all kinds higher and
the sheep of northern Montana rolling
fat upon free, luxurious grasses it is no
wonder that in the face of the above
quotations they bear a good price and
that shrewd men with capital at com
mand are eager to engage in the sheep
raising industry for mutton alone. But
Montana with less than 100000 of the
100000 sheep in the United States,
cuts but a poor figure in sustaining the
whole number Congressman Bynum re-
to.
AS a matter of fact it has long been
known that sheep raising upon a large
scale is Improbable pursued upon lands
worth over S. per acre. This fact has
forced sheep raising from the east to the
west Of the Missouri river, where lands
are cheaper and where the ranges are
open and free. In 1866 the states of
Ohio. Michigan, Pennsylvania, New
York, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and
Iowa had 26,S29,815 sheep. In 1883 the
same states could count only 12,211,O76.
the same period the states of
Texas and California could number 49,
In 1888 they had but S,6l5,451.
This decrease in numbers was due not
only to the appreciation in the value of
lands in those states, but to a high wool
and the demand for lambs for table
use, O,OOO,OOO being annually slaughter
ed, as they were more profitable for the
butchers stalls than they were for wool.
When Congressman Bynum said that
the number Of sheep in the United
States was rapidly decreasing and that:
The largest herds of our sheep are
being sold off; the farmer finds it an un-
profitable industry to raise Them" he
spoke by the card. The Largest herds
are in Texas and California, not in Mon
tana. The gentleman had reference to
those states. When our grazing lands
in Montana become worth over s. per
and the lands fenced as they are in
Ohio and Michigan, the large bands of
sheep in this state will scatter as they
have in the east and the sheep industry
be confined to the small farmer or ranch
holder. 1t will be many a day before
condition of the industry will exist
in this state, but the moving Of popula
ton westward will naturally bring it
about in time. In the meantime the
slope of the Rocky Mountains
be the home of the sheep industry
IF the nation and the principal source
from which the eastern markets will
their supply of mutton.