The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-12-19
THE CLARKE HORSE SALES WILL
BE CONTINUED.
new MARKETS CREATED
Eastern Montana Towns Made Gamers
at Expense of Omaha and
St. Louis.

A. B. Clarke, who last summer con.
Quoted the first regular horse sales
in Montana, is preparing to continue
the sales next season and on a larger
scale, if possible. The sales of last
season he says proved satisfactory to
all concerned, while the prices OBJ
tanned were better than would have
been secured for the same class of
animals by shipping them east. To
satisfy himself in this regard he made
a personal experiment by forward
ing a carload of representative horses
east and the prices he received we're
markedly below those paid for sim
liar stock sold at his sales in Mon
tana. While all the sales he held
were successful he considers the ones
conducted in this city were the most
profitable. Next summer he thinks
the sales at the different points at
which he expects to operate will be
better attended and as a result of in
creased competition anticipates pro-
portionately higher prices. He will
open at Miles City, then go to Sheri-
dan, Wyo., and come to Billings next.
He hopes to have the first sale in
May, a month earlier than last sum-
mer.
One of the principal drawbacks he
was compelled to contend with last
summer consisted of improper yard
facilities at the different cities. The
yards were not properly arranged for
separating horses into small lots, so
as to facilitate their handling. At
Miles City he partially overcame this
difficulty by securing the horses in
temporary pens, but this necessitated
the trouble and expense of building
and tearing down the pens. The lack
OF feeding and watering facilities also
proved annoying. None of the yards
was equipped in this regard. He has
made application to the railroad COM
pany in whose yards he conducted
the sales here to remedy this defect
and has received a promise that his
request will be needed.
In speaking of the absence of ar
engagements for feeding and watering
stock in the yards, Mr.. Clarke said to
the Yellowstone Journal:
"You see, where the sale runs one
or two or three days, the horses have
to be fed and watered. Now, if the
horses have to be turned out to water
there are men required to go with
them and bring them back, and l have
to stand for all that. And if a man
has a SIS horse in with a bunch of
$50 horses and one gets lost, it's al
ways the SIS one that's missing, and
another bill against me, so it
Will be far cheaper if we can get the
proper accommodations at the yards"
Mr.. Clarke also said he was well
that he was transferring the
center for horse sales, so far as Mon.
lana was concerned, from. st. Louis
ana Omaha to the eastern Montana
towns. One man, who had never
oeen west OF st. Louis, came from
pennsylvania and bought five car
Dads at the first sale and eight at
next, and said he would come
again next year. What Mr.. Clarke
considered the most important of all
that he now has the confidence of
me horsemen of Montana and when
nc advertised a sale hereafter buyers
would be present and those wanting
% sell no longer feared that thew
would be compelled to take their
1orses back to the range on account
D the absence of those desiring tn
'uy. The eastern men, also, had con-
ldence in him and knew that if thew
,ame to the sales they would find
ne horses there and could buy good
lock at prices that could be turned
'ver at a profit, Notwithstanding the
expense attached in shipping them
ong distances.