The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-06-22
Thousands OF Head From the Pan
handle Now on Their Way TO
Eastern Montana.
During This Year, at Least, There
Will Be an Abundance Of
Grass for Them.
Life Along the TrAil-How the Cowboy oi
To-Day Differs From Him Of Early
Kansas Times.

AOV~s INuutbHys @D ~ 80
communication with stockmen all over
Montana, and knows just what is tho out
look. According to his information it will
be the best grass year Montana has had for
a long while, but there will probably be
cattle enough on the range to do them full
justice. Ever since 1886 the number of big
herds in Montana has been decreasing,
largely owing to the short grass crop. Last
year not only many Montana growers, but
those of all growing states, shipped about
all the stock they could get together to
market, and in consequence after this
sping opened there were comparatively few
cattle on the northern n This will
not long be a fact, however, because heavy
purchases of Texas cattle nave been made
in the past few months and many herds are
now on their way to Montana, most of
which will 90 to Dawson, Custer, Choteau
and Yellowstone counties. As q rule they
are two-year-o!d steers, sent north to be
fnttened on Montana grasses, to be mar
keted after remaining here two years.
While these new arrivals will add a great
deal to the assessable wealth of the coun-
tics where they will be located, they will
nevertheless crowd the ranges to a certain
extent, as was the case IN 1885, when big
shipments of Texas cattle were received.
Tit cattle which will arrive in Montana
this year are now passing through Colora-
do. The sights along these "trails," as
they are termed, would furnish many col
umns of interesting reading, did those who
make up the outfits think the subject of
sufficient interest to note all the experiences
they have from the time they leave the
Panhandle Of Texas till their herd ia deliv-
cred on the Montana range. They could
tell of days in which they wallowed through
mud, in pouring rains, and in which food
was not touched from five O'Clock in the
morning till seven in the evening; of nights
in which q bed was made in the mire, and
wrapped in their blankets. the tired cow
boys slept a dreamless sleep, despite the
still falling rain. They could tell, also,
of sudden storms, in which the cattle
became panic-striken, and often hours of
hard riding were required to keep them
from scattering to the four winds OF
heaven. .Then they could tell of other
days on which the sun shone brightly, and
when the cattle travelled as quietly and
peaceably az the milch COW, stopping
every hour or two to feed on the abundant
grasses. OF the stories told at the camp
fire, after the cattle had been bedded and
everything was in trim for the night, many
chapters could be made.
But on the average cowboy the scenes on
the drive make but little impression. They
even become IN old story from constant
repetition, and when he arrives at the end
of his journey he takes a day or two off,
enjoys himself to his full bent, and then
goes back to the Panhandle.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,-
900 head of cattle are now on their way to
Montana, to be followed by nearly as many
more. The first consignment is being
driven in about forty trails" of $500 cat
tie each. TIL ~''trails'' are twenty-four
handle to Montana will occupy between
two and three months, travel being made
at the rate of from ten to fifteen miles
a day. The term ~'trail," in the
Texas vernacular. is applied to
an o.tt, ous : to comprising herd
say 100 head, n a crew of eleven men.
This crew includes a foreman, a man ex-
perienced in drives and live stock, horse
%wrangler, and the well-known and
often described cowboys or driv-
the horses of the trail, driving
the reserve stock and relays ahead of the
cattle, and looking to their herding, pastur-
ing and corraling. The cook drives a four
horse team drawing a wagon loaded with a
ton or two Of provisions and
usually twice a day makes camp
and prepares the lmeals for the mon
in the outfit. The supplies carried include
canned meats, flour, tea, coffee, salt. sugar,
and dried fruits. Potatoes and other vege-
tables are purchased along the route.
The Texas cowboy II nearer being
like the old-time rider thai he of other sec
tions, but even the Panhandle centaur has
quieted down now, and only rides into ga.
Looms and shoot the necks off BOTTLES semi
occasionally. AS for a band of them tax
ing a town." as in the early Kansas days,
such a thing is rarely lone now. Several
years ago the Montana stockmen decided
that range-riders should go unarmsd and
now but few of them carry firearms, and
these only where they are likely to have
trouble with Indians. TIL result of this
move of the Nontana cowmen has beer
that a better class of men have gone TO
work on the ranges. n but few fatal
quarrels are reported.
Several years ago there was a move or
foot to establish a national cattle and horse
drive from Texas to Montana. The scheme
was to reserve No Mans Land, Western
Kansas, western Nebraska, western Dakota,
eastern Colorado, eastern, Wyoming and
eastern Montana, 80 that cattle could b;
driven from Texas to the Northwest terri
country. Settlers along the proposed route
objected. however, and the matter fell
through. Now the herds take the most
feasible way of getting north. following
the line suggested by the proposed natura
route,
| 10 mt Insp,tr cf Dnr;nu ,,Dpr .;,l, ho,J,cb.