The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-05-07
FROM THE NORTHWEST.
A Former Garrett County Boy Writes
of His New Home,

my many friends In dear old Garrett
faint description of a small part
of this great northwest. At the
present, being best acquainted with
the county of Valley, my home
county, | will cOnfine my descrip-
ton to it. 1t lies in the extreme
north eastern part of the state,
and extends from the Missouri
river north to the Canadian line,
and from Chotean county on the
west to Dakota on the east. The
surface is mostly a high rolling
prairie; with the exception of the
two Indian reservations that lie
within It's borders, and the few
claims that have already been taken
up, it is all government land and
open for settlement. Settlers can
either Homestead" or "desert"
claim the land, or both; but in Ell
Their case one person can get title
to only 800 acres. 1t costs SIG for
fling and five years residence to get
a title to 100 acres by homesteadlng;
then you can "desert" claim of
100 acres. You need not live on it
but have to pay the government
SI.25 per acre for it-twenty-fve
cents per acre when you file your
intentions of improving the land
and one dollar when you make YOUR
final filing. You have three years
time in which to make your final
filing and do or have done work to
the value of $50 that the law re-
quireS to be done on each 100 acres
before you can get title. If you
don't wish to homestead you can
desert a claim of 800 acres by pay
ing Sl.25 per acre and dong $500
worth of work.
Valley is a young county, being
formed in 1898, and here, compar
atively speaking, is called small
county. Yet when it is estimated
by miles it is not so small, for it's
average width from the Missouri
river to the Canada line is one hun
dred miles and its length is nearly
three hundred miles. Estimated
by the number of its inhabitants it
is small, as 1t is yet sparsoly settled.
| am not able to give its exact num-
Der Of inhabitants, but hardly
believe its white population would
reach 1900, as there are few white
families. At our last election, the
autumn Of 1894, there were 4OG
registered voters. The county has
quite a floating population such as
eX and would-be tough "cow punch
ers." They are known as grub
hne' riders. They ride from one
camp to another in the fall and
winter and they generally fare
pretty well, as it is customary in
this country for the latch string to
be free to all who wish to enter.
One can yet find a few real live
COW boys, but IN few more years
the tough cowboy will be a thing of
the past, Stock raising is the prin-
cipal industry. AS yet there is very
little Branching" (farming) done,
but believe as soon as this floating
population is forced out or forced
to 90 to work and the country gets
settled up with a class of people
who are more inclined to farm,
Valley will be one of the leading
counties IN the state in grain raIs-
ing. There is large and fertile
valley along Milk river that extends
from east to west through the
county and the numerous creeks
which have large bottoms that put
in on each side Of the river are very
fertile. At present Valley is a
great cattle county. Nearly all the
large cattle outfits of the state are
located here and it is surprising to
see the number of beef cattle ship
ped out in a season. You may be
able to form some idea of the num-
Der when some Of the larger outfits
each ship from fifteen to twenty
thousand head every fall and from
that the outfits dwindle down to
two and three car loads each. Each
outfit has a certain brand for their
cattle and those large outfits are
known by what their brand repre-
sents. For instance, if the brand
is a horse shoe they are known as
the horse shoe outfit. These large
outfits are companies and none of
the owners live in the county; but
the small outfits arc individual
owners and live here. In this
country if man has nothing but a
horse and saddle it is termed his
outfit.
The largest cattle outfit of the
northwest is located th1rty-five
miles west of Glasgow. They aim
to ship twenty-five thousand beef
cattle every fall. The brand is
N N and they are known as the Ms.
The owners are three brothers and
they live in st, Louis, Mo. You