The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-15
GOOD PROFIT IN BUFFALOES
MONTANA MEN WHO HAVE THRTV-
 ING HERD.
tCattieoesn Make Fime Roof More
 Hardy Than Domestic Cattle.

buffaloes of the United States. all con-
 tablishments of Michael Pablo Charles
 H. Allard Henry Allard Andrew
 Stinger and Sam Weld, on Wild Horse
 island, Flathead lake, Flathead Indian
 reservation, Mont, where by the latest
 count, taken several months ago, when
 Col. Boos visited his home in that state,
 there were exactly 266 head of huffa-
 loes and 75 head of mixed breeds, or
 cattleoes, as they are called in the
 West, The origin of this herd involves
 the history of one of the most remark able enterprises on the North American
 continent. Those above mentioned,
 Pablo, the two Allards, Stinger and
 Weld are full-blood Indians, the first
 four being Flatheads and the latter a member of the Blackfoot tribe. They live on the Flathead reservation, which
 embraces the greater portion of Flat head lake.
 c. H. ,Allard was educated at Fort Benton, Mont, and along in 1885, when the Indians of the surrounding tribes were holding ghost dances to bring back the buffaloes, the last remnants of which were at that time fast disap- bearing, Allard, with admirable fore sight, concluded that such means would never compass the ends desired, and if the Indians wanted to retain the buff faloes, and prevent their extinction, they had better quit dancing go to work, and improve their ranches and breed these animals as they would ordi- nary cattle. In fact he did not hesi- tate to express his views on the sub ject, and to tell the Indians of other tribes that neither the Great Spirit nor any other spirit could bring back the buffaloes out of the hole into which the Sioux and other Indians believed they had fed
 Viewing the matter in this light, AL lard lost no time in capturing as many buffaloes as he could find among the survivors then struggling about over Montana. A little later he was joined in the work by Pablo and Stinger, the three becoming partners in the busi- ness. The animals captured were plac- ed upon that part of the partnership rach known as Wild Horse island, a beautiful tract of almost 1000 acres, covered with rich grass and forest, and lying in F'lathead lake, near it's western shore They started with something less than 50 head, and a year later sam Weld, Blackfoot, who owned 12 head of buffaloes, became a member of the firm, adding his herd to that of his partners.
 The venture proved an immense suc- | cess The range on the island was suf- ficfently extensive, and the environ | ment as congenial as that to which the l animals had been accustomed in | wild state. Tn short instead of being cooped up in narrow quarters and be- 1 mere dispirited show animals, indifferent breeders such as one some times sees in a large zoo, the animals on Wild Horse island have remained to this day in half wild condition, and as | a result in 15 years time have increased | from herd of about 60 to 266 sound, | healthy animals.
 This, however, does not convey a cor rect idea of the manner in which these animals have increased, for ever since the herd was started these men have sold from F to 25 young animals every season to the agents of geological gar IGnS. ESHON1t dlu tb illtttiOilntiS FfBt, since the close of the civil war, have i established number of game preserves in the East, the most notable of which Is the Austin Corbin preserve at Mount Desert Me, so that as matter of fact, the increase has been greater in the 15 years since the esta ablishment of he herd than the figures would at first indicate It is safe to say that if these men had retained all the animals born ,n their ranch the number by this time would be ir the neighborhood of 1000, instead of 266. Lately this firm, the 'ounder of which, Charles H. Allard, is low dead, purchased 35 heads of buffa oes from the successors of Buffalo [ones, thus increasing their herd to 30l md making 1t the largest in the United States. As q money-making venture Allards enterprise has proven equal to m ordinary gold mine, the demand for hese animals having from the outset ar exceeded the supply Moreover heir customers are only very wealthy nen, the poorest of them being persons f such means as Col Cody C'Buffalo 3ilI) or the proprietor of Sells Bros rcus.
 In the management of this herd these nen have paid considerable attention , o the crossing of buffaloes with divers reeds of domestic cattle, producing yhat in the west have been termed cattleoes,' a most absurd name in- s ented by ignorant cow-punchers, who, e on the principle that if a nan is born in a stable he must of ne- essity be horse, have in like manner oncuded that an animal which hap ems to be cross between some indi idual of q herd of domestic cattle and ;
 buffalo is, as a matter of course, a cat taloe'' Pablo Allard & Go. have ( nund that a cross between the buffalo nd the boiled Angus breed of cattle reduces magnificent marbled beef that I superior to the best short-horn and ( Hereford meat, and that, unlike any of ' ae domestic breeds of cattle introduced I l the west, these animals inherit T nough of the hardy qualities of their a uffalo ancestors to live through the | inter without feeding, maintaining | ealthy existence, while the domestic I ,w or steer perishes of cold or starva- on The domestic animals have never ! armed to support themselves through } le winter by paving aside the deep ! TOW, and thus getting al the juicy rass lying underneath, but the eat eces' take to this with the same readi- 5 ass as the pure buffalo, which animal T ever goes hungry as long as he can |