The Saint Paul globe., 1903-11-10
HE DISCOVERED
LAST CHANGE GutcH
Montana Raneheg Who Had a
Romantic Career, Spends
a Day in the City.

Robert Coburn, tsH.the man who dis
covered Last Chance Gulch," which is
today the principal business street of
Helena. Mont, and from which more
than $S5.000.000 worth of gold was
taken In the early days, was in st.
Paul yesterday, accompanied by his
son, Wallace D. Coburn, poet, cow
puncher and cattle king. 49T
The Coburn Cattle company, made
up of the father, who was one of the
earliest settlers inz Montana, and his
three sons, is one of the wealthiest
concerns in the West, the dealings of
the company involving. as it dees5 mil
lions of dollars each year.
Mr.. Coburn and his son were en-
route home, after a business trip to
the Chicago markets, where they dis
posed of sixty cars of stock.
Robert Coburn is. one of the most in
/ teresting characters in Montana, where
he and his sons own thirty ranches
along the foothills of the Rockies, in
which there is an aggregate of $500
acres of land.
Thousands upon thousands of cattle
are shipped by them to the Chicago
market each year. The elder Coburn
has been shipping to this market for
more than twenty-five years, during
which time he has grown immensely
wealthy. -
Went to Montana Poor SYoung Man.
He went to Montana, in41S63 a poor
young man. His first lucky strike was
when he discovered Last Chance Gulch,
on which the city of Helena now stands.
The gulch was rich with splacer gold,
and while Mr.. Coburn benefited hand
somely by his discovery he received
but small portion of the wealth which
resulted from his discovery.
Many years ago, however, Mr.. Co
burn gave up mining and went into the
cattle-raising business, being one of
the pioneer ranchmen in Montana. He
is most interesting talker, and his
stories of the days when the cowboys
were a reality in the West find ready
listeners.
Wallace Coburn, the, SON, who was
in the city with his father, is a thor
ough Westerner. He was born on a
cattle ranch and his life has been spent
on the ranches owned by his father.
He Is personal friend Of Charles
Russell, the famous cowboy artist, the
two young men having rode the range
together.
Mr.. Coburn recently had published a
book of rhymes of his own composition,
which are purely Western and clever.
The, book is illustrated by Russell. sssa
= Cattle lndustry<on the Decline. j.
Speaking Of the cattle industry in
the West, Mr.. Coburn said it was not
what it used to be. ID
What has hurt it?" he was asked.
"Sheep and barbed wire fences" was
the response.
Mr.. Coburn, like all other cattle
men in the West, has but little use for
sheep, which, he says, ruin more range
than everything else combined.
Where the sheep have ranged the
land is ruined. he said .tThey kill the
grass and leave the hesrangaaSIbarrensas as
a. street"
The, Coburn Cattle cempany's ranches
are to the north ;sof that section of
Montana where the sheep and cattle
men have for the past several years
been engaged in a warfare which has
resulted in many deaths, and they have
been troubled but little by the, sheep
men.
:. "They are gradually getting closer'to
us, however" he remarked, land there
Is no telling how soon we shall feel the
effects the same as 4he cattlemen south
of U.s.. Only recently we purchased a
large Sheep ranch near us In order to
get rid of the sheep" ~
Both Mr. Coburn and his son ex-
pressed the hope that the trouble be-
tween 1.-The Heinze and Amalgamated
interests would soon be settled.
"It affects every interest in the state, .
said the younger Mr., .Coburn, "and un-
less it is settled in some manner there
will be hard times ina Montana this
winter"