The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-17

Initial WOOL marhet Vi thS
and hat every year 5000. 900 or 100000
pounds of wool are sold here by the
grower to the broker hardly
any idea of the fact that the wool sales
are a peculiar feature of the business
of this city, nor does ~ give one an i'm
preston of the immensely of the trans
actions. 1t is true that its Importance
to the city has been advertised In every
folder and circular sem abroad, but I'M
less one has been on the spot and wit
messed the detailed transactions, he
fails entirely to comprehend the weight
which is apparently attached to the
wool season by every citizen OF Great
Falls.
The first movement in the matter be-
gins with the drying up of the mud In
the country roads in the early spring;
IL is tben that long lines of empty
Gig wagons make their appearance
in the city, lining the sidewalks in
front of the mercantile establishments,
their variety in beasts and the harness
in which they are dressed being a
source of interest to casual crowds.
These freight trains are the harbingers
of spring and the wool season. They
come in from winter quarters in varl-
GUS parts of Northern Montana for the
purpose of taking out to the sheep
dUCIIC Llol oto,R "a
which is needed in the lambing and
shearing s~eason-the years supplies
for the ranch being purchased at the
end of the market. These freight
trains disappear after two weeks and
they remain out of town, those not en-
gagged in the regular business OF
freighting, for about two months.
During that time the sheepman has
no minutes to spare. Perhaps he
has no time to throw away at n sea-
son of the year. but that season is sure
to be particularly busy. The shearing
follows closely upon the heels of the
lambing and until the wool is baled.
freighted to town and placed in h big
warehouse of the Great Northern, he
does not stop to take breath. The care
of the ewes before lambing and the
sheltering of the young animals and
their mothers after birth, the providing
of quarters for the shearers and the
constant push and hurry make one
long. anxious season. The time for re-
taxation comes when the grower
reaches the city. sells his clip and
pockets or deposits the draft on Chi
cago or Boston given him by the
buyer.
Some time in the last days of June
the freight trains again make their ap-
pearance in town. This time they are
not empty. but are, heaped high with
burlaped bales, weighing from 100 to
800 pounds each. The train usually
consists of about three heavy wagons
with various kinds of bodies and heavy
running gear held together by trail
tongues and drawn by 10 or IL horses.
Often in threatening weather the loads
of Is or 20 bales are further protected
by ~canvases. They move slowly from
the ranches to the town, camping at
night near wood and water and re-
Stunning the journey in the early morn
ing. Many of them travel thus from
$1,000 2-I
other equally distant points. the grower
preferring. for many obvious reasons,
to sell his clip in the Great Falls mar
ket, provided the cost of transporta-
ton is not abnormally excessive. AT
the warehouse during the eason ii is
not an sight for Is or 20 of
these heavy trains to be drawn up in
line, each waiting his turn to unload.
Sometimes the numbe of waiting
trains. as in last year when extraordi-
nary conditions prevailed, reaches over
80 and the procession moves slowly for
ward through the length of a day I'M
til the man who took his place at the
tail of the line at dawn, finds himself
at night camping by the side of the
warehouse platform. ready to unload
the next morning.
Inside the warehouse a gang of la
borers is busy with trucks. taking the
bales inside and stacking them up,
each clip by itself. AS the bale is taken
from the wagon 1t Is thrown upon a
platform scales and then the weight
and the initial. brand or other hero
glyphic Of the owner is stenciled or
III burlap. The same is also entered
on the book of the checker and KEEP
for reference of the owner. the railway
and the buyer. About the time the
warehouse begins to show signs of fill
ing up the sales begin.
With the arrival of the wool come the
hl1VarC ThAv uothn- - thA 4sX.x T-1-
every point. Many of them have beer
out of the home office for months, buy.
ing in all the different wool markets OF
the country. from Texas to California
representing. usually. brokers in Bos
ton. New York. Philadelphia, Chicago
and San Francisco. That from % to 81
of them come to this market every sea,
son Is another indication of the i'm
portance of the event. They are ordi
narily in town several days or week,
before the actual buying begins. Som,
OF them put in this time i'm trip
through the country. picking up clip
wherever a grower allows his pessimisn
to get the better of him.: others settl,
down at the hotels in the city and pu
in their odd moments in becoming &C
quainted with such of the growers al
may chance to come in, or who resid,
here. These come into the city as soor
as operations at the ranch permit
Since midwinter the growers have beef
discussing the probable price of wool
they are now to receive confirmation
or the contradiction of their judgment
Only during the last two seasons hav,
many of them seen any profit in thei
occupation, and naturally the price /
10 them = matter of vital Importance
On II depends the amount of improve
ments which they can make during tn
coming year and often ii settles tn
question whether the band shall be soil
for mutton or kept for another season
Among them the Great Falls market /
preferred for two principal reasons
First. there are more buyers at thf
market than at any other point in tn
state. and competition should therefor
be greater and the price received high
err; second. Great Falls affords the bes
point for the purchase of the year
supplies. and this latter item include