The Coconino weekly sun., 1892-04-28
\ cat,leman's Trip to Montana.

l have heard that all buffalo trails run north and south. l now find that nearly all railroads run east and west, and if you want to travel from south to north you must do a right smart of switching" From Arizona the route taken was by the way of La Junta, | then to Pueblo and Denver, and Chey- enne, the latter place, the erstwhile capital of the "Cattle Barons," and at one time said to be tho wealthiest town per capita in the world, but at present a good common everyday wes- tern town, from here the route is over the Union Pacific through Laramie | past the 1000 mile tree, down Echo canyon past the Devils Slide, the Dev- iIs Gate, and a deviliSh lot of rough | barren countrythrough the land ofSaints to Ogden full grown old fashioned town, claiming population of 22,0OO souls, and a fine Union depot on the door of which l noticed the legend .'Womens Waiting Room" Your cor respondent took the pains to walk around to the other door, hoping the sign might read "Gentlemens Room but it was simply "Mens."
 From Ogden we pass through a rough country to Pocatello, Idaho where we are switched off to Butte Montana twelve year old Leadville with many big brick buildings, electric cars. numerous churches, hospitals, saloons and hurdy gurdy's and an aggregate pay roll of $S00,000 per month. From Butte to Helena, along narrow rim valleys through high mountains bored full of tunnels and prospect holes, no one in sight all seemingly deserted. We find Helena, town worthy to be Montana's capital. | It has all the airs of an eastern mctro- polls. Many of the millions taken out of the Comstock have been exchanged for brick and marble and piled up into six and ten story buildings From
 here F hours east and we are at the little town of Forsythe, right in the center of the range country. From here | I took look around from a saddle.
 1t is a rolling country well timbcred along the streams, with plenty of running water, and grass galore, gram
 ma knee high aud headed out like oats, besides blue joint sacatone and buffalo ! grass so overgrown that hardly knew them. 1 found the ranges thinly stock ed, cattle in good condition, and they
 tell me that except in unusually hard
 winters their loss is very small. Wages
 here for punchers are $40 per month,
 as all ranches have plenty of hay. and
 usually good garden the boys have plenty of milk, eggs and butter, live better and work little harder than
 we of Arizona, during winter they
 have a deal of grangering to do besides
 bog pulling, horse breaking, and in
 summer they always have a night herd to hold. all wear fur overcoats, "shaps' and mittens in winter and every chuck
 wagon carries tent, it being to cold
 and wet to sleep out much of the time.
 Arizona steers are brought to these | ranges and after being held here one year sent tO Chicago where they usu'
 ally weigh from 1900 to 1900 and sell
 right up with the corn fed steers from Kansas and Nebraska often bringing
 Ilc. It costs $l10 per car to shiE
 from Holbrook to Orin Junction Wy,
 oming from here to these ranges (ab0ut 300 miles) it will cost about 50c pel
 head tO trail, contracts can be made tC
 hold them here at Sl,50 per head pei anuum, and from here to market
 counting freight, feed, yardage anC
 commissions it costs about SC per heaC
 you can figure out pretty good price
 But just now Governor Barber says WI
 cant take our steers up there, and the
 Governor seems to have the say
 Once in while the intense colo
 comes before the snow, and then many
 cattle die for lack of water every . stream freezing over, but this has no ! occurred since 'S6, and the loss ther
 was comparatively light on steers,
 Being ready to go home, we find i doesn't make much difference whether
 We start cast or west, so we get tick D ct for St. Paul. The North Pacific is
 model railroad the trains are vesti : bule dining cars and tourist sleepers
 in all trains everything is first class , It passes through country sparsel! | settled, but little towns have started 5 up all through Montana and Dakota Many of the settlers are Russian , Swede or Dane. All are thrifty, hard
 workers, and to survive here it would , soem that they must be so. In dut , time we reach Minneapolis and ter
 miles further St. Paul, from here wt
 must turn back southwest and l2 hours
 brings up to Omaha. Then 6 hour;
 ride via Lincoln to Superior and wC are in the center of the "fceding coun' try This place is just one mile iron the Kansas line, the country around Il is very productive, it has five railroad; , and is in every way adapted for hand ling steers. l went out to some of the
 feeding pens, saw many steers that hao come from Arizona. They were being : herded in punches of 400 to 300 or corn stubble ground during day time at night they would water and turr them into pens where hay had beer , scattered for them. In few day; they told me these steers would be fec corn. this with the new grass wouio
 fix them ready for the market so as tt
 get them 8 little ahead of the range
 shipments The cost of handling steers here is hard to calculate. It can only be done in small punches and each one
 under different conditions, feed must
 be bought in convenient quantities al
 varying prices. l do not believe the
 business is usually very profitable
 Superior has large and lucrative
 iuo trade with their neighbors ovel the line in Prohibition Kansas.
 Ern1n Snnerinr it is D cnmparatively